Innholdsfortegnelse for January - February 2015 i Australian HiFi

Koss has released its BT540i Bluetooth Headphones, which it says are the most advanced Bluetooth headphones it has ever made. Michael Koss, CEO of Koss, told Australian Hi-Fi was that the design brief for the BT540is was to ‘sound incredible and be as simple to use as possible.’ The Bluetooth circuitry is AptX and NFC-enabled, so establishing a connection is simple. The headphones have on-board controls allow listeners to navigate through songs, play or pause music, volume-up, volume-down, and answer incoming calls. Koss provides dual microphones, which it says ensures ‘exceptional call clarity.’ The built-in lithium-ion battery in the BT540i is claimed to enable more than 8 hours of listening time on a single charge. A detachable audio cable is included and can be used as a bypass should the…

MartinLogan’s Neolith Hybrid Electrostatic speakers are now available in Australia through Audio Active. According to MartinLogan, the Neolith combines the performance of its Statement Evolution 2 loudspeaker with the iconic simplicity of MartinLogan’s Monolith, released ‘way back in 1983. But really, there’s no comparison, because the Neolith uses a 56×122cm electrostatic transducer whose radiating surface is a full 35 per cent larger than that of the Statement e2 (and the largest on any MartinLogan speaker so far), and it’s partnered by a 315mm inch rear-firing ported woofer and a 312mm front-mid-bass driver operating from its own sealed enclosure. According to MartinLogan, the system will deliver bass down to 23Hz. A fully passive design allows customers to single wire or bi-amp the speaker with high-performance audiophile-grade solid-state or valve amplifiers. ‘Neolith…

Grado Labs which started out making phono cartridges in New York, USA, added headphones to its range in 1988. Founded by Joseph Grado, the company is still family operated, and still building products in its factory in Brooklyn. Grado’s current line-up of headphones includes the Grado GS1000e ($1,249), Grado RS1e ($899), Grado RS2e ($649), all of which use earcups made from wood and either 50mm or 44mm diameter drivers. ‘With an aesthetically pleasing warm harmonic colour, and boasting full-bodied vocals, excellent dynamics and an ultra smooth top end the Grado RS2e headphones are on another level of melodic ingenuity,’ said George Poutakidis of Busisoft, which distributes Grado in Australia. ‘Through Grado’s specialist manufacturing process, the Grado RS2e headphones proprietary natural properties via the wooden enclosure provide you with a rich…

Thiel Audio has announced the release of its model TT1 speakers: a three-way, four-driver, bass reflex (rear-firing) floor-standing design that uses a multi-order crossover network. The sculpted elliptical side panels of the TT1 are made from MDF and have been designed not only with visual presentation in mind, but also with a view to controlling resonances and standing waves. ‘The rigid baffle construction and midrange mounting architecture have been engineered with a focus on back-wave optimisation, resulting in an unusually flat response and superb overall clarity,’ said John Wittman, CEO of Thiel. ‘The design objective of the TT1 is to deliver neutrality—to faithfully reproduce your favourite music or movie soundtracks without unwanted colourations.’ The TT1 forms part of the company’s new 3rd Avenue Collection, which is named after the iconic…

Audio Dynamics is now distributing the Atacama range of equipment support and speaker stands from the UK. Atacama’s units are well-known in the UK from their many five-star reviews and awards from magazines there, and the units are still made there by Sambell Engineering, established in 1969 as a component supplier to Rolls Royce’s aero division, turning to speaker stands under the Atacama name some 25 years ago. Prominent in Atacama’s current range is the use of sustainable bamboo shelving, available in three different finishes and various thicknesses which can be used throughout or in combination with glass shelving. The Atacama Eris Eco 5.0 Hi Fi uses shelves of high density carbonised bamboo resin composite, held by powder-coated hand-welded steel frame modules, isolated from the shelves by mini isolation gel…

Despite having a 50-year background building high-fidelity loudspeakers, UK company Bowers and Wilkins was a latecomer to the headphone market, introducing its first model (the P5) only five years ago. Not surprisingly, given the technology B&W was able to incorporate in them, the P5s became best-sellers and went on to win an EISA award for ‘European Headphones of the Year 2011–12’. Presumably inspired by its success, B&W has been expanding its range of prestigious headphones ever since, and I’ve listened to—and liked—all of them except for the little on-ear P3s, which I personally found too soft in the treble for my liking. The current range-topper of B&W’s family of headphones is the beautiful P7, a thoroughly luxurious pair of over-ear headphones (the company’s first of this ilk), with ear pads…

The long-lived Harlequin is the latest model in Richter’s Legend Series to benefit from a total make-over, bringing it up to Series V status to join the Dragon, Wizard, Mentor, Merlin and Griffin. All were designed not by J. K. Rowling, as the model names might imply, but by a design team that included physicist Dr Martin Gosnell B.E.(Hons) PhD, acoustician Brad Serhan (one of the designers behind Duntech and Orpheus), industrial designer Russell Hobbs and Richter’s new owner, John Cornell. I say ‘total makeover’ because it’s not really the same speaker as the previous Harlequin, because this new version has an upgraded tweeter, totally new bass/midrange drivers, a totally new crossover network and a totally new cabinet whose design brief includes the use of double-thickness front baffles and rear…

Some things are beautiful no matter whose eyes are doing the looking. Barring the odd contrarian, there’s an inherent universality about a certain aesthetic or design that has a common appeal to all. Such a concept would easily apply to Italy’s Sonus faber; I would state with some confidence that the company has not produced an ugly duckling in its entire substantial catalogue history. The recently-launched Olympica range only reinforces what’s become the faber stereotype. This new line truly encapsulates the term ‘dropdead-gorgeous’ (and indeed one could carry the term through to the company’s entire current product range—and don’t even get me started with the sculptural masterpiece that is the Lilium…). But in a space where looks must be tied-in with sonic performance, is the Olympica III under review here…

The problem with having a good ear is developing the financial wherewithal to go with it. I bought my first turntable when I was a cadet reporter on a newspaper, the lowest form of ambulatory life rewarded with a wage that is appropriate, and as financial acrobatics go this purchase would have qualified me for the Olympic shopping team. The turntable itself was as basic as a turntable could be; there was no speed control (one flipped the belt from one pulley to another) there was no lift at the end of the record, the on/off switch was the wall plug. It cost, um, very little. But oh, the arm I put on it. It came from a premium British brand, it was suspended in an oil bath, it had…

Greg Borrowman: In this age of streaming, downloads and digital, it must be very satisfying for a company that manufactures turntables and phono pre-amps to be celebrating its 20th anniversary. Conrad Mas: Yes, it is very satisfying, particularly since this year our sales are 140 per cent up on last year, and I figure that the only reason people are buying our products at all is that they’re listening to them, liking what they hear and voting with their pockets. What really sets us apart is that unlike most everyone else in this industry, Avid is doing really well… so well that most of our products are on back-order, and I have six people in production, and three in design. GB: Your turntables have been very well-received by…

Yusuf | Tell ‘Em I’m Gone This third release since his return to music-making offers five originals and five covers, many of them mixing blues darkness and depth with his folk troubadour tradition, enhanced significantly by teaming with Richard Thompson on guitar and with Rick Rubin for a typically solid and wide-open production job. But some of the covers work less effectively—the opener is his own I Was Raised in Babylon, as good as anything on ‘An Other Cup’, followed by an enjoyably bouncy bluesy cover Big Boss Man but then a dreary take on Edgar Winters’ 1971 Dying To Live (compulsory third-track ballad) and a frankly naff You Are My Sunshine. This so staunches the album’s flow that only those wading through will reach the higher ground of his…

Julien Wilson | This Is Always | Lionsharecords LSR20131 A tenor saxophone making gentle, sensuous jazz is a grand tradition, like paddle-steamers cruising on wide, slow rivers. ‘Ben Webster Plays Ballads’ remains a must-have recording, and now Julien Wilson eases his own tenor into that channel to create an exceptional album. The horn’s sound seems to melt before your ears, becoming creamy, viscous and rather sly. Sometimes it is so fragile that it fades to little more than pulsing breath passing through the saxophone, or that fragility may find release in a sudden cry. Wilson has all this in place, and his phrasing is so relaxed that the tenor seems to massage you as you listen. The pieces are mostly ballads, and pianist Barney McAll, bassist Jonathan Zwartz and drummer…

In a surprise move, NAD has discontinued their M51 Digital to Analogue Converter, and I understand there are no plans to replace it. I say surprise because this must be one of the most successful DACs on the market, and is universally regarded as great value for money – even in the US where it sells for US$1,995 compared to the AUS$1,899 we have been asking here (it even got down to $1,499 in Australia). It received the 2014 DAC of the Year – under $2,000 - from Australian publication Sound+Image. WHAT HI- FI? in the UK went one better, giving it a five star review, and then handing it the ‘Best DAC over £1200’ award. Incidentally in the UK it sold for £1499.00 (or $2,769 Australian dollars at today’s…

Thorens’ new entry-level TD203 turntable comes complete with a uni-pivot tonearm fitted with a moving-magnet cartridge. Recognising that buyers of entry-level turntables don’t want to get involved in turntable set-up—a process that according to Stereophile’s Michael Fremer, can take up to three hours—Thorens says it’s designed and manufactured the TD203 so that it works ‘straight out of the box.’ Heinz Rohrer, of Thorens, told Australian Hi-Fi Magazine: ‘It takes no more than five minutes from opening the box to playing the first, excellent-sounding piece of music from a vinyl record, because the TD 203 has the sound quality of the award-winning, highly acclaimed TD 309, TD 209 and TD 206 models written in its DNA. And, like its siblings, it was developed in Germany.’ The TD203’s d.c. servo-motor is decoupled…

Japanese company Furutech has released a new electrostatic brush, the SK-III, which it says will remove unwanted static charges and dirt and dust particles from a range of audio-visual media. Originally developed by SFC of Japan, the patented SK-III electrostatic brush is a new and improved version of Furutech’s model SK-II, which the company claims is in wide use by Japanese police investigators to remove dust particles from crime scenes. The SK-III simultaneously cleans and discharges static by using a combination of natural goats’ hair surrounded by patented static discharge fibres made from specially structured and treated acrylic. The goats hair, which is very fine and soft, is perfect for carefully removing tiny dust particles from LP grooves without leaving the slightest mark or blemish. The static discharge fibres are…

Jamo has launched a new Concert Series line that comprises ten new home theatre loudspeakers. The high-end premium C10 and high-performance C9 lines include three floor-standing towers (C109, C97 and C95), three stand-mount/bookshelf models (C103, C93 and C91), two centre channels (C10Cen and C9Cen), and two surrounds (C10Sur and C9Sur). According to Jamo, this second generation of its flagship series ‘offers high-design forms that house high-performance drivers that are acoustically tuned to provide open, transparent playback of movies and music.’ The Jamo Concert Series’ industrial design was conceived by famous UK industrial designer Kieron Dunk. His designs for Jamo have simple lines that are complemented by hand-polished high-gloss finishes, satin painted baffles, polished chrome logos, and satin aluminium centre plugs and stabiliser feet. The C10 line features a meticulous, 12-step…

Leading Danish tattoo artists have airbrushed artworks onto a unique set of one-off speaker designs for Dali’s Fazon F5 Anniversary Edition floorstanding speakers. No two pairs of the 200 sets thare are available are the same, so the designs have been carefully allocated internationally. The only designs that are available in Australia are the Gorilla, Animal, and Tattoo Pin-Up Girl designs. Dali worked with the Danish tattoo chain, House of Ink, whose artists hand-painted on top of the original black, red, or white lacquer of the F5s, taking two to three days on each set, after which the design was protected by three layers of high-gloss lacquer. The speakers also feature the artist’s signature and a hand-painted Dali logo. It’s not all about the art, though—Dali promises audiophile-quality sound as…

Stenhammar | Serenade/Excelsior!/Interlude from The Song | BIS multichannel SACD BIS-2058 Stenhammar’s 1896 Excelsior! concert overture did not get a rousing premiere and disappeared from performance for over 70 years. You can hear that is truly rooted in German culture. His 1920 cantata The Song is a large-scale work with four soloists, a large adult choir plus a children’s choir. One reviewer compared it to Mahler’s Eighth. While it has been rarely performed since its premiere, the six-minute Interlude from the cantata is often played separately and has become one of the composer’s most frequently performed pieces. The Serenade in F Major (1914–19) is a very substantial Stenhammar work of 37 minutes length whose Finale is orchestral and symphonic, with a lively and fresh feeling and uses the rather new…

Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson Thick as a Brick, Live 2014 Starring: Ian Anderson When we’re all long gone, centuries hence, music aficionados will still listen to Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor. And to Beethoven’s seventh symphony. And to Jethro Tull’s ‘Thick as a Brick’. Arguably the peak of the form when it comes to the concept album, I confess to regarding ‘Thick as a Brick’ as one of the musical highlights of the 20th century. The album’s conceit is that it is a musical adaptation of a controversial poem by Gerald Bostock, a grade school lad, initially prize-winning, but then rejected due to offensiveness. When first released the album cover was a twelve page newspaper which relates the controversy, reviews the album, and offers a great deal of…

Bel Canto’s new REF-Stream audiophile grade streamer/music renderer, first shown at RMAF last year, is now available in Australia, for $3,200 (RRP). It’s an asynchronous networked media renderer that connects your networked audio to your DAC. Bel Canto says the REFStream works with third-party software (such as JRiver, PlugPLay, Twonky etc) to control audio media stored on a NAS or computer. In addition to the expected Ethernet input, the REFStream has ST Fibre, SPDIF and AES outputs. It’s completely compatible with FLAC, ALAC, AIFF, WAV, MP3 and DSD. ‘The Bel Canto REFStream delivers absolutely stunning performance in every area,’ says Boris Granovsky, of Absolute HiEnd, which distributes Bel Canto in Australia. ‘The Ref Streams uses ultra high grade clocking technology, so that jitter noise is kept to just 0.07 picoseconds,…

Cyrus Audio has released a new stereo power amplifier using a Class-D output stage. Cyrus says the new Stereo 200 (so called because it’s rated to deliver 200-watts per channel into 8 loads) is the culmination of two years’ engineering which involved Cyrus researching and solving the multiple issues it says prevented it from using Class D amplifiers in the past. It says these problems include poor immunity from radio frequency noise; the amplifier’s output impedance interacting with the impedance of the connected speakers, and thus affecting the frequency response and therefore creating sonic predictability with different speakers; that Class D amplifiers become unstable with low impedance loads; issues with harsh clipping and uncontrolled high frequencies; limited high-frequency range due to the use of high-order low-pass filters; thermal dissipation limitations;…

New Zealand’s Omuni Audio has released a new model, the Omuni Supreme, which uses the same omni-directional design as the original Omuni with the company claiming that its patented Omuni Lens achieves a full 360 degrees horizontal and vertical dispersion. ‘Since the release of the original Omuni speakers last year and the success of the design being beyond expectations, we have been working on our statement model,’ said Eric Cross, of Omuni Audio. ‘The Omuni Supreme is finished in a spectacular piano lacquer, wired through-out with solid silver cable and uses only two components in the crossover, a hand-wound inductor and a Mundorf Silver-Gold oil capacitor. The improvements in performance are substantial, with increases in detail and air, such that we feel the Supreme is now the ultimate expression of…

EAT (European Audio Team) says its new Forte turntable, which uses a separate sub-chassis and a mass-loaded turntable is designed to ‘eat’ energy. ‘Energy from the ground is decoupled by magnetic feet, energy from the air is decoupled from the heavy chassis that is made from MDF and filled with metal sand, energy from tone arm and cartridge is absorbed by using a heavy metal tone arm base isolated by sorbothane, energy from the belt is captured by the mass of the platter and by the string itself, energy from the motor is captured by the dual-motor design, the decoupled motor unit and the mass-loaded motor chassis and energy from the bearing is caught by the ceramic ball, the Teflon plate and the magnetic bearing construction,’ said Paul Clarke of…

In December 2008, Indy Audio Labs (so-called because it’s based in Indianapolis, Indiana) was founded by Rick Santiago and Ted Moore, after they’d purchased rights to the Aragon and Acurus brands from Klipsch, which itself had acquired these two brands when it purchased a company called Mondial Designs eight years earlier. Mondial Designs itself was founded by Paul Rosenberg and Tony Federici in the 80s in Dobbs Ferry, New York. One of its most famous designs was the Aragon 4004, the circuit for which was designed by Dan D’Agostino, though the industrial design was by Robbii Wessen. Home Theatre Magazine said the 4004 was ‘one of the single best power amps built in audiophile history.’ Mondial introduced the Acurus brand in 1993 as a more affordable alternative to Aragon. Both…

Charlie Hughes earned a Physics degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1988. After graduation he accepted a position with Peavey Electronics in Meridian, MS as a loudspeaker design engineer where he remained for fourteen years. During this time he was responsible for the design and development of over sixty commercially successful products for the musical instrument, cinema, PA, and professional/install markets. Mr Hughes left Peavey in 2002 to accept the position of Chief Engineer for Professional Audio with Altec Lansing in Milford, PA. In 2003 he was given the additional responsibility of overseeing and directing the Acoustical Engineering Department for the Consumer Division of the company. It was also at this time that he began working with CEA standards committee R3. In late 2004 Mr Hughes began his…

Digital Source: • Meridian 800DAX V4• Meridian 861 V4 (V8 firmware)• Olive 04HD media server(with Meridian 861 as DAC) Analog Source: • TW Acustic Raven AC turntable (with Raven Black Night 3x motor)• Durand Talea II tonearm (custom modified CW, azimuth and anti-skate)• MySonic Labs Signature Gold MC cartridge Preamplifier / phono stage: • Halcro dm10• Aesthetix IO Eclipse (dualPSU version) Power Amplifiers: • Ypsilon SET-100 Ultimate monoblocs Speakers: • Evolution Acoustics MMMiniTwo Interconnect Cables: • ZenSati #3• TARA Labs Zero Edge Loudspeaker Cables: • ZenSati #2 Power Cables: • Vitus Andromeda• Shunyata Research BlackMamba CX• Dan-A Digital 4G Power Conditioning: • Dedicated, shielded line (10mm2 cable) to CruzeFirst Maestro 20A receptacle• Shunyata Research Hydra Triton• PS Audio P500 balancing regenerator• PS Audio Ultimate Outlet…

When electronics manufacturers talk about a ‘burn-in’ period, what they’re usually referring to is a specific period of time at the beginning of a component’s life where, if it’s going to fail at all, it will. Smaller manufacturers usually try to eliminate in-the-field failures by ‘burning-in’ all their components in the factory prior to shipping by operating them for up to 100 hours, often cycling them on and off at regular intervals during the burn-in period. Larger manufacturers find it more cost-effective to let consumers do the ‘burn-in’ and cover failures via warranty. Mostly, if a component has not failed within the warranty period it’s unlikely to do so at all, which is why the ‘extended warranties’, for which third-party insurers charge an extra cost, are a complete waste of…