Digital Sources: iTunes 9.03 with Mac mini (G4 processor) running OS10.5.8; iTunes 9.03 with MacBook (Intel processor) running OS10.6; Foobar 2000 with Shuttle PC (dual-core AMD Athlon processor) running Windows 7.
Headphone Amplifier: Benchmark DAC1.
Headphones: Sennheiser HD-650, Sony MDR-7506, Ultimate Ears UE-5c.
Cables: Belkin USB cable (with DACport), Monster Cable 3.5mm-TosLink optical cable (with Benchmark).—John Atkinson
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the CEntrance DACport with an Audio Precision SYS2722 (see www.ap.com and "As We See It" in the January 2008 issue), as well as, for some tests, my Audio Precision System One Dual Domain and the Miller Audio Research Jitter Analyzer. I drove the DACport with the USB 2.0 output of my Intel MacBook running OS10.6 for the testing, playing back WAV files using Bias Peak 6.2. To avoid any problems of noise contamination, I ran the MacBook on battery power for the testing.
The DACport correctly operated with sample rates ranging from 44.1 to 96kHz,…
Erick Lichte wrote about the CEntrance DACport in October 2010 (Vol.33 No.10):
The package arrived, marked with a familiar scrawl and Brooklyn return address. I sat down on my couch, poked a hole in the new arrival, and, trying my best to avoid a nasty paper cut, opened the padded envelope. Into my lap dropped a small, black velvet pouch cinched shut with two drawstrings. My wife looked over at me from the dining-room table.
"What is that?" she asked casually.
"I don't know. John Atkinson sent it to me."
I loosened the pouch's drawstrings and pulled out a handsome…
Spiral Groove's new Centroid tonearm ($6000) arrived just a few days before press time, so it would be risky to say anything definitive about it. But I will take that risk: using the system described in my review of the SG2 turntable, this may be the best tonearm I've heard. Its sound is different in ways that will open people's ears, and I predict that it will affect the design of every tonearm from now on. The Centroid's design deserves and will await full coverage in its own review, but here are the basics: It's a fluid-damped unipivot design unlike any other that gives the user fine…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Pivoted tonearm
Serial Number Of Unit Reviewed: Not noted.
Price: $6000. Approximate number of dealers: 7.
Manufacturer: Spiral Groove, 1516 Fifth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710. Tel: (510) 559-2050. Fax: (510) 559-1855. Web: www.spiral-groove.com, www.immediasound.com.
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Spiral Groove SG2 turntable, VPI HR-X turntable & tonearm; Tri-Planar tonearm; Lyra Titan i, Grado Signature Reference cartridges.
Digital Source: Primare CD 31 CD player.
Preamplification: Sutherland PhD phono preamplifier; Sutherland Direct, Placette Active line stages.
Power Amplifiers: VTL MB750 Signature monoblocks, Pass Labs XA-30.5.
Loudspeakers: Wilson Audio Specialties Sophia II.
Cables: Stereovox, Audience Au-24, Nordost Valhalla, Nirvana SL. AC: Audience PowerChord, Synergistic Research Designer's Reference…
Readers frequently ask me how Stereophile's writers select equipment for review. More often than not, a writer comes up with a review candidate because he's heard it or heard about it, and then suggests it to editor John Atkinson for possible review. JA encourages this behavior—a writer excited about reviewing a component is more likely to produce an article that's interesting and informative. That said, occasionally a review candidate surfaces at Stereophile HQ; in such cases, JA assigns it to one of us.
Thrice in the past, JA has asked me to review loudspeakers from Canadian…
I found the high frequencies of the B6 to be fairly detailed, extended, and colorless for such an inexpensive speaker, regardless of musical genre. Thurston Moore's and Lee Ranaldo's shimmering just-intonation guitars in "The Diamond Sea," from Sonic Youth's Washing Machine (CD, Geffen DGCD-24825), were extended and bell-like without a trace of harshness. In the classical chamber vein, both David Shively's assorted percussion and Stephen Gosling's rapid-fire harpsichord passages in Orphée, from John Zorn's Mysterium (CD, Tzadik TZ8018), were reproduced with delicacy and no trace of smear. On…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way, port-loaded, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: ferrofluid-cooled, 1" (25mm) titanium-dome tweeter with neodymium magnet, 6.5" (165mm) clay/ceramic-filled polypropylene-cone woofer with rubber surround. Crossover Type: 4th-order Linkwitz-Riley. Crossover frequency: 1.8kHz. Frequency response: 59Hz–20kHz, ±1.5dB (on axis at 0°); 45Hz–23kHz, ±3dB (on axis at 0°); 59Hz–10kHz, ±3dB (off axis at 30°). Low-frequency cutoff: –10dB, 40Hz. Sensitivity (2.83V/W/m, IEC-filtered pink noise, C-weighted): 89dB in anechoic chamber, 90dB in typical…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: VPI TNT IV turntable, Immedia tonearm, Koetsu Urushi cartridge; Rega Planar 3 turntable, Syrinx PU-3 tonearm, Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood cartridge.
Digital Sources: Lector CDP-7T, Creek Destiny CD players.
Preamplification: Vendetta Research SCP-2D phono stage; Audio Valve Conductor & Eklipse line stages.
Power Amplifiers: Audio Research Reference 110, Creek Destiny.
Loudspeakers: Epos M5 & ELS3, Nola Mini.
Cables: Interconnect (all MIT): Magnum, MI-350 CVTwin Terminator, CVT Terminator 2. Speaker: MIT CVT Terminator 2…