Digital sources: Apple 27" iMac, 2017 model with 3.8GHz Intel Core i5 processor and 16GB RAM; Apple 15" MacBook Pro, 2017 model with 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 processor and 16GB RAM; both running Roon 1.7 (build 667). Mytek Manhattan II D/A Converter; Arris SB8200 modem and Linksys MR8300 v 1.1 mesh router with HDPlex 200 linear power supply.
Loudspeakers/Amplification: Dragonfire Acoustics Mini Dragon DFA 2.1 desktop playback system with Mini Dragon Satellites (2), SB-8P subwoofer, MD-4 amplifier, and SHD. Dynaudio Focus 200XD wireless active…
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the loudspeaker's frequency response in the farfield and an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield responses, using the Sony SA-Z1's single-ended analog inputs. I also used the Earthworks microphone to measure the Sony speaker's farfield responses with the TosLink digital input.
Looking first at the digital inputs, the TosLink optical input accepted S/PDIF data sampled at rates up to 96kHz. The USB port operated in the optimal isochronous asynchronous mode, and Apple's USB…
UPDATE: This webinar is now available for replay!
Replay Sonus faber Webinar LIVE: Friday, March 5, 2021 - 12:00PM ET
Join us when Sonus faber will present a brief journey through the history, philosophy, and technology of their company and how these apply to their latest products. Featuring the new Lumina family of passive loudspeakers, Palladio architectural series, and Gravis Subwoofers.
On hand to present the products and answer your questions during the live webinar:
William Kline: Sonus faber North American Brand Manager
Paolo Tezzon: Sonus…
I'm an audiophile and live in North America—seems like a perfect fit for the Facebook group Audiophiles - North America, right? Wrong!
On my first visit, I noticed that a group member had asked for speaker cable suggestions. Another member posted a picture of a 100' spool of 16-gauge lamp cord costing $14, accompanied by the suggestion "This is all you need." The implication: That's all anyone needs, because cables are "snake oil.
I responded, "Do you think the people marketing this product considered inductance, capacitance, and resistance?"
"You don't even know what…
The X-quisite produced thrilling, pinpoint, delicate images on a giant, well-organized soundstage. Roy Orbison's "Running Scared" from Roy Orbison's Greatest Hits (Monument SLP18000) begins with just an acoustic guitar insistently strumming a Bolero-like rhythmic figure behind Roy's voice. Each strum became a fully formed event as the pick hit the strings, of sustain as the guitar resonated, and then of decay in a relatively dry sonic space. The guitar's image was tightly compact and so timbrally clarified that "Gibson L-5, Hank Garland" popped into my mind. (Was it? I'm not sure.) Roy…
I wrote an article for the March 2017 issue of Stereophile called "The Permanent Jazz Festival: The Rise of Europe and the Future of Jazz." It presented two theses: that much of the energy in jazz now comes out of Europe, and that the best place to feel that energy is in the crowd at a European jazz festival. There are hundreds of them throughout the year.
I had planned to write a sequel. I had three trips to Europe booked for 2020—all canceled of course. The loss of live music is not the worst casualty of the pandemic, but it matters. For now, the only sequel possible must be drawn from…
Many established audio manufacturers owe their success, at least partly, to their components' signature sound. Consider the laidback "pipe and slippers" mien of my 1978 Spendor BC-1 loudspeakers, the rich tonal palette of my Shindo Laboratory amplifiers, or the celebrated drive and timing of late-'50s era Thorens TD-124 and Garrard 301 turntables.
Schiit Audio, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2020, is a relative upstart, but I think it belongs in that company. Schiit's trademark sonic signature is defined by force, what Art Dudley used to call drive. That trait translates as…
The tonearm's yoke and headshell are aluminum, its weights—counter and antiskate—are brass. Straight Wire manufactured the tonearm leads and the proprietary connecting plug. Using
Baerwald (Löfgren A) geometry, the 11" tonearm's effective length is 279.65mm—almost exactly 11.01"—with a pivot-to-spindle distance of 265mm, resulting in a 14.65mm overhang and an offset angle of 19.52° (stats confirmed by Conrad Hoffman). The arm's effective mass is 13gm.
The Sol is available with either of two moving magnet cartridges, allowing for different sonic flavors and price points. An Audio…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Belt-drive turntable with half-inch (12.7mm) inverted steel Igus bearing and 11" carbon-fiber unconstrained unipivot tonearm with adjustable horizontal and vertical tracking angles and antiskate. Tonearm effective length: 11" (279.4mm). Effective mass: 13.0gm (without cartridge). Overhang: 14.65mm. Supplied with either Audio-Technica AT-VM95EN or Grado Opus3 (Timbre Series, high output version). Platter: 11.75", 3lb (1.36kg), diecast aluminum alloy. Speeds: 33 and 45rpm, selected via pulley size. Rumble: –74dB. Signal/noise: >72dB. Wow and…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: Audio-Technica AT-VM95EN and Grado Opus3 cartridges; Thorens TD 124 turntable/Jelco TS-350S mkII 9" tonearm/Audio-Technica AT-VM95EN cartridge.
Integrated amplifier: Schiit Audio Ragnarok 2.
Loudspeakers: Klipsch RP-600M.
Cables: Speaker: Auditorium 23. AC: manufacturers' own. Interconnect: 1m pair Triode Wire Labs' Spirit II (RCA).
Accessories: IsoTek EVO3 Aquarius line conditioner, Salamander five-tier rack; IKEA Aptitlig bamboo chopping boards (under turntable; mahogany blocks (2" × 2" × 0.5"); 3"-thick studio-treatment…