Fred Hersch's Floating (on the Palmetto label) is his strongest album in a decade (you'd have to go back to his 2006 solo disc, In Amsterdam: Live at the Bimhuis, to match the energy) and maybe his strongest trio album ever.
Yes, I said the same thing about Alive at the Vanguard, his double-disc live-trio set, which was released just two years ago, but Floating tops it. A studio session recorded by James Farber and mastered by Mark Wilder (two of the best in the business), it might also be Hersch's best-sounding album: percussive, lush, spacious, and tight, all at once.
In 2008 (…
The letter we received was innocent enough. It asked for our recommendations on laserdisc combination players. You know, the ones that play all of your optical, laser-read entertainment, from CDs to videodiscs. Had the question been a verbal one, our answer would have begun with a long silence. As it was, we could only jot down a few generic references to features, followed by an admission that we had, collectively, no firsthand experience with these all-purpose devices. Only a few members of our staff have any interest in video stuff—monitors, surround-sound, and the like—among them J.…
Since the surround-sound setup currently in use with my video system is the modest (but nonetheless surprisingly effective) Atlantic Technologies Pattern system, I also played a few selected videodiscs—sound only, of course—over the audio system specified above, which was to be used in evaluating the LX-1000 as a CD player and transport. My preference for the analog tracks remained.
I should add, however, that the digital soundtrack on videodiscs will almost invariably have a greater low-end extension below about 35Hz (most analog tracks have little below 40Hz), and neither playback…
Sidebar 1: A Canceled Shoot-out
This was, originally, to be a shootout between an established maker of video gear—Pioneer—and an upstart—Panasonic. Pioneer didn't exactly invent the laser videodisc player, but they can arguably be said to have kept it alive through some lean years. The first sample of the $1200 Pioneer CLD-3090 we received was faulty, however, in that its picture was extremely "noisy." The player was returned to Pioneer for servicing, but then it exhibited other idiosyncrasies. The cover on its loading drawer would often hang up, opening without difficulty but refusing…
Sidebar 2: Measurements
The LX-1000's frequency response (fig.1) is virtually flat across the audible range, with the exception of an insignificant rise above 12kHz. The only anomaly I noted is a rather unusual channel mismatch of about 1.2dB (most CD players we've tested have been more closely matched). In fig.2 the squarewave response displays the small degree of ripple typical of players with linear-phase digital filters. The Prism's de-emphasis response (fig.3) resembles the frequency response of many moving-coil phono pickups, with a slight dip in the mid treble and rise at the top—…
Sidebar 3: Specifications
Description: Multi-function disc player. Plays CDs, CD with video, and (NTSC) laser videodiscs. Audio frequency response: 4Hz–20kHz (EIAJ). S/N ratio: 110dB (EIAJ). Dynamic range: 98dB (EIAJ). Channel separation: 110dB (1kHz, EIAJ). THD: 0.0027% (1kHz, EIAJ). Video output signal level: 1V p-p (at 75 ohms, synchronizing load). Audio signal output level: digital, 200mV rms (1kHz, –20dB); analog, 200mV rms (1kHz, modulated 40%).
Dimensions: 16.9" W by 5.1" H by 16.9" D. Weight: 25.3lbs.
Price: $1200 (1992); no longer available (2014). Approximate number of…
It seems more and more that I'm reviewing equalization products in this column, and that such components are less often dealt with in the magazine's formal equipment reports. But it's not as if the problems created by room acoustics affect only multichannel systems. Stereophile has not ignored the topic—see the many reviews of physical and electronic room-treatment products posted on this website—but months can pass without publication of a review of such a component. Meanwhile, multichannel devotees such as I seem to talk about almost nothing else—and here's why.
First, in listening to…
I connected the nanoAVR 8x8 between the HDMI-1 output of my Oppo BDP-103 universal Blu-ray player and the BD input of my Marantz AV-8801 A/V processor, in parallel with the existing link between the Oppo's HDMI-2 output and the Marantz's DVD input. Like most external EQs, the nanoAVR has no real bypass function because it simply bypasses the filter set, but it still passes the signal through its input/output stages and internal DSP. Since the nanoAVR will not process any encoded signals, I set the Oppo to output only PCM. Feed the miniDSP processor DSD or Dolby Digital and it just mutes.…
Photo: 2010 by Steven Perilloux
Charlie Haden, one of the great jazz bassists, died this morning, at age 76, after a long illness.
I've written here often of Haden's prowess and creativity, most recently a review of Last Dance, his sublime (and—a lovely last treat—commercially successful) duet album with Keith Jarrett. You could find worse ways to spend a Friday night, emptying a nice bottle and listening to this disc and any other Haden albums you might have around (there's hardly a clunker in the catalog).
I will miss watching him play on the bandstand, leaning over his…
Two silly-expensive preamplifiers, from Dan D'Agostino Master Audio Systems and Lamm Industries, are featured in the August Stereophile and both offer sound quality and measured performance that are beyond reproach. Rounding out this issue's amplification theme are a tubed integrated amplifier form Octave Audio in Germany and a high-quality class-D integrated amplifier from the American Rogue company. Contrasting with the preamplifiers, the Rogue is affordably priced, as is a Tascam CD player that John Marks raves about in his "Fifth Element" column and the Musical Fidelity V90-DAC, which…
