Before you lies what I expect is the most comprehensive coverage of CES 2014 "high-performance audio" exhibits available on the Web. Combined with the online coverage at our sister web publications, AudioStream, InnerFidelity, and AnalogPlanet, it gives you far more than a snapshot of the vast array of new audio equipment on active and passive display at CES 2014 and T.H.E. Show. The implied optimism that motivates so much new equipment, and so many innovations, gives signs of strength and renewal in a world where listening habits and means of music distribution are…
search
I first heard Mary Halvorson about four years ago, when she played with Jason Moran and Ron Miles at the Jazz Standard in New York City. I didn’t fully understand what she was doing (I still don’t), but she seemed to be painting some new colors in jazz, or at least in jazz guitar—the ice-crystal intonation, the off-kilter harmonies, the quasi-chords that seemed to dart nowhere till the neon lit up the path in the night.
Since then, I’ve listened to a couple of her CDs. The compositions started out with furtive intrigue and striking imagination, but sometimes, after a couple of minutes,…
Friday–Saturday, January 24–25, 7–9pm: Coup de Foudre (1110 Rue de Bleury, Montréal, QC) will host an event with Philip O’Hanlon of On A Higher Note, US distributor for Luxman, Vivid, and Eclipse TD. O’Hanlon will discuss and demonstrate digital file formats, file conversion, and resolution.
Featured gear will include Luxman’s new C900u and M900u amplifiers, the latter replacing the M800A reviewed by Michael Fremer in November 2008; Luxman’s DA-06 digital-to-analog converter; and Vivid’s G3 Giya loudspeakers, which will be reviewed by John Atkinson in the April 2014 issue of…
James Booker: Classified: Remixed and Expanded
Rounder 11661-9175-1 (2 LPs). 1983/2013. Scott Billington, John Parsons, prods.; Jay Gallagher, eng.; Jonathan Wyner, transfer eng.; David Farrell, remix. ADA. TT: 68:12
Performance *****
Sonics ****½
Before anything else, there's his musicality. No one has ever played the piano like James Carroll Booker III. If the piano is New Orleans' preeminent musical instrument, then Booker is its most talented virtuoso. A child prodigy who went on the road as part of Little Richard's band when he was 14, the Ivory Emperor, the Bronze Liberace, Li'l…
You don't need me to tell you that listening habits are changing. Although those who predict that the end of our beloved home stereo systems is near (footnote 1) have more than a little in common with those who predict the imminent destruction of humankind, there's no question that listening via computers, iPods, and headphones has become the order of the day among a large segment of younger Americans.
We're all familiar with this shift in listening habits. While there's certainly a plus side—more people than ever are listening to music at all hours of day and night—there's also a huge…
Domestic audio is based on two simple processes: transforming movement into electricity and electricity back into movement. Easy peasy.
Audio engineers have been doing those things for ages. Have they improved their craft to the same extent as the people who, over the same period of time, earned their livings making, say, automobiles and pharmaceuticals? I don't know. But if it were possible to spend an entire day driving a new car from 50 years ago, treating diabetes and erectile dysfunction with the treatments that were available 50 years ago, and listening to 50-year-old records on 50-…
Except for the modest aluminum plate to which the tube sockets are fastened, the D'Yquem's casework—the mass and stiffness of which are also elements in the voicing of this and other Shindo models—is formed from steel and finished, on all surfaces, in the company's trademark shade of green. The transformer cover and tube cage share a distinctly sculpted look, with neatly curved edges and ventilation openings that manage to be both functional and attractive. (Unfortunately, the D'Yquems sound considerably better with the tube cages removed: something that's true of every Shindo amp I've…
Last month, I wrote about Light Harmonic's use of Kickstarter to fund the final production and packaging of their Geek Out portable USB DAC–headphone amplifier. The campaign raised $303,061 from 2146 backers. That success led Light Harmonic to create a new division dedicated to mass-market products: LH Labs. The Geek Out would be its first product. (Pre-orders are still being accepted.) LHL's second product would be the Geek Pulse, a "pure class-A" desktop integrated amplifier–DAC capable of handling 32-bit/384kHz PCM files, as well as decoding native DSD64 and DSD128 files. That project, too…
Once an order has been placed, the IC-3 and SC-5 cables typically require 24 hours to ship from Audio Art's San Diego headquarters. However, for an extra $12.50 and an additional 72 hours of shipping time, customers can opt for Audio Art's Premium Burn-In Service. I chose to burn in the cables myself; Rob Fritz recommended that I give them "about 170 hours" before making any critical assessments. Why would it take me almost 100 hours longer to burn in the cables myself? I would be using a steady diet of music, but Fritz uses a Hagerman Technology FryKleaner Professional burn-in generator.…
Sidebar 1: Contacts
Audio Art Cable, 4665 Altadena Avenue, San Diego, CA 92115. Tel: (619) 255-6451. Web: www.audioartcable.com
Parts Express, 725 Pleasant Valley Drive, Springboro, OH 45066. Tel: (800) 338-0531. Web: www.parts-express.com