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I began with vocal music. Listening to the CD layer of the Theatre of Voices' recording of David Lang's Pulitzer Prize–winning Little Match Girl Passion (SACD/CD, Harmonia Mundi HMU 807496) was as engaging an experience as I've ever had with recorded music. Lang's Passion is an accessible modern masterpiece scored for four singers, each of whom also plays light percussion instruments. The text fuses Hans Christian Andersen's tale of the frozen little match girl with texts from Bach's St. Matthew Passion. Each voice and percussion instrument was rendered with an in-the-room weight and realism…
The Rogues excelled at throwing a huge, well-defined soundstage with outstanding spatial separation between instruments. In fact, with the Kanye West album—and especially with the Alif Tree—out-of-phase effects sounded far more out of phase than through any other system I've heard. On Tree's "Deadly Species," the out-of-phase string-orchestra effects seemed to materialize from another dimension. I've never heard such a great contrast between a solid, in-phase stereo image and swirling out-of-phase effects. The Rogues made listening to this kind of music very fun.
Bang, Bang
Because…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Tube monoblock power amplifier. Tube complement (hand-matched): four KT88, two 12AU7, one 12AX7. Maximum output power: 180Wpc in ultralinear mode (22.6dBW into 8 ohms). Frequency response: 5Hz–50kHz, ±1dB. THD: <0.1% typical, >1% at rated power. Input sensitivity: 1.0V RMS. Input impedance: 200k ohms. Power requirements: 115/230V, 50/60Hz.
Dimensions: 14.5" (370mm) W by 7" (180mm) H by 19" (490mm) D. Weight: 55 lbs (25kg).
Finishes: Black or silver.
Serial Numbers Of Units Reviewed: M150-1059 & 1060.
Price: $5495/pair.…
Sidebar 2: Who Am I?
When I got to high school, I joined the debate team. (To intimidate the competition, my debate partner and I used to wear bow ties. It worked.) One day, during practice, a varsity debater who was also an audiophile saw me reading Stereo Review and berated me for reading such a "low-class rag." Condemnation and hyperbole come easily to high school debaters. A few days after chastising me, he came up to me and said, almost apologetically, "Here—this is a real audio magazine," and handed me a stack of his father's back issues of the old digest-format Stereophile.
…
Sidebar 3: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Theta Miles CD player via S/PDIF output; Benchmark DAC1 D/A converter; Sony Vaio laptop running Vista and Sony Sound Forge 9; M-Audio Fast Track Ultra USB interface.
Power Amplifiers: Pass Labs Aleph 3 & XA30.5, Manley Stingray iTube.
Loudspeakers: Revel Performa F30, Totem Acoustic Forest, Klipsch Palladium PB-17B.
Cables: Digital: Stereovox HDXV coaxial. Interconnect: Sain Line Systems Pure & Reference (both balanced). Speaker: Kimber BiFocal XL. AC: Sain Line Systems Reference.—Erick Lichte
Sidebar 4: Measurements
I examined the Rogue M-180'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.
With two output-transformer taps, two output operating modes (triode and ultralinear), and two inputs (unbalanced and transformer-coupled balanced), the M-180 is basically eight amplifiers in one chassis. After checking the bias, I performed a complete set of measurements from each tap…
We murder to dissect.—William Wordsworth
Tice Clock: Are there two more loaded words in all of hi-fi?
For those too young to know: In 1990, an audio manufacturer named George Tice brought to market a $350 accessory that could improve the sound of any domestic music system, simply by being connected to an AC outlet in the same room—or so he claimed. But the claim was incredible, because the product appeared to be nothing more than a rebadged RadioShack digital alarm clock to which an invisible "proprietary treatment" had been applied. Stereophile borrowed and tested various…
While listening to the first four songs on the album, I worked the switch a dozen times. My wife's responses all came within three or four seconds of my moving the switch, and only twice did she fail to notice a change. She gave no false positives, which is to say she never declared that the sound had been changed when in fact the switch had not been thrown. And with 100% consistency, Janet preferred the sound with the Qx4 switched on. Asked to describe the sound without the Qx4, she spoke a few simple words—with her hands cupped around her mouth.
I literally thank God every day that I…
Sidebar: Contacts
Ayre Acoustics, Inc., 2300-B Central Avenue, Boulder, CO 80301. Tel: (303) 442-7300. Fax: (303) 442-7301. Web: www.ayre.com.
Nordost Corporation, 200 Homer Avenue, Ashland, MA 01721. Tel : (800) 836-27501, (508) 881-1116. Fax: (508) 881-6444. Web: www.nordost.com.
Quantum Resonant Technology, 1507 Seventh Street #270, Santa Monica, CA 90401. Web: www.quantumqrt.com.
Transparent Audio, Industrial Park Road, Saco, ME 04072. Tel: (207) 284-1100. Fax: (207) 284-1101. Web: www.transparentcable.com.
Not being fond of self-flagellation, I don't usually do analog. I am not a fuddy-dudley, nor am I especially fremerous.
Ivor Tiefenbrun, founder of Linn, told me 25 years ago that CD players were fine for "little old ladies with shaky fingers." I am neither a lady nor little. And so far, I am not shaky. But I'm too old to fuss much with LPs, which I regard as a flawed medium in its own right and worthy of respect but not veneration. Still, I remain analog-retentive.
Most preamps these days do not offer onboard phono stages. If they do, it's an option that's not always…