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Chord Chordette Gem D/A processor Manufacturer's Comments

Manufacturer's Comments

Editor: Wow, did you guys ever miss the point of the Chordette Gem!

No one said Bluetooth is the "perfect" medium for "the audio perfectionist." While that slant perhaps makes your article more interesting to read, unfortunately it has caused you to completely miss the point of this product.

There are millions of people out there enjoying MP3 and other lo- and hi-rez music formats. Who said you have to be a "perfectionist" to enjoy music? We believe our job is to help people enjoy their music more, however they wish to take it—not to tell them how…

Noah Preminger's <I>Before the Rain</I>

The tenor saxophonist Noah Preminger is just 24, but already he has a distinctive sound: a confident, husky tone, combined with fleet, sometimes fragmentary phrasings: something like Sonny Rollins channeling Leo Konitz.

It's an unlikely mix of homages, but with an equally surefooted and agile band, it works. And on Preminger's latest album, Before the Rain (on the Palmetto label), his band—pianist Frank Kimbrough, bassist John Herbst, and drummer Matt Wilson—is all that.

The disc consists mainly of slow ballads, some originals, some standards, simmered in polyrhythms, cool in…

Listening #97

At the start of my teaching career, I discovered that it was more difficult to maintain order in a sixth-grade classroom early in the day than at any other time. First thing in the morning the kids were noisy and aimless, and banging my open palm on the chalkboard for their attention worked only once. So I gave my students that which most children crave, consciously or un-: a simple, clear explanation of what I expected of them.

What I expected of them—in the short term, at least—was this: They were required to answer three new questions, written for their benefit on that still-vibrating…

Listening #97 Page 2

And I wouldn't have noticed, except that, in their earlier days, those companies fairly crowed about the technologies they would come to abandon!

Seriously now, the question(s): In order to do great things, is it important for a manufacturing company to have a distinct point of view, in the same manner as an individual artist or artisan? And if so, does the abandonment of that point of view necessarily correlate with a decline in quality—of ideas, if not of consumer goods themselves? Compare, contrast.

The number of the color
In the earliest days of the CD, during a time…

Pass Labs INT-150 integrated amplifier

Ten thousand hours. According to Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers: The Story of Success, it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become truly exceptional in your field. For any endeavor, Gladwell contends, what will get you to Carnegie Hall isn't inborn talent but practice, practice, practice.

I can relate. I've worked hard to put in my 10,000 hours as a critical listener, both as an audiophile and as a full-time, professional musician. In one area, however, I feel I'm still working up to that 10,000 hours: writing reviews for Stereophile. Few people can say they've spent 22 hours a…

Pass Labs INT-150 integrated amplifier Page 2

After giving the INT-150 a long break-in, the first music I wanted to hear through it was something containing large dynamic swings. I put on my own recording of Babatunde Olatunji's "Betelehemu," from Cantus's Comfort and Joy: Volume Two (CD, Cantus CTS-1205). The performance of this Nigerian Christmas song features full-throated, jubilant singing and a bevy of percussion instruments, including two djembes, an African drum with a ported opening that acts much like a bass-reflex speaker enclosure. The INT-150 reproduced this track at concert levels with ease. Each sound had adequate body,…

Pass Labs INT-150 integrated amplifier Page 3

"Oh Baby, pass the butter"—Brak (Space Ghost)
In the last year, a bunch of amps have come through my house—integrated and power, solid-state and tubed—and I've learned a lot from listening to each of them. The main lesson has been that anyone who thinks all amps sound the same is inexperienced, unobservant, philosophically brainwashed, deaf, or crazy. During the Pass Labs INT-150's ($7150) stay at my house, it cohabitated with three other amps: the Rogue M180 tube monoblocks ($5495/pair), the Simaudio Moon i3.3 ($3300–$4000, depending on options), and Pass Labs' own XA30.5 ($5500),…

Pass Labs INT-150 integrated amplifier Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Solid-state integrated amplifier with remote control. Volume control: 63dB range in increments of 1dB. Inputs: 2 XLR/RCA, 3 RCA only. Voltage gain: 26dB. Frequency range: 1.5Hz–60kHz. Power output: 150Wpc into 8 ohms (21.8dBW). Maximum output voltage: ±35V. Distortion at 1kHz, full power: 1%. Input impedance: 30k ohms balanced, 20k ohms single-ended. Damping factor: 150. Output noise <300µV. Power consumption: 225W.
Dimensions: 19" (490mm) W by 7" (180mm) H by 19" (490mm) D. Weight: 67 lbs (30.5kg).
Serial Number Of Unit Reviewed: 22624.…

Pass Labs INT-150 integrated amplifier Associated Equipment

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, Rogue Audio M180 monoblocks.
Integrated Amplifier: Simaudio Moon i3.3.
Loudspeakers: Revel Performa F30.
Cables: Digital: Kimber BiFocal X, Stereovox HDVX coaxial, Wireworld Gold Starlight AES/EBU, Silver Sonic D-110 AES/EBU. Interconnect: Sain Line Systems Pure Balanced & Pure.…

Pass Labs INT-150 integrated amplifier Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

To perform the measurements on the Pass Labs INT-150, I 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). Before doing the testing, I ran the INT-150 at one-third its rated power for 60 minutes, which thermally is the worst case for an amplifier with a class-A/B output stage. At the end of that period, the heatsinks along the chassis sides were way too hot to touch. This amplifier needs plenty of ventilation.

The maximum gain at 1kHz was basically to specification, at…