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One night, while listening to the LIO, I hauled out a wonderful recording by pianist Raymond Lewenthal, who wails as he plays and conducts Funeral March for a Papagallo and Other Grotesqueries of Alkan (LP, Columbia Masterworks M30234). On most any system, this LP will let the piano sound quite realistic. But forget sound—this disc is all about Raymond Lewenthal's messianic and fitfully inspired pianism. He doesn't just play the keys and pedals—he engages the whole instrument. I played this record with (don't laugh) a $75 Shure SC35C moving-magnet cartridge on a $2100 Abis SA-1.2 tonearm (I…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Modular integrated amplifier with remote control and optional individual modules for phono inputs, line inputs, digital inputs, volume control (switched resistor or autoformer), tubed line stage, headphone amplifier, and power amplifier. Inputs: 3 phono (MM, MC1, MC2, all RCA); 3 line (RCA); 3 digital (optical, BNC, USB). Outputs: headphone, balanced (XLR) or single-ended (¼" TRS); fixed RCA, variable RCA (2), rhodium-plated speaker terminals (L&R). Tube complement (Tubestage): two E88CC dual triodes. Power output: 25Wpc into 8 ohms (14dbW),…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Acoustic Signature Wow XL turntable + TA-1000 tonearm, Thorens TD-124 turntable with Abis SA 1.2 tonearm; Ortofon 2M Black & CG 25 DI II, Shure SC35C, Soundsmith Carmen, Zu Audio DL-103 phono cartridges.
Digital Source: Onkyo Integra DPS 7.2 universal player; Puresound A-8000 CD player; Halide Design DAC HD and Line Magnetics LM-502CA D/A processors.
Preamplification: Intact Audio step-up transformer; April Sound GB-1, LFD LE, Schiit Audio Mani phono stages; April Sound BB1, Simaudio Moon Neo 350P preamplifiers.
Power…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the Vinnie Rossi LIO using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com, and the January 2008 "As We See It"). With its modular topology, offering optional phono and digital-input stages, the choice between a switched-resistor volume control and an autotransformer volume control, an optional tubed line stage, a headphone amplifier, and a MOSFET power amplifier, the LIO is actually eight products in one and presents a complex target for measurements. I tested most of the configurations fully, with spot checks elsewhere.
To minimize strain…
Last May, after bringing our daughter to a writer's workshop in Vermont, my wife and I decided to continue on to Montreal, for a semi-unplanned weekend away. We arranged lodging at the Hotel Bonaventure, which canny readers know as the site of the annual Salon Son et Image, and we had an excellent time, punctuated with good wine, great food, brilliant art, distinctive architecture, and wonderful people. The food included a visit to Pagliaccio, which may well be the finest Italian restaurant in North America; the art included a good look at David Altmejd's Eye, across the street from the Musee…
We've worked out another special deal for readers to celebrate the new Chesky Dunnun Kan release.
From now until October 31, 2015, readers of this website will get a 25% discount on the new 24-bit high resolution Dunnun Kan album and/or anything in Chesky's hi-res catalog on HDTracks.com.
To Get Your Discount:
Click on this link and then use CHESKYSTEREO25 for the offer code when you check out. (To go directly to the new Dunnun Kan album page only, use this link.)
Some of the Other Releases Available in the Deal:
Anything from Chesky qualifies for the 25%…
It had been years since Stereophile's last San Francisco Hi-Fi Show, when we'd hired him as a solo act, and yet the conversation was once again instant vaudeville, and I was again the straight man.
"The last time we saw each other, I think I just shook your hand and handed you a check."
"What, you didn't bring a check this time?"
"So this is your 16th solo record?"
"Is that all? Bach was doing a cantata a week. How many songs did Schubert write?"
"But he didn't do the words."
To say that Richard Thompson, who started out in Fairport Convention in…
It's not the pale moon that excites me / That thrills and delights me / Oh no, it's just the nearness of you.—"The Nearness of You," Ned Washington & Hoagy Carmichael
Despite what big-box stores and lossy streaming services want to sell you, listening to music at your desk does not have to suck. In fact, for not a lot of dough, you can easily build a desktop system that'll feed your head with music's goodness—or, for a few grand, assemble a setup that rivals the big rigs. Add the right app and streaming service, and you'll have access to an ever-expanding library of losslessly…
Thompson's Capitol records, which did suffer from a bright and brittle early digital production style, were produced by Mitchell Froom, the keyboard player and surefooted producer who's produced over 60 albums, including Los Lobos' Kiko and his ex-wife Suzanne Vega's 99.9F°. "Mitchell's great. He's a great musician. Sometimes I think, um, it's hard to spot what's special about what I do, if there is anything a'tall. A lot of it is cultural—the fact that I didn't grow up listening to the blues. I wasn't impregnated with the same music as most Americans, and actually most British people. I…
Neil Young's PonoPlayer ($399) houses digital and analog circuitry designed by Ayre Acoustics, including Ayre's oh-so-musical minimum-phase filter. If you've read John Atkinson's review of the Pono in the April 2015 issue, or my review on AudioStream in January 2015, you already know that it's a superb DAC that comes close to Ayre's QB-9DSD DAC at a fraction of the price, while throwing in a music server and headphone amp gratis. The PonoPlayer attaches to your computer via its micro-USB input, for transferring files to the Pono's internal 64GB of flash memory, or its MicroSD card capable…