I examined the T+A Music Player's performance primarily using the Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and "As We See It" in the January 2008 issue), as well as, for some tests, our vintage Audio Precision System One. I used my regular CD-R of 16-bit test tones, and also fed data to the Music Player's optical digital input. I also used some test WAV files stored on a USB flash drive, and fed the MP files over my WiFi network using Windows Media Player 11 as the uPnP client, running on a PC with Windows XP SP3. (For some arcane networking reason, neither…
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Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse: Dark Night of the Soul
With: Frank Black, Julian Casablancas, Vic Chesnutt, Wayne Coyne, Flaming Lips, David Lynch, Jason Lytle, James Mercer, Iggy Pop, Gruff Rhys, Suzanne Vega.
CD/download. 2009. Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse, prods., engs. AAD? TT: 43:16
Performance ****
Sonics ****
With: Frank Black, Julian Casablancas, Vic Chesnutt, Wayne Coyne, Flaming Lips, David Lynch, Jason Lytle, James Mercer, Iggy Pop, Gruff Rhys, Suzanne Vega.
CD/download. 2009. Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse, prods., engs. AAD? TT: 43:16
Performance ****
Sonics ****
It's an old story. Long before its current downturn, the music business was always the land of the grand unrealized project sabotaged at the last minute by unseen forces. The path from idea to finished product has always been a perilous one. Many are the…
One of my favorite Charles Rodrigues cartoons, originally published in Stereo Review and reprinted in the book Total Harmonic Distortion (Perfectbound Press, 1988), shows a customer in the soundroom of an audio dealer, auditioning a pair of speakers. This is no ordinary soundroom: the floor, walls, and ceiling are completely covered with irregularly shaped boxes, apparently an extreme form of acoustical treatment. The salesman is saying, "Of course, you realize that it won't sound exactly the same in your living room, sir..."
I've heard speakers in rooms that had suffered acoustical…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Fabric-covered room acoustic treatment panels.
Dimensions: 11" by 16" by 2". Weight: 4 lbs.
Price: $179.95/pair.
Manufacturer: Nucore Cathedral Sound. US distributor: Ultra Systems, 127 Union Square, New Hope, PA 18938. Tel: (800) 724-3305, (215) 862-6570. Fax: (215) 862-4871. Web: www.ultrasystem.com.
With the Music Player, T+A also sent along the Power Plant integrated amplifier ($2700). The Power Plant (PP) looks almost identical to the MP, and the two comprise a handsome, fully functional audio system in a single modest stack. To make this even easier, you connect the two at their rear panels with a supplied RJ-12 cable (T+A calls this the E Link), which coordinates their functions and allows the MP and PP to be operated with a single remote control.
The front of the PP looks like a typical integrated amp: large volume knob; input buttons; Bass, Treble, and Balance controls; Mute,…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Two-channel, remote-controlled, solid-state integrated amplifier with PWM output stage, 5 line-level inputs, headphone output, and optional MM/MC phono module. Maximum output power: 140Wpc into 8 ohms (dBW); 240Wpc into 4 ohms (dBW). Frequency response: 1Hz–60kHz±3dB. Total harmonic distortion: <0.005%. Intermodulation distortion: <0.005%. Channel separation: >80dB. Input sensitivity: 250mV. Input impedance: 20k ohms. Output impedance. 50 ohms (headphones).
Dimensions: 17.6" (440mm) W by 4.7" (120mm) H by 15.6" (390mm) D. Weight: 26.4 lbs…
This whole thing started up again when I tried to improve the phono-input section of my main system—not to enhance its performance (although you might expect that to happen), but to provide a fairer, more flexible context for evaluating new cartridges.
The technical reason: Taken in isolation, even the small collection of phono cartridges that I own—Miyabi 47, Rega Elys, Grace F9E, Denon DL-103, and EMT OFD 25—represent a pretty wide range of resistive-loading requirements. The low-impedance Miyabi 47 and the high-impedance Denon DL-103, for example, couldn't be more different from one…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: A pair of flexible Y-adapters, each having two phono sockets at one end and a single phono plug at the other, supplied with five pairs of color-coded resistive plugs: 10, 20, 50, 100, and 200 ohms.
Price: $49. Sold direct.
Manufacturer: DB Systems, PO Box 460, 214 Main Street, Rindge, NH 03461. Tel: (603) 899-5121. Web: www.dbsystemsaudio.com.
There's an old Russian folktale about a farmer who goes to a fair. He buys a bread roll from a vendor. He eats it, but he's still hungry. So he buys and eats another roll, and then another. Still hungry. Next, he buys a donut from a different vendor. At last, he's no longer hungry. The farmer then says to himself, "I wasted the money I spent on the rolls—I should have just bought the donut first!"
This story illustrates a problem with the way most of us buy stereo equipment: If only we could know in advance what we would end up being happy with, we'd save a lot of the money we spend…
Is anyone in this economy shopping for a four-box, rack-swallowing, two-channel SACD/CD player contending for the state of the art and costing $79,996? dCS is betting that its Scarlatti will attract a small crowd of those wealthy music enthusiasts who, in any economy, reliably pony up for the best. For the rest of us, the Scarlatti will be a spectator sport.
While ease of use is one of digital audio's greatest selling points, "simplicity" is not the Scarlatti's middle name. Although this ultra-complex system, including the optional new Upsampler ($12,999), has more menu choices…