Analog Sources: Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn,Cobra, Castellon turntable, tonearm, stand; Graham Engineering Phantom II tonearm; Ortofon A90, Lyra Titan i, Miyajima Premium BE mono cartridges.
Digital Sources: Playback Designs MPS-5 SACD/CD player/DAC, Camelot Roundtable Anagram Technologies DAC, BPT-modified Alesis Masterlink hard-disk recorder, Benchmark ADC1 A/D converter, Meridian Sooloos music server, Mac mini computer running Pure Music software.
Preamplification: Einstein Audio Turntable's Choice, Esoteric E-03 phono preamplifiers; darTZeel…
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I mostly used Stereophile's loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system to perform the measurements on the Ayre Acoustics DX-5 (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 and the Miller Audio Research Jitter Analyzer. I have CDs, DVD-As, and SACDs with test signals, but as of yet I have no Blu-ray test disc. However, it is safe to assume that the Ayre DX-5's performance with 24-bit audio stored on BD-Audio discs will be the same as with 24-bit DVD-As.…
Back in early August, when we were still in the middle of a stunning summer heat wave, I received an interesting call from a man named David Garrett. Garrett explained that he had spent the last 13 years operating his own interior design company, but was looking to change directions and was most excited about his new venture—a simple, sturdy, modular LP shelving system called Nomad Crates.
I was interested, but what really charmed me was Garrett’s attitude, his enthusiasm. “The best part has been the interaction with music lovers,” he said. “The passion is great. I just think…
I still remember 315 Bowery as the dank, old punk club, with the wobbly bar stools and the awful sound system. Last time I was there, I sat in a lopsided booth, in a pool of beer, and had my ears blown out by relentless guitars and a singer dressed in rags. I crouched down into the booth and tried to hide from the sound that came erupting from the old, abused speakers. But I came to the party late. By the time I made it to CB’s, the magic was already gone. The place was an echo of punk rock, a memory of a revolution, a museum shop.
That was a long time ago, and the place is much…
Today’s social networking is a joke, or worse: A death knell. Modern technology and the Internet seem determined to bring humankind to a state of complete separateness, determined to destroy civilization, to destroy our ability to fully connect and properly communicate.
We have eyes to see, but we refuse to use them. We have mouths to speak, but we choose instead to text, to tweet, to “like.” As our language deteriorates into acronyms, initialisms, and emoticons, we move deeper into cyberspace and deeper into ourselves, and farther from the material world. We spend our days…
My column on the best jazz albums of 2010 is in today’s edition of
Slate, replete with strategically selected 30-second sound clips, illustrating my points (to the extent—very limited—that 30-second clips can do that). Here’s the list, minus the mini-essays and the sound clips, but I’ve written about all of these albums over the past year in this blog.
1. Jason Moran, Ten (Blue Note).
2. Keith Jarrett & Charlie Haden, Jasmine (ECM).
3. Geri Allen, Flying Toward the Sound (Motema).
4. Dave Douglas, Spark of Being (Greenleaf).
5. Fred Hersch, Whirl (Palmetto).
6.…
Every now and then, I hear people complaining about the lack of good, new music. I figure these people just aren’t paying attention, or they’re looking in the wrong places, because I have the opposite problem: I am overwhelmed by all the good music there is to explore. I’m so blinded by good music that “bad” music doesn’t even show up on my radar. Just about everything I hear is at least interesting, if not a potential “Record to Die For.” My simple advice on this matter: Identify the thing that makes you happy, and then go deeper into it. And when you think you’ve explored it all, look…
Wes Phillips tried the Etymotic Research Custom-Fit earmolds in December 2010 (Vol.33 No.11):
In my review of Etymotic Research's hf5 and hf2 in-ear headphones in the August 2010 Stereophile, I mentioned that the company was about to offer custom earmolds via its Custom-Fit program, which would produce custom eartips for its headphones via a nationwide network of audiologists, for a cost of about $100/pair. Once the master molds have been made, additional pairs of earmolds are available at a discount.
I'd had earmolds made previously, first for my original pair of Etymotic ER-4s,…
The first part of a six-part BBC documentary narrated by the late John Peel
Born in January 1941, Don van Vliet, aka Captain Beefheart, died Friday, December 17, 2010, of complications related to multiple sclerosis.
Even though he gave up music in 1982 (beginning a successful career as a reclusive artist until hampered by the onset of multiple sclerosis), Captain Beefheart left an important and influential musical legacy.
Safe As Milk, the 1967 debut album, didn't exactly burst onto the music scene, but it did create some cult interest, even amongst students like me…
The Cello Suites: J.S. Bach, Pablo Casals, and the Search for a Baroque Masterpiece, by Eric Siblin (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2009); hardcover, 318 pp. $24.
In his lifetime, J.S. Bach (1685–1750) was an obscure figure. He never lived in a major city, he didn't work in the musical form—opera—that in his era could propel a composer to stardom, and his style seemed antiquated to many. Bach saw a mere nine of his compositions published; when his consummate masterwork, The Art of the Fugue, appeared the year after he died, it sold just 30 copies.
Eric Siblin includes these…