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Miscellaneous Accessories
AI Technology ELGR-8501: $160.75/1 oz
AI Technology's ELG-8501 is thermal grease made of more than 80% silver. JM uses a light smear on the mating surfaces of wall-wiring connections to prevent oxidation. He warns: "Never use any kind of silver paste on audio connections such as RCA plugs or amplifier speaker terminals." (Vol.36 No.10 WWW)
Atlantic Technology WA-5030: $399
The WA-5030 wireless audio system comprises the WA-50-t, a transmitter module with USB and two-channel analog inputs; the WA-5030-r, a 30Wpc receiver with two-channel speaker…
Interconnects
AcroLink 7N-DA2090 Speciale: $2375/1.5m pair
The less-than-snappily named 7N-DA2090 Speciale is technically laudable; commendably, AcroLink publishes the specs for this product's resistance (18milliohm/meter) and electrostatic capacitance (56pF/meter). It's made of 99.99999% pure multistrand copper, arranged in what AcroLink calls a "balanced twin core structure." According to MF, substituting the AcroLink interconnect for his TARA Zero Evolution "produced sharper but not unnaturally defined transients, shorter sustain and decay, and an overall well-detailed and more…
On March 17, Japanese label Ottava will release the first MQA recording on compact disc, A. Piazzolla by Strings and Oboe. Recorded by the UNAMAS Piazzolla Septet, whose videos you can view online, the short disc was mastered by the Tokyo-based label's CEO, Mick Sawaguchi. The recording is also available for download.
The partnership between Bob Stuart of MQA, Sawaguchi, and Seiji Murai of Synthax Japan and UNAMAS began after they met last fall at Stuart's MQA presentation for the Japan Audio Society. As soon as Sawaguchi and Murai realized that MQA was compatible with CD encoding at 16/…
"Crafted out of aluminum and coated with nitrocellulose lacquer, this truly fascinating object is the ultimate analog medium."
So you own 200gm LP pressings? And test pressings? Even Mobile Fidelity's One-Step 45rpm Santana Abraxas? Vinyl fans, Devialet has now gone one better. The French amplifier and wireless speaker manufacturer is now in the record business, and releasing limited-edition, 180gm vinyl LPs of unreleased live concerts of jazz greats like Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans. and now, Sarah Vaughan. But Devialet is also making and selling lacquer copies that are limited to editions…
If there's one segment of the music business that seems to be surging, ie, selling concert tickets and even some records, it's "Americana." You can argue all day about what the definition of that term actually means. Amongst the many Americana discussions I have had at South by Southwest 2017, two stand out. The first was a heated discussion of why the blues should be included in Americana. The second friendly-chat-turned-oddly-personal spat posited that R&B also belonged in Americana.
While the term is admittedly overly broad and in the end could indeed mean just about anything…
At Friday afternoon's (Hi-Res) Music for the Masses: Going Mainstream panel at SXSW 2017, the consensus was that if high-resolution audio is going to catch fire and become what one panel member called "The New Cool," then the charge needs to be led by an artist who needs to talk up hi-rez tracks and perhaps forcefully nudge or outright insist that their label into release their music in high resolution form.
The panel also examined the issue of people actually paying for high-resolution tracks as opposed to buying or stealing MP3s. Questions were posed about why music fans will pay…
Chuck Berry's passing on Saturday, March 18, 2017 at 90 is the most momentous death in all of American popular music since Robert Johnson's death at age 27 in Greenwood, MS. in 1938. He is, after all, without exception, the man who created rock'n'roll. Berry wrote, often in league with pianist Johnnie Johnson, many of what are now considered the classic songs of rock 'n' roll.
Berry is also the man who confirmed the guitar as the central instrument of rock 'n' roll—he was a perpetually underrated guitar player. Devoted to using a Gibson ES 350 arch top guitar (often in red), Berry…
One of the most talked about acts to play SXSW 2017 was Chicano Batman, a Latino psychedelic rock band from Los Angeles. I caught two of their sets—the best was at the Radio Day Stage at the Austin Convention Center, where they played most of their new record, Freedom is Free, which has just been released on the ATO label. While their instrumentalism and stagecraft was practiced and ready for primetime, their original material had its weak moments. To be fair, their mix of tropical and Latin rhythms, swirling guitar, and organ parts is a challenging mix that's going to take awhile to master.…
Beautiful sound was the order of the day at Tone of Music Audio (1303 Castro Street, Suite D, San Francisco, CA 94114), as the small retailer, headquartered in the heart of San Francisco's Noe Valley, held the first of two spring open houses. Judging from what the 30 or so visitors heard at the first open house, on March 18, those who show up for the second listening session on Saturday, April 1, between noon and 5 pm (RSVP to info@toneofmusic.com), are in for a treat.
How proprietor Tim Nguyen (left, in photo, with Bea Lam, right, and Luke Manley, far right, of VTL) manages to fit…