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Wilson Audio Specialties' Sasha Series 2 loudspeaker ($29,500/pair), which began shipping in March, celebrated its formal California debut on Saturday, May 24, at Music Lovers Audio in San Francisco. Handsomely accompanied by recording engineer Peter McGrath (above), Wilson's Director of Sales for North America, and Rich Maez of Boulder Amplifiers, whose electronics joined a dCS front end and cabling from Shunyata, Transparent, and Synergistic Research, the Sasha Series 2, aka Sasha 2, more than lived up to its promise in a less-than-ideal room whose set-up included Synergistic Research’s…
No sooner has the Munich Show ended than T.H.E. Show Newport Beach is set to commence. Running from May 30 through June 1 in the Hilton/Atrium hotel complex that lies directly across the street from Orange County's John Wayne Airport, Southern California's installment of T.H.E. Show promises well over 300 exhibitors in 180 active sound rooms, 40–45 additional headphone exhibits scattered over two Headphoniums and other locations, and at least 15 vendor booths crammed with goodies galore.
"We're sold out," veteran organizer Richard Beers declared by phone. "Believe it or not, I actually…
Ten years ago, the average consumer was unaware that he or she needed an e-book reader. Since that time, neither those people nor the authors whose books they consume have changed very much. But the people in between have grown restless and unsatisfied, and it is they who call the tune. Consequently, many of you have gone from owning books to sort of, kind of owning books (and sort of, kind of not).
Just as the publishing industry has devised a new way to empty your wallet, so has the record industry found a new way to entice you into buying Kind of Blue for the umpteenth time (footnote…
Indeed, I was impressed with the Lector's ability to convey touch. To listen, through the Halide DAC HD, to "Scarlet Town," from Gillian Welch's The Harrow & the Harvest (ripped from CD, Acony ACNY-1109), was to hear the various sonic cues associated with a stringed instrument played with varying degrees of force; to hear it through the Digitube was to hear that force. And through the Lector, plucked strings in the scherzo of Mahler's Symphony 2, with Gilbert Kaplan conducting the London Symphony Orchestra (ripped from CD, MCA Classics MCAD 2-11011), were much more physical. On that…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Single-box digital-to-analog converter. Tube complement: two ECC81/12AX7. Digital inputs: USB Type B, S/PDIF (RCA, BNC, TosLink), AES/EBU (XLR). Analog outputs: one pair RCAs. Sample rates supported: 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192kHz (S/PDIF, AES/EBU), plus 384kHz (USB). Bit depths supported: 16 and 24 (S/PDIF and AES/EBU); 32 bits (USB). Maximum output voltage: 2.5V. Frequency response: 15Hz–192kHz, ±1dB "at hi-rez input 192kHz." Output impedance: 250 ohms. Signal/noise: 100dB, A-weighted. THD: <0.1%. Interface jitter: 20ps.
Dimensions: 16.9…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Garrard 301 turntable; EMT 997 tonearm; EMT OFD 25 & TSD 15 70th Anniversary pickup heads.
Digital Sources: Halide Designs DAC HD USB D/A converter; Apple iMac G5 computer with Decibel v1.2.11 playback software; Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player.
Preamplification: Hommage T2, Bob's Devices CineMag Sky 30 step-up transformers; Shindo Masseto preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: Shindo Corton-Charlemagne monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Altec Valencia, DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/96.
Cables: USB: AudioQuest Carbon, Nordost Blue Heaven…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I examined the Lector Digitube S-192's measured behavior with my top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 "As We See It"). For some tests, and to check the results of others with a different measurement system, I used my vintage Audio Precision System One DSP.
I used my 2012-vintage Apple MacBook Pro, running on battery power, to examine the processor's performance via its USB port. Apple's USB Prober utility identified the Lector as having the manufacturer string "Lector" and the product string "Doect-Lector,"…
A year or so ago, in my review of the Pass Labs XP-30 preamplifier, I wrote that the heart of an audio system is the preamplifier, in that it sets the overall quality of the system's sound. But it is the power amplifier that is responsible for determining the character of the system's sound, because it is the amplifier that must directly interface with the loudspeakers. The relationship between amplifier and loudspeaker is complex, and the nature of that relationship literally sets the tone of the sound quality.
I first became aware of the significance of a system's amplifier with one of…
Of equal importance, said Reis, is the fact that the C15's output impedance doesn't increase with frequency (again, see "Measurements"). Because a class-D amplifier generates high levels of ultrasonic and RF energy, a typical class-D amplifier uses a passive low-pass filter between its output devices and output terminals. This filter needs to be tuned to a single load impedance, meaning that with speakers that have a different impedance, the amplifier either prematurely rolls off the top octave or peaks above the audioband. The LASA design maintains a consistent output impedance, meaning that…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid-state monoblock power amplifier. Inputs: 1 single-ended (RCA), 1 balanced (XLR). Outputs: 2 pairs binding posts. Rated power output (1kHz at 1% THD+N): 280W into 8 ohms (24.5dBW), 480W into 4 ohms (23.8dBW) (originally 500W, 24dBW), >500W into 2 ohms (>21dBW). Peak output voltage: 85V peak. Peak output current: 28A peak (originally 36A). Absolute polarity: non-inverting (RCA; XLR, pin 2 hot). Voltage gain: 26dB (RCA), 26dB (XLR High), 20dB (XLR). Frequency range: <10Hz–50kHz. Input impedance: 20k ohms (XLR, XLR High), 10k ohms (RCA).…