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Although the IDAT implements its filters with the same the Motorola DSP56001 Digital Signal Processing (DSP) chips found in other custom-filter processors, they are used in a unique way. To understand how the IDAT's filter works, a little background in digital filters is helpful. Digital filters come in two varieties, Infinite Impulse Response (IIR) and Finite Impulse Response (FIR). IIR filters can be optimized for time-domain performance; they can have less ringing, overshoot, and pre-echo than FIR types. This makes them ideal for processing waveforms with steep attacks—like musical…
First, the IDAT's overall perspective was somewhere between the No.30's laid-back ease and the Gen.III's more forward and incisive character. The IDAT was more upbeat, energetic, and driving; the No.30 was more subtle, refined, and had greater treble resolution. More on this later.
There was, however, one aspect of the IDAT's presentation that grabbed me right away: an extraordinary ability to convey the music's rhythmic qualities. This characteristic was unmistakable, and clearly the best heard from any digital processor. There was a cohesion, a fundamental rightness to the music's…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: 21-bit digital/analog converter. Digital filtering: 8x-oversampling DSP-based "Intelligent" design. D/A conversion: four 20-bit DACs per channel in "Class-A Data Scheme," balanced in digital domain. Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz +0, –0.3dB. THD+noise: less than 0.01%, 20Hz–20kHz (no level specified). Output impedance: 300 ohms unbalanced, 600 ohms balanced. Jitter: less than 100ps RMS, no periodic jitter. Inputs: coaxial on RCA jack, Toslink optical, ST-type optical (one each). Analog outputs: one unbalanced stereo pair on RCA jacks, one balanced…
Sidebar 2: Review System
The IDAT was driven by the Theta Data II transport via its ST-type optical output, or a Museatex CD-D deck through a coaxial connection. The new Proceed PDT 3 transport also drove the IDAT via its ST-type optical output.
Loudspeakers were Hales System Two Signatures (with and without the Muse Model 18 subwoofer) driven by VTL 225W Deluxe monoblocks or a Mark Levinson No.23.5.
Loudspeaker cables were 3' runs of bi-wired AudioQuest Sterling and Midnight. Interconnects included Expressive Technologies IC-2, AudioQuest Diamond, and AudioQuest Lapis (…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
As John Atkinson wrote in the December 1992 issue of Stereophile about the relationship between measurement and sound quality ("If It Sounds Good..." p.15) a product should offer good engineering as well as good sound. This was certainly the case with the IDAT: its measured performance was superb.
The IDAT's output level when decoding a full-scale, 1kHz sinewave was 3.094V (left channel) and 3.122V (right) when driving a 100k ohm load. This is nearly 3.8dB higher than the standard 2V output level. From the balanced outputs, I measured 4.669V (left channel)…
Ryan Truesdell: Centennial: Newly Discovered Works of Gil Evans
Ryan Truesdell, conductor; 35 musicians including those mentioned in text, plus: Scott Robinson, Charles Pillow, reeds; Greg Gisbert, trumpet; Marcus Rojas, tuba; Romero Lubambo, guitar; Lewis Nash, drums
ArtistShare AS0114 (CD). 2012. Ryan Truesdell, prod.; James Farber, eng. DAD. TT: 74:18
Performance *****
Sonics ****½
Ryan Truesdell, conductor; 35 musicians including those mentioned in text, plus: Scott Robinson, Charles Pillow, reeds; Greg Gisbert, trumpet; Marcus Rojas, tuba; Romero Lubambo, guitar; Lewis Nash, drums
ArtistShare AS0114 (CD). 2012. Ryan Truesdell, prod.; James Farber, eng. DAD. TT: 74:18
Performance *****
Sonics ****½
It is dreamlike when the opening track, "Punjab," begins so softly, with the tapping of a tabla. Exotic woodwinds, perhaps English horn and bassoon, murmur in the left channel, whisper in…
Stop me if you've heard this: On January 10, at Avery Fisher Hall in New York's Lincoln Center, a performance of Mahler's Symphony 9, led by conductor Alan Gilbert, was stopped in its tracks by the ringing of an iPhone.
It wasn't just any part of the Mahler Ninth: It happened during the exceedingly quiet closing measures of the final movement.
It wasn't just any symphony orchestra: It was the New York Philharmonic, which Gustav Mahler directed during the last two years of his life.
It wasn't just any interruption: According to Paul Pelkonen, an insightful blogger on all…
Steve Gritzan stands before the beautiful green gates of his shop, Iris Records, at 114 Brunswick Street in Jersey City, NJ.
Initially, I had planned on enjoying a low-key Record Store Day, visiting my local independent shop, Iris Records, and simply leaving it at that. But things never go the way I plan. The allure of J&R Music World in Lower Manhattan, just a short trip across the Hudson, was too great to resist. And if I was going to be in Manhattan, how could I not head over to In Living Stereo? The hi-fi shop was hosting an all-day event with live music, sales on used records,…
Photo: Aiyana Elliott
Even when Loudon Wainwright III (left in photo with Ramblin' Jack Elliot) was a young man he was writing autobiographical songs, and his old themes of family, sex, and death resonate more deeply on his new record, Older Than My Old Man Now. He usually performs solo, armed with just an acoustic guitar or a banjo, but most of his recordings present more heavily produced versions of LWIII's music. When I chatted with LWIII in late April I wanted to explore that dichotomy and how those transformations take place.
Steve Guttenberg: The on-stage Loudon is a very…
B.M.C. Audio GmbH (the initials stand for Balanced Music Concept) designs its high-performance audio products in Germany, where the company was founded in 2009, and has them manufactured in its own wholly owned factory in China. The design team is headed by Carlos Candeias, whose earlier designs included a belt-driven CD transport for C.E.C. and, for Aqvox, a high-performance, current-gain–based, balanced phono preamplifier that's reasonably priced. These have won him a lot of attention, and made him something of a celebrity in certain sectors of the audiophile world.
Candeias has…