Analog source: Linn Sondek LP12 turntable with Lingo power supply, Linn Ekos tonearm, Linn Arkiv B cartridge, Channel D Seta L phono preamplifier.
Digital Sources: Roon Nucleus+ file server with HDPlex 200 linear power supply; Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP universal player; PS Audio PerfectWave DirectStream D/A processor and MBL N31 CD player/DAC, Ayre Acoustics QA-9 A/D converter.
Preamplifier: Pass Labs XP-32.
Power amplifiers: Parasound Halo JC 1+ monoblocks.
Cables: Digital: AudioQuest Vodka (Ethernet), AudioQuest Coffee (USB), DH Labs (1m,…
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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 Marten Parker Trio Diamond Edition's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield and in-room responses. I measured the speaker's impedance with Dayton Audio's DATS v2 system.
Usually, I measure loudspeakers in our backyard, weather permitting, or in our living room with the furniture pushed to the sides. This eliminates or moves back in time the reflections of the speaker's output. However, as this loudspeaker was too heavy for me to…
To borrow Lyric Hi-Fi owner Leonard Bellezza's words from last month's Re-Tales, the traditional audiophile customer base "is graying."
That doesn't mean the future is bleak—not necessarily. Many in the industry have hope for hi-fi's future. For that potential future to be realized, however, audio dealers must adapt. Interest in better sound seems to be rising. Consider vinyl's resurgence; regardless of your views on vinyl's ultimate fidelity, it's a big step up from the earlier fashion for MP3s and cheap earbuds. (There's good news on that front, too: Those earbuds morphed into Beats…
Power amplifiers should be boring. They have a single, well-defined function: Make the input signal large enough to run a loudspeaker so that it makes sound at levels suitable for listening to music. Generally, controls and features are few or none. Peter Walker of Quad famously defined the ideal amplifier as a "straight wire with gain." That's just one feature: gain.
That ideal is not easy to achieve, for many reasons. Even a straight wire of any practical length and structure has properties (resistance, capacitance, inductance) that can affect how the signal is transferred to it on one…
Beginning with the single C 298 driving the Revel Studio2 speakers, listening to several familiar selections, I found nothing remarkable, and I mean that in a good way. There should not be big, striking differences among high-quality amplifiers of sufficient bandwidth and power. Big differences make me suspicious that something's wrong or that something's not fair. It was reassuring to find that the NAD was fully up to the task, but this does make characterizing an amplifier's sound challenging.
By unexplained providence, there have been two new releases of French chamber/parlor…
Sidebar 1: NAD M28 seven channel power amplifier
After the release of the M33 Streaming Integrated Amplifier, the next release in the Masters Series seemed obvious: It would be a stereo power amplifier, a successor to the nCore-based M22 v2, featuring the same Purifi-based output technology found in the M33.
Instead, NAD announced the seven-channel M28 amplifier ($4999), successor to the nCore-based M27. I welcomed it because the beloved, durable Bryston 9B-ST THX in my Connecticut system had recently blown an internal fuse. Its 20-year warranty was expiring soon, so I decided to…
Sidebar 2: Specifications
Description: Stereo power amplifier based on Purifi Eigentakt Amplifier Technology. Inputs: 1 pair RCA (unbalanced), 1 pair XLR (balanced). Input impedance: 56k ohms + 280pF. Outputs: 1 pair RCA (unbalanced), 2 pair multiway loudspeaker binding posts. 12V trigger input and output. Input sensitivity: 1.43V for 185W (fixed-gain stereo mode, into 8 ohms), 3.78V for 340W (fixed-gain bridge mode). Rated output power, stereo: 185Wpc into 8 ohms (22.7dBW), 340Wpc into 4 ohms (22.3dBW); Bridged: 620Wpc into 8 ohms (27.9dBW). IHF dynamic power: 260W into 8 ohms, 490W…
Sidebar 3: Associated Equipment
Digital sources: Oppo Digital UDP-105 universal disc player; custom Baetis Prodigy-X4i music server running JRiver Media Center v27 and Roon 1.8; exaSound Delta Server running Roon 1.8; exaSound e38 Mark II and Okto DAC8 Pro D/A processors. QNAP TVS-873 NAS.
Preamplifiers: None. Source switching with Coleman Audio 7.1SW.
Power amplifiers: Benchmark AHB2, PS Audio M1200.
Loudspeakers: Revel Ultima2 Studio, Dynaudio Confidence 30.
Cables: Digital: AudioQuest Coffee (USB). Interconnects: AudioQuest Earth/DBS balanced, Kubala-Sosna Anticipation…
Sidebar 4: Measurements
The NAD C 298 can be operated as a conventional stereo amplifier or as a bridged-mono amplifier. (In mono mode, the signal is fed to the left input and the output taken from the left channel's positive binding post and the right channel's negative binding post.) As Kal Rubinson auditioned the NAD both in stereo mode and as a pair of monoblocks, I performed a complete set of measurements in both modes. The C 298 has an output stage operating in class-D, so I inserted an Audio Precision auxiliary AUX-0025 passive low-pass filter between the test load and my Audio…
Herb Reichert auditioned the dCS Bartók in June 2021 (Vol.44 No.6):
I finally get what those unboxing videos are all about.
As I deciphered my way through the dCS Bartók's triple boxes (footnote 1), my sense of audiophile entitlement rose as I opened each successive box. Inside the last box, the Bartók was wrapped in a black velvet drawstring pouch. That made me smile until I realized that the Bartók was so big that I had nowhere to put it. It requires a shelf at least 19" deep that can support 36.8lb. My desktop system shelf is only 16" from its front edge to the wall; previously…