search
Our Connecticut house is of wood-frame construction and far from any major source of RF and EMI contamination, so it was no surprise that our long-resident Belkin F5D8233-4 wireless router did just fine. In Manhattan, however, we live in a steel-and-concrete building, and in a soup of electrical signals so rich it pains me to think about it. Here it was necessary to upgrade to Belkin's latest wireless router, the Play Max N+N300, which provided clear, glitch-free play of HD files via the Touch in almost all situations. In more remote rooms of our apartment, Internet and CD-resolution…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Music player with WiFi & Ethernet inputs, 4.3" color touchscreen. Outputs: stereo analog (RCA), digital coaxial (RCA), TosLink, headphone on 3.5mm stereo jack. Music formats supported: MP3, FLAC, WMA standard & Lossless (by internal conversion), WAV, AIFF, Ogg Vorbis, AAC/HE-AACv2, HD-AAC, Apple Lossless, Monkey's Audio (by internal conversion). Internet radio support for MP3, Ogg Vorbis, AAC/HE-AACv2, WMA. USB & SD card ports for picture and music files. Maximum audio resolution: 24-bit/96kHz. Remote control included. System…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Manhattan System
Digital Sources: Ayre Acoustics DX-5, Oppo BDP-83SE universal players.
Desktop System: Meridian F80.
Preamplification: Meridian HD621 HDMI audio processor & 861 Reference v4 digital surround controller, Parasound Halo P7 multichannel analog preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: McIntosh MC303 (three-channel), Bel Canto Design REF1000 Mk.II (monoblocks).
Loudspeakers: B&W 802D.
Cables: HDMI: van den Hul Flat 180, AudioQuest Vodka. USB: AudioQuest Carbon. Interconnect: AudioQuest Cheetah/DBS balanced. Speaker: AudioQuest…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
To measure Logitech's Squeezebox Touch, I used Stereophile's loaner Audio Precision SYS2722 system. (See www.ap.com and "As We See It" in the January 2008 issue.) For some tests I also used my Audio Precision System One Dual Domain and the Miller Jitter Analyzer. I used audio files fed to the Touch both over my WiFi network from my iTunes library and on a solid-state USB drive plugged into the Squeezebox. (For the latter condition, a version of the Squeezebox Server program runs on the Touch itself). The WiFi performance was a lot more robust than my old…
There are two kinds of audiophiles: those who own original Quad ESL speakers and those who don't (footnote 1). This review is for the former, although the latter may find it of some interest. The Gradient SW-57 subwoofer attempts to do for the original Quad (footnote 2) what Gradient's SW-63 (footnote 3) does for the Quad ESL-63: supply the bottom octave while relieving the ESLs of the strain of reproducing low bass.
The Gradient SW-57 subwoofer utilizes two 8" woofers in a free-air enclosure. This technique attempts to mimic the dipole radiation pattern of the original Quad ESL. The SW-…
J. Gordon Holt commented again on the Eagle 2A in December 1985 (Vol.8 No.7):
The only solid-state amplifier I've encountered that competes with the Conrad-Johnson Premier Five's middle range is the Electron Kinetics Eagle 2, which has better bass, but not as suavely musical a high end as the Five. (On the other hand, it's a bit less than one sixth the price.)
One of the best arrangements I came up with while working with the Fives involved using them to drive the upper-range electrostatic panels of the MartinLogan Monoliths, while biamping the low end with the Eagle 2 and a…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Solid-state, stereo power amplifier. Rated power: 120Wpc into 8 ohms. Power bandwidth: DC-200 kHz. Peak output current: 50A. S/N Ratio: >100dB (no reference level given). Input impedance: 100k ohms.
Price: $895 (1985); no longer available (2009).
Manufacturer: Electron Kinetics, Inc., Lake Havasu City, AZ 86403 (1985). Company no longer in existence (2009).
Doug Sax is undoubtedly one of the most controversial and outspoken figures in audio. As co-founder, with Lincoln Mayorga, of Sheffield Lab, Doug pioneered the first modern direct-to-disc recording. His perfectionist methods may be controversial, but the results certainly are not: Sheffield Lab recordings are nearly universally praised by the audiophile community, while the Billboard Hot 100 always features at least one Sax-cut disc.
Doug was an early champion of tube electronics and a vociferous critic of digital audio. In fact, he once distributed T-shirts with the inscription "Stop…
Harley: Is it similar to your modified Sony PCM-1610 at The Mastering Lab?
Sax: What we have is highly modified, but we haven't gone the whole route. There will be some point where you need a separate chassis and your own architecture so you can do exactly what you want. But there are enormous efforts going on, mostly by American companies, on the A/D side.
Harley: Is there is anything intrinsically wrong sonically with storing music as ones and zeros, or do you think the problems are in the implementation of current technology?
Sax: The latter.
Harley: Do you…
Harley: Theoretically, the digital recording medium has no effect on the sound quality provided there are no uncorrected errors. Do you believe different digital tape transports have different sonic characteristics?
Sax: They do. I don't know why. I don't use Sony decks. I can tell you that any Sony video deck will kill the sound. I've discussed it with Sony and they were about as interested in hearing it as you are in buying New York City for three trillion dollars. They said, "We'll do something about it—go away." I did and they didn't. But it's a major, major factor in degradation.…