Description: Circumaural (over-the-ear) headphones with planar-magnetic drive-units using neodymium magnets, and earpads of premium lambskin leather or leather-free, "microsuede" fabric. Supplied accessories: ADZ6SE cable (single-ended ¼" TRS to 2x4-pin mini XLR), ADZ6B4 cable (balanced 4-pin XLR to 2x4-pin mini XLR), ¼"-to-1/8" adapter, SKB travel case.
Cable length: 94" (2.5m). Weight: 37.5 oz. (600gm).
Serial number of unit reviewed: 7454038.
Price: $1699. Approximate number of dealers: >30.
Manufacturer: Audeze LLC,10725 Ellis Avenue, Unit…
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Sidebar 1: Specifications
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Astell&Kern AK100 portable media player; Apple 2.7GHz i7 Mac mini laptop running OS10.7.5, iTunes 10, Pure Music 1.89, Audirvana Plus 1.5.10, JRiver Media Center 19 for Mac; Shuttle PC with Lynx AES16 soundcard & dual-core AMD Athlon processor running Windows 7, Adobe Audition 3.0; Arcam rBlink Bluetooth D/A converter; Auralic Vega D/A converter.
Headphone Amplifiers: HeadRoom BlockHead, Benchmark DAC1, ASUS Xonar Essence One Muses Edition, Meridian Prime with Prime power supply.
Headphones: Sennheiser HD650 & HD800.…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I don't measure headphone acoustic responses, as this requires a dummy-head-and-microphone system: see Keith Howard's article on this subject in the August 2008 issue. In addition, as Keith wrote, deciding what, precisely, is the optimal frequency response for a pair of headphones is neither obvious nor trivial.
I used Stereophile's vintage Audio Precision System One to measure the Audeze LCD-X's impedance and electrical phase (fig.1). The solid trace in this graph shows the impedance magnitude with the headphones mounted on my head facing my ears. The…
Beck's Morning Phase is available now. I don't own it yet, but I have added it to my ever-growing list of Records to Buy. (Other Music is already sold out. Otherwise, I'd indulge my preferred method of consuming music: I'd go there immediately and buy it from a kind person.)
According to a very trusted source, Morning Phase is excellent. Another source explains that, as with many of today's releases, the vinyl edition comes with a download code that grants the owner immediate access to the album as MP3 files. In this case, however, that MP3 edition is referred to as "The Vinyl Experience…
I know someone who bought, for his own kitchen, a stove intended for the restaurant trade, simply because it enhances his enjoyment of cooking. Another friend, a motoring enthusiast, has equipped his garage with a brace of tools, including a hydraulic lift, that would be the envy of some humbler repair shops. Yet another friend indulges her enthusiasm for ceramics with a potter's wheel and kiln that one might find in a well-endowed art school. Among the most serious consumers, it seems, the watchword is professional; odd, then, that professional-quality monitors don't account for an even…
In my 19' by 12' room, the Stirlings sounded best when sited approximately 34" from their respective sidewalls and approximately 52" from the short wall behind them. (All dimensions are with respect to the center of the front baffle.) Aiming the enclosures more or less directly at the center of the listening area provided the best combination of good balance and spatial performance, although I found it easy to enjoy the Stirlings from off axis, as well. Amplifier connections were made with my usual pair of Auditorium 23 copper cables; I did not experiment with biwiring.
Listening
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Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, reflex-loaded dynamic loudspeaker. Drive-units: 0.75" (19mm) polymer-dome supertweeter, 1" (27mm) fabric-dome tweeter, 8.6" (220mm) polymer-cone woofer. Crossover frequencies: 3kHz, 13kHz. Frequency response: 45Hz–17kHz, ±3dB. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Sensitivity: 87dB/W/m.
Dimensions: 25" (630mm) H by 11.75" (300mm) W by 11.75" (300mm) D. Weight: 40.7 lbs (18.5kg). Internal enclosure volume: 45 liters.
Finishes: Cherry, Walnut, standard; Rosewood, Ebony, Zebrano, add $360/pair.
Serial numbers of units reviewed: SB88019A,…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Garrard 301, Thorens TD 124 turntables; EMT 997, Thomas Schick tonearms; EMT OFD 25 & OFD 65, TSD 15 70th Anniversary pickup heads.
Digital Sources: Wavelength Proton, AudioQuest DragonFly USB D/A converters; Apple iMac G5 computer running Apple iTunes v.11.0, Decibel v.1.2.11 playback software; Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player.
Preamplification: Hommage T2 step-up transformer, Shindo Masseto preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: Shindo Corton-Charlemagne & Cortese, Fi 421A.
Loudspeakers: Altec Valencia.
Cables: USB:…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Stirling Broadcast BBC LS3/6's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield responses. (I measured S/N SB88019A.) The testing was primarily performed without the speaker's grille; I did repeat some of the farfield measurements with the grille in place. Stirling specifies the LS3/6's voltage sensitivity as 87dB/W/m; my estimate was significantly lower, at 84dB(B)/2.83V/m.
How the LS3/6's impedance magnitude and electrical phase angle vary with…
How often have you encountered someone reciting your obituary? That's what happened when he of the living dead visited Michael Woods' aesthetically sensational Elite Audio Systems showroom in San Francisco on February 22, only to discover Gary Leonard Koh, CEO of and chief designer for Genesis Advanced Technologies, declaring, "The days when people sat in one sole sweet spot listening to music are over."
Gary Koh alongside one of his imposing Genesis 2jr line-source speakers
Dismayed to learn that my purportedly dying breed has already died off, I perked up when Gary…