Digital Sources: Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP DVD-A/SACD/CD/MP3 player, Apple 2.7GHz i7 Mac mini running OS 10.10.3 & MacBook Pro running OS 10.7.5, both with iTunes 11, Pure Music 2.0, Audirvana Plus 1.5.10; AudioQuest DragonFly, Meridian Explorer, PS Audio PerfectWave DirectStream D/A processors.
Preamplification: Ayre Acoustics KX-R Twenty line preamplifier, Bel Canto Black ASC-1 digital preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: Ayre Acoustics MX-R Twenty, Bel Canto Black MPS1, MBL Corona C15 (all monoblocks).
Loudspeakers: GamuT RS7.
Headphones:…
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Early in their existence as a manufacturer of amplification separates, Naim took that concept a step deeper into Audioland and designated the ground point within an outboard preamplifier power supply as the central signal-ground point for a complete Naim-based system—hence the company's famous insistence on driving the power amp with a signal picked up at that power supply instead of at the preamp itself (footnote 3). Similar attention has been given to the obviously related matter of mains grounding within a Naim system: In the late 1980s, some of Naim's UK dealers began experimenting with…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
It's difficult to decide how to characterize the measured performance of products, such as AudioQuest's JitterBug, that don't operate directly on the analog signal. Yes, there exist USB bus analyzers—available from such companies as Tektronix—that Wavelength's Gordon Rankin, one of the JitterBug's designers (along with Garth Powell), uses. These can examine various issues affecting data transmission: data-packet errors, jitter, noise, etc. However, they cost tidy sums—too much for me to be able to justify to my paymasters that Stereophile buy one for use in a…
Sidebar: Contacts
AV Options. Tel: (847) 329-9549. Web: www.avoptions.com
Sundazed Music, PO Box 85, Coxsackie, NY 12051. Tel: (518) 731-6262. Fax: (518) 731-9492. Web: www.sundazed.com
In a bizarre but happy turn of events, recent consumer trends have given even the most socially awkward audiophile something to talk about at cocktail parties and family gatherings at which normal people predominate: the PonoPlayer and vinyl. These are hot topics; each is among the best-sounding music sources available, and both offer hope for our hobby, if not for music lovers in general. But vinyl has the advantage of appealing to a much wider range of budgets. LPs can be had from anywhere to "We'll pay you to haul these away" to "Your loan officer is on line one." Likewise, vinyl playback…
I measured the Triple X's speed accuracy using Dr. Feickert Analogue's 7" test record and ProgTec's PlatterSpeed software for the Apple iPhone. Set to 33 1/3rpm, the platter's actual speed ranged from 33.39 to 33.50rpm. Wow, in accordance with DIN IEC 386, was ±0.13% using the 2-Sigma method. As for the tonearm's behavior, when equipped with my Denon 103 cartridge, the TA-1000 exhibited resonant frequencies of 11–13Hz in the lateral plane and 14Hz in the vertical, observed with the aid of the Test Record (LP, Hi-Fi News HFN001) created and sold by the British magazine Hi-Fi News. Both modes…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-speed, belt-driven turntable with pivoting tonearm. Motor: AC synchronous. Speeds: 331?3, 45rpm. Tonearm spindle-to-pivot distance: 295.6mm.
Dimensions: 20.6" (528mm) W by 7" (180mm) H by 16.3" (418mm) D . Weight: 101.2–121 lbs (46–55kg) depending on extras.
Finishes: Black, White, Black & White, Makassar & White, Makassar & Black
Serial number of unit reviewed: A14-11-031.
Prices: Triple X turntable, $5995; TA-1000 12" tonearm, $1995. AC-1 power-supply upgrade costs $250 when purchased with the Triple X, $350 when…
My girlfriend, "bb," a 6'-tall Aries artist, always says, "Math, science, religion, and even history, are all simply stories we tell ourselves about our experiences with a phenomenon we call energy."
My father, Herb Senior—the Deacon—always said, "The fundamental nature of the universe is vibratory—everything we experience is just waves!" He explained that waves—possessing power, amplitude, and frequency—are the basic building blocks of our reality. The universe actually "works" and is "comprehensible" because these waves are not random, but organized into exponential intervals called…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Garrard 301 turntable; EMT 997 tonearm; EMT OFD 15 & TSD 15 pickup heads; Denon DL-103, Miyajima Premium BE Mono II cartridges.
Digital Sources: Halide Designs DAC HD USB D/A converter; Apple iMac G5 computer running Audirvana Plus 1.5.12 playback software; Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player.
Preamplification: Hommage T2 step-up transformer, Shindo Masseto preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: Shindo Corton-Charlemagne monoblocks, Shindo Haut-Brion.
Loudspeakers: Altec Valencia, DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/96.
Cables: USB:…
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…