Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2015 i Stereophile

THERE ARE AS MANY OPINIONS AS THERE ARE EXPERTS THIS ISSUE: Neil Young gets it. And he gets it for the same reason we became audiophiles. It never fails. Browse Stereophile’s Facebook page, scroll through the comments to an article that refers to life as an audiophile, and splat—appearing like bird droppings on your glistening screen are anti-audiophile wisecracks pointing out exactly how far off the “normal” track our hobby has derailed. Occasionally, I catch myself in midsentence, already replying to one of these droppings, the gist of my intended message invariably being: “If you’re an anti-audiophile, what are you doing using up what life you have left reading a webpage devoted to a hobby you don’t get? Shouldn’t you be hanging out with your own friends?” Maybe it’s just…

ATTENTION ALL AUDIO SOCIETIES: We have a page on the Stereophile website dedicated solely to you: www.stereophile.com/audiophilesocieties. If you’d like to have your audio-society information posted on the site, e-mail Chris Vogel at info@XLinkAudio.com. 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. ARIZONA ■ Wednesday, December 2: The Arizona Audio Video Club will hold its monthly meeting at LMC Home Entertainment, in Tempe. This meeting will feature Magnepan speakers. Guests are welcome and refreshments will be served. For more information, contact AAVC president Jeffrey Behr at jeffreybehr@cox.net, or USA Tube Audio at (800) 676-1085. CALIFORNIA ■ Thursday, December 3, 8–11 pm: AudioVision San Francisco (1628 California Street, San Francisco 94109) presents…

For me, one of the highlights of 2013 was being able to live with the Sonja 1.3, the flagship loudspeaker model from Colorado-based YG Acoustics. I reviewed this tall, massive, three-enclosure tour de force of a design, which costs $106,800/pair, in July 2013,1 and was not surprised when, for the December 2013 issue, Stereophile’s writers voted it one of the magazine’s two Loudspeakers of the Year. So when I was asked last spring if I wanted to review the new version of the smallest and least-expensive model in YGA’s lineup, the request fell on receptive ears. Description The Carmel 2 is a two-way floorstanding design costing $24,300/pair. Like all of Yoav Geva’s designs, it uses proprietary drive-units, premium-quality parts, and a complex enclosure constructed from CNC-machined aluminum panels. Standing 39"…

Iused DRA Labs’ MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the GoldenEar Triton Five’s frequency response in the farfield; and, for the nearfield responses, an Earthworks QTC-40, which has a 1⁄4" capsule. The Triton Five’s voltage sensitivity is specified as 90dB/2.83V/m, which is high; my estimate was slightly higher, at 90.8dB(B)/2.83V/m. This is a speaker that will play loudly on just the few watts provided by the tube amplifiers Herb Reichert prefers. The GoldenEar’s impedance is specified as being “compatible with 8 ohms.” Fig.1 shows my measurement of the Triton Five’s impedance magnitude (solid trace) and electrical phase angle (dotted). The magnitude remains at or below 6 ohms for much of the midrange and from the mid-treble upward, with minimum values of 3.86 ohms at 195Hz and…

Imeasured the Questyle Audio QP1R with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 “As We See It,” http://tinyurl.com/4ffpve4). Source materials were WAV and AIFF test-tone files, as well as DSD64 and DSD128 files of test tones prepared for me by Malcolm Hawksford. The QP1R’s battery was fully charged at the start of the testing, and the player’s firmware at the time of testing was the original combination of HW v.3.0 and SW v.0.07 Beta. The Line output was set to Fixed, and I looked at the QP1R’s performance via both its Line and Headphone outputs. The volume control operated in accurate 0.5dB steps, with the maximum volume indicated as “60.” The maximum output level at 1kHz from the Line output was 1.68V with both PCM and DSD data,…

EDITOR’S PICK RECORDING OF THE MONTH JOANNA NEWSOM Divers Drag City DC561 (LP/CD). 2015. Joanna Newsom, prod.; Noah Georgeson, prod., eng.; Steve Albini, eng.; John Golden, mastering. ADA/ADD. TT: 51:56 It’s hard to imagine a more auspicious debut than Joanna Newsom’s The Milk-Eyed Mender (Drag City DC263): Her songs on that 2004 release were imaginative, memorable, and almost uniquely literate, and her performances of them—she sang as distinctively as she wrote, and on most of them, her full-size Lyon & Healy concert harp was the sole accompanying instrument—were effective and thoroughly charming. At the age of 22, Newsom had created one of the most original pop records in memory. If The Milk-Eyed Mender was original, Newsom’s 2006 follow-up, Ys (Drag City DC303), in which she explored longer song forms and…

KARRIN ALLYSON Many a New Day Karrin Allyson, vocals; Kenny Barron, piano; John Patitucci, bass Motema MTA-CD-183 (CD). 2015. Karrin Allyson, Michael Leonhart, prods.; Katherine Miller, eng. DDD. TT: 54:36 There is no shortage of jazz singers, but only a few make the A-list. Karrin Allyson does not have Cassandra Wilson’s soul or Dianne Reeves’s chops, but she has impeccable control over her come-hither voice. She can be waiflike, sly, sexy, or worldly wise, often in the same song. Her new album is all musical-theater pieces by Rodgers and Hammerstein. The sources are Oklahoma, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music. No such project has ever been undertaken by a jazz singer. Allyson’s interpretations are individual rather than definitive. Songs associated with particular characters and movies,…

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. Play Music the Listener Likes Editor: In September 2015 [“As We See It,” p.3], Ken Micallef asked why people hate us audiophiles. Like most prejudices, it’s based on ignorance. However, I am bothered by the fact that new generations of music lovers don’t know what good audio sounds like. Obviously, they share the love and passion for music, as most [music] lovers and audiophiles do. However, younger listeners don’t know how much of their favorite music is hidden by barely adequate playback systems. To introduce newbies to…

But this is no mere nostalgia: Only once every 12 months do we set aside our complaints, our contentions, our niggling criticisms, and simply declare: Here are seven products that kicked righteous wads of ass and made it worthwhile to be an audiophile this year. And precisely half of our top-place winners are priced within reach of the average consumer. How do we do it? The process begins in early September, when we supply Stereophile’s official astrologer with the dates, times, and places of birth of the designers whose products were featured in our pages during the previous 12 months. We draw from that data a chart, which we then overlay with a graph showing how much money each of those companies spent on us for food and drink and…

Iused DRA Labs’ MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the YG Acoustics Carmel 2’s frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield and spatially averaged room responses. The Carmel 2’s voltage sensitivity is specified as 87dB/2.83V/m; my estimate was less than that, at 84dB(B)/2.83V/m. The impedance is specified as 4 ohms, with a minimum magnitude of 3.5 ohms. Fig.1 shows my measurement of the YGA’s impedance magnitude (solid trace) and electrical phase angle (dotted). The impedance drops below 4 ohms only between 150 and 400Hz, and the minimum value is 3.68 ohms at 220Hz. While the phase angle is occasionally high, the amplitude is also high at those frequencies, ameliorating any problems. Note the increasingly capacitive phase angle below the sealed-box woofer-tuning…

Imeasured the Mark Levinson No.585 using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 “As We See It” at www.stereophile.com/content/measurements-maps-precision). As usual, before measuring the amplifier I preconditioned it by running both channels at one-third power into 8 ohms for an hour. However, the No.585 turned its output off after 35 minutes, its front panel displaying “Over Temperature.” The top panel was hot, at 115.4°F (46.4°C), and the heatsinks even hotter, at 149.8°F (65.4°C). I unplugged the amplifier from the wall and let it cool down, after which I could turn it on again and continue testing. looked first at the performance of the digital inputs, using the setup menu to disable the power-amp section and set the line output level to Fixed. I used both S/PDIF TosLink data…

BRUCKNER Symphony 9: Four-Movement Version Finale completed by Nors S. Josephson, 1992. Movements 1–3, ed. Nowak. John Gibbons, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra Danacord DACOCD 754 (CD). 2015. Lennart Dehn, prod., ed.; Stephan Flock, eng., ed., mastering. DDD. TT: 80:31 Recordings of Bruckner’s Symphony 9 that include a completion of the work’s Finale, left unfinished and/or partially lost at Bruckner’s death, remain rare enough that one is tempted to forgive anything lacking in the performance of the first three, completed movements. No forgiveness needed here. John Gibbons leads the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra in a meticulous, idiomatic, carefully observed performance that is faithful to the score, and one of the better three-movement Ninths of recent years. Bruckner marked the first movement “Solemn, mysterious”; it’s one of the most foreboding openings of any symphony…

THIS ISSUE: Audeze, Convergent Audio Technology, GoldenEar, London, Mark Levinson, and Parasound comment on our reviews of their products. Parasound Halo Integrated Editor: Thank you for your thorough review of our Halo Integrated amplifier (November 2015, p.107). The Parasound staff and I are delighted that Herb Reichert enjoyed listening to the Halo Integrated and gave it his most enthusiastic recommendation. We also appreciate that Herb went to the effort of reporting on each of the Halo Integrated’s functional sections—phono stage, headphone amp, D/A converter, line stage, crossovers, and power amp—in such detail and depth. Herb also makes an important point about Parasound value in noting the absolute compatibility of our modestly priced Halo Integrated with highly demanding loudspeakers that have heretofore required disproportionately expensive electronics. We also thank John Atkinson…

SUBMISSIONS: Those promoting audio-related seminars, shows, and meetings should e-mail the when, where, and who to JAtkinson@enthusiastnetwork.com at least eight weeks before the month of the event. The deadline for the February 2016 issue is November 20, 2015. UK: WHITTLEBURY, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Paul Messenger Judging by the surprisingly healthy attendance at this year’s National Audio Show (NAS), in Whittlebury (September 19–20), we might be inching our way out of a hi-fi recession that has been with us for seven long years. Hi-fi has had its brighter moments, for sure, and has remained strong in a few markets, but those have been the exceptions rather than the rule—nor could anyone accuse the music biz of being overburdened with new talent. Still, NAS gave cause for some optimism, for the industry as a…

TALK DIRTY TO ME! “I had to master this record 11 times to get it to sound the way I wanted,” Joanna Newsom growled with the knowing grit of someone who’s worked through a sonic ordeal. “Instead of test pressings, we had test lacquers for this one.” “I have no way to listen to music digitally in my house.” Oooh, baby! At a time when the future of print is troubled, Newsom can make even a magazine editor feel slightly more secure. “I love your magazine. I love your publication.” The story of Joanna Newsom is nothing but surprises. A childhood prodigy on the concert harp, she’s turned her gifts to making intricate, layered, challenging, indie folk-rock. She mixes avant-garde edge with the accessibility of rural string music, along the…

With each review I’ve written for Stereophile, I’ve redoubled my efforts to choose my adjectives prudently—to curb my penchant for overstatement. I’ve been feeling a need to speak more concisely and maturely about what my ears, mind, and heart experience while listening to music through a component that’s new to me. So today, at the start of this review, I ask myself: What adjectives must I use to describe the character of GoldenEar Technology’s new Triton Five tower loudspeaker ($1999.98/pair)? Which words will best use our shared audiophile lexicon to give you a working vision of what I experienced? As I type, I’m listening to a mad, hypnotic, avantgarde classical/Neolithic jazzphonic album—Moondog’s The Viking of Sixth Avenue (2 LPs, Honest Jon’s HJRLP18)—and trying to nail the gestalt of the sound…

Imeasured the Jadis Orchestra Reference Mk.II using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 “As We See It” at www.stereophile.com/content/measurements-maps-precision). I had a problem inserting the EL34 outputstage tubes: the positioning lug on the tube’s bottom didn’t make a sufficiently positive engagement with the matching cutout in the ceramic tube base. I broke one EL34 when I thought I had it correctly inserted but found out it wasn’t— when I removed the tube to reinsert it correctly, its plastic base broke off. Before beginning the testing, I carefully reinserted the broken tube in the correct orientation—the Orchestra’s heater circuit is active for the output tubes only when all four tubes are installed and making contact. However, the right channel didn’t produce an output— later, I discovered that an…

DR. JOHN The Atco/Atlantic Singles 1968–1974 Omnivore OVCD-I49 (CD). 2015. Harold Battiste, Allen Toussaint, others, prods.; Keith Olsen, Gary Brandt, others, engs. AAD.? TT: 71:04 These singles cover Mac “Dr. John” Rebennack’s time with Atlantic Records, a period when the R&B session giant began a solo career under the guidance of two important New Orleans producers of the era: Harold Battiste and, later, Allen Toussaint. Rebennack was exiled from his hometown under D.A. Jim Garrison’s crackdown on New Orleans musicians, and followed producer/arranger and AFO Records founder Battiste to Los Angeles, where Battiste was making Sonny & Cher records that were so successful he was able to start his own production company. Battiste needed projects for his company, and when Rebennack came to him with the Dr. John concept, he…

Can you show me a dream Can you show me one that’s better than mine Can you stand it in the cold light of day Neither can I FROM “GLAD AND SORRY” (RONNIE LANE) “As you know, when we played live, anything could happen. We were out of our tree mostly. As Rod says, ‘a drinkin’ and a shaggin’.’” And yet the Faces, the band beloved for its sloppy, uproarious 1970s live shows, actually managed to also cut four studio records during their brief time together. All four—First Step (1970), Long Player (1971), A Nod Is as Good as a Wink . . . to a Blind Horse (1971), and Ooh La La (1973)—have now, on the 40th anniversary of the band’s dissolution, been remastered, and reissued on CD and…