I measured the Arcam FMJ A19 using 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"). Before performing any measurements, I ran the FMJ A19 for an hour at one-third its specified maximum power of 50Wpc into 8 ohms, thermally the worst case for an amplifier with a class-B or -AB output stage. At the end of that period, the internal heatsinks, which are shielded by the top panel, were at 140.3°F (60.2°C). The top panel had a more reasonable temperature of 102.6°F (39.3°C). The THD+…
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Thanks to Art Dudley, Norman Blake's Old and New was one of my three major musical discoveries of 2013. What will 2014 bring? It should be an interesting year, to say the least.
Happy New Year! I hope you’re somewhere warm, like Rincon or San Clemente, taking in a ton of golden sunshine and perhaps enjoying a rum punch. In New York, New Jersey, and much of the rest of the country, the New Year came with several of inches of cold, white snow that fell from the icy sky like the confetti we happily tossed about on New Year’s Eve. This is a perfect day to stay inside and listen to that pile…
If you travel along Route 20 in upstate New York, you might see the hitchhiker my family and I refer to as the Old Soldier—so called because this slightly built man, whose age could be anywhere from 55 to 90, is always dressed in a military uniform from some long-ago campaign. When we first saw him, his topcoat suggested a recent return from Chateau-Thierry; in more recent sightings, the old man has taken to wearing the trim khakis and sharply creased legionnaire cap of the late 1940s—chronological zigzagging that made me think, at first, that this traveler was aging in reverse. That the…
Included on the G-1A's rear panel are input jacks for three line-level sources, plus two pairs of jacks for phono sources, the ones labeled MC (moving coil) addressing an internal pair of step-up transformers. (With the front-mounted input-selector switch set to Phono, one uses a rear-mounted toggle to switch between the separate phono inputs.) For their part, the jacks labeled MM (moving magnet)—which, incidentally, provided sufficient gain for my EMT TSD 15 moving-coil pickup—also offer switch-selectable impedance, with choices of 47k, 70k, and 95k ohms.
The Coffman preamp measures 9.…
In my November 2013 column, I looked at the NuForce AVP-18 multichannel preamplifier-processor ($1095) and the exaSound e28 multichannel DAC ($3299), each of which offers fresh options in its category that break with the predictability of mainstream products. That predictability is the result of market analysis that supposedly tells manufacturers which features users want most. However, it's just as true that users can buy and choose among only those components and features already offered. Many of us are more peculiar in our demands—what's generally offered doesn't always fit our needs.…
Most miniDSP devices can be purchased as functional boards or housed in chassis. In the interests of efficiency, I opted for the latter and chose the 10x10Hd, because it can be used as a multichannel equalizer with both analog and digital inputs and inputs. At an appealing $599 including the 12V power supply (plus $10 for the 10x10 plug-in firmware), the 10x10Hd has eight analog inputs and outputs (both balanced and unbalanced), and a stereo digital input and output (TosLink, S/PDIF, AES/EBU). It also has a USB port for connecting to a Windows PC or Mac, which runs the plug-in.
Once…
Sidebar: Contacts
Illusonic GmbH, Bahnstrasse 23, 8610 Uster, Switzerland. Tel: (41) 43-466-9454. Web: www.illusonic.com
miniDSP Ltd., Unit 1204, Crown Industrial Building, 106 How Ming Street, Kwun Tong, Hong Kong. Tel: (852) 2358-2066. Web: www.minidsp.com
More than a decade ago, Data Conversion Systems, aka dCS, released the Elgar Plus DAC, Purcell upsampler, and Verdi SACD/CD transport, for a total price of $34,000. In 2009 came the Scarlatti—a stack of four components for $80,000, also available individually (see my August 2009 review). The latest variation on the English company's theme are the four Vivaldi components, launched at the end of 2012 for a total price of $108,496.
The Scarlattis improved on the Elgar Pluses in cosmetics and, more important, technical and sonic performance that, in the opinion of many, put it at the top of…
When the Vivaldi Upsampler and DAC are fed audio data via USB or the Upsampler via Ethernet, the incoming sample rate can be anything from 44.1kHz to 192kHz or even DSD. As the Vivaldi Master Clock has two independent groups of word-clock outputs, you can set one to 44.1 and the other to 48kHz; that way, you're less likely to get silence instead of music because the clock frequency doesn't isn't a multiple of the incoming bitstream's frequency. When they are connected by the dual-AES/EBU link, both the Vivaldi Upsampler and DAC correctly switch between the clocks for 44.1kHz and its…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
dCS Vivaldi Upsampling SACD/CD transport: Drawer-loading, dual-laser SACD/CD transport with remote control, PCM outputs, and DXD or encrypted DSD datastream output via dual AES/EBU (XLR). Digital outputs: 3 AES/EBU (XLR), 1 BNC, 1 RCA coaxial S/PDIF; SDIF2, BNC. Word clock In/Out, SUC multipin connector for RS-232 control. Includes BNC and AES/EBU cables.
Dimensions: 17.5" (444mm) W by 7.8" (198mm) H by 17.2" (437mm) D. Weight: 51.1 lbs (23.2kg).
Serial Number of Unit Reviewed: VTT0S21C11D1S079650 (listening), VTT0S21B21D1S019174 (measuring).
Price…