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…
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How many advertisements for hi-fi or head-fi hardware do you see on your morning commute? Two? Three? If you live in Los Angeles, Sydney, or Paris, most likely it'll be zero.
Like all men, I learned at an early age to resist the allure of a pretty face.
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…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
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.…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
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
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the Chord Mojo with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 "As We See It"). The Mojo's battery was fully charged at the start of the measurements. The data sources were USB from my 2012 MacBook Pro running on battery power, using Pure Music 2.0 to play the files, and S/PDIF on TosLink from the SYS2722. Macintosh's USB Prober utility reported the Mojo's product string as "Mojo" from "Chord Electronics Ltd," and confirmed that its USB port operated in the optimal isochronous asynchronous mode. Apple's AudioMIDI utility…
I wrote about the new audiophile label Analog Spark a few months ago, on its vinyl reissue of Dave Brubeck's oft-overlooked 1954 Jazz Goes to College. Now its proprietor, Mark Piro, has come out with a few Broadway musical soundtracks, the best of which is West Side Story, with its score by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by a young Stephen Sondheim.
This is not the 1961 movie soundtrack, with which Bernstein had little involvement and that featured Marni Nixon and other uncredited singers overdubbing for Hollywood actors. This is the 1957 theatrical soundtrack, in which Bernstein very much…
John Coltrane: A Love Supreme: The Complete Masters
John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, tenor saxophone; McCoy Tyner, piano; Jimmy Garrison, Art Davis, bass; Elvin Jones, drums
Impulse! 80023727-02 (3 CDs). 1965/2015. Bob Thiele, orig. prod.; Rudy Van Gelder, orig. eng.; Harry Weinger, Ashley Kahn, reissue prods.; Kevin Reeves, reissue mastering. ADD? TT: 2:43:31
Performance *****
Sonics *****
John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, tenor saxophone; McCoy Tyner, piano; Jimmy Garrison, Art Davis, bass; Elvin Jones, drums
Impulse! 80023727-02 (3 CDs). 1965/2015. Bob Thiele, orig. prod.; Rudy Van Gelder, orig. eng.; Harry Weinger, Ashley Kahn, reissue prods.; Kevin Reeves, reissue mastering. ADD? TT: 2:43:31
Performance *****
Sonics *****
While every jazz fan has his or her favorite period of John Coltrane's career—the promising Prestige years, the "hits" on Atlantic, the single knockout punch of Blue Trane, his lone album…
The stats are impressive: Quebec's Oracle Audio Technologies, formerly Trans Audio (footnote 1), has been in business for 37 years, during which they've sold nearly 11,000 Oracle Delphi turntables. That's not bad for a perfectionist turntable—and especially not bad for a perfectionist turntable whose first and most estimable competitor, the Linn Sondek LP12, was well established by the time of the Delphi's debut, in 1979.
And yet . . . one might also say that the LP12, having created the market for high-end turntables, plowed the road for the Delphi. True though that may be, there's no…
Through the undamped Oracle with Oracle SME tonearm and my own well-worn Denon DL-103 cartridge, both cuts were vibrantly colorful and present, with an absolutely enormous sense of scale; musically, they were good, but the playback lacked the really good sense of momentum and flow that I associate with my favorite record players. To be shallow and crass about it: The sound rated an 8 or a 9, the musicality a 6.
All right. Riendeau then lowered the damping fingers on the bottom of the subchassis ever so slightly, until their tips just barely dimpled the surface of the silicone pools below…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Oracle Delphi Mk.VI Second Generation: Belt-driven, suspended-subchassis turntable. Motor: AC synchronous. Speeds: 331/3, 45rpm.
Dimensions: 18.5" (475mm) W by 5.9" (150mm) H by 14.2" (363mm) D. Weight: 35 lbs (16kg).
Serial number of unit reviewed: 11087.
Prices: $8950 with wall-wart power supply; add $800 for Turbo power supply ($1150 if purchased separately).
Oracle SME Tonearm: Pivoted, dynamically balanced, nominally 9" tonearm with one-piece, die-cast, magnesium-alloy armtube. Pivot to spindle: 215.35mm. Effective length: 233.15mm.…