In May 2009 I reviewed Bel Canto's USB Link 24/96...I found that the USB Link 24/96 had quite a high level of jitter on its S/PDIF output, but with a modern DAC like the Benchmark DAC 1 or Bel Canto's own e.One DAC3, both of which have superb jitter rejection, this wasn't an issue. The USB Link 24/96 became a regular member of my system, and Stereophile writers Wes Phillips and Larry Greenhill are also fans. A drop in price from $495 to $249 at the beginning of 2010 made it an even better value, though it no longer comes…
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John Atkinson returned to the USB Link in May 2010 (Vol.33 No.5):
If high-end audio were to carve its own Mt. Rushmore, whose faces would appear there—besides that of Stereophile founder J. Gordon Holt, of course? It's likely that no two audiophiles would ever come up with identical lists of subjects, but I wouldn't be surprised if they could agree on at least one name: Nelson Pass.
Pass's influence has now spanned three decades and shows no signs of stopping. Card-carrying audio junkies and the more-power-is-always-better crowd have long lusted after his megawatt beauties. The flea-power amp and open-baffle types drool over the Zen models of his First…
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.—Hebrews 11:1
What could possibly sound worse than an unclean record? A record that was ruined by cleaning—whether through bad luck, carelessness, or a poorly chosen cleaner.
There are two or three such discs in my own collection. One is a British compilation LP by the Move, Shines On, which I bought in 1986 just so I could have the singles "Tonight," "Do Ya," "Chinatown," and "California Man." After listening to the record once or twice, I decided to "improve" it by washing it on my pricey, audiophile-…
Setup was a breeze, and comprised just a few things more than releasing the pump: I had to set the downforce of the vacuum wand, fine-tune the height and angle of the scrubbing brush, and fill the reservoir jar with cleaning fluid. That's pretty much all.
And none of that tripped me up, for one very good reason: I've had the pleasure of living with an older Keith Monks RCM for nearly two years—a generous loan in exchange for my having fixed it for a friend. (I replaced the Delrin vacuum head, the fluid-collection tank, and the pinion gear on the motor that drives the thread-dispensing…
I've always wanted to review a Linn product.
But what, exactly, is a "Linnie"? I've heard several definitions over the years: 1) a fan of audio gear manufactured by Linn Products; 2) an audiophile who believes that a system's front-end, whether analog or digital, is its most critical part; 3) an audiophile who believes that a system's ability to "carry the tune" and inspire the listener to "tap his feet" to the music is at least as important as its neutrality, resolution of detail, and ability to soundstage.
My purchase of a Linn Sondek LP12 turntable in 1982 certainly…
This midrange neutrality and detail resolution went hand in hand with the 109's superb ability to render subtle low-level dynamic inflections. In the tango collection Serà Una Noche (CD, MA Recordings M052A), Gabriel Rivan's subtle midrange phrasings on bandonán breathed in and out in uncolored fashion, as if he were in my listening room. The 109 also liked well-recorded piano performances. Listening to Robert Silverman's reading of Rachmaninoff's Sonata 1 in D Minor (CD, Stereophile STPH019-2), I found it easy to follow the subtle phrasings emerging from the rich lower midrange of his…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, reflex-loaded stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 0.75" (19mm) fabric-dome supertweeter, 1.2" (30mm) polyurethane elastomer soft-dome tweeter, 5" hand-coated paper-cone woofer. Crossover frequencies: 1.5kHz, 6kHz. Crossover options: conventional passive or fully Aktiv. Frequency range: 72Hz–>20kHz (65Hz–>20kHz Aktiv version). Impedance: 4 ohms (7 ohms each drive-unit, Aktiv version). Sensitivity: 88dB/W/m (1kHz).
Dimensions: 12.75" (327mm) H by 7.5" (192mm) W by 10" (256mm) D. Weight: 13 lbs (5.9kg). Dedicated stands: 23.4…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: VPI TNT-IV turntable & Immedia tonearm, Koetsu Urushi cartridge; Rega Planar 3 turntable & Syrinx PU-3 tonearm, Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood cartridge.
Digital Sources: Lector CDP-7T, Creek Destiny CD players.
Preamplification: Vendetta Research SCP-2D phono stage; Audio Valve Conductor, Eclipse line stages.
Power Amplifiers: Audio Research Reference 110, Creek Destiny.
Loudspeakers: Amphion Helium2, Epos M16i, Monitor Audio RS6 Silver.
Cables: Interconnect (all MIT): Magnum, MI-350 CVTwin Terminator, CVT Terminator 2.…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The Linn Majik 109's voltage sensitivity is specified as 88dB/W/m at a single frequency, 1kHz. I prefer a broadband figure, as the sensitivity at one specific frequency can be misleading. My estimate of the Linn's B-weighted sensitivity was significantly lower than the specification, at 85dB(B)/2.83V/m. The speaker's impedance remained between 4 and 8 ohms over much of the audioband (fig.1), but did drop almost to 3 ohms in the mid-treble. Fortunately, the electrical phase angle is low at that frequency, ameliorating the drive difficulty.
Fig.1…
Over the course of his 30-plus years in high-end audio, Nelson Pass's designs have never been far from the leading edge. In his first Threshold amplifiers he pioneered the use of dynamically adjusting bias and cascode circuitry; then, in the later Stasis models, he switched gears to the simpler approach of pure class-A. All were innovative designs, and among the very best-sounding amps of their time, but were just warmups for what was to come. In 1991, Pass Labs introduced the Aleph 0, a class-A amplifier that was a startling departure from conventional solid-state designs and combined design…