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Home Alone

We all have secrets, and it's about time I came clean with one of mine: I enjoy recorded music more than concerts.

I know, that's a sacrilege—as a lifelong music lover, I'm supposed to relish the live event, with all of the energy and connection between musicians and audience that can happen only when they're all breathing the same air. That may be true for you, but not for me. I've harbored the guilt for years: When I take the plunge and attend a concert, I rarely enjoy the experience enough to justify the effort and expense.

My sense of guilt is magnified when the music is great…

Let Freedom Ring

In the 2014 November issue, my good friend Steve Guttenberg ("Communication Breakdown") got his facts mostly right: It's true that most listeners (including myself) accept far more distortion today than we did years ago. Many people have never heard a great stereo system—all they've heard are overdriven boom boxes, cheap stereos, and portable systems, and that's what they expect systems and music to sound like. And distortion is part of the sonic language of such musical genres as hip-hop, rap, and alternative rock.

Technically speaking, distortion is compression is distortion is…

Recording of January 2015: <I>The Basement Tapes Complete</I>

Bob Dylan and the Band: The Bootleg Series Vol.11: The Basement Tapes Complete
Columbia/Legacy 88875016122 (6 CDs). 2014. Garth Hudson, orig. eng., tape restoration; Jeff Rosen, Steve Berkowitz, reissue prods.; Jan Haust, reissue prod., tape restoration; Peter J. Moore, tape restoration, remastering; Mark Wilder, prod., add'l. mastering. A-D? TT: 6:27:56
Music *****
Sonics ***

The Basement Tapes are, as musician and archivist Sid Griffin writes in the liner notes, a kind of Rosetta Stone codifying the interface of myths, folktales, and song stories that inform the restless…

Allnic D-5000 DHT D/A processor

There may have been a time when vacuum tubes and microprocessors seemed strange bedfellows. But nowadays—given the countless digital processors with tubed output stages, and an even greater number of tubed amps and preamps whose insides are crawling with the latest solid-state devices—we're more or less used to the idea. Here as elsewhere, hybrids are no big deal.

The South Korean electronics manufacturer Allnic Audio seems determined to shock us out of our complacency with their first digital product, the D-5000 DHT—a 32-bit/384kHz DSD digital-to-analog processor that costs $11,900. Not…

Allnic D-5000 DHT D/A processor Page 2

The D-5000 also distinguished itself with the title track of PJ Harvey's Let England Shake (AIFF ripped from CD, Vagrant VR651). Compared with the Halide, the Allnic's frequency range stretched further in the direction of both extremes—although the increase in treble information was a mixed blessing with this selection, exposing the recording's top-end graininess—and the D-5000 presented the music with far greater force, especially in the lowest octaves. (The bass drum sounded much more menacing through the Allnic than the Halide.) Greater force—and dramatic nuance of every degree—was also…

Allnic D-5000 DHT D/A processor Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Single-box digital-to-analog converter. Tube complement: four 3A5, one 5654, one 7233. Formats supported: all PCM and DSD codecs (AIFF, WAV, DSF, etc.). Incoming sample rates accepted (USB, AES/EBU, coax): 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192, 352.8, 384kHz; DSD 64 & 128. Digital inputs: 1 optical (TosLink), 1 USB, 1 AES/EBU (XLR), 2 coaxial (RCA). Analog outputs: 1 pair balanced (XLR), 1 pair single-ended (RCA). Output: 2.5V RMS. Output impedance: 150 ohms. Frequency range: 20Hz–20kHz. THD: <0.1%.
Dimensions: 16.75" (430mm) W by 5.85" (150mm)…

DEQX PreMate D/A processor/digital equalizer

A decade or two ago, I stumbled on a surprising demo room at an audio show. I don't recall most of the equipment, but I do remember a pair of Paradigm Studio 20 speakers at one end, their crossover entrails dangling free, connected to the rest of the system by a multiplicity of wires. At the other end, among the usual electronics, was a PC whose screen was a crazy quilt of graphs and menus that constantly twinkled in response to the ministrations of DEQX's Kim Ryrie. He seemed totally absorbed, but looked up and proudly offered to show me what he was doing. When I told him that I was…

Allnic D-5000 DHT D/A processor Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

Analog Sources: Garrard 301, Thorens TD 124 turntables; EMT 997, Thomas Schick tonearms; Ortofon SPU-A & SPU 95th Anniversary, Miyajima Premium BE Mono II, EMT OFD 15 & OFD 25 & TSD 15 70th Anniversary pickup heads.
Digital Sources: Halide Designs DAC HD USB DAC; Apple iMac G5 computer running Audirvana Plus 1.5.12 playback software; Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player.
Preamplification: Hommage T2 step-up transformer; Shindo Masseto & Allegro preamplifiers.
Power Amplifiers: Shindo Corton-Charlemagne monoblocks & Shindo Cortese,…

DEQX PreMate D/A processor/digital equalizer Page 2

Here, DEQX adds a wrinkle that I love. I'd already measured the speakers and created the correction filters, but how did I know if it all did what was intended? Sure, I can trust my ears; below, I tell you what they told me. I could also pull out another toolbox and hope that the configuration and mike setup matched. However, DEQX provides a Verification Wizard that actually repeats the measurement procedure with the correction filters in place. If you've left the speakers and mike in the same positions, the resulting graph is very impressive.

Room Correction
The next step is to…

DEQX PreMate D/A processor/digital equalizer Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Stereo control preamplifier with DSP-based speaker/room correction and 24-bit A/D & 32-bit D/A conversion. Inputs: 2 analog at +17dBu (XLR, RCA), 5 digital (TosLink, S/PDIF RCA, S/PDIF BNC, AES/EBU XLR, USB), 1 XLR microphone with 48V phantom power. Outputs: 4 analog (L/R Main XLR & RCA, L/R Woofer XLR & RCA), 1 full-range digital (BNC), RS-232 port and USB port for computer control. DSP: Dual Analog Devices SHARC 32-bit floating point. System latency: typically 15ms with speaker correction. Crossover slopes: 6–300dB/octave. Analog input…