The Elegant and Complex Parrot Zik Bluetooth Noise Canceling Headset

The Elegant and Complex Parrot Zik Bluetooth Noise Canceling Headset

Oct 31, 2012
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

The inside of a great designer's head must be a very unusual place. On the one hand, the world is filled with clumsy, ugly, ill-formed objects. On the other, it's rife with opportunity for utility and beauty. The cacophony of internal dialog must be almost unbearable. Renowned designer Philippe Starck has turned his attention to untangling the mess that is Bluetooth headsets, and in collaboration with Parrot (a French company with significant experience in automotive Bluetooth devices) has developed the most unique wireless headset I've ever seen.

Enter the Void of Cygnus X-1: A Vinyl vs. CD Comparison (Kinda)

Enter the Void of Cygnus X-1: A Vinyl vs. CD Comparison (Kinda)

Oct 25, 2012
After filling my speaker stands with kitty litter, the bass warble tones on Stereophile’s Editor’s Choice CD were less boomy from start to finish with greater depth within each warble tone and lower frequencies not heard previously were now audible thanks to a quieter noise floor, but after weeks of warble tones, I needed some real music.

First on the platter was Bob Dylan’s John Wesley Harding which features 3-piece band orchestrations, punchy yet meandering bass lines, and anguished harmonica playing from Mr. Zimmerman. While listening, the bass player’s melodic fills on “All Along the Watchtower” muddied the mix and masked Dylan’s vocals. One week later, my problems of unruly bass had returned.

McIntosh Laboratory MC275 50th Anniversary Limited Edition power amplifier

McIntosh Laboratory MC275 50th Anniversary Limited Edition power amplifier

Oct 24, 2012
It began when I reviewed the MartinLogan Montis loudspeaker (September 2012). The amplifiers I had to drive the pair of them were the PrimaLuna ProLogue Premier integrated ($2999), the Audiopax Mk.II (no longer available; the Mk.III costs $22,000), and the Simaudio Moon Evolution W-7 ($9000). The first two are tubed, with power in the 30–40Wpc range; the solid-state Simaudio puts out 150Wpc. The Audiopax, which sounds great with my Avantgarde Uno Nanos, turned out to be not such a good match for the Montises: weak in dynamics, and too soft sounding. The PrimaLuna and the Simaudio were better overall, each with its strengths and weaknesses, though neither was ideal. I really liked the ProLogue Premier's tonal characteristics, and wondered what a higher-powered tube amp would sound like with the MartinLogans.

Two Cool Hi-Fi Posters

Two Cool Hi-Fi Posters

Oct 24, 2012
It’s like that t-shirt you were always jealous of your friend for having. You know the one I’m talking about. It’s the one that said “Famous Guitars”, and it had drawings of Eddie Van Halen’s Frankenstein or Rick Nielsen’s multi-necked Hamer. There was also a “Famous Drumkits” one with Kreutzmann and Hart’s two-man kit or Terry Bozzio’s tom-tom explosion. Gosh, those were cool.

Well now you can be that guy but with the famous hi-fis.

Krell KRS-2 preamplifier

Krell KRS-2 preamplifier

Oct 23, 2012 First Published:Jun 01, 1987
One of the most striking aspects of high-end audio is that you can never take any component for granted. Most of the radical change in audio at present takes place in new front-end and speaker technologies, but other components are changing as well—and with at least as much impact in making recorded music seem believable.
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