To win an EISA award all products undergo a comprehensive multi-step judging…
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EISA, or the Expert Imaging and Sound Association, is an organisation representing 56 of the most respected special interest publications and websites from 27 countries that cover Hi-Fi, Home Theater Video, Home Theater Audio, Photography, Mobile Devices, and In-Car Electronics. Every year EISA's Expert Group members, including editors from this publication, test a very wide range of new products from their field of expertise before comparing results and voting to decide on the cream of every product category.
Modern turntables are a paradox. The ever-evolving technology beneath their sleek exteriors fascinates me. The high-end turntable market these days can feel less like a haven for music lovers and more like a brutalist arms race in pursuit of maximum audio extraction.
Yet, it's not all about performance. Many new 'tables are adorned with outlandish, purely cosmetic flourishes that cause me to chuckle. Some super-bling record players, with their jutting angles and industrial menace, evoke the chrome carcass of the Battlestar Galactica, a testament to mechanical might. Others are even more…
The EMT 928 II boasts a hefty, 49mm-thick stepped aluminum platter that slots precisely into the plinth's recessed well, rising an inch above its surface. (The platter is "stepped" in the sense that the radius is larger at the top; the part that fits into the plinth's recessed well is smaller.) The platter is topped with an inlaid, textured mat designed to mate well with vinyl records. Huber said, "The exact mixture is a secret, but it consists of a high-density material and vinyl."
A phenolic subplatter supports the main platter, powered by a DC motor hidden beneath the plinth.…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Belt-drive, three-speed, manual turntable with 20W DC motor and battery power source, 12.12lb (5.5kg), 12" (304.8mm) diameter stepped aluminum platter and aluminum plinth. Supplied with EMT 909-HI tonearm, EMT Pure Black phono cartridge. Output: one pair RCA jacks, ground terminal. Tonearm mounting distance: 215–245mm, prepared for EMT 9" tonearm. 12" tonearm can be used via an offboard adapter. Speeds: 33 1/3rpm, 45rpm, 78rpm. W&F: (IEC 386 weighted): ±0.07%, ±0.07%, ±0.10%. Rumble (IEC 98 weighted, at 33 1/3, 45, and 78rpm): –85dB, –80dB, –75dB…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: VPI Avenger Direct turntable with VPI 12" FatBoy tonearm and Hana Umami Blue MC cartridge.
Preamplifiers: Line: Rogue Audio RP-7. Phono: Tavish Audio Design Adagio, Manley Chinook.
Integrated amplifier: Riviera Labs Levante.
Power amplifier: Rogue Audio Stereo 100.
Loudspeakers: Volti Audio Razz.
Cables: Interconnects: Agent Pur, AudioQuest Pegasus, Triode Wire Labs Spirit II (all RCA). Speaker: AudioQuest William Tell. AC: AudioQuest NRG Z, Triode Wire Labs Obsession NCF.
Accessories: Pro-Ject VC-S2 ALU, Humminguru…
In Serinusland, smooth sailing has never been guaranteed. Some months back, for reasons not yet determined, my Stromtank S 2500 Quantum MK II power regenerator (footnote 1) began to hum mechanically—sometimes steadily, sometimes with a pulse—whenever I turned on battery mode. Simultaneously, the Dan D'Agostino Master Systems Momentum HD preamp's power supply began to hum. I could listen through the hum—it wasn't that loud—but silence between tracks was a thing of the past, and rarely was the noise in the right key.
After Stromtank's remote diagnostic and repair procedure failed, Stromtank…
His thoughts on power products are more nuanced. "We don't like power conditioners because they add dirt to a properly controlled power supply. Most well-designed circuits don't need conditioners. There's nothing to be gained when you do it right in the front end of the power supply. If I needed all that stuff, I would take the whole design and review it again, because there's something wrong with it."
The Stromtank, though, is different. "The Stromtank runs a separate AC signal with a precision frequency stability of 60Hz, and the sinewaves are satin smooth. Those things are…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-source, two-zone. fully balanced, two-channel analog preamplifier with theater bypass, remote, and optional field-upgradable Digital Streaming Module (DSM). Preamplifier section: Frequency response: 0.1Hz–120kHz, ±0.0dB. S/N ratio: 105dB, unweighted, 100dB, weighted. Gain: 6dB, 10dB selectable. THD: <0.006%, 20Hz–20kHz. Inputs: five pair balanced (XLR). Outputs: two pair balanced (XLR) for Zone 1, one pair balanced (XLR) for Zone 2. Power consumption: 30W standby, 34W engaged. Optional digital module: PCM up to 32/384, MQA, DSD to DSD256, both…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital sources: dCS Vivaldi Apex DAC, Vivaldi Upsampler Plus, Vivaldi Master Clock, and Rossini Transport; EMM Labs DV2 Integrated DAC, Meitner MA3 Integrated DAC; Innuos Statement Next-Gen Music Server, and PhoenixNET network switch; Small Green Computer Sonore Deluxe opticalModule (2); Broadcom/Avago AFBR-5718PZ 1GB SX-SFP Gen 5 Fiber Optic modules; Nordost QNet switch and QSource linear power supply (2); Sonore Audiophile Linear Power Supply; Synology 5-bay 1019+ NAS with Ferrum Hypsos linear/switching hybrid power supply; Linksys MR9000 mesh router and…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
JVS's sample of the Dan D'Agostino Relentless could not be shipped to me in time for my test results to be published in this issue. I therefore performed the measurements on a different sample of the Relentless, serial number 1035, at Manhattan dealer Innovative Audio. (My thanks to Innovative's Elliot Fishkin and Chris Forman.) I examined the performance with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It").
The Relentless preserved absolute polarity (ie, was noninverting) and with the volume control set to the maximum of "99," the…