Description: Tubed integrated amplifier. Tube complement: four 6SN7, four KT88 or EL34. Power output: 50Wpc into 8 ohms (17dBW), 1% THD. Bandwidth: 4Hz–80kHz, ±0.3dB, at 1W; 9Hz–52kHz, ±1dB, at 50W. Signal/Noise Ratio: >90dB (A-weighted). Voltage Gain: 30dB (31.1x) at maximum volume. Distortion: 0.05% at 1W, 0.2% at 10W, 1% at full power (50W). Power consumption: 230W maximum.
Dimensions: 16.9" (430mm) W by 7.9" (200mm) H by 16.4" (420mm) D. Weight: 59.4 lbs (27kg).
Serial Number Of Units Reviewed: 210213, 210221.
Price: $2995. Approximate number…
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Sidebar 1: Specifications
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Theta Miles (S/PDIF output), Bel Canto CD2 (with VBS1 power supply) CD players; Benchmark DAC1 & DAC1 HDR, Bel Canto DAC 3.5VB, CEntrance DACport D/A converters; Sony Vaio laptop computer.
Power Amplifiers: Pass Labs Aleph 3 & XA30.5, Plinius SA103; Rogue Audio M180 monoblocks.
Integrated Amplifiers: Pass Labs INT-150, Simaudio Moon i3.3.
Loudspeakers: Revel Performa F30.
Cables: Digital: Stereovox HDVX, Silver Sonic D-110 AES/EBU, Wireworld Gold Starlight AES/EBU. Interconnect: Sain Line Systems Pure (single-ended…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
To perform the measurements on the Mystère ia21, I mostly used Stereophile's loan 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.
As Erick Lichte mentioned, he sent me the first sample of the ia21 (S/N 210213) after his preliminary auditioning, as there seemed to be something wrong. I carried out a full set of tests with the amplifier, and yes, one channel was offering around ten times the distortion of the other…
Thinksound ts02 in Black Chocolate finish.
I haven’t had much luck with in-ear headphones.
Kelli’s Etymotic ER-6i earphones ($99) offered a well-balanced sound, with satisfying bass and natural highs, but I found them extremely uncomfortable and I had a difficult time getting them to fit properly in my ear canals. I liked Shure’s SE210 ($149.99) and SE115 ($139.99), but they felt large and heavy in my ears, and friends often balked at their prices. Don’t get me started about the V-MODA Remix Metal in-ears ($99.99); their highs were so pronounced and glaring and bass so completely…
Sunday, March 27, 8pm: Sonic Youth, Yoko Ono, Mike Patton, Sean Lennon, Cibo Matto, Mephista, Marc Ribot, Uri Caine, and Aleph Trio—awesome line-up!—will perform at Miller Theater (2960 Broadway, NYC) in a Japan Benefit Concert.
“The tragedy and devastation is really overwhelming,” says John Zorn, who has organized and will host the evening. “I’ve always felt a strong personal connection to Japan, and I’m just glad to be able to do my part to help. It should be an amazing night.”
Both the performers and the theater are donating their services, ensuring that 100%…
Pinetop Perkins at SXSW 2011
Many years ago, when all of the South by Southwest seminars and panels were located inside the Hyatt Hotel across Town Lake from downtown Austin, I tottered in from a long night of music and revelry, and stood waiting for one of the glass elevators that ran up and down one side of the hotel’s giant atrium. When the car arrived the doors swung open to reveal Mississippi blues piano player Pinetop Perkins who according to my math had to be in his early Eighties then, and who, with a mixture of teeth and gold in his mouth, was flanked by two beautiful and much…
Strain-gauge phono cartridges are rarely made and seldom heard; for most vinyl fans, they are more myth than fact. Panasonic once made one, as did Sao Win, but those were decades ago. I've heard about those two models for years but have never seen, much less heard one.
As if he's not got enough to do building his extensive lines of moving-iron cartridges, preamplifiers, amplifiers, and speakers, Soundsmith's Peter Ledermann also makes a full line of strain-gauge cartridge systems available with a choice of six user-replaceable stylus profiles. I believe the Soundsmith is the only strain-…
Magnet-based cartridges, MM or MC, are devices that are sensitive to velocity, which is measured as distance over time; their electrical output is directly proportional to the stylus's speed as it's moved back and forth by the zigs and zags in the groove. By contrast, strain-gauge and piezo-electric (crystal or ceramic) cartridges are sensitive to displacement, without regard to time. Move the stylus in such a system the same distance, whether very slowly or very quickly, and the electrical output will be the same.
Magnet-based cartridges are very sensitive to how quickly or slowly the…
You could use the Musical Surroundings Fozgometer azimuth-alignment device and The Ultimate Analogue Test LP (LP, Analogue Productions AAPT 1) to precisely set azimuth, but I'm now using a digital oscilloscope that's theoretically more accurate. No more guessing. If you're spending this kind of money on a cartridge, I suggest you either get these devices and learn how to use them (I'll cover the digital oscilloscope in an upcoming column), or find someone who has.
The Strain Gauge's recommended range of VTF is 1.7–1.9gm. Though the cartridge can theoretically track as low as 1gm and as…
The differences between a great MC system and the Strain Gauge can make evaluating different pressings of the same album difficult. Right now I'm listening to the two new Rolling Stones boxes. Tattoo You sounds positively muffled and dynamically dead through the Ortofon A90, but through the Strain Gauge it sounds reasonably alive on top, though still dynamically dead. The life has been compressed out of the new records, though not so the ABKCO box of the earlier Decca/London-era Stones.
I suspect that the Strain Gauge cartridge's displacement-based operating system was in some way…