Description: Compact, powered, wireless two-way loudspeaker system in a bass-reflex enclosure. Drive units: One coaxial driver with 5.9" (150mm) cone woofer and 0.75" (19mm) ring-radiator tweeter. Wireless streaming features: AirPlay, Google Cast, Roon Ready, Bluetooth, UPnP. Streaming services support: Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, Amazon Music HD, Qobuz, Deezer, Internet Radio, podcasts. Inputs: (footnote 1) Ethernet up to 24/384 PCM and up to DSD256; TosLink up to 24/96; HDMI (ARC) up to 24/48; (footnote 2) USB-C up to 24/192; PCM up to DSD128. Supported…
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital sources: Custom Intel/Win11 music server running JRiver Media Center v33 and Roon 2. Merging Devices Hapi II, exaSound S88, and Okto dac8 Pro D/A processors. QNAP TVS-873 NAS. Oppo Digital UDP-103 universal disc player.
Power amplifiers: Benchmark AHB2.
Loudspeakers: KEF Blade Two Meta with IsoAcoustics GAIA II feet, KEF LS60W, KEF KC92 subwoofer, PS Audio FR5.
Cables: Digital interconnects: Mogami Gold AES TD DB25-XLR snake. Analog interconnects: Mogami Gold AES TD DB25-XLR snake, Benchmark Studio&Stage XLR–XLR. Speaker cables: Blue…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system, a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone, and an Earthworks microphone preamplifier to measure the Technics SC-CX700's quasi-anechoic frequency- and time-domain behavior in the farfield. I used an Earthworks QTC-40 microphone, which has a small, ¼" diameter capsule, for the nearfield responses. I adjusted the SC-CX700's settings with the Technics Audio Center app, installed on my iPad mini. I mainly used the analog Aux input for the testing, which has an input impedance of 25k ohms, but I repeated some measurements with the optical TosLink…
This show report covers over two dozen exhibit rooms from the 2025 Montreal Audiofest. Inside, you’ll find systems that impressed with powerful bass, nuanced detail, expansive soundstages, and a few surprises that left lasting impressions. From statement-level setups to unexpected overachievers, this year’s show delivered a wide and vibrant range of sonic experiences.
A handful of other rooms were published individually in the days following the show; you’ll find links to those at the bottom of this report.
All prices listed in CA$ unless otherwise noted.
Altitudo …
The Saints: (I'm) Stranded
In the Red. ITR1977 (auditioned as LP). 1977/2024. Rod Coe, prod.; Bill Price, Don Bartley, engs.
Performance ****
Sonics ***½
In the Red. ITR1977 (auditioned as LP). 1977/2024. Rod Coe, prod.; Bill Price, Don Bartley, engs.
Performance ****
Sonics ***½
Something was in the air across the globe in 1976. The stirrings of punk weren't occurring just in the UK and the US; they were happening in Australia, too. Take The Saints. The Brisbane band's debut single, "(I'm) Stranded," was an instant bonafide punk classic. It cannot be accused of bandwagon jumping: It came out before any of the Brit bands had released anything. It became an obligatory purchase for UK punks. Following…
John Zorn: The Complete String Quartets
JACK Quartet Tzadik 9318-2 (reviewed as 24/96 WAV). 2025. JACK Quartet, Ryan Streber, prods.; Streber, Scott Hull, engs. Performance ***** Sonics ****½
JACK Quartet Tzadik 9318-2 (reviewed as 24/96 WAV). 2025. JACK Quartet, Ryan Streber, prods.; Streber, Scott Hull, engs. Performance ***** Sonics ****½
For one of the wildest and most unpredictable rides you may ever take, skip the Ferris wheel and racetrack and take John Zorn's eight string quartets for a spin. Beginning with Cat O'Nine Tails (1988) and ending with Zorn's last quartet (so far at least), The Unseen: music for the temple (2017), the JACK Quartet's John Zorn: The Complete String Quartets promises to simultaneously pull you in and…
Larry Goldings: I Will
Larry Goldings, piano; Karl McComas-Reichl, bass; Christian Euman, drums
Sam First SFR 007. 2025. Paul Solomon, prod.; Nick Calapine, David Robaire, Bernie Grundman, engs.
Performance ****½
Sonics ****
Larry Goldings, piano; Karl McComas-Reichl, bass; Christian Euman, drums
Sam First SFR 007. 2025. Paul Solomon, prod.; Nick Calapine, David Robaire, Bernie Grundman, engs.
Performance ****½
Sonics ****
Like almost every organ player, Larry Goldings came to the Hammond via piano. As a professional, he has used both concurrently. His organ trio with guitarist Peter Bernstein and drummer Bill Stewart has been going for 35 years. But it wasn't until about seven years after that group's founding that Goldings made his first trio album with only a piano,…
The largest and most important audio show in the United States, AXPONA, is poised to open in the greater Chicago area’s sprawling Schaumburg Renaissance Hotel & Convention Center. Well before the three-day show opens on Friday, April 11 at 10am, you can expect scores of eager attendees lining up at the long registration desk in the Convention Center lobby.
Why? In addition to hopes for a first crack at rare vinyl, attendees will be vying for a prime listening spot in a record 213 listening rooms. That’s eight more than last year, spread across eight floors in multiple areas…
At the 2013 High End Show, in Munich, a tonearm designer displayed a pivoting tangential tracker. A nearly invisible length of monofilament wrapped around the arm's perimeter controlled the pivoting headshell of the box-girder–like arm.
It may very well have worked as promised, but was it practical? And with so many tiny moving parts, would it sound any good? I don't know—it was a silent display—and inquisitive attendees kept bumping the difficult-to-see monofilament, dislodging it from its track.
The odds weren't good that this contraption, however well intended, would ever get…
The RF tonearm sits on a massive base that will unbalance sprung-subchassis turntables.
Setting Up the ViV Labs Rigid Float
Though the one-sheet accompanying the Rigid Float 9 says "just put it anywhere," that's not quite true. The tonearm comes with an L-shaped alignment jig that you put over the spindle (the hole is too big and the fit is sloppy). As with SME's alignment system, you line up the straight arm tube directly over the jig, but instead of sliding the arm along a track to set overhang, you set underhang by manually moving the base until the stylus sits in a tiny,…