Measuring headphones is fraught with practical problems, mainly due to the fact that the target response for a drive-unit that fires straight into the ear canal is anything but flat, given the frequency-response–modifying natures of the pinnae and inner ear canal which, as mentioned earlier, are unique for each person. A graph in an excellent 1980 AES paper from Audio Contributing Editor Jon Sank (footnote 1; see Dick Olsher's sidebar on headphone frequency response), shows the envelope of responses he found desirable for conventional headphones to sound flat.
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Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Circumaural electrostatic headphones with included stepup transformer and class-A solid-state amplifier. Frequency range: 8Hz–35kHz.
Weight: 15 oz.
Price: $780 (1984); $1200 (1991); no longer vailable (2016).
Manufacturer: Stax Limited, 3798-1 Shimonanbata, Fujimi-shi, Saitama-Ken, Japan 354-0004. Tel: 81-49-293-1891. Fax: 81-49-293-1892. Web: www.stax.co.jp/index-E.html. US distributor: Stax Kogyo, Inc., Carson, CA 90746 (1984); Yama's Enterprises, Inc., 16617 S. Normandie Ave., Suite C, Gardena, CA 90247 (2016). Tel: (310) 327-3913. Fax…
Carla Bley, Andy Sheppard, Steve Swallow: Andando el Tiempo
ECM 2487 (CD). 2016. Manfred Eicher, prod.; Stefano Amerio, eng. DDD. TT: 47:19
Performance ****½
Sonics *****
ECM 2487 (CD). 2016. Manfred Eicher, prod.; Stefano Amerio, eng. DDD. TT: 47:19
Performance ****½
Sonics *****
Resistance is futile. From the moment she dropped out of high school in Oakland, California and headed for New York, nothing was going to stop Karen Borg, the daughter of a church organist, from evolving into one of the most influential jazz composers of her generation in her new identity as Carla Bley. While working as a hat-check girl at Birdland, she met the brilliant avant-garde pianist Paul Bley (1932–…
Bob's Devices is a company that make finely crafted and affordable step-up transformers for moving-coil cartridges, as well as silver-clad pure copper interconnects ($395/meter). Their lowest-priced SUT, the CineMag 1131 ($1195), has switchable gain (1:20/1:10). Next is the Bob's Devices Sky CineMag ($1250), which offers lower inductance, thanks to (switchable) ratios that are also lower. Finally there's the Integrated VPI SUT ($1650), a CineMag 1131 transformer that also takes the place of the standard VPI tonearm wire/phono cable interface.
Before I visited the Bob's Devices…
Hanson Audio Video (3140 Far Hills Avenue, Dayton, OH 45429) is hosting an event Thursday July 14, 4–8pm) and AudioVision San Francisco (1628 California Street, San Francisco, CA 94109) is holding an event also on July 14, 7:30–10pm.
The Hanson event will feature flagship products from Dynaudio (Evidence Platinum loudspeakers), Octave (Jubilee mono amplifiers and preamp), and Nordost cables. Dynaudio's Mick Tillman, Octave's Thomas Brieger, and Nordost's Michael Taylor will be on hand. For more information, please contact Hanson Audio Video at (937) 293-6200 or visit Hanson's website.…
If you must know, I do in fact maintain on my desktop computer a file-folder labeled Vintage, which is where I put all my audio porn, much of it gathered at audio shows such as CAF2016. Janet has seen it, and she agrees that things could be a lot worse.
Because I love Garrard 301 and 401 turntables, I photograph every one that I can find. And at CAF2016—notwithstanding the fact that VPI was the predominant brand of turntables, by a huge margin—I found three of them. The first was this beautiful hammertone, grease-bearing, ca-1955 301, owned by Vu Hoang of Deja Vu Audio. Aldo D'Urso, who…
The best hug I received at CAF came from Gary Gill, when I arrived. The second best hug came from the towering and lovable Klaus Bunge of Odyssey Audio. Klaus has such an unpretentious demeanor and down-to-earth (but worldly) grin: with Klaus, I could hang and talk and listen to his gear all day. Every time I visit an Odyssey room, the amplifiers, DACs, and speakers let the music present itself in a highly detailed—but warm and human-centered—way, just like Klaus himself.
In fact, I think the "embracing" nature of the Odyssey sound may cause its less obvious accuracy and neutrality to…
You will have to hunt far and wide for a finer-sounding recording of Mahler's final Tenth Symphony than this one of the Deryck Cooke completion from the Seattle Symphony under Principal Guest Conductor Thomas Dausgaard. Captured in 24/96 hi-rez by Dmitry Lipay and Alexander Lipay, and available as both a 5.1 surround sound and stereo 24/96 download as well as in 16/44.1 on CD, the recording stands apart for the richness of its lower midrange, the impact of its bass drum thwacks, and the supremely saturated colors.
The live recording, made in Seattle's Taper Auditorium in Benaroya Hall…
Once in a blue moon, I'm asked this question: How much should I spend on an audiophile rig? It's usually asked by someone with no real interest in buying an audiophile rig, but who's fishing, for giggles, for the exorbitant figure that is the presumed going rate for joining our hobby. Sometimes, when the mood strikes, I'll bang out a randomly absurd number—"$80,000!"—then lean back to observe the fallout. Nine times out of ten, that fallout consists of a head shake and a snicker, as if to say, "You guys are nuts!" But on those occasions when honesty seems the best policy, my short answer to…
A lot of performers have their moment in the sun, but in March 1986, when Steve Earle's debut Guitar Town came out, its impact altered the direction of country music forever. The so-called New Traditionalist movement was the return of the outlaw movement, only this time with more rock'n'roll injected, along with a focus on songwriting born of Earle's healthy respect for and friendship with far left-of-Music-Row songwriters/performers like Townes Van Zandt, Steve Young, and Guy Clark—all of whom are now sadly deceased.
While much of the material on Guitar Town remains among Earle's finest…