Not a household name by any means, Keene was a star in the world of indie rock. In a world populated by literally thousands of guitar players, Keene's sharp, extra crunchy guitar tone was distinct and unmistakable. His songwriting, indebted like all power poppers to The Beatles,…
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The music world continues to lose its very brightest talents. It was a very sad sidebar to the Thanksgiving holiday that on Wednesday, November 22, both the great jazz producer George Avakian passed away at 98 and power pop guitarist and songwriter Tommy Keene died way too early at 59 at his home in Los Angeles.
Overflowing with heart, Brahms' three Trios for violin, cello, and piano are amongst the most venerated chamber works in the literature. Completed over a span of 35 years, they reveal Brahms forever true to his love and longing. Again and again it surfaces, expressed through an irrepressible love for melody, Hungarian and gypsy sentiments, romance and drama that sings and sighs at its most vulnerable in this special, two-disc Sony recording of the Brahms Piano Trios from cellist Yo-Yo Ma, pianist Emanuel Ax, and violinist Leonidas Kavakos.
Surprising as it may seem, this seems to be the…
Let's talk live recordings and audiophiles. While they may be semi-loathe to admit it, most genuinely possessed music fans, even including those with audiophile leanings, have live stuff or unreleased studio recordings that have been passed down to them via cassette tapes, MP3s, or CDs. After you buy everything that's been legally released and widely available, your curiosity naturally turns to finding what else is out there. And no matter what kind of music you like, there are a lot of killer bootlegs out there. On a trip several years ago to the Barcelona Jazz Festival, where the…
I spend my days comparing cartridges and speaker stands, arguing about imaging and microphone placement, speculating about DAC filters, and lately, sometimes, very secretly listening to headphones connected not to commercially available headphone amplifiers but directly to the outputs of basic tubed and solid-state power amplifiers. No person in his right mind would or should try this—it's too easy to destroy a pair of delicate, expensive headphones. But for me, it's been worth the risk.
My unauthorized experiments have been revelatory, and I have learned two things: 1) The sounds of…
And especially this 70-minute Bach CD. Using the Rogue RH-5 with Schiit Audio's Yggdrasil DAC, I played it all the way through, comparing its sound through the Susvaras to its sound through JPS Labs' Abyss AB-1266 Phis. The Susvaras were a smidgen more relaxed, which made these charming chorales sound slightly more artful and flowing. The music glowed with the Susvaras, but was better sorted and more corporeal through the Abysses. The Susvaras fully captured the atmosphere of the recording space, but the Abysses provided a more direct and intimate perspective that made Bach's counterpoint…
Back in May 2014, I reviewed NAD's Masters Series M50 Digital Music Player ($2499) and M52 Digital Music Vault ($1999 with 2TB storage). At the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show, NAD announced the M50.2, which is almost identical to the original M50 but now incorporates two 2TB hard disks, arranged as a 2TB RAID array, to ensure data integrity, and adds TosLink and coaxial digital inputs, Bluetooth with aptX for streaming music from a smartphone or tablet, and two single-ended analog inputs—all for $3999, or $499 less than the combined cost of the two earlier products. Like the M50, the M50.2…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Roon Ready digital music server & CD ripper with TFT touchscreen. File formats supported: AAC, AIFF, ALAC, FLAC, M4A, MP3, MQA, Ogg Vorbis, WAV, WMA. Supported cloud services: Deezer, HDtracks, HighResAudio, iHeartRadio, Juke, Napster, Rhapsody, Slacker, Spotify, Tidal, TuneIn Radio, WiMP. Internal storage: two 2TB hard disks in RAID array. Resolutions & sample rates supported: PCM up to 24-bit/192kHz (a DoP decoder for DSD files is planned). Inputs: Bluetooth aptX, Ethernet, WiFi, two USB Type A, optical & coaxial S/PDIF. Analog inputs…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Apple 2.7GHz i7 Mac mini running OS 10.10.3, iTunes 12, Pure Music 3.0; iPad mini running Bluesound app; Ayre Acoustics QX-5 Twenty, PS Audio PerfectWave DirectStream D/A processors; Ayre C-5xeMP disc player.
Power Amplifiers: MBL Corona C15, Pass Laboratories XA60.8 monoblocks.
Integrated Amplifier: NAD M32.
Loudspeakers: GoldenEar Technologies Triton Reference, KEF Reference 5.
Headphones: Audeze LCDi4 & LCD-X.
Cables: Digital: AudioQuest Coffee (USB) & Vodka (Ethernet), Esperanto Audio (S/PDIF), Kimber Kable…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The NAD M50.2's analog inputs have an impedance of close to 20k ohms, and the analog input signals appear to be converted to 24-bit digital with a sample rate of 48kHz. Playing a 1kHz, –20dBFS tone from Editor's Choice (CD, Stereophile STPH016-2) on my Ayre C-5xeMP player, which has a maximum single-ended output level of 2.1V, resulted in digital data with a maximum level of –21.35dBFS. The gain of the M50.2's analog inputs will work well with sources that don't peak above 2V RMS. The resultant digital-domain spectrum (fig.1) had a clean noise floor, with the…
Tonight, Thursday November 29, at 7pm, Iconic.systems (1707 Waugh Drive, Houston, TX 77006) presents the launch of the series II Alexia loudspeaker from Wilson Audio. Meet Peter McGrath from Wilson Audio for an evening of fine music and demonstrations. MSB Technologies will showcase the latest in DAC technology and amplifiers, while representatives from Transparent Cable will be presenting new cable and power products. Drinks and light bites will be provided. Please RSVP by email here or by calling (713) 933-0606.