Digital sources: dCS Vivaldi Apex DAC, Vivaldi Upsampler Plus, and Vivaldi Master Clock; Innuos Statement Next-Gen Music Server; Small Green Computer Sonore Deluxe optical Module; Uptone Audio EtherRegen with SOtM sCLK-OCX10 Master Clock and sPS-500 power supply; Nordost QNet switch and two QSource linear power supplies; HDPlex 300 linear power supply; Synology 5-bay 1019+ network-attached storage device with Ferrum Hypsos linear/ switching hybrid power supply; Linksys MR9000 mesh router and Arris modem; Apple 2023 iPad Pro and 2017 MacBook Pro laptop with…
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Sidebar 3: Measurements
Although the LōKē was reviewed by JVS in a system with the Wilson Alexia V loudspeakers, I measured it in a different context, paired up with the Wilson SabrinaX. As noted in the review in Hi-Fi News (December 2022), the scope of the LōKē's low-pass (LPF) and subsonic (HPF) frequency and slope options plus phase, output level, parametric EQ, and placement scenarios allows many response combinations. For the sake of expediency, I left the subsonic (HPF) and PEQ features disabled for the flattest LF response and focused on the tunable (30Hz–125Hz, ±1Hz) LPF options…
The November 2023 issue of Stereophile included follow-up reviews of two products: the Dynaudio Focus 10 active loudspeaker and the Innuos Statement Music Server/Streamer.
Jason Victor Serinus reviewed Dynaudio's Focus 10 in Stereophile's February 2023 issue. He concluded that "designed as a 'complete wireless sound system,' the Focus 10 were the most musically satisfying one-stop playback solution he'd had the pleasure of hanging with." However, one aspect he wasn't able to audition was the loudspeaker's integration with Dirac Live room correction.
As I had some experience in…
Teatro Morlacchi at Umbria. All Photos by Tim Dickeson.
It has been a year since my piece "On The Road Again: A Jazz Festival Journal From A Summer Of Plague And War" appeared, in the November 2022 issue of this magazine. It described three European jazz festivals I attended in July 2022.
In July 2023, I returned to Europe to attend two festivals. The COVID-19 plague and its fallout had significantly subsided. The war in Ukraine was still raging, but this time I didn't get near it. In 2022, I went to a festival in Romania, which borders Ukraine. In 2023, I only went to Italy.…
Gianluca Petrella, Teatro Morlacchi.
This year's festival provided further confirmation that the leading jazz scene outside the United States is Italy. Many of the best Italians were there: Enrico Rava. Paolo Fresu. Fabrizio Bosso. Gianluca Petrella. Flavio Boltro. Stefano di Battista. Enrico Morello. And that is before we get to the piano players. The greatest strength of the Italian jazz scene is pianists. The top four are Stefano Bollani, Enrico Pieranunzi, Danilo Rea, and Dado Moroni.
But one searches in vain for Italian names in the 71st DownBeat Critics Poll. The almost…
Sidebar: Recommended Listening
La Litanie Des Cimes, Woodlands (BMC)
Dan Kinzelman/Ghost Horse, Il Bene Comune (Hora)
Francesco Diodati Yellow Squeeds, Never The Same (Auand, Stereophile Recording Of The Month, May 2019)
Enrico Pieranunzi/Marc Johnson/Joey Baron, Live In Japan (Cam Jazz)
Danilo Rea, Doctor 3 (Jando)
Dado Moroni, There Is No Greater Love (Storyville)
Stefano Bollani, Stone In The Water (ECM)
Julian Oliver Mazzariello, Reflections (Foné)
Recently, when a reader questioned my hearing acuity on account of my age—I'm 69—I didn't argue: I don't hear as well as I did when I was 40, or 50, or even 60, and it would be foolish to claim otherwise. However, while my hearing isn't what it once was, neither is my listening—which has never been better. Audio perception is a combination of what the ear delivers and what the brain does with it.
A while back, I visited an audio store to give a presentation. Before the public arrived, I sat down with some veteran audio manufacturers who were contentedly listening to a system that…
Digital Playback: Among other discs, I ripped a reissue of Milt Jackson's Sunflower (LP, CTI/Pure Pleasure 6024) to both CD and DSD128 resolutions. If you needed more proof that CD resolution is not transparent to the source and that double DSD gets much closer, these two files would convince you: The CD-rez file sounded spatially flat and somewhat crunchy on top; the DSD was smoother, more spacious, more like the LP.
If you buy a Sony PS-HX500 to archive your LPs, you'll find its playback, recording, and editing functions relatively easy to use. On a Mac, the files show up in a…
Hermitage Piano Trio: Spanish Impressions
Reference Recordings RR151 (reviewed as 24/176.4 FLAC download). 2023. Victor and Marina A. Ledin, prods.; Sean Royce Martin, Keith O. Johnson, engs.
Performance ****½
Sonics *****
Reference Recordings RR151 (reviewed as 24/176.4 FLAC download). 2023. Victor and Marina A. Ledin, prods.; Sean Royce Martin, Keith O. Johnson, engs.
Performance ****½
Sonics *****
Here's a real treat: piano trios by four outstanding Spanish composers—Enrique Fernández Arbós, Joaquín Turina, Gaspar Cassadó, and Mariano Perelló. All except Cassadó, a famed cellist born in 1897 who studied with Pablo Casals in Paris, composed during the same golden period as Granados, Falla, and Albéniz—the composers whose orchestral music graces Fritz…
ABC: The Lexicon of Love
Neutron Records/Universal NTRS401 (LP). 1982/2023. Trevor Horn, prod.; Gary Langan, Miles Showell, engs.
Performance *****
Sonics ****
Neutron Records/Universal NTRS401 (LP). 1982/2023. Trevor Horn, prod.; Gary Langan, Miles Showell, engs.
Performance *****
Sonics ****
The mix of early Motown, a pinch of Chic's guitar, dance synths, and lush orchestration made The Lexicon of Love a firecracker of an album in 1982. ABC was not simply another New Romantic band espousing conspicuous consumption on sun-kissed yachts. Their music reveled in pop, it was filled with puns, and yes it was fun, but it was also eloquent. Their sense of irony, perhaps epitomized by Martin Fry's gold lamé suit and…