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The kWP is unusual in having a full-featured phono stage. The moving-magnet stage's input impedance was to specification at 68k ohms or 47k ohms, depending on the positions of the rear-panel DIP switches. The moving-coil stage input loading was 125 ohms at 1kHz when set to "100 ohms," 12 ohms when set to "10." Measured at the tape output jacks, the phono-stage gain was 40dB (MM) and 57dB (MC), the latter a little on the low side for the lowest-output MC cartridges.

The kWP offered superb RIAA de-emphasis accuracy (fig.8), though there was a…

Throughout the review period, I kept returning…

Description: Single-box, two-channel SACD/CD player, with single-ended and balanced analog outputs, two digital outputs (AES3 and S/PDIF), two digital inputs (AES3 and S/PDIF), and word-clock input and output jacks (BNC). D/A section upsamples CD data to DSD. Maximum output voltage: 6V/2V (switchable). No other specifications given.
Dimensions: 16.93" (430mm) W by 3.74" (95mm) H by 15.55" (395mm) D. Weight: 26.44 lbs (12kg).
Serial Number of Unit Reviewed: 0b1 7e5 3d1 1b4 1d4 002005. Software version: 1.05.
Price: $13,995. Approximate number of dealers…

Digital Sources: Ayre C-5xe universal player; Mark Levinson No.30.6, Benchmark DAC 1, Grace m902, Musical Fidelity X-DACV3 D/A processors; Alesis Masterlink hard-disk recorder.
Preamplifier: Mark Levinson No.326S.
Power Amplifiers: Mark Levinson No.33H monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Sonus Faber Amati anniversario, Genesis 5.2, Snell LCR7.
Cables: Digital: Kimber Illuminations Orchid AES/EBU, AudioQuest SVD-4 S/PDIF. Interconnect: AudioQuest Cheetah, Madrigal CZ Gel-1, Ayre Signature Series, Crystalconnect, Canare (balanced). Speaker: AudioQuest…

The dCS P8i put out a maximum of 6V from both CD and SACD with its Level set to "6V." Set to "2V" with the Menu button, this dropped appropriately, to 2V RMS. The source impedance was less than 1 ohm from both the unbalanced and balanced outputs. The signal polarity, with the Phase set to Normal, was noninverting from the single-ended outputs but inverting from the balanced outputs, implying that the XLRs are wired with pin 3 rather than pin 2 hot.

Tested using the Pierre Verany test CD, which has calibrated gaps in its data spiral, the P8i had the best…

Tuesday, November 18, 1997, was chilly and clear; Santa Fe had received its first snowfall of the season only two days before. Toward dusk, heavy fog drifted down from the hills overlooking the city, blurring the crisp lines that distinguish "Santa Fe light" from that elsewhere.

"Oh no!" I thought, as engineer John Atkinson, executive producer Gretchen Grogan, photographer David Hendrick, and I ferried recording equipment into Loretto Chapel. "Ida's going to have a tough time maintaining tune..." A logical suspicion, but one that ultimately proved…

The chapel's long reverberant signature, while gorgeous for the solo violin sonata, would have proven too much of a good thing for a Steinway grand piano in the Enescu and…

In choosing the works on this recording, I turned to a musical period I find ceaselessly fascinating—the years between the two World Wars. They were a fertile time for all the creative arts in Europe and the United States, and composers flourished with particular expressiveness, moved in part by the devastation in so many societies. In this selection, I have focused on two Eastern European countries: Czechoslovakia (as it was then) and Rumania. The three composers represented have distinct styles and musical languages, yet they communicate in common a heartfelt…

The more recording I do and the more microphones I acquire, the further I seem to move away from my purist roots. Once a diehard Blumlein devotee, who would countenance only the theoretically correct pure-amplitude stereo imaging proposed in the early '30s by the visionary English engineer Alan Dower Blumlein, I have been increasingly prepared to sacrifice imaging specificity in favor of a sound that is true to what you hear in the concert hall. What is the point of capturing the optimal imaging on a recording if the instrumental sounds are changed…