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Ken Shindo, 19392014

Photograph: Jonathan Halpern

Ken Shindo, the Japanese audio designer whose electronics, loudspeakers, and accessories have influenced the parallel worlds of tube audio and analog audio, and who is shown above (right) with loudspeaker designer John DeVore, died late last month after a brief illness. He was 74.

A former design engineer for Matsushita, Ken Shindo inherited from his father an interest in recorded music and playback gear. In 1977, after years of devoting his spare hours to learning the sounds of different vacuum tubes and other vintage parts, Shindo-san struck out on…

Follow-Up March 2014

John Atkinson returned to the AK100 in March 2014 (Vol.37 No.3):

After I reviewed the Astell&Kern AK100 portable media player in August 2013, rather than return the review sample to A&K, I bought it. Yes, I very much liked what this little gem of a player did—much as I appreciate how much music I can store on my 160GB iPod, it sounds harsh and lacking in detail compared with the AK100. However, one thing the iPod does that the AK100 didn't was support gapless file playback, which is essential for such works as through-composed operas and symphonies, or even albums like Sgt. Pepper…

Miles Davis, <I>The Original Mono Recordings</I>

I've never been a mono-phile. Yes, mono is better than electronically reprocessed stereo. And yes, for some of the early stereo recordings, where the engineer smacked one of the horns in the left speaker and the other in the right, it's better to hear everyone in the center. And, finally, there are cases, most notably on many of The Beatles' albums, where the musicians supervised the mono mix and ignored the stereo, making the mono, in a sense, the authoritative version. But in general, those albums that were recorded in stereo, I prefer to hear in stereo.

But the latest excavation from…

Essential Audio Hosts Aurender & Bricasti Design

Sunday, February 23, 12–5:30pm: Essential Audio (715 Braeside Place, Barrington, Illinois) will host an audio demonstration with Brian Zolner, president of Bricasti Design, for the grand opening of its remodeled, expanded facilities.

The highly regarded Bricasti M1 DAC will be demonstrated along with the Reference Music Servers from Aurender. Visitors are encouraged to bring their favorite recordings on memory sticks, CDs, or LPs. The event runs from 12 to 5:30pm, but there will be two separate, 2.5hr-long demonstrations. Space is limited; registration is strongly recommended.…

A Day in the Life (#gradolabs)

Instagram is the first app I check each day. What does that say about me? I certainly like pictures. I also enjoy keeping up with friends and family through images, seeing what they see each day, glimpsing a day in their lives. But, beyond that, I’m not sure.

Interestingly, more and more audio manufacturers are showing up on Instagram. I follow several, including Meridian, Sonos, Sony, Skullcandy, Cambridge Audio, VPI, and Grado. This week, We Shop American, another account I follow (@weshopamerican), posted a series of images detailing a day in the life of the Brooklyn headphone…

In Praise of a Classic: the BBC LS3/5A

If there's one article in Stereophile that generated more reader response than any other, it was Peter Breuninger's review of the classic Fisher 500-C tubed receiver in June 2005. Peter reviewed another classic component from the 1960s, the Bozak B-410 Concert Grand loudspeaker; my involvement in the review, in the October 2005 issue, brought home to me with a vengeance how much the science of speaker design has evolved in the 40 years since this armoire-sized model was introduced.

Such factors as the mathematical modeling of woofer tuning by Neville Thiele and Richard Small, FFT-based…

Kiseki Blue Goldspot Phono Cartridge

Koetsu. Kiseki. Keebler. Products from all of these firms are shrouded in at least a bit of mystery. Do I believe that Koetsu cartridges are hand-built by an octogenarian samurai swordsmith, or that Kisekis are imported from the planet Vulcan, or that Keebler's cookies are baked by elves? Not really. But it does help to liven up the domestic audio scene.

"Look, son—see what Scottie just beamed down."

"Gee, Dad, it's big and blue with a gold spot on the front, and it kind of looks like a cartridge."

"Nice guess, son. No ordinary cartridge, this one. Let me tell you about…

Kiseki Blue Goldspot Phono Cartridge Specifications

Sidebar: Specifications

Description: Low-output, medium-compliance, moving-coil cartridge. Nominal output: 0.4mV. Internal impedance: 5.3 ohms. Channel balance at 1kHz: ±0.25dB. Channel separation at 1kHz: 30dB. Tracking force: 1.8–2.0gm. Cartridge weight: 11.4gm. Stylus type: hyper-elliptical, 0.3 x 0.7 mil radii. VTA: 20°.
Serial number of sample tested: 2013.
Price: $700 (1992); not available in the US (2014). Approximate number of dealers: 25 (1992).
Manufacturer: Kiseki/Durob Audio BV, PO Box 109, 5250 AC Vlijmen, The Netherlands. Tel: 31 (0)73 511 2555. Fax: 31 (0)73…

Kinergetics KCD-55 Ultra D/A Converter

Since the first digital processor on the market using UltraAnalog DACs appeared (the $12,000 Stax DAC-X1t, reviewed in August 1990, Vol.13 No.8), there has been a proliferation of good-sounding processors using this extraordinary—and expensive—part. Among these are the Audio Research DAC1, Audio Research DAC1-20, VTL Reference D/A, and the groundbreaking Mark Levinson No.30 reviewed last month.

We can add another product to this illustrious list: the Kinergetics KCD-55 Ultra. Although the KCD-55 Ultra is the latest processor I've auditioned using UltraAnalog DACs, Kinergetics would have…

Kinergetics KCD-55 Ultra D/A Converter Review System

Sidebar 2: Review System

The Ultra was auditioned in my usual reference system: Audio Research LS2 line-stage preamplifier, VTL 225W monoblocks, Muse Model 18 active subwoofer, and Hales System Two Signature loudspeakers. The digital source was a Theta Data, driving the Ultra with either the ST-type optical link or a variety of coaxial interconnects (primarily the ST optical, however). Analog interconnects were Straight Wire Maestro, and loudspeaker cable was 3' bi-wired runs of AudioQuest Dragon/Clear. AC power was conditioned by a Tice Power Block and Titan.—Robert Harley