search
Last week, we shared a conversation between John Atkinson and Philadelphia-area audio retailer Doug White (of The Voice That Is) that centered around audio retailing. Here's the second, and final conversation from our Philly trip. In this video, JA and Doug are joined by Stereophile writer Herb Reichert as they discuss the new Akira loudspeaker from German manufacturer Tidal Audio. Doug has been a fixture at regional audio shows the past few years, demonstrating Tidal speakers. (It is important to note that the high-end manufacturer Tidal Audio has no relation to Tidal the streaming service…
Thursday April 6, 6–8pm, Adirondack Audio & Video (340 East 57th Street, New York, NY) is hosting a Technics event. Bill Voss, US Business Development Manager for Technics, will be demonstrating Technics' new "Grand Class" Component series including the SU-G700 Digital integrated amplifier, the SB-G90 floor-standing loudspeaker, and the affordable SL-1200GR turntable.
Refreshments will be served. Space will be limited so please RSVP here or by calling (212) 784-6084.
Before he left Stereophile for AudioQuest at the end of March 2014, Stephen Meijas asked Thinksound to send me the On1 closed-back heaphones. He thought I might like them.
Cool beans, Stephen. I do. These are among the nicest 'phones I've come across lately. List price is $299.99, but the street price—sometimes directly from Thinksound—is usually $249.99. You save an imaginary $50. That's $50 of your savings that you can share with me in Bitcoins.
Thinksound is a new company founded by Aaron Fournier and Mike Tunney. Fournier earned his BS in Audio Engineering from the University…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: On-ear, closed-back headphones. Drive-unit: 40mm dynamic driver. Frequency range: 5Hz–22kHz. Nominal impedance: 50 ohms. Supplied accessories: two 56" Kevlar-reinforced, fabric cable, one with a microphone, one without, a carry pouch of unbleached cotton.
Price: $199.99. Number of dealers: sold direct.
Manufacturer: Thinksound, 350 Route 108, Suite 204, Somersworth, NH 03878. Web: store.thinksound.com.
John DeVore names his speakers after primates—apes, to be specific. Something to do with a family member being a zoologist.
John once worked at a hi-fi retailer in lower Manhattan. Now, as president and chief designer of DeVore Fidelity, he manufactures loudspeakers across the bridge, in the former Brooklyn Navy Yard. I talked with John the other day about his new speaker, the Orangutan O/93.
John makes two Orangutans, both floorstanders: the O/96, with a sensitivity specified as 96dB, over which Art Dudley went ape, in the December 2012 issue. Artie has made the O/96 his…
Herb Reichert compared the DeVore O/93 with the GoldenEar Triton Five in December 2015 (Vol.38 No.12):
When I review audio gear, I've found that it's always wise to finish by returning to where I started.
I put the GoldenEar Triton Fives and Simaudio Moon Neo 340i integrated amplifier aside, and returned to my reference Line Magnetic LM-518IA and trusty DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/93s ($8400/pair). Playing Cou$ins Presents . . . A Tribute 2 Studio One & Treasure Isle Records (LP, Cou$ins COUDLP037), I felt I was listening via Studio One's paper-coned monitor speakers. I was…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: D/A processor & headphone amplifier. Digital inputs: 1 coaxial S/PDIF (RCA), 1 TosLink, 1 USB Class 2 (Type B). Analog outputs: 1 pair balanced (XLR), 1 pair unbalanced (RCA), 1 headphone on &Q#188;" stereo jack. Digital formats supported: 16–32-bit/44.1–384kHz PCM; DSD128 (DoP); 352kHz, 384kHz & DSD128 are via a precision digital decimation filter. Frequency response (line): –0.05dB at 6Hz, –3dB at 1.5Hz; –0.05dB at 21.4kHz, –3dB at 22.0kHz (44.1kHz data); –0.05dB at 23.2kHz, –3dB at 23.9kHz (48kHz data): –0.05dB at 32.0kHz, –3dB at 47.…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP disc player; NAD Masters Series M50.2 music server; Mytek HiFi Brooklyn, PS Audio PerfectWave DirectStream DACs; Meridian 518 format converter; Mac mini running Roon 1.3, MacBook Pro running Pure Music 3.0.
Power Amplifiers: Lamm M1.2 Reference monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Sonus Faber Guarneri Tradition, TAD ME1.
Headphones: Audeze LCD-X.
Cables: Digital: AudioQuest Coffee (USB), Esperanto (S/PDIF), DH Labs (AES/EBU). Interconnect (balanced): AudioQuest Wild Blue, Canare. Speaker: AudioQuest K2. AC:…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the Prism Sound Callia with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 As We See It"), using both the Audio Precision's optical and electrical digital outputs and USB data sourced from my MacBook Pro running on battery power with Pure Music 3.0 playing WAV and AIFF test-tone files. Apple's USB Prober utility identified the DAC as "Callia" from "Prism Media Products, Ltd.," its serial number as "000001," and confirmed that its USB port operated in the optimal isochronous asynchronous mode. Apple's AudioMIDI utility revealed that, via USB, the…
Saturday March 31, from 12pm to 5pm Hi Fi Sales (1732 Route 70 East, Cherry Hill, NJ 08003) are holding a listening event featuring Technics' top direct-drive turntables: the SP-10R and the SL-1000R. As always light and adult beverages will be available and and catering will be by the Kibitz Room.
To RSVP, click here.