Innholdsfortegnelse for May-13 i Stereophile

What Price Audio? Few topics ignite more heated arguments among audiophiles than the price of audio equipment. How much do you have to spend to get really good sound? Are people who buy expensive gear wasting their money, or is it simply a matter of getting what you pay for? There are many such issues, most of which have been discussed at length in Stereophile and various online forums; here are a few I haven’t seen addressed except in passing. Real vs Perceived Value The real value of an audio component is defined by its sound quality and the convenience it offers, characteristics that may not become fully apparent until after you’ve owned the component for some time. Perceived value has to do with the sound quality and convenience you…

ATTENTION ALL AUDIO SOCIETIES: We have a page on the Stereophile website devoted to you: www.stereophile.com/audiophile-societies. If you’d like to have your audio-society information posted on the site, e-mail Chris Vogel at info@vcable.us. Please note that it is inappropriate for a retailer to promote a new product line in “Calendar” unless this is associated with a seminar or similar event. CALIFORNIA ▪ Sunday, April 21, 2–5pm: The Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society will hold its monthly meeting at Evolution Audio & Video (5341 Derry Avenue, Suite S, Agoura Hills). Featured gear will include Bob Carver amplifiers and Wisdom Audio L75 loudspeakers. Manufacturer representatives will be on hand to discuss their products. A raffle is planned and lunch will be served. Guests, visitors, and new members are invited, and…

THIS ISSUE: Art Dudley rescues a half-century–old pair of Altec loudspeakers. God’s Boxes Monday, January 14, was a difficult day for the abandoned amusement park that is my body. In the morning, I packed two Lamm ML2.2 amplifiers into their wooden crates and wrestled them outside for collection by some unlucky air-freight courier. After that, I backed up my car to the tiny front porch of our house so I could unload a pair of 1966 Altec Valencia loudspeakers I’d collected the day before: in excess of 100 pounds each, just like the crated Lamms, but considerably larger. Because our front steps are only 36" wide, I had hoped to use my utility ramps to slide the 30"-wide Valencias onto the porch from the hatch of my Volkswagen Tiguan: a…

“YOU SEE THAT EMPTY SPACE?” says Willie Nile, motioning toward a lot between buildings on Bleecker Street, an impish Irish grin flickering across his face. “They haven’t built anything there yet because Anna Wintour lives around the corner. And that red-brick house over there, the one with the white door? That’s where Dylan lived. I used to see Bob around the neighborhood now and again.” People talk revolution in the cafes They debate right and wrong while they drink There are buses, there are cars, there are shiny movie stars There are starving artists standing on the brink —“Life on Bleecker Street,” from American Ride Having lunch at the corner of Bleecker and MacDougal with one of New York’s most dedicated and heartfelt rock poets comes complete with a walking…

I assessed the iFi Audio iDAC’s electrical performance with Stereophile’s loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 “As We See It,” http://tinyurl.com/4ffpve4); I also used my vintage Audio Precision System One Dual Domain for some tests. I used WAV files sourced from my MacBook Pro for the testing, and powered the iDAC from the iUSBPower supply. The ground switch was left in the connected position, which gave the lowest noise level with my setup. The Macintosh USB Prober utility identified the iDAC as “AMR USB Audio 2.0,” and confirmed that it would operate in isochronous asynchronous mode with data with a 24-bit word length and sampled at 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, and 192kHz. Curiously, both USB Prober and the AudioMIDI Setup…

Description M2Tech Young Solid-state, DC-powered D/A processor. Inputs: two S/PDIF (RCA, 75-ohm BNC), 1 AES/EBU (XLR), 1 optical S/PDIF (TosLink), 1 USB (female Type B). Output: single-ended on RCA female. Sampling frequencies (kHz): 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4*, 192*, 352.8**, 384** (*not on TosLink, **only on USB). Resolution: 16–24 bit (S/PDIF, AES/EBU), 16–32 bit (USB). Frequency response: 10Hz–20kHz, +0.1/–0.5dB (Fs=44.1kHz); 10Hz–90kHz, +0.1/–0.1dB (Fs=384kHz). Signal/noise: 121dB (A-weighted, 24-bit/192kHz, 20kHz bandwidth). THD+N: 0.0003% (24-bit/192kHz). Maximum output voltage: 2.65V RMS (7.5Vp–p at 0dBFS). Supply voltage: 15V–18V DC. Supply current: 240mA at 15V. Serial number of unit reviewed 0669. Price $1499. Description M2Tech Palmer Power Station Battery power supply. Output voltage: 15V DC. Output current: 1A peak. Output noise: <15ìV (20kHz bandwidth), equal to 100nV/sqrt(Hz). Charge time: 3.5 hours, ±0.5 hour. Capacity: 3.4Ah. Input…

LOUDSPEAKER Is there a country that, per capita, has produced more major loudspeaker brands than Great Britain? The British brands that immediately come to mind are Tannoy, KEF, Bowers & Wilkins, Quad, Rogers, Spendor, Harbeth, Castle, Acoustic Energy, ProAc, Monitor Audio, Epos, Celestion, Lowther, PMC—and Wharfedale. Founded in 1932 by Gilbert Briggs, Wharfedale is the second oldest established of the companies listed. Tannoy, founded in 1926 as the Tulsamere Manufacturing Company, can lay claim to being the first. And while Tannoy may have additional bragging rights for “the Tannoy” being a generic term in Britain for loudspeakers in a PA system, Wharfedale can argue that they literally wrote the book on loudspeakers: Loudspeakers: The Why and How of Good Reproduction, by Gilbert Briggs, published in 1948, with several follow-ups through…

Digital Source Ayre Acoustics CX-7eMP CD player. Preamplifier Convergent Audio Technology SL-1 Renaissance. Power Amplifiers Simaudio Moon Evolution W-7, McIntosh Laboratory MC275LE. Integrated Amplifier PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium. Loudspeakers MartinLogan Montis, Avantgarde Uno Nano, GoldenEar Triton Two. Cables Interconnect, Speaker, AC: Nordost Valhalla. Accessories PS Audio PerfectWave Power Plant 5 AC regenerator, Arcici Suspense Rack, PolyCrystal amplifier. stand, Nordost Sort Kone TC, Furutech RD-2 CD demagnetizer. —Robert Deutsch…

I measured the Audio Research Reference 75 using Stereophile’s loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 “As We See It” and www.ap.com). Before performing any measurements, I ran the amplifier for an hour; then, before performing any measurements, and using the front-panel meters, I checked that the bias was correctly set for each of the four KT120 output tubes, as instructed in the manual. The Reference 75 has two output-transformer taps for each channel, marked 8 and 4 ohms, and a common ground terminal. The amplifier preserved absolute polarity from both taps (ie, was non-inverting), with the input XLRs wired with pin 2 hot. The voltage gain at 1kHz into 8 ohms was 24.6dB from the 8 ohm tap and 21.5dB from the 4…

EDITOR’S PICK: RECORDING OF THE MONTH DOUG MACLEOD There’s a Time Reference RR-130 (HDCD). 2013. Doug MacLeod, Janice Mancuso, prods.; Keith O. Johnson, Sean Royce Martin, engs. DDD? TT: 58:00 PERFORMANCE 4.5/5.0 SONICS 4.5/5.0 Like a lot of other once-pure forms of American music, the blues today has become a swirl of influences, mixing folk, rock, rhythm & blues, and even Latin flavors into a music that its aficionados—that fervent contingent known as “blues nuts”—have grudgingly accepted as being a part of the music they adore. But if blues fans thought Hendrix or Stevie Ray Vaughan muddied the wellsprings of the Devil’s own music, it’ll be only a matter of time before rappers mix blues in with their beats, and then—horror of horrors!—dance music begins to “borrow” from da blues.…

TAKE HEED! Unless marked otherwise, all letters to the magazine and its writers are assumed to be for possible publication. In the spirit of vigorous debate implied by the First Amendment, and unless we are requested not to, we publish correspondents’ e-mail addresses. Easing the pain Editor: Stereophile has never been the same since Corey Greenberg left in 1994. But Stephen Mejias’s contributions do help to ease the pain. —Richard Murison murison2000@gmail.com Thanks very much, Richard. —Stephen Mejias Art Dudley and the Beatles Editor: Thank you, Art Dudley, for calling it like you hear it (“Listening,” March 2013, p.29). I became a fan of the Beatles years after they broke up. Discovering this “new” group in high school in the late 1970s, I obsessed with finding the “right” record to…

An Affordable “Preamp” and a Revised Italian Speaker This issue: Sam returns from furlough with the Opera Mezzo loudspeaker and the Promitheus Reference TVC4 “preamp.” What, me retire? Don’t be surprised when I skip a month, or even two. My wife, Marina, and I are looking to sell our house, which means clearing away clutter and putting stuff in storage. The realtor would have us put Maksim, the cat, in storage, too. Looking at audiophile websites, I get the idea that other audiophiles—aging baby boomers, perhaps—find themselves in transition. When you reach a certain age—70, in my case—a big house becomes a big burden. So does a heavy load of hi-fi gear. Hi-fi manufacturers might take note. Each month, Stephen Mejias writes his column, “The Entry Level,” for the young,…

Quality, or Something Like It THIS ISSUE: SM embraces iTunes, travels with Skullcandy’s Aviator headphones, and returns to Beats’ Solo HD ’phones. It wasn’t very long ago that I boasted, in my casual, self-effacing way, that I didn’t really like headphones—that I didn’t need headphones. Because most people in the New York metropolitan area would rather die than communicate with each other, they use headphones as a sort of fortress of solitude, shielding themselves not only from their physical environment but from all other living creatures. I, however, claimed to enjoy listening to the sounds of the world around me—even screeching tires, blaring sirens, and the drone of air ducts could be musical. La-di-da. Besides, I argued, in my beautiful mind music was always playing. I’d wake up singing the…

Bratty, mollycoddled, and altogether spoiled consumers such as you and I have inflicted on computer audio the same injustice that laparoscopic surgery, antilock brakes, mobile telephones, word processors, e-mail, microwave ovens, and over-the-counter proton-pump inhibitors have suffered at our hands in recent years: In less time than it takes to say “ho-hum,” we’ve knocked it from the pedestal to which all such breakthroughs are entitled and begun taking it for granted. Among average consumers of a certain demographic and audio hobbyists alike, computer audio is now regarded as commonplace; on the bright side, and notwithstanding the sudden shortage of consumer awe and wonder, the industry that serves the latter segment of the population now seems distinctly interested in the former, and is responding with a steady stream of perfectionist-quality USB…

Analog Sources Garrard 301, Thorens TD 124 turntables; Artemis Lab TA-1, EMT 997 tonearms; Ortofon SPU, EMT TSD 15 70th Anniversary pickup heads; Miyabi Laboratory 47 phono cartridge. Digital Sources AudioQuest DragonFly, Wavelength Proton USB DACs; Apple iMac G5 computer running Apple iTunes v11.0, Decibel v1.0.2 playback softwares; Sony SCD-777 SACD/CD player. Preamplification Auditorium 23 Standard (SPU version), Hommage T2, Silvercore One-to-Ten step-up transformers; Shindo Masseto preamplifier. Power Amplifiers Fi 421A, Shindo Corton-Charlemagne monoblocks & Haut-Brion & Cortese. Loudspeakers Altec Valencia 846A, Audio Note AN-E/SPe HE, DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/96, Quad ESL. Headphones Sennheiser PMX 90. Headphones Sennheiser PMX 90. Cables USB: AudioQuest Carbon, iFi Audio stock, Nordost Blue Heaven. Interconnect: Audio Note AN-Vx, Shindo Silver. Speaker: Auditorium 23. Accessories Box Furniture Company D3S rack (source, amplification components); Keith Monks…

For the testing, I powered the M2Tech Young from the Palmer Power Station, which had been fully charged. I repeated some of the measurements powering the Young with its wall-wart supply. The testing was primarily performed with Stereophile’s loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 “As We See It,” http://tinyurl.com/4ffpve4), feeding data to the Young via an AES/EBU link. To test its behavior as a USB DAC, I installed the driver program on my MacBook Pro; the computer identified the Young as “M2TECH 384/32 async USB,” with a vendor ID string of “Cypress Semiconductor” and the interface defined as “vendor specific.” The USB input operated correctly with data sampled at all rates from 44.1 to 384kHz, including 88.2kHz and 176.4kHz, and with…

Description Four-way, floorstanding loudspeaker with aperiodic loading. Driveunits: 1" (25mm) aluminum dome tweeter, 3" (75mm) aluminum-pulp composite cone upper-midrange unit, 6.5" (165mm) Accufibre cone lower-midrange unit, two 8" (200mm) Accufibrecone woofers. Crossover frequencies: 180Hz, 590Hz, 2.8kHz. Frequency response: 38Hz–24kHz, ±3dB. Nominal impedance: 6 ohms. Sensitivity: 88dB/2.83V/m. Recommended amplification: 50–250W. Dimensions 46" (1180mm) H by 10.6" (273mm) W by 17.5" (448mm) D. Weight: 81.4 lbs (37kg). Finishes Piano Black, Black Oak, Vintage Cherry, Burgundy Burr, Rosewood. Serial number of units reviewed WH047502BKB0004 (both speakers). Price $4199/pair (add $800 for Piano Gloss Black). Approximate number of dealers: 56. Manufacturer Wharfedale, Unit 4, St. Margaret’s Way, Stukeley Meadows Industrial Estate, Huntingdon, Cambs, England PE29 6EB, UK. Tel: (44) 01480-452561. www.wharfedale.co.uk. US distributor: Wharfedale USA/Sound Solutions, LLC, 1811 W. Bryn Mawr Avenue, Chicago, IL…

After I read Brian Damkroger’s rave review of the Audio Research Corporation’s Reference 5 SE line stage in the November 2012 Stereophile, I was excited about getting the review sample into my system so that I could do a Follow-Up (February 2013). However, the sample had already been returned to the factory, so I called ARC to see if it could be rerouted eastward to me. Chief Listener Warren Gehl answered the phone. “Sure, you can listen to the Ref 5 SE, but I’d assumed you were calling about the Reference 75 amplifier.” “Reference 75? What’s that?” “It’s our newest amplifier—a half-power version of the Reference 150.” Hmmm. Erick Lichte had reviewed the Reference 150 in July 2012—see www.stereophile.com/content/audioresearch-reference-150-power-amplifier— and in December, Stereophile had named it Product of the Year…

Analog Sources Rega Research Planar 3, VPI TNT IV turntables; Immedia, Syrinx PU-3 tonearms; Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood, Koetsu Urushi cartridges. Digital Sources Creek Destiny, Lector CDP-7TCD players. Preamplification Creek Destiny, Vendetta Research SCP-2D phono stages; Audio Research Reference 5 SE, Audio Valve Eclipse, Nagra Jazz, VTL 5.5 II Signature line stages. Power Amplifier Audio Research Reference 110. Integrated Amplifier Creek Destiny. Loudspeakers Dynaudio Excite X12, Epos M15i, Monitor Silver RX6, Nola Viper Reference III. Cables Interconnect (all MIT): Magnum M3, MI-330SG Terminator, MI-350 CVTwin Terminator. Speaker: Acarian Systems Black Orpheus. Accessories Various by ASC, Bright Star, Celestion, Echo Busters, Salamander Designs, Simply Physics, Sound Anchor, VPI.—Robert J. Reina…

Ortofon MC Anna Editor: Ortofon would like to thank Michael Fremer for his highly in-depth review of our MC Anna cartridge. We are extremely proud of this design, and feel that it brings new dimension to the field of analog playback. We were naturally pleased to find that Mr. Fremer’s experience approached that which we intended to provide, offering insight, dynamic capability, and accuracy beyond even the well-received MC A90. —Louis Dorio Ortofon USA Oppo BDP-103 & BDP-105 Editor: I want to thank Kalman Rubinson for his recognition of the performance and versatility of the Oppo BDP-103 and BDP-105 universal players in this installment of “Music in the Round.” I also thank him for guiding me to the Sony DSD demo room at CES 2013. It was nice to meet…

SUBMISSIONS: Those promoting audio-related seminars, shows, and meetings should e-mail the when, where, and who to stephen.mejias@sorc.com at least eight weeks before the month of the event. The deadline for the July 2013 issue is April 25, 2013. US: NEW HAMPSHIRE John Atkinson I was saddened to receive the following e-mail on February 28 from Chad Dell, PhD, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication at Monmouth University, in West Long Branch, New Jersey: “I’m sorry to have to tell you that my father, Ed Dell, died this week. His passing was quiet and quick, and was something of a blessing given his health status and the hard road that was ahead. We celebrated his 90th birthday three weeks ago, which was a joy.” Once a minister working…

THIS ISSUE: Ortofon’s new flagship phono cartridge, the MC Anna, gets Fremered. Singing Anna’s Praises Ortofon’s limited-edition MC A90 was the first phono cartridge made with selective laser melting (SLM). Using this technique, metallic powder is fused to build up, layer by layer, a specific shape. SLM allows the creation of complex constructions impossible to fabricate from a block of wood or metal using traditional machining techniques. What’s more, it makes possible, in the individual layering, a precise control of variations in density that can result in a highly self-damped internal structure. To demonstrate that last point at the 2009 Munich High End Show, Leif Johannsen, the MC A90’s creator, dropped a conventional aluminum cartridge body on a hard linoleum floor. It struck the floor with a sustained ping, then…

CES inspires: Multichannel streaming on such a winter’s day A ROUND MAN CANNOT BE EXPECTED TO FIT INTO A SQUARE HOLE THIS ISSUE: What was new at January’s CES, plus auditions of Oppo Blu-ray players and an exaSound DAC. It’s mid-February as I write this and we’re snowbound, thanks to Hurricane Nemo, but the buzz from the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show still resonates.1 On the surface, it was just another CES. Press-day conferences were, as usual, dominated by big mainstream companies that offer few high-end audio products. Why attend, unless you think you can track future trends that might trickle down to our little niche? Nothing of great interest could be found at the Las Vegas Convention Center—all the high-end audio manufacturers were exhibiting at the Venetian. There, almost everyone…

Description iFi Audio iDAC Single-box digital-to-analog converter. Digital input: USB Type B. Formats supported: all PCM-output audio codecs (AIFF, WAV, MP3, etc.). Maximum word length: 24 bits. Maximum sampling rate: 192kHz. Analog output: 1 pair (RCA). Signal/noise: >111dB. THD: <0.005%. Frequency response: 3Hz–33kHz, +0.1dB/–0.3dB. Maximum headphone output power: >150mW at 15 ohms. Maximum headphone output voltage: 3.3V at >100 ohms. Output impedance: <1 ohm. Power consumption: <2.5 W. Price $299. Description iFi Audio iUSBPower Single-box DC power supply. Digital input: USB Type B. Digital/DC output: USB Type A (DC plus digital signal), USB Type A (DC only). Input voltage: 9V wall wart (supplied). Output voltage: 5.0V, ±0.5%. Output current: 1A. Power consumption: <9W. Price $199. Both Dimensions (each) 2.7" (68mm) W by 1.1" (28mm) H by 6.2" (158mm) D. Weight:…

You know what’s fascinating? As digital audio technology matures, DAC design is not converging on a single most popular or overall best approach. Multiple design paths continue to thrive, new ones are still appearing, and each variation on the DAC theme has its adherents and side trails: bitstream, non-oversampling, upsampling, various filters, DSD playback options, and on and on. A new path for me is M2Tech’s Young DAC, with its optional external battery power supply, the Palmer Power Station. I’ve listened to DACs with internal power supplies, wall warts, and expensive, cost-noobject external AC supplies. I thought it would be interesting to see what difference running a DC battery might make. Young DAC M2Tech is an Italian manufacturer distributed in the US by TEAC America, and available via mail order…

Digital Sources Apple MacBook Pro computer (2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD) running OS 10.6.7, iTunes 10.6, Sonic Studios Amarra 2.3, Songbird 1.9.3, XLD; Western Digital 2TB NAS drive; Oppo BDP-103 universal Blu-ray player; Meridian (formerly Sooloos) Digital Media System (Control 15, TwinStore x3); Apple iPad 2, 3, iPod Touch 1G, iPhone 4S; Benchmark DAC1 USB D/A converter. Preamplifier Marantz AV7005 in Pure Direct Mode. Power Amplifier Classé CAM 350 monoblocks. Loudspeakers MartinLogan: Prodigy, Descent subwoofers (2). Cables USB: Cardas Clear. S/PDIF: Cardas Neutral Reference, XLO. Line-level: various Kimber Kable, XLO HT Pro. Speaker: Kimber Kable BiFocal XL. AC Power Dedicated lines 20A (amplifiers), 15A (digital & analog components). —Jon Iverson…

I used DRA Labs’ MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Wharfedale Jade 7’s frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield responses. My estimate of the Wharfedale’s voltage sensitivity was 87.7dB(B)/2.83V/m, which is within experimental error of the specified 88dB. The speaker’s nominal impedance is specified as 6 ohms; the solid trace in fig.1 shows that the impedance magnitude remains between 4 and 6 ohms for much of the audioband, with a minimum of 3.2 ohms at 91Hz. The electrical phase angle (dotted trace) is generally low, however, meaning that a good 4 ohm–rated amplifier or receiver will have no difficulty driving the Jade 7. The small discontinuity at 20kHz in the impedance traces suggests that this is the tweeter’s fundamental…

Description Tubed power amplifier. Tube complement: four KT120, two 6H30. Maximum output power: 75Wpc continuous, 20Hz–20kHz (18.75dBW into 8 ohms). Total harmonic distortion (1kHz): typically 0.6% at 75W, <0.05% at 1W. Power bandwidth:–3dB, 7Hz–60kHz. Frequency response at 1W: 0.7Hz–75kHz,–3dB. Input sensitivity: 1.4V RMS, balanced, for rated output (25dB balanced gain into 8 ohms). Input impedance: 300k ohms, balanced. Slew rate: 10V/μs. Risetime: 4.0ìμs. Power-supply energy storage: ca 520 joules. Dimensions 19" (483mm) W by 8.75" (222mm) H by 19.5" (495mm) D. Handles extend another 1.5" (38mm) forward. Weight: 47 lbs. (21.3kg) net, 63 lbs (28.6kg) shipping. Finishes Silver, Black. Serial number of unit reviewed 22306601. Price $9000. Approximate number of dealers: 55. Manufacturer Audio Research Corporation, 3900 Annapolis Lane N., Plymouth, MN 55447-5447. Tel: (763) 577-9700. Fax: (763) 577-0323. www.audioresearch.com.…

Vandersteen Treo loudspeaker In my March 2013 review of the Vandersteen Treo ($5995/pair),1 I was puzzled by the speaker’s poor-looking cumulative spectral-decay plot (fig.9 in the review’s “Measurements” sidebar), compared with the smooth, even response on its midrange axis. I had commented in the review that I wasn’t sure where this behavior stemmed from, and that it was fair to note that it was absent from the cumulative spectral-decay plot taken on the same axis and sent me by Richard Vandersteen. When I reexamined the test data following publication of the March issue, it became apparent that I had made an error. I had captured impulse responses on the Treo’s midrange axis both with and without the speaker’s grille in place. The grille’s frame surrounds each of the drive-unit diaphragms…

Staying Power? “The Primitives changed my life!” said a bearded music geek, deep into texting, as he stepped into the elevator. I suddenly had happy flashbacks to the days when cooler-than-thou music-business know-it-alls traveled in packs as rivers of cash flowed through the major record labels. In those halcyon days, music heads and chattering flocks of sweet young things alike all thought being in the record business was cool. Today, step onto any floor of the once teeming, recently sold Sony Building on Madison Avenue, in Manhattan, and the changes are starkly apparent. The vibe is sedate and ghostly. The once-electric crackle is now an ambient drone. The shapely bottle blondes have vanished. Yet into this environment—a music business that has yet to find a way to stanch the losses…