Editors' Choice
Holoaudio May (Level 3) D/A processor
Back in the digital Dark Ages of the 1980s, R-2R "ladder" DACs acquired a bad reputation due to their poor linearity at low recorded levels. The advent of sigma-delta DAC chips in the early 1990s, which didn't suffer from this problem, seemed a godsend, though ladder-DAC lovers continued their advocacy on sound-quality grounds. I was a sigma-delta guy until I heard the ladder-DAC HoloAudio May (Level 3), which, with its combination of superb measured performance and sound quality that, as Herb Reichert wrote, "makes every…
So, what's "this thing of ours"? I'm only half-kidding. High-end audio is deadly serious for many passionate audiophiles. Some measurement types defend their turf without thought—without mercy—and often deride subjectivists, like me, who believe if you like what you hear, then that's what counts, enjoy. Objectivists say if you can't measure it, then it doesn't exist. Well, goes the retort, you don't know what to measure, your instruments aren't refined enough, and on and on.
The struggle continues to this day for some reason, and boy-howdy is it ferocious, especially regarding cables.…
Back in June 1994, I reviewed the Bowers & Wilkins John Bowers Silver Signature standmounted loudspeaker. This speaker cost a breathtaking $8000/pair at that time, and I subsequently bought the review samples and their matching slate stands. It was the best-sounding speaker I had used in my Santa Fe listening room: When the company's then-owner, Robert Trunz, visited me a couple of years later, he told me that he hadn't realized how good the Silver Signatures could sound. But after I moved to Brooklyn, in 2000, the Silver Signature never worked as well in my new listening room. I still…
With their ports open, the 705 Signatures reproduced the 1/3-octave warble tones on Editor's Choice with good power down to the 63Hz band. While the 50Hz tone was quieter, the 40Hz and 32Hz tones had reasonable weight, the latter aided by the lowest-frequency mode in my room. The 25Hz and 20Hz warbles were inaudible, but there was no audible "chuffing" from the port with these tones. With the ports blocked, the 63Hz tone still had effective weight, but the 50Hz and lower-frequency tones were suppressed. Opening the ports again, the half-step–spaced low-frequency tonebursts on Editor's…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way, reflex-loaded, standmounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" (25mm) "Decoupled Carbon Dome" tweeter, 6.5" (165mm) Continuum-cone woofer. Frequency response: 50Hz–28kHz ±3dB, –6dB at 45Hz and 33kHz. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms (minimum 3.7 ohms). Sensitivity: 88dB/2.83V/m. Harmonic distortion (2nd and 3rd harmonics at 90dB, 1m): <1%, 100Hz–22kHz; <0.5%, 150Hz–20kHz. Power handling: 30–120W on unclipped program. Accessories included: two-stage foam plugs to block ports if necessary.
Dimensions: 16" (407mm) H (including tweeter) × 7.8" (…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog source: Linn Sondek LP12 turntable with Lingo power supply, Linn Ekos tonearm, Linn Arkiv B cartridge, Channel D Seta L phono preamplifier, Ayre Acoustics QA-9 A/D converter.
Digital sources: Roon Nucleus+ file server; Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP universal player; PS Audio PerfectWave DirectStream D/A processor and MBL Noble Line N31 CD player/DAC.
Preamplifier: MBL Noble Line N11.
Power amplifiers: Parasound Halo JC 1+ monoblocks.
Integrated amplifier: NAD M10.
Loudspeakers: KEF LS50, Marten Oscar Duo.
Cables: Digital: AudioQuest…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Bowers & Wilkins 705 Signature's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield and in-room responses. I measured the impedance with MLSSA, checking the results with Dayton Audio's DATS V2 system. I used the formula in a 1994 JAES paper by Eric Benjamin to calculate with Microsoft Excel what UK writer Keith Howard has called the "equivalent peak dissipation resistance" (EPDR, footnote 1).
Bowers & Wilkins specifies the 705 Signature…
Several audio shows have been canceled or postponed since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in early 2020: Munich, AXPONA, RMAF, Montreal, and the 2021 Florida Audio Expo, among others. The next scheduled show is the Finest Audio Show, slated for January 9–10 in Zurich. The next one in the Americas is the inaugural Seattle Audio Fest, planned for July 30–August 1. AXPONA, America's biggest show, near Chicago, was recently postponed for the second time until late August. Depending on how the pandemic evolves, it's possible those shows will not be able to take place as planned, either (footnote 1…
"Oh goody!" thought self, to self: "Another Gryphon component to review." As eloquent and revelatory as that statement may be, there's an even more illuminating backstory.
I had been aware of Denmark-based Gryphon Audio since the advent of the Gryphon Exorcist, a now-discontinued demagnetizer that cost far more than your average break-in CD, but I only began to encounter Gryphon electronics at audio shows a few years ago. While at first they seemed available for review only as a complete package, Jim Austin was able to arrange for me to review the Gryphon Ethos CD player–D/A processor ($…
Skov called the 350kHz bandwidth of Gryphon's amplifiers both "enormous" and unusual for amplification with a lot of transistors in parallel. He also said, in passing: "We prefer low-capacitance speaker cables and don't like coaxial speaker cables with or without active shielding. Those cables can be very good for digital amplifiers, reducing glitches and high-frequency noise, but for an analog amplifier with a huge bandwidth, their very high capacitance acts as a filter that limits bandwidth." Happy to say, my Nordost Odin 2 cabling is low capacitance.
Feets, Don't Fail Me Now
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