I measured the Ideon Ayazi mk2 with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system. I performed the testing using the Ayazi's coaxial S/PDIF input, which accepted data sampled at all rates up to 192kHz, and its USB port. I repeated some of the tests feeding data to the 3R Master Time Black Star's USB port, the data then passed to the Ayazi's USB port. Apple's AudioMIDI utility revealed that the Ayazi's and Black Star's USB ports accepted 16- and 24-bit integer data sampled at all rates from 44.1kHz to 384kHz. Apple's USB Prober app identified both the Ideon products as "AYAZI…
search
Sidebar 3: Measurements
Like many fans of music on vinyl, I've grown accustomed to waiting for preordered records. For several years, record-pressing plants have been oversubscribed; there just aren't enough presses to keep up with demand. When vinyl declined in the 1980s—replaced first by cassette tape and then by CD—old presses were abandoned, falling to rust and disrepair before the vinyl revival, leaving the industry with limited capacity. Then a February 2020 fire destroyed the Apollo/Transco factory, one of just two major suppliers of the lacquers used to make most new records. The impact of the lacquer…
The first high-end audio show in the Pacific Northwest (PNW), the Pacific Audio Fest, runs Friday–Sunday, July 28–30, in the Doubletree Hilton near SEATAC airport. Opening times are 10am–6pm Friday and Saturday, 10am–4pm Sunday.
With temperatures forecast into the 90s for the entire show, you can bet that more than a few attendees who are staying at the show will spend some time cooling off in the pool. Or perhaps the bar. But maybe not, given how much there is to hear, see, and enjoy.
While attendance levels during a COVID surge are TBD, what's clear that whoever makes…
Spied in the hallway the night before the show opened was Lou Hinkley, PAF co-organizer (with Gary Gill of the Capital Audio fest). Since Lou also owns/designs WA State-based Daedalus Audio's speakers and will be running that room, who knows what shape he'll be in by end of Day 3. But when I discovered him at 6:30pm, he let on that assisting/troubleshooting/and reassuring exhibitors on the day before was one of the most humbling experiences of his life.
Meanwhile, exhibitors were managing to keep their smiles amidst the heat. Spotted in pre-name tag, box-loading mode were Jim…
Given how crowded the loudspeaker manufacturing space has always been, I am always surprised when a new brand not only springs into being but does so with new speakers that sound and measure well. Take the UK's Q Acoustics, for example. The company didn't exist before 2006 and didn't have a presence in the US until 2018. However, two of its designs have already received very favorable coverage in Stereophile: the Concept 500 tower ($5999.99/pair), which Tom Norton reviewed in March 2019, and the Concept 300 standmount ($4499.99/pair, including stands), which I reviewed in January 2020.
Q…
The dual-mono pink noise track on Editor's Choice was reproduced as a narrow, stable central image, with no splashing to the sides at any frequency and with very little "vertical venetian blind" effect (comb filtering) as I moved my head from side to side. The noise signal did sound a touch mellower than I had experienced with the GoldenEar BRXes and Bowers & Wilkins 804 D4s, however.
I confirmed this with a track from an album with which I was intimately familiar, "Decision Point" from the Jerome Harris Quintet's Rendezvous (16/44.1 ALAC file, STPH013-2, footnote 1), which…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way, reflex-loaded, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive units: two 5" (125mm) plastic-cone woofers; 0.9" (25mm) fabric-dome tweeter. Crossover frequency: 2.1kHz. Frequency response: 42Hz–30kHz –6dB. Average impedance: 6 ohms. Minimum impedance: 3.6 ohms. Sensitivity: 90.5dB/2.83V/m. Distortion (120Hz–20kHz @ 2.83V RMS): <0.2%. Recommended amplifier power: 25–150W. Supplied accessories: foam port-blocking plugs, custom suspension system with stabilizer and carpet-piercing spikes.
Dimensions: 40.4" (1025mm) H × 16.5" (418mm) W × 12.6" (319mm)…
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.
Digital sources: Roon Nucleus+ file server; WiiM Mini, used as a network bridge; Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP universal player; MBL N31 CD player/DAC; Mark Levinson No.30.6 D/A processor; Ayre Acoustics QA-9 A/D converter; NetGear Nighthawk router.
Power amplifiers: Parasound Halo JC 1+ monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Bowers & Wilkins 804 D4, GoldenEar BRX, JansZen Valentina P8.
Cables: Digital:…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system, a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone, and an Earthworks microphone preamplifier to measure the Q Acoustics Concept 50's frequency response in the farfield. I used an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield and in-room responses and Dayton Audio's DATS V2 system to measure the impedance magnitude and electrical phase angle.
Q Acoustics specifies the Concept 50's anechoic sensitivity as 90.5dB/W/m. My estimate was somewhat lower, at 88.1dB/2.83V/m. The Concept 50's impedance is specified as 6 ohms, with a minimum value of 3.6 ohms…
Stop the presses! The wittiest of Stereophile's legacy posters, our very own Anton, has returned to the audio show realm. Once again ensconced in his unique NFS room—NFS stands for "Not for Sale"—Anton has rented a penthouse suite at PAF in which to seduce showgoers with mood lighting, a vintage/homebrewed system, and lots and lots of hard brew (as in alcohol).
Shown on the left, with his buddy Mike Alazard, aka "Big Mike", on the right (with his face marked by NFS's light show projections), Anton Dotson, aka Rusty Trombone, aka he whose name we shall never know, was in the midst of…