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Today is Monday. Since Saturday, I have changed the amplifier driving my Falcon Gold Badge LS3/5a speakers three times—from the Parasound Halo A21+ (250Wpc into 8 ohms) to the Pass Labs XA25 (>25Wpc into 8 ohms) to the Elekit TU-8600S (9Wpc into 8 ohms). Now I am listening to the Falcons via the just-arrived RAAL-requisite HSA-1b headphone and speaker amplifier. This unusual, made-in-Serbia amp is priced at $4500. It's specified to produce 10Wpc into 8 ohms, 20Wpc into 4 ohms, 40Wpc into 2 ohms, and 55Wpc into 1 ohm, these values from the loudspeaker output
Throughout Origins, the scale and air-moving power of these not– Carnegie Hall instruments was presented less transparently but with more earthy color and fleshy body than with the Pass Labs XA25. Overall, with the SR1a, the RAAL HSA-1b delivered a richer, meatier, more colorful sound.
Vs Jotunheim R
Schiit Audio's Jotunheim R amplifier was designed and built for just one purpose: to deliver up to 13 amps directly into RAAL's low-impedance SR1a ribbon headphones. If you buy the Jot-R from Schiit, it costs $799, or $999 with Schiit's True Multibit DAC card installed. The Jot-R may…
The members of Big Thief, clockwise from front: Adrianne Lenker (guitar, vocals), James Krivchenia (drums), Max Oleartchik (bass), and Buck Meek (guitar, backing vocals). Photo: Michael Buishas.
As the title of a fan blog puts it, indie is not a genre. It is potentially every genre. It's an attitude, an approach, a commitment to self-expression without regard to, or in spite of, mainstream demands. It's the blend that nobody can label, the outré, the ahead-of-its-time, the defiantly retro.
As emotionally satisfying as that wide-ranging definition is, the recording of indie music…
High Violet has Katis's signature sonic intensity paired with more emotionally accessible songs than on the previous albums Alligator and Boxer. Lead singer Matt Berninger has described in interviews how they tried to grow their audience by altering their poetic content, melodic style, and sound production. Listen for details like the focus on the trilling guitar woven into the tapestry of "Afraid of Everyone" as the vocals become more and more diffuse.
Speaking of making records in relative isolation, Bon Iver's second album, Bon Iver (2011, Jagjaguwar), recorded in a…
Grateful Dead: Grateful Dead
Rhino R2655956 (2CD). 2021. Grateful Dead, prod.; Bob Matthews, Betty Cantor, David Glasser, engs.
Performance ****
Sonics ***½
Rhino R2655956 (2CD). 2021. Grateful Dead, prod.; Bob Matthews, Betty Cantor, David Glasser, engs.
Performance ****
Sonics ***½
As the 1960s became the '70s, the Grateful Dead went through a remarkable transition. After unsuccessfully trying to reinvent the wheel in the studio and finally clicking with Live Dead, the group found its mojo. In 1970, the band released its two greatest studio albums, Workingman's Dead and American Beauty. But the Dead made its bones on live performances, and early in '71 they decided to make another live record even…
Nina Simone: The Montreux Years
Simone, vocals, piano; Buck Clarke, Paul Robinson, drums; Leopoldo Fleming, percussion; Gene Taylor, bass; others.
BMG BMGCAT461D (2LP, 2CD). 2021. Nick Bonard, Fraser Kennedy, Thierry Amsallem, prods.; Tony Cousins, eng.
Performance ****½
Sonics ****½
Simone, vocals, piano; Buck Clarke, Paul Robinson, drums; Leopoldo Fleming, percussion; Gene Taylor, bass; others.
BMG BMGCAT461D (2LP, 2CD). 2021. Nick Bonard, Fraser Kennedy, Thierry Amsallem, prods.; Tony Cousins, eng.
Performance ****½
Sonics ****½
Nina Simone was one of the most remarkable singers of the 20th century, but few albums capture her full range—heartbreak ballads, jazz, blues, rock, African rhythms, militant politics. Hence the value of The Montreux Years, which contains excerpts from all five of her concerts at the Montreux…
Trio Mediæval: Solacium
Trio Mediæval, vocals; Trygve Seim, saxophone; Mats Eilertsen, double bass.
2L-165 (24/352.8 MQA FLAC), 2021. Morten Lindberg & Arve Henriksen, co-prods.; Lindberg, eng.
Performance *****
Sonics *****
Trio Mediæval, vocals; Trygve Seim, saxophone; Mats Eilertsen, double bass.
2L-165 (24/352.8 MQA FLAC), 2021. Morten Lindberg & Arve Henriksen, co-prods.; Lindberg, eng.
Performance *****
Sonics *****
In switching from ECM New Series to 2L, Norwegian women's vocal ensemble Trio Mediæval has moved from a label known for atmospheric acoustics to one lauded for capturing resonant 3D space and pristine silences. Aided by label founder/producer/engineer Morten Lindberg, who has received 28 Grammy nominations and one Award, Trio Mediæval delivers…
Among the electrically connected, the phrase short circuit induces panic and horrific images of tripped breakers, blown fuses, acrid blue smoke, and melted circuit boards. Nonetheless, near short circuits are becoming popular among the analog set. Moving-coil cartridges of an inductance and impedance so low they're nearly short circuits are now more common, thanks to powerful neodymium magnets that help produce more and more electrical output from fewer and fewer turns of coil wire. Perhaps the most extreme example of this is the Haniwa HCTR01 Mk.II cartridge, which has an internal…
I found that a VTF of 1.5gm gave me the smoothest reproduction of vocal sibilants. Even so, for some reason there was occasional smearing of sibilants that should have been clean. I double- and triple-checked every parameter, but the Colibri XGW Stradivarius Signature turned out to be extremely sensitive to VTF. A few tenths of a gram more force, and careful attention to setting the antiskating, smoothed out some slightly ragged sibilants I heard from a test pressing of an upcoming reissue of Joan Armatrading's third, eponymous album (A&M/Intervention IR-029).
My previous encounters…
Jake Snider of Gig Harbor Audio and band Minus the Bear stands between Philip O'Hanlon of On A Higher Note (left) and Gig Harbor co-owner Erik Owen (right).
After two years of COVID-enforced isolation, the ever-dapper Philip O'Hanlon, founder and president of On A Higher Note distribution, flew to the PNW (footnote 1) to present, on October 2, the US premiere of the Graham Audio Limited Anniversary Edition LS8/1 loudspeaker. At $9700/pair with stands, the Graham Anniversary Edition LS8/1 looked right at home in the tastefully appointed, main floor showroom of three-floor Gig Harbor Audio…