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Recording of April 1992: Wagner: <I>Parsifal</I>

WAGNER: Parsifal
Siegfried Jerusalem, Parsifal; Matthias Hölle, Gurnemanz; Waltraud Meier, Kundry; José van Dam, Amfortas; Günter von Kannen, Klingsor; John Tomlinson, Titurel; others; Berlin Philharmonic, Daniel Barenboim
Teldec 9031-74448-2 (4 CDs only). Helmut Mühle, prod.; Jean Chatauret, eng. DDD. TT: 4:16:35

As Wagner once said and almost always proved, his was "the art of transition." Nowhere is this more true than in his last music-drama, Parsifal. The work is virtually all transition. It's difficult to say whether the listener—or Wagner—never arrives or is always…

AMC CVT-3030 integrated amplifier

All right, class. Your assignment is to write a paper persuading people to do something good for themselves that they really don't want to do.

Let's see...how about taking your castor oil, or eating your spinach, or bundling up when you go out in the cold...or practicing safe sex? Naw, too obvious. How about convincing audiophiles to buy a low-powered amplifier? That's tough alright, but how about a real challenge? Let's go for a low-powered integrated amp. That's better. How about an imported low-powered hybrid integrated amp with tubes and tone controls? That's really tough.…

AMC CVT-3030 integrated amplifier Measurements

Sidebar 1: Measurements

All the results shown here are for the Direct setting, unless otherwise noted. Following the standard one-hour, one-third power preconditioning, the top cover of the AMC CVT-3030 was very warm, but not uncomfortable to touch. Beginning with the amplifier's line-stage, its output impedance at its 8 ohm taps measured just over 1 ohm, with insignificant load- and frequency-related variations. From the 4 ohm taps it was slightly lower at 0.7 ohms at 20Hz and 1kHz, increasing to a maximum of 1.3 ohms at 20kHz. The line input impedance was just over 20k ohms, the…

AMC CVT-3030 integrated amplifier Specificationss

Sidebar 2: Specificationss

Description: Integrated, hybrid amplifier, with MOSFET preamplifier circuits and tube (EL34) output. Inputs: Phono (MM), CD, Tuner, Aux, DAT, Video, and Tape. Outputs: Main (4 or 8 ohms), Tape, and Headphones. Tone controls: bass and treble. Convenience outlets: three. Power output: 30W into 4 or 8 ohms (14.8dBW, 11.8dBW, respectively). Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz, ±1.0dB. S/N ratio: 80dB.
Dimensions: 17" (430mm) W by 4.5" (112mm) H by 11.34" (288mm) D. Weight: 30.8 lbs (14kg).
Price: $899.95 (1993–2008). Approximate number of dealers: 32.
US…

MP3 vs AAC vs FLAC vs CD

As Wes Phillips recently reported on this website, CD sales are down and legal downloads of audio files are up. Stereophile has been criticized more than once for not paying enough attention to the subjects of MP3 and other compressed file formats, such as AAC, and for offering no guidance at all to readers about how to get the best sound quality from compressed downloads.

These criticisms are correct. We don't.

The reason is simple: Although they are universally described in the mainstream press as being of "CD quality," MP3s and their lossy-compressed ilk do not offer…

MP3 vs AAC vs FLAC vs CD Page 2

For reference, fig.3 shows the spectrum of the signal on the CD. Other than the well-defined green vertical lines representing the tones and the uniform background noise, the spectrum is clean. Important points to note with this graph are that 1) all musical fundamentals lie to the left of the 4000Hz (4kHz) mark; 2) the region between the next three divisions, 4kHz, 8kHz and 16kHz, is where musical harmonics and the "air" on a recording reside; and 3) the region above 16kHz—more than a quarter of the horizontal scale—will be inaudible to most adults.

Fig.3 Spectrum of 500Hz-…

Music Served

I'm writing these words on the flight home from the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show, held January 7–10 in Las Vegas. I wasn't sure what to expect at this year's CES. Though the official stats show that the US economy has grown for the fourth straight year, audio retailers I spoke with before the Show feel that that economic growth has not resulted in any increase in consumers' disposable incomes. In fact, with the drying up of credit, retailers are concerned that 2008 may well be a step back from 2007 in overall sales, and that high-end audio—a niche category within a niche category—will be…

Linn Klimax DS network D/A processor

Even the most savvy Stereophile reader might wonder what a "network music player" is. Linn rightly considers a music server to be a combination of 1) stored digital files, 2) music-management software, and 3) a device that uses #2 to transfer #1 to your hi-fi. What Linn's Klimax DS is is a high-quality digital-to-analog converter (DAC) that receives digital data through an Ethernet connection rather than optical or electrical S/PDIF or AES/EBU inputs.

The Klimax DS doesn't store your files—you'll need a network-attached storage (NAS) drive for that—nor does it allow you to…

Linn Klimax DS network D/A processor Page 2

Then you log your computer with the hi-rez files on to the network where the NAS drive resides, create a new folder, and transfer them to the NAS drive, which allows you then to play them through the Klimax DS (footnote 2).

"You're good—you're very good"
That's why you'd want a Klimax DS. Listen to "Red Book"–quality files and you'll be happy, but you won't be getting better sound than with many other high-end CD players. Linn would argue that point—and perhaps they're right. Certainly, the DS sounded very much as good as I remember the CD12 sounding, which was about as good as "Red…

Linn Klimax DS network D/A processor Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Two-channel, solid-state, Ethernet-connected digital-to-analog converter. Inputs: Ethernet (100Base-T RJ45), two RS-232. Outputs (stereo pairs): RCA, balanced XLR. File types supported: FLAC, WAV. Audio sample rates: 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 88.2kHz, 96kHz, 176kHz, 192kHz. Word depths: 12–24 bits.
Dimensions: 13.65" (350mm) W by 2.35" (60mm) H by 13.8" (355mm) D. Weight: 22 lbs (10kg).
Finish: Aluminum.
Serial Number Of Unit Reviewed: 1134832; "Assembled, Tested, Packed by Gary Robertson."
Price: $20,000. Approximate number of dealers: 130.
…