Five songs I've listened to with John Marks
1) Kaaren Erickson singing Richard Strauss's "Morgen," at the Consumer Electronics Show, perhaps 1999 or 2000, on a $19,000 pair of Audio Note bookshelf loudspeakers modeled after the Snell E/III, driven by the Audio Note tube integrated amplifier, which then cost about $69,000. The thing I love about hi-fi is the rare moment of magic. Pushing electricity through valves and wires, into a loudspeaker that can tease sound out of the air, and voices, and music. Ms. Erickson was there, with us, in the room that day. A more special musical and…
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So I sent Lauridsen an e-mail that began "Stop me if you've heard this one . . ." His reply was not long in coming, and I swear I heard, from more than 3000 miles away, the sound of palm impacting on forehead. To say the least, he liked the idea, and despite being on his summer vacation, began work on it right away.
In a few weeks, Morten sent me a .pdf of the score in its then stage of typesetting. I was shocked and humbled to see that he had dedicated the new work to .†.†. me. So as far as I am concerned, I have already received a great and rare Christmas present. The final score,…
The good news is that "So Do I" is a really wonderful, evocative track. The bad news is that the rest of the CD is mostly dross. Bleeding-pony-tail, hard-left political propaganda. Moore must be the last person on the planet who thinks of Fidel Castro as a humanitarian. I wonder if Moore knows how Castro's regime treated and treats homosexuals? Prison and torture, mostly. (Improper Conduct, a documentary about the Cuban concentration camps—yes, concentration camps—for gays, won the Best Documentary Audience Award at the 1984 San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.) So: I…
Thirty years have not diminished the beauty and elegance of Oracle's Delphi turntable. In my opinion, it still ranks among the best-looking turntables ever made. I bought an original Mk.I, used, in 1982, and very positively reviewed the Delphi Mk.V in the December 1997 Stereophile.
In its three decades the Delphi has undergone many upgrades both technical and aesthetic. Not surprisingly, so has the price. The Mk.II Delphi sold for $1250 in 1986; the Delphi Mk.VI with Turbo power supply and dedicated power cord now sells for $8500, which, in today's market, I think is reasonable…
Oracle's Micro Vibration Stabilizer silicone damping system was designed to diminish, as much as possible, all of these potential problems without reducing the spring suspension's effectiveness. It sounded as if it was working as intended. I could hear the Delphi Mk.VI with MVSS system engaged or not by rotating the three Delrin paddles in and out of the silicone and listening each way. Oracle says that 3.25 turns' worth down into the fluid sounds best. I took their word for it and compared that setting with 0.0 turns.
The suspension's ability to isolate the system from…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Belt-drive turntable. Speeds: 331/3 & 45 rpm. Built-in drive electronics; electronically controlled speed adjustment (±5%). Finish: silver and black (other finishes available at extra cost).
Dimensions: 20" W by 15" D by 5.5" H (w/o arm). Weight: 28 lbs.
Price: $8500 without tonearm.
Manufacturer: Oracle Audio Technologies, 6136 Blvd. Bertrand Fabi, Suite 101, Sherbrooke, Quebec J1N 2P3, Canada. Tel: (819) 864-0480. Fax: (819) 864-9641. Web: www.oracle-audio.com.
Headphone listening is hot these days, due not only to the ubiquity of the iPod as a music source but also because it is possible to get state-of-the-art headphone playback without having to have stupidly bottomless pockets. A plethora of affordable high-quality headphone amplifiers are available, and high-performance 'phones can be had for a few hundred dollars. Used with a computer or iPod to play uncompressed WAV or AIF files or losslessly compressed FLAC or Apple Lossless (ALAC) files, a headphone-based system can offer the audiophile on a budget seriously good sound.
My own…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: In-ear headphones with custom earmolds, 1/8" (3.5mm) stereo plug, and optional Ambience feature. Drive-units: 6 balanced armatures with three-way crossover. Frequency range: 20Hz–18kHz. Sensitivity: 110.6dB SPL at 1kHz. Efficiency: 115.6dB/m. Impedance: 21 ohms at 1kHz. Noise isolation: 26dB.
Dimensions: Weight: 1 oz. Cable length: 48" (1220mm); 64" (1626mm) available for $45 as an accessory.
Serial Number Of Unit Reviewed: 3511-1.
Price: $1350 plus custom earmold fee; includes personalized aluminum carrying case and cleaning tool. Optional…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Apple iPod 160GB, iPod Touch; Ray Samuels Emmeline The Tomahawk portable headphone amplifier; Benchmark DAC1 D/A converter–headphone amplifier driven by S/PDIF optical output of MacBook laptop running iTunes 10 and Pure Music 1.4; CEntrance DACport portable headphone amplifier driven by USB output of MacBook.
Headphones: Sennheiser HD650, Ultimate Ears UE-5c.—John Atkinson
Sidebar 3: Measurements
Determining a pair of headphones' optimal frequency response is neither obvious nor trivial, and is compounded by the fact that I lack a microphone small enough to insert in my ears. The only parameter of headphones that I measure, therefore, is their electrical impedance, to determine how difficult they are to drive. To take these readings, I inserted the Ultimate Ears 'phones in my ears so that they had the correct acoustic loading.
The Ultimate Ears 18 Pros' impedance and electrical phase are shown in fig.1. The impedance meets the 21-ohm specification…