“I know something is very wrong”
“Look up here I’m in heaven.”
“I’ll be free/ain’t that just like me”
Given lines like these, it’s very tempting to read into the lyrics of Black Star that David Bowie knew his end was approaching. Whatever the truth, it’s a very sad day for music indeed. He was truly unlike any other. So many re-inventions. The one time David Jones was a master at becoming another. Over and over again. From the red-haired cartoon that was Ziggy Stardust to the tailored suits and suave soul man of Young Americans to the avant, Eno-inspired edges of Low,…
You have to wonder what gets into some of these otherwise normal audio companies like Cary. Did they just hire a twenty-something in the design department? Did the VP have an acid trip one weekend?
Regardless I love seeing them bust out of the rectangular metal box with stuff like the new AiOS (All-in-One System). The blurb sheet handed out at the show says the AiOS is designed for "a new age of music . . . one where simplicity, compactness, and aesthetics take precedence."
Inside is a network audio player combined with a preamp and 60 watt per channel class AB amplifier. There…
Merging has been long respected in the pro recording industry with mastering engineers such as Bruce Brown using the company's Horus network audio converters in his studio. They have also been instrumental with DSD recording technology, so not surprising when I saw the new NADAC in Philip O'Hanlon's On a Higher Note suite at the very top of the Mirage hotel, Philip being a big DSD proponent himself.
The NADAC was officially launched in Munich earlier this year, and is interesting in that it is specifically a network attached DAC. This means you get SPDIF, AES/EBU and more importantly an…
Before starting in on the room reports, here is a little background on how we set things up.
We wanted the best possible sound, so I asked the record label, Blue Castle (formed by Graham Nash and David Crosby), if I could have an HD copy of Nash's new album This Path Tonight straight from the mastering studio. The album was mastered in 24/96 PCM by Bob Ludwig, and the label agreed to supply the first digital copy to be played in the wild on the condition that it never leave Graham's laptop where they would place it themselves. I agreed.
The Village recording studio… [Note: click here for background on this project and here for how we set up the equipment.]
After a quick mid-morning breakfast with Graham Nash that included AudioStream.com's Michael Lavorgna, we headed up to the top floor of the Mirage hotel to start our day at Philip O'Hanlon's On a Higher Note suite.
Before we walked into the room, Nash gave me a serious look and explained "What I'm looking for is that the intent of my message, the impact of the song, is communicated intact. This is the first time I've heard these songs outside of the studio, so this should be very…
Even though Robert Deutsch has blogged about Magico's new S1, Alon Wolf (right) prevailed upon me to take a (brief) listen. Paired with Convergent Audio Technology (CAT) monoblock amplifiers, the sound was lovely and warm. I did catch a bit of distortion on the right channel at one point, cause unknown, but Joni Mitchell's aging, low voice was maximally evocative, with an extra kiss of tube warmth.
As with Wilson Audio, Magico presented its latest S5 Mk.II loudspeaker ($38,000/pair in M-Cast finish, $42,750/pair in M-Coat finish) in static display. The only element of the original S5 design retained in the Mk.II is the identical extruded aluminum cabinet. All drivers, distilled from the research that culminated in the S7 loudspeaker, are new. The tweeter is a 1" MB7 beryllium dome, and the midrange unit a 6" Graphene NanoTec carbon. This midrange is claimed to have a stronger molecular structure than standard carbon, but is 20% lighter and 30% stiffer than its predecessor.
"Magico…
Far more sonically successful was the larger Lamm room. There, $266,950 worth of Lamm components, including the new LL 1.1 Signature line level preamplifier ($45,390/pair) and ML3 Signature SET mono power amplifiers ($139,490/pair), joined the big Kharma Exquisite Midi Grand speakers with F-drivers ($225,000/pair), a mostly not-in-production EMT/SME/ZYX turntable set-up, inexpensive Sanus racks ($840 total), and Kubala-Sosna Elation series cabling ($130,600 total) to draw sweeter, warmer, and more accurate sound from the same LP tracks.
Pass Labs may laugh a bit at its excess, as in the XS series, but Vladimir Lamm saves his smiles for the sounds of his brand-new, four-box LL 1.1 Signature line level preamplifier ($45,390/pair). That "pair" in the price is not a typo. This baby consists of two mono preamps plus two separate power supplies!
The LL 1.1 Signature replaces an original version released six years ago. Among the differences: the printed-circuit boards are gold-plated, which creates an improvement in sound that Lamm likens to moving from the back of the hall to the best seat in the house.
The preamp…
The latest version of the VK-655SE monoblock amplifiers ($33,000/pair) from BAT (Balanced Audio Technology) may have been out for awhile, but CES marked their first appearance at any show. A dual-mono design available in both stereo and monoblock configurations, the amp exuded beautiful tube-like warmth (without the use of tubes) on a recording of Tchaikovsky's Symphony 6, with TAD loudspeakers.
For this, credit is undoubtedly due its second-generation, oil-filled Super-caps, the use of only two gain blocks, and the absence of feedback. As Geoff Poor explained, "Our amp is linear in…
