Analog Sources: Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn, Cobra, & Castellon turntable, tonearm, & stand; Graham Phantom tonearm, Lyra Titan i cartridge.
Digital Sources: Cary Audio CD 306 Professional SACD/CD player, Musical Fidelity kW DM 25 CD transport & DAC, BPT-modified Alesis Masterlink hard-disk recorder, Sooloos Music Server.
Preamplification: Manley Steelhead, Ypsilon VPS-100 phono preamplifiers; darTZeel NHB-18NS, Musical Fidelity Primo preamplifiers.
Power Amplifier: Musical Fidelity Titan.
Loudspeakers: Wilson Audio Specialties…
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Sidebar 3: How Revealing?
For much of the review period, all four Scarlatti components were plugged into the latest version of Shunyata Research's Hydra V-Ray II power conditioner, itself plugged into the wall with Shunyata's latest King Cobra Helix AC cord. Then I switched to Audience's Adept Response power conditioner fitted with their own latest Au24 AC cord and got a different balance: warmer, fuller, bigger on bottom, but not as airy on top. Different, but better? With glary, bright-sounding recordings, yes—but not with darker, warmer discs. The XRCD edition of The Tony Bennett Bill…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I assessed the performance of the dCS Scarlatti system using Audio Precision's SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and "As We See It" in the January 2008 issue), as well as, for some tests, our Audio Precision System One Dual Domain.
Because of the complexity of this four-box system and the multitude of operational choices—internal or external clock (the latter with or without dither), SACD or CD playback or external 16-bit and 24-bit data via S/PDIF, AES/EBU, or USB, with PCM data upsampled to 88.2kHz, 96kHz, 176.4kHz, or 192kHz PCM or to or DSD, with four…
As the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show neared its end, I wandered into Blue Light Audio's room, which was dominated by the innards of darTZeel's new NHB-458 monoblocks—think of a 3D "exploded" diagram and you'll be on target. So impressive was that display of brute engineering that I almost didn't notice the amplifier that was actually making the music: the CTH-8550 integrated ($20,300).
Yes, you read correctly: $20,300 for an integrated amplifier. That's an order of magnitude greater than the typical integrated. Granted, you get a moving-coil input, and it's built in…
A major fault of conventional integrated amplifiers is lack of get-up-and-go. Sure, lots of them have "rated" outputs of 150–200Wpc, but hook 'em up to a difficult load and they wimp out. Not, apparently, the CTH-8550. It drove the Thiel CS3.7 and YG Anat Reference II Pro speakers as easily as it did the benign Klipsch Palladium 39Fs.
Progress is not an illusion
Sonically, the CTH-8550 was very much a twin of darTZeel's NHB-108 power amp: fast, dynamic, and detailed. On "Skeleton," from the Ginger Baker Trio's Falling Off the Roof (CD, Atlantic 82900-2), the CTH-8550 balanced the…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid-state integrated amplifier with moving-coil phono section, remote control. Inputs: 4 pairs line (RCA), 1 pair balanced (XLR), 2 pairs Zeel (BNC), 1 pair MC phono (RCA). 1 pair MM phono (RCA, optional). Outputs: preamplifier (RCA), Record (RCA), darT (BNC), speaker (4mm binding posts). Maximum output power: 200W into 8 ohms (23dBW), 330W into 4 ohms (22.2dBW), 330W into 2 ohms (19.2dBW), "limited by software." Maximum voltage gain: 0–22dB, user-defined, 12dB as supplied (line stage); 50–70dB, user-defined (MC phono stage). Power stage voltage…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Source: Ayre C-5xeMP universal player.
Integrated Amplifier: Boulder 865.
Loudspeakers: Klipsch Palladium P-39F, Thiel CS3.7, YG Acoustics Anat Reference II Professional.
Cables: Interconnect: Shunyata Research, Stealth Metacarbon. Speaker: Shunyata Research, Stealth Dream. AC: Shunyata Research Hydra & King Cobra & Anaconda.
Accessories: Ayre Acoustics Myrtle Blocks, Furutech RDP panels, RealTraps Mini & Mondo Traps.—Wes Phillips
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I examined the darTZeel CTH-8550's measured behavior using mainly Stereophile's loaner sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It" and www.ap.com); for some tests, I also used my vintage Audio Precision System One Dual Domain.
Before performing any tests on an amplifier, I run it for 60 minutes at one-third its specified power into 8 ohms, which is thermally the worst case for an amplifier with a class-B or -AB output stage. Cold out of the box, the darTZeel offered 0.083% distortion at one-third power…
Two years ago, I embarked on a series of reviews of mostly state-of-the-art, mostly full-range floorstanding speakers: the Sonus Faber Cremona Elipsa (December 2007), KEF Reference 207/2 (February 2008), PSB Synchrony One (April 2008), Magico V3 (May 2008), Avalon NP Evolution 2.0 and Epos M16i (July 2008), Esoteric MG-20 (August 2008), Dynaudio Sapphire (January 2009), and Revel Ultima Salon2 (March 2009). I had intended to intersperse those reports with coverage of some high-performance minispeakers, but for various reasons that never happened, so in the next few issues I'll be making up…
Time for more piano. I played some 24-bit/88.2kHz test mixes of my current recording project, Robert Silverman performing Brahms' monumental Handel Variations and Schumann's Études Symphonique, scheduled for release on CD next spring. I had recorded these works in the superbly supportive acoustic of Sauder Concert Hall in Goshen, Indiana, and had gotten fairly close to the Steinway, in order to get the optimal balance between a sparkling piano sound and the surrounding ambience. My provisional mix between the two primary pairs of mikes used —ORTF cardioids and spaced omnis —had been done…