Sound quality
These days, I find that most music-playing apps sound so alike, the differences aren't worth sweating. It didn't used to be this way, but it is now: When I've properly set up…
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And once you start somewhere, Roon can keep the show going until you pull the plug. The Radio feature uses metadata to create, in the words of Roon Labs, a "personalized station," in a manner similar to Pandora Radio's automated music-recommendation engine. To get started, you simply pick one or more tracks, then press the Radio button: Roon moves you around related music with a curated stream.
When I began writing for Stereophile, I heard people whispering:
"Herb is one of those triode-horn guys."
Wrong. Most of my life, I've favored solid-state integrated amplifiers driving small, British-made speakers.
"I'm sure he hates digital."
Wrong again. I sold all my LPs some 12 years ago, and since then I've been filling my days with CDs and high-resolution downloads. (However, I am starting to collect vinyl again, because my vintage DNA still remembers how to worship at the Altar of Black Discs.)
"Reichert? He's a mono guy. He's not into imaging."…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Cloud-based music-playback software.
System requirements: Mac OS X 10.9 (10.10 recommended), Windows 7 (8.1 recommended), compatible players/streamers from partnering hardware manufacturers. File formats supported WAV, AIFF, FLAC, ALAC, OGG, DSF (built-in); MP3, AAC (OS-dependent).
Price: $119/year, $499/lifetime.
Manufacturer: Roon Labs LLC, 96 Round Hill Drive, Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510. Web: roonlabs.com.
But until I began the more serious critical listening required for this review, I never realized how classically well balanced the LM-518IA's sound actually is. I knew it sounded elegant, colorful, and exciting, but I hadn't known how capable it was of opening doors on hitherto hidden inner spaces of my music.
With the Falcon Acoustics LS3/5a
The Line Magnetic LM-518IA mated especially well with the Falcon LS3/5a that I reviewed in August. The amp's 16-ohm taps loved the 15-ohm Falcons, and the Falcons really let those 845 tubes strut their stuff: The bright emitters wrung every last…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Apple MacBook Pro computer (2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD) running OS 10.10.3, Amarra Computer Music Player, Audirvana Plus, iTunes, JRiver Media Center (v.19.0), Reaper, Songbird, VLC, XLD. Also used, to check compatibility: Android tablet, Apple Mac mini, Intel NUC (detailed in review), Sony laptop running Windows 7; Apple iPad Air, iPod Touch 1G, iPhone 6; Meridian Sooloos Digital Media System (Control 15, QNAP TS-669 Pro NAS); Oppo BDP-103 universal BD player; Western Digital 2TB NAS drive.
Digital Processors:…
Sidebar 1: Tube Rolling
The most important thing you can do with a thermionic valve is to hold it in your hand and study it with your eyes. More than you might think, what you see is what you get. High-energy electrons are boiled off the heater or cathode, pass through the wire control grid, and collide forcefully with that big black, gray, or silver thing—the anode, or "plate"—that occupies most of the space inside the bottle. What that anode structure looks like is probably what your midrange will sound like—ie, if the anode looks smooth and big and richly textured, those same…
Sidebar 2: Specifications
Description: Tubed integrated amplifier. Tube complement: two 845, two 63P3, one 5AR4, two 12AX7. Line inputs: 3 (RCA). Input impedance: 100k ohms. Input sensitivity (integrated): 200mV. Output taps: 0, 4, 8, 16 ohms. Power output: 22Wpc into 8 ohms (13.4dBW). Frequency response: 10Hz–50kHz, –1.5dB. Harmonic distortion: 1% at 1kHz (A-weighted). Signal/noise ratio: 87dB (A-weighted). Power consumption: 320W.
Dimensions: 16.75" (430mm) W by 9.75" (250mm) H by 14.25" (365mm) D. Weight: 77 lbs (35kg).
Serial number of unit reviewed: 13040078.
Price: $…
Sidebar 3: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Technics SL-1200MK2, Thorens TD 124 turntables; Abis SA 1.2 tonearm; Ortofon 2M Black & CG 25 DI II, Shure SC35C, Soundsmith Carmen, Zu Audio DL-103 cartridges.
Digital Sources: Puresound A8000 CD player, Line Magnetic LM-502CA DAC.
Preamplification: April Sound GB-1, Blue Horizon Ideas Profono, Schiit Audio Mani phono stages; Simaudio Moon 350P preamplifier.
Power & Integrated Amplifiers: Hegel Music Systems H160, Simaudio Moon 330A.
Loudspeakers: DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/93, Falcon Acoustics LS3/5a, KEF LS50,…
Sidebar 4: Measurements
I measured the Line Magnetic LM-518IA using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com, and the January 2008 "As We See It"). Before starting the testing, I followed the instructions in the manual and left the amplifier turned on for 15 minutes; then, without any signal, I adjusted the bias of each 845 output tube to the correct value. (Very little adjustment was necessary.) Next, I short-circuited the inputs and, with the volume control at its maximum, adjusted the hum-balancer potentiometers to give the lowest measured noise for each channel. I performed…
With 147 exhibitor rooms, 60 active CanJam exhibitor booths, 40 lobby exhibitor spaces, and 380 exhibitor companies from 23 countries, Denver's annual Rocky Mountain Audio Fest ranks as the second-largest consumer audio show in North America. The three-day show opens to the public on Friday, October 2 at noon in its familiar Denver Marriott Tech Center location.
RMAF certainly qualifies as the most friendly and community-oriented show in the US and, perhaps, the world. What other audio show has a Saturday "spouse outing" complete with van and driver; T-shirts for sale, whose proceeds…