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One of the real coups of Holger Peterson’s Stony Plain Records which is the subject of my Aural Robert column in the July issue of Stereophile was signing the great Canadian blues guitar player Jeff Healy to a deal late in Healy’s too short life to make both blues and jazz albums. For those who’d like to know more about this really extraordinary player Eagle Rock Entertainment has a new four disc multi-media set The Jeff Healy Band, Full Circle: The Live Anthology (3 CDs and a DVD) which documents the music of the late Jeff Healy, who lost his sight when he was one year old to retinoblastoma…
I had on hand three DACs that, in my and a few others' opinions, represent the best digital audio reproduction in their respective price classes: the Bel Canto Design e.One DAC3.5VB ($5440 as reviewed), the Weiss DAC202 ($7737), and the dCS Debussy ($10,999). Each represents a major advance in the handling of digital conversion, and each is based on a completely different design paradigm in its manufacturer's quest to wrest the best from all those zeros and ones. Unsurprisingly, each also has a completely different sonic signature.
The Goldilocks DAC in this shoot-out was Bel Canto's e.…
For a manufacturer to squeeze money from the stone that is my CD-player budget, his products would have to be both exceptional and affordable. And as long as I'm reporting from Fantasyland, I'll ask that they also be obsolescence-proof.
That last goal, especially, is one most designers try to reach by adopting ever-new technologies: new digital-to-analog converters, new filters, new numbers. But there remain a handful of manufacturers who would win the numbers game by not playing it at all, Audio Note UK among them. Not that the British firm is against progress per se—but as far as their…
Also: During its first days in my system, the CD-4.1x was unkind to those few CDs in my collection on which solo voices and violins had been recorded at excessive levels: Those things sounded "hotter" through the Audio Note than through either my Sony SACD player or my computer-audio rig—although that condition resolved itself over time.
Listening
Given its unusual pedigree, I can be forgiven for wondering if, throughout the many hours I spent listening to the CD-4.1x, I was presented with higher-than-average levels of certain distortions: Audio Note's own product description would…
I had on hand three DACs that, in my and a few others' opinions, represent the best digital audio reproduction in their respective price classes: the Bel Canto Design e.One DAC3.5VB ($5440 as reviewed), the Weiss DAC202 ($7737), and the dCS Debussy ($10,999). Each represents a major advance in the handling of digital conversion, and each is based on a completely different design paradigm in its manufacturer's quest to wrest the best from all those zeros and ones. Unsurprisingly, each also has a completely different sonic signature.
In his review of the dCS Debussy (January 2011), Michael…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Single-box, top-loading, tubed CD player. Tube complement: two 6H23N. Digital output: coax (RCA). (AES/EBU on XLR optional.) Analog output impedance: <2k ohms. Maximum output voltage: ca 3.0V RMS. Channel balance: <0.25dB. Power consumption: 48W.
Dimensions: 17.4" (446mm) W by 5.5" (142mm) H by 16.7" (428mm) D. Weight: 24.2 lbs (11kg).
Finishes: Silver (brushed aluminum), black (acrylic).
Serial number of unit reviewed: CD4-059.
Price: $12,000. Approximate number of dealers: 12.
Manufacturer: Audio Note UK, Ltd., 25…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Garrard 301, Thorens TD 124 turntables; EMT 997, Schick tonearms; Ortofon SPU, EMT TSD 15 70th Anniversary & OFD 25 pickup heads.
Digital Sources: Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player; Wavelength Proton USB D/A converter; Apple iMac G5 computer running Apple iTunes v.10.2.2, Decibel v.1.0.2 playback software.
Preamplification: Auditorium 23 Standard (SPU version), Silvercore One-to-Ten step-up transformers; Shindo Masseto preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: Shindo Corton-Charlemagne monoblocks, Fi 421A.
Loudspeakers: Audio Note AN-…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used Stereophile's loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system to measure the Audio Note CD-4.1x (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 "As We See It"); for some tests, I also used my vintage Audio Precision System One Dual Domain.
The Audio Note player's error correction was excellent, there being no audible glitches in its output with the Pierre Verany test CD until the gaps in the data spiral reached 2mm in length. The player muted its output when the gap reached 2.4mm. The CD-4.1x's maximum output level at 1kHz was 2.45V, an…
It was unusually warm for early spring, without a cloud in the big, blue sky to tame the sun's dazzling light—far too beautiful a day to be indoors, but Uncle Omar and I had already planned a little listening session, and I was determined to show him that high-end cables would make a difference in his system. I wasn't necessarily feeling bullish about the task, though. It had taken me a couple of years to convince Omar that he should replace his old boom-box speakers with something better, and it was only dumb luck that finally made it happen: I was with him when he found a gently used pair…
As Omar sat in the sweet spot, I quickly swapped the RadioShack zip cords for Kimber 4PRs, made sure the pluses and minuses were properly matched, took my seat, and started "One Armed Scissor" from the beginning. Again, I wondered: What if we don't hear an improvement? I shouldn't have worried. The 4PR's sound quality was just as immediately obvious as its build quality. Five seconds into the song, Omar and I turned to one another. I smiled and nodded. Omar looked pale. He blinked. He frowned. He said, "Wow."
Most apparent to Omar was an increase in overall clarity and low-level detail…