User-replaceable styli with three-figure price tags are made possible because the transduction principle for which the cartridge is named—at least two other strain-gauge pickups have appeared on the market in years past—is so different from that of most other phono cartridges. MI, MC, and MM cartridges all respond to…
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Lower still is the cost of maintaining Ledermann's top cartridge model, the Soundsmith Strain Gauge ($8600, including the most basic version of its requisite preamp, footnote 3): Replacement styli can be swapped out in the field, and range in price from only $350 to $950.
I've spent the last month recording songs for a pal's upcoming album. His act consists of powerful female and male singers, acoustic and electric bass, and acoustic guitars and mandolin. Jay-Z is funding the project, which is destined to transform the entire hip-hop/rap beat-driven pop landscape into an acoustic-music wonderland.
Okay, I jest about that last part.
Anyway, a couple weeks before recording started, Rega Research's new DAC-R ($1195) arrived for review, presenting me with a chance to compare what I was hearing live in the studio with our recorded results played back in…
This means that the DAC-R actually has six filters, optimized by sampling rate. I didn't realize this at first, and was a bit puzzled when I preferred Filter 1 with 44.1k material, though not by much, but ended up definitely preferring Filter 3 with high-resolution recordings. In the end, this resulted in my leaving the setting on Filter 3, the apodizing setting, most of the time.
I later learned that Bateman refers to the DAC-R's three Filter responses as "standard," "extended," and "gradual." He wrote to me: "The extended filter extends to the maximum response allowed by the sample…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid-state D/A processor. Digital inputs: USB: 24-bit 44.1/48/88.2/96/176.4/192kHz. Optical/TosLink 1 & 2: 24-bit 32/44.1/48/88.2/96/176.4/192kHz. Coaxial 1 & 2: 24-bit 32/44.1/48/88.2/96/176.4/192kHz. Bit resolution (all inputs): 16 to 24-bit. Supported data rates: 32, 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192kHz. Frequency response (100k ohms load:) Filter 1 selected. Low data rate, 10Hz–20.02kHz, –0.05dB (44.1kHz), 10Hz–21.7kHz –0.03dB (48kHz). Medium data rate: 10Hz–28.7kHz, –0.05dB (88.2kHz), 10Hz–31.2kHz, –3dB (96kHz). High data rate: 10Hz–44.…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Apple MacBook Pro computer (2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD) running OS 10.10.3, Audirvana Plus, iTunes 11.1.5, Sonic Studios Amarra 2.5, Songbird 1.9.3, XLD; Western Digital 2TB NAS device; Oppo BDP-103 universal BD player; Meridian Digital Media System (Control 15, QNAP TS-669 Pro NAS); Apple iPad Air, iPod Touch 1G, iPhone 6.
Digital Processors: Benchmark DAC1 USB & DAC2 HGC, AudioQuest DragonFly USB DAC, Cambridge Audio DacMagic XS.
Preamplifier: Marantz AV7005 in Pure Direct Mode.
Power Amplifier: Classé…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
Superficially, the DAC-R looks identical to Rega's original DAC, which Sam Tellig reviewed in the May 2011 issue. However, the DAC-R replaces the DAC's Burr-Brown PCM2707 USB receiver chip with a higher-performing XMOS chip. I measured the DAC-R with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 "As We See It"). Sources were S/PDIF on TosLink and coaxial from the SYS2722, and USB from my 2012 MacBook Pro running on battery power. Macintosh's USB Prober utility reported the Rega's product string as "XMOS USB Audio 2.0," and confirmed that…
Letters remembering Gordon appeared in December 2009 (Vol.32 No.12):
J. Gordon Holt's passing
Editor: I just received the October 2009 issue. It was the first I'd heard of J. Gordon Holt's passing. Being one of the baby boomers he so reviled, I can't help but wonder about the jolly individual depicted in "As We See It" (p.3). Judging from comments from Holt that had been published in Stereophile the last few years, I had a picture of a cranky if not embittered old man. Gordon looks positively welcoming in Jeff Wong's illustration. Then I turned to p.5, with the image of Gordon giving…
In the May 2015 issue, I fairly raved about Simaudio's Moon Evolution 740P line-stage preamplifier, and now here I am confronting its Moon Evolution 860A power amp. The two are companion models of sorts, with prices of $9500 for the 740P, $15,000 for the 860A—and for much of the time I spent listening to the 740P it was hooked up to the 860A, so some of the descriptions of sound in this review will seem familiar. The two components are both products of the same design shop—Simaudio, Ltd., of Quebec, which has been a prominent brand in high-end audio for 35 years—and are often marketed as a…
I don't mean, by any of this, to compare the Simaudio 860A with any current Krell power amps (which, in any case, I haven't heard). I'm only saying that certain trade-offs that came with past Simaudio amps have—at least with the 860A—largely evaporated.
However, one comparison that I noted back in 2011—between the percussive touch and the gorgeous overtones of Frank Kimbrough's piano on the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra's Sky Blue (CD, ArtistShare AS0065)—still held true: the 860A still didn't let me hear quite the full body contact with those keys. But, at the same time, the harmonic…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid-state, dual-mono power amplifier. Inputs: 1 unbalanced (RCA), 1 balanced (XLR). Outputs: 2 pairs binding posts with biwiring option. Power output: 200Wpc into 8 ohms (23dBW), 400Wpc into 4 ohms (23dBW). Frequency response: 10Hz–200kHz, +0/–3dB. Voltage gain: 31dB. THD: <0.015% (20Hz–20kHz, 1W), <0.04% (20Hz–20kHz, 200W). Signal/noise: >106dB (full power). Input impedance: 47.5k ohms. Power consumption: 55W at idle.
Dimensions: 18.6" (476mm) W by 7.5" (191mm) H by 17.4" (445mm) D. Weight: 84 lbs (38kg) net, 88 lbs (40kg) shipping.…