Description: Digital/analog converter based around ESS Sabre's ES9038PRO chip. It is also a single-input (RCA) analog preamplifier. Digital inputs: AES3, PCM up to 192kHz, 24 bits, DoP 64; TosLink, PCM up to 96kHz, 24 bits; RCA, PCM up to 196kHz, 24 bits, DoP 64; USB-C, PCM up to 768kHz, 32 bits, DSD 256; ARC, PCM up to 196kHz, 24 bits; I2S, PCM up to 768kHz, 32 bits, DSD 256. Plus, MQA decoder and renderer (all inputs). Output impedance: balanced, 44 ohms; unbalanced, RCA 22 ohms. Power consumption: 10W (idle), 15W (max).
Dimensions: 8.6" (217mm) W × 8.1" (…
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Sidebar 1: Specifications
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital sources: Roon Nucleus+ music server; Denafrips Terminator Plus, HoloAudio Spring 3 DACs.
Preamplifier: HoloAudio Serene.
Power amplifiers: Parasound Halo A 21+, Elekit TU-8900.
Headphone amplifiers: LTA Z10e, Feliks Envy.
Loudspeakers: Falcon Acoustics LS3/5a Gold Badge, Heretic AD614, Genelec G Three.
Headphones: HiFiMan HE R10P and Susvara, JPS Labs Abyss Diana TC, Meze Elite, Koss ESP 950.
Cables: Digital: Manufacturer's own USB (with Wandla), AudioQuest Diamond USB (with Denafrips and HoloAudio DACs). Interconnect: Cardas…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the Ferrum Wandla with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It"). As HR had told me he much preferred the sound with the optional Ferrum HYPSOS power supply, I performed a complete set of measurements using that supply (set to the appropriate 24.0V), then repeated some of the tests with the wall-wart.
Looking first at the Wandla's behavior as a D/A processor, Apple's USB Prober utility identified the Wandla as "Ferrum WANDLA" from "HEM" with the serial number string "12 mb=HEM014964;serce=HEM015368." The USB port…
"When I first listened to the tape I thought, this is so good that if I do anything else in my life, I have to make sure the world hears this," David Prinz says with obvious intensity. "That's how I really feel. It makes me happy that all these Gram fans are finally going to get to hear what he was really like live."
The love of music can drive human beings to astonishing lengths. For Prinz, cofounder/owner of California's Amoeba Music chain, that fervor revolves around the work of country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons. Despite the often-outlandish mythology that's grown up around this…
I always say I can't find what I'm not looking for, which doesn't mean I always know what I'm looking for. And not knowing what I want is unsettling. Recently, I was reminded of the thoughts of French polymath-philosopher René Girard (1923–2015), who suggested that people are not actually motivated by specific things like lust or capital or power, as major philosophers have declared, but by subtle, disconcerting forces of existential desire for something outside ourselves, never actually knowing what that something is (footnote 1).
Girard explains how this not knowing drives history and…
HE-R10P
In Herbworld, HiFiMan's HE-R10P closed-back wood-cupped planar magnetics are performing at a level equal to or above that of every other model in my headphone herd. In daily use, their comfort and grainless presentation conspire to make them disappear. The R10P's focus and resolve (and $5499 price) are almost equal to HiFiMan's $6000 Susvara. Its transparency is almost at the Abyss AB-1266 level. The 83dB-sensitive Susvara are open-back. When my room is quiet, they exhibit a blacker background than the 30 ohm, 99dB-sensitive R10Ps, where I can always hear the vibrating walls…
Shane MacGowan (Photo: Creative Commons-Share Alike 2.0.)
There was a time in London, in the mid-'80s, when a party would invariably close with a couple of Pogues songs. It didn't matter what music had preceded them—it could be reggae or soul or whatever—but the Pogues would be played, to enthusiastic sing-a-longs by the party guests. Even I was known to join in occasionally.
As often as not, one of the songs would be the Pogues's cover of Ewan MacColl's "Dirty Old Town." It didn't matter that the song had been written about Salford (a city in Greater Manchester): Everyone would…
In Jan Swafford's excellent 2020 Mozart biography The Reign of Love, he intimately weaves the composer's life story with the music he created. Along the way, he confirms a legendary scene. Played to the hilt in Amadeus, Milos Forman's 1984 film adaptation of Peter Shaffer's play, the then-reigning Hapsburg monarch, Joseph II, rushes backstage after the premiere of Mozart's first operatic blockbuster, The Abduction from the Seraglio, and opines, "Too beautiful for our [Viennese] ears, my dear Mozart, and monstrous many notes." Sassy by nature or perhaps just stung by the implied criticism,…
Do you remember your first really decent hi-fi system? It opened up your music, teased your brain with the possibilities of thrilling aural excitement, of dives to the bottom of the musical ocean. Perhaps it was all you needed, but more likely it was the beginning of a quest for your own ultimate sound-induced bliss.
That quest may be ongoing and never-ending, because our tastes and preferences evolve over time, money comes and goes, and we're simply never satisfied. And even if we are, eventually, we're audiophiles, and the industry always offers something interesting and new, or…
I decided to test the low-frequency performance of The Nines. It pleased and amused me to learn that John Atkinson uses a Taylor Swift tune, "All Too Well (Taylor's Version)," from her remade Red (24/96 FLAC, Big Machine Records/Qobuz), to test low bass. It's a good tune for that purpose, with a prominent bassline dropping an octave at 2:25, when she sings, "'Cause there we are again in the middle of the night." The Nines clearly reproduced the descending low-frequency energy, but pushing the SPLs pushed the fuzziness. These little boxes are great at reasonable volumes, but they simply…