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In the context of reviewing the CD5004 CD player ($349.99), I thought it would be useful to also listen to its sister component, Marantz's PM5004 integrated amplifier ($449.99), and compare it with its predecessor, the PM5003 integrated (also $449.99), which I reviewed in the January 2010 Stereophile.

It took a good deal of scrutiny to see any differences between the PM5003 and PM 5004. The only thing I found is that the Speaker A and B terminals are reversed on the PM5004. Marantz told me that this is…

To give one last example, I played the SACD-only version of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue with ATC's excellent SCM 11 loudspeakers driven by the Luxman combo, the string bass was robust, the trumpet clear and smooth, there was no tape hiss, the edgy yelps from Coltrane's tenor sax had bite, and the music in general sounded very lively, with great forward propulsion.

Going directly from the Peachtree Nova to Luxman's thrice-as-expensive L-505u…

Description: Single-box universal disc player (doesn't play Blu-ray discs). Compatible Formats: DVD-Audio, DVD-Video, SACD (multichannel, stereo), CD, MP3, Dolby Digital, DTS. Audio DACs: Shannon: CS4392 dual-use (192KHz/24bit) stereo & multi-channel. Fluency (FE DAC): FN1242A dual-use (192KHz/24bit) stereo only. DSD: CS4392 dual-use (2.82MHz/1-bit). Frequency range: 4Hz~–45kHz (DVD-Audio, SACD), 4Hz~–20kHz (CD). Harmonic Distortion: 0.001% (DVD-Audio, CD), 0.002% (SACD). Dynamic Range: 115dB (DVD-audio, SACD), 106dB (CD). Signal/Noise Ratio: 123dB. Power…

Amplification: Luxman L-505u, Peachtree Nova integrated amplifiers; Denon RCD-DX1, Arcam Mini, and Carat I57 CD receivers.
Loudspeakers: Aerial 5B, ATC SCM 11, Harbeth Compact 7, PSB Imagine B, Renaissance Audio MLP-403.5, Wilson Audio Sophia II.
Cables: Kimber Kable DV-30 S/PDIF cable, Kimber Hero interconnects, Cardas Neutral Reference interconnects and speaker cables, Nordost Blue Heaven loudspeaker cables.—John Marks

I used Stereophile's loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system to measure the DU-50 (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 "As We See It"; for some tests, I also used my Audio Precision System One Dual Domain and the Miller Audio Research Jitter Analyzer. I turned off the DU-50's video outputs for all measurements, but did do a few comparisons with them on and off. Neither the character of the noise floor nor the level or spectrum of the jitter appeared to be significantly changed by the video circuitry.

The DU-50's maximum output at…

For the Ghosts Within marks my introduction to the wonderful world of Robert Wyatt. It happened in Denver, Colorado, at around 1am, several hours after the first full day of the 2010 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. I'd taken a break from posting blog entries to flip through the November 2010 issue of my other favorite magazine, The Wire. There, on p.11, I saw a neat, simple ad that…

Of course, there are reasons—not necessarily good ones—why some people in audio have a low opinion of science. The entire hobby/industry suffered a grievous blow a generation or so ago, when too much focus was put on something—how an amplifier measured—that resembled science, and too little on how…

Thinksound is a young company founded by Aaron Fournier and Mike Tunney, who met while working at Tivoli Audio, where Fournier was an audio engineer and Tunney was the creative director. Fournier and Tunney later collaborated on the launch of Sapphire Audio, where Fournier designed loudspeakers and built an important relationship with Cary Christie (cofounder of Infinity and founder of Artison). “A few years ago,” Fournier told me via e-mail, “I decided to take Cary’s advice and stay in China to learn the…