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Mark Levinson No.30 D/A processor

There were five deserving contenders for the crown, but the result was never in doubt. Expensive it may be, but the Mark Levinson No.30 typifies what Stereophile's "Product of the Year" is all about: superb sound quality coupled with inspired engineering, resulting in a component that will be regarded as a true Reference. If I could afford a No.30, I'd buy one tomorrow (footnote 2). But even though I can't afford one, it makes me feel good to know that something this well-engineered exists, raising digital…

"'Happy' is our primary product," Elliot Fishkin, the proprietor of Innovative Audio, which is entering its 45th year of business, told visitors early Thursday evening, January 21. "We want you to be able to be connected to the music in profound ways." A small crowd was gathered in the lobby outside Innovative's newly renovated showrooms, in an expansive underground space on the east side of Manhattan, to hear amplifiers by VTL, cables by Transparent, and loudspeakers by Wilson Audio.

The evening's guests included Luke and Bea Manley of VTL, Transparent's Josh…

At $480/pair, the Model 1.3 is midway in NHT's product line. Finished in a gloss-black high-pressure laminate, the 1.3 is elegant, even beautiful, and is distinguished by its unusual angled front baffle.…

I drove the Model 1.3s with a sinewave oscillator with my hand on the cabinet to detect resonances. They exhibited very few resonances, the loudest being at 140Hz and 330Hz. The 140Hz resonance produced a buzz, but was not as severe as the Tannoy E11's 220Hz peak.

The 1.3's impedance (fig.1) was lower than those of the Dana Model 1 or E11, at about 6 ohms through most of the low- to mid-frequency band. The narrow impedance peak at 66Hz reveals the 1.3's sealed-enclosure design. The Model 1.3's impulse response is very clean, with a minimum of ringing (fig.…

Description: Two-way loudspeaker with 6½" woofer and 1" soft-dome tweeter. Bass alignment: sealed-box. Crossover frequency: 3100Hz with second-order slopes. Frequency response: 53Hz–24kHz ±3dB. Power handling: 150W maximum. Impedance: 8 ohms nominal. Sensitivity: 86dB, 2.3V at 1m (as published in owner's manual).
Dimensions: 7" W by 16½" H by 10" D. Weight: 15 lbs each, net.
Finish: high-gloss black laminate.
Price: $480/pair (1990); no longer available (2016). Optional stands, $150/pair. Approximate number of dealers: 110.
Manufacturer: Now Hear…

The NHT loudspeakers were auditioned in my dedicated listening room with the following ancillary equipment: VTL 225W Deluxe monoblock power amplifiers, Esoteric D-10 and D-2 digital processors, a Theta DSPro Basic digital processor, and the Electronic Visionary Systems Stepped Attenuator, a passive control unit. The analog front end was a VPI HW-19 Jr. turntable with an AudioQuest PT-5 tonearm and Sumiko Boron cartridge. A new outboard phono preamp made by Precision Audio allowed me to use the passive control unit for both CD and LP playback.

Speaker…

Not so in Tokyo, where commuters, tourists, and shoppers moving through the Shinjuku or Shibuya subway stations will find it almost impossible to ignore Sony's latest advertising campaign, which colorfully announces a new range of affordable portable audio players (né Walkmans). Inside, banners suspended from the cars' ceilings promote Panasonic's latest headphones and shoebox-sized stereo system. Many of the bigger…

Okay—I learned that I should try to resist the allure of a pretty face.

Okay, I confess: I have never been able to resist the allure of a pretty face. Which is why, when I first clapped eyes on the Mojo D/A headphone amplifier from English company Chord Electronics, at an event hosted by Manhattan retailer Stereo Exchange (see photo a few paragraphs below), I had to borrow a sample for review.

Yes, at $599, the Mojo—the name is short for Mobile Joy—is a little more expensive than some similar…

Description: D/A headphone amplifier. Data inputs: USB Micro B 2.0 port, S/PDIF on TosLink optical, coaxial on 3.5mm jack. Charging port: USB Micro B 2.0. Outputs: two 3.5mm headphone jacks. Resolution: 24 bits on TosLink, 32 bits on other inputs. Maximum sample rate: 192kHz on S/PDIF, 768kHz and DSD256 on USB, 384kHz on coaxial. Maximum output power at 1kHz: 35mW into 600 ohms, 720mW into 8 ohms. Output impedance: 0.075 ohm. THD+N: 0.00017% at 3V. Dynamic range: 125dB. Power: internal battery. Charging: 5V, 1A via USB bus. Supplied accessory: charging cable.…

Digital Sources: MacBook Pro laptop computer running Pure Music 2.0 for PCM files, Audirvana 1.5.12 for DSD files; iPad 2 with Apple camera connection kit; Astell&Kern AK100 portable player.
Headphone Amplifiers: Apogee Groove, Aurender Flow.
Headphones: Audeze LCD-X, AudioQuest NightHawk, Sennheiser HD600, Ultimate Ears 18 Pro.—John Atkinson