"When you look at the breadth and the scope of the releases that Universal were gonna put out, it ran the gamut and was not strictly a jazz reissue…
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So, former White Stripe and Third Man label founder Jack White has now moved into jazz? It was a question that intrigued me when I first heard about the partnership between Universal Music and White's Third Man Records, a vinyl reissue series called Verve By Request. Was Universal just a client for Third Man's relatively new LP pressing plant in Detroit, or was this a genuine collaboration? And what the hell does Jack White know about jazz?
One question the Stereophile team asks in every AXPONA room we cover is, “Is any of the gear new?” The Cambridge Audio team wins a trophy this year—or would if there was a trophy. When I dropped in for a listen on the first day of the show, account manager Joseph Buechel told me that the Class AB CXA81 MkII integrated amplifier ($1199) was making its debut "today, right now." It’s so new that, as I write this, you can't have one yet. But you can join the waitlist on the website. Shipping is expected to start soon.
The CXA81 Mk II has some changes relative to the Mk I, such as onboard…
It may be strange to read what I'm about to say in the pages of Stereophile, but it's the cold hard truth so here goes: Audio reviews are inadequate. They don't tell the whole story. They come up short and can even misdirect.
It's not their fault, or at least sometimes it isn't. Even the good ones can't tell you how something will sound to you—let alone make you feel, the ultimate point—in your own room. As helpful as they may be, they can't address the elephant in the listening room: synergy.
Have you ever been to an audio show where a component in a demo sounded wonderful, only…
Next up: Desert Lady/Fantasy (CD, Columbia CK 57856) by Toshiko Akiyoshi and her 16-piece Jazz Orchestra, featuring Lew Tabackin. I played three minutes of the first track, then three of the next, the title track. The soundstage was grand: flush with detail, big pictures, and colorful images, except this time, during some parts, its pacing and images seemed to drift more than usual, none of which I had noticed on the Adderley CD, which is a much more sterile-sounding recording than this more harmonically tufted Akiyoshi one.
I substituted my iFi DSD Diablo DAC, whose character is…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Tube integrated amplifier with class-A output stage with optional MM or MC phono boards. Tube complement: one ECC83 (12AX7), two 12AT7 (ECC81), and a choice of output tubes. Inputs: six single-ended (RCA, including one HT Bypass input and one assignable to the optional phono MM or MC), 1 balanced (XLR). Outputs: 1 pair loudspeaker outputs, 2 single-ended (RCA, including one Preamplifier output and one Record output). Output power: With Power Selector on High 50W setting: 50Wpc into 4 ohms (14dBW); with Power Selector on Low 25W setting: 25Wpc into 4…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog source: Rega P5 turntable with RB700 tonearm and Audio MusiKraft Denon DL-103 cartridge, Luna Cables Orange Step-up transformer.
Digital sources: Simaudio Moon 260D CD transport, iFi iDSD Diablo DAC. Cambridge Audio EVO 150 (used as DAC).
Integrated amplifier: Grandinote Shinai.
Loudspeakers: Focal Aria K2 936.
Cables: Digital: AudioQuest Carbon (RCA S/PDIF), DH Labs Silver Sonic D-750 (RCA S/PDIF/3.5mm S/PDIF). Interconnect: Audience Studio ONE (RCA). Speaker: Kimber Kable Monocle-XL (w/banana plugs). Power: Shunyata Research Black…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured a different sample of the Octave Audio V 70 Class A than that auditioned by RS. Mine had the serial number 22018130 and was not fitted with the optional phono module. As RS primarily used the balanced line input and KT120 output tubes with the Power switch set to High and the amplifier connected to the Super Black Box external supply, I performed a full set of measurements in that condition. I then repeated some of the tests with the single-ended inputs, then without the Super Black Box (footnote 1), and finally with KT88 tubes replacing the KT120s and…
An old Dutch saying holds that "good wine needs no wreath," meaning that real quality sells itself. That probably applies to Philharmonic Audio, too. The Maryland-based speaker manufacturer, led by veteran designer and viola maestro Dennis Murphy, has never put much stock in advertising and marketing. It grew mainly thanks to word of mouth from people who value great sound, superior measurements, and reasonable prices (footnote 1).
Hearing is believing, and I finally understood the reason for the frequent online recommendations when I visited room 456 at AXPONA. There, Philharmonic had…
A $20,000 system is probably no one’s idea of cheap, but it’s affordable-ish by AXPONA standards. And if the sound quality of such a setup is as good as it was in room 394, where Chicago dealer Saturday Audio Exchange had again partnered with Canadian marques Paradigm and Anthem, we’re getting into bargain territory.
I have a weakness for these brands, which is why I purchased an Anthem STR integrated a few years back. Five grand for a Stereophile-recommended, class-A-rated "watershed product" (in the words of TJN), with room-correction built in? Sounds good to me, literally and…
In the quiet inner sanctum of Ultra Fidelis’ two-room suite with Vandersteen, AudioQuest, AMG, Audio Research and more, I sat enthralled before one of the most musical systems I encountered at AXPONA.
I gave little thought to the sweet spot or other audiophile considerations. The music, on LP, of Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s DG recording of Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celeste was mesmerizing—the colors so rich and saturated, the flow so liquid and transparent, the strings so smooth, the presentation so open and balanced (after the volume was…