In Gramophone Dreams #36, I wrote a rave report describing how well Linear Tube Audio's Z10e 12W power amplifier/preamplifier/ headphone amplifier (footnote 1) drove my high-sensitivity Zu Audio Soul Supreme and DeVore Fidelity O/93 floorstanding speakers. I was especially dazzled by how effectively the Z10e drove the Stax SR-009S and Dan Clark Voce electrostatic headphones. I was equally impressed by how well the Z10e played the relatively insensitive 88dB/mW JPS Labs AB-1266 Phi TC headphones. My only disappointment was the Z10e's lack of power and…
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Linear Tube Audio Z10e (A Follow-Up)
The Story of the Grateful Dead, a 14-LP, 8-album collection of Grateful Dead recordings with booklet and deluxe packaging, from Vinyl Me, Please (VMP-A006, 2020), is intended as a curated sampling of the high points in the Dead's extensive catalog. The first seven albums were cut from analog tape, while Without a Net comes from the original digital master. The sound is breathtaking.
I remember buying Live/Dead at an old bookstore on E. 7th Street around the corner from the Fillmore East, run by a grizzled lower–East Side bouquiniste called Max. When I got home, my parents were out, so I…
Joy. It's all about the joy.
Joy manifests during those moments when the critical mind suspends, the lens clears, and only union between you and your experience exists. When joy arises, time stands still, all sense of separation vanishes, and only wonder remains.
Many of us live for those moments. Moments of understanding that transcend verbiage and mental chatter and affirm what is real and eternal about the human condition.
Music offers the opportunity to live in joy for more than a fleeting second. The sense of oneness can last for an entire live performance or…
"Everyone has their own preferences and own tastes," Polychronidis said at the end of our chat. "If someone says their amplifier is the best, it makes me laugh. I like the multicolored diversity of our market, which has products for every taste and every wallet. Some people prefer 8W single-ended amps with 300B tubes, and others buy 1000W [solid-state] amplifiers to do exactly the same thing. We should keep it like this."
We're after the same rainbow's end
Instead of huckleberries, four rotating knobs dominate the Moonriver 404 Reference's front panel: a source selector for four…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Integrated amplifier with class-AB output stage, optional D/A converter and phono stage. Analog inputs: 5 pair RCA (4 line, 1 tape). Optional phono stage on input 1: MM with 40dB gain or MM/MC with 60dB gain. Separate power supplies for analog and digital sections. Analog outputs: 3 pair RCA pre-out (2 variable line, 1 tape). Maximum output power: 50Wpc into 8 ohms (17dBW), 70Wpc into 4 ohms (15.4dBW). Maximum output voltage: 20V RMS, 10Hz–20kHz, 50V peak-to-peak. Frequency response: 10Hz–30kHz, +0/–1dB. THD+N: <0.05% typical, 20Hz–20kHz. Signal/…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital sources: dCS Rossini SACD/CD transport, Rossini DAC, and Rossini Clock; HoloAudio May (Level 3) DAC; Synology 5-bay NAS 1019+; Roon Nucleus+ music server with HDPlex 200 linear power supply; Uptone Audio etherRegen, Small Green Computer Sonore opticalModule, TP-Link gigabit Ethernet media converters plus multimode duplex fiber optic cable (2), Linksys routers (2); Small Green Computer linear power supply and Small Green Computer/HDPlex four-component 200W linear power supply (3); external hard drives, SSD USB sticks, iPad Pro.
Preamplifier: Dan…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
When I received the sample of the Moonriver 404 Reference that Jason Victor Serinus had auditioned, serial number DK201002153RE, it rattled when I unpacked it. I removed the top cover and saw that the amplifier had incurred damage during its transcontinental journey. The heavy toroidal power transformer is mounted on one side of the large printed circuit board that occupies almost all the amplifier's internal space, with two aluminum straps connecting the board to the central internal heatsink to provide the necessary support. The box must have been dropped on its…
Is this all there is to it? I had done some superficial investigations of Volumio online, after the Primo was suggested to me for review. I had learned that the Volumio player software is available for several hardware platforms including Windows, Mac, and Raspberry Pi, but I had not tried it before. I discovered Volumio's reputation as an efficient, Linux-based music player, installable with an SD card on minimal hardware and said to support virtually all music formats and resolutions including DSD and multichannel. But I had not experienced any of this for myself.
When I unpacked the…
The settings menu includes Sources (music libraries, local or networked), Playback Options (choose your output device and configure formats, the volume control, and so on), Appearance (screen color, backgrounds, etc.), Network (addresses, DNS, and so on), System (startup settings, system updates, etc.), Plugins (both those installed and the ones available), Alarm (to use Primo as an alarm clock), Sleep (to set the sleep timer), Shutdown (to power off or restart), and Help (which takes you to Volumio's online documentation). Almost all the options have buttons to open pop-up help. A few…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Network-connected music player and streamer with server software, compatible with network-attached storage. Inputs: USB 2.0, coaxial S/ PDIF. Outputs: stereo unbalanced preamplifier (RCA), USB 2.0 (4), HDMI (video only), for displaying the user interface on a monitor. Network connections: Gigabit Ethernet (RJ45), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0. Supported cloud services: Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify, TuneIn (web radio), others. Supported formats: DSD, WAV, FLAC, ALAC, AAC, Vorbis, Cue, MP3. Supported sample rates and bit depths: up to 32/768kHz PCM and up to DSD512…