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The continuing mystique of Elvis Presley keeps his diehard fans and even his record label, RCA, in denial. While it may be impossible to openly admit the truth about Elvis’ state of mind and lifestyle while simultaneously trying to sell his records, Way Down In The Jungle Room, the latest attempt to repackage and resell to the mainstream previously released material from the catalog has a pitch that’s bordering on insulting. A 17-track double LP set, it presents a selection of the final “studio” recordings of Elvis Presley, done in February and October 1976, in the den, aka The Jungle Room,…
Last week, John Atkinson and I attended "The Audeze Sensory Experience," Audeze's official launch party for the iSine10 ($399) and iSine20—the world's first in-ear planar magnetic headphones, which will be available in November.
The event was held at Manhattan's 1 Hotel Central Park, a chic combo of nature and urban architecture. Dark wood, warm lights, floor-to-ceiling glass panels overlooking the city. A DJ played upbeat electronic music at just the right volume. Trays of mini crab cakes, risotto balls, and steak tartar circulated while chit-chatting press folk routinely raided the…
Thursday, September 22, 6–8pm, Blink High End (129 Franklin Street, Cambridge, MA 02139) is holding a Technics presentation hosted by Bill Voss, US Business Development Manager for Technics. Bill will be demonstrating and discussing Technics' latest introductions for 2016, including the return of the iconic SL-1200GAE/G turntable, the new SU-G30 Networking Amp, the ST-G30 Music Server, and the highly acclaimed SB-C700 linear-phase, point-source loudspeakers, which Herb Reichert reviewed in our January 2016 issue, as well as the EAH-T700 headphones and OTTAVA All-In-One music system. Champagne…
Every time a new audio technology enters the marketplace, a debate begins about its relative merit. That debate never ceases, even decades after the technology first came (and sometimes went). Turntable platters driven by belts vs rims vs idlers vs directly by their motors. Analog vs digital. Tubes vs solid-state. Triodes vs pentodes, Single-ended vs push-pull. Objectivism vs subjectivism. The power and seriousness of each of these debates has splintered our global hobby into diverse tribes, cults, and subcults—and therein lies one of the chief joys of being an audiophile: participating in…
What do Prince, David Bowie, Merle Haggard, Gato Barbieri, Phife Dawg, Frank Sinatra Jr., Keith Emerson (Emerson Lake & Palmer), Dan Hicks (Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks), Maurice White (Earth, Wind & Fire), Paul Kantner and Signe Toly Anderson (Jefferson Airplane), Glenn Frey (Eagles), Dale Griffin (Mott the Hoople), pianist Paul Bley, bassist Rob Wasserman, sopranos Susan Chilcott, Phyllis Curtin, and Denise Duval, countertenor Brian Asawa, composers Steven Edward Stucky and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, and conductors Pierre Boulez, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Gilbert Kaplan, Gregg Smith,…
I played the Klemperer St. Matthew Passion relatively loudly: zero stridency, opacity, or glare. Tone was right on. The upper bass and lower midrange were uncommonly dense and rich. Massed choral voices and strings have rarely sounded more relaxed, well differentiated, or natural. Trumpets and violins were special joys.
I played "I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground," by lawyer, singer, and folklorist Bascom Lamar Lunsford, from Volume Three: Songs (Blue Singing) of Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music (CD, Folkways FP 253), and became so happy. This is pure American banjo-picking…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-channel power amplifier with JFET output stage and balanced and single-ended inputs. Power output: 25Wpc into 8 ohms (14dBW), 13Wpc into 4 ohms (8dBW). Frequency response: 4Hz–100kHz, –1dB. Input impedance: 100k ohms. Input sensitivity: 280mV=1W, 1.4V=rated power. Distortion: 0.025% at 1W into 8 ohms at 1kHz. Balanced input CMRR: –60dB at 1kHz. Noise: 100µV unweighted, 20Hz–20kHz. Voltage gain: 20dB. Output Impedance: 0.4 ohms. Damping factor: 20. Power consumption: 200W.
Dimensions: 17" (430mm) W by 5.5" (140mm) H by 15" (380mm) D. Weight…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Technics SL1200GAE turntable, Hana EL MC cartridge; Roksan Radius 7 turntable & Nima tonearm & Corus Silver MM cartridge.
Digital Sources: Schiit Audio Yggdrasil DAC, Integra DPPS-7.2 DVD-A player.
Preamplification: Lounge Audio Copla MC step-up transformer; Dynavector SUP-200 & P75 Mk.III, Lounge Audio LCR Mk.III, Parasound Halo JC 3+, Tavish Design Adagio phono preamplifiers; Pass Labs HPA-1, PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium, Rogue Audio RP-1, Simaudio Moon Neo 350P preamplifiers.
Power Amplifiers: Line Magnetic LM-518IA…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I performed a full set of measurements on the First Watt J2, using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It"). Before doing any testing, I preconditioned the J2 by running it at one-third power into 8 ohms for an hour. (With a an amplifier having a class-B or -AB output stage, this power level results in the highest thermal stress on the output devices.) At the end of the hour, the heatsinks were hot, at 125.6°F (52°C), though the top panel was a little cooler, at 113.3°F (45.2°C).
The First Watt's voltage gain into 8 ohms…
Resonance Records has put out some of the most vital, previously unreleased (in some cases, unknown) historical jazz sessions in recent years, and the latest is one of the sweetest: Shirley Horn, Live at the 4 Queens, recorded at a now-defunct Las Vegas hotel-casino of that name in 1988. It's Horn's best live album, and one of her top few albums, period—which says a lot.
The gig took place soon after her revival, with a hit album on the Verve label, after a couple decades of self-exiled obscurity, raising a family in Washington, DC, and playing now and then in local clubs, to the joy of…