Nor did the 9500 shortchange other types of program material.…
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The brightness I noted with the WATT/Puppies was nowhere in evidence here. On Behold Man, another selection on this sampler, this time of solo chorus (from Testament, RR-49CD), the overall balance was excellent, with no sense of brightness or leanness but rather compellingly natural warmth and acoustic space. The latter is particularly notable throughout this CD, and the Hafler did an especially good job of reproducing it. Likewise in the portrayal of depth, where the front-to-back layers of the chorus were clearly audible.
Sidebar 1: Relax and float downstream...
The Transnova idea is conceptually elegant and not dissimilar to a push-pull tube output stage. In a conventional output stage (diagram A), the "positive" or "hot" load terminal is connected to the junction between the emitters or sources of the complementary output transistors and the ground load terminal to the junction between the ±V reservoir capacitors. In general, this point defines the ground potential or 0V and is used as the amplifier's fundamental or "star" grounding reference. The output devices therefore act as emitter or source…
Sidebar 2: Associated equipment
The Hafler was auditioned with a variety of loudspeakers, but I spent most of my listening time with it in the company of the Vandersteen 2Ces. The preamp was the Rowland Consummate. Comparison amplifiers included the Aragon 4004 Mk.II, Sonic Frontiers SFS-80, and Krell KSA-250.
The CD transport was either the belt-drive C.E.C. imported by Parasound or the Pioneer Elite PD-65 used as a transport (the latter used primarily when the Wilson WATT/Puppies or the Apogee Stages were in the system), used to drive a PS Audio Ultralink via Kimber AGDL. The…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The Hafler 9500's input impedance measured just over 47k ohms. Gain into 8 ohms was 28dB. The output impedance was very low, ranging between 0.016 ohms and 0.022 ohms depending on frequency and load. This suggests a very consistent performance with a wide range of loudspeaker loads. DC offset measured 6.8mV in the left channel, 13.6mV in the right. S/N (unweighted at 1W into 8 ohms) measured 92.7dB. The 9500 was noninverting, a positive impulse at the input remaining positive at the output.
Fig.1 shows the frequency response of the 9500 at 2W into 4 ohms.…
Sidebar 3: Specifications
Description: Solid-state, two-channel power amplifier. Power output: 250Wpc (8 ohms) (24dBW); 750W (8 ohms) (28.75dBW) in bridged dual-mono mode. Full power bandwidth: 0.15Hz–300kHz. THD: <0.03%, full power, 20Hz–20kHz into 8 ohms. Sensitivity: 1.8V RMS for full power. Input impedance: 47k ohms. S/N ratio: >100dB, unweighted.
Dimensions: 19" W by 12.5" D by 5.25" H (excluding feet, rack-mount version). Weight: 50 lbs.
Serial number of unit tested: D16C121000120.
Price: $1900 (black), $2000 (silver), rack handles $70 (option with black, standard…
The year was 2116, and the Earth was finally great again.
War, poverty, global warming, starvation, racial inequality—these, among many others, were all trivial, long overcome matters of the past.
Generation ZZZZers glided around in auto-piloted, eco-friendly, space/time ships. They communicated with each other via holographic telekinetic mind messages. (Though there was always the occasional hippie, of course, who'd pull out a vintage, non-functioning wePhone 2000 or whatever technological dinosaur was making a comeback these days. Lame, if you ask me.)
Televisions were…
By the time you read this (probably a month after it is written, judging by the speed with which the US mails speed second-class matter on its appointed rounds), Capitol Records will have announced the first bit of really good news for the high-fidelity perfectionist in years: the release of imported disc pressings—taped, cut, and stamped in Europe. London has been importing for years—all the Londons you buy are pressed by Decca in England. But this will be the first opportunity we will have of sampling the products of some of London's overseas competitors.
Some time ago, we mentioned the…
At their monthly listening party Esoteric Audio (111 West Monroe Street, Suite 100, Phoenix, AZ) will be featuring the local premier of the Grand Prix Audio Monaco v2.0 table. The official listening party is on Saturday August 13 at 3:00pm, but the table will be demonstrated Friday afternoon, August 12, and all day Saturday. Grand Prix Audio's VP of Sales and Marketing, Jesse Luna, will be on hand Friday and Saturday to show off the Monaco table as well as discuss current and future product offerings. More information is available at www.esotericaudioaz.com/upcoming-events.html.
Esoteric…
Author's Note: We are grateful to Stereophile for the opportunity to address some frequently repeated technical questions appearing in comments to articles. Recently this has included misunderstandings about noise calculation, dynamic range, resolution, definition, music spectra, channel capacity, lossless processing and temporal aspects of digital channels.
To simplify this document we have grouped the topics and set them as questions and answers either as response, tutorial or axiom. Some months ago we published a comprehensive Q&A for an online forum and to avoid repetition we…
Question: What is MQA?
Answer: In essence, MQA is a hierarchical method and set of specifications for recording, archiving, archive recovery and efficient distribution of high quality audio. Devised by long-term collaborators Bob Stuart and Peter Craven, it has been developed by MQA Ltd. [1]
One axiom is that, in audio, High Resolution can be more accurately defined in the analogue domain in terms of temporal fine structure and lack of modulation noise than by a description in the digital domain, particularly if that description relies on sample rate or bit depth numbers. [2]…