After connecting the Muse Polyhymnia to a TV monitor, to make sure it was set up optimally and that such features as Dynamic Range Compression (DRC) were set to "Off," I tested it from its balanced and unbalanced output jacks. At 1.99V, the maximum output at 1kHz from DVD-Audio and CD was very close to the CD standard's 2V, although, unusually, it was identical from the balanced and unbalanced outputs. The maximum level for SACD was significantly lower, at 1.68V. This 1.5dB difference will invalidate any non–level-compensated comparisons among the three media.…
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In the ongoing debacle that has been the introduction and promotion of high-resolution digital audio and the record industry's struggles to engage the public's interest in it, two recent events stand out.
One was Sony's decision, in 2006, to limit to one day a week the production of hybrid SACD/CDs at its Terre Haute, Indiana pressing plant, which had opened with much fanfare in May 2003. That forced ABKCO Records to replace its catalog of Rolling Stones hybrids, perhaps the best-selling SACD/CDs ever released, with "Red Book" CD editions. According to ABKCO, the company had…
Ditto the explanation for the DSD settings of "Normal (factory default)" and "Direct." The manual says that the "Normal (factory default)" setting outputs DSD "after processing," while "Direct" outputs the audio signal "without running it through the processor." You're given no idea what selecting either option means in terms of sound—an unacceptable "explanation," in my opinion. Buyers, especially those less technically adept and/or experienced, deserve better documentation.
Pressing the FIR button on the front panel automatically upconverts the "Red Book" bitword resolution of all…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Multichannel, audio-only SACD/CD/DVD-Audio/DVD-Video player with choice of 8x oversampling FIR and upsampling RDOT low-pass digital filters, PCM-to-DSD (1-bit, 64x) upsampling. Digital audio outputs: coaxial, optical/TosLink. Analog audio output: dedicated 2-channel outputs (balanced, XLR, and unbalanced, RCA), plus multichannel RCA outputs. Maximum output level at 1kHz: 2.2V RMS, unbalanced and unbalanced. Output impedance: not specified. Frequency range: 5Hz–88kHz (DVD-A). Signal/noise ratio: 130dB. Dynamic range: 107dB. THD: 0.002%.
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn turntable & Cobra tonearm; Graham Phantom tonearm; Lyra Titan, Air Tight PC-1, Koetsu Vermillion cartridges.
Digital Sources: Musical Fidelity kW DM25 DAC & CD transport, Musical Fidelity kW SACD player, BPT-modified Alesis Masterlink hard-disk recorder.
Preamplification: Manley Steelhead, Einstein Turntable's Choice phono preamplifiers; darTZeel NHB-18NS preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: Musical Fidelity kW and Supercharger 550K monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Wilson Audio Specialties MAXX 2.
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Sidebar 3: Measurements
I tested the Esoteric SA-60 from its dedicated two-channel L and R output jacks using Sony's provisional Test SACD, as well as CD-Rs and DVD-Rs with the necessary test signals that I'd burned myself. The processing was set to "FIR" for the CD and DVD tests, unless stated otherwise. Tested with the Pierre Verany Test CD, the SA-60 had excellent error correction, if not quite to the standard set by the Marantz and Muse players also reviewed in this issue. It produced an audible glitch at the start of track 34, which has 2mm gaps in its data spiral, but played the…
Is it my imagination, or has the low-power tube movement of the last 15 years gone hand in hand with a renewed interest in moving-coil step-up transformers? Trannies remain misunderstood or ignored by most of the audio press—requests for review samples continue to be met with genial shock, rather like tourism in the Budapest of the 1990s—but enthusiasm for the practice seems only to grow. That leaves me to wonder: Did the unquestioning use of active pre-preamps for so many years grow out of the same bad attitude that gave us all those awful-sounding high-power amps and low-sensitivity…
So then, in alphabetical order:
Audio Note AN-S8 ($8675): The AN-S8 is built into the same paint-on-copper chassis as the other transformers in the current Audio Note UK line, which range from the AN-S1 ($700) to this demi-flagship. (Believe it or not, an AN-S9, price to be determined, is being developed.) Whereas some Audio Note step-up transformers allow the user to switch between different primaries, the AN-S8 does not, and is offered instead in three single-primary versions: 1, 16, and 64 ohms. My review sample was the middle one.
The AN-S8 is wound with Audio Note's…
The Auditorium 23 Hommage T1 sounded bigger, and the Audio Note AN-S8 sounder clearer, more present, more colorful. The Shindo Masseto's built-in trannie had a shade more texture and a more natural sense of flow, and the Auditorium 23 Standard had more character and drama. Yet the K&K never sounded deficient in any of those ways: It just sounded musical—to such a degree that, whenever I used it to play the records I love, I was able to forget about sound altogether and simply lose myself in the music.
The K&K's bass was strong enough for my tastes, and nicely detailed. It played…
Sidebar: CONTACTS
Audio Note Ltd. , 25 Montefiore Road, Hove, East Sussex BN3 1RD, England, UK. Tel: (44) (0)1273-220-511. Fax: (44) (0)1273-731-498. Web: www.audionote.co.uk. US distributor: Audio Federation Inc., P.O. Box 19950, Boulder, CO 80304. Tel: (303) 546-6503. Web: www.audiofederation.com.
Auditorium 23, Gabelsbergerstrass 23, D-60389 Frankfurt, Germany. Tel: (49) (0)69-4652202. Web: www.auditorium23.de. US distributor: Tone Imports LLC. Tel: (646) 425-7800. Web: www.toneimports.com.
K&K Audio, 1004 Olive Chapel Road, Apex, NC 27502. Tel./Fax: (919) 387-0911. Web…