Ben C. of Portland, Oregon achieves a Fonzi level of cool with his new Audiofly AF56 in-ear monitors ($100).
Asa E. of Needham, MA…
search
Nick L. visits the Stereophile New York City office to pick up his brand new Audiofly AF78 in-ear monitors ($200) he won in the Audiofly headphone sweepstakes this summer. His comments throughout the years as Volvic here at Stereophile.com have detailed his love for Simaudio and YBA gear, analog playback, and taking care of his family. Now Stereophile is showing him some love back. Nick was just one of four winners for this sweeps.
"We put music in the souls of our amplifiers. Every amplifier, every tube, every transformer has music in its soul."
Not to be cynical, but I've heard, over the years, countless variations on that sentiment. Not to be naïve, but it rang with somewhat-greater-than-usual sincerity when given voice by 45-year-old Richard Wugang—founder, with his late father, of Virginia-based Sophia Electric, Inc.
Wugang speaks with similar import of his audio upbringing: of the days he spent helping his engineer father disassemble and study some of the classic audio transformers that came their way…
The 91-01 didn't do much to resuscitate the very compressed drums and electric bass on King Crimson's otherwise good-sounding Lizard (LP reissue, Discipline Global KCLP3), a trick I've heard managed by only a small number of amplifiers; yet the Sophias presented the music with enough drama and spatial aplomb that reed instruments, electric piano, and flute popped out of the mix of "Happy Family." (What a great record! I endure in kicking myself for not looking into this band's music the first time around.) The same observations could also be applied to Traffic's enjoyable rag-tag album…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Single-ended, tubed, monophonic power amplifier with 4 and 8 ohm output transformer taps. Tube complement: one 6SN7, one 300B, one 5Z3PA rectifier. Maximum output power: 9W into 8 ohms at 1kHz (9.5dBW). Input impedance: 200k ohms. Input sensitivity for maximum output: 500mV. Output impedance: not specified. Distortion: 0.18% at 1kHz (level not specified). Frequency response: 12Hz–35kHz, ±3dB.
Dimensions: 12.75" (325mm) W by 7.25" (185mm) H by 9.5" (245mm) D. Weight: 35 lbs (15.9kg).
Serial numbers of units reviewed: 002224, 002225, 002248,…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Garrard 301, EMT 997, Thorens TP 14 tonearms; EMT OFD 25 & TSD 15 70th Anniversary pickup heads; Ortofon Cadenza Red, Miyajima Premium BE II mono cartridges.
Digital Sources: Meridian Explorer, Wavelength Proton USB D/A converters; Apple iMac G5 computer running Apple iTunes v.11.0, Decibel v.1.2.11 playback softwares; Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player.
Preamplification: Hommage T2 step-up transformer; Shindo Vosne-Romanee & Masseto preamplifiers.
Power Amplifiers: Shindo Corton-Charlemagne monoblocks, Fi 421A.
…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the Sophia Electric 91-01 300B using 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). I started off measuring serial no.002225 using the tubes designated for that amplifier. Something appeared to be very wrong. Fig.1 plots this sample's THD+noise percentage against output power into 8 ohms, taken from the 8 ohm output-transformer tap. While its THD+N is reasonably low at a level of a few tens of milliwatts, the Sophia clips (defined as when the THD+N reaches 1%) at just…
Lindell Audio, a Swedish professional-audio company, was founded in 2010 by recording engineer Tobias Lindell, and claims to offer equipment "by engineers, for engineers." Tobias Lindell specifies the features and functions that he wants each product to incorporate; the actual circuit designs are by others. Although Lindell's corporate headquarters are in Sweden, the products are manufactured in China, and are competitively priced.
Lindell makes rack-mount and "lunchbox" compressors, limiters, and microphone preamplifiers. They also make a 32-bit/192kHz digital-to-analog converter, as…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid-state power amplifier with class-A output stage. Inputs: one pair balanced on XLRs. Maximum output power: 20Wpc into 8 ohms (16dBW). Frequency response: 10Hz–100kHz, ±1.5dB. Signal/noise ratio: >100dB.
Dimensions: 18.8" (483mm) W by 3.5" (90mm) H by 17.4" (445mm) D.
Serial number of review sample: 54046.
Price: $1599.
Manufacturer: Lindell Audio, Utmarksvägen 6, 44239 Kungälv, Sweden. Tel: (46) 735-35-89-79. Web: www.lindellaudio.se. US distributor: RAD Distribution, PO Box 748, Tallman, NY 10982. Tel: (914) 523-5247. Web:…
Sidebar 2: Review System
I put the AMPX into the system I wrote about in my August 2013 column—Parasound Halo CD 1 CD player, Bricasti M1 DAC, Opera Callas speakers—checked all the connections, turned down the volume on the Bricasti, and pressed the AMPX's power switch. Nothing blew up, which is always a relief.—John Marks
Sidebar 3: Measurements
Given that he's an experienced record producer, it's not surprising that John Marks keeps an eye on the world of pro audio. In his December "The Fifth Element" column, he enthused over the performance of the Lindell AMPX power amplifier ($1599) from Sweden, which has a class-A output stage and offers 40W into 8 ohms. "The AMPX was unfailingly musical, sounding both powerful and revealing," JM wrote. Some aspects of its performance reminded him of Plinius's 8150 integrated amplifier: "a liveliness that was never undisciplined or 'electronic,' and its top-to-bottom…