Description: Remote-controlled, solid-state integrated amplifier/streaming DAC with software-assignable inputs, LCD screen, switch- mode power supply, and high-efficiency output stage. Inputs: 1 Ethernet on RJ45; 1 bidirectional USB 2.0; 1 S/PDIF on TosLink; 1 S/PDIF on miniTosLink; 1 pair RCA jacks assignable to MM/ MC phono, line, or two S/PDIF digital inputs. Main outputs: 2 pairs of binding posts. Other inputs/outputs: trigger, SD card (for configuration and firmware). Supported formats: up to 32 bits/192kHz PCM via USB; up to 24 bits/192kHz PCM via Ethernet…
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: Thorens TD 124 turntable (reconditioned by Schopper AG), Thomas Schick 12" tonearm; Ortofon Xpression cartridge.
Digital sources: Intel NUC computer running Roon Optimized Core Kit; Synology DS918+ DISKSTATION 4-BAY Network Attached Storage device, aka NAS with 4 WD 4TB Red 5400 rpm SATA III 3.5" Internal Hard Drives and my TP-Link 8-Port Gigabit network switch (unmanaged); Pro-Ject CD Box RS2 T CD Transport; Mytek Brooklyn Bridge Streaming DAC.
Preamplification: Auditorium 23 Standard step-up transformer, EAR 834P phono preamp,…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the Devialet Expert 140 Pro using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It"). The amplifier as received was set to "High Pass 10Hz, Max. Level 2.0V." I usually precondition amplifiers by running them at one-third power into 8 ohms for an hour, which is thermally the worst case for a class-AB output stage. As the Devialet has a (partly) digital output stage, the preconditioning wasn't necessary. Nevertheless, the amplifier ran warm, with the top panel measuring 119.9°F (48.9°C) an hour or so into the testing. The menu's…
“Musical scavenger” Bryce Dessner, the composer/musician who gained fame as principal songwriter of American rock band The National, describes his process as collecting sounds that appeal to him and trying them out. Classically trained, he’s one of a growing number of artists whose cross-genre music, when performed by string quartets, orchestras, and ensembles, has been central to broadening the definition of classical music in the 21st century. Dessner is also one of eight “extraordinary artists, thinkers and doers” appointed to a collective that will help steer conductor/composer Esa-Pekka…
Ye Editor had his first exposure to a true omnidirectional speaker system 15 years ago, while he was employed as chief equipment tester for High Fidelity magazine. The speaker was a most unusual-looking device for its time, being roughly a foot square and standing 3 feet high, with a "cube" of grille cloth at the top like a cupola. Inside the cupola was an 8" woofer facing upwards. Directly above it was the weirdest-looking tweeter you ever saw.
Instead of a cone, it had what looked for all the world like a large, white lily sticking up from the voice coil, and close inspection revealed…
Sidebar 1: The Noise Cone
Although Hegeman no longer uses his "lily tweeter" in current designs, there are some other systems on the market now whose tweeters work in essentially the same manner, so it's worthwhile to examine just how these devices produce their 360-degree radiating pattern.
A conventional tweeter has its axis aimed forward, and the diaphragm movements push and pull the air in front of it. So how does a lily cone and its ilk manage to produce 360-degree air-pressure waves in a horizontal plane with its axis facing upwards?
Forget for a moment…
Sidebar 2: Specifications
Description: Omnidirectional two-way dynamic loudspeaker with multiresonant woofer loading. Impedance: 8 ohms. Power capacity; 25 watts.
Dimensions: 11" W × 8¾" D × 26" H.
Price: $114/pair (1973); no longer available (2019).
Manufacturer: Hegeman Laboratories, Inc., Glen Ridge, NJ 07028 (1973). Company no longer in existence (2019).
My current romance with audiophile-quality headphones began in earnest with the appearance, about 10 years ago, of Audeze's LCD-2 planar-magnetic headphones—these predated the company's patented Fazor elements, said to guide the sound around the transducers' magnet structures—and Schiit Audio's original Asgard headphone amplifier. Together, these groundbreaking products rekindled my interest by making headphone listening into something new and exciting—something less distorted, more dynamic, denser, and more intensely lifelike than what I was getting from my speakers on the floor. Best of…
The Grados' high sensitivity exposed a bit of the First Watt's noise floor, but when the music played, that noise became unnoticeable. Gloriously, when the J2-powered Grados played Vivaldi's Gloria, sung by The Choir of King's College with David Willcocks conducting (LP, Argo ZRG 505), I witnessed a full three-dimensional apparition of the King's College Chapel in Cambridge, England. I wondered: Have anyone's floor speakers ever exposed this much of the Cambridge chapel's interior? The sense of being there was acute.
Interestingly, while listening to the Vivaldi with the Grados, I…
We mentioned in the last issue that we were becoming increasingly disturbed by "a certain manic quality that is creeping into this pursuit of sonic perfection." We were referring then to a manufacturer's announcement of the imminent availability of a speaker system weighing over 1000 lb per channel, but we could just as well have been speaking of this behemoth from Audio Research.
The Dual 150 looks like a piece of professional broadcast equipment. It contains 8 output tubes (6550s), three slow-speed (but efficient) cooling fans, two front-panel meters for monitoring AC supply line volt…