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The pleasures of reviewing a new CD player reside in its light weight, compact dimensions, and, most of all, its ABC-simple installation: no cartridge to mount, no stylus to break, no step-up trans formers or cartridge-load values to explore. No server, no Ethernet switches, no digital processor or outboard clock, no NOS, OS, filter choices, or upsampling (usually), no DSD or DXD, no specialized cables, and-especially-no garish, billboard-sized LCD menu to trigger anxiety. Just plug the player in, connect it to a preamp, and choose a CD to play first.
The Viking's ability to expose Gieseking's morphing tempos enabled me to revisit and mind meld with Gieseking's transcendental Debussy via a four-CD box set of his performances of Debussy and Maurice Ravel (New Classical Adventure/Audiophidelity LC 12281). These CDs are digital remasters made from a digital source, most likely several steps removed from the original analog masters, yet the Viking found the room, air, microphones, and-I swear, during the quietest passages-some faint tube glow and a few momentary hints of these recordings' magnetic-tape origins. These are subtle things I'…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: CD player using a new-manufacture AKM-4493SEQ DAC chip. Analog outputs: one unbalanced (RCA) and one balanced (XLR), one BNC true 75 ohm digital. Maximum output level: 2.6V RMS. Output impedance: 22 ohms unbalanced; 44 ohms balanced.
Dimensions: 3.54" (90mm) H × 17" (431mm) W × 12" (305mm) D. Weight: 16.1lb (7.3kg).
Finish: Black steel.
Serial number of unit reviewed: VIK-63A 108. Assembled and packaged in China.
Price: $5000. Approximate number of dealers: 75. Warranty: Two years, nontransferable.
Manufacturer: Hegel Music…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital sources: Roon Nucleus+ music server; Denafrips Terminator Plus DAC.
Preamplifiers: PrimaLuna EVO 400, HoloAudio Serene.
Power amplifiers: Parasound Halo A 21+, Elekit TU-8900.
Loudspeakers: Falcon Acoustics LS3/5a Gold Badge, Heretic AD614.
Headphones: Meze Elite.
Cables: Digital: AudioQuest Diamond USB and Cinnamon coaxial. Interconnect: AudioQuest ThunderBird, Cardas Clear Beyond, Ikigai Audio Kangai-level. Speaker: Ikigai Audio Kangai-level. AC: AudioQuest Tornado, manufacturer's own.
Accessories: AudioQuest Niagara 1000…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the Hegel Viking using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system. As this player doesn't have digital inputs, I used test signals that I burned on a CD-R. I first used the Pierre Verany Digital Test CD to check the Viking's error correction. It played the tracks with gaps in the data spiral up to 1mm in length without any problems, but there were audible glitches when the gap was longer than 1mm or when there were two 0.5mm gaps in succession. The Compact Disc standard, the so-called "Red Book," requires that a player cope with gaps of only up to 0.2mm, and the…
In the mid-2000s, I worked at a "white-shoe" law firm on Wall Street, ran with renegades, and fancied myself a writer. Fast-forward some 18 years. The firm, like many cash-flush NYC firms, has moved to midtown and I've moved on. Those renegades are now respected members and players in the hi-fi community. I still fancy myself a writer.
Back then, I made friends with a big-eared clique that would influence my future in hi-fi: audio writer Michael Lavorgna (currently editor at TwitteringMachines.com); NYU law professor Jules Coleman; former Stereophile deputy editor and current AudioQuest…
Setup
John DeVore toted his O/babies from the Navy Yard and up my stairs then unsheathed them from heavy plastic. (The boxes were left in Brooklyn.) After much jogging, moving, taping, measuring, and listening, he secured them 64" apart tweeter to tweeter and 80" from my listening seat. After a week or two of listening, including one night playing hip-hop records brought by filmmaker Jeremy Elkin, I pushed them back 5" farther, endowing the sound with a deeper low-end with no sacrifice of presence, sparkle, or soundstaging.
John DeVore toted his O/babies from the Navy Yard and up my stairs then unsheathed them from heavy plastic. (The boxes were left in Brooklyn.) After much jogging, moving, taping, measuring, and listening, he secured them 64" apart tweeter to tweeter and 80" from my listening seat. After a week or two of listening, including one night playing hip-hop records brought by filmmaker Jeremy Elkin, I pushed them back 5" farther, endowing the sound with a deeper low-end with no sacrifice of presence, sparkle, or soundstaging.
Listening
As I started working on this review, I was…
Sidebar 1: John DeVore
Considering John DeVore's long legs, on his person and in the industry, I thought a historical Q&A was in order.
Ken Micallef: Why did you become a loudspeaker designer?
John DeVore: I've always been an audiophile. I always had music on and my hi-fi carefully set up, even as a teenager. I loved music, loved the gear, and was meticulous about the sound. In college, I realized I would probably never be able to afford the best speakers I was listening to at hi-fi stores, and so in the 1980s, I began reading up, studying, and eventually…
Sidebar 2: Specifications
Description: Two-way, rear-ported bass-reflex loudspeaker. Driver complement: horn-loaded 0.75" (19mm) Vifa textile-dome tweeter, 7" (178mm) SEAS paper-cone woofer. Frequency range: 38Hz–25kHz. Sensitivity: 90dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms.
Dimensions: 35" (889mm) H × 14.75" (375mm) W × 9.75" (248mm) D (including stands). Weight: 40lb (18kg).
Finish: White oak.
Serial numbers of units reviewed: B051B098 (both, auditioned); B0510001 (measurements), "handmade in Brooklyn, New York."
Price: $5700/pair. Stands: $995/pair. Warranty: Five years…
Sidebar 3: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: Michell TecnoDec turntable with T3 tonearm, Goldring 1006 and Dynavector 10X5 LOW cartridges. VPI Avenger Direct turntable, VPI Fatboy tonearm, VPI Shyla MC cartridge.
Integrated amplifiers: Parasound Hint 6, PrimaLuna EVO 400.
Preamplifiers: Sugden LA-4, Tavish Audio Design Adagio phono.
Power amplifiers: Pass Labs XA-25, LKV Research PWR-3.
Loudspeakers: Devore Fidelity O/96, Volti Audio Razz, Spendor BC-1.
Cables: Interconnects: AudioQuest Pegasus, Triode Wire Labs Spirit II. Speaker: Auditorium 23. AC: Triode Wire…