search

I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Arabesque Minissimo Diamond's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield and in-room responses.

My estimate of the Minissimo Diamond's voltage sensitivity was 81dB/2.83V/m, which is both well below average and lower than the specified 83.5dB. This speaker needs a relatively powerful amplifier to play at satisfactory levels, but as it has a small-diameter woofer, its user will have to be careful not to overdrive it. However, as the solid…

The CD of Real Enemies (his third album, all of them on the New Amsterdam label) is out now, and having now taken those extra listens, I can drop the "maybe"…

"Those who clamour for a Beatle reunion cannot see that it can never be the same again.”

So John, Paul,…

Although participation is down by perhaps 30 rooms from the show's high—see below for the reasons why—RMAF seems poised to maintain its reputation as the North American audio show with the most product…

Elton was joined by his usual band: Davey Johnstone (musical director, guitars, mandolin, banjo, vocals), Matt Bissonette (bass, vocals), Kim Bullard (keyboards), John Mahon (percussion, drums, vocals), and Nigel Olsson (drums, vocals).

It seems so simple—if you're a fan of a current performing artist, all you need to do is pay a large sum of money and you'll be granted semi-…

Development one, perhaps the most significant factor in the changing picture, is the ready availability of B-type Dolby devices (which are single-band Dolbys, acting only on hiss frequencies). Advent makes two that can be used with any tape machine, cassette or otherwise, while Fisher, Advent, and Harman-Kardon (as of this moment) are producing cassette recorders with built-in Dolby-B. No doubt there will be others by the time this gets in print.

We have…

So exclaimed my longtime pal and fellow audiophile Bruce Rowley when I revealed to him that T+A Elektroakustik's new DAC 8 DSD digital-to-analog converter ($3995) had arrived for review, just after I'd finished writing up the Ayre Acoustics Codex DAC–headphone amp ($1795). Bruce had recently compared his own brand-new Codex with a DAC he'd owned for a couple years, both costing about the same but built to very different designs. He was surprised that, after carefully matching levels and working to eliminate any other variables, they sounded more…

In all cases, T+A says it uses 56-bit data…

Description: D/A processor with four selectable oversampling algorithms for PCM playback (FIR kurz, FIR lang, Bézier, Bézier/IIR) and DSD Direct DSD Signal Path via T+A True 1-bit converter. Analog outputs: high level (RCA), 2.5V with 22 ohms output impedance; balanced (XLR), 5.0V with 44 ohms output impedance. Digital inputs: 4 S/PDIF coaxial, 1 optical TosLink, 1 AES/EBU, all handling 16/24-bit data at sample rates from 32kHz to 192kHz;1 USB (Device mode) USB Class 2 Mode; support for asynchronous data transfer; PCM Mode, 16/24/32-bit data with sample rates…

Digital Sources: Apple MacBook Pro computer (2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD) running OS 10.11.5, Roon v.1.2 Build 142, JRiver Media Center 19, iTunes 12, Amarra Computer Music Player, VLC, Reaper 5.20.100, XLD; Western Digital NAS device (2TB); Oppo BDP-103 universal BD player; Meridian Sooloos Control 15 & QNAP TS-669 Pro NAS; Apple iPad Air & iPhone 6; Benchmark DAC1 USB & DAC2 HGC DACs, Ayre Acoustics QB-9DSD & Codex digital processors; AudioQuest DragonFly USB DAC.
Preamplifier: Marantz AV7005 in Pure Direct Mode.
…