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The Entry Level #26 Page 2

I asked Michael Johnson whether KEF might introduce a more affordable active speaker. He wasn't ready to commit, but he left room for the possibility: "From a marketing perspective, I think that would be really cool."

Keep an eye out for more about the KEF X300A in this magazine, and at our sister site, AudioStream.com. In the meantime, I'll be holding out hope for a $300/pair version of the X300A. What do you say, Jack Oclee-Brown? Can it be done?

Beats vs Bowers & Wilkins
Throughout the travel and the storms and the work, in whatever remaining time I could find, I…

Arcam FMJ D33 D/A processor

As I wrote in my review of the Bricasti M1 D/A processor in February 2012, it seemed a good idea in the late 1980s: upgrade the performance of your CD player by feeding its digital output to an outboard digital/analog processor. British manufacturer Arcam, one of the first companies to see the opportunities in this strategy, introduced their Black Box in 1988. When I reviewed the Black Box in February 1989, I found that its low-level linearity was among the best I had measured at that time for a product featuring the 16-bit Philips TDA1541 DAC chip set. However, that linearity still wasn't…

Arcam FMJ D33 D/A processor Page 2

I used the D33 while finalizing my choices for this issue's "Records 2 Die 4" feature. With the default Burr-Brown digital filter selected, the D33's sound was clean and clear, with excellent low-frequency definition and extension. But after a while, it became clear that the high frequencies had a little bit of "bite." The rosiny edge of the sound of Jacqueline du Pré's cello in Elgar's Cello Concerto, with Sir John Barbirolli and the London Symphony (24/96 Apple Lossless files from HDtracks, transcoded from FLACs), was slightly emphasized, and the soundstage was a little curtailed overall…

Arcam FMJ D33 D/A processor Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Remote-controlled D/A processor with user-selectable digital filters. Digital inputs: AES/EBU, 2 S/PDIF on coax, 2 S/PDIF on TosLink, asynchronous USB 1.1 Class 1, asynchronous USB 2.0 Class 2, Type A port for iPod/iPhone/iPad. Analog outputs: 1 pair balanced on XLRs, 1 pair unbalanced on RCAs. Frequency response: 10Hz–20kHz, +0.1dB/–0.5dB. Signal/noise: >110dB CCIR (unweighted). Harmonic distortion (1kHz): 0.0008% (20Hz–20kHz, unweighted). Maximum output level: 2.2V single-ended, 4.4V balanced. Output impedance: 47 ohms, single-ended; 94 ohms,…

Arcam FMJ D33 D/A processor Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

Analog Sources: Linn Sondek LP12 turntable with Lingo power supply, Linn Ekos tonearm, Linn Arkiv B phono cartridge.
Digital Sources: Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP universal player; Apple 2.7GHz i7 Mac mini laptop running OS10.7, iTunes 10, Pure Music 1.86; Shuttle PC with Lynx AES16 soundcard & dual-core AMD Athlon processor running Windows 7, Foobar 2000, Adobe Audition 3.0; dCS Debussy, Musical Fidelity M1DAC, Logitech Transporter D/A converters; Ayre Acoustics QA-9 USB A/D converter; Empirical Audio Off-Ramp 4 USB-S/PDIF converter.
…

Arcam FMJ D33 D/A processor Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

I examined the Arcam FMJ D33's electrical performance with Stereophile's loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 "As We See It"); for some tests, I also used my vintage Audio Precision System One Dual Domain. The maximum output level at 1kHz was 4.732V from the balanced XLR jacks, 2.184V from the single-ended RCAs, the latter 0.76dB higher than the CD standard's 2V. Both pairs of outputs preserved absolute polarity (ie, were non-inverting). The XLRs are wired with pin 2 hot. The output impedance was a…

Behind the Scenes: <i>What the Brothers Sang</i>

Even though my own band has recorded and released a handful of CDs and EPs, the act of making music remains mysterious and awesome. I love it. I’ll never get tired of watching musicians create.

Here, we get a behind-the-scenes look into the making of Dawn McCarthy and Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s upcoming album, What the Brothers Sang, inspired by the music of the Everly Brothers.

The album was recorded and produced by David Ferguson at Furguson and John Prine’s Butcher Shoppe Studio in Nashville, TN, so you know it sounds good. The video footage, shot by Lara Miranda,…

Hot Off the Presses: 1000 Copies of Stereophile Test CD 1

Stereophile's Assistant Editor Stephen Mejias models the fresh produce

Are you curious to hear J. Gordon Holt's lecture on "Why Hi-Fi Experts Disagree"? Maybe you are yearning for Sam Tellig, the "Audio Anarchist" as identified in the liner notes, to whisper sweet nothings into your ear with his radio-friendly baritone while checking a 1kHz reference tone at –20dB. Or how would you like a dog named Ralph to howl at you while configuring your left and right speakers? All this and more can be found on Stereophile's Test CD 1, now available in the Stereophile eCommerce Store.

Thanks…

Beets

Photo created by reddit user will_evans10199

This morning, I revisited Stereophile's office sample of Beats Studio headphones ($299.95).

At one point, my naive ears loved these headphones. Well not loved.

I had always considered them dark, forcefully colored, and weighty, but I appreciated the bulky physical presence they turned the music into. Johnny Greenwood became JOHNNY GREENWOOD. But now, with nearly three years of working at Stereophile under my belt, I have a more informed ear. The Beats Studio sound distant. They sound veiled. They sound congested. They are noisy…

Cassettivity

Interested in new cassette releases, but don't know where to start? Cassettivity is a cassette-only distribution site, founded by music lover Dave Sandifer. In 2013, a cassette-only distro might seem like an odd venture, but I was delighted to see it: I’ve had a difficult time keeping up with the many new and exciting cassette-only labels&#151they’re often extremely obscure and titles are often extremely limited&#151so an intelligent distribution channel makes good sense.

For the music lover interested in exploring the surprisingly vast and colorful world of new cassette releases…