search
I'm known as an unrepentant tube-amplifier devotee and turntable missionary. I spin vinyl in listening spaces, make jazz-vinyl videos, and review turntables, cartridges, and record cleaning machines. I'm a semi-Luddite for whom streaming is a last resort rather than a daily need. I prefer the analog-playback setup gauntlet to the setup gauntlet that comes with streaming amplifiers and network bridges. Each new digital component that enters my space requires navigating menus and connections—a stark contrast to the straightforward ritual of the needle drop. There is much to be said for the…
Turning to the AVM AS 5.3's digital inputs, I used optical and coaxial S/PDIF data to examine their behavior. I used network data played with Roon to evaluate the streaming (Ethernet) input. The coaxial input locked to data with a sample rate of 192kHz, the TosLink input was limited to 96kHz, and the Roon app indicated that the amplifier would accept 32-bit network data with sample rates up to 384kHz. The digital inputs preserved absolute polarity at all the outputs.
With the volume control set to the maximum, the output level with a 1kHz tone at –30dBFS was 82.4mV from the LINE…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I performed a full set of measurements on the AVM Evolution AS 5.3 with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system. I installed the AVM RC X app on my iPad mini, and when I connected the AVM's Ethernet port to my router, the app asked if I wanted to update the amplifier's software. After the update, the AS 5.3 was running firmware version 1.0.117.
As the AVM uses a class-D output stage that emits relatively high levels of ultrasoic noise, which would drive my analyzer's input into slew-rate limiting, I inserted an Audio Precision AUX-0025 passive low-pass…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-channel streaming class-D integrated amplifier with tubed input stage, MC/MM phono stage, remote control, and app support. Amplifier section: Gain: 29.5dB. Output power: 180Wpc into 8 ohms (22.5dBW), 350Wpc into 4 ohms (22.44dBW). Distortion: <0.005%. S/N ratio: >95dB. Input sensitivity: (for 350W output into 4 ohms, both channels driven): 1.2V. Preamplifier section: Input impedance: 50k ohms RCA, 40k ohms XLR. Output impedance: 47 ohms (RCA, pre, line), 94 ohms (XLR). Distortion: <0.025%. Signal/noise ratio: >100dB. Crosstalk…
SV-Audio, a newcomer Danish speaker manufacturer, were in one of the halls at High End Vienna 2026. This was where the rooms were boxes are made of temporary structures, and thus ought to be inferior to the proper rooms in the adjacent building. Somewhat surprisingly, these "boxes" were generally a little better sounding than I expected.
If you watch my interview with SV-Audio Marketing Manager Lærke Vestskov Poulsen on our YouTube channel, you'll hear how the camera's shotgun microphone picks up a lot of room tone. This makes it precarious to say anything about their…
Bill Voss first sold a Technics turntable in 1975, as a high school student working part-time at the Audio Den in New Haven, Connecticut. He retired in June 2026 after 44 years with parent company Panasonic, the past decade as US Business Development Manager during Technics's successful relaunch as a hi-fi major player.
While at Panasonic, Voss was involved in sales, marketing, and education as the company brought new technologies to market. He took part in Panasonic and Technics product launches for the Compact Disc, HDTV, plasma TV, digital still cameras, DVD, DAT, Digital…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: J.Sikora Aspire turntable, VPI Goldy MC cartridge.
Digital sources: Tascam CD-200iL CD player, HoloAudio May DAC.
Preamplifiers: Manley Chinook (phono).
Loudspeakers: DeVore Fidelity Super Nine, Voxativ Ampeggio 2024.
Cables: Interconnects: AudioQuest Pegasus and Black Beauty, Triode Wire Labs Spirit II (RCA), "Spirit 75" S/PDIF (RCA/BNC). Speaker: AudioQuest William Tell Zero (10').
Accessories: Pro-Ject VC-S2 ALU, HumminGuru record cleaning machines; AOCISKA soft bristle brush; AudioQuest PQ-707 and IsoTek EVO3 Aquarius…
Joe Roberts, the one-man band behind Sound Practices. Photo by Christian Rintelen
In audio as in life, there are moments when you find your people and, if you're lucky, discover something about yourself. For me, one of these happy junctures took place in the mid-1990s when I came across an issue of Sound Practices.
At the time I was a 20-something nerd haunting New York's audio stores for discounts and enviously reading the equipment reviews in Stereophile and The Absolute Sound. I made sure to keep this activity from my friends, many of whom collected punk and indie rock records…
In 1936, the great blues pioneer Robert Johnson recorded his song "Cross Road Blues," which many interpret as his telling the story of how he went to a crossroads and fell to his knees to make a deal with the devil, selling his soul in exchange for musical genius. This interpretation is pure speculation; Johnson never mentions Satan in the lyrics.
But people who study Johnson's brief career have noted how his guitar-playing skills took a giant leap forward after he wrote the song in the early 1930s.
This type of Faustian contract came to mind as I was digging into the mind-…
When Jim Austin offered the Plinius Reference A-150 stereo amplifier ($14,995) for review, it felt like a welcome blast from the past. Plinius has, lately, maintained a low profile in the US, likely due to several changes in US distributorship.
When was the last time I'd encountered a Plinius product? I found no talk of the 40-year-old New Zealand brand between a brief mention in a 2015 column by John Marks and 2022, when Robert Schryer spied a Plinius component at the Montréal Audio Fest. The most recent Stereophile review of a Plinius component was Erick Lichte's 2011 take on the SA-103…