Let's talk about the price—200 Susan B. Anthonys. That's just about a week's pay at minimum wage in the US. Given the sound from the Alphas at the Winter CES and this very modest price, Bob Deutsch and I found…
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As I said during the 1991 Stereophile writers' conference (Vol.14 No.12): "There's immense satisfaction in finding that next Audible Illusions or Vandersteen or Rotel." My oh my, am I satisfied! But before you start writing checks, hold onto those pens for a few moments. The PSB Alphas are not ProAc, Hales, Quad, or even Vandersteen killers. Goodness, what do you expect for $200?
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way reflex-loaded minimonitor with 6½" midrange/woofer and ½" ferrofluid-cooled dome tweeter. Crossover point: 3kHz. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Sensitvity: 92dB/2.93V/m.
Dimensions: 12½" H by 8¾" W by 9½" D. Weight: 9½ lbs.
Serial numbers of samples tested: 1211690/1.
Price: $199/pair (1992); no longer available (2006). Reviews of subsequent versions of the Alpha can be found here and here. Approximate number of dealers: 60.
Manufacturer: PSB International Inc., 633 Granite Court, Pickering, Ontario L1W 3KI, Canada. Tel: (905) 831-…
Sidebar 2: Measurements
"A small, two-way, ported design," says the Alpha's plot of impedance amplitude and phase (fig.1). The port tuning is revealed by the amplitude saddle at 50Hz, and there is some sort of resonant problem just above 200Hz, hinted at by the glitch in both traces. The drop below 6 ohms between 120Hz and 350Hz implies that mid-fi receivers need not apply for the job of driving this little PSB, though it is actually a very easy load in the midrange and above.
Fig.1 PSB Alpha, electrical impedance (solid) and phase (dashed). (2 ohms/vertical div.)
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Ever since the introduction of high-resolution digital formats, audiophiles have been waiting for the smoke from the format wars to settle. What would the winning software be? DVD-Audio? DVD-Video? SACD? 24 bits at 96kHz or 192kHz? As new formats struggled to establish themselves, upconverting technology became commonplace for the playback of the familiar 16-bit/44.1kHz "Red Book" CD format. What to do? Invest large amounts of cash in a system that played "Red Book" (maybe with upconverting, but if so, by how much?) and one other format, and hope that you've bet right? And what about movies…
The DV-50 includes massively powerful upconversion/digital filtering facilities. A front-panel switch lets the user select between two different filters or combine the two. The first filter, identified as FIR (presumably for Finite Impulse Response) provides a fixed 8x upconversion, yielding rates of 352.8kHz for conventional CDs and 384kHz, 768kHz, or 1536kHz for DVDs, depending on whether the latter was mastered at 48, 96, or 192kHz resolution. This filter is described in the manual as having "a sharp roll-off and firmly defined bass characteristics."
The second filter, called RDOT by…
The differences were not as drastic going from RDOT to RDOT+FIR as from FIR to RDOT, but the increase in perceived resolution should be significant in any topnotch system. After my experiments, I occasionally switched to the lower-rate upconversion settings, but serious listening was always done in RDOT+FIR.
After settling on a preferred upconversion option, it was time to get down to the nitty-gritty of the Esoteric's sonic particulars. Its overall timbral balance was highly transparent and revealing. On the chamber-orchestra version of Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, with guitarist…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Universal multichannel SACD/CD/DVD-A/DVD-V player with choice of 8x oversampling FIR and upsampling RDOT low-pass digital filters, three digital outputs (not SACD), full set of video outputs, and both balanced and unbalanced analog outputs. Maximum output level at 1kHz: 2.34V RMS (unbalanced), 5.1V RMS (balanced). Output impedance: 450 ohms (unbalanced), 665 ohms (balanced). No other specifications supplied.
Dimensions: 17.5" W by 6.5" H by 13.6" D. Weight: 46 lbs.
Serial number of unit reviewed: 20005.
Price: $5500. Approximate number of…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: SOTA Cosmos Series III, Clearaudio Champion 2 turntables; Clearaudio Unify tonearms; Dynavector XV-1S, Benz L2 cartridges.
Digital sources: Classé Omega SACD/CD player, Ayre D-1x DVD-V/CD player.
Preamplification: Manley Labs Steelhead, Aesthetix Io Signature Rhea phono stages; Mark Levinson No.32 Reference, VTL Reference TL-7.5 Reference, BAT VK51 SE, Aesthetix Calypso line stages.
Power amplifiers: Lamm M2.1, Classé CAM 350, Manley 250 Neo-Classic monoblocks; Plinius SA-102.
Loudspeakers: Calix Phoenix Grand Signature.
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Sidebar 3: Measurements
The Esoteric DV-50 had a maximum balanced output level at 1kHz of 5.05V RMS for CD and DVD playback, 5.11V for SACD. The unbalanced output was a little less than half this at 2.34V, which is an audible 1.4dB greater than the standard CD output. The output impedance was moderately low across the audioband, at 448 ohms unbalanced and 664 ohms balanced. Error correction was good, the player coping with gaps in a CD's data spiral of up to 1mm in length without audible glitches.
The frequency response for SACD playback (fig.1) extended above 20kHz, but showed…
The Esoteric's DACs offered excellent linearity, any error in CD playback remaining below 2dB to -110dBFS (fig.6). For SACD playback, there was less than 2dB error down to below -120dBFS, with just +6dB of error at -130dBFS. The player's low analog noise floor meant that its reproduction of an undithered 16-bit sinewave at -90.31dBFS was nigh-on perfect (fig.7).
Fig.6 Esoteric DV-50, left-channel departure from linearity, 16-bit CD data (2dB/vertical div.)
Fig.7 Esoteric DV-50, waveform of undithered 1kHz sinewave at -90.31dBFS, 16-bit LPCM data.
As is…