Digital sources: dCS Vivaldi Apex DAC, Vivaldi Upsampler Plus, Vivaldi Master Clock; Innuos Statement NextGen Music Server; Uptone Audio EtherRegen, AfterDark Giesemann Emperor Double Crown Master Clock, and Nordost QNet Ethernet Switch, all powered by Nordost QSource linear power supplies (2); Synology 5-bay 1019+ NAS, Small Green Computer Sonore Deluxe opticalModule, Linksys mesh router and Arris modem, all powered by HDPlex 300 linear power supply; Apple 2017 iPad Pro and 2017 MacBook Pro laptop with 2.8GHz Intel i7, SSD, 16GB RAM.
Preamplifier: Dan…
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured one of the Karan POWERa Mono amplifiers that JVS auditioned, serial number 005. Because the amplifier was too wide to fit through the door from my listening room to the corridor that leads to the test lab, I performed the measurements in my listening room. To ensure that this very powerful amplifier wasn't starved of wall current, I ran two long, heavy-duty extension cords to the Karan from the 20A circuit in the test lab. I measured the amplifier using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system, plugged into one of the extension cords. Following distributor Wynn…
AXPONA (Audio Expo North America), the largest audio show in North America, will get underway April 14–16 in the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & Convention Center in the Chicago suburbs. As exhibitors begin the often challenging task of assembling their gear, Jim Austin, Ken Micallef, Michael Trei, Rogier van Bakel, et moi prepare ourselves for the discoveries that lie ahead.
"How much do you think everything here is worth?" asks my husband as he peers at a cart filled with boxes of Audio Research components. A short time later, as I pass those boxes scattered in a manner…
It's a rare occurrence when this hi-fi reporter experiences sonic serendipity, so when it strikes, I'm all in from the downbeat. Such was my good fortune with my first AXPONA assignment of the day, covering the hallowed sound room presented by Nashville's AXISS Audio.
Featuring component debuts from Japan's Air-Tight, with senior Air-Tight representatives in attendance, AXISS Audio's lineup included the Reed Muse 1C turntable ($14,000 for standard finish, $15,500 for birch), Reed 5T Laser Tracking tonearm ($21,500), with Air-Tight Opus One MC cartridge ($17,500), into the Air-…
Here's a list of the complete Dutch & Dutch product lineup:
1. Dutch & Dutch model 8c speakers.
And here's a list of all the audio electronics in the Dutchies' 11th-floor room at AXPONA:
1. Dutch & Dutch model 8c speakers.
That's it. Other than the brutalist-looking Sound Anchor ADJ speaker stands, there was no associated gear. That's because the 8cs, reviewed in Stereophile by Kalman Rubinson here and by John Atkinson here, are DSP-equipped active speakers that are meant to be used with a networked source like a laptop or tablet.
As for the…
In what is a first for this reporter but surely not for the brand, Yamaha brought a number of choice components to Chicago, presented by Yamaha marketing manager Rebecca Lynn (above) and several employees from Yamaha Japan.
On static display, the 136-year old company introduced new products, including the YH-5000SE Open-back wired Orthodynamic® headphones ($4999), RN2000A Network Receiver ($3999), legacy A-S3200 and A-S2200 integrated amplifiers, new HA-L7A USB DAC headphone amplifier (price unavailable), and prototype NS-2000A floorstanding loudspeakers ($7998/pair).
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Michal Jurewicz, Mytek CEO and designer, of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, brought new and not-so-new equipment to AXPONA. The "Tall Wizard" had two rooms, one including the Mytek Empire Streamer (currently with Editor Jim Austin, for review, $25,000), new GaNFET-powered Empire monoblocks (400Wpc/800Wpc into 4 ohms; $20,000/pair), and his very own pair of 1990s-era JM Labs Point Source 5.1s standmount monitors with JM Labs PS 10 dual subwoofers. ArgentPur cabling was used throughout.
When Jurewicz fired up the Empire Streamer (above) and Empire monoblocks (below), playing Roxy Music's…
Last year's AXPONA brought the debut of SVS' Prime Wireless Pro active speakers ($899/pair). In the fall, I spent a couple of months listening to them, and came away impressed. "No sub-$1000 all-in-one system can attain anything close to perfection, but night after night the Prime Pros surprised me," I wrote in my review, praising their sonic balance and satisfying low-frequency extension.
The Ohio company recently launched a product that approaches streamable music from the other direction: What if you already have a good pair of speakers . . . and are in the market for a versatile,…
I have long found it kind of disappointing that just a handful of companies still manufacture turntables in the United States, but SOTA is a true survivor, having delivered their first turntables way back in 1979.
At AXPONA, SOTA co-owner Donna Bodinet (above) was displaying their new Quasar model (below), which moves the suspension-less Urban product series a few steps upmarket. At $2995 without arm, it employs a new three-phase AC synchronous motor controlled by the Condor PSU developed by SOTA in cooperation with Phoenix Engineering, Unusually, 78rpm speed is included in addition to…
As an enterprising Stereophile reporter, I do my homework. When I saw that Alex Sound Technology, of Windermere, Florida, was bringing the gorgeous Japanese Takatsuki 300B TA-S01 SET amplifier ($32,000, 8Wpc, new to the USA), along with new Japanese brand Sforzato (below), including their DST-050EX network transport ($4600), DSC-030EX Zero Link DAC ($9900), DSP-030EX Network Player ($9900), and PMC-015EX Master Clock ($4990), plus the Blumenhofer Acoustics Genuin FS 2 Mk2 horn-loaded loudspeakers ($22,850/pair), a bee flew into my Southern man's bonnet and I requested room coverage to major…