Description: NazaréNET: Flagship Ethernet network switch, connecting the network to the Nazaré music streamer-server or other streamer-servers. Includes high-precision 3ppb OCXO oscillator with dedicated isolated power rail and custom Nazaré-grade supply with GaN-ARC8 active rectification and 4× DC4 regulators; 376,000µF total capacitance. Inputs: USB for service/configuration (1), SFP for fiber (1), optimized for single-mode fiber SFP, 1310nm up to 10km. Comes with Finisar module. Inputs/outputs: RJ45 gigabit Ethernet (4). Chassis ground port. 15A AC inlet, on/…
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Sidebar 1: Specifications
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 16-channel DAC. QNAP TVS-873 and TS-873a NAS drives. Oppo Digital UDP-103 universal disc player.
Power amplifiers: Three Benchmark AHB2.
Loudspeakers: Three KEF Blade Two Meta (L/C/R) with IsoAcoustics GAIA II NEO feet. KEF LS60W (SL/SR). Two KEF KC92 and one SVS SB 2000Pro subwoofer.
Cables: Digital interconnects: Mogami Gold AES TD DB25-XLR0 snake. Analog interconnects: Mogami Gold AES TD DB25-XLR snake, In-…
Jay Jay French, still Twisted today.
I bought my first real stereo setup—a Sony STR-6050 receiver, an Audio Research XA turntable, and a pair of KLH 6 speakers—in 1968. After that, I routinely changed my equipment, but it wasn't until 1982, when I started reading Stereophile and The Absolute Sound, that my pursuit of great sound began in earnest. That was the same year I started traveling the world in a rock band (Twisted Sister) and having enough income from touring and record sales to indulge in this hobby—a dangerous financial confluence!
Those of you reading this who are of a…
Audio Advice, the North Carolina–based hi-fi company, has been busy—and bullish. Recent acquisitions have brought its empire to seven stores. For years, Audio Advice has also hosted a hi-fi and home-theater show. This year's Audio Advice Live takes place in its home city of Raleigh, North Carolina, August 7–9, which means it will start just after this issue drops.
The last time I interviewed Scott Newnam (on the right in the photo above), Audio Advice's CEO, the company had just acquired The Sound Room in St. Louis. In our latest chat, there were two main topics: breaking ground on its…
At Audio Advice Live 2026, Kevin Zarow talks about the gear in this room at the show, which includes Bowers & Wilkins' 801 D5 floorstanding loudspeakers, in an interview with Ken Micallef that's now posted on our YouTube channel.
Unlike every other system featuring expensive speakers—some flagship pairs among them— Bowers & Wilkins' new 801 D5 floorstanders, which I heard in this room at Audio Advice Live 2026, surprised not just for their sonic bells and whistles, but for their ability to get out of the way and just let the music play.
Yes,…
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At Audio Advice Live 2026, Focal and Naim's Chris Shaw talks about the gear in this room at the show, which includes the North American debut of Focal's Scala Utopia Evo M loudspeakers, in an interview with Ken Micallef that's now posted on our YouTube channel.
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At Audio Advice Live 2026, Playback Distribution's Rob Standley talks about the gear in this room at the show, which includes the North American debut of Vienna Acoustics's Schubert Grand Sonata loudspeakers, in an interview with Ken Micallef that's now posted on our YouTube channel.
Playing Frank Sinatra on a Dual CD 529 turntable fitted with an Ortofon 2M Red cartridge through the Vienna Acoustics Schubert Grand Sonata loudspeakers in this Playback Distribution room at Audio Advice Live 2026, I practically felt the space around Ol' Blues Eyes's skull, rife with the…
At Audio Advice Live 2026, Steinway Lyngdorf's Lee Rambler talks about the company's new LCR-2 wall-mount loudspeaker in an interview with Ken Micallef that's now posted on our YouTube channel.
Time precluded me from undertaking a proper listening session in this room at Audio Advice Live 2026, but Steinway Lyngdorf's East Coast sales manager Lee Rambler was more than up to the task in telling me all about the company's new LCR-2 loudspeaker ($3000 each) during our video interview.
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Ken Micallef talks with Scott Newnam about what we can expect to see and hear at Audio Advice Live 2026 in a video interview that's now posted on our YouTube channel.
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