I was mightily impressed by the Magico M2 ($63,600/pair with non-optional MPod stands) when I reviewed it in February 2020 and it was subsequently voted the magazine's 2020 Loudspeaker of the Year. In the March 2021 issue, having…
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When Stereophile publishes a followup review in the print magazine, we add it as a "child page" to the website reprint of the original coverage. We have recently done so with three significant products: the Magico M2 loudspeaker, the Linear Tube Audio Z10e tubed headphone amplifier/integrated amplifier, and the Okto Research dac8 PRO multichannel D/A processor.
Black Sabbath: Paranoid Super Deluxe
Rhino/Warner Records R1 556692 (5 LPs). 1970/2020. Rodger Bain, original prod.; Hugh Gilmour, reissue prod.; Barry Grint, LP mastering eng.
Performance *****
Sonics ***
Rhino/Warner Records R1 556692 (5 LPs). 1970/2020. Rodger Bain, original prod.; Hugh Gilmour, reissue prod.; Barry Grint, LP mastering eng.
Performance *****
Sonics ***
The reviewer venturing to identify the birth bed of heavy metal music risks wrath. So be it.
The heavy metal genre has many roots. The idea of power chords and music centered on ominous, mythological, and vaguely threatening lyrics goes back centuries; consider the use of European church music in various eras to literally scare the hell out of believers. But heavy…
When I studied physics at university too many years ago to admit, I learned about Occam's razor. Many, many more years ago than that, Franciscan friar William of Occam stated that a hypothesis should provide the simplest possible explanation for a phenomenon.
I apply Occam's criterion to my audio system: It should be no more complicated than it need be. The D/A processors I have written about over the past few years—dCS Rossini and Vivaldi, MBL Noble Line N31, PS Audio DirectStream, Weiss DAC502—all have high-precision digital volume controls. I therefore haven't had a conventional…
I asked Wayne if there had been changes to the power supply: "The new design uses two double-shielded, low-noise toroids in a true dual-mono topology for the gain channels and another transformer and linear power supply dedicated to the control architecture. We changed from the single Plitron [transformer] to the new Avel Lindbergs. ... The use of three fully independent power supplies in the control chassis results in dramatically lower radiated noise and far better THD+noise figures in the gain stages. Power supply regulation in the unit is a bit more complex, with regulators feeding the…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid-state, three-chassis stereo preamplifier with remote control. Inputs: 5 single-ended (RCA) or balanced (XLR), 1 single-ended (RCA) or balanced (XLR) tape, 1 single-ended (RCA) or balanced (XLR) Pass Thru. Outputs: 3 single-ended line-level (RCA) or line-level balanced (XLR), 1 tape (RCA). Maximum gain: 9.6dB, balanced. Input impedance: 42k ohms, balanced; 22k ohms, single-ended. Output impedance: 50 ohms, balanced; 25 ohms, single-ended. Maximum output: 23V RMS at 0.1% THD. Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz, ±0.05dB; –2dB at 150kHz. Channel…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital sources: Roon Nucleus+ & Grimm MU1 music servers; Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP universal player; MBL N31 CD player/DAC; PS Audio DirectStream D/A processor. Ayre Acoustics QA-9 A/D converter.
Preamplifiers: Benchmark LA4, MBL Noble Line N11.
Power amplifiers: Parasound Halo JC 1+ monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: KEF LS50 and LS50 Meta, Sonus Faber Lumina III.
Cables: Digital: AudioQuest Vodka (Ethernet), DH Labs (1m, AES/EBU with Ayre C-5xeMP); Canare 110 ohm (AES/ EBU, 15', with Grimm MU1). Interconnect: AudioQuest Wild Blue (balanced).…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the Pass Laboratories XP-32's performance with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It"), repeating some tests with the magazine's more-recent APx555 system. The maximum gain was a little higher than the specified 9.6dB for the balanced and unbalanced inputs to the balanced outputs, at 10.2dB. The gain from the unbalanced input to the unbalanced output was 6.5dB. The preamplifier preserved absolute polarity (ie, was noninverting) with both balanced and unbalanced inputs and outputs. (Its XLR jacks are wired with pin 2 hot,…
I was planning one of my occasional long drives, for music and photography. I had scheduled two nights in Nashville, so I asked around: Where should I go for live music after a dinner of Hattie B's hot chicken? Art Dudley recommended the Station Inn, perhaps the world's best venue for live bluegrass music. You can read about my experience there in the November 2019 Stereophile. The Station Inn has now added a streaming service. For $8.99/month or $99/year, you get between 10 and 20 live-streamed performances every month plus access to the archives. If you're a bluegrass fan or merely…
Many companies in high-end audio and elsewhere use a trickle-down approach to advance their products. The process begins with the development of a suite of new technologies, capabilities, components, or whatever the relevant entities might be. Typically, it's a flagship product that functions as the impetus, target, and first deployment of the new technologies. Subsequently, the new technologies trickle down to other models, each one incorporating a subset appropriate to its price point.
Looking at Wilson Audio's products, it is natural to assume that they use a trickle-down approach,…
The other comment Hugh made was that he could create deeper, more defined bass and "you know, more bass." He hit the nail on the head here as well. The way I had them set up, I had been a little disappointed with the SabrinaX's bottom end. There wasn't anything wrong with it; it was actually quite good. It just wasn't the killer bass I'd expected after having heard the Yvettes. The two cuts I mentioned in my Yvette review, "First, We Take Manhattan" from Jennifer Warnes's Famous Blue Raincoat (Cypress 661 111-1) and "Racing in the Street" from Bruce Springsteen's Darkness at the Edge of…