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Many music lovers share a moment in common. On a cloudy evening, you put on a record. Hopefully, it was Rush’s Hemispheres. Most likely, it was Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. The LP sleeve rested in your lap. The receiver’s meters bobbed gently, and the lights were dimmed just enough so your eyes could transfix on the junction of prism and light that refracts into a rainbow wrapped in black. As those guitars and synthesizers roared, the artwork and its melding with the music allowed you to transcend conceptual planes by uniting abstract visuals with word, rhythm, and melody. For just a…
On Thursday April 24, Sony announced a new round of reasonably priced products, all of which are capable of high-resolution audio playback. The products, which include receivers and 5.1 array loudspeakers, may be aimed at mass-market consumers, but the sounds they produced at an exclusive press preview at Sony's Southern California headquarters demonstrated that even the least expensive is capable of convincingly conveying the sonic differences between MP3, Red Book CD, and hi-resolution content.
Sony's unequivocal embrace of high-resolution audio—the acronym HRA seems to have become the…
Except for a few titles I've combined with the ones in my listening room, and a few others that I intend to sell, the record collection I bought last year remains in three rows of boxes on the floor of our guest room. Because that room is spacious and comfortable, and equipped with a small refrigerator and a flat-screen TV, it is also the place where my 16-year-old daughter and her friends have their slumber parties and Dr. Who marathons. Thus, as you can imagine, I must sometimes explain to our young guests the Tao of collecting records.
It's like explaining religion in reverse: "These…
And so it was with the EMT OFD 25 mono pickup head and CineMag Sky 30 transformer. Without the slightest hint of brightness, the combination delivered detail with power, texture with touch. The Sky 30's ultimate forcefulness was a notch or two below that of my more expensive reference step-up device, the Hommage T2 ($4995), yet in every other respect the more affordable transformer punched well above its weight. With the texturally complex recording, by Atrium Musicae de Madrid, of the music of the 13th-century trouvere Thibaut de Navarre (Harmonia Mundi HM 1016)—this time using my EMT…
Sidebar: Contacts
Bob's Devices. Web: www.bobsdevices.com
Lehmannaudio. www.lehmannaudio.com. US distributor: Ortofon Inc., 500 Executive Boulevard, Suite 102, Ossining, NY 10562. Tel: (914) 762-8646. Fax: (914) 762-8649. Web: www.ortofon.us
What I failed to make absolutely clear in my April column is that I really, truly, thoroughly enjoyed all three USB DAC–headphone amps that I auditioned: the Audioengine D3 ($189), the AudioQuest DragonFly v1.2 ($149), and the Cambridge Audio DacMagic XS ($199). Each offered a slightly different perspective on the music, but none could be accused of closing lanes on the George Washington Bridge, dumping several feet of snow on top of our car, or doing anything especially wrong. They committed no crimes, told no lies. If I had to choose a favorite, I'd choose the DragonFly—not only for its…
In spite of its assertive model name, the Statement is actually the most modest preamp in Lehmannaudio's Black Cube line, which now includes the standard Black Cube ($629), the Black Cube SE ($929), and the Black Cube SE II ($1149). All but the last—which, oddly, is neither black nor a cube—are physically identical and have gone nearly unchanged since the original Black Cube was introduced in 1995. They measure about 4" W by 1.75" H by 4.25" D and weigh just a few ounces. As you ascend the line, the quality of internal parts improves and the overall circuit design grows in sophistication.…
Sidebar: Contacts
Audio Intelligent Vinyl Solutions. US distributor: Osage Audio Products, LLC, PO Box 232, Hallsville, MO 65255. Tel: (573) 696-3551. Web: www.osageaudio.com
Lehmannaudio, Ortofon. US distributor: Ortofon Inc., 500 Executive Boulevard, Suite 102, Ossining, NY 10562. Tel./Fax: (914) 762-8646. Web: www.ortofon.us, www.lehmannaudio.com
Mooo Mats. US distributor: Music Hall, 108 Station Road, Great Neck, NY 11023. Tel: (516) 487-3663. Web: www.musichall.biz
VPI Industries, 77 Cliffwood Avenue, #3B, Cliffwood, NJ 07721. Tel: (732) 583-6895. Web: www.…
Don't be deceived by this photo. Despite the short registration line on Friday morning, the line-up continued without let-up through most of the day. Virtually every room I visited on the first day of AXPONA, from the large suites on the basement and lobby levels to the standard and large hotel rooms on the twelfth floor, was filled with people. Registration figures are not yet available, but the JD Events folks are certain that attendance at the first day of the show has well outstripped last year's sterling attendance figures.
The other piece of good news is that most attendees, at…
One way that Steve Davis and his wife Carmen share their multi-decade embrace of Transcendental Meditation with show attendees is by making the experience available to anyone who cares to sit and listen, within as well as without. This table on the lower level, as well as hour-long Introduction to Transcendental Meditation seminars on both Friday and Saturday, helped spread the word.
The calming presence of TM at AXPONA certainly influenced me. When I first returned to my hotel room at 7:15 pm, after attending John Hamm's hour-long seminar on PONO (report to follow), the first thing I did…