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In Nashville in the early 1960s, Willie Nelson hit his low point. He'd failed at singing and writing country music, and one snowy night, after a liberal drowning of his troubles at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge, he decided to totter outside and lie down in the middle of Lower Broadway. In subsequent retellings of the tale, he's always maintained that he…

Over one busy week in 1986, Karlheinz Brandenburg laid the foundation of a technology that a few years later would upend the record business. Brandenburg, a PhD student in electrical engineering at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, was figuring out how to code digital music efficiently enough that it could be delivered over digital telephone lines. A patent examiner had concluded that what the application proposed was impossible, so over a week of late nights, Brandenburg produced the proof of concept and more.…

Drawing from a stockpile of parts for legacy Thiel models—nearly all relevant parts are said to be available—Gillum will utilize his training in what has been described as "every aspect of service and manufacturing including driver build, crossover…

Take the free Montréal Audio Fest (March 23–25, Hotel Bonaventure Montréal, Quebec). Exhibitors are invited to present systems for under $5000 in addition to their preferred systems, and, in an attempt to attract visitors aged 18–35, are encouraged to play music from video-game soundtracks. In addition, musicians will perform live some of the…

Description: Remote-controlled, network-connected media player, tuner, streamer, D/A processor, integrated amplifier. Access to Apple AirPlay, Google Cast, Spotify Connect, Tidal, Bluetooth aptX HD, vTuner Internet radio, UPnP, WiFi. Onboard memory: 512MB RAM, 8GB eMMC flash, 50MB RAM (for audio input buffering). Compatible file types: WAV, FLAC, ALAC, AIFF, MP3, AAC, OGG (16/48), WMA (16/48), DSD64 & 128). Analog inputs: 2 RCA, 2 DIN. Digital inputs: 2 optical TosLink (24-bit/96kHz), 2 coax RCA (24/192); 1 BNC (24/192k), HDMI ARC, 2 RCA, 2 USB Type A (front…

Analog Sources: Kuzma Stabi S & Stogi turntable & tonearm; Music Hall MMF-7.3 turntable; Denon DL-103 (MC), Goldring Elite (MC), Ortofon 2M Bronze (MM) cartridges.
Digital Sources: Apple MacBook computer running Audirvana Plus; LG BD550 BD player (as transport); Halide DAC HD, Mytek HiFi Manhattan, PS Audio NuWave DACs; Western Digital T2 Mirror Drives (2).
Preamplification: Auditorium 23 A23 moving-coil step-up transformer, Heed Quasar phono preamplifier, Shindo Laboratory Allegro preamplifier.
Power Amplifier: Shindo Laboratory Haut-…

I measured the Naim Uniti Nova using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It") and before I did so, I installed the Naim app on my iPad mini and used it to reset the Naim to the factory default settings. (The Uniti had no trouble logging on to my WiFi network.) Usually, before I test an amplifier, I precondition it with both channels driving a 1kHz tone at one-third power into 8 ohms for an hour. However, the Naim turned itself off after 15 minutes, displaying the message "Over temperature, please wait for the product to cool down."…