In April 2016, I reviewed the AR-M2 portable player from Acoustic Research (footnote 1), concluding that "It's good to see the Acoustic Research brand applied to such a well-engineered product after all these years." When I compared the AR-M2 with the Astell&Kern AK240, I found the differences between the two players small, commenting that "on balance, if I didn't have to count pennies, I'd go for the $2500 Astell&Kern—but for $1300 less, the Acoustic Research comes very close." A limited-time,…
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John Atkinson tested the v.2.5.6 firmware upgrade in February 2017 (Vol.40 No.2):
"What are your thoughts on this year's CES?": A multi-dimensional question that means many different things to the many different people who share the high-end audio realm. For my first attendance at the annual Consumer Electronics Show, I had a mission: to compile answers to this complex question and fit my findings on a visual medium, a time capsule of sorts. Is this the last year of CES? Was the low attendance in the high-end audio segment at the Venetian just a temporary lull? Or could it be a turning point for the high-end audio industry? Whatever might happen, 2017 struck me as a…
Last July and September I made two loudspeaker-related road trips: first to Rockport Technologies, in Maine, to audition their new Lyra; and then to high-end dealer-distributor GTT Audio, in deepest, darkest New Jersey, to audition YG Acoustics' new Sonja XV. Both speakers offer innovative, proprietary drive-units and heroic audio engineering, especially regarding their enclosures, which are constructed from aluminum. Both experiences took place in superbly well-designed and optimized listening rooms with front-end and amplification components that were beyond reproach. The sound quality…
The Band: The Last Waltz 40th
Rhino RR 273925 (2 CDs). 1978/2016. Robbie Robertson, prod.; Ron Fraboni, John Simon, co-prods.; Terry Becker, Tim Kramer, Elliot Mazer, Wayne Neuendorf, Ed Anderson, Neil Brody, engs. ADD? TT: 2:09:11
Performance *****
Sonics ****
Rhino RR 273925 (2 CDs). 1978/2016. Robbie Robertson, prod.; Ron Fraboni, John Simon, co-prods.; Terry Becker, Tim Kramer, Elliot Mazer, Wayne Neuendorf, Ed Anderson, Neil Brody, engs. ADD? TT: 2:09:11
Performance *****
Sonics ****
To clear the air, if not the sinuses, let's dispose right now of the traveling-booger-matte controversy. If Robbie Robertson and the late Levon Helm are to be believed, in The Last Waltz, Neil Young performed "Helpless" with a very suspicious chunk of something hanging out of one nostril. When Young and his management…
Right now, I swear, Schiit Audio's Mike Moffat and Jason Stoddard are sitting there in California, smugly smirking at me and John Atkinson. While JA was struggling to properly measure Schiit's Ragnarok (Fate of the Gods) integrated amplifier for my review in the May 2016 issue, I sent Moffat an e-mail: "Are you smiling?"
"Yup," he replied. He'd known in advance that the Ragnarok wouldn't look good on standard tests. But he hadn't warned us: The Ragnarok's output-stage bias program responds to music sources, not signal generators.
Not to mention: What sort of people name their…
When I ask my wiser, more audio-worldly friends which DACs they use, they usually reply with one of these names: Ayre Acoustics, Bricasti, dCS, MSB, TotalDAC, etc.
Audio sages know that DACs can sound as different from each other as do phono cartridges. They also know that the average DACs owned by most people sound broken, brittle, or defective, compared to even the lowest-priced phono cartridges.
Living mostly on handouts, the recycling of plastic bottles, and Scooby Snacks, I couldn't afford a dCS or MSB DAC. So for years I enjoyed my digital via a hand-me-down Halide DAC HD…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Digital-to-analog converter. Inputs: AES/EBU (XLR), S/PDIF (RCA, optical, BNC), USB. Input capability, all inputs: up to 24-bit/192kHz. Input receiver: S/PDIF, AKM AK4113; USB, C-Media CM6632. Digital filter: proprietary, implemented on Analog Devices SHARC DSP processor. D/A conversion IC: Analog Devices AD5791BRUZ (2 per channel, hardware balanced configuration). Analog stages: fully discrete JFET buffers for balanced output; discrete JFET summing stages for single-ended output, direct-coupled throughout. Outputs: 1 pair balanced (XLR), 2 pairs…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Palmer 2.5 turntable, Audio Origami PU7 tonearm, AMG Teatro cartridge; Roksan Radius 7 turntable & tonearm & Corus Silver cartridge; Dynavector 20X2L, Hana EL, LP Gear The Vessel A3SS cartridges.
Digital Sources: Mytek Brooklyn, Line Magnetics 502CA, Halide DAC HD DACs; Hegel Mohican CD player; Integra DPS-7.2 DVD-A/CD player.
Preamplification: Dynavector SUP-200, Bob's Devices CineMag 1131, Lounge Audio Copla MC step-up devices; Dynavector P75, Lounge Audio LCR Mk.III+, Parasound Halo JC 3+, Tavish Design Adagio phono…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the Schiit Audio Yggdrasil with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It"). As well as the Audio Precision's digital outputs, I used WAV and AIFF test-tone files sourced via USB from my MacBook Pro running on battery power with Pure Music 3.0. Apple's USB Prober utility identified the Schiit DAC as "Schiit Audio Gen 3 USB" from "Schiit," and identified the USB interface device as being from "C-MEDIA ELECTRONICS INC." The USB port operated in the optimal isochronous asynchronous mode. Apple's AudioMIDI utility revealed that,…
"Dammit!" No sooner had I praised small loudspeakers while dismissing large speakers as potentially having "large problems," in my review of the Crystal Arabesque Minissimo Diamond in the October issue, than I had to eat my words. Only days after that issue had gone to press, Magico's VP for Global Sales & Marketing, Peter Mackay, and CTO Yair Tammam, arrived at my place to set up a pair of the Bay Area company's floorstanding—and very large—S5 Mk.II loudspeakers.
The S5 Mk.II
Like the original S5, the S5 Mk.II is a three-way, floorstanding design, 4' tall. The twin, sealed-box–…