As a test, I did something I'd long considered trying but had always put off: I connected my exaSound e38 DAC directly to my power amps. This limits my choice of source components to my server, and to controlling the volume with only the up/down buttons on the exaSound's front panel, or an elusive little Apple remote control. What I discovered was that the effect of inserting each SPL box was almost inaudible. Maybe I perceived a little bit of softening of the highs, but no change in overall balance or resolution.…
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Sidebar: Did I Really Prefer SPL's Pro Devices to My Audiophile Preamps?
Is classical music really on the ropes? Living in New York City, it's easy to think that is a myth cooked up in the provinces.
Recently, at a performance of the Metropolitan Opera's fabulous current production of Jacques Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann, directed by Bartlett Sher, I experienced Classical Music 2017 up close and personal. In the audience, multicolored sequined jackets and cheetah-print slip-on sneakers mixed with tuxedos. Merrell hiking shoes and Patagonia down jackets crossed with slim-fit outfits from Billy Reid and Hermes bags. Between bravura tenor Vittorio Grigolo…
Sidebar: Brooklyn Rider on Record
The Brooklyn Rider Almanac
Mercury Classics B0021593-02 (CD). 2014. Nicholas Cords, Johnny Gandelsman, exec. prods.; Jesse Lewis, prod., eng.; Jesse Brayman, eng.; Kevin Germain, Tyler Hammann, Max Ross, asst. engs. DDD? TT: 78:33
Performance *****
Sonics ****½
Spontaneous Symbols
In the Circle ICR008 (CD). 2017. Nicholas Cords, Johnny Gandelsman, prods.; Ryan Streber, eng.; Hansdale Hsu, asst. eng. DAD? TT: 75:36
Performance ****½
Sonics ****½
In this, their 12th year of existence, it's probably more accurate to…
Phrases like high fidelity and perfectionist audio suggest a central norm to which all things audio should aspire. Not a bad idea, in some ways, but if you look at the wide variety of loudspeakers out there that people love, from the old-school Auditorium 23s to the high-tech KEFs and Vivids, it can be hard to figure out what they all have in common.
While I like the idea of objective standards, I also like that high-end audio has room for a variety of approaches—specific aural embodiments of excellence—each striking its own balance between personal (sometimes idiosyncratic) vision and…
In the end, I moved my chair back a couple of feet—the Hestias sounded best from a distance of 10' or more. In my room, this was a compromise: one or more of those ca-65Hz room modes was made more severe but the overall balance was better. Measurements taken with my handy Bosch laser measurer told me that with my chair in this position and the speakers tilted forward as far as they would go, the difference in the distances from my ears to the top and bottom midrange drivers was only about 1½". That's just a few degrees of phase in the middle of the midrange, so there shouldn't be much…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, floorstanding, biwirable loudspeaker with open-baffle midrange and ported, "transmission line," bass alignment. Drive-units: modified RAAL ribbon tweeter, 6" (152mm) Morel upper-midrange unit with carbon-fiber/Rohacell composite cone and titanium former, two 7" (178mm) Dayton Audio Esoteric Series lower-midrange units with woven glass-fiber cone and titanium former, 10" (254mm) woofer with paper cone & titanium former. Frequency range: 28Hz–47kHz. Sensitivity: 90dB/2.83V/m. Impedance: 4 ohms. Recommended amplification: 50–400W.
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Thorens TD 124 turntable (reconditioned by Schopper AG); Ortofon RMG-212 (rebuilt), Thomas Schick 12" tonearms; Ortofon 90th Anniversary SPU cartridge.
Digital Sources: MacBook Pro computer (early 2015); Intel NUC computer with SSD drive running Roon Optimized Core Kit; Benchmark Media Systems DAC 3, Meridian Explorer2 USB, Mytek HiFi Brooklyn, PS Audio DirectStream DACs.
Preamplification: Auditorium 23 Standard step-up transformer, EAR 834P phono stage, PS Audio BHK Signature preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: Benchmark Media…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Alta Hestia Titanium's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield responses. (I measured S/N HST02706.) The Alta's voltage sensitivity is specified as a higher-than-average 90dB/2.83V/m; my estimate was much lower, at 82.5dB(B)/2.83V/m. In part, this will be due to the fact that my figure is based only on the speaker's frontal radiation, whereas the Hestia Titanium, being a dipole design in the midrange, will also be putting out almost as much…
A few years ago, Chad Kassem, John Atkinson, and I attended a Pink Floyd conference in Princeton, New Jersey, where among other things we listened to Roger Waters' Amused to Death in surround at ungodly, ear-splitting levels.
Rather than permanently damage his hearing, and being a wise man and an incurable vinylhead, Kassem, head of Analogue Productions, made a beeline for the Princeton Record Exchange. He returned with a big bag of LPs he'd just scored at that hallowed Jersey vinyl palace. Amongst his treasures was Swampland Jewels, a compilation of Zydeco, Cajun and swamp pop numbers…
Loss is nothing else but change, and change is Nature's delight.—Marcus Aurelius
Master Quality Authenticated (MQA), the audio codec from industry veterans Bob Stuart and Peter Craven, rests on two pillars: improved time-domain behavior, which is said to improve sound quality and what MQA Ltd. calls "audio origami," which yields reduced file size (for downloads) and data rate (for streaming). Last month I took a first peek at those time-domain issues, examining the impulse response of MQA's "upsampling renderer," the output side of this analog-to-analog system (footnote 1). This month I…