search

Thinksound ts02 in-ear headphones

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…

Live Music for Japan Relief

Sunday, March 27, 8pm: Sonic Youth, Yoko Ono, Mike Patton, Sean Lennon, Cibo Matto, Mephista, Marc Ribot, Uri Caine, and Aleph Trio&#151awesome line-up!&#151will 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

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…

Soundsmith Strain Gauge SG-200 phono cartridge system

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-…

Soundsmith Strain Gauge SG-200 phono cartridge system Page 2

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…

Soundsmith Strain Gauge SG-200 phono cartridge system Page 3

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…

Soundsmith Strain Gauge SG-200 phono cartridge system Page 4

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…

Soundsmith Strain Gauge SG-200 phono cartridge system Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Strain-gauge phono cartridge with interchangeable styli (6 choices) and dedicated preamplifier and power supply (two 24V DC wall warts, no specifications provided). Styli supplied (both with ruby cantilever): SGS-5 nude line contact (standard, $399.95 if purchased separately), SGS-6 "Contour Optimized" nude line-contact ($499.95 if purchased separately). Recommended vertical tracking force (VTF): 1.7–1.9gm. Compliance: low–medium, depends on VTF, 10–16µm/mN. Frequency range: DC–70kHz. Effective tip mass: 0.30mg, SG-10; 0.32mg, SG-5. Channel…

Soundsmith Strain Gauge SG-200 phono cartridge system Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

Analog Sources: Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn, Cobra, Castellon turntable, tonearm, stand; Graham Engineering Phantom II tonearm, Ortofon A90 cartridge.
Digital Sources: Playback Designs MPS-5 SACD/CD player–DAC, BPT-modified Alesis Masterlink hard-disk recorder, Benchmark ADC1 A/D converter, Sooloos music server, Pure Music software.
Preamplification: Ypsilon VPS-100, Allnic H-3000, Einstein Turntable's Choice phono preamplifiers; darTZeel NHB-18NS preamplifier.
Power Amplifier: Musical Fidelity Titan.
Loudspeakers: Wilson Audio Specialties…

Going to Germany

This morning I received my press badge for High End 2011. The show takes place at the M.O.C. Events Center (Lilienthalallee 40) in Munich, Germany; it opens on Thursday, May 19 and closes on Sunday, May 22.

I was going to write that I don’t know what to expect, but then I thought about it and I realized that I have some ideas: Long days, hard work, lots of hi-fi, potential communication problems, beautiful people, beautiful music, beautiful beer. And that, actually, sounds a lot like home.

The 2011 High End Show in Munich, Germany, will be the first hi-fi show I’ve attended…