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I wrote several issues back that my first high-end headphones were Koss Pro4AAs, which I bought in 1972 following a positive review in the British magazine Hi-Fi News. Although that review didn't mention that the Pro4AAs were relatively fragile (footnote 1), I nonetheless loved their sound. They were the best headphones I'd heard—until, a couple years later, I was playing bass on some sessions for record producer Tony Cox. Tony had a pair of signal-energized electrostatic headphones, Koss ESP-6es, which were heavy and clunky—but they opened my ears to the sound quality that could be obtained…
Sidebar Contacts
Classé, 5070 Franáois Cusson, Lachine, Québec H8T 1B3, Canada. Tel: (514) 636-6384. Fax: (514) 636-1428. Web: www.classeaudio.com.
Sony Electronics, Inc., 16530 Via Esprillo, San Diego, CA 92127-1708.Tel: (858)942-2400. Web: www.sony.com.
JRiver, Inc., 125 N. First Street, Minneapolis, MN 55401. Tel: (612) 677-8200. Web: www.jriver.com.
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: In-ear headphones with electrostatic drive-units and dedicated D/A headphone amplifier and power supply. Headphone polarizing voltage: 200V DC. Maximum output voltage: ±200V. Output current: <1mA. Noise attenuation: <37dB. Frequency range: 10Hz–50kHz. Maximum SPL: 113dB (1kHz at 3% THD). Amplifier inputs: USB (Micro-B receptacle), analog line-in (3.5mm/1?8"). Amplifier output: Lemo connector. DAC bit depths accepted: 16, 24, 32. Sample rates accepted: 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96kHz. Signal/noise: <107dB, A-weighted. Adjustable gain range: –40 to +…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Sources: Antipodes DX Reference v2.2 music server; PonoPlayer; Apple MacBook Pro running OS 10.11.4, Pure Music 3.0.6, iPhone 6S.
Headphone Amplifiers: Metric Halo ULN-2, Mytek Brooklyn.
Headphones: Audeze LCD-X, Ultimate Ears 18-Pro.
Cables: Digital: AudioQuest Coffee, USB, generic, FireWire; AC and analog: manufacturers' own.—John Atkinson
How often do you find that a new model of a loudspeaker or other audio component is less expensive than the one it replaces? I'd say "Not often." But that was the case with the ACA Seraphim loudspeaker. At last year's TAVES, there was a demo of the ACA Seraphim Skogrand Edition speakers, priced at $US45,000/pair; this year, they had the new Seraphim Prime, shown in the photo above, which is said to represent ACA's latest thinking in speaker design—at just $US22,000/pair. Most of the savings represent changing from the ultra-expensive Skogrand internal wiring to the more sensibly priced Kimber…
Let us pretend . . . you have a pair of loudspeakers that have proven themselves to sound articulate and musically responsive in your room, without excess boom, bloom, or frail leanness. They mate with your décor and impress your friends. But maybe you're bored, and feel certain that your speakers would sound better with a better amplifier than the one you have now. Maybe you feel an urge to spend money? Perhaps a new amp will make your records sound the way you imagine they should sound?
I have had these thoughts many times.
The good news: It is much easier to find the right amp…
To that effect, the Gregorian chant Messe de la Septuagésime, sung by the Choeur des Moines de l'Abbaye Saint-Pierre de Solesmes under the direction of Dom J. Gajard (LP, French Decca 7505 A), sounds like a chilling, approaching darkness. The massed voices are closely but simply miked. They sound breathy and REAL and almost authentically scaled, with a minimum of added reverb or compression. Throughout this 1959 recording, the close miking made me feel emotionally connected to the choir and the mass. I like to sense the distance between the singers and the microphone, and the ProLogue…
It was all so familiar. In "Music in the Round" in the January 2016 issue, Kal Rubinson praised JL Audio's latest subwoofer, the Fathom f113v2. He raved about its amplifier's higher power over the original f113, its beefier 13" woofer, its improved, 18-band Digital Automatic Room Optimization (DARO), and its significantly improved deep-bass response in-room.
It was familiar because the same thing had happened when Kal reviewed the original Fathom f113 in his May 2007 column. As he would again nine years later, he'd extolled the sub's high power, small size, built-in single-band Automatic…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Push-pull, tubed stereo power amplifier. Tube complement: four 12AU7, four EL34 (KT88, KT120, or KT150 tubes optional). Output power into 8 ohms: 35Wpc (two EL34 tubes), 40Wpc (two KT88 tubes), 44Wpc (two KT120 tubes), 48Wpc (two KT150 tubes). Frequency response: 20Hz–85kHz, ±0.5dB. THD: <1% at full power. Signal/noise ratio: 89dB. Input sensitivity: 775mV. Input impedance: 100k ohms. Output speaker taps: 4 & 8 ohms. Power consumption: 210W.
Dimensions: 14.5" (370mm) W by 8" (200mm) H by 15.5" (390mm) D. Weight: 46.3 lbs (21kg).
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I then returned the preamp's balanced interconnects to the CR-1's main stereo inputs, to once again access low- and high-pass filtering. I set the filters' 6dB corner frequencies to 80Hz, 24dB/octave. Playing the same digital file of uncorrelated pink noise, I set each sub's Master Level control to match its acoustic output to the Salon2's output by ear, and confirmed this setting using Audio Tool's RTA display. I ran separate FFT measurements of the room response of the high-pass-filtered Salon2s with subs muted (fig.3), to confirm the 24dB/octave rolloff of the CR-1's high-pass filter.…