Analog Sources: Linn Sondek LP12 turntable with Lingo power supply, Linn Ekos tonearm, Linn Arkiv B cartridge.
Digital Sources: Antipodes DX Reference music server; Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP universal player; Apple 2.7GHz i7 Mac mini running OS10.7, Audirvana Plus 1.5.10, iTunes 11, Pure Music 2.0; PS Audio PerfectWave DirectStream D/A converter; dCS Vivaldi digital playback system; AudioQuest JitterBug USB filter, UpTone Audio ReGen USB cleaner-uppers; Ayre Acoustics QA-9 USB A/D converter.
Preamplification: Channel D Seta L phono preamplifier.
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Linn Sondek LP12 turntable with Lingo power supply, Linn Ittok tonearm, Spectral moving-coil cartridge; Day-Sequerra Anniversary Reference FM tuner.
Digital Sources: Bryston BCD-1 CD player & BDP-2 media player (with IAD sound board) & BDA-2 DAC; Lenovo W510 laptop computer running Windows 7 (64 bit), Mark Levinson USB driver, JRiver Media Center 20.
Preamplifiers: Bryston BP-26, Mark Levinson ML-7.
Power Amplifier: Mark Levinson No.334.
Loudspeakers: Quad ESL-989, Revel Ultima Salon2; Tannoy TS2.12 subwoofer.
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Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the YG Acoustics Carmel 2's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield and spatially averaged room responses.
The Carmel 2's voltage sensitivity is specified as 87dB/2.83V/m; my estimate was less than that, at 84dB(B)/2.83V/m. The impedance is specified as 4 ohms, with a minimum magnitude of 3.5 ohms. Fig.1 shows my measurement of the YGA's impedance magnitude (solid trace) and electrical phase angle (dotted). The impedance drops below 4 ohms…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the Mark Levinson No.585 using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 As We See It"). As usual, before measuring the amplifier I preconditioned it by running both channels at one-third power into 8 ohms for an hour. However, the No.585 turned its output off after 35 minutes, its front panel displaying "Over Temperature." The top panel was hot, at 115.4°F (46.4°C), and the heatsinks even hotter, at 149.8°F (65.4°C). I unplugged the amplifier from the wall and let it cool down, after which I could turn it on again and continue testing…
San Francisco's AudioVisionSF (1628 California Street) is hosting "From Digital to Analog" on Thursday December 3, 8–11pm. The event will feature Robert Watts (Chief Digital Designer for Chord Electronics, whose Mojo portable D/A headphone amplifier is pictured above) and Jeff Dorgay (Editor of TONEAudio magazine). Shown and demonstrated will be the latest in turntables, cartridges, tube amplifiers, cables, and electrostatic loudspeakers, as well as DACs, streamers, and servers.
Featured brands will include JansZen Electrostatic Loudspeakers, E.A.T. Turntables, Charisma Cartridges,…
Viva Hifi (Vienna, VA, near Washington, DC), is holding a special Technics Open House Saturday, December 5, from noon–7pm. The featured guest will be Gregg Lee, Training Manager for Technics, who will be presenting and discussing Technics' new C700 Premium Series components (above). This series features a D/A integrated amplifier, a network player and CD player, as well as the new, linear-phase, point-sound-source SB-C700 loudspeaker, which is enthusiastically reviewed in the forthcoming January issue of Stereophile.
In addition, Viva Hifi will be displaying the new ELAC debut B5 and F5…
With Solo, his 49th album as a leader (or co-leader) and 10th as a soloist, Fred Hersch nails his standing as one of the premier jazz musicians of our time, a pianist of subtle touch and propulsive flow, something like Keith Jarrett but more focused, less rhapsodic—Ravel to KJ's Liszt or Rachmaninoff (not that there's anything wrong with either).
Recorded live last year at the Windham Civic Center Concert Hall, in New York's Hudson Valley, Solo (on the Palmetto label), features, like most of Hersch's albums, a mix of originals and standards—the latter by Jobim, Ellington, Monk, and Joni…
Multiple product premieres take place at Berkeley, CA store Music Lovers Audio (2116 Blake Street), Saturday December 5, from 1pm–6pm. Philip O’Hanlon of On A Higher Note is presenting the North American premiere of the Vivid B1 Decade, 10th Anniversary, limited-edition loudspeaker (above). John Quick of dCS will show the new dCS Rossini D/A processor, and Peter McGrath of Wilson Audio Specialties will present the Wilson Sabrina loudspeakers in a system featuring the Spectral DMC-30SV Super Veloce preamplifier.
Stereophile’s Jason Victor Serinus will there. More details can be found here…
I don't think Americans dislike the French a tenth as much as the corporate media, in their endless struggle to sell our pettiest ideas back to us in cartoon form, suggests we do. Our nations' histories are intertwined, to our great mutual benefit. Americans envy the French their centuries of cultural accomplishments, the French envy Americans their sense of industry and their wide-open spaces. (That one's a tie.) We turn to them for wine, they turn to us for blue jeans. (A point for France.) We watch their films about law-breaking hipsters, they watch our films about law-breaking gangsters…
The 2015 T.H.E. Show in Southern California clashed with my having to be in the office to ship our August issue to the printer, so I wasn't able to attend. But in devouring the online coverage on www.stereophile.com and its sister sites, on InnerFidelity.com I found a report by Tyll Hertsens about two new hi-rez portable players that made their debuts at T.H.E. Show: Questyle Audio Technology's QP1 ($599) and QP1R ($899).
Questyle was a name new to me. The company, based in China, has its products manufactured by Foxconn, of iPhone fame, but its North American operation is headed up by…