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"Is it 'hot' or 'warm'?" Jurewicz asked via e-mail. "The main thing is [these are] high density-power electronics packed very tight. Think about an iPhone doing a lot of processing. It gets warm because it is so tight. The efficiency of the AMP is 88%, which means that at full power, 2 by 300 watts, it will dissipate up to 60 watts of heat, which will make it quite warm. So the heat dissipation is typical for class-D, it's just a densely packed amplifier. If you take the Brooklyn DAC off the Amp it will not be that warm, as the ventilation will improve." I did just that—and Jurewicz was…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Dual-mono stereo amplifier; biamped or bridged operation available, user-selectable. Inputs: XLR x2, RCA x2. Output power in dual-mono/stereo and bi-amp modes (1kHz, 1% THD+N): 250Wpc into 8 ohms (24dBW), at 300Wpc into 4 ohms (21.7dBW), and at 400Wpc into 2 ohms (20dBW). Output power in bridged mode (1kHz, 1% THD+N): 600W into 8 ohms (24.7dBW). Maximum peak output current: 35A. Frequency response: 10Hz–30kHz, +0/–3dB. Gain: 23 or 29dB, selectable. Input impedance: 10k ohms. Output impedance: 0.025 ohm. THD+N (1kHz at 1W): 0.002%. THD+N (typical):…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Kuzma Stabi S turntable & Stogi S tonearm, Thorens TD 124 turntable & Jelco TS-350S tonearm; Denon DL-103, Ortofon Quintet Bronze cartridges.
Digital Sources: Apple MacBook computer running Audirvana Plus; Halide DAC HD, PS Audio NuWave DACs; LG BD550 Blu-ray player; Western Digital T2 Mirror Drives (2).
Preamplification: Auditorium 23 A23 moving-coil step-up transformer, Heed Audio Quasar phono stage, Shindo Laboratory Allegro preamplifier.
Power Amplifier: Shindo Laboratory Haut-Brion.
Integrated Amplifier: Heed…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured Mytek's Brooklyn Amp using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It"). Before I test a class-AB amplifier, I usually precondition it with both channels driving a 1kHz tone at one-third power into 8 ohms for an hour. As the Brooklyn Amp has class-D output modules, such preconditioning is irrelevant. However, the Mytek did get warm in use: after an hour or so, the temperature of the top panel was 107.4°F (41.9°C). As class-D amplifiers produce RF noise that could drive my analyzer's input circuitry into slew-rate limiting,…
Manufacturer's Comment
Editor: Great writing by Herb Reichert: His left brain/right brain/heart trilemma is fascinating stuff.
Herb's review is the sixth very complimentary review of the BorderPatrol DAC, and all the reviewers have emphasized its relaxed, natural quality. Four reviewers, including Stereophile's and C-NET's Steve Guttenberg, have purchased the DAC.
Despite inferior measurements, there is a good argument to be made that R-2R NOS DACs are more accurate than delta-sigma DACs, which use upsampling and massive error correction to achieve good measured…
The Cable Company's 23rd annual "Summer of Hunger" CARE campaign, which extends through August 31, donates up to 100% of purchase cost directly to the CARE. Made possible by agreements between The Cable Company (1-800-FATWYRE) and 70 of its cable, audio, and headphone brands, the charitable program expects to donate up to $300,000 to CARE by the end of the month.
"We picked CARE because they're incredibly efficient for a large charity—they have only 10% overhead—and are well known among audiophiles," says Robert Stein, founder of The Cable Company. "They've also become known as one of the…
It was like going from a screening of 2001: A Space Odyssey to a lecture by Stanley Kubrick: at a press event centered around the North American premiere of Hegel's new flagship integrated amplifier, the H590 ($US11,000/$CAD13,500), the company's founder and chief designer, Bent Holter, stood before the audience and began by offering a few basic facts about the amp. Then, just a few minutes into his talk, the youthful Holter seemed inspired, and he asked for someone to bring him a whiteboard.
Anders Ertzeid, who serves as the Norwegian manufacturer's vice president of marketing…
Herb Reichert, September 2018 (Vol.41 No.9):
My first CD player was a portable: a Sony Walkman. My second CD player was a sturdy black TEAC VRDS 7, which I quickly relegated to transport-only duties serving one or another DACs from Audio Note. From the start, I enjoyed playing CDs. But compared to LPs, digital sounded deficient in contrast and conspicuously artificial, in a plastic-bottles-in-the-ocean kind of way. It felt distant and mechanical. Nonetheless, my brain readily adapted to its shortcomings.
After the TEAC, I switched to a C.E.C. TL2 belt-drive CD transport, which I…
From John McCormack, Kathleen Ferrier, and Dame Janet Baker through today's Bryn Terfel, Alice Coote, and Roderick Williams, some of our greatest English and Irish singers have become indelibly associated with the art of English song. To that exalted list we must now add mezzo-soprano Dame Sarah Connolly, whose recent recording of 120 years of English song from the Royal College of Music, Come to Me in My Dreams (Chandos 10944), with the superb pianist Joseph Middleton, is so deeply felt and gorgeously voiced that it earns a 5-star recommendation.
The history of English song extends back…
Bruckner & Wagner
Andris Nelsons, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
Bruckner: Symphony 4. Wagner: Lohengrin Prelude
Deutsche Grammophon 479 7577 (CD). TT: 79:24
Bruckner: Symphony 7. Wagner: Siegfried's Funeral March
Deutsche Grammophon 479 8494 (CD). TT: 76:48
Both: Everett Porter, prod., eng.; Lauran Jurrius, eng.; Polyhymnia International, mastering. DDD.
Performance ****½
Sonics ****½
Andris Nelsons, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
Bruckner: Symphony 4. Wagner: Lohengrin Prelude
Deutsche Grammophon 479 7577 (CD). TT: 79:24
Bruckner: Symphony 7. Wagner: Siegfried's Funeral March
Deutsche Grammophon 479 8494 (CD). TT: 76:48
Both: Everett Porter, prod., eng.; Lauran Jurrius, eng.; Polyhymnia International, mastering. DDD.
Performance ****½
Sonics ****½
In works as vast and challenging as the symphonies of Anton Bruckner, near perfection of interpretation and execution can come in different, even opposed forms. The slow…