Stereophile November 2014

THERE ARE AS MANY OPINIONS AS THERE ARE EXPERTS Classical and jazz notwithstanding, an awful lot of new music is highly compressed, processed, and harsh, and it’s about time we got used to it. Musicians, producers, and engineers are, in large part, on board with the sound, and any suggestion of making less-compressed recordings, with a wider dynamic range, is met with confused stares, or worse. One superstar producer didn’t take kindly to my suggestion that he make two mixes for his new project: the standard compressed one, and another, less-crushed version. That didn’t fly; he said there could be only one, the mix approved by him and the band, and that to them, a less-compressed mix wouldn’t sound better. This producer is an audiophile, but he’s not the least…

As required by Title 39, Section 3685 United States Code below is the Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation of Stereophile. 1. Publication Title: Stereophile 2. Publication Number: ISSN 0585-2544 3. Filing Date: 10/01/14 4. Issue Frequency: Monthly 5. Number of Issues Published Annually: 12 6. Annual Subscription Price: $19.94 7. Complete Mailing Address of Known Office of Publication: 261 Madison Avenue, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10016. Contact Person: Brian Laboe/Phone 212-915-4182 8. Complete Mailing Address of Headquarters or General Business Office of Publisher: Source Interlink Media LLC, 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, CA 90245 9. Publisher, Keith Pray/ 261 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 Editor, John Atkinson/ 261 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 Managing Editor, Christina Ponce/ 1733 Alton Pkwy, Suite 100, Irvine, CA 92606…

Tired of Idiots! Editor: I feel compelled to write and express my complete anger at reading great reviews, then having them torn apart in the comments forum by idiots. This message is for all of you. If you are a loser who has failed at everything you have ever done, and find reward and joy in complaining about every and any review of a product you will never be able to afford—keep your stupid, arrogant opinions to yourselves! None of us who aspire to owning $200,000 speakers or world-class electronics cares about you. I just read a review of a Wilson loudspeaker (see www.stereophile.com/content/wilson-audio-specialtiesalexandria-xlf-loudspeaker), and half the comments were by losers who were trying to pretend they know everything about anything! Go back to Walmart, use your employee discount, buy…

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, October 26, 2–5pm: The Los Angeles & Orange County Audio Society will hold its monthly meeting at Weinhart Design in Los Angeles (2337 Roscomare Road). To celebrate the grand reopening of the remodeled store, host David Weinhart will feature the West Coast debut of the newest speaker line from Bowers & Wilkins. Special guest Marc Schnoll, B&W’s regional sales manager, will be there for the presentation.…

DURING THIS REVIEW I added a variable to the mix: Shunyata Research’s new ZTron Alpha Digital AC cable ($995). It’s less expensive than the company’s top cords, but demonstrably more efficacious for removing power-line noise than some of their earlier, more expensive efforts. Shunyata backed this claim up with a papershredder demo at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show, showing the reduction of AC line noise with an oscilloscope. Before the 820S’s arrival, I’d tried the ZTron Alpha Digital and a stock power cord on the Simaudio Moon Evolution 650D. The audible differences were similar to but far more subtle than the 650D’s sound with and without the 820S. Compared to one of Shunyata’s more expensive power cords, one not specifically designed for digital components, the ZTron Alpha Digital produced even…

ANY CLOD CAN HAVE THE FACTS; HAVING OPINIONS IS AN ART miniDSP nanoAVR Editor: Kalman Rubinson and Stereophile for giving some very good feedback on the nanoAVR! We’re certainly pleased to hear that the latest firmware upgrade solved the limitations highlighted in Kal’s earlier review. On the subject of firmware upgrades, it’s worth noting the introduction of a significant enhancement to the nanoAVR product line. With a simple firmware upgrade, end users can now enjoy Dirac Live® Room Correction for 7.1-channel systems. The combination of the nanoAVR and Dirac Live technology (previously reviewed in the May 2014 “Music in the Round”) is hopefully setting the bar high enough for Stereophile’s high standards. The nanoAVR’s original goal was to bring powerful digital processing to the home-theater world. With this firmware upgrade,…