Rossini Player: Upsampling CD/network player with digital and word-clock inputs and iOS Control app. Digital inputs: 2 AES/EBU (XLR), 2 S/PDIF (1 RCA, 1 BNC), S/PDIF (TosLink), USB2 Type B (high-resolution audio). Network interface on RJ45 connector acts as a UPnP renderer in asynchronous mode, streaming digital music from a NAS or local computer over a standard Ethernet network, decoding all major lossless formats including FLAC, WAV, and AIFF at up to 24-bit/384kHz native sample rate, plus DSD64 & DSD128 in DFF/DSF format. Other supported formats include…
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Aurender N10 music server; Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP universal player; PS Audio PerfectWave DirectStream D/A converter; AudioQuest JitterBug, UpTone Audio ReGen USB cleaner-uppers; Ayre Acoustics QA-9 USB A/D converter; 2012 Apple MacBook Pro & Mac mini i7 running El Capitan, Twonky Server, Pure Music 3.0.
Power Amplifiers: First Watt J2, Pass Labs XA60.5 monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Crystal Cable Arabesque Minissimo Diamond, KEF LS50, Magico S5 Mk.2, PSB Imagine T3.
Cables: Digital: AudioQuest Coffee. USB: Canare AES/EBU.…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the dCS Rossini with my newly recalibrated Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It"). As well as test CDs and the Audio Precision's serial digital outputs, I used WAV and AIFF test-tone files sourced via USB from my MacBook Pro running on battery power and played with Pure Music 3.0. I began the testing with the first sample, but continued with the second sample. The Rossini Clock was used for all tests.
Apple's USB Prober utility identified the Rossini as "dCS Rossini Player USB class 2" from "Data Conversion Systems…
Just in time for the holidays and the soprano's 90th birthday, Sony Classical has gifted every confirmed or budding opera lover amongst us with Leontyne Price: Prima Donna Assoluta. Filled with 10 of Price's finest complete opera recordings, which were set down in her prime years of 1962-1972, the box's hi-rez remasterings (all remastered at 24/96 PCM, save for Madama Butterfly, which was remastered in DSD) are superb.
While many of Leontyne Price: Prima Donna Assoluta's opea sets are also available individually as hi-res downloads—I've found Price's Carmen, Madama Butterfly, her second…
Drummer/composer Dan Weiss has wide-ranging musical tastes, superb skills, and a rocking little Rega-based system in his cozy Brooklyn, New York apartment. Dan has drummed with many jazz greats, but it's his own projects that have generated the greatest interest. He's a thinking musician's musician, one who astutely assesses the pros and cons of every situation. Dan doesn't enter musical projects or hi-fi scenarios lightly.
When considering his first major stereo purchase Dan listened to many combinations of turntable/CD player/amplifier/speaker(s). When choosing headphones, he queried…
This past Friday, November 17, critically acclaimed French audio startup Devialet officially opened the doors to their first US standalone store right here in SoHo, NY (footnote 1). This store joins five other standalones globally (Paris, London, Berlin) and, as of yet, no future plans of additional US locations have been disclosed.
On Thursday, November 16, the eve of the official opening, I attended the shop's exclusive launch party to get a firsthand look inside. It was a very "New York" party. Waiters (who are probably models/actors) carrying truffle puffs and scallops, wine (none of…
I am sad to report that, 19 years to the day after I recorded her performing Schulhoff's Sonata for Solo Violin for Stereophile, Ida Levin passed away on Friday November 18, after a lengthy battle with leukemia. She was 53. Our condolences to her family, her fellow musicians, her students, and to all who, like me, were thrilled by her playing.
At the recording session, Ida played the demanding Schulhoff Sonata with passion and fire. As the Nagra-D's reels turned and I followed the score, I was struck by how privileged I was to be able to witness a true virtuoso in action, breathing life…
It's Thanksgiving week, which means that if you're in New York City, you can (and should) go see two of the best jazz bands at two of the best jazz clubs. Maria Schneider's Jazz Orchestra is playing at the Jazz Standard through Sunday (except for Thanksgiving Day). Jason Moran's Bandwagon trio is playing at the Village Vanguard through Sunday (including Thanksgiving Day).
If you can't make it, listen to Schneider's latest album, her career masterpiece, The Thompson Fields, and the Moran trio's last album, Ten, or, online only, his solo recital, The Armory Concert.
The last time I reviewed an Audio Research component—it was the VTM200 monoblock amplifier in January 2001—my hair was mostly dark brown. The wait since has been not of my choosing, but that's now flux under the circuit board. Since then, much has happened to both me and to the Audio Research Corporation, a long-lived company for which the descriptor "legendary" is well deserved.
William Z. Johnson founded ARC in 1970, in Minneapolis (the company later moved to Plymouth, Minnesota). He passed away 41 years later, on December 10, 2011. In an interview published in the August 1994 issue…
That may offend the sensibilities of those purists who demand absolute accuracy, but in audio, there's really no such thing. Nonetheless, at the very least, a preamplifier should be wideband, linear, and produce low amounts of distortion and noise.
But can everything be measured? The months I spent enjoying the Audio Research Reference 6 told me that what William Z. Johnson said in 1994 holds true today. As I write this, I have no idea how the Reference 6 has performed on John Atkinson's test bench, though its published specifications indicate: an exceptionally wide frequency response…