My blind date with the Dragonfire Acoustics Mini Dragon DFA 2.1 nearfield monitor system ($10,000), accessorized with its Kimber Kable Axios Goliath cable upgrade ($1500), took place during its coming-out reception at the 2018 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest (RMAF) in Denver. After listening to a 24/96 file of Cassandra…
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Ever go on a blind date? If you've been on more than one, you know what it's like to encounter an entirely new product at an audio show: Sometimes it's love at first listen, your only question being, "When can we get together again?" Other times, you can't wait to say goodbye.
PS Audio's Paul McGowan has been sending out a daily newsletter by email since 2011. In his May 29, 2019 epistle he asked, "What would our world of high-end audio look like if there were only active wireless loudspeakers? If even the half-a-million-dollar mega-beasts were internally amplified and connected via wireless and controlled from an iPad? No more boxes. No more wires and cables. Only speakers.
"Would we have come full circle, back to the days when music reproduction systems were self-contained?" he concluded.
As I read Paul's newsletter, I had just started to write this…
Martha Argerich: Early Recordings
Beethoven: Piano Sonata 7 in D, Op.10 No.3. Mozart: Piano Sonata 18 in D, K.576. Prokofiev: Toccata, Op.11; Piano Sonatas 3 in a, Op.29 & 7 in B-flat, Op.83. Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit, Sonatine.
Martha Argerich, piano
Deutsche Grammophon 479 5978 (2 mono CDs). 2016. No prod. or eng. credits given. ADD. TT: 2:10:50
Performance *****
Sonics ***½
Beethoven: Piano Sonata 7 in D, Op.10 No.3. Mozart: Piano Sonata 18 in D, K.576. Prokofiev: Toccata, Op.11; Piano Sonatas 3 in a, Op.29 & 7 in B-flat, Op.83. Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit, Sonatine.
Martha Argerich, piano
Deutsche Grammophon 479 5978 (2 mono CDs). 2016. No prod. or eng. credits given. ADD. TT: 2:10:50
Performance *****
Sonics ***½
There is no dearth of recordings by the great Argentine pianist Martha Argerich—over 150 are listed in her discography—and here, in honor of her 75th birthday, are two more discs,…
Sidebar 2: Tom Norton's Reference System
All of the players were auditioned in a system which consisted of the Jeff Rowland Design Group Consonance preamp, Threshold SA/12e monoblock power amplifiers, and Apogee Stage loudspeakers (on their optional stands). The connection from preamp to all players was via 1.5m lengths of AudioQuest Lapis. Balanced Cardas Hexlink cable was used from preamp to amplifiers. The Stages were bi-wired with Symo cable.
Playback levels were adjusted to compensate for the different outputs of the various players when comparison listening was done—a…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
Most of the measurements, except as noted, were made through the fixed-level, unbalanced outputs. I checked the AC voltage from chassis ground to main (house) ground to determine the correct line-cord orientation using a cheater plug (footnote 1). The Sony measured around 53V with an inconsequential difference in the reverse plug orientation. This is higher than desirable, though the voltages will be shunted to ground when the player is connected to a properly grounded preamplifier.
I checked the Sony's tracking ability with the dropout tests on the Pierre…
Sidebar 4: Specifications
Description: Single-box CD player. D/A converter: HDLC (1-bit, Pulse Width Modulation). Frequency response: 2Hz–20kHz ±0.3dB. THD: 0.0015%. S/N: 117dB (A-weighted).
Dimensions: 18.3" (465mm) W by 14.6" (370mm) D by 4.9" (123mm) H. Weight: 37.4 lbs.
Price: $1700 (1991); no longer available (2016). Approximate number of dealers: 250. Warranty: 3 years parts & labor, limited.
Manufacturer (Importer): Sony Corporation of America, Park Ridge, NJ 07656 (1991). Sony Electronics Inc., 16530 Via Esprillo, San Diego, CA 92127 (2016). Tel: (858) 942-2400.…
Looking backward can be can a dangerous thing when it comes to music. Play too many great records from the past and you’ll never listen to new music again.
But there are times these days when a reissue of music recorded many years ago is so powerful that it forces a pause, and a reappraisal. Sure, the new Otis Redding Live at the Whisky A Go Go basically repeats the same set six times over. But what a set it is! And then there’s the setting. Rather than the usual places Redding worked, the famed Chitlin Circuit in the south, here he and his snappy, funky Memphis band were groovin’ on…
Friday, October 21, Irvine, CA-based high-end audio manufacturer AudioQuest issued a warning about what appears to be low-priced, inferior-sounding counterfeits of its discontinued AudioQuest DragonFly v1.2. The matter was brought to AudioQuest's attention by a consumer who saw a thread on Reddit about a product that resembled the discontinued DragonFly 1.2's proprietary technical features. The real DragonFly is pictured above right with the subject of the Reddit thread on the left.
In AudioQuest's words, "multiple companies are promoting and selling unauthorized copies of Streamlength®-…
This release from VBI Classic Recordings, C.F. Kip Winger, is not only for all the rock'n'rollers amongst us, but also for lovers of classical music and ballet. That's because it showcases three ballet-inspired scores by the very same of C.F. Kip Winger who founded and lead the rock group, Winger. He's also the same Kip Winger who played bass with Alice Cooper from 1985–1987, and performed and recorded with Alan Parsons, Roger Daltrey, and Bob Dylan.
You might be tempted to think of Winger as a dabbling dilettante of sorts, one who is following in the classical footsteps of Paul McCartney…
TAVES, which bills itself as "Canada's Ultimate Consumer Electronics Show," returns to Toronto's contiguous Sheraton Parkway Toronto North & Best Western Hotels October 28–30. With over 120 exhibitors in toto, three quarters of which are either home system audio (approx. 60–65) or personal/headphone audio, and close to 300 brands, the show has become one of the largest consumer audio shows in North America.
It is also the second most well-attended. 6500 people visited last year, with the number expected to increase up to 10,000 if the professional marketing agency that has been…