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Focal Clear Over Ear Open Headphones

This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

Headphone manufacturers pay attention: If you want to build a high-end headphone, this is the way to do it.

I've got to wonder how long Focal's strategic timeline was when they first entered the headphone market with the Spirit One in 2012. Focal is a long time high-end speaker manufacturer, so they're no doubt well familiar with the difficulties and time needed to produce world class equipment—and make no mistake, they do produce world class speakers.

From the initial crinkled diaphragm problems with the Spirit One; to…

Mytek HiFi Brooklyn AMP+ power amplifier Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

Other than "+" appended to the name on the amplifier's top and bottom plates, the Brooklyn AMP+ appears identical to the original Brooklyn AMP that was reviewed in the September 2018 issue. I summed up the earlier amplifier's behavior on the test bench by writing "Mytek's Brooklyn AMP is a tiny powerhouse offering respectable measured performance." I used my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It") to test the Brooklyn AMP+. Like its predecessor, the AMP+ has an output stage operating in class-D, so I inserted Audio Precision's…

Shunyata Research Everest 8000 power conditioner

Shunyata Research is the brainchild of Caelin Gabriel, whose résumé includes stints at NSA, in military R&D, and in the computer industry, first digging weak signals out of noise then developing very high-speed network devices. He is also a lifelong audiophile.

Shunyata's roots are in the scientific understanding and engineering base Gabriel has developed during his career. I've long been impressed by those scientific underpinnings—which extend not only in audio but also to other fields including medical devices—and by how open the company is in talking about its technologies.

…

Shunyata Research Everest 8000 power conditioner Page 2

In a high-quality audio system, a reduction in noise can manifest in various ways, some of them indirect. Often, one notices an increase in inner detail and an improvement in precision. Perhaps a note's decay extends further, or, as with two oboes playing together, the identity of the individual instruments can be heard through more of the decay. I expected much the same with the Shunyata system—and indeed that's what I heard with the first few albums I played, all recordings of live, large-scale orchestral performances. Such recordings are inherently noisy, and yet I heard improvements of…

Shunyata Research Everest 8000 power conditioner Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: AC power conditioning and distribution system. One IEC C19R 30A input, four duplex 8 NEMAA5-20R 20A receptacles with six internal isolation zones, one each enclosing four outlets, one each enclosing two duplex outlets.
Dimensions: 20¾" (527mm) H × 8" (20.3mm) W × 14¾" (375mm) D (with cable cradle). Weight: 34lb (16kg).
Finish: Brushed aluminum.
Serial number of sample reviewed: 20EJ01. Designed and built in Washington.
Price: $8000. Approximate number of US dealers 52.
Manufacturer: Shunyata Research, 26273 Twelve Trees Ln.,…

Shunyata Research Everest 8000 power conditioner Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

Digital sources: Primare CD35 Prism CD player, Mytek Brooklyn DAC+.
Analog sources: Spiral Groove SG-2.1 turntable and Centroid tonearm, VPI HR-X turntable and tonearm; Grado Epoch, The Reference, and Signature Reference, Benz Micro SL, Audio-Technica AT-MONO3/LP phono cartridges.
Preamplifiers: Sutherland Phono Blocks Refined and Phono Loco phono preamplifiers; Sutherland Line Blocks line stage.
Power amplifiers: VTL Ichiban monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Wilson Audio Sasha DAW and SabrinaX, Elac Debut 2.0 F6.2.
Cables: Shunyata Alpha v2…

Analog Corner #283: Grado Epoch Mono, Miyajima Infinity Mono, MuTech RM-Kanda Hayabusa, Angstrom Audiolab Stella, Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista Vinyl

Lately, there's been too much gear worth covering and not enough space to cover it in. So this time . . . less think-piece filler and more hardware!

Grado Labs Lineage Epoch Mono cartridge
The Lineage Epoch Mono is based on Grado's stereo Epoch, which I reviewed in my December 2017 column, and to which it looks identical. According to John Grado, who hand-builds each one, while the stereo version has one pair of coils per channel, the mono version has just a single pair of coils, configured to pick up a single channel; the resulting signal is then fed to both outputs. Grado says that…

Analog Corner #283: Grado Epoch Mono, Miyajima Infinity Mono, MuTech RM-Kanda Hayabusa, Angstrom Audiolab Stella, Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista Vinyl Page 2

One thing I really liked about the Infinity was its top-end snap, speed, and transient precision. On an original mono pressing of Lee Morgan's The Sidewinder (Blue Note 4157), Billy Higgins's cymbals were pleasantly in my face, and the reediness of Joe Henderson's tenor sax produced an exciting immediacy without harshness or etch. Higgins's lower-level snare pops were equally rousing, and when Bob Crenshaw took his double-bass solo, the transient pluck was more nimbly presented than through the Epoch, though with less "meat."

Another of the Infinity's great strengths was its unwavering…

Mary Halvorson: Melt the Frame

In her reworking of the Beatles' "With a Little Help from my Friends," on the 2018 tribute album, A Day In The Life: Impressions Of Pepper (impulse records), Brooklyn guitarist and composer Mary Halvorson reinvents both her instrument and the song.

Most baby boomers can hum the tune of the Beatles' classic, from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, in a handful of notes. It might take longer to recognize Halvorson's joyous, angular version. A master of jazz phrasing, guitar technique, avant-garde discourse, and effects pedals, Halvorson bends the Beatles song to her 21st century will…

Mary Halvorson: Melt the Frame Page 2

Micallef: Your guitar sometimes sounds treated. Are you putting playing cards under the strings or something similar?

Halvorson: Sometimes I'll use a slide to make buzzy types of sounds, but generally I don't treat it. The pitch-bending thing is a Line 6 Delay Pedal.

Micallef: Were you already involved in experimentation when you arrived to study at Wesleyan?

Halvorson: That's where I got into more experimental music, at Wesleyan. I went there not intending to major in music, maybe take a few music classes. When I started college, I was probably playing more straight-…