search

Recording of September 2018: Pärt: <I>The Symphonies</I>

Pärt: The Symphonies
Tõnu Kaljuste, NFM Wroclaw Philharmonic
ECM 2600 (CD). 2018. Manfred Eicher, prod.; Andrzej Sasin, Aleksandra Nagorko, engs. DDD. TT: 79:40
Performance *****
Sonics *****

Arvo Pärt is now so popular that it's no longer necessary to explain him. His piety is approachably beautiful and welcoming. He was not born composing his airy, contemplative, trademark "tintinnabular" (bell-like) music; up to the early 1970s, he cut his teeth on the 12-tone scale. His four symphonies, presented here on one CD for the first time, take us through that part of his…

Kalista DreamPlay One CD player

Some of my reviewer colleagues would have you believe that negative reviews are the most difficult of all to write, and that positive reviews fairly write themselves. What nonsense!

As I write this, my copy deadline is three days away, yet I've succeeded at crafting little more than my heading (easy enough: it's just the product's name, followed by my name) and my Associated Equipment sidebar (also easy), leaving a great expanse of nothing in between. That's mostly because the Kalista DreamPlay One, a two-box CD player whose $43,000 price might once have kept me from even considering it…

Kalista DreamPlay One CD player Page 2

Although I don't care for remote controls in general, the Kalista's is noteworthy if only because its housing is made entirely of aluminum, and is formed with a pleasant-feeling ridge around its outer edge—it's reassuringly heavy. Its Mute button has no effect, leading me to assume there are other Métronome or Kalista products to which it corresponds; an unexpected bonus is a pair of buttons that diminish or increase the brightness of the display—though these are actually labeled Vol– and Vol+.

Listening
Here's the thing that set into motion such a difficult task: I chose for the…

Kalista DreamPlay One CD player Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Two-box CD player. Analog outputs: 1 pair single-ended (RCA), 1 pair balanced (XLR). Digital outputs: 1 S/PDIF (RCA), 1 AES/EBU (XLR), 1 optical (TosLink). Specifications: none published. Output voltage, single-ended or balanced: 1.4/2.5/3.0V RMS. Output impedance, single-ended or balanced: 600 ohms.
Dimensions: DreamPlay One: 17.72" (450mm) W by 5.31" (135mm) H by 18.11" (460mm) D. Weight: 52.9 lb (24kg). Elektra power supply: 17.72" (450mm) W by 4.13" (105mm) H by 17.13" (435mm) D. Weight: 33.1 lb (15kg).
Finish: See text.
Serial…

Kalista DreamPlay One CD player Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

Analog Sources: Garrard 301 turntable; Audio-Creative GrooveMaster II, EMT 997 tonearms; EMT TSD 15, Ortofon SPU A Wood, Shindo Laboratory SPU pickup heads.
Digital Source: Sony SCD-777 SACD/CD player.
Preamplification: Auditorium 23 Hommage T1 & T2 step-up transformers, Shindo Laboratory Monbrison (2017) preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: Luxman MQ-88uSE, Shindo Laboratory Haut-Brion.
Loudspeakers: DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/93.
Cables: Interconnect: Audio Note AN-Vx, Luna Red, Shindo Laboratory. Speaker: Auditorium 23, Luna Red. AC…

Kalista DreamPlay One CD player Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

Like Rega Research's Apollo CD player, which Art Dudley reviewed in June 2018, the Kalista DreamPlay One has no digital inputs of any kind, which limited my measurement of its technical behavior to using 16-bit test files burned to a CD-R. I tested the Kalista with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It"), using two of the six reconstruction filters the Kalista offers: AD's preferred filter, the Super Slow Rolloff, and the default filter, Sharp Rolloff.

The Kalista's error correction was good—no interruptions were apparent in…

A Big Surprise Among Three American Symphonies

How many of us, when asked to name great American symphonists, typically start and stop with Copland, Ives, Bernstein, Barber and, among living composers, Glass and Adams? In doing so, we often ignore a host of others from the mid-to-late 20th century, including Schumann, Piston, Diamond, Cowell, Hanson, Harris, and Hovhaness (to name but a few), most of whom were championed by Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony in their celebrated American series of recordings on Delos (reissued on Naxos).

Perception could very well change with the release of Lance Friedel and the London Symphony…

Van the Man

The dingy green-and-ochre poster on the subway-station wall, advertising events at Queens's Forest Hills Stadium, didn't draw attention to itself. But what else is there to do on a subway platform but look at posters? I looked at it. There, near the bottom of the left column, I read: "SEPT 12: VAN MORRISON AND WILLIE NELSON & FAMILY."

Van Morrison. In concert. In Queens.

I was torn. Van Morrison has released four of the best live albums evah! He also headlined what was perhaps the worst concert I have ever experienced. And Queens? Since 2000, when we left Santa Fe, I have…

Ortofon Xpression pickup head

I listen to music in all formats, but my most ecstatic home listening experiences have always involved vinyl. It's probably something to do with the fact that, like most people my age and older, I grew up listening to LPs—in my case, played on a Technics SL-210 turntable, and through an Aiwa receiver with beautiful green tuner lights and a pair of early Polk Audio studio monitors. I'm drawn, surely, to an improved version of the sound I heard back then. It's a powerful sentimental connection.

I've never maintained, though, that analog sources—specifically, vinyl LPs—provide superior…

Ortofon Xpression pickup head Specifications

Sidebar: Specifications

Description: Moving-coil pickup head. Cartridge body material, SLM Stainless Steel and Special proprietary TPE-compound. Stylus type, Special polished Nude Ortofon Replicant 100 on boron cantilever. Stylus tip radius r/R, 5/100µm. Internal impedance, DC resistance, 4 ohms. Recommended load impedance, >10 ohms. Output voltage at 1kHz, 5cm/s, 0.3mV. Channel balance at 1kHz, <0.2dB. Channel separation at 1kHz, >28dB. Channel separation at 15kHz, >22dB. Frequency response, 20Hz–20kHz +0.5/–1.5dB. Tracking ability at 315Hz at recommended tracking force,…