Description: Portable music player with 32GB internal memory and 2 microSD slots, each capable of accepting up to 128GB. Compatible file formats: FLAC ALAC, WAV, AIFF, AAC (unprotected), MP3. Compatible sample rates: up to 192kHz and DSD128. Compatible bit depths: 16–24. Outputs: headphone (3.5mm jack), line/TosLink (3.5mm dual jack). Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz, ±0.1dB. THD+N: 0.0006%. Output impedance: 0.15 ohm. Maximum output level: 1.9V (High), 1V (Middle), 530mV (Low). Power supply: 3300mAH rechargeable lithium-polymer battery. Supplied accessories:…
search
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-channel tubed, class-AB integrated amplifier. Tube complement: four EL34, two ECC83. Inputs: 5 single-ended (RCA). Outputs: 1 single-ended (RCA), two pairs of binding posts. Rated output power at 1kHz: 40Wpc (16dBW). Input impedance: >100k ohms. Input sensitivity for nominal output power: 250mV RMS. Frequency response: 5Hz–60kHz, –3dB.
Dimensions: 20.7" (530mm) W by 7.8" (200mm) H by 10.5" (270mm) D. Weight: 44 lbs (20kg).
Serial number of unit reviewed: 3819.
Price: $4795; remote control, add $350. Approximate number of dealers: 8.…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Astell&Kern AK100, Pono Music PonoPlayer portable players.
Headphone Amplifiers: Aurender Flow, Meridian Prime.
Headphones: Audeze LCD-X, AudioQuest NightHawk, Ultimate Ears 18 Pro.—John Atkinson
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Garrard 301, Thorens TD 124 turntables; Abis SA-1.2, EMT 997 tonearms; EMT OFD 25 & OFD 15 & TSD 15 pickup heads; Denon DL-103, Miyajima Premium BE Mono II cartridges.
Digital Sources: Halide Designs DAC HD USB D/A converter; Apple iMac G5 computer running Audirvana Plus 1.5.12; Sony SCD-777 SACD/CD player.
Preamplification: Hommage T2 step-up transformer, Shindo Laboratory Aurieges Equalizer Amplifier phono preamplifier & Masseto preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: Shindo Laboratory Corton-Charlemagne monoblocks.
…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the Questyle Audio QP1R with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 As We See It."). Source materials were WAV and AIFF test-tone files, as well as DSD64 and DSD128 files of test tones prepared for me by Malcolm Hawksford. The QP1R's battery was fully charged at the start of the testing, and the player's firmware at the time of testing was the original combination of HW v.3.0 and SW v.0.07 Beta. The Line output was set to Fixed, and I looked at the QP1R's performance via both its Line and Headphone outputs.
The volume control…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the Jadis Orchestra Reference Mk.II using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 As We See It). I had a problem inserting the EL34 output-stage tubes: the positioning lug on the tube's bottom didn't make a sufficiently positive engagement with the matching cutout in the ceramic tube base. I broke one EL34 when I thought I had it correctly inserted but found out it wasn't—when I removed the tube to reinsert it correctly, its plastic base broke off. Before beginning the testing, I carefully reinserted the broken tube in the correct…
Fidelis AV (460 Amherst Street) is holding a Technics Open House, Head-fi meet, and REL subwoofer demo on Saturday December 5 from noon–5pm. Bill Voss from Technics 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 favorably reviewed in the forthcoming January issue of Stereophile. Dave Shultz will be demonstrating REL Acoustics subwoofers, and Vinnie Rossi will be showing his headphone…
Talk dirty to me!
"I had to master this record 11 times to get it to sound the way I wanted," Joanna Newsom growled with the knowing grit of someone who's worked through a sonic ordeal.
"Instead of test pressings, we had test lacquers for this one."
"I have no way to listen to music digitally in my house."
Oooh, baby!
At a time when the future of print is troubled, Newsom can make even a magazine editor feel slightly more secure.
"I love your magazine. I love your publication."
The story of Joanna Newsom is nothing but surprises. A…
The golden rays pouring in through the left oculus transport a tiny child carrying a cross: ". . . the devil was vanquished, as if he had just swallowed the bait in the mousetrap." In his essay "'Muscipula Diaboli,' The Symbolism of the Mérode Altarpiece," the late art historian Meyer Schapiro explains how every object, every surface—even the smoke, light, and volume of space—depicted in the famous triptych by Robert Campin (ca 1375–1444) is a coded symbol explicating the mystical underpinnings of Netherlandish Protestantism (footnote 1).
The painting, now in the Cloisters of New York's…
Only moments after I'd received my review samples of open-back Audeze EL-8s, they committed their first act of transcendent love: I played Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Consort and Players' recording of Cristóbal de Morales's Mass for the Feast of St. Isidore of Seville (CD, Deutsche Grammophon 93904). Once again, the roof of my head became the dome of a cathedral. This 16th-century composition perfectly expresses the earthy sacredness of Spanish Christian feeling. The sound of the male choir was so well formed and accessible that I prepared to abandon my pagan rascality and join up with…