Analog source: Heybrook TT2 turntable, SME III tonearm, Ortofon SME30H cartridge.
Digital sources: California Audio Labs CL-20 DVD/CD player, Meridian 508-24 CD player, Sony XA-777ES SACD player, Mark Levinson No.360 DAC.
Preamplification: Sonic Frontiers Line-3, Simaudio Moon P-5 preamplifiers; Audiolab 8000PPA phono stage, TacT Audio RCS 2.0 digital EQ/room correction.
Power amplifiers: Bel Canto EVo2, PS Audio HCA-2, Sonic Frontiers Power-3, Classé CAM-350 monoblocks, McCormack DNA-1 Rev.A.
Loudspeakers: Revel Ultima Studio, B&W Nautilus…
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The Nagra PL-L preserved absolute polarity for both unbalanced and balanced signals, its XLRs appearing to be wired with pin 2 hot, the AES/IEC standard. Its input impedance at 1kHz was lower than specified, at 29k ohms, though this will not be a problem. The maximum voltage gain into 100k ohms was 12dB from both sets of outputs, as indicated on the volume control. The calibration of the modulometer was accurate, an indicated "0dB" indeed giving unity gain. The unbalanced output impedance was 36 ohms across most of the audioband, this increasing slightly to 125…
John Atkinson wrote about the Nagra PL-L in June 2008 (Vol.31 No.6):
Back in spring 1997, when Steven Lee of Canorus was visiting me in Santa Fe to help with the recording of Stereophile's Rhapsody CD (STPH010-2), he showed me some advance drawings of what would be the first high-end audio component from the venerable Swiss company Nagra, best-known for its jewel-like tape recorders (footnote 1). The PL-P was to be a full-function, battery-powered preamplifier built into a hardened, anodized, CNC-machined aluminum case with the same dimensions—12" wide (with jacks), 3" tall, and 10" deep—…
Sidebar: JA's Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Ayre C-5xe universal player; Prima Luna ProLogue Eight CD player; Mark Levinson No.30.6, Benchmark DAC 1 USB D/A converters; Logitech (Slim Devices) Transporter WiFi music player with Apple Mac mini running OSX for media storage.
Preamplifiers: Parasound Halo JC 2, Mark Levinson No.380S.
Power Amplifiers: Parasound Halo JC 1, Musical Fidelity 550k Supercharger, Mark Levinson No.33H (all monoblocks).
Loudspeakers: Magico V3, PSB Synchrony One, Avalon Evolution NP2, Totem Acoustic Model One Signature.
Cables: Digital: Kimber…
What if they gave a format war and nobody came?
It could have been so easy. There were hundreds of thousands of audiophiles ready to lead the charge into the wilderness of new high-resolution formats. After more than 10 years' grumbling about the fractured sound of CD and the frustration of finding decent stocks of new LPs, we were primed to support the hi-rez audio future.
And then all format hell broke loose. A format war is never a pretty sight, and early adopters tend to be the bloodiest victims. Survey after survey conducted on www.stereophile.com reveals that Stereophile…
My review of the Audio Research VTM200 monoblock power amplifier elsewhere in this issue drove it home to me big time: Cables are important, and even more important is getting good cable advice from someone who knows and understands the gear you're using.
Jonathan Scull put me in touch with a number of cable manufacturers who were happy to send me samples, and boxes began arriving about a week after I put the amps in the system. I had spoken with Harmonic Technology president Jim Wang, who offered to send a 20' pair of balanced Pro-Silway II interconnects, a 1.5m pair to run between my…
Sidebar: Associated Equipment
Analog source: Simon Yorke, Rega P3 turntables; Graham 2.0, Immedia RPM2, Rega RB300 tonearms; Lyra Parnassus D.C.t, Grado Statement, Lyra Helikon cartridges.
Digital source: Audio Alchemy DDS•Pro CD transport, DTI•Pro 32 resolution enhancer, EAD DSP9000 Mk.3 HDCD D/A processor, Musical Fidelity X-Ray CD player.
Preamplification: Ayre K-1 and Audio Research Reference Two preamplifiers, Audio Research Reference phono section.
Power amplifier: Audio Research VTM200 monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Sonus Faber Amati Homage, Audio Physic Rhea subwoofer.
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Over the years as a reviewer, I have tracked the swings of opinion and popularity of various audio ideas and technologies. Amid a sea of advanced designs that achieve powerful technical performance and laudable specifications, I'm reminded of a major blind listening test of 18 power amplifiers that I set up for the long-since-defunct UK magazine Hi-Fi for Pleasure back in 1975. We had "advanced technology" then: the transistor amplifier had matured and was well accepted by audiophiles. Prices of the review samples ranged from $300 to $3000 (equivalent to $1000-$10,000 in today's dollars). The…
Fun?
Engineering can explain much about the audio world. However, it is when it can't explain something that the real fun begins. Some aspects of perceived sound quality are not explained by established theory. There is a growing suspicion that some of these aspects---a loss in natural timbre; a duller, less expressive performance; increased aural fatigue; and missing life and energy in reproduced sound---may be consequences of the application of negative feedback.
Engineering can explain much about the audio world. However, it is when it can't explain something that the real fun begins. Some aspects of perceived sound quality are not explained by established theory. There is a growing suspicion that some of these aspects---a loss in natural timbre; a duller, less expressive performance; increased aural fatigue; and missing life and energy in reproduced sound---may be consequences of the application of negative feedback.
It would be a mistake to demonize any particular philosophy. To do so forces people into entrenched positions and…
Art...
One aspect of sound quality reached a focus recently when I received a sample of the Conrad-Johnson ART for review in the UK magazine Hi-Fi News & Record Review. This preamplifier's $15,000 price tag is irrelevant; what's important in this context is its overall attainment.
One aspect of sound quality reached a focus recently when I received a sample of the Conrad-Johnson ART for review in the UK magazine Hi-Fi News & Record Review. This preamplifier's $15,000 price tag is irrelevant; what's important in this context is its overall attainment.
The ART is a technically uncompromised design---by which I mean it has no significant weakness observable by established technical precepts---which should gladden the heart of a measurement diehard. Consider its moderate output impedance, minimal noise, negligible distortion, and the wide, flat frequency…