I've never not heard differences when I've changed pieces in my reference…
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In building my listening systems over the years, my primary goal has been to hear as much of the source recordings, and as little of the system itself, as possible. Every piece of every system imposes its own sound to some degree onto what comes out of the speakers. I don't only mean obvious, measurable things like distortion, noisefloor, S/N ratio, and so on. Those matter, certainly, but there are also things we hear but aren't usually measured, likely having to do with how the components in a system interact.
Sidebar 3: Measurements
After I connected the Eversolo DMP-A6 Master Edition Gen 2's Ethernet port to my router and installed the Eversolo Control app on my iPad mini, the app informed me that the processor was running software version v1.5.75. Roon recognized the Eversolo as an MQA decoder and renderer that would handle 32-bit network PCM data with sample rates up to 384kHz. I connected my MacBook Pro to the Eversolo's USB port; Apple's USB Prober app identified the processor as "Eversolo DMP-A6" from "MQA" and confirmed that the USB port operated in the optimal isochronous asynchronous…
I first saw Benchmark's AHB2 stereo power amplifier at the 2013 Convention of the Audio Engineering Society, in New York City. On silent display in Benchmark's booth on the convention floor, its compact size and comprehensive features made the amp immediately attractive, and the design was described as a departure from traditional analog and digital amplifiers (footnote 1, more on that later). It was also explained to me that the AHB2 was based on designs by Benchmark's founder, Allen H. Burdick (whose initials it bears). By the time of Burdick's retirement, in 2006, Benchmark didn't yet…
David Gordon, Brand Ambassador of Audio Research.
Valerio Cora, who served for four years as executive leader of Minnesota-based Audio Research Corporation, founded Toronto-based loudspeaker company Acora Acoustics in 2018, and was a minority investor in both companies, has been relieved of his responsibilities.
"Acora Acoustics and Audio Research Corporation are separate businesses," reads a press release issued July 2. "Audio Research's operations, product development, dealer support, service, and warranty support continue independently."
Roger Hwang of…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Music streamer, DAC, preamp with 6" LCD touchscreen, virtual VU meters, dedicated control app, 2 × ES9038Q2M converters, and the XMOS XU316 audio processor. Ethernet (10/100/1000Mbps), Wi-Fi (2.4G + 5G). 10-band parametric EQ, FIR filters, and room/speaker EQ based on microphone measurements. Inputs: Bluetooth 5.0 supports SBC/AAC. USB-B Audio supports up to Stereo DSD512, PCM 32/768, MQA Format. Optical/Coaxial supports up to Stereo PCM 24/192kHz, DoP64, MQA Format. HDMI ARC supports up to Stereo PCM 24/192. Outputs: USB supports up to Stereo DSD512…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital sources: Custom Intel/Win11 and Mac mini M4 music servers running JRiver Media Center v35 and Roon 2, Merging Devices Hapi II DAC. QNAP TVS-873 NAS. Oppo Digital UDP-103 universal disc player. Marantz AV8802A pre/pro.
Power amplifiers: Three Benchmark AHB2.
Loudspeakers: Three KEF Blade 2 Meta (L/C/R) with IsoAcoustics GAIA II NEO feet. KEF LS60W (SL/SR). Two KEF K92 and one SVS SB-2000 Pro subwoofers.
Cables: Digital interconnects: Mogami Gold AES TD DB25-XLR0 snake, AudioQuest Carbon HDMI. Analog interconnects: Mogami Gold AES TD DB25-…
Photo: Benton Collins.
In vinyl's heyday, Roy Matthews ran EMI's record-pressing plant in Hayes, Middlesex, in the UK. He even had a hand in designing and building new presses for the company. But when EMI, like most other record labels, shut down their plant and scrapped most of their presses, Matthews retired. In 2000, when Matthews was in his 80s, he was lured out of retirement and found himself once again, to his surprise and delight, running a pressing plant using refurbished presses, many of his own design. You can read my interview with him here, and see photos of the facility,…
In the context of a modern hi-fi system, phono cartridges are most akin to loudspeakers in that both are electromechanical transducers. Cartridges convert the mechanical movements of a stylus tracing a record groove to an electrical current. Loudspeakers convert an electrical current to vibrations that cause the air to move out into the room as soundwaves that our ears and brain sense as music. [Stereophile's reviews of phono cartridges can be found here.—Ed.].
Between the record grooves and the sound coming out of the speakers, everything is electrical, but music always ends—and usually…
Sidebar 5: Measurements
In practice, the core design and performance metrics of the 600.2 integrated amplifier show closer parallels with Musical Fidelity's four-box Nu-Vista PRE/PAS pre/power combination, itself inspired by the legacy Titan amplifier, than it does with its larger sibling, the Nu-Vista 800.2 integrated.
The 600.2 may be the lower-powered model, but, with power ratings of 160W into 8 ohms and 300W into 4 ohms and in practice delivering 200Wpc and 325Wpc into those loads, respectively (ref. 1kHz at <1% THD), it could never be described correctly as low-powered…
Sidebar 2: What's a Nuvistor?
In his introduction to this review, Martin Colloms describes nuvistors as "small, metal-clad vacuum tubes introduced in 1959 to compete with bipolar-junction transistors." Martin's description is perfectly accurate, but there is more to be said. The nuvistor was created to overcome the shortcomings inherent in run-of-the-mill vacuum tubes: size, reliability, microphony, and so on. If you've heard of vacuum tubes on fighter jets, they were probably nuvistors. The Russian MiG-25, which was famously flown to Japan by a defecting pilot in 1976, used…