This means that aesthetics matter. During a recent trip to Japan, I found myself marveling at the many vintage audio…
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One of my favorite things about this pastime is the modesty of its aims. Despite the sometimes-astronomical sums spent on gear, and the small handful of drama queens who populate various corners of this hobby, all we're doing is trying to enjoy recorded music at home. No one here is reversing planetary warming or solving the Riemann hypothesis. The sole purpose of the pursuit we write about in these pages is to please, enlighten, and entertain. I like that about it.
It's been years since I lived with the purple Murasakino, but my quibble with this otherwise stellar SUT was its merely decent portrayal of tone colors. Happily, the Monster Can elicited richer, more saturated colors from my records. A good color test is the title track from Gabor Szabo's Spellbinder (Impulse! AS-9123), an improvisation with the slightly crazed, careening feel of surf rock. The Hungarian guitarist's second release from 1966, recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's Englewood Cliffs studio, highlights the distinctive and very full sound Szabo created with his amplified Gibson guitar…
Located directly across from my berth 444, I fell out of my room and into 445, knowing not what was in there. I spied the handsome profile of Nexus Audio Technologies’ Walter Schofield, seated alone on a single padded chair, closely appraising a system of his own making. I grabbed a couple of donuts, poured myself a cup of Joe, and asked Walter to fill me in. He came out of his trance. “Ken!”
Here we had the Wolf Audio Systems Red Wolf SX Music Server ($9400) allied to a T+A SD 3100 HV Reference Streaming DAC ($36,390), feeding a T+A HV 3100 Preamplifier ($23,750) and a stunning tubed T…
At the Florida International Audio Expo, Julie Mullins interviewed the Scott Walker Audio team as they showcased Aldo Filippelli’s installation from Luxury Audio Group. Every component was selected to suit a 35×55' room with 10' ceilings, ensuring the system delivers precise, adaptable sound in a challenging space.
At its core are the Estelon Extreme MkII speakers—a pair costing $296,000—that are engineered to handle vast air volumes yet are fine-tunable with high precision. Their motorized front module, integrating a diamond‑coated tweeter, mid‑range, and mid‑bass, adjusts…
Among the many reasons to be grateful for audio shows (footnote 1), one stands out: They allow me to set reasonable expectations of what components and whole audio systems can or cannot achieve. They have helped me set standards.
Name your component: I've heard enough of them in every price range to know what's cutting edge, what's good, and what's barely (if at all) living up to its marketing promises (footnote 2). Although these days I mainly cover the higher priced spread, when I encounter a component that costs considerably less yet delivers most or all that I've come to expect from…
Doing it my way
Thanks to the internet, everything you might ever want to know about front and back panels of the EMM Labs DA2i is a mere click away (footnote 5). Five small buttons on the front panel, or the handy metal infrared remote control, allow you to mute the output, change polarity, adjust front-panel brightness settings, choose the screen saver option, or reset the unit or its network settings to factory defaults. If you choose sufficient illumination for the front panel display, it's easy to view most of your setting choices (including input and file format) from as much…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Stereo 16×DSD (DSD1024) D/A Converter with next-generation proprietary high-isolation resonant mode power supply and Kimber Kable basic power cable. Roon Ready. Digital inputs: AES3, S/PDIF Coax, TosLink, USB Audio, Network (RJ45), and EMM OptiLink (for CD/ SACD). All inputs support up to 24/192 PCM and DSD; USB-B and network inputs also support up to 2×DSD, DXD (352/384kHz), & MQA. Stereo analog outputs: XLR and RCA. Output impedance: 300 ohms balanced (XLR), 150 ohms single-ended (RCA). Output levels (High/Low): XLR: 7.0/4.0V (+19.1/14.3dBu);…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital sources: dCS Vivaldi Apex DAC, dCS Rossini Apex; Innuos Statement Music Server/Streamer; Synology 5-bay 1019+ NAS, Uptone Audio EtherRegen with AfterDark Giesemann Emperor Double Crown Master Clock, Small Green Computer Sonore opticalModules (2) and Deluxe opticalModule, Linksys router and Arris modem, all powered by HDPlex 300 (3) and HDPlex 200 linear power supplies (3); Nordost QNet Ethernet Switch; Nordost QSource linear power supplies (2); Apple 2017 iPad Pro and 2017 MacBook Pro laptop with 2.8 GHz Intel i7, SSD, 16GB RAM.
Preamplifier: D'…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
Ed Meitner's MDAT code has evolved over the last two decades from a 44.1kHz/SACD-centric platform to one that services both 44.1kHz and 48kHz base sample rates. This latest MDAT algorithm still employs a series of FIR digital filters whose characteristics are adapted by the transient conditions of the signal on a sample-by-sample basis, but this now operates at a much higher rate. MDAT2's upsampling takes all input sample rates (including DSD) to 256×; base 44.1/48kHz inputs begin with a 2× stage, followed by 8× then 16× (totaling 256×) to deliver the final 11.2896…
Stereophile's Julie Mullins walks us through Advance Paris’s high‐performance hybrid amplifiers in a Playback Distribution room. At the Florida International Audio Expo 2025, she spoke with Cédric Léon about the company's offerings, now available in the U.S. market.
The discussion began with the A12 Classic, which supersedes the earlier A10 model. This dual‑mono, fully integrated hybrid amplifier features a tube input stage and preamplification section coupled with solid‑state output delivering nearly 200W into an 8 ohm load. A standout design element is the use of two large toroidal…