When I measured the sample of the Ayre EX-…
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Stereophile often subjects products that have been reviewed to further coverage: sometimes because there was an aspect of performance that needed further investigation; other times because there was a controversial finding. Three recent followups concerned the Ayre Acoustics EX-8 2.0 Integrated Hub amplifier that Ken Micallef reviewed in the November 2021 issue; the Accuphase DG-68 Digital Voicing Equalizer that Jason Victor Serinus reviewed in August 2021; and the Zesto Leto Ultra II line preamplifier that Ken Micallef reviewed in February 2021.
So glad to be back in business with superclean electricity! Especially having spent the last few weeks listening to the remarkably pure-sounding Analog Relax EX1000 cartridge ($16,000).
The brochure asks, "Have you heard of YAKUSUGI Cedar?" No. I had never heard of Analog Relax, either. If you have heard of it, you're at least one step ahead of me.
Analog Relax, the brochure says, is produced by ZOOT Communication (footnote 1). On the company's website I learned that in Japanese "zoot" means "always." ZOOT Communication President Yasushi Yurugi is also a big Zoot Sims fan. He…
As I prepared to run the Audio Relax EX1000 into the Arion Mk.II, I was thinking that it might be too much of a good thing—that the velvety-sounding EX1000 and the sweet-sounding, electronic texture–free Arion might produce an additive muddle. It didn't.
The Audio Relax EX1000 (on the Schröder arm, with the OMA K3 arm/turntable) feeding the Arion Mk.II—even loaded at 100 ohms (the cartridge's 15 ohm internal impedance would suggest at least a 150 ohm load)—produced a dazzling presentation that enhanced and intensified the best qualities of both to produce among the most enticing vinyl-…
"Get your picture with the Wolf"—Larry Birnbaum (left) and Debbie Nathan (right).
In the early 1970s, my hometown—Chicago—was a hotbed of blues. I discovered the blues in high school via the Rolling Stones, and I began to frequent the city's blues clubs as a college student, at first while still underage. From Theresa's, the South Side tavern where Junior Wells performed, I progressed to the West Side, where on weekends I would head down Madison Street to see Howlin' Wolf at Big Duke's Blue Flame Lounge.
Crudely drawn erotic silhouettes adorned the walls of the Blue Flame,…
Since the plague arrived, several of my closest audio friends have been chattering and bugging me constantly, not about masks, vaccines, Trump, or Biden but about Bruno Putzeys's digital-to-analog converter, the Mola Mola Tambaqui. They've been sending emails and texts like pesky kids:
"Herbie! Have you tried the Mola Mola? Come on man, what's taking you so long? Is Putzeys's DAC better than my MSB? Or the dCS Bartók? Or the HoloAudio May?"
I don't mind—I like it when people pester me about products they're excited about. That type of revved-up, need-to-know anticipation is what…
I've been waiting impatiently since 1983 for digital to sound this raw and unprocessed. With the Tambaqui, these doggedly artful Segovia performances were presented with a potent, affecting, analog-like physicality.
Curious to experience an even bigger, more direct and forceful presentation and a little more Mola Mola bass, I replaced the Falcons with Harbeth's M30.2 monitors and played my favorite fun soundtrack, Alexander Desplat's Isle of Dogs (16/44.1 FLAC, ABKCO/Qobuz). That led quickly to a moment where I kicked myself for not playing the Harbeth speakers more than I do. Driven by…
Technics, an arm of the Japanese giant Panasonic Corporation, has long been a major player in the hi-fi world, even if, in some recent decades, it stayed below the radar.
In the 1970s, analog-centric audiophiles particularly praised the Technics SP-10, the world's first direct drive turntable. Created by Matsushita engineer Shuichi Obata in 1969, the SP-10 and its successors became the standard in vinyl playback for American radio stations during that heyday of broadcast radio. Because of its powerful motor, the SL-1200 became the spinner/scratcher of choice among hip hop DJs soon after…
Oddly for an amplifier—especially one that digitizes its analog inputs—the SU-R1000 comes with an LP, which is used to measure and implement the Crosstalk Canceller and Response Optimizer. Crosstalk Canceller "measures the crosstalk characteristic of the installed cartridge by using the crosstalk measuring signal recorded on the calibration record," states the website. "It then performs reverse-correction using the built-in DSP to achieve significant improvement of the crosstalk characteristic."
"Response Optimizer," the site continued, "measures the frequency characteristics of the…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-channel "digital" integrated amplifier with phono stage and remote control. Output power: 150Wpc at 8 ohms, 300Wpc at 4 ohms (both 21.8dBW). Input sensitivity: Line 200mV for full output; MM phono (MM) 2.5mV; MC phono 300ÊV. Input impedance: Line inputs, 22k ohms; MM phono, 47k ohms; MC phono, 100 ohms. Frequency response: Line, 5Hz–80kHz (–3dB); MM phono, 20Hz–20kHz (RIAA deviation ±1dB); MC phono, not specified; Digital, 5Hz–80kHz (–3dB). Recommended load impedance: 4–16 ohms. Analog inputs: 1 balanced (XLR), 2 single-ended (RCA), 1 phono RCA…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: Thorens TD 124 turntable, Jelco TS-350S 9" tonearm, Clearaudio Concept MC cartridge, Sculpture A Mini Nano Step Up.
Digital sources: Asus laptop running Roon, Tidal.
Preamplifier: Shindo Allegro.
Power Amplifier: Shindo Laboratory Haut-Brion.
Integrated amplifiers: Ayre EX-8 2.0, E.A.T. E-Glo I.
Loudspeakers: Canton 7K, DeVore Fidelity O/96, Klipsch Forte IV.
Cables: Interconnect (RCA): Triode Wire Labs Spirit II, Shindo Laboratory. Digital: AudioQuest Forest. Speaker: AudioQuest Robin Hood. AC: manufacturers' own.…