My estimate of the Snell Illusion's voltage sensitivity on its tweeter axis was 89.5dB(B)/2.83V/m, which is usefully above average and within experimental error of the specified 89dB. The speaker's plot of impedance magnitude and phase, however, reveals it to be quite a demanding load for the partnering amplifier, the magnitude remaining between 3 and 4 ohms for much of the upper bass and midrange (fig.1). There is also a tricky combination of 4.5 ohms and –48° capacitive phase angle at 50Hz. A good amplifier rated at 4 ohms will be needed to drive the Illusion to…
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The whole field of subjective audio reviewing—listening to a piece of equipment to determine its characteristics and worth—is predicated on the idea that human perception is not only far more sensitive than measurement devices, but far more important than the numbers generated by "objective" testing. Subjective evaluation of audio equipment, however, is often dismissed as meaningless by the scientific audio community. A frequent objection is the lack of thousands upon thousands of rigidly controlled clinical trials. Consequently, conclusions reached by subjective means are considered…
I had a wonderful chuckle while reading the reviews of the Finial Laser Turntable in the May 1990 issue of HFN/RR. Perhaps I should preface this by saying that, in the entire quarter-century since I became intensely involved in audio, I have always found the LP an unsatisfactory playback medium for music. As a regular concert-goer in Boston and an addict of WGBH-FM's simply miked, virtually unprocessed live broadcasts of BSO concerts direct from Symphony Hall, I never learned to ignore the many anti-musical distortions endemic to LPs—the ticks and pops, the inner-groove congestion and tracing…
Paul Gowan's letter in the October 1989 Stereophile hinted that, whether or not audiophiles enjoy music, it should be true that the emotional experience we derive from music is what really matters. There, barefaced, lies the problem: who are "we"? A well-known Latin epigram affirms that in matters of taste there is no point in discussion. And a Greek epigram (coined in fact by Max Beerbohm in his Oxford novel Zuleika Dobson) suggests that "for people who like that kind of thing, that is the kind of thing they like."
In the January 1990 Stereophile Melvin Elliot supported Gowan's viewpoint…
Most of this column is dedicated to two hi-fi products for the masses—not from Lvov, via Vladimir Lamm, of Lamm Industries; or from Leningrad, via Victor Khomenko, of Balanced Audio Technologies; nor from any other Soviet-born audio hero. (Neither Vladimir nor Victor is on the list of "Name of Russia" contenders for greatest Russian of all time.) Nor from any consumer audio company, but from the world of professional audio. An Iron Curtain almost separates the two.
They're two combination headphone preamplifiers and DACs: the Benchmark DAC1 Pre USB and the Grace Design m902…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: D/A processor/preamplifier/headphone amplifier with volume control, 2 headphone outputs, single-ended and balanced analog outputs, and UltraLock clock circuit. Digital inputs (5): S/PDIF (RCA, TosLink), USB. Sample rates handled: 28–195kHz (S/PDIF, AES/EBU), 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96kHz (USB). Analog inputs: one pair on RCA jacks. Input impedance: 20k ohms. Analog outputs: 1 pair RCA, 1 pair balanced XLR, 2 ¼" stereo phone jacks for headphones. Maximum output levels: 23V RMS (29dBu) balanced (factory-calibrated for 12.3V, 24dBu); 2.75V RMS (11dBu)…
Sidebar 2: Measurements
I mainly used Stereophile's loaner sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It" and www.ap.com) to examine the Benchmark DAC1 Pre's measured performance from its analog inputs.
The DAC1 Pre's performance from its digital inputs is identical to that of the DAC1 USB, which I reviewed in January 2008, other than the fact that the limited real estate on the rear panel has meant that the AES/EBU data input has had to be eliminated to make room for the unbalanced analog inputs. (You can find the DAC1 USB's…
Erick Lichte reviewed the DAC1 HDR in September 2010 (Vol.33 No.9):
I'm trying to live in better balance with my expectations in life. High expectations for myself, the people around me, and the things I buy often leave me unhappy, frustrating, and frustrated, respectively. Slowly, I am learning that the greatest joys in life come when I don't know I'm looking for them.
Such an unexpected joy happened in 2004, when I first used the original Benchmark DAC1 at a recording session I produced with John Atkinson. Using the DAC1 to power a pair of Sennheiser HD600 headphones, I was…
When JA suggested I review one of the "smaller" VMPS loudspeakers, I felt the hot breath of controversy in the air. The recent debate in these pages concerning the "proper" amount of bass required for true high-fidelity reproduction, and the inability of small loudspeakers (according to one camp) to provide it, hadn't yet cooled off, nor showed any sign of doing so. VMPS, a small West-Coast manufacturer most famous for its humongous Super Tower IIa/R (at 6-plus feet and 250 lbs per side, first reviewed for Stereophile by AHC in Vol.9 No.3 and the latest version of which is examined by JGH…
Organ-music lovers may well constitute the largest potential market for the Tower II/R; the power and extension it brings to reproduction of this difficult instrument is virtually unheard-of in this price range. While it should be clear by now that I would not use the term "fast" to describe the low-end qualities of the VMPS, that is not a characteristic of overriding importance in organ-music reproduction. What is required is low-end reach and output capability, combined with good pitch discrimination at the low end—no "one-note bass," please. The Tower IIs provide these qualities in…