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In my July 2019 Listening column, I wrote about the then-most-recent iteration of the classic BBC-designed LS3/5a, the 12"-tall location monitor that has, in the 45-plus years since its introduction, gained a following for its suitability as a domestic loudspeaker. That newly introduced speaker was the Graham Chartwell LS3/5a ($2990/pair)—by my count, the 12th-ever commercial version of this classic design— which is offered alongside the same company's slightly different LS3/5 ($2990/pair),…

Nothing about their sound attracted my attention. The only thing I noticed, casually, was how relaxed and unbelievably transparent they were.

When my friend asked how I liked them, I said they reminded me of the AudioQuest NightOwls, except more detailed and transparent.

ZMF Auteur Ltd
The zebrawood Auteur LTDs I auditioned weigh 490–530gm, cost $1699,…

Oh, no: I'm having a memory!
The most conspicuously lifelike, real-sounding headphones I've been privileged to audition were a pair of Sony MDR-R10s manufactured in 1989. I heard them only a few years…

Social distancing. Flattening the curve. These expressions are embedded in our collective psyche as we to try to keep COVID-19 and the novel coronavirus that causes it at bay. Few of us who live through this will ever forget them.

But life and work must somehow go on, if at a slower pace than before. Even now—as I write, just a couple of weeks after the earliest stay-at-home order went into effect, in California—the pandemic anxiety and resulting closures have businesses across all sectors taking a huge hit. Today's unemployment numbers were staggering, dwarfing those…

"Of course, like everyone, I'm sure we've taken a bit of a hit, but the orders are coming in. People are still asking questions. People still need to have service performed. What we're trying to do is do that without jeopardizing anyone here."

Looking forward,…

There are plenty of difficult obstacles in your path. Don't allow yourself to become one of them.—Ralph Marston, The Daily Motivator

Put these two quotes together, shake vigorously, and you've got the essence of a music server. Unless your container isn't tightly sealed, in which case you've got a mess.

A dedicated streaming music server has but one overriding purpose: to enable the discovery and delivery of digitally encoded music—and then get out of the way. Ideally, it performs like the best of servants, keeping…

Description: Dedicated music server/ripper/streamer running Linux-based InnuOS operating system. Formats supported for ripping: FLAC (zero compression), WAV. Formats supported for playback: WAV, AIFF, FLAC, ALAC, AAC, MP3, MQA (with supported DACs), DFF, DSF up to DSD128 via DoP, Native DSD on selected DACs. Ports: 2 OCXO-reclocked Ethernet Ports, 2 USB 2.0 (1 reclocked for output, 1 non-reclocked for input), 1 USB 3.0 (backup). Storage: 1TB to 4TB enterprise-grade SSD (EMI and vibration-treated). Memory: 8GB (4GB dedicated to memory playback). Library management…

Digital sources: dCS Rossini SACD/CD transport & Rossini DAC & Rossini Clock & Network Bridge; EMM Labs DV2 DAC; Roon Nucleus +; Linksys routers (2), Small Green Computer Systemoptique optical isolation bundle, TP-Link gigabit Ethernet media converters plus multimode duplex fiber optic cable (2); Small Green Computer linear power supply & Small Green Computer/HDPLEX four-component 200W linear power supply (2); external hard drives, SSD USB sticks, iPad Pro.
Power amplifiers: Dan D'Agostino Master Systems Progression monoblocks.
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As with the Roon Nucleus+ that I reviewed in the August 2018 issue, it's difficult to determine what measurements would be meaningful with a product like the Innuos Statement. However, when I examined the analog output of an Ayre Acoustics QX-5 Twenty D/A processor with the Roon server, I did find that sourcing J-Test data via USB from the Nucleus+ gave a slightly cleaner spectrum than when the same data was sourced from my MacBook Pro laptop. The Ayre DAC has long since been returned to the manufacturer, but I did have three D/A processors with USB inputs that I…