The software encoding of CBS's aptly-named "spoiler" system consists of a very narrow 20–50dB notch in the audio band centered at 3840Hz, between the musical notes B-flat and B. The copy-protection chip in the recorder measures signal energy in that band and compares it with the energy in the adjacent bands, and if it finds a large difference (indicating the presence of the notch), it shuts down the recorder. The chip has no effect at all on DAT playback, since the detection notch is not in the signal circuit, but merely runs parallel to it to feed the…
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Sidebar 2: Gordon Holt's Letter to President Reagan
May 18, 1987
The President
The White House
Washington, DC
Mr. President:
I am editor of America's oldest magazine for serious audiophiles, and I feel your support of the music industry's DAT anti-copy bill (HR-1384 and S-506) is ill-advised. Here's why:
First, the anti-copy encoding affects a range of musical frequencies spanning five whole notes, in the area where the human ear is most sensitive. It HAS to degrade the recorded sound, whether or not some people have the acuity to hear it. (Experienced…
Alvin Gold Listens to Copycode
I put a question to my Japanese hosts toward the end of a particularly impressive traditional meal: What status does traditional Japanese music have with the Japanese themselves? In all the several days I had been in the country, I had heard barely a note of Japanese music, whether on radio, television, or even back at the works when we were having hi-fi gear demonstrated.
The answer was monosyllabic and instantaneous: "None." OK, there's probably a tinge of Oriental inscrutability about this answer, but it really does seem that Western (read…
THE PERSUASIONS: Live in the Whispering Gallery
Hammer n' Nails HNCD 1988 (CD only). Frank Kulaga, Larry Collen, engs.; David Ackerman, prod. D–D. TT: 34:39
Hammer n' Nails HNCD 1988 (CD only). Frank Kulaga, Larry Collen, engs.; David Ackerman, prod. D–D. TT: 34:39
Ah, the Persuasions...! These guys and their acappella Brooklyn street-corner doo-wop can make me feel good faster than any group I know. After listening to this strong, loving recording, I listened to all their other records one after another. Best kind of rave I know.
This issue of Stereophile celebrates The Persuasions' first and latest albums, 20 years apart (see my feature on the Enigma Retro reissues from the…
Some time ago in these pages, Anthony H. Cordesman observed rather ungraciously that the whole line of Hafler electronics "could do with reworking." This was interpreted by many readers—including the good people at the David Hafler Company—as meaning that AHC felt the entire Hafler line to be mediocre. In fact, he does not. (He had given a Hafler product a positive review a few issues previously.) Tony's comment, however, did express a sentiment that most of us at Stereophile have shared for some time: a feeling that Hafler products had slipped from the position of sonic preeminence which…
In the presence of much louder sounds of similar frequency, that –70dB at 10kHz may or may not be audible. Whether or not it is so is simply one of those things about which engineers and audio perfectionists have disagreed about ever since there were meters that could measure distortion that low. What is certain, however, is that a 70dB null on a SWDT is not necessarily proof that the amplifier is audibly perfectly "accurate." And with the XL-280, 70dB is the maximal amount of null obtainable with the SWDT. (In fact, I could not achieve that high a value in my own tests; see "Nothing to Hide…
After the null was as good as I could get it by ear, I played some music signals and listened through the monitor to the nature of the residual sound. It was very quiet, so much so that I had to plug headphones into the appropriate outlet on Hafler's box in order to tell that the residual seemed very, very clean. Even with discs which I know to be rather worn (and thus a rich source of mistracking transients), the sound from the monitor speaker remained sweet and clean.
This, I thought, bade well for the sound of the XL-280.
Sound Quality
But when I finally got around to…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid-state stereo power amplifier with Excelinear circuitry and tweaking adjustment. Rated power: 145Wpc into 8 ohms at 0.05% distortion.
Dimensions: 17" W x 10" D x 5" H, overall.
Price: $600 (1987); no longer available (2010).
Manufacturer: The David Hafler Company, Pennsauken, NJ 08109 (1987); Hafler, 546 S. Rockford Drive, Tempe, AZ 85281. Tel: (866) 464-2353. Web: www.hafler.com/home/.
I may have had 4000 LPs and a perfectly wonderful Linn LP12 turntable, but I could go for weeks on end without listening to a single LP. But I still thought of myself as one of the vinyl faithful, even as I rationalized my digital-centric listening tendencies. I loved analog in theory—I just couldn't bring myself to listen to it all that much.
Lucky me, my vinyl doldrums were interrupted when, last summer, I reviewed a VPI Classic turntable for Home Entertainment magazine. I put the Linn aside and hooked up the VPI. Wow, what a difference a turntable can make! One record led to the next…
Neil Young: Official Release Series, Discs 1–4
Reprise 519173-1(4 LPs, Limited Edition Vinyl Boxed Set). 2009. Neil Young, David Briggs, Elliot Mazer, Jack Nitzsche, Henry Lewy, prods.; John Nowland, reissue eng. AAA.
Reprise 519173-1(4 LPs, Limited Edition Vinyl Boxed Set). 2009. Neil Young, David Briggs, Elliot Mazer, Jack Nitzsche, Henry Lewy, prods.; John Nowland, reissue eng. AAA.
One of the biggest music stories of 2009 is the "return" of vinyl. For grizzled vets, particularly of the audiophile ilk, vinyl never went away in the first place, but that's a rail for another time.
A flagrant irony about this latest vinyl revival is that much of it has been led by the same record labels who, not so long ago, worked so assiduously to kill the…