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Steve Albini: Serve The Servants

Notoriously opinionated and obstinate Steve Albini, a guy ever vigilant and vocal about the wicked ways of the music business, showing up in Austin, Texas, at the annual South by Southwest festival? This I had to see. After a near-miss at his Austin hotel, we spoke the next morning on the phone.

"It was unspeakable on all levels, as bad as I imagined, and in some ways worse."

Any notion that he'd somehow softened, somehow accepted the music biz as it—

Wait. What the hell am I thinking?

"Bear in mind that I come from a punk-rock background where capitalism is sort…

A Preamplifier Faceoff: Ayre & PS Audio

In the March 2018 issue, Art Dudley admired the sound quality of Ayre Acoustics' KX-5 Twenty preamplifier, but didn't love some of its operational aspects (footnote 1). I've staged this Follow-Up as a putative face-off between the Ayre and my current reference preamplifier, the PS Audio BHK Signature, which I reviewed in the June 2017 issue (footnote 2).

Although the PS Audio BHK Signature and Ayre KX-5 Twenty preamplifiers have some things in common—eg, both are fully balanced and have both XLR and RCA outputs, not to mention the fact that both products are made in Boulder, Colorado—…

Steve Albini: Serve The Servants Page 2

To briefly summarize the controversy: Nirvana's management, Gold Mountain, and their record label, Geffen Records, were not happy with the band's choice of Albini as engineer. Although Albini had only spoken with Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl, and Krist Novoselic on the phone, all went well when at last they met, at Pachyderm Recording Studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, and recording proceeded with ease.

"The studio portion of making that record was effortless," Albini said. "We were done and dusted in 12 days. Everybody was happy as clams. The process of making that record was absolutely…

Doshi/Brinkmann Event in Virginia Saturday

Saturday June 2, 11am–5 pm, Command Performance (115 Park Avenue, Suite 2, Falls Church, VA 22046) welcomes Nick Doshi of Doshi Audio and Anthony Chiarella of Brinkmann Audio for a special analog event. Doshi will be demonstrating a full suite of tube products, including high-power amps and preamps (line, phono, and tape), and Nick will have his reel-to-reel deck. Brinkmann will feature the direct-drive Brinkmann Bardo turntable system. Refreshments will be served. For questions or more information, call (703) 532-7239 or email info@commandav.com.

Gramophone Dreams #22: Koss, Focal, iFi

Brooklyn, 1979: Fridays were fierce. After a week of doing construction, I would gobble Wild Turkey at the Spring Lounge, then fall asleep on the F train with a fold of cash and a Sony Walkman stuffed in a chest pocket of my paint-spattered Belstaff Trialmaster jacket. Usually I missed my York Street stop by only a few stations, but occasionally I'd wake up at sunrise on Saturday at the last stop: Coney Island. I didn't mind. It was restorative to shuffle the deserted boardwalk, listening to the Ramones' Road to Ruin or Television's Marquee Moon.

Koss Porta Pro headphones
During the…

Gramophone Dreams #22: Koss, Focal, iFi Page 2

Focal Clear vs Audeze LCD-X: Audeze's easy-to-drive, 20-ohm, 103dB/mW LCD-X headphones are my real-world reference cans. They and Sennheiser's HD 800 S headphones—both models cost $1699—are the ones that Focal's Clear, at $1500, needs to beat.

My experiences with the venerable HD 800 Ses are limited to trying them at CanJams, but the not-always-comfortable LCD-Xes have spent more time on my head than have any headphones other than the Koss Porta Pros. I cherish the Audezes' lively, blues-with-a-feeling dynamics and the burnished-toned way they reproduce the sounds of violins, guitar…

Gramophone Dreams #22: Koss, Focal, iFi Contacts

Sidebar: Contacts

Koss Corporation, 4129 N. Port Washington Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53212. Tel: (800) 872-5677. Web: www.koss.com.

Focal-JMlab, 108 rue de l'avenir, 42353 La Talaudière cedex, France. Tel: (33) 04-77-43-57-00. Web: www.focal.com. US distributor: Focal North America, 313 Rue Marion, Repentigny, Quebec QC J5Z 4N8, Canada. Tel: (800) 000-0001, (844) 362-2562. Web: www.focal.com/us.

iFi Audio, 139-141 Cambridge Road, Churchtown, Southport PR9 7LN, Merseyside, England, UK. Web: www.ifi-audio.com. US: iFi Audio (USA), 105 Professional Parkway, Suite 1519, Yorktown…

Rogers High Fidelity 65V-1 integrated amplifier

"Okay, all you high-rolling audiophile know-it-alls—what is the argument against amplifiers that operate in high-bias, class-A, single-ended mode, with the lowest possible parts count? Is there a better strategy for beauty, rhythm, color, texture, and easy-flowing musical verity? I think not. And please explain: Why has mainstream audio gone to such ridiculous and expensive lengths to avoid building and selling precisely these sorts of amps?"

It was I, your humble prattler, who in October 2016 posed that rhetorical question, in my review of the First Watt J2, a 25Wpc power amplifier…

Rogers High Fidelity 65V-1 integrated amplifier Page 2

I wish you could have heard how physically present and emotionally intimate the Rogers 65V-1 made Buddy Holly's Down the Line: Rarities (2 CDs, Decca B0011675-02) feel through the DeVore Orangutan O/93s. The sense of Holly's physical presence was so captivating that I fell into a Holly listening binge that has yet to end. I'm infatuated with his famous Apartment Tapes, recorded in December 1958 in the living room of the Manhattan flat he shared with his new wife, Mar°a Elena Santiago, only weeks before his death at the age of 22.

I didn't need golden ears or laboratory meters to…

Rogers High Fidelity 65V-1 integrated amplifier Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Single-ended, tubed, stereo integrated amplifier with switchable triode/Ultralinear output-stage operation. Tube complement: two EF86, two EL34 or KT88. Line-level inputs: 4 unbalanced (RCA). Outputs: gold-plated, solid copper binding posts. Power output (defined in terms of THD): 1W into 8 ohms at <0.5% THD, 10W at <3% THD, 25W peak. Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz, ±0.1dB.
Dimensions: 17" (430mm) W by 7.5" (190mm) H by 12" (305mm) D. Weight: 24 lbs (10.9kg).
Finish: Black powdercoat.
Serial number of unit reviewed: 65015.090517.…