Recording Equipment
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Sound Devices Model 722 portable audio recorder: $2775 ★
JM raved: "The coolest, most desirable piece of audio hardware I have encountered in a dog's age." The Model 722 is designed as a rugged, high-performance, foolproof, battery-powered portable stereo recorder for electronic newsgathering and video- and film-sound recording. However, with its line-level XLR analog inputs, onboard A/D converters, 40GB hard drive, and headphone amp, the 722 can also serve as a personal stereo. Offers 24-bit recording at up to a 192kHz sample rate. "The apotheosis of…
Miscellaneous Accessories
AI Technology ELGR-8501: $160.75/1 oz
AI Technology's ELG-8501 is thermal grease made of more than 80% silver. JM uses a light smear on the mating surfaces of wall-wiring connections to prevent oxidation. He warns: "Never use any kind of silver paste on audio connections such as RCA plugs or amplifier speaker terminals." (Vol.36 No.10 WWW)
Atlantic Technology WA-5030: $399
The WA-5030 wireless audio system comprises the WA-50-t, a transmitter module with USB and two-channel analog inputs; the WA-5030-r, a 30Wpc receiver with two-channel…
Interconnects
AcroLink 7N-DA2090 Speciale: $2375/1.5m pair
The less-than-snappily named 7N-DA2090 Speciale is technically laudable; commendably, AcroLink publishes the specs for this product's resistance (18milliohm/meter) and electrostatic capacitance (56pF/meter). It's made of 99.99999% pure multistrand copper, arranged in what AcroLink calls a "balanced twin core structure." According to MF, substituting the AcroLink interconnect for his TARA Zero Evolution "produced sharper but not unnaturally defined transients, shorter sustain and decay, and an overall well-detailed and more…
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…
