Sidebar 4: Measurements I approached the Lens measurements from two perspectives: its effect of jitter at the word clock inside a digital processor, and how it changed low-level waveforms with its dither-generation function. First the jitter.
Fig.1 is the Theta Chroma 396's clock-jitter spectrum made by driving the Chroma with a PS Audio Lambda transport playing the CBS Test Disc. The test signal was a 1kHz, -90dB undithered sinewave. We can see the now-classic spikes of jitter energy at 1kHz and its harmonics, the result of the test signal creating interface jitter. The RMS…
John Atkinson wrote about the Lens in October 1996 (Vol.19 No.10): As impressive as I had found the original Mark Levinson No.31 CD transport, after about two years of living with it I found myself experimenting with outboard jitter-reduction units. In chronological order, I tried the Digital Domain VSP, the Sonic Frontiers UltraJitterbug, the Audio Alchemy DTI•Pro and DTI•Pro 32, the Meridian 518, and the Genesis Digital Lens. The sonic changes wrought by these devices were mainly positive, though the effect of the original DTI•Pro's enhancement algorithm was very dependent on the CD…
I get mail. Boy do I get mail! But I love hearing about and sharing some of the tips'n'tweaks from all you Victims of the Musical Quest. I can't help myself. Neither can you, I understand. Come to me. [sob] Here's an erudite, well-written pensée from Dale Kleve (klevefinearts@msn.com) on two interesting audio points. I'll have to look into the first one, but the second describes almost perfectly our own near-rear-wall listening position and its sweet spot:
"First, I would like to thank you for all the sage advice in helping me tweak my setup. I get so much pleasure and musical…
JOHN HIATT: The Tiki Bar is Open
Vanguard 79593 (CD). 2001. Jay Joyce, prod.; Nico Bolas, eng. Greg Parker, asst. eng. ADD? TT: 44:55
Performance ****
Sonics **** Four years ago, I was ready to write John Hiatt off. After his triumphant late-'80s comeback, which began with a label switch from Geffen to A&M, newfound sobriety, and his ne plus ultra album, Bring the Family, the singer-songwriter began a downward artistic arc. The success of 1988's Slow Turning and 1993's Perfectly Good Guitar were offset by such lesser efforts as 1990's Stolen Moments and 1995's Walk On.…
The Pennsylvania Gazette documented an early connection between music and an American named Winey when, in 1759, it listed for sale as part of an estate "a middle sized organ, having eight stops." Interested parties were directed to one Jacob Winey, a Philadelphia merchant.
It's not known whether there's a familial link between the aforementioned Jacob, who appears to have been childless, and James Melton Winey, who, two centuries later, invented the Magneplanar speaker. (Family research indicates that Jim Winey's roots lead directly back to another Pennsylvania Jacob Winey, born in 1764…
Lander: You might have had it manufactured by 3M—the company was interested in it.
Winey: Two or three of the big wheels came out to our little old home in White Bear Lake, with our old broken-down furniture, to hear these things. One of the prototypes, after it had gotten along quite a ways, ended up going into their fancy anechoic chamber and being analyzed by their physicists. There was this one who was their speaker expert who said, "It can't work."
Lander: But once they determined how well it did work, they wanted it.
Winey: They wanted it, and I was willing to let…
As I write these words, it is exactly 15 years to the day since I left the English magazine Hi-Fi News (then Hi-Fi News & Record Review) to take the editorial helm of Stereophile. What has driven my editing of both magazines (and, Carol Baugh, p.10, I certainly do "edit" them) has been the view that the traditional model of a magazine—that it dispense and the readers receive wisdom—is fundamentally wrong. Instead, I strongly believe that a magazine's editors, writers, and readers are involved in an ongoing dialog about their shared enthusiasms. Stereophile's involvement in Shows stems…
The Wingertsman Correspondence, from May & July 2001 No bodily functions, please
Editor: I am and have been for quite some time now a subscriber to Stereophile. I have a question for you. Would you please provide me with the justification that you have for permitting your publishing of foul language in your magazine?
Given the subject matter of Stereophile, I am at a loss to understand such poor choices when it comes to the selection of certain words and phrases on the part of your writers to describe reactions, facts, or fiction in their articles. In the past, the…
Perhaps SACD has yet to reach critical mass in terms of consumer and industry acceptance, but halfway through 2002, it appears to be getting closer to that goal. Along with Sony and Philips (Universal Music), EMI is on board, as are many smaller, sound-conscious independent labels such as Chesky, Analogue Productions, Telarc, DMP, Rounder, Opus 3, Songlines, and the resurrected Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab. For now, DVD-Audio, with its screen-driven menus, doesn't appear to be an attractive option for audiophiles not interested in merging audio with video. Perhaps the future will bring…
Power up the DP-85, hit the Open/Close button, and the disc tray slides out silently, slowly (but not too slowly), and oh, so smoothly. You deserve that for $16.5k. Unlike most players—especially first-generation ones—when toggling between SACD and CD layers, the DP-85 worked fast, thanks to its single-lens, twin-pickup mechanism. It's able to scan a disc's table of contents in a few seconds, as opposed to the forever that early SACD players took. You deserve that, too, for bleeding your savings account. The transport also includes a digital servo with dedicated DSP for "highly accurate…
