Lavry...
I was familiar both with Lavry Engineering's pro-audio components, under its older name of dB Technologies, and with designer Dan Lavry, from his often outspoken, tech-heavy postings on the Internet newsgroup rec.audio.pro. You can find theoretical white papers…
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Sony Classical's head of engineering, David Smith, is a man whose opinions on sound quality I have come to respect. So when David e-mailed me a year or so back, enthusing over a new DAC he'd heard, I paid attention. When Lavry Engineering contacted me about reviewing their DA2002, I didn't need much persuading.
As I write these words, I am about to drive to Goshen College in Indiana to record my fourth CD for Cantus, the unaccompanied male choir from Minnesota. One thing I have learned from my previous three recordings of the group is that when singers let it all hang out, lesser CD players and digital processors lend the mid-treble a shouty quality, almost a "rattle." Some of this is real—I hear it when I'm in the hall with the singers. But with the Lavry fed by a Mark Levinson No.31.5 transport, my 2003 Deep River CD (Cantus CTS1203) sounded as sweet in this respect as Cantus had live. Perhaps…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: D/A processor with balanced and unbalanced analog outputs; two transformer-isolated AES/EBU balanced digital inputs; and one transformer-isolated unbalanced S/PDIF digital input. Sample rates: 96kHz, 88.2kHz, 48kHz, 44.1kHz at ±150ppm lock range. Crystal lock tracking: 1ppm/15s, 40-50kHz wide lock mode (varispeed). Maximum output level: 4.5V RMS into 100k ohms (balanced XLR), 2V RMS into 100k ohms (unbalanced RCA). Frequency response: 10Hz-20kHz, ±0.05dB. Phase linearity: 2 degrees, 10Hz-20kHz. Channel separation: 100dB at 1kHz. Signal/noise: 110dB…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital sources: Mark Levinson No.31.5 CD transport; Mark Levinson No.30.6, Benchmark DAC 1, Nagra DAC D/A processors; Technics DVD-A10 DVD-Audio player.
Preamplification: Mark Levinson No.380S, Halcro dm10.
Power amplifiers: Mark Levinson No.33H monoblocks, Halcro dm38.
Loudspeakers: Gershman Opera Sauvage, Revel Ultima Studio, Sonus Faber Cremona.
Cables: Datalink: Kimber Illuminations Orchid & DH Labs Silver Sonic AES/EBU, AudioQuest VSD-4 S/PDIF. Interconnect: AudioQuest Cheetah, Madrigal CZ Gel-1 (both balanced). Speaker: AudioQuest…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The Lavry DA2002's maximum output level was to specification at 4.45V balanced and 2.02V unbalanced, both figures measured into 100k ohms. The output polarity was noninverting with the Invert LED off. The source impedance at 1kHz from the balanced XLR jacks was 61 ohms (including the series resistance of 6' of cable), this halving as expected from the unbalanced RCA jacks.
Fed CD data, the DA2002's frequency response was basically flat within the audioband (fig.1, bottom traces above 2kHz), though the right channel had a very slight rolloff above 10kHz,…
KEITH JARRETT: The Melody at Night, With You
Keith Jarrett, piano
ECM 1675 (CD). 1999. Keith Jarrett, prod., eng.; Manfred Eicher, prod. DDD. TT: 55:18
Performance ****1/2
Sonics ****?
Keith Jarrett, piano
ECM 1675 (CD). 1999. Keith Jarrett, prod., eng.; Manfred Eicher, prod. DDD. TT: 55:18
Performance ****1/2
Sonics ****?
It's said that a poem should always risk, but never succumb to, the sentimental—ie, unearned emotion. Practitioners of the art of jazz-standard balladry up that ante: they take as raw material songs that, in words or music or both, almost always are sentimental themselves, and try to make of them something more, even as they leach away excess sweetener. Keith Jarrett has often been accused—…
Multichannel music is the future. The two-channel reproduction that we have enjoyed for the past four decades is but the first step from monophonic (single-source) sound to true stereophonic reproduction. I intend to preach that to Stereophile readers who believe it and to convert the obstinate objectors.
Stereo—from the Greek word stereos (solid)—implies three dimensions, not two channels, and applies equally well to multichannel sound. But stereo has long been encumbered with the common meaning of "two-channel sound." In this column, I will accept that definition of stereo, and will…
All of this can be folded down into two channels to give you a damn good idea of the musicians in front of you and some inkling of the nature of the recording venue, but the latter is based on inference—all of the meaningful information is coming from the front. In conventional stereo reproduction, the signals that reach your ears from the sides and rear are as much about your listening room as they are about the original performance space. The signals that should be coming from other angles are not treated appropriately by the HRTF; what we interpret about the other recorded dimensions is…
Almost daily, MCH newbies on the Internet wonder why stereo CDs won't use all their speakers unless they invoke DPL or other processing. "It should be automatic!" How can the record companies ignore their demands? Multichannel on SACD, DVD-Audio, or lossy encrypted hockey puck will become the lingua franca of the music industry, with stereo tracks for backward compatibility. Quickly, stereo-only releases will be as irrelevant as cassettes, as tangential as vinyl.
Getting beyond stereo
I wish I could say that a carefully set-up multichannel system will guarantee great sound every…
It's common to read ads for new audio hardware that crow about "revolutionary" breakthroughs in sound performance, and that's how Velodyne crowed about their new Digital Drive DD-18, servo-controlled, powered 18" subwoofer. The ads suggested that the DD-18 can be digitally equalized to one's room with a resultant in-room frequency response of 20-200Hz, ±3dB.
When I've tested other "breakthrough" subwoofers, I've been disappointed. All the convenient fine-tuning in the world won't matter if I end up with the same nasty old room modes and woofer bloat. But I'd been impressed when I'd…