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Even Mikey Fremer is surprised at vinyl's current popularity. Some pundits postulate that eventually CDs will die out, and we'll be faced with the choice of LPs or downloads. (I hope not. I'm just getting used to CDs.) With abundant sources of new pop releases and a wide range of reissues on vinyl, and a variety of used LPs, every audiophile should own a turntable. And with the availability of affordable turntables such as the Pro-Ject Debut III, which I reviewed in the February 2010 Stereophile, the cost of entry to VinylLand is not very dear. The problem is that so few entry-level…
Finally, with cranked-up rock tunes, the PP 3 exhibited a strong sense of coherence, pacing, and rhythmic consistency, whether reproducing such simple arrangements as Ten Years After's "Love Like a Man," from Greatest Hits (LP, London LC 50008), or more elaborate, densely packed tracks such as Genesis' "Dance on a Volcano," from A Trick of the Tail (LP, ATCO SD-36-129). Listening to either of these tunes, I found it hard to sit still—I itched to twitch, grab a partner, and dance around the room. But my wife wasn't home, and neither of the dogs was interested.
Comparisons
I compared…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Moving-magnet/moving-coil phono preamplifier with line-level inputs and outputs and an A/D converter feeding audio data to a USB output. Input impedance: 47k ohms + 200pF (MM), 100 ohms + 180pF (MC). Voltage gain: 35dB (MM), 58dB (MC). Input sensitivity at 300mV output: 5mV (MM), 0.38mV (MC). Signal/noise ratio: 76dB, A-weighted (MM); 78dB (MC). Input overload, 20Hz/1kHz/20kHz): 10/100/900mV (MM), 0.65/6.5/60mV (MC). THD: <0.03%, 20Hz–20kHz at 3V output. Digital output (USB): 16-bit linear PCM. Sampling frequency: 48kHz. Dynamic range: 89dB (MM…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Source: Rega Planar 3 turntable, Syrinx PU-3 tonearm, Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood cartridge.
Digital Source: Creek Destiny CD player.
Integrated Amplifiers: Creek Destiny, Marantz PM5003.
Loudspeakers: Epos M5 & M5i.
Cables: Interconnect: MIT Magnum M3 & MI-350 CVTwin Terminator. Speaker: Acarian Systems Black Orpheus.
Accessories: Various by ASC, Bright Star, Simply Physics, Sound Anchor, VPI.—Robert J. Reina
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the NAD PP 3 with Stereophile's loaner Audio Precision SYS2722 system. (See www.ap.com and "As We See It" in the January 2008 issue.) I examined its performance both from its analog line outputs and in the digital domain, using the Mac version of the free VinylStudio Lite program supplied by NAD to create files from the PP 3's USB output fed to my Apple MacBook. The Mac USB Prober utility identified the NAD as "USB Audio Codec, Burr Brown from TI," and revealed that the A/D converter operates with 16-bit word lengths at sample rates of 32, 44.1, and…
How many of you out there know what a Nuvistor is? Michael Fremer takes a look at this unique device and its application in the Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 300 power amplifier. "Enclosing its vacuum in metal rather than glass, the Nuvistor was designed as a long-lived, highly linear device with low heat, low microphony, and low noise—all of which it needed to have any hope of competing in the brave new solid-state world emerging when RCA introduced it in the 1960s." Musical Fidelity decided to use the Nuvistor in a limited-run amplifier, and therein lies an interesting tale, which Michael…
Jonathan Scull thinks he has uncoverd the hot audiophile topic for the new millennium—e-commerce. He lays out the situation in "Fine Tunes" #19. Find out what various manufacturers are up to, and why.
Robert Harley was looking for a well-rounded speaker, and thinks he found it in the Thiel CS3.6 loudspeaker. He writes, "the inherent tradeoffs in various designs make it difficult to find a loudspeaker that does everything well. This ideal loudspeaker may not quite reach the pinnacle of performance in individual areas offered by other designs, but its overriding virtue is that it comes…
Note: While not directly related to high-end audio, we thought that Stereophile's web readers may find this story of interest.
Wired magazine is one of the oddest of technology's many odd commodities. The self-consciously ultra-hip journal has positioned itself since its inception as the clarion of the new age of paperless publishing. Its parent organization, Wired Ventures, Inc., has long put its money where its mouth is by supporting Wired Digital, Wired's online equivalent.
But in its four-year existence, Wired Digital has never turned a profit: leading by example, heralding the…
Now that 2003 is almost a memory, it's time for The 2003 Products of the Year. Once again Stereophile's writers cast their votes on the year's audio worthies.
From the December issue, Brian Damkroger takes on the Burmester 001 CD player, insisting that "a $14,000 CD player stops me in my tracks. Just what makes it so expensive? More important, can it possibly be that good?" BD details the answer.
For his "As We See It" from December, The Angels' Share, Wes Phillips asserts, "It's only a CD-R with a self-adhesive label and computer-generated inserts, but it's what the major record…
Out of action for more than a year, Mobile Fidelty should be returning soon. Online retailer Music Direct has purchased the remastering and re-release specialty company, according to an announcement made April 24.
Sebastapol, CA–based Mobile Fidelity built a large and loyal following in the audiophile community, beginning with its release of high-quality half-speed remasterings of popular recordings in the 1970s. The company benefited from the CD revolution in the 1980s with a series of extremely successful "gold" reissues, but in the late 1990s suffered a cash crunch—the result of bad…