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It's August as I write this, and I'm looking back at some things that need to be discussed, and forward to the fall audio shows—particularly the 2014 New York Audio Show, which, by the time you read this, will have been held in Brooklyn, September 26–28. I grew up in Brooklyn, not in "the city," Manhattan, a place that we traveled to only for special reasons. Audio shops were rare in Brooklyn—I remember only Audio Exchange—but in Manhattan there was a small cluster near Grand Central Station, there was Lafayette Radio near the Holland Tunnel, a few scattered elsewhere, and the magnet of…
Sidebar 3: Subtle & Not-so-Subtle Changes
During this review I added a variable to the mix: Shunyata Research's new ZTron Alpha Digital AC cable ($995). It's less expensive than the company's top cords, but demonstrably more efficacious for removing power-line noise than some of their earlier, more expensive efforts. Shunyata backed this claim up with a paper-shredder demo at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show, showing the reduction of AC line noise with an oscilloscope.
Before the 820S's arrival, I'd tried the ZTron Alpha Digital and a stock power cord on the Simaudio Moon…
To use the Mac mini for audio, however, I needed a music program. I had no plans to use iTunes—my prior experience with it was not a happy one. Besides, I require high resolution and multichannel playback, and despite iTunes' convenience, Apple tightly controls its file-format repertoire. I took the easy way out and installed JRiver Music Center/Mac v.19, to take advantage of my experience with Music Center 19 on the PC. It was the right choice—the interface was familiar, and on the first day of use I was able to get it to create libraries of the PCM, FLAC, DSD, and ISO files stored on my…
Sidebar: Contacts
miniDSP Ltd., Unit 1204, Crown Industrial Building, 106 How Ming Street, Kwun Tong, Hong Kong. Tel: (852) 2358-2066. Web: www.minidsp.com.
Meridian Audio Ltd., Latham Road, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE29 6YE, England, UK. Tel: (44) (0)1480-445678. Fax: (44) (0)1480-445686. US distributor: Meridian America Inc., 110 Greene Street, Suite 407, New York, NY 10012. Tel: (646) 666-0140. Fax: (646) 666-0152. Web: www.meridian-audio.com.
Register to win a pair of Vanatoo Transparent One Speakers (MSRP $499.00) we are giving away.
According to the company:
The Vanatoo Transparent One powered speakers set a new price/performance benchmark in the audiophile world. They produce unexpectedly great sound quality (honest, tight bass down to 48Hz!) from small bookshelf speakers that give you a lot of flexibility in how you use them. They are equally at home as a desktop audio system, a music streaming solution for a room where you want music but not stacks of equipment, or as a compact system you take with you…
Think it was Robert Johnson who sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads? Think again. If longevity is any indication, if it’s all about being battered and beaten and still having an inextinguishable rock and roll flame, then Jerry Lee Lewis, may be the one who really bargained with old scratch.
At 79, ol’ Jerry Lee is still making new records like this good time jam session out on Vanguard, formerly a premiere folk music label, but then everything changes. Or in the case of Jerry Lee, not so much. Here he sits down at the piano and with a few famous friends, mostly guitar players…
Andre Previn and His Pals: West Side Story
Andre Previn, piano; Shelly Manne, drums; Red Mitchell, double bass.
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab MFSL 1-095 (LP). Lester Koenig, prod. TT: 38:16
Andre Previn, piano; Shelly Manne, drums; Red Mitchell, double bass.
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab MFSL 1-095 (LP). Lester Koenig, prod. TT: 38:16
Aaron Copland has called jazz "contemporary chamber music," and this is certainly true of these improvisations by Previn and his friends. I consider this chamber jazz at its best, varying in mood and tempo but never losing interest. The program consists of eight variations on themes from Bernstein's well-known musical, and includes "Maria," "Jet Song," "I Feel Pretty," and "Something's Coming…
Natural sounds produce different waveshapes during their positive and negative phases, and playback-system polarity reversal often changes the reproduced sound. Does this mean our ears are phase-responsive, or is there something else here we've been overlooking?
There has been much discussion recently among perfectionists about the importance of what is called "absolute phase" in sound reproduction (footnote 1). Basically, the contention has been that, since many musical sounds are asymmetrical (having different waveforms during positive and negative phases), it is important that a…
To audiophiles who are aware that their household line voltage changes under varying loads, and have observed the absolutely fantastic differences in the sound of their system when the next-door neighbor turns on Junior's night light, it may come as a surprise to learn that there are folks out there who think you're full of crap. That's right, Virginia, they don't think you can really hear all those things you pretend to hear. (You are only pretending, aren't you?) They can't hear all those things, so how can you? Well, sometimes they can. They'll even admit that. But those tiny little…
Hi-fi firms have begun in garages. The English Spendor company was started in a bathtub. Or was it a kitchen sink?
By days in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Spencer Hughes worked as part of the BBC's loudspeaker research team. Among other accomplishments, he helped develop the 5" midrange/woofer for the fabled LS3/5A loudspeaker.
As speaker designers from Henry Kloss to Sonus Faber's Franco Serblin have told me, designing a successful 5" driver is "a doddle" (British for easy) compared to creating an 8" or larger cone. "It becomes harder to maintain clarity, focus, speed, and…