A FollowUp by Sam Tellig appeared in February 2001 (Vol.24 No.2): I have heard upsampling now in three different systems: with the Dodson DA-217 MK2-D digital processor in the listening lair of my friend, Lars; with the dCS Elgar at Dick Sequerra's place; and in my own listening room, with the MSB Link DAC III, equipped with optional upsampling board. Especially good news is the fact that upsampling is available so cheaply—as a $299 option for the already-cheap MSB Link DAC III, for instance.
Now I want to make it clear that I have heard no one claim that upsampling makes a…
PS Audio's first product, back in 1973, was a standalone phono stage; more recently, their PCA-2 preamp had an optional phono board. The GCC-100 integrated amplifier that I review this month has no room inside for a phono board, so they've gone back to producing a separate phono stage: the GCPH ($995). Like the other products in PS Audio's current line, this one is based on the Gain Cell, one module on the input side connecting to the cartridge, followed by a passive RIAA curve (with a claimed accuracy of 0.1dB over the 40dB range of the curve), and another Gain Cell on the output side.…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid-state MM/MC phono preamplifier with variable gain and switchable loading. RIAA accuracy: ±0.1dB. Voltage gain: 42/48/54/60dB (unbalanced); 48/54/60/66dB (balanced). Input impedance: 100/500/1k/47k ohms. Output impedance: 100 ohms
Dimensions: Not noted.
Serial Number Of Unit Reviewed: Not noted.
Price: $995. Approximate number of dealers: 94. Warranty: 3 years, limited.
Manufacturer: PS Audio, 4826 Sterling Drive, Boulder, CO 80301. Tel: (720) 406-8946. Web: www.psaudio.com.
If you missed Part 1 of this article (Stereophile, January 2005), or it has faded in your memory, here's a résumé. (Readers who recall Part 1 with crystalline clarity, please skip to paragraph four.) The accurate measuring of loudspeakers requires that the measurements be taken in a reflection-free environment. Traditionally, this has meant that the speaker be placed atop a tall pole outdoors or in an anechoic chamber. Both of these options are hedged around with unwelcome implications of cost and practicality. To overcome these and allow quasi-anechoic measurements to be performed in normal…
Just to remind you how much better these results are than I would have obtained using a conventional measurement setup in the confines of my listening room at home, fig.5 shows the same data plotted on the same scales and at the same settings, but processed using a 6ms time window rather than the 42ms or so achieved in the sports hall.
Fig.5 By way of contrast, this—on the same scales and with the same settings—is the equivalent to figs. 4 and 5 that would be obtained using the author's listening room for the measurement.
Responses
Although I made the point early in…
I had hoped that figs.8 and 9 would evince further changes due to the addition of stand resonances, but in the event there is no more than a hint of additional resonance activity. (Perhaps I should have chosen a less rigid and well-damped stand as an example.) Even with a 42ms time window, the frequency resolution in these measurements is no better than 24Hz, which may not be sufficient to clarify all the speaker/stand resonant behavior at lower frequencies. This is confirmed by fig.12, which shows the result of processing the simulated impulse response used in Part 1 with a 42ms time window…
What fascinates me about the High End are the electric personalities behind it. Manufacturers typically invest so much of themselves in the products they make. It's a divine madness—they do it because they have to. They're driven to it with a real sense of mission and excellence. But God forbid you criticize any of their offspring...ooo-la-la! The Classé Omega may be manufactured in Canada but it reflects the nature of its creator, Mike Viglas. He's from Greece, you see, a classic Mediterranean guy. Let's say that Mike's got a serious case of joie de vivre. He's not hung up about it.…
The turn-on relays were the only pedestrian touch in an otherwise elegant and well-engineered package, and sounded like something out of a mass-market receiver. The Boulder 2050 monoblocks that I reviewed last September (Vol.21 No.9), in contrast, turn on with silky, expensive-sounding relays. The Boulders also cost $59,000/pair! I laughed in recognition when I first heard the relays clacking through their startup routine. Canadian through and through. The Omega circuit is symmetrical from input to output. Each input is a matched pair of low-distortion, low-capacitance JFETs with MOSFET…
The Omega was more relaxed, less stern and commanding. Its bass sounded huge, if not the deepest in the world. The midrange was seductive, the highs sweet and beckoning, the soundstage always large and well populated. Romance was always in the air with the Omega—the perfect amp for Romeo bachelors on the prowl! But then I rotated the outer two pairs of Studio Traps to show their more reflective surfaces to the drivers. That "Fine Tune" all but eliminated the Omega's slight reticence at the very top of its frequency range. Carefully matched with the finest cables and associated components…
Specifications
Description: Solid-state stereo power amplifier. Rated output power: 450Wpc into 8 ohms (26.5dBW), 900Wpc into 4 ohms (26.5dBW), 1800Wpc into 2 ohms (26.5dBW); 1600W into 8 ohms (32.0dBW), bridged mono; 3000W into 4 ohms (31.8dBW), bridged mono. Sensitivity: 1.3V in for rated output. Input impedance: 16k ohms. Output impedance: 0.017 ohms. Voltage gain: 29.02dB. Frequency response: 20Hz-20kHz, !X0.1dB. Signal/noise ratio: 135dB ref. rated output. THD+N: 0.002%. Serial number of unit reviewed: 0200042.
Dimensions: 20.5" W by 12.25" H by 28.75" D. Weight: 250 lbs…
