One of the best upgrades you can make to an entry level analog front end is a better phono stage.

The biggest problem you face is that nearly everything under a thousand dollars is less than stellar, and if you’ve just jumped in the pond, with a table/arm/cartridge in the $300-$700 range, dropping another G right now probably doesn’t make perfect sense.

You’re digging the vinyl thing, and maybe you’re starting to get enthused and obsessed with how things sound – especially if this is all new. Maybe you just want a second system somewhere, but still want as much fidelity as you can get on a tight budget.

Bam. $249 just took you to audio heaven. LSA’s new .5 phono preamplifier is MM and MC, solid-state, super quiet, and delivers the goods. Plus, no goofy wall wart power supply to keep track of, it uses a standard 15A IEC cord. (hint, hint: once you get used to the buzz the .5 provides, grab your favorite $125 power cord and get a little more juice. Sorry, the habit never ends.) Inside, the .5 is full of components – not air. It sports a healthy toroid power transformer and a tidy circuit board with the main circuitry. There’s also a pair of DIP switches to change from MM to MC mode. MC is a 100 ohm input with 60dB of gain – great for a long list of great performing budget MCs. The casework is solid aluminum, not plastic or stamped metal, creating a product that you’ll be proud to put on your rack.

But the best part is just how musically rewarding the .5 is. We’ve got a full review in the works, but the short story is awesome. The LSA .5 Phono is a great place to spend time playing records. How can you not love it?

www.underwoodhifi.com

A couple of years ago it was a German recording. Lost tapes of a 1962 show that caught Ella in some kind of prime (yes, she had several, as committed Fitzgerald fans know) were found and released, and from the crazed swing of “Jersey Bounce” to the sublime diction of “Mr. Paganini,” it was a jewel.

So is this new find, a Bowl/Berlin confluence from the summer of ‘58 that finds the singer’s voice limber, playful, commanding, fiery and thrilling…to say the least. I guess a case could be made that those adjectives could correctly be used during much of the icon’s career, but here listening on the back porch on a 2022 summer night, the blend of craft and esprit she brought to the Hollywood Bowl is euphoric.

Her famed songbook series was on its fourth installment, and it had just earned her a Grammy for Best Female Vocal Performance. Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies,” “Isn’t This a Lovely Day” and “Remember” were probably pinging through the heads of ticket-buyers when the First Lady of Song, backed by a contingent of brass, reeds and strings helmed by the album’s conductor Paul Weston, stepped up to the mic to sweep everyone away. “As you listen to the band, don’t cha get a bubble? As you listen to them play, don’t cha get a glow?” The opening of “Let Yourself Go” is a good place to point your ears. Team Weston is taking the advice of the song’s lyrics, bouncing the beat like transcendence could be part of every bar.

Ella grabs the vibe and doubles down through many of these performances. Dash and drive fight it out with zing and zip as she conveys the anticipation of a night on the town in “Top Hat, White Tie, and Tails.” And the brass section’s brio meshes nicely with the singer’s vocal acrobatics on “Heat Wave.” The occasional indictment that Fitzgerald lacked sufficient dramatic skills to convincingly convey despair is swept to the side here, too. Her quaver sets a forlorn tone on “Russian Lullaby” (a duet with the harpist) and the poignancy is palpable when she speaks from behind a broken heart in “You’re Laughing At Me.” But the ballads are in the minority here. By the time the giddy swag of “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” closes the deal, we’ve all been reminded that Ella set the bar high when it came to dispensing exuberance. Artistry abounds on this must-hear find.

Cover Story

A Chat With Al DiMeola:
Saturday Night, The Beatles, and much more!

Features

Old School: Stax SR34

Cartridge Dude: The Skyanalog G-2

1095: The Music Hall Analogue A3

The Audiophile Apartment: Auto return with the Technics SL-1500C

Journeyman Audiophile: The Focal 936K2 Speakers

Short Take: The Naim HiCap DR

Reviews

The REL T/9X Subwoofer
HiFi Rose RS 150B Streamer/DAC/Preamp
Rega Elicit Mk.5 Integrated Amplifier
LAB12 Melto 2 Phono Preamplifier

On With The Show! A quick recap on Munich Hi End 2022
By Mario Dolinar/photos by Mario D and Angela Cardas

Music

Playlists:  We share our readers choices from around the world
Setlist:  Sean Zloch sees Roger Waters
Jim Macknie on JAZZ

Mine: It Should Be Yours

Future Tense: Gear in our immediate future

We are anxiously awaiting a review sample of these new ear buds from Australian manufacturer Nura. The following is their release info:

The NuraTrue Pro is designed to deliver audiophile-grade sound with the convenience of a wireless earbud, by combining lossless audio with Nura’s award-winning personalized technology for perfectly balanced sound. The Dirac Virtuo spatial audio solution adds a new dimension to the enthusiast-grade sound, turning the high-end headphone audio experience into a speaker-like immersive sound experience that puts listeners in the studio to hear music as artists intended.

“The NuraTrue Pro delivers uncompromised sound fidelity with its cutting edge technologies and innovative design,” said Mats Oberg, Chief Commercial Officer, Dirac. “Dirac Virtuo elevates the experience further with its uncompromised spatialization. We ensure that standard stereo sound is spatialized with high accuracy, bringing out the spatial cues that already exist in stereo recordings. Users enjoy an immersive audiophile-grade sound with standard stereo content, without requiring any specific streaming platform.”

The award-winning Dirac Virtuo solution employs a high-resolution binaural room impulse response technology to restore speaker crosstalk and correct the stereo soundstage. With Dirac Virtuo, sound seemingly comes from a pair of premium stereo speakers in front of the listener, rather than from inside their head – creating a truer, more accurate stereo soundstage than regular headphones can deliver.

“In designing the NuraTrue Pro, we adopted a ‘no compromise’ philosophy that applies to all aspects of the product, from audio performance through to product design and user experience,” said Dr. Luke Campbell, CEO and Co-Founder at Nura. “In keeping with that philosophy, it is natural for us to adopt Dirac Virtuo to deliver the highly demanded spatial audio to our users, crafting a premium experience that ensures nothing gets between you and what matters most, your music.”

Dirac Virtuo is also supported by the headphone industry’s most common chipsets and frameworks, including Qualcomm, BES, and MediaTek. By enabling spatial audio natively in wireless headphones, Dirac ensures manufacturers like Nura can differentiate their offerings in a highly competitive market, and consumers can enjoy immersive, high-quality sound from standard stereo content – for elevated music listening, gaming, and movie watching experiences.

In addition to Dirac Virtuo and lossless audio over Bluetooth, the new NuraTrue Pro wireless earbuds feature Nura’s award-winning Personalized Sound technology which measures a user’s hearing to create an individualized EQ; the new Nura ProEQ for manual EQ fine-tuning within the companion app; four microphones including a bone conduction sensor for crystal clear voice calls; wireless charging through any Qi-compatible charging device; and up to eight hours of playback on a single charge, with an additional 24 hours from the included charging case.

Here’s a link to their early-purchase Kickstarter program:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nura/nuratrue-pro-lossless-audio-earbuds-with-personalised-sound