I write very few actual rants in this space or in TONEAudio‘s publishers letter for good reason:  I want this to be fun.  I’ve always felt that the minute we bring our personal baggage into the editorial, it really stops being fun.  I don’t care if audio writers from across the pond disagree on how to set up a turntable or how to rip digital audio files.  Really, I don’t. And I care way less about it when they make it a personal bitchfest.  BORING.  I’d much rather talk about anything but audio at that point.

But the one tired subject that does push me over the edge is the constant waste of bandwidth on articles dealing with the future of the hifi industry. I’ve spent a lot of time on an airplane over the last ten years, going to trade shows, visiting factories and talking to both dealers and end users about this stuff, tirelessly.  Music and hifi has been the major obsession in my life since about age 13, so you’d think I’ve got at least a bit of a handle on it, right?  Well, kind of.

However, as much as those of us in the audio press would like to think we are all so plugged in, we really aren’t and here’s why:  our filter is too small.  Way too small.  It’s simple math.  There are 317 million people in the United States alone, and as of the other day, TONEAudio is read in 129 countries, so how can we possibly know what everyone is thinking, doing, or purchasing.  Really?

I get it.  It makes for great Google numbers to print “the sky is falling” editorial copy about how the industry is dying, or no one listens to music anymore, or there is no good music, etc., etc., etc. This ends up being terribly inaccurate at best and self-serving at the worst.

First thing I remember from news writing 101, was “never assume anything.”  Considering that many of us know 50 – 100 people and maybe have a peripheral reach of a thousand people, how can we possibly make these broad, grandiose speeches, declaring the rise or fall of anything?  I know I can’t, and I won’t.  My data is way too skewed.

Most of my friends are music and hifi fanatics (like minds, eh?) so any data I would cull from them would be useless to the readership at large.  I can’t believe how many people I know that own six figure hifi systems and own thousands, if not tens of thousands of albums, so it would be equally easy to think it’s all ducky going forward from where I sit.

Having visited more than my share of manufacturers that are somehow, in spite of all this death-speak, managing to ship every box they can build, I’ve reached the conclusion that someone has to be buying this stuff.  And with new manufacturers like Sonos, Peachtree and others having similar success stories, I fail to accept that the light at the end of the tunnel is a train. But then, that’s not terribly compelling copy, is it?

My challenge to my colleagues for 2014?  How about some insightful commentary, instead of just going for the low hanging fruit.  Remember, almost all of you were right there proclaiming (with equal certainty) the death of analog twenty years ago.

Features

Old School:
Dynaco PAT-5

By Jerold O’Brien

Journeyman Audiophile

Ortofon TA_110 Tonearm

By Jeff Dorgay

Dealers That Mean Business

We Visit HiFi Hawaii

By Jeff Dorgay

Personal Fidelity:

Audeze LCD-X Headphones

By Rob Johnson

Sennheiser HDVD 800 Amp/DAC

By Mike Liang

TONE Style

The Wino
Post Holiday Picks

By Monique Meadows

Nikon Df Camera body

Sens “Smart” Umbrella

By Rob Johnson

Women On Men

The Fine Art of Kristin Bauer

Hello Kitty Bluetooth Speaker

Music

Current Releases:

Fresh Releases in the Pop/Rock World
By the TONE Staff

Audiophile Pressings

Jazz & Blues
By Jim Macnie & Aaron Cohen

Bob Gendron’s 25 Top Rock and Pop Albums for 2013

20 Music Treasures to Savor
By Bob Gendron

Previews

Thorens TD 206 Turntable

Yamaha A-S3000 Amplifier and CD-S3000 disc player

Benchmark ABH2 Power Amplifier

VPI Nomad turntable

Anthem MRX 510 Receiver

From the Web

Naim DAC – V1 and NAP 100 Amplifier

PrimaLuna DiaLogue Premium Preamplifier

Reviews

PrimaLuna DiaLogue Premium Power Amplifier
By Jeff Dorgay

Rogue Audio Sphinx Integrated
By Andre Marc

VPI Classic Direct Turntable
By Jeff Dorgay

Van Alstine Fet Valve CF Preamplifier
By Jerold O’Brien

Focal Maestro Utopia Speakers
By Jeff Dorgay

Parasound’s new Halo JC 3+ adds independent load adjustment for moving coil cartridges, as well as enhancements to the dual-mono phono module circuit boards, and increased power supply capabilities. The JC 3+ circuit comes from the designer of the legendary Vendetta phono preamp, John Curl.

We reviewed the JC 3 about two years ago, very favorably.  You can read that review here.

The new JC 3+ promises to be a great evolutionary step, we should have one for review soon.

www.parasound.com

A relative newcomer to the reissue scene, British-based Vinyl 180 is concentrating on a small stable of artists from the 80s and 90s that are thankfully anything but traditional audiophile fare. We’re talking albums by Gary Numan, The Cult, and Dead Can Dance, to name a few.

Limited to 500 copies, this four-LP Numan box set includes his first three albums, Tubeway Army, Replicas, and The Pleasure Principle, along with The Plan, the latter a 1984 release that features demo material from Tubeway Army, recorded in 1978. While the box set is tough to find in the U.S., Vinyl 180 is planning to release these albums individually in the near future.

In comparing these pressings to the U.S. originals, the new releases are clear winners. While a decibel or two louder than that on the earlier versions, the dynamic range does not seem to be compromised, though there is a slight “smile” to the EQ curve that emphasizes the deep bass and the very highest treble. Loaded with synthesizers and drum machines, the U.S. originals are fairly murky, with Numan’s vocals buried behind a wall of keyboards and cool, obscure electronic sounds.

With the additional information on tap, Numan’s genius is more evident. All but those with the most forward/revealing systems should welcome the additional resolution.  -Jeff Dorgay

Vinyl 180, 180g LP Box Set

No discussion of Krautrock would be complete without Faust, the legendary band started in 1970 and produced by Uwe Nettelbeck. The devotion of collectors and fans becomes clear the moment you log in to eBay and try to purchase original copies of the group’s early works. Most times, the bidding starts at around $100 per LP.

Alas, the lowdown on these reissues is mediocre. Though both are done on different labels, it’s unfortunate that a few of the dollars spent on the excellent cover-art reproductions weren’t diverted to recording and pressing quality. Neither of these LPs sound like they were pressed from anything close to the analog master tapes, and while the bearded guys did a little bit better job of taming the glare, the imprint’s pressing is so noisy, it doesn’t really matter.

For now, if you’re just discovering the joys of Faust, head to your local record store or take your chances on eBay. Thumbs down on this pair.  -Jeff Dorgay

4 Men with Beards (Faust), Capitol (Faust IV), 180g LP

Fresh from seeing NEU! founder Michael Rother at this year’s ATP festival, revisiting the studio remasters from this pivotal German duo that first worked together in Kraftwerk (his creative partner, Klaus Dinger, passed away in 2008) was a true pleasure, particularly considering how many bands NEU! inspired.

Those just after the essence of the NEU! sound will probably be happy with the four individual albums at $36.99 each, but the hardcore fan should invest the extra $50 and purchase the limited-edition box set, which also includes a t-shirt, a stencil, and extra goodies. (Bob Gendron will have a full review of said import box in Issue 33.)

The sound quality of all four records is incredible, echoing founder Rother’s comment about achieving “the best musical result.” The discs are pin-drop quiet, (essential to the NEU! experience), with long, airy pauses and gentle synthesizer riffs over NEU!’s signature 4/4 beat. Rother explains on his website ( HYPERLINK “http://www.neu2010.com” www.neu2010.com) that the copy of the previously unreleased NEU! ’86 was produced from the original masters and multitrack tapes. The care and precision he took producing these records is evident the second you lower the stylus.  -Jeff Dorgay

Groenland Records, 180g LP

The good news is that this is by far the best that Foreigner’s self-titled album will ever sound. Digital lovers interested in the SACD and analog enthusiasts after the vinyl are in for a sonic treat. The bad news is, it’s Foreigner. But far be it from me, a guy who still loves KISS ALIVE!, to criticize anyone’s music taste. (Now there’s a record MoFi should remaster, but I digress.)

Rob LoVerde has done his usual meticulous job of getting the maximum amount of detail from the master tape without compromise. If you grew up listening to this band on the radio in the 70s, you will be amazed at the amount of musicianship presented here.  This pressing reveals layer upon layer of vocals, guitars, and, of course, the Roland Space Echo intro on “Starrider” didn’t even sound this good when you were really baked.

Normally, I’d say friends don’t let friends listen to Foreigner. But if you must, this is the version you want.  -Jeff Dorgay

MoFi, 180g LP and SACD

Audio Fidelity’s recent release of Kate Bush’s biggest record is a definite audiophile triumph. These days, while everyone is listening to Eva Cassidy, Patricia Barber, and the like, it’s easy to forget about one of contemporary pop’s most innovative female vocalists. Originally released in 1985, Hounds of Love has sold three million copies worldwide, and its big hit, “Running Up That Hill,” was in constant MTV rotation.

Audio Fidelity principal Marshall Blonstein indicated that the label will release The Sensual World and received the green light to produce more of Bush’s catalog. “We’re in on Kate Bush,” Blonstein recently told me, also underscoring that this LP was produced from the original master tape provided courtesy of Abbey Road.

The pressing has plenty of the analog magic. While I only had a garden-variety U.S. pressing available for comparison, the AF release offered a tremendous step up in every aspect. Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman did a fantastic job at keeping the air on this recording intact. Bush’s breathy vocals are no longer buried in the mix as they are on domestic LP pressing and CD, and the overall sound field is quite larger. Best of all, this disc is exceptionally quiet, which ideally suits the music.

For those unfamiliar with the recording, the first side is labeled “Hounds of Love,” almost entirely comprised of hit singles, and distinctly flavored with pop arrangements. The flip side is labeled “The Ninth Wave” and is much more ethereal and experimental. These tracks feature more vocal processing and electronic effects, not unlike what you might expect from Peter Gabriel or Thomas Dolby.

To celebrate the trippiness of the record, AF pressed it on light violet vinyl and gave it a tie-dye coloring. So, whether you’re a long time fan or need to break out of the same-old female vocal doldrums, Audio Fidelity’s pressing of Hounds of Love is a great place to start.  -Jeff Dorgay

Audio Fidelity, 180g. LP

If you are even a casual Grateful Dead fan, you should click on the album cover shown here and immediately buy this box set. Mastered at Bernie Grundman Mastering by Chris Bellman, the fellow responsible for the outstanding Neil Young box set released earlier this year (and too many other great audiophile pressings to count), this collection of the Dead’s first five studio albums is a must.

The Dead may well have been the first audiophile rock stars, always picky about every facet of the sound quality of their music, even down to using McIntosh amplifiers for their PA system. Reflecting such meticulous detail, this set is housed in a pop-art orange box containing updated liner notes that include some great era photos of the band members as well as some of the charts used to record the various tracks, both features offering further insight into the group’s creative genius/madness.

If you are searching for originals, our resident collector says the group’s self-titled debut was available on the Warner GOLD label in both stereo and mono versions; average prices for near-mint versions are $75 and $150, respectively. First pressings of Anthem of the Sun and Aoxomoxoa on the Green Warner 7 Arts label are the only ones to use the same original mix as the pressings in the box set. A quick listen to any of the CD versions reveal almost two different albums. Workingman’s Dead is a very rare find on said label and can command $100. American Beauty is also on this imprint, yet more common to find, with a mint version only fetching $30.

These records were played and enjoyed, so $27 each for this level of quality is truly a bargain, especially with pristine artwork. Music Editor Bob Gendron will have an in-depth review in Issue 33, but if you just need a snapshot of the sonics, the answer is a big YES. These five records finally do justice to the underrated studio recordings of the Grateful Dead.  -Jeff Dorgay

WB/Rhino 5LP box set

In the past two years since the Sooloos music server has entered my life, I must admit that the music-lover side of my personality has been dominating my audiophile side.  I’ve always loved vinyl, but having 7000 CD’s that you can mix and match to your hearts content has gotten, well, addictive.  Add two world-class digital front ends to the mix (the Naim CD555 and now the dCS Paganini) and it gets tougher to stay on the analog bus every day.  Who really wants to screw around with VTA anyhow?  Let’s play some more Slayer.

Analysis paralysis is equally virulent to the avid audiophile as well as the reviewer; it’s easy to sample too many wares and get lost somewhere along the journey.  And this has happened to me more than once.  A number of combinations have brought me close to analog bliss, which I thought would last forever. But in the end, the convenience of the Sooloos/dCS had me saying, “I’ll clean that pile of records tomorrow…”  Then another change, and that fleeting happiness was lost again.

I was lost but now I’m found

Joe Harley from Music Matters was the man that saved me.  At last year’s CES, he and his partner Ron Rambach said, almost in unison, “Get the new ARC REF and stop screwing around.”  Shortly thereafter, I had a chance to hear the REF in Harley’s system and I was pretty overwhelmed (in a great way) while listening to quite a few of his test pressings from the current Blue Note catalog as well as some of his past efforts on AudioQuest records.  This was truly the analog magic I’d been seeking.

Everything I heard that evening left me feeling like I was listening to a great surround-sound mix, except it was coming from two speakers, not six or eight.  Best of all, the second I closed my eyes, those speakers were gone and I was swimming in a gigantic fish bowl of sound.

About two years ago when we reviewed the PH7 phono preamplifier, I asked ARC’s Dave Gordon if they would ever produce another REF phono stage. “Not at present,” he replied, “but we haven’t ruled out the idea of another REF if there is enough demand.” And here we are, two years later with the REF 2.  I must extent my heartfelt thanks to all of you who kept the pressure on ARC to produce the REF 2.

Past vs. Present

The original REF Phono had a massive compliment of tubes, using 11 6922’s in various locations, a 5AR4 rectifier tube and a 6550 along with another 6922 to perform voltage-regulator duties, as they have done in some of their other designs.   The new REF Phono 2 utilizes four 6H30 tubes along with a FET input stage, as they have in the PH5, 6 and 7.  Gordon said, “Using tubes at the input is just too noisy; the input FET’s are the only way to get that low-level signal to emerge from a black background.”  The REF 2 Phono also uses solid-state rectifiers but retains the 6550 as a voltage regulator, this time in conjunction with another 6H30 tube.

The original REF Phono had a pricetag of $6,995 and the current REF Phono 2 costs $11,995. This is a substantial increase in price, but the new version offers quite a bit more under the hood as well as on the front panel, which is available in silver or black finish.

ARC has made an interesting style change with the REF Phono 2, the top panel is now a grey smoked acrylic, allowing full view of the tube complement.  Those wanting the traditional metal top panel can order their preamp this way at no additional charge.

While the original REF Phono for all practical purposes had one input, you could switch between a low-gain and a high-gain input via a rear panel switch, so using two turntables was not terribly convenient.  The new version has been designed from the ground up to be a two-input phono preamplifier, using microprocessor controls to switch between inputs.  ARC has incorporated the large vacuum-fluorescent display from their other components to excellent use here.  You can view input, gain, loading and equalization at a glance from across the room.  The remote control will also allow you to see how many hours have elapsed on the tubes, and those who are driven crazy by lights in their “deep listening” sessions can dim or completely darken the display.

Another big change in circuitry is the REF Phono 2’s fully balanced design.  Though its two phono inputs are single-ended, the preamplifier is balanced throughout and offers single-ended RCA and balanced XLR outputs.  For those doing any recording of their vinyl via tape or digital means, it’s worth noting that I was able to drive a recorder from the single-ended outputs and send the balanced outputs to my Burmester preamplifier with no degradation in performance.  The resulting captured files were fantastic, being fed straight from the REF into my Nagra LB digital recorder or Technics RS-1500 open reel deck.

Interestingly, even though the REF Phono 2 only draws a maximum of 140 watts from the AC line, it has a square 20A IEC power socket.  I’m assuming that this helps to make a more solid connection to the power cord, also showing that no detail was left unexamined in the creation of ARC’s flagship phono stage.

Needs a little time to cook

Like every other component I’ve auditioned with a large compliment of Teflon capacitors, the REF is going to take 500 hours to sound its best, and ARC even suggests 600 hours in the owner’s manual.  For the naysayers in the audience who feel break-in is pure poppycock, I had a unique situation with the REF that verifies this concept beyond doubt.  My initial review sample had made a few stops before it got here, so I was able to sidestep the break-in process and begin evaluating it immediately. The REF sounds OK  directly out of the box but there is substantial improvement after 100-200 hours.  It really comes out of the fog right around 350 hours, getting even better until the 500-hour mark.  Fortunately, ARC includes a timer linked to the display on the front panel to help you keep track.  It’s critical to note that you have to pass a signal through the unit during these hours; just keeping the unit on is not enough.

As the REF I was using was the one from ARC’s demo room, when I decided to purchase the review sample, Gordon insisted that they send me a brand new unit from production and that I return the review sample. This, of course, caused some anxiety as I did not want to go through the break-in process with a component that I use daily.  Fortunately, I was able to keep the review unit for a couple of weeks while my new REF racked up hours.  It did provide a unique opportunity to compare a fresh unit to one with almost 1,000 hours on the clock, and the difference was staggering.  The fresh, out-of-the-carton sample sounded flat and lifeless when compared with the fully broken-in unit, with everything else being the same.

If you aren’t enthused about running up 500 hours on your exotic (and expensive) phono cartridge just for break in purposes, I suggest the Hagerman IRIAA.  Unlike so-called “cookers,” this is a passive device that attenuates the signal from a high-level input and applies an inverse-RIAA curve so that your CD player now presents a signal that mimics what comes from your phono cartridge.  Unless you are completely OC, I’d suggest getting one of these handy little devices and let the REF rack up at least a couple hundred hours before listening, if you can bear it. You can buy one as a kit for $29 or a fully assembled one for $49 here: http://www.hagtech.com/iriaa2.html I can’t suggest this device highly enough.  Remember: 300 hours equals about 450 albums.  Do you have that kind of patience to hear what your REF is really capable of?  I know I don’t.

Adjustable and compatible

While I’ve heard many great phono preamplifiers over the years, ease of adjustability makes or breaks the sale for me because I’m always auditioning phono cartridges. If you are a set it and forget it person, this may not be as big of a deal.  I’m guessing that most analog devotees willing to spend a dozen big ones on a phono stage have more than one turntable and a few different cartridges around to listen to mono recordings, perhaps some 78’s, early Deccas, or they would just like to have an a cartridge with a completely different tonality at their disposal.   With two inputs, each can be configured as high (68db) or low (54db, check both of these) gain, adjustable loading (50, 100, 200, 500, 1,000, 47k and custom) and switchable EQ (RIAA, Columbia and Decca) all from the remote. That’s as good as it gets.  If you have a plethora of cartridges in your collection, the REF Phono 2 is a dream come true. Now you can geek out with ease.

All this talk of multiple turntables brings me to my two minor complaints about the REF Phono 2: the single ground post is a pain and I wish it had three inputs.  Honestly, I wish it had four inputs, but I don’t expect anyone else to share my madness.  Every cartridge I used with the REF sounded so good that I just didn’t want to go back to any of the other phono preamps on my rack.  Even my modest Rega P25 with Shelter 501 II revealed so much more music through the REF than it ever had before, I just didn’t want to take a step backward.

Dynamics, Tone, Texture

The debate on live versus real sound seems to be a hot topic these days, with one faction claiming their HiFi system is more real than real, while the others shake their heads in denial saying that any attempt at reproducing sound in inherently flawed.  I submit that with the right music (especially music that is more sparse than complex) and the right system, it can get scarily close to sounding like the real thing.

Dynamics are a big part of the equation. You need a system that can go from 0-200 in a heartbeat without distortion or overhang.  Those who feel that you have an inadequate “audio vocabulary” need not worry; when it’s wrong you know it.  When a system or component lacks the necessary horsepower to deliver full-spectrum dynamic contrast, your ears and brain object instantly.  The REF passes this test with ease, offering up a large dose of weight and grip that is apparent the minute you play your favorite record.  I went through some of my favorite classic rock warhorses (Led Zeppelin, The Who, Genesis, etc.) and was instantly taken aback by how much more raw power these discs now possessed.

Classical-music lovers will also appreciate the combination of dynamics and low-end grunt, coming a step or two closer to convincing you that you are there after all…  Regardless of what might be on your top 10 list, the REF Phono 2’s ability to completely get out of the way of the music and present acoustic instruments in such an incredibly accurate way will astonish you record after record.

In comparing a few other top phono stages from Aesthetix, Boulder and Burmester, they all offer up their own take on musical reproduction, from warm and romantic to analytical.  The perfect one for you will be that which bests suits your musical taste and achieves the best synergy with your system.  I must say the REF Phono 2 was a perfect match for my reference system, offering up just that drop of tube warmth that I really enjoy without sacrificing any resolution that a few of the other contenders also possess.  If you want a phono stage more on the warm, gooey and romantic side of the tonal scale, consider the IO or the Zanden.  Conversely, if you’d like a somewhat more analytical presentation, the two solid-state options from Boulder might be your cup of tea.  Having listened to them all extensively in the past year, the REF 2 Phono was the one that gave me the biggest dose of everything. And it has a relatively small tube complement that is easy to source.  As the 6H30 really doesn’t offer a lot of options for tube rolling, I suggest just calling ARC when you are ready for new tubes, which they claim last about  5,000 hours.

Much like a power amplifier with a massive power supply, the REF Phono 2 has an uncanny ability to keep low-level details intact.  I’m sure this was due in part to its incredibly silent background as well as its hybrid design.  This is where the all-tube phono stages really fall down; they just can’t achieve this kind of silence.  Again, classical- and acoustic-music lovers will pick up on this instantly.  If your source material is of high enough quality, it adds to the sense of realism, with instruments coming right out at you in space as they would in real life.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the REF 2 Phono, though, is its uncanny ability to delineate texture, again giving the nod to acoustic-music lovers.  Granted, it’s always nice to hear more electric-guitar growl on your favorite rock record, but the REF 2 Phono always allowed me to hear further into my favorite recordings, electric or acoustic.

Finally, that gigantic soundstage I heard at Joe Harley’s house was always present in my system as well.  When playing Cream’s live recordings from their 2005 Royal Albert Hall performances, my speakers disappeared completely. and thanks to the additional dynamic range of adding a second Burmester 911 mk. 3 power amplifier to my system, I felt that this was as close as I would ever get to having Eric Clapton in my listening room.  A good friend who has a multichannel version of this recording said that he doesn’t get this much depth on his 5.1 setup!  I rest my case.

I’m back and I’m diggin it

The ARC REF Phono 2 has renewed my love for analog, plain and simple.  It has all of the qualities that I value in a phono preamp: a stunningly low noise floor, massive dynamics and tonal realism in spades.  And it is extremely easy to change gain and loading, making it an excellent tool for evaluating cartridges, as well as being a complete blast to listen to.  A great side benefit of having the REF in my system is that the 24/192 digital captures I’ve been producing have been better than ever, so this phono preamplifier has had a positive impact on the digital side of my system as well.

If you are shopping for a statement phono preamplifier, I can’t think of a better choice than the ARC REF Phono. Considering some of the other choices in the $15,000 – $25,00 range, it’s actually quite a value, which is why we’ve given it our Product of the Year award in the analog category.  I’m truly happy to be this excited about analog again.  -Jeff Dorgay

Audio Research REF Phono 2 Phono preamplifier

MSRP:  $11,995  (available in silver or black)

www.audioresearch.com

Peripherals

Analog audio is similar to analog photography in the sense that there haven’t been many game-changing technological advances in the past 20 years.  Most of the improvements have been the result of refining existing technology, upgrading materials and paying careful attention to the smallest details in assembly. The big, high-dollar turntables still spin a platter with a motor (often with a belt between the two) and that’s about it.  Granted, the world’s best turntable manufacturers are masters at refining this process, and even in the year 2010, continue to produce better turntables. But in order to get $20,000 turntable performance, you still have to spend $20,000.

Digital audio is a completely different ballgame.  Just like your favorite personal computer, much of processing a digital signal is about computing horsepower and is directly related to the chipset under the hood. There are a few manufacturers such as Wadia and dCS that take care of decoding and filtration in software, but for the most part, it’s the DAC chips and whatever tweaks in the analog circuitry combined with the power supply that determine the sound.

As with high-dollar turntables, the world’s best digital sound is still expensive because of the amount of parts and labor required.  However, the $1,000 DAC category is improving by leaps and bounds – Rega’s $995 DAC is a perfect example of this.

A quick overview

Like every other Rega product, the Rega DAC is simple, functional and offers high performance in its price category.  Rega principal Roy Gandy is not a man to jump on the latest trend.  True to his engineering background, he studies a product and builds it the way he thinks it should be done.  Rega’s website proudly mentions that they are “the last hifi manufacturer to produce a CD player,” and they could very well be the last high-end company to produce a DAC as well.  But it is a damn good one.

Rega uses a straightforward approach with no upsampling. Terry Bateman, Rega’s digital designer, said, “I wanted to keep the signal path to a minimum.  We didn’t use upsampling with the Saturn or the ISIS, and I wanted to follow the same spirit of these units.  Those users with a high-quality sound card can upsample there if they prefer.  The Wolfson WM8805 and WM8742 chips running at the incoming sample rates do a great job on their own, along with a nice drop of  “old school audio mojo.” The Rega DAC also shares its buffer circuitry with the Rega CD players, which has been one of the aspects of their design that has been overbuilt from the beginning. Rega’s CD players have a much larger buffering capacity than most, adding to the natural sound.

Around back, there is just a simple three-prong IEC socket due to a lack of space for a standard IEC.  There is a high-quality power cord supplied, but an audiophile who wants  an upgraded power cord can purchase an adaptor from Music Direct.

This will allow you to use the aftermarket cord of your choice, and should you desire keeping your DAC all Rega, the power cord that is standard issue on their flagship Isis CD player is available from Rega dealers for an additional $175.

Following the trend of a few other manufacturers, Rega has chosen to ignore a high-resolution USB input, sticking with 16/48 as the maximum data rate their DAC will process. Bateman mentions that when they first started development on the DAC about two years ago, their vision for it was as more of an audiophile component, and they felt that the computer user was looking more for convenience. With computer audio gaining a lot of ground recently, this may be a deal breaker for some. But before you freak out, how many high-res files do you have on your computer?

Another unique feature of the Rega DAC is the choice between five filter characteristics for each of the sample frequencies.  Bateman mentioned that he considers the “standard” settings to be position No.1 for 32/44.1/48k sample rates and position No. 3 for the higher sample rates.  For those wanting a highly in-depth explanation of the filter characteristics,  the Wolfson site offers a downloadable PDF.

Spectacular sound

At turn on, the Rega DAC sounded a bit grainy and somewhat thin in the lower register, but after being powered for 48 hours, this deficit was gone.  None of the Rega components I’ve used over the past 10 years have ever required an extended break-in time, and though this unit arrived with some hours on the clock, I don’t suspect the DAC is any different than any of Rega’s other hardware.  After it’s been on for two days, the Rega DAC really grabs you – in a good way.

I tried the Rega DAC with a number of digital sources.  First, for the customer with an older CD player just looking for a better DAC, I took advantage of my stock Denon 3910.  A Mac Mini running iTunes was thrown into the mix for the average computer listener’s perspective, and on the high end, I ran a digital cable from the SPDIF output of the dCS Paganini PTT transport.  A fair amount of music was played through the SPDIF output of the Sooloos Control 10 as well.

The Rega DAC really excels at tone and timbre.  Acoustic instruments sound natural and quite honestly, way better than even a digital snob such as myself ever expected a $1,000 DAC to sound.  The recent HD Tracks 24/96 download of Keith Jarrett’s The Koln Concert, revealed a healthy dose of texture and hall ambience, with plenty of Mr. Jarrett’s signature groaning in the background.  One of my favorite 24/96 warhorses is that ’70s classic from Chicago, Chicago V. The cymbals at the beginning of “Hit by Varese” had a healthy decay. When switching back and forth between the 24/96 file ripped from DVD-a and the standard 16/44 file, it was instantly apparent that the high-res file had considerably more air between the notes.

Most of the 24/192 files on the Naim HDX music server have been digitized from LPs in my collection and a handful originated on the Rega P9/Shelter 501II combination through the Audio Research REF Phono 2. So it was interesting to compare playback at the DAC’s highest resolution.   Again, I was amazed at how much of the essence of what was essentially a $20k analog front end could be reproduced without serious compromise.  The Rega DAC is an excellent choice for anyone thinking about archiving vinyl, provided you have an excellent-quality analog setup with which to capture it.

Playing high-resolution files is not limited to the RCA inputs, but according to Bateman, “24/192 is pushing the limit of the Toslink interface.  A high-quality cable will be required.”  That in mind, I had no problem playing 24/96 files from my Power Book Pro, with a four-meter Monster optical cable. (About $50 at Radio Shack)

Though the Rega DAC did an excellent job with high-resolution files and provides a compelling reason for downloading them, I still couldn’t help thinking that this DAC was   something special with standard 16/44 files, whether played from USB or SPDIF.  If you are an audiophile who has merely ripped your CD’s to a computer and doesn’t see high-res files in your immediate future, the USB performance is very good at 16/44.

A few comparisons

With the internet boards abuzz about whether the Rega DAC “sounds better or worse” than the bloggers’ existing CD players, I don’t think it is really a fair comparison because the DAC offers the ability to play high-resolution files. I suspect that the CD player will appeal to one type of customer and the DAC will appeal more to the computer/music server audiophile. So comparing the two directly is a moot point.

On many levels, I found the sound of the Rega DAC more akin to that of their flagship turntable, the P9 (which has been a long-term component in my reference system).  It shares the P9’s quick and open presentation with a healthy dose of pace and timing.  If this is the kind of sound that appeals to you, I think you will enjoy auditioning this DAC.

My theory on the rapid advancement of digital technology was confirmed when I compared the sound of the Rega DAC to my original Meridian 808, purchased about four years ago.  When using the 808’s digital SPDIF input, the difference between what was a $15,000 player four years ago was minimal.  Of course, Meridian is up to the 808.3 now, but it is amazing to see this ramp up in performance for the dollar.  I guarantee that there are no $1,000 turntables today that sound like a $15,000 turntable from four years ago.

Forget about the “bits is bits” theory; there are still plenty of ways to handle filtering, digital processing, power supply design and the output stage. DAC’s are just like phono cartridges: each has its own unique sound.  Where the Benchmark and Ayre DAC’s tend to be slightly on the analytical side of neutral and the Neko Audio DAC ($1,195, and no USB input) is slightly on the romantic side of neutral, the Rega is very close to dead center.  Interestingly enough, the Rega is one of my favorite budget DAC’s, much like the Simaudio DAC300 that also forgoes a high-resolution USB port to maximize the audio performance on the SPDIF side.

In the end, digital can drive you just as crazy as analog if you let it.  However, the Rega DAC’s strengths far outweigh the lack of a high-res USB input for most users.

Musical to the core

While there are definitely some other DAC’s at this price point that offer more functionality, the Rega’s strength is offering truly great sound from its SPDIF input, regardless of resolution.  Personally, I’d still rather have outstanding 16/44 through the SPDIF input than multiple input options with mediocre performance.  If this is your philosophy as well, I think the Rega DAC would find a very good home on your equipment rack.

And digital audio is much like the weather here in the Pacific Northwest; if you don’t like it, it will change shortly.  Though the digital game is one that is constantly improving, the Rega DAC is certainly a great place to hang your hat for now and just enjoy your music collection.

The Rega DAC

MSRP:  $995

www.rega.co.uk

www.soundorg.com (US)

Peripherals

Having listened to large electrostatic speakers for the past 20 years (Acoustat 2+2’s and now MartinLogan Summits), it was a new challenge to evaluate a pair of mini monitors; I had to recalibrate my thinking.  Unpacking the PMC DBi’s, my heart sank a bit when I saw these pint-sized speakers.  They are the smallest speakers in the PMC line and carry an MSRP of $1,995.

Somewhat atypical for an audio engineer, I use my home reference system (with MartinLogan Summits) for final mixing and mastering my recordings.  The full-range capability of the Summits really comes in handy, yet they are still enjoyable speakers to use for personal listening.  With my current list of projects out of the way, I installed these tiny speakers and prepared for some extended listening sessions, putting my biases to the side.

Setup

The DB1i’s have substantial binding posts, so the jumpers on my current speaker cable had to be spread slightly with pliers to fit properly.  Unfortunately, these larger binding posts are spaced closely together, so it took a bit of fiddling to tighten them down adequately.  I did not use the PMC Tube 104 stands, which have a height of 41 inches, but the stands I had at my disposal were barely an inch taller, so the DB1i’s stayed close to the factory-suggested height.

PMC’s well-written instruction manual got me up and running quickly, along with a bit of the company’s history and a short list of some of the albums produced with their speakers. They suggest at least 15 hours of break-in time so that the speaker surrounds can “reach their optimum compliance,” and I found this to be accurate.  During the first few days of casual listening, I experienced the stereo image getting wider and deeper as the hours piled up.

Background and construction

Before we talk about the results of listening, let’s look at the speakers themselves.  PMC is a well-established brand offering a full line of speakers for both recording-studio monitoring and audiophile listening.  Their list of users is like a who’s who of performers, professionals and studios.  Just a few examples are Stevie Wonder, Coldplay, Tony Bennett, the BBC, Sony, the NFL and EMI.

The line encompasses active and passive designs, sizes range from six-foot tall floor-standing models to smaller bookshelf models, center and surround speakers, and subwoofers.  Models generally use soft domes for high and mid frequencies and cones, pistons or “Radial™” drivers for low frequencies.  To enhance bass response, most of the full-range speakers include PMC’s ATL (Advance Transmission Line) technology.

The woofer is at one end of a “tunnel” that wraps up and down within the cabinet. It is heavily damped to absorb high and mid frequencies, while leaving the lowest bass frequencies in phase able to exit the cabinet through a large vent, acting as a second low-frequency driver.  In my early days as an audiophile, I used a pair of ESS AMT-1 monitor speakers that utilized a similar transmission-line concept.

The DB1i is no exception.  This transmission-line box has a 140 mm (5.5 inch) doped cone with a cast-magnesium chassis low-frequency driver and a 27 mm (one-inch) Sonolex™ domed fabric soft-dome tweeter and is ferro-fluid cooled.  The ATL is four sections (effective length of five feet) and exits on the upper rear of the cabinet.  Frequency response is 50Hz to 25KHz (with no + or – limits specified.)  The crossover is at 2KHz.  The speakers weigh a hair under 10 pounds each and are 11.4 inches high, 6.1 inches wide and 9.2 inches deep, plus grille.  Impedance is 8 ohms and sensitivity is 87dB, one watt at one meter.

The cabinets have four wood-veneer finishes available:  oak, walnut, black ash or cherry.  Grilles are black fabric and removable.  The speakers also offer four bolts on the back to which optional mounting brackets may be attached.

Listening results

I immersed myself in the DB1i’s for about 10 days.  They became my only source of playback and I came away highly impressed.  It was easy to forget about their diminutive size when I closed my eyes and listened.  With eyes opened, my mind kept trying to convince me that there were bigger woofers hidden somewhere in the room.

The first thing I noticed was that the rhythm section in any recording was just so clear and clean.  The small woofers combined with the transmission line design really made the electric bass pop, too.  The bass had a very rich quality, and in most instances, I didn’t miss the extra bottom octave or so that my Summits are capable of reproducing.  The bass drums were crisp and quick, yet all retained their characteristic sounds.  Snare drum and cymbals were extremely fast, but not harsh or edgy.

Most importantly, these speakers sound good at low levels, they really sing at mid volume, yet they can play LOUD when called upon to do so.  There was no listener fatigue when I pushed the DB1i’s to the extreme. If you are a drummer, bass player or just love the sound of a good, tight backbone in your listening and don’t have room for big speakers or a lot of cash, the DB1i’s could definitely satisfy you.

In general, I noticed that vocals were solid and centered, and the DB1i’s had a neutral character of a great studio monitor, never edgy or clinical.  The stereo image was wide and deep; I loved hearing the ambience and reverb on a wide variety of program material and often heard instruments three-to-four feet outside the speaker boundaries.  Trumpets and brass in general felt as if they were in the room with me.

All the strengths of a great monitor

One of my favorite John Mayer tracks, “Neon” from his Room for Squares album, adds guitar layers to each verse.  This effect was easily heard, with the side-panned tracks staying in place, while Mayer’s lead vocal was solidly center stage.  Again, the tiny PMC’s sounded much bigger than I expected.

Elvis Costello is always a “go to” when I want to hear how a male vocal sounds.  This was a perfect opportunity to listen to the new MoFi release of Armed Forces.  Track after track, the vocals were incredibly detailed, very focused but not edgy.  Listening to the Painted from Memory CD by Elvis and Burt Bacharach, the dryer vocal was haunting, very up front but lacking any of the harshness that I have heard on some other speakers.  The drums were recorded dry but again, they just jumped out on these little speakers.  Brass was sweet and high strings were smooth, with low strings being very revealing in tone and texture.

One of my new favorites, Jamie Cullum’s The Pursuit, has an almost endless pallet of cool sounds, including Jamie playing every part of the piano in every possible way and a slew of different spaces and ambiences.  On “We Run Things,” the loops and synth programming offered a very wide, three-dimensional image. But I did miss the low synth bass on this one.  I wouldn’t have known it, though, if I hadn’t heard it a bunch of times on the Summits.

The snapping sounds of the electronic percussion had incredible transient response that was almost startling.  Tom fills were “in your face” as I believe they were intended.  On “Not While I’m Around,” the bass drum and associated ambience were clear and tight.  I rarely missed the absent deep bass unless things went subsonic, but the quality of what was present was always top notch.

Continuing my musical journey with the DB1i’s, I spun some Alison Krauss and even revisited the Beach Boy’s classic, Pet Sounds. PMC’s emphasis on their monitors accurately reproducing vocals was always apparent; no matter what type of music I listened to, the vocals were very natural – one of my hot buttons as an engineer.

Taking the opposite ends of the musical spectrum, going all the way from Van Halen’s first album to some of my favorite classical pieces, I remained impressed with the dynamic abilities of these speakers.  Whenever I stopped listening critically, I kept forgetting just how big the soundfield was from these small speakers.

Small but powerful

After a wide range of test tracks, my conclusion is that the PMC DB1i’s are diminutive power houses that work well with any type of program material.  They are equally at home as part of a high-quality two-channel system as they are sitting on top of the monitoring console. Should you want to make these part of a compact multichannel surround system (PMC’s are very popular in the movie soundtrack studios as well), PMC also makes a horizontally oriented DB1i center channel speaker with magnetic shielding.  And of course, PMC makes a full range of subwoofers, from small to large.

If you enjoy a wide range of musical tastes, and don’t want to give up dynamic ability in a modestly priced system, the PMC DB1i is a major contender.  While this is the point in the review where the reviewer often comments on buying the speakers, I did exactly that, but for my recording studio!

The PMC DB1i speakers

MSRP:  $1,995 per pair

http://www.pmc-speakers.com

McIntosh has always built preamplifiers that define the term “input flexibility,” which is why I always refer to them as control centers.  With nine inputs and six variable outputs (two XLR and four RCA) in addition to a processor loop, it’s safe to say this preamplifier should be able to accommodate every source in your system.  It also features a MC and MM phono stage that can be configured from the front panel or your remote control, so no stone is left unturned.  MSRP for the C500 is $12,000 in either the solid-state or tube version.  You can buy all three boxes for $18,000, but the C500 controller can only access one preamplifier at a time.

A two-box design, the C500 has an interesting twist for those having the age-old debate about the validity of solid state versus vacuum tubes; you can configure your C500 either way.  It’s actually two preamplifiers, the C500P (solid state) or C500T (tube).  The flagship C1000 controller offers the same choices and allows you to drive both preamplifier modules simultaneously, but with the C500, you have to draw a line in the sand and pick one.  For those on the fence, your McIntosh dealer should be able to audition both.

While McIntosh does an excellent job at voicing their gear similarly, there is still an elusive magic to the tube sound that is tough to ignore, and while a vacuum-tube preamplifier means that you will have to change tubes from time to time, it’s nice to have the option.  The end user is the winner thanks to this unprecedented ability to fine-tune your system, even to the all-McIntosh customer.  And both two-box designs feature a set of big, blue output-level meters.

A fully balanced design from input to output, the C500 uses eight 12AX7 tubes: four in the high level circuit and four more in the phono preamplifier.  The phono preamplifier circuit is all tube if you are using the moving magnet (MM) stage. If you have a lower-output moving-coil (MC) phono cartridge, the MC stage uses McIntosh’s own solid-state phono step-up modules instead of an input transformer.   Four of the 12AX7’s are visible from the front panel, back lit in green, while the other four are beneath the top cover.

Setup

The controller section of the C500 has no tubes inside and generates almost no heat, but the preamplifier section does get a little bit warm with eight tubes inside, so make sure to give it some ventilation room.  Once both boxes are unpacked, you will notice a pair of umbilical cords that look like parallel-interface printer cables from the earlier days of PC-based computing.  According to Ron Cornelius, McIntosh’s Sales Manager, there are only control voltages running through these cables; “There are no audio signals here.”  So for the tweekophiles in the audience, put your fears aside.

The single IEC power socket is located on the controller chassis, which also houses the dual power supplies for each channel, making the C500 a true dual-mono design.  For those new to the McIntosh fold, these power transformers are wound in-house, as they always have been.

Once power is attached, the C500 stays in standby mode and on power up, displays a “tube warmup” message on the LCD front panel, with the outputs muted.  Worth noting is that the C500 does not produce a harsh transient, should you forget and shut the preamplifier off before your power amp.  A nice touch, especially should you be using an amplifier with significant power output.

If you are incorporating the C500 into an all-McIntosh system, there are seven individual data ports so you can link your other components to the C500 and control them all from the one remote – very cool if you have come to the point where you are considering hiring a feng shui consultant to keep your remotes in order!  The C500 also features 12V trigger ports, so you can turn everything on with the single power switch.  A great feature with other amplifiers but very impressive on a large McIntosh system when you see all of those blue and green faceplates light up at once.

Most of my listening for the review period was conducted with the MC275 vacuum-tube power amplifier and the MC1.2 KW solid-state monoblocks, and with a variety of speakers.  The system was cabled entirely with Cardas Clear and utilized the balanced connections on all but one input (The dCS Paganini).  After the initial listening was complete, I swapped the standard-issue power cord for a Python CX from Shunyata, as I use on my reference Burmester preamplifier.

How about that input flexibility?

It doesn’t stop with the number of inputs.  The C500 allows you to trim the outputs of each program source +/- 6db and you can do it from the comfort of your listening chair, making it easy to fine tune the system so there are no surprises when going from CD to tuner, etc.  Seeing that McIntosh has put so much effort into the display programming, it would be nice to see this taken a step further to let the user fully customize the input readout (a-la BAT or Simaudio). It would be great for those with multiple turntables and digital players to be able to have the display say “Rega P9” instead of “Phono MM.”

However, you can rename the inputs to the preset CD 2, Aux 2, etc. and you can shut off the display on the inputs that are not in use. So if you have only three inputs, you will only be switching between the active ones to avoid confusion.  The display has seven steps of brightness from which to choose, and the meters can be switched off for those who like to listen in total darkness. But the question begs to be asked: why would you ever want to switch off the meters on a McIntosh?

The MM phono stage has adjustments for capacitive loading from 50pf to 750pf in 50pf increments.  As there are a number of high-quality MM cartridges on the market, this allows to perfectly optimize your MM cartridge playback.    The MC phono stage allows the input resistive loading to be set at 25, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1,000 ohms.  This should cover the bulk of MM cartridges that are available, but for the hard-core turntable enthusiast, it would be nice to see a “custom” setting that can be set by a competent technician.

Should you still own a high-performance tape deck or other recording device, the record and listen processor loops will come in handy.  I found this to be indispensable using the Manley Massive Passive studio EQ, when capturing digital files from my favorite LP’s for music-server use.  Thanks to the C500’s playback loop, I could sneak the Manley into the system to use with troublesome CD’s for playback as well.  While this is a feature that few will use, those with multiple sources will appreciate it.

Definitely sounds like a McIntosh

Almost all McIntosh gear has a full-bodied sound that leans slightly to the warm side of neutral, but I can’t ever think of an instance where it isn’t welcome.  I’ve heard other preamplifiers with more resolution, but the C500 offers a great balance between the lush, overly tubey sound of the ’60s and a modern high-resolution sound.  While a few of your most pristine, perfectly recorded discs (analog or digital) may not have the last bit of slam and dynamics as they might on a more resolving preamplifier, I’ll bet that at least half of the records in your record collection will benefit from that extra tonal richness that the C500 offers.  This is one of the main reasons for the fierce loyalty of McIntosh owners.

But don’t think the C500 doesn’t hold its own against the competition.  When listening to the GamuT S9, the YG Acoustics Anat Studio II, the MartinLogan CLX and recently the Estelon XA (all very high-resolution speakers in the $30,000 – $140,000 range), I never felt the preamplifier was holding the system back.

When comparing to my reference Burmester amp and preamp, the tubes had a definite warmth, but it was always inviting.  Male and female vocals came alive in a way that they only seem to do with tubes – there was just more of a third dimension available.  Listening to Neil Young’s voice on the 24/96 version of Harvest was easily discernable from the standard 16/44 copies.

The soundstage of the C500 was always BIG.  This seems to be so much easier to accomplish with vacuum tubes, and if you listen to a lot of rock and contemporary jazz that is created in a studio with a somewhat artificial soundstage to begin with, the C500 will win you over on this aspect alone.  Listening to “Woman in Chains” from the Tears For Fears album, The Seeds of Love, the triangle played during the opening of the song appears to float about 10 feet beyond the speaker boundary.  It’s not real, of course, but it is cool.  If you love classic rock, you will be in heaven with the C500.

Solid-State or Tubes?

By far, the most intriguing feature of the C500 is it’s ability to work with a vacuum-tube output stage or a solid-state one.  As I suspected, the solid-state version had a bit more punch and the tube stage was slightly mellower.  The solid-state preamp section also had slightly more weight in the lower registers.  When listening to some bass-heavy tracks from Tosca, utilizing the JL Audio Gotham subwoofer, the tube section had a slightly looser feel, whereas the solid-state version offered a bass perspective that would more punch you in the chest.  If you have a system capable of going down deep (the Gotham is only down -3db at 16hz) and perhaps listen to a lot of electronica, the solid-state version might be for you.

While I could happily live with either configuration, I did gravitate more towards the all-tube preamplifier with the MC 1.2KW solid-state monoblocks and the Octave MRE tube monoblocks (which are somewhat “un-tubey” sounding), while the solid-state output stage was more to my liking with the MC275 vacuum-tube power amplifier and my Conrad Johnson MV-50C1, which each have a fairly warm overall tonal balance.
Though definitely a great subject for a month-long internet forum argument, deciding which one of these two is right for you is immaterial.  The good news is that you have the option.  Should your needs change, you can go to your McIntosh dealer and purchase the alternative.  Upon reconnecting all of your other components and the umbilical cord, a simple reset on the front panel and the C500 will make the necessary change.

Spinning records

C500 owners who have just one turntable and perhaps don’t swap cartridges often won’t be able to take advantage of one of this preamplifier’s best features: the ability to set loading from your listening position.  Cartridge swaps are a weekly occurrence here, and many audiophiles will have removable headshells or tonearm wands that use a specific cartridge for different purposes or as the mood strikes.  The more-involved vinyl junkie will be right at home with the C500.

I managed to try almost a dozen different phono cartridges from the Shure M97xe all the way to the Clearaudio DaVinci, all with excellent luck.  The only cartridge for which I could not get the perfect match was the SoundSmith Sussaro, which is a moving-iron cartridge that sounds its best at about 2,500 ohms.  There are a few moving-magnet cartridges that also perform a bit better slightly above or below the standard 47k loading, but these are the exception rather than the rule for 99.9 percent of analog users.  Most MC cartridges should easily work between 100 and 1,000 ohms (though the 25 ohm setting is a fantastic match for the Rega Apheta MC).

Thanks to the solid-state modules in the MC section, the C500 is quieter than an all-tube phono stage and has a healthy dose of dynamic punch as well.  A tiny bit of background noise creeps in to the C500’s phono stage, but you have to put your ear right up to the tweeter to hear it.  The solid-state modules in the MC section aren’t just switched into the MM signal path.  According to the engineers at McIntosh, there are two separate phono stages under the hood of the C500.

While listening to Joni Mitchell’s Wild Things Run Fast, (the recent ORG pressing), I found there was a wonderful midrange bloom to the presentation that made Mitchell’s voice take over the soundstage in a very enjoyable manner.  I had similar results with any other strong vocalists in my record collection.  Playing Marquise Knox’ Man Child on LP was a chilling experience, revealing enough of his vocal character that you just might be fooled into thinking that you are back at Chad Kassem’s Crossroads Blues Festival.

Comparing the phono stage in the C500 with some of the outboard phono stages we’ve had the opportunity to live with during the past few years, it offers a level of performance that would cost you $2,000 – $3,000 in an outboard phono stage. A separate MM and MC stage is pretty much non-existent at this price, plus you probably would want to buy an upgraded power cord along with a pair of decent interconnects going from phono stage to linestage.

Don’t forget the phones

McIntosh doesn’t ignore the headphone users on any of their preamplifiers, and the C500 is no exception.  While not the last word in headphone performance, you would have to spend somewhere between $500- $1,000 to get an outboard headphone amp (and remember, more cables….) to put this one in the weeds.  Running the gamut of the AKG 701’s, Grado GS-1’s, Sennheiser 650’s and my new favorites, the Audeze LCD-2’s, I came away impressed with the C500’s performance.

The headphone stage sounded identical on both output sections, leading me to believe that the phono board is identical in each. Though it would only benefit a small number of customers, it would be cool to run the tube output stage direct through the phones.  If you are like me and enjoy headphone use from time to time but don’t feel the need to invest in a multi-thousand-dollar headphone setup, the C500 should serve your needs just fine.

Looks great, sounds great

McIntosh has stayed true to its look and feel, so the big, backlit glass front panel and blue meters will either speak to you or they won’t.  The C500 is rock solid.  It’s been playing here for about the past six months, 12 hours a day without so much as a burp, and I suspect that it will continue to do so just as so many McIntosh preamplifiers do out there in the world.

The best reason for buying this preamplifier is its combination of performance and flexibility. Whether you ultimately make one the cornerstone of your system depends on whether you can make use of what it offers.  There are a few $12,000 linestages out there that will extract more music from your recordings, but none of them have a built-in MM and MC phono stage, or a built-in headphone amp. So the C500 ends up being a little spendy if you don’t need the phono stage and a killer bargain if you do.  It’s also nice to know that should your amplification needs change, you can fine tune the C500 with some tube rolling or even change the output stage to solid state.  -Jeff Dorgay

McIntosh C500 Control Preamplifier

MSRP:  $12,000 – $18,000

www.macintoshlabs.com

Peripherals

At first glance, the Cary Xciter doesn’t seem so exciting. It’s a simple, silver or black, 3.5 x 11 x 13 inch box weighing 12 pounds. It has a single round dial in the middle of the front panel with a handful of LED indicators for power, input source and digital resolution.  This polished dial is nicely weighted with a smooth, notchless feel and functions as the input selector. Analog outputs are single-ended RCA only.  But a quick listen reveals that there is definitely some excitement under the hood.

The true excitement is how far digital has come in almost 30 years.  It seems like only yesterday, I was waiting to get into the Consumer Electronics Show, intent on seeing Sony’s latest development that was going to make my turntable obsolete – the Compact Disc.  This was Sony’s first generation CDP-101 player, which carried an MSRP of $1,000 at its introduction. According to one of the “inflation calculators” found on the internet, this is equivalent to $2,125 in 2010.  The Xciter DAC has an MSRP of $1,499.

While CD players were single-box components in the beginning, as digital technology ramped up in the ’90s, the transport and DAC became separate components; much like the way the phono preamplifier and line stage had become individual parts of your system.  Around 2000 or so, many high-end CD players started to become single-box components once again, but with the advent of so many people using their computers as a source, the standalone DAC has come full circle.

Enter the Cary Xciter

Part of Cary’s new compact Xciter series of components, consisting of an integrated amplifier (vacuum-tube powered, of course) and a music server, these components are geared towards the desktop user.  Though small in size, the Xciter DAC is a full-featured DAC with RCA and BNC SPDIF inputs, a TOSLINK optical input and a USB input.

All inputs, regardless of resolution, are upsampled to 32bit/192khz and passed on to the new AKM 4399 32-bit DAC chips along with new output devices from National Semiconductor that were designed specifically for Cary. As a photographer, I view the oversampling process as akin to taking an old black-and-white photo, scanning it, processing it in Photoshop, and printing out a copy that is better than the original.

System integration and comparison

The Xciter spent time in my main reference system, consisting of a McIntosh C2200 preamplifier, MC 275 power amplifier and a pair of MartinLogan CLS speakers.  The entire system features various cables from MIT.

I wanted to investigate the Xciter both as a potential upgrade for someone with an existing CD player and the audiophile starting to enter the world of music server or computer playback.  Initially, I used my vintage Krell KPS 20i player and the more current OPPO BDP-83 player, utilizing the SPDIF outputs of both.

I started my listening comparisons with some of my original issue 1987 Beatles’ CDs, and with a firm picture of both the OPPO and the Krell, brought the Xciter into play.  Using the Cary DAC reminded me of the difference between movies that have been shot digitally versus filmed. The harshness and compression present on the players by themselves was palatable, but not as good as when played through the Xciter, and the new, remastered CDs were even better.  The Cary presentation always sounded more lifelike, and while this DAC would not overcompensate for mediocre-sounding recordings, it did pull more detail and depth than I was getting from either of my other players.

Compared to my reference DAC, the PS Audio Perfect Wave, the Cary is somewhat on the warmer side of neutral, which seems to be a characteristic, albeit a pleasant one, of all their gear.  Again, this helped when listening to less-than-perfect digital files.  At times, my PS Audio DAC feels like an LCD TV that has the contrast and saturation cranked up; upon first glance it’s tremendous, but after a while it sinks in that it is not accurate.  But as most audiophiles know, “accuracy” is a relative term indeed.

Be aware though, that while the warmth in the Cary Xciter’s presentation can be a plus on certain recordings, it can be detrimental with others, especially in a system like mine that is already a touch on the warm side.  I found many of my favorite jazz female vocalists to sound slightly huskier and at times too deep.  This was an area that the Perfect Wave excels in my system.

I did appreciate the touch of warmth with most of the classical music in my collection, however. Symphonies with large string sections tend to sound strident and massed together in poor recordings or systems.  The Cary Xciter was able to separate the individual violins and give them a rich tone that was more akin to what I’ve experienced in a live performance.

Investigating HD playback

As a recent convert to high-resolution audio files, I was pleased to see that the Xciter had so many inputs and would work with 24/96 files through its USB input.  With more and more high-res music becoming available all the time, 24/96 seems to be emerging as the standard, at least for now.  I’ve been streaming some of my high-res files through the Squeezebox Touch, so I began my listening sessions with the SB’s analog outputs for a baseline comparison.

A quick trip to the HD Tracks music store added a few favorites from John Coltrane and Diana Krall, and I was ready to roll.  Again, the difference going from the analog outputs of the Squeezebox versus using its digital output to drive the Xciter was a big step up in fidelity.  While listening to Krall’s Quiet Nights disc, her breathing and tonal inflection were reproduced with much more realism.  The standard 16/44 tracks now sounded flat by comparison.  I had the same experience with Coltrane, his sax taking on a much more three-dimensional perspective in my listening space.  Even at this level of hardware, the difference between standard and high-res playback was clear.

I could easily notice another jump up in resolution and fidelity upon returning to my reference PS Audio DAC, but it costs twice as much as the Cary.

Conclusion

As music moves further away from disc-based physical media and to downloadable, hard-drive-based media, the DAC will continue to become the heart of your audio system. The Cary Xciter stands as a great option to dramatically improve any of these sources while allowing you the convenience of accessing your entire music library on a digital network.

For $1,500, the Cary Xciter offers solid value and performance. It will breathe life into an older CD player and point you in the right direction to start enjoying HD file playback. The Cary Xciter DAC is a component that is allowing CD digital media to finally realize and live up to its full potential that was touted in the ’80s – and that’s exciting.

Cary Xciter DAC

MSRP $1,499

http://caryaudio.com/

The First Watt J2 is an absolute honey of an amp. Hooked up to my Zu Essence speakers, the sound isn’t merely spectacular; it regularly keeps me up long after I should have gone to bed. The J2 is sublime, but I don’t think this point can be made often enough: when a reviewer says an amp is “great,” what he’s really saying is that it’s great with the speaker (or speakers) he’s auditioned it with. The same logic could be applied to speaker reviews because you can’t listen to speakers without listening through an amp. So it’s really the combination of the two – speaker and amp – that we hear. Sure, the rest of the system, namely the preamp, sources and cables, all play their parts. But the interactions between amp and speakers can make or break the sound – and with the high efficiency Zu’s it’s a winner.

The First Watt J2 and Zu Essence are both made in the United States. Zu is a new wave, youthful audiophile company. First Watt is a Nelson Pass enterprise, and he’s the founder and CEO of Pass Laboratories. In the 1970s, his first venture, Threshold, broke new ground in solid-state designs, and he’s still advancing the state-of-the-art. First Watt exists because Pass wants to explore a variety of amplifier-design strategies in what he thinks of as “neglected areas:” amplifiers that might not fit into the mainstream and are probably not appropriate for Pass Labs.

The J2 is a stereo power amplifier rated at 25 watts per channel into 8 ohms, and 13 watts into 4 ohms. The clean, compact design measures 17 by 5.5 by 16 inches, and it weighs about 25 pounds. It has a two-stage circuit and operates in pure single-ended Class A mode, with signal JFET devices forming the input stage and power JFET devices for the output stage. What’s that, a JFET output stage? That’s special. Every solid-state amp you or I have ever heard used bipolar or MOSFET transistors in the output stage. The J2 sports JFETs, and that’s way cool.

Yes, I recall that Sony and Yamaha made JFET amps ages ago, but then power JFETs were MIA. Now they’re back. Pass heard that SemiSouth Corporation of Missouri had started making new power JFET transistors with high voltage, current and power capabilities – as high as 1,200 volts, 30 amps, and 273 watts. These new JFETs were designed for very fast switching in solar-power and electric-car applications. Pass bought a few of these JFETs and found they had a very low distortion characteristic. Compared with MOSFET-type power transistors, JFETs can achieve 10 to 20 dB improvements in distortion performance. So a JFET doesn’t need as much feedback to keep distortion low. It’s low from the get go.

Pass aims to design what he calls “simple circuits” because, as he once so eloquently put it, “Complexity tends to be the nemesis of musicality…” As he refines a design, he listens to how individual parts – capacitors, resistors, semiconductors, etc – change not only what he can measure but how they put their “signatures” on the sound.

Low-power, singled-ended tube amps have been popular with some audiophiles, especially those with highly efficient speakers, so you might assume Pass was trying to build a solid-state amp that would appeal to that crowd. But that’s not the J2’s mission. It doesn’t sound like tubes; it’s not warm, mellow, romantic or lush.

The J2 is all about purity and exceptional transparency. It’s a colorless device. Low-level resolution of recording-room sound or added reverberation are reproduced with startling fidelity. If you want romance, look elsewhere. Play a nasty-sounding recording, such as  Arcade Fire’s recent The Suburbs CD, and it will sound hard, grainy  and ferociously compressed. Gorgeous recordings, such as Ella Fitzgerald & Joe Pass’ Sophisticated Lady CD, will be a feast for the ears. Ella’s voice, from a whisper to a full-on wail, takes center stage, and Pass’ fleet-fingered fretwork is not too shabby! The feel of the sound is tangibly live, and the anything-can-happen excitement of the 1983 Tokyo concert was perfectly resurrected by the amp and speaker. Sophisticated is my favorite Fitzgerald album, precisely because it gets me closer to the live event than anything else.

The J2/Essence combination is dynamically consistent from bass to treble, so the sound feels right. There is a definite tunefullness, a toe-tapping, engaging quality that brings music to life. Bass is quick and nimble, but it won’t bowl you over with room-shaking, pants-flapping low-end. If you want that, get a subwoofer.

After an hour or so, the J2’s heat sinks and the entire chassis get pretty warm, so you wouldn’t want to rest your hand on it for more than a few seconds. The power switch is on the amp’s rear panel, which might be a tad inconvenient if you want to put the J2 in a rack or cabinet. Then again, considering how much heat this amp generates, proper ventilation is a must. I put the J2 out on the floor between the Essences, so it was easy to reach around to the power switch. The warranty runs three years, but Pass claims that in more than eleven years, he’s never had a single First Watt product returned for a warranty claim.

Comparing the J2 with my Pass Labs XA100.5 100-watt monoblocks was a study in contrast. The big amps’ power advantage was obvious, and that manifested itself in sheer gravitas and a richer, fleshier tonal balance. The XA100.5 soundstage was deeper and broader, but the J2 was just as transparent. Low-level resolution and transient speed were on par the XA100.5. And the big amp is four times as expensive as the J2.

The little amp’s 25 watts uncorked the full measure of Booker T & the MGs prodigious funk. Healthy doses of the band’s Time Is Tight three-box CD set proved the amp has what it takes. Duck Dunn’s supple bass lines made all the right moves, and Steve Cropper’s tasty guitar tricks were finger-lickin’ good. Then again, Booker T’s Hammond-organ grooves are the music’s bedrock, and he was always adding just the right flavor to the mix.

The live tracks from Cream’s Goodbye LP may not have had the same sort of unstoppable mojo as the Booker T sides, but played at a satisfyingly loud level, Jack Bruce’s fat bass riffing off Eric Clapton’s stinging guitar leads were beautifully rendered. Ginger Baker’s heavyweight drumming had tremendous impact, so any concern that the little amp’s 25 watts per would inhibit my style were soon forgotten.

The Cream record isn’t by any stretch an audiophile recording, but I loved the way the J2 decoded the texture of Bruce’s bass and Baker’s drum kit. They were more dimensionally present than I ever recall hearing from the Mobile Fidelity Goodbye gold CD. Same could be said about Still Life, a live Rolling Stones LP from their 1981 tour. I’ve never really liked this LP, but it clicked over the J2, and it made me think about how much better the Stones were when bassist Bill Wyman was still in the band. “Start Me Up” was a highlight; the band still had a bit of their youthful power, but that was almost 30 years ago!

I also put the J2 through its paces with Anthony Gallo Acoustics’ new and improved Reference 3.5 speakers. It’s not a super-efficient design (only a moderate 88 dB/1 watt), but the impedance stays around 8 ohms before it drops like a stone around 20 kHz. I really love this new Gallo for its remarkably open quality and its transient speed. Soundstage depth and low-level resolution are superb, and the J2 handily exploited all of those strengths. But power was an issue, so if you like to listen loud, the J2/Reference 3.5 combo won’t float your boat.

The Hifiman HE-6 planar-magnetic headphones (similar operating principal as Magnepan speakers) can be hooked directly to any power amp, so I couldn’t help but try the headphones with the J2. Wow, the sound was oh-so transparent, definitely on par with Stax electrostatic headphones. But the J2/HE-6 combination was vastly more dynamic and the bass kicked harder than any ‘stat phones I’ve ever tried. The HE-6 is one of the most open-sounding headphones around, and the J2 only seemed to enhance that quality. Soundstage width and depth on Brian Eno’s Small Craft on a Milk Sea CD were truly expansive. My only reservation was the bass. Other amps generated gutsier drive and more low-end oomph than the J2 did with the HE-6.

The J2 doesn’t sound like a tube amp, but its musicality with my Essence speakers was spectacular. So if you have a Zu, horn or any high-efficiency speaker, the J2 could do the same for you.

Additional Listening:

More Power!

By Jeff Dorgay

Should the J2 not be quite enough juice for your speakers, consider the First Watt M2.  Rated at an equivalent 25 watts per channel, the

M2 is a push-pull design whereas the J2 is single-ended Class A. The M2 produces 40 watts per channel into a 4 ohm load, where the J2 produces only 13 watts per channel.

Bottom line, the M2 amplifier should be able to drive most speakers to adequate sound-pressure levels.  I’ve been a fan of Nelson’s Class A designs all the way back to the Threshold 4000A, but everything that Steve has described in the J2 is available with slightly more power in the M2 model. The M2 is slightly less expensive, at $3,600.

Removing the $60,000 pair of Burmester 911 mk. 3 monoblocks in my reference system, the M2 held its own, with even slightly more inner detail than the German monster amps.  This amplifier was able to take hold of the GamuT S9’s with enough control that a few casual visitors didn’t even know the Burmester amplifiers were no longer in the system!

Watch for a full review shortly when I have time to peel the smile off of my face.  Nelson Pass has done it again.

First Watt J2 Power Amplifier

MSRP: $4,000

www.firstwatt.com

Peripherals

Features

Old School:
Luxman MB-3045 Monoblocks

By Jeff Dorgay

995: Sounds that Won’t Break the Bank
U-Turn Audio’s Orbit Turntable

By Jerold O’Brien

Journeyman Audiophile

Auralic Vega Digital Audio Processor

By Rob Johnson

Personal Fidelity:

Astell & Kern AK 10

By John Darko

Apogee ONE DAC/ADC

By Mike Liang

TONE Style

Range Rover Sport with Meridian Audio

By Jeff Dorgay

iPad Air

Shinola Watches

By Rob Johnson

Bond No.9 “Success”

Power Squid

Galaxy Gear

Tito’s Handmade Vodka

Music

Current Releases:

Fresh Releases in the Pop/Rock World
By the TONE Staff

Audiophile Pressings

Jazz & Blues
By Jim Macnie & Aaron Cohen

Live Music:

Neil Young’s 27th annual Bridge School Concert

Article By Jaan Uhelszki, Photos By Jay Blakesberg

2013 Christmas Music Wrap Up
By Todd Martens

M on Classical
By Madelaine Cofffman

Previews

Simaudio MOON Evolution 610LP Phonostage

Nordost Frey Norse 2 Interconnects

Audeze LCD-XC Headphones

Rogue Audio Sphinx Integrated Amp

From the Web

Nagra Jazz Preamplifier

Channel Islands Transient DAC MKII

Reviews

Plinius SAREF Power Amplifier
By Jeff Dorgay

Gato Audio DIA-250 DAC/Integrated
By Jeff Dorgay

PS Audio Nu Wave DAC
By Rob Johnson

Phasemation PP-1000 Cartridge
By Richard Mak

BelCanto C7r DAC/Integrated Amp
By Rob Johnson

Nagra tends to make revisions to their product mix slowly, yet when they do it’s usually pretty major.  Their new Jazz preamplifier is the perfect example.

Channels Islands Audio, headed by industry veteran Dusty Vawter, has been making cutting edge products since 1997.

The company is known to many as early purveyors of Class D amplifiers, upgradeable DACs, headphone amps, add on outboard power supplies, and passive linestages. The CIAudio VDA-2 DAC is a staff favorite. CIAudio provides quality products at sane prices, and they are built in the U.S.A. to boot.  The company sells direct and through hand chosen catalogers and retailers.

In for review is one of CIAudio’s newest products, the $699 Transient MkII USB to S/PDIF converter and DAC. Essentially it takes the USB audio from your Mac or Windows PC, and converts it to 75 Ohm BNC (supplied with an RCA adaptor), S/PDIF for use with legacy DACs without a suitable USB input. But that is not the end of the story. The Transient MkII is an interesting take on USB to S/PDIF interfaces. It also features two I2S outputs for connection to compatible gear, like those made by Wyred4Sound and PS Audio. A pair of RCA analog outputs completes the picture  so it can be used as a stand alone USB DAC with no conversion.  Topping that off is a built in volume control, with volume level attenuated via arrow shaped buttons on the front panel.

The Transient MkII uses an XMOS based USB solution, high precision clocks, and a Wolfson chip. Channel Islands says “highest quality parts are used throughout: Nichicon Muse & 2% tolerance polypropylene power supply capacitors, Takman resistors and WIMA polypropylene capacitors for signal circuits, and Canare BNC connector. The shielded anti-resonant chassis is 1/8 thick T6061 aluminum with 3/16” thick front panel, and all hardware is non-magnetic stainless steel.”

The appearance and build quality of the Transient MkII is first rate. When examined closely it inspires confidence. Installation is a snap. Source components in the review system are connected via a DH Labs USB cable to a Windows 7 laptop running Jriver Media Center 19, and a Logitech Squeezebox with the Enhanced Digital Output applet installed. The DAC is hub powered, via the host device.

All that is required for use with a Windows computer is to download and install the driver from the CIAudio.website.  By the way, Vawter suggests selecting the“CIAudio ASIO” output in the Jriver options menu. MAC users, it must be noted, require no drivers.  Also of note is that Dusty Vawter mentioned that no up-sampling is performed by the Transient MkII, so one can experiment with doing so in the software domain.

The Transient MkII immediately shows itself  to be a superb USB to S/PDIF converter into a Bryston BDA-1 DAC, via a DH Labs BNC cable.  The BDA-1 does not have a high fidelity, “asynchronous” USB input, so the Transient MkII is a shoe in solution when using a computer. Compared to other converters used in house, the Transient MkII is as neutral, engaging, and transparent as we have heard.

The 2011 debut album from U.K. singer songwriter Ben Howard, Every Kingdom, is wonderfully recorded and is filled with great folky tunes. The Transient Mkii as a converter is impressively dimensional and dynamic on this record. An even handed tonality rules the day. Howard’s voice and guitar playing are rendered with great focus and clarity. Especially notable is the deep soundstage.

Using the Transient MKII as a stand alone DAC, via it’s analog outputs is equally rewarding, and maybe even more so.  Compared to the Bryston BDA-1, the Transient MkII offers up a view one or two rows back, yet just as resolving.  The CIAudio draws you into the music, in the best possible way, in the similar manner that really good analog does.  Perhaps the best way to describe the Transient MKII’s sonic personality is that is in no rush, and lets the music flow gracefully.

During the evaluation as a stand alone DAC, a wide variety of music is streamed, across  many genres. The Transient MKII never trips up, or seems to favor one type of recording over another. From classic 60’s rock like Donovan’s Hurdy Gurdy Man, and Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks right on up to brand new high resolution jazz recordings from Terence Blanchard, Joe Lovano, and Joshua Redman, the Transient MkII is never stumbles.  There is excellent grip on the bass, and nicely fleshed out midrange.

Using the Transient MkII with the Squeezebox Touch via USB brought the diminutive streamer to a new level of performance in my experience. This may be because it allows one to by pass the S/PDIF outputs completely, with the clocking being handled by the DAC. Calling up the Eagles studio discography in 192 Khz reveals new layers of transparency and precision.  Bernie Grundman’s mastering is first rate, and classic tracks like “Take It Easy” and “Desperado” take on new life.

The Transient MKII’s built in volume control proves to be well engineered. Using it directly connected to a  power amp yields very good results.  Connected to the Audio Research VS55 or or Burson Timekeeper, a preamp is not missed. The only caveat here is there is no volume level indicator, so careful attention to level is recommended.  When using with a preamp or integrated amp, line level is set at max. The Transient MkII successfully locks onto every sample rate from 44.1 to 192 Khz. The sample rate indicator lights on the front are most welcomed by those with digital music collections in various resolutions, and it is a feature rarely seen at this price point.

Conclusion:

Time spent with the Channel Islands Audio Transient MKII USB converter and DAC is time spent enjoying music. As a converter, it is beyond reproach. As a stand alone DAC, it easily dazzles and defies expectations, and especially so considering its affordability. The fact that is is made in California is a nice bonus, and it is compatible with virtually any platform.

The Transient MkII also has a secret weapon up its sleeve. It is upgradeable with the CIAudio’s own $329 VDC-5 MKII High Current Power Supply, as it enhances its performance by taking it off hub power. Prior experiences with C.I.A’s power supplies in our system with various components like the Squeezebox Touch are very positive. To be clear, during the review period, hub power was used exclusively.

As a nice bonus, the Transient MKII is a risk free purchase, with Channel Islands Audio offering generous in home trials. Dusty Vawter welcomes customer inquiries, and is great about providing advice based on your system’s parameters.  The Transient MKII, and the other Channel Islands Audio products we have spent time with have proved themselves to be exceptionally high value, and sonically first rate.  Good engineering, solid build, and great prices rule the day. The Transient MKII is highly recommended for those with legacy DACs, or for those looking to jump into computer audio with a stand alone DAC.

The CI Audio Transient MK II

MSRP:  $699

www.ciaudio.com

Peripherals:

Sources: HP Windows 7 laptop w/ Jriver 19, Squeezebox Touch

Amplifiers: Audio Research VS55, Burson Timekeeper, McIntosh MA6600

DAC: Bryston BDA-1

Speakers: Thiel CS2.4, Harbeth Compact 7ES3

Cables: Transparent, DH Labs, Kimber, Furutech:

The Chord company has always been well-known for highly advanced aesthetic design in addition to advanced circuitry, and their QBD76 is no different.  A small but densely packed box with a unique shape, one of the QBD76’s claims to fame is the myriad of inputs it puts at your disposal.  While it features a pair of coax SPDIF inputs and a pair of Toslink optical inputs, there is also a USB input and a pair of balanced AES inputs (so that you can use the QBD76 in Dual Data mode).  But perhaps the most intriguing feature of the QBD76 is its Bluetooth input – that antenna you see is not for a wifi connection.  It allows your smart phone to transmit its digital music stream straight to your system.

This diminutive DAC feels even heavier than its 15.5 pound (7kg) weight spec would suggest.  Made from a solid billet of aluminum, the QBD76 has the same high level of quality that all Chord products share.  It is available in a standard polished silver finish, black anodized and a “brilliant” finish as an extra-cost option.  Described on the Chord website as “Audiophile jewelry for the home,” this finish looks as if the DAC has been chrome plated.  Very attractive, if that’s your thing, but also very susceptible to fingerprints.  MSRP on a standard finish QBD76 is $6,295.

Chord, of course, claims that this is “the World’s most technically advanced DAC,”  pointing to their use of field-programmable gate arrays (as does dCS) to perform the digital processing via software and much higher processing power than a standard, off-the-shelf DAC chipset would provide. This is a great approach because as digital technology upgrades, the processor will only need a software upgrade, making it ultimately less prone to becoming outdated.  They also claim that this is the only DAC to offer eighth-order noise shaping, resulting in better dynamics and 2,608 times oversampling and digital filtering.

Setup

On a few levels, this piece of gear is almost too Zen for its own good, and as is typical with way too much expensive HiFi gear these days, the instruction manual is equally cryptic. I thought my dCS stack was a bit tough to get around with the small type on the front panel, but at least it has a large LCD panel on each of its four boxes.  This is not a piece of gear that you will be able to operate right out of the box without first reading the the manual.

Looking directly overhead at the top panel, there is a large, round window that lets you peer inside the QBD76, which has a very cool, blue glow.  There is another, smaller round window that lets you see the various functions as you choose them with the unmarked buttons.  Should you be the type of user who plugs in a source or two and forgets about it, you will get over these minor quirks easily.

The sheer number of digital inputs is a nice touch because as more audiophiles gravitate towards computer playback of some kind, the DAC is rapidly becoming the central hub of their system, much as the preamplifier used to be.  Also impressive is the QBD76’s ability to drive two systems, one through the XLR outputs and one through the RCA’s, so  you could use it as a source for two systems without issue.

All of the inputs automatically sense the bit depth and sample rate of the incoming signal and adjust accordingly.  There is no option to bypass the oversamping and just play the digital signal in its native form, so this may be somewhat off putting to some digital purists.

I made it a point to run the QBD76 through its paces with everything from my dCS Paganini transport all the way down to my iPhone and aging Denon 3910 universal player to get a feel for its performance with a wide range of digital sources.  At least half of my listening was done with the Sooloos and Naim music servers, with a variety of files from 16/44 all the way up to 24/196.  While on loan from dCS, I also made it a point to play some 24/192 files with the dual-channel configuration.  As with my reference Paganini, this provided the most lifelike digital reproduction.

Though I am not usually prone to much tweaky system tuning with cables, etc., the QBD responded more to this treatment than any other piece of digital hardware I’ve used in recent memory.  This one definitely responded to power conditioning and a good power cord, so consider at least upgrading the stock cord on this unit and you will be rewarded. Though I used Shunyata’s Python CX power cord for most of my listening, even upgrading the stock power cord to their $125 Venom 3 made a very worthwhile improvement in HF smoothness and timing.

A highly resolving component

Massive processing horsepower under the hood certainly made for an impressive amount of data retrieval.  Having quite a wide range of digital hardware at my disposal, I was instantly impressed at this aspect of the Chord’s performance.  If I were going to make an initial comparison to the analog world, the Naim CD 555 is more like a Koetsu Rosewood Signature Platinum, the dCS Paganini like a Dynavector XV-1s and the Chord like a Clearaudio DaVinci.

Especially when listening to high-resolution source files, I was intrigued with the tiny nuances available from the Chord, and I would highly suggest investigating the buffer options; I felt the maximum buffer made for the smoothest sound, but your mileage may vary.  “Still…You Turn Me On” from Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s Brain Salad Surgery had a degree of texture in the low bass that I’ve never heard in my system to this extent.   I noticed that extra bit of bass texture in a few of my favorite Naim 24/96 downloads and the Mickey Hart Planet Drum and At The Edge CDs.  Again, making a quick comparison with the analog world, the Chord DAC’s bass characteristic reminded me of the Continuum Criterion we reviewed in 2008; there was a level of texture in the bass response that was simply stunning.

In terms of comparing the Chord to a few of the world’s top digital players (all costing considerably more than the QBD76, but if you are going to claim you make the best box, it’s fair game to compare with the big boys), it still falls short in terms of the ultimate weight possessed by the top players from Naim, Wadia and dCS that I had on hand.  Think of the QBD76 as a hyper performance 600cc sport bike, not a 1-liter bike.  An experienced rider can get it around the track almost as fast as the big bikes, but you’re working the bike 100 percent all the time.  Listening to full-scale orchestral pieces from Mahler and Shostakovich, I was able to hear well into the hall and get a great read on its acoustics, but the big crescendos left me wanting a little more. But again to quantify more accurately, my GamuT S9’s are solid down to 17 hz.

In all fairness to the Chord, if I were merely comparing the WBD76 with other examples I’ve heard in the equivalent price range, it would be tops in class. But when compared with the five-figure players, I knew there was more “oomph” to be had.

The double edged sword of high resolution

The other aspect of the Chord’s performance that will either be a perfect fit or the straw that breaks the camel’s back is its ultimate tonality combined with all that resolution. I’ve been accused of liking a tonal balance that’s slightly on the warm side of neutral, so any potential buyer should take this into consideration when reading my evaluations.  Even in my second system, which currently consists of a vacuum-tube version of the McIntosh MC500 preamplifier and the MC1.2k power amplifiers, I still always felt like I was listening to a digital source.

Though I found the Chord visceral and exciting with excellent pace, in my reference system, I could never relax and forget that I was listening to digital, as I have been able to with a few other top players.  I didn’t really see this as a negative for the QBD76, as I’ve never experienced this level of playback in any digital player below the $12k range, so it was not a disappointment.

Where I did find the Chord to be a perfect match was when I swapped the solid-state MC1.2kw’s for the vacuum-tube MC275 power amplifier in my third system, which consists of all vintage CJ gear, and it definitely voiced on the warm side of the fence and actually somewhat romantic and lush, if  you will.  Where a lot of other digital players sounded veiled and grainy, the Chord was a nice match, with the extra helping of resolution a solid plus.  Two of my other staff reviewers who are predisposed to liking a bit more detail in their presentation were absolutely smitten by the QBD76.  One of them regularly referred to my Naim CD555 as “dark,” so the beauty is always in the eye of the beholder.

Other features

I must admit that being able to mate my iPhone to my HiFi system without any wires and let my friends do the same is very cool, so the Bluetooth access of the QBD76 was very useful.  This feature is by far the perfect ice breaker at a party because friends always want to hear their own music when they drop by.  I would love to see this functionality in everyone’s HiFi system.

As I mentioned earlier, the multiple inputs on this DAC make it extremely easy to use the QBD76 as a digital hub and for comparing multiple sources.  Near the end of the review, I had one computer connected via USB, one via Toslink and two transports connected to the SPDIF inputs.  Those who have a modestly priced CD player will be instantly impressed at how much more performance they can get from their system should they not want to abandon physical media right away.  I was having a ton of fun using a Rega Planet CD player and a Mac Mini running Amarra through the QBD76.

Conclusion

As with any component at this price point, I would suggest a demo in your system to make sure the tonality is synergistic with your system.  Warm and romantic it isn’t, but it isn’t harsh or grainy either.  The Chord QBD76 will not embellish the more raggedy-sounding discs in your collection, but it will reveal some pleasant surprises in your best recordings.  Highly recommended.

The Chord QBD76 DAC

MSRP:  $6,295

Factory:    www.chordelectronics.co.uk

North American Distributor:   www.bluebirdmusic.com

Peripherals

I always enjoy teasing our publisher about the validity of five-figure gear and his recent obsession with the dCS Paganini stack.  Sure, it’s great for $60k – it should be for that kind of money.  But what about something for the budding audiophile, or even the veteran audiophile who has to live within a reasonable budget?  As I was pleading my case upon the last visit to the TONE studio, he just smiled and placed the Furutech GT40 in my hand.  “Check this out. It’s a phono preamp (MM and MC, no less), an analog-to-digital converter (24 bit/96khz) and a DAC.  Has a pretty good headphone amp, too, and you can use it as a linestage.  How’s that for just under $500?”

To be exact, $480. Though it weighs only about a pound, it feels solidly built with a nicely finished case and precisely machined volume control.  Around back, there is a pair of gold-plated RCA jacks that can be switched between MM phono, MC Phono or line level for the single input.  There is also a USB 2.0 input and a socket for the 9V AC wall wart.  That’s how they keep it so small – no power supply under the hood.

It really does it all

After putting the GT40 through its paces one function at a time, I found that it performs all of its tasks well and has no weaknesses.  The DAC and phono stage alone are easily worth the asking price.  Breaking this down, what kind of a phono stage would you get for $120?  Or DAC, Headphone Amp or ADC?  The GT40 is a bargain indeed, and after spending about an hour with it, you can see why we awarded it one of our Product of the Year awards in the budget category.

Keeping in the budget-system mode, the GT40 was used in a system comprised of a pair of Vandersteen 1C speakers, Technics SL1200 turntable (with Grado Red MM cart and Denon 103 MC cart) along with a recently refurbished Dynaco Stereo 70 and Dynaco PAS 3 preamplifier.  The GT40 was also used with a handful of aging CD players to see how it performs as an upgrade, as well as my HP Netbook to see well it captures and plays back digital files.

Gives great phono

After reviewing more than my share of inexpensive phono stages this year, I’d easily pay $400-500 just for the GT40, if it would only perform this function.  MM performance is good, but the MC performance is even better. Or perhaps the synergy between it and the Denon 103R cartridge was amazing.  This tiny preamp had great dynamics and drive, and my inner tweakophile kept wondering what the GT 40 would sound like with a massive power supply. As this had to be returned to Furutech, I kept the soldering iron safely locked away.  Playing a few of my favorite Joni Mitchell records, I was highly impressed with the lack of grain that was present.  While the sound wasn’t as warm as a tube phono preamplifier, it was definitely not clinical and dry.  Always good news at the lower end of the analog spectrum.  And thanks to no vacuum tubes under the hood, the GT40 is extremely quiet.  Quiet tube anything means a sophisticated power supply, and you can only get so much for five hundred bucks.

Digitastic

The Digital performance, both for capture and playback, was equally impressive.  The GT40 easily had enough resolution on tap to distinguish between my latest treasures from HD Tracks and their 16/44 equivalents.  The coolest thing about the GT40, though, is that you can use it as an analog-to digital-converter, going straight from your turntable into the sound-capture program of your choice.  A free download of Audacity did the job nicely and kept the cost of digitizing vinyl reasonable.  Again, if you’re looking for a modestly priced ADC, the GT40 is worth the asking price if you do nothing more than this with it.

A linestage too?

As much fun as it was trying out the GT40’s functions, I think the most fun I had with it was driving my Dynaco Stereo 70 direct.  It had no problem driving a 10-foot pair of DH Labs interconnects from the shelf where my SL-1200 resides, and it was a great conversation starter.  None of my more musically inclined buddies could believe I was running my system with “that little thing.”  For an audiophile on a tight budget who would like to use a budget turntable for analog and their laptop (or perhaps a Wadia 170i) as a digital source, the GT40 is tough to beat.

As mentioned at the beginning of the review, there’s a headphone amp as well, which leads to another great use for the GT40; it’s the perfect desktop component.  Thanks to the small size, there’s no desk on which it won’t fit, and if you live in cube world, it’s easy to slip in your briefcase and take home at the end of the day.  All the nerdtrons at work were very jealous of the GT40/Grado RS-1 combination; I had to bring it home with me at the end of the day or it would have disappeared.

A definite overachiever

The Furutech GT40 could very well be one of the best bargains in high-end audio today.  I heartily suggest buying one ASAP before Furutech decides to raise the price.  If they put it in a bigger box and tripled the price, you’d still be impressed with it.  And those of you with five- and six-figure systems, you need one, too.  You’d be amazed at how handy it is to have a DAC, ADC, phono preamp, headphone amp and linestage all in one tiny box.  Our publisher and I will probably have a wrestling match to decide who gets to keep this one!  – Jerold O’Brien

Following up its excellent remaster of Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love, Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray turn in another winner with this new version of The Sensual World, the subsequent album in the singer’s catalog. While it didn’t enjoy as much commercial success, the effort stands as more of a severe creative undertaking, seeing Bush took four years to complete it.

By the time the album was finally released in 1989, CD was in full force and LPs had all but disappeared from record-store shelves. The original pressing possesses a big, punchy, highly processed sound that was all the rage in the late 80s, with plenty of strings and synthesizers in the mix. Cleaning up most of the grunge, Audio Fidelity’s edition takes it all a step further: Added dimensionality gives the music and production the feel of coming across like a good surround sound mix that, of course, you only need two channels to hear.

A slight bit of glare in the high frequencies suggests that this record may have been originally recorded on a digital tape recorder. This effect is much less noticeable here than on the original pressing, but The Sensual World is not as sultry-sounding as the Hounds of Love reissue. Still, the massive amount of low-frequency energy handily surpasses that on the original, lending real weight to the synth bass lines present on a majority of tracks. And, David Gilmour’s guitar solo on “Rocket’s Tail” claims more energy than the original.

The Sensual World is a worthwhile addition to any totally 80s collection, and while it doesn’t contribute to the sound quality, the label did a phenomenal job of reprinting the cover art. With so many $50 reissues cutting corners on jacket presentation, it’s nice to see packaging given due respect and the price held in line at $29.95.  -Jeff Dorgay

Audio Fidelity, 180g LP

Somewhere between the original 2LP set and 1998 “Full Concert Release” on Verve, we have Mosaic’s 3LP set of Ella and Duke at the Cote D’Azur. The audiophile imprint’s new version encompasses the two original records plus the Duke Ellington album Soul Call, produced from the same French concerts recorded live to two-track tape in Juan-les-Pines between late June and July, 1966. Interestingly, the Mosaic website states that there is no engineer credit available for the mystery man that painstakingly captured these performances. But Kevin Gray at RTI took great care to get the tunes to vinyl, and the results are spectacular. By comparison, Verve’s CD reissues are flat and strident.

Tackling jazz standards such as “Misty,” “Mack the Knife,” and the Gershwin’s’ “How Long Has This Been Going On?,” along with a sultry rendition of  “Goin’ Out of My Head,” Fitzgerald is in top form. No matter the tempo, she delivers a more unrestrained performance than what’s experienced on her studio sessions. It’s a treat.

The Mosaic staff is to be commended for giving this jazz classic the treatment it deserves, not only restoring the sonics, but also including a booklet with rare photos and excellent liner notes.  Like last year’s Complete Thelonius Monk at the It Club, the set is limited to 5000 copies. Grab this piece of history before it’s gone. -Jeff Dorgay

Mosaic, 180g 3LP Box Set

Little Feat is a lot like the Dave Matthews Band in several regards. At heart, the group was a jam-oriented band comprised of excellent players. And just as every 90s frat party seemingly required a few Matthews records, so, too, did every 70s college soiree demand at least two Little Feat albums. Usually, the latter involved Waiting For Columbus. Recorded live in London and Washington D.C. in August of 1977, and regarded by many as one of the best live records of the era, the effort captures Feat at the peak of its career. Less than two years later, bandleader Lowell George would be dead.

The two-record set highlights a fairly random mix of tunes from the band’s first five albums, including the party anthem “Don’t Bogart That Joint.” It’s a fantastic showcase for the group’s evolution from roots rockers to a New Orleans boogie style unit to an ensemble that finished its main career as jazz-fusionists.

If you are a Feat fan and do not have this record, now is the time to get it. Mobile Fidelity’s 24k CD, while not quite as smooth as the 180g vinyl, is much better than all but the earliest pressings of standard vinyl. The audiophile label also produced copies of this record in the early 80s on 140g JVC “super vinyl” (as they all were back then). Sealed copies sell for around $125, with good-condition used copies regularly fetching $45-$65. Pocket the difference and buy the new version, as the student has eclipsed the master.

Yes, Stan Ricker did a great job on the original, but current MoFi engineer Shawn Britton aced this one. If you already have the original in your collection, you won’t be missing out if you don’t buy the newly minted pressing. However, for those that take the plunge, the current version has an even smoother high end and improved soundstage width and depth. The surfaces are dead quiet, again exhibiting MoFi’s fanatic level of pressing quality. Feat will not fail you on this release, no matter what format you choose.  -Jeff Dorgay

MoFi 180g 2LP set or 24kt CD

Big, bold jazz demands big, bold grooves. Music Matters delivers that and more on Indestructible. The record starts with a giant drum thwack from Art Blakey and, immediately, the opening “The Egyptian” roars out of the speakers.

Throughout, the interplay between trumpeter Lee Morgan, trombonist Curtis Fuller, and tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter pins you back in your couch as well as any Metallica record. This LP has big—no, huge—dynamics.  Indestructible takes your system and senses to the limit. And as much fun as the dynamic outbursts are, the most telling clue pertaining to sonic accuracy comes when Blakey slams his drumstick against the side of his snare. Percussion doesn’t sound any more realistic than that. It’s easy to see why Music Matters’ Ron Rambach cites this masterpiece as one of his all-time favorites. It’s fast becoming one of mine, as well. Begin or continue your exploration of bop here.  -Jeff Dorgay

Music Matters, 180g 45RPM 2LP

Go to just about any rock concert and you’re bound to see a stack of Marshall amplifiers onstage. Due to their sound and reliability, countless musicians have relied on them for nearly 50 years. And while Marshall continues to comfortably dominate the guitar amp world, the company recently set its sights on shaking up in the mainstream headphone market. The legendary brand’s latest creation is the Major headphones, which redefine what most listeners will expect from $99 headphones.

With the Major, Marshall designed a stylish albeit rugged headphone that consumers will instantly associate with its legendary amplifiers. It all starts with the square earpieces, which replicate the physical shape of Marshall’s amplifiers. The vinyl is the same that’s used in the amplifiers, and the manufacturer went as far as to put the same texture on the earpieces. Fit and finish are exceptional. To ensure comfort, Marshall utilizes a soft faux-leather on the earpieces and on the inner side of the headband. The cord sports one of the best-designed plugs you’ll encounter in this price range. A gold-plated plug is over-designed to ensure longevity, and includes a spring to ease tension so that the cord doesn’t prematurely wear out.  Marshall also includes a 6.3mm adapter so that users can hook the Major up to a traditional headphone amplifier. The Major collapses for easy and safe storage.

Packing a solid punch, the Major sounded very natural with every type of music I played. Much like Marshall amplifiers, its overall sound character leans a bit towards the warm side, yet the latter characteristic doesn’t subtract from the sound. In fact, it helped create an overall smoothness that allowed long listening sessions to be non-fatiguing. And these headphones are faithful to the source. They let you hear everything on a recording, but do it in a way that isn’t clinical. We all know that there’s nothing worse than a hi-fi product that sounds like it is mining for information.

For example, on Oasis’s “The Masterplan,” off Stop the Clocks, Liam Gallagher’s vocals sounded exceptional. An enhanced sense of body brought the vocals to life and made them sound extremely realistic. There’s a lot happening in the song, but the Major never hid anything. I distinctly heard all the instruments and their associated subtle nuances, aspects that both added to the performance and drew me in. Changing gears, I turned to the Scorpions’ “No One Like You” from Blackout. The killer guitar work on the song proved that the Major possessed a clear and extended treble—never harsh or shrill, never rolled off. No, it wasn’t the most airy and sweet sounding, but still very good. I found myself listening to a wide variety of music with these headphones, and they handled every genre with ease. When I played White Lies’ “Death” from the band’s To Lose a Life album, I couldn’t help but be impressed by the bass.  This song is driven by a bass rhythm, and all the notes claimed solid weight and impact.

If you have low-resolution MP3 files, don’t worry, as they’ll sound very good via the Major. I had no problem listening to some of my lower-quality music files; I just lost a level of realism when I did. When I hooked the Major up to my Peachtree Audio headphone amplifier, the sound quality jumped in every conceivable area. Still, you can get legitimate hi-fi sound from the headphones even if only using a standard iPod.

Of course, the Major isn’t perfect. I really enjoyed the headphones’ sound quality, but noticed that the midrange sounded like it was tuned 1dB lower than the bass and treble, and didn’t have as much presence. In addition, while I liked the style of the square-shaped earpieces, the design didn’t prove to be comfortable for long-term listening. Marshall is trying to draw comparisons to its amplifiers, but a square design isn’t the best shape for ears.

That said, Marshall exceeds expectations with the Major. The level of refinement is exceptional, and the sound is smooth and clear, with extended highs and deep bass. Moreover, the model is built to a standard rarely seen at this price. At $99, the Major constitutes bargain. If you are looking for a huge upgrade at an affordable price, these headphones should be on your short list.  –Kevin Gallucci

Marshall Major Headphones

MSRP: $99
www.marshallheadphones.com

What happens when trendy street fashion gets crossed with headphone design? Nothing less than WESC (WeAretheSuperlativeConspiracy) Banjo headphones. WESC is a Swedish clothing company that sets itself apart by creating its own design trends. Extending its reach to the burgeoning headphone market, the firm recently launched a range of headphones for consumers that want to listen to their tunes in style. Banjo ‘phones represent a modern twist on traditional designs and are unlike most models you see on the street.

The Banjo clearly embodies simplicity, as the headphones are very minimalist and available in a variety of bold colors. My review sample came in Hot Orange, which appropriately describes the 80s throwback color. These are headphones that definitely scream, “LOOK AT ME!” Build quality, however, is average. The earpieces are an on-ear design and modestly comfortable, but the cushions could be softer and plastic coating a bit thicker. The materials feel budget, but for $54, you are not going to get Rolex quality. Intuitively, the headphone cord comes in two pieces and can be shortened so listeners don’t have to deal with any excess cord. Also, WESC included a pause button on the cord, so users can turn off their music without digging out their iPod player–a nice feature given the growing size of handbags and backpacks.

Sound quality is what you might expect for the price. The Banjo uses 40mm power drivers in a closed-back design. Sonics don’t fall in the hi-fi category, but they aren’t of stock Apple earbud variety, either. Listening to “Doll Parts” on Hole’s Live Through This yielded a presentation that fell somewhat short of natural-sounding. The headphones are far from grainy or harsh, but their overall sound is slightly processed. Courtney Love’s vocals lacked the realism afforded by hi-fi headphones. However, I was impressed with the transparency, and clearly heard all the instruments. It helped compensate for the uneven natural sound character, seemingly a result of degradation most likely caused by poor crossover design or budget-made drivers.

Changing pace, I tossed on Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” from Thriller and was taken with the treble. The guitar solo possessed satisfying detail, and the highs sounded crisp. Ditto for Jackson’s upper register, which sounded extended and smooth. Unfortunately, this track suffered from the same problems encountered with Hole, the presentation just slightly off and unnatural. Keeping with the Jackson theme, I listened to OutKast’s “Ms. Jackson” from the group’s breakout Stankonia and came away very satisfied with the headphones’ ample bass. My nitpick is that it wasn’t very tight and controlled, and thus, verged on boomy. The opening drums also lacked definition, showing again that the bass was sufficient but lacked desired control.

I wasn’t blown away by the Banjo, but for the budget consumer looking to upgrade from their flimsy iPod ear buds, the WESC represents a fine option. The Banjo has several pluses–as well as definite minuses. Capable of smooth, extended highs and decent transparency, the headphones lack the natural sound that’s a must for realistic sound reproduction. A middle-of-the-road model, the Banjo is better sounding than stock earpieces but doesn’t have the chops to compete with genuine hi-fi headphones. If you can spare a little more money, for around $100, you can find substantially better headphones–even if they don’t come with the stylish “wow” factor the Banjo delivers. — Kevin Gallucci

WESC Banjo Headphones

MSRP: $54
www.wesc.com

Decware, Decware.  Aren’t those the guys who make the Zen tube triode SET amplifiers?  Yes, they are.  But what are they doing creating something like this slick little package?  According to chief designer Steve Deckert, they wanted to make a great-sounding small headphone amplifier that had the same kind of voicing as their tube amps.  Sounds hard to believe that you could do that for a mere $350 (factory-direct price) and offer a lifetime warranty to the original owner.

It may be innocuous-looking, but there’s a lot lurking within the shielded and machined aluminum chassis that makes this little box sing. The latest Burr Brown op amps are employed along with polypropylene caps, precision resistors, high-quality switches and a very linear audiophile-grade precision volume pot. What’s more, the amp is powered by a single nine-volt battery contained within a damped enclosure for super-quiet operation. The battery will provide up to 50 hours of listening.  That’s a lot of goodness packed into a pocket-size wonder.

Operation couldn’t be simpler.  The front-panel layout is really simple with the source input on the left and headphone output on the right flanking the volume pot, a green led power indicator and on/off switch.

There are user-adjustable switches on the circuit board, one for normal/high gain operation and one for cross-feed on/off.  I left the gain setting at normal and the Cross-feed on. With Cross-feed engaged, I heard a more-stable presentation throughout my listening sessions.

Listening to music on headphones creates an issue: headphones are directional all the way down to the bass frequencies due to their direct coupling into the hearing canal. Therefore, the listening experience is different fromwhat was originally intended and what the user is accustomed to hearing with loudspeakers, which become less directional as you go down in frequency. Cross-feed sends a little bit of left-channel information to the right channel and a little bit of right-channel information to the left channel.

So how did it perform?  Wonderfully, to say the least.  As a source, I used an iPod Classic with either lossless files or full wav files.  I also used the supplied 12-inch,  3.5mm patch cord to connect the iPod to the Zen Head.  In keeping with everything being compact, I first tried a pair of Shure SE310 in-ear headphones for my evaluation.  Wow, for those accustomed to ear buds being directly driven by compact music devices, the quality of sound coming from the Zen will be a total revelation.  There is absolutely no glare or strained quality to the sound, bass is extremely detailed and powerful, and the “image” in your head is just right, not exaggerated or out of proportion.  Most importantly, the treble quality was really sweet and almost tube-like in presentation, which is not surprising if you consider the whole aim of this product.

Whether I listened to a jazz trio, a rock group or a classical orchestra, the Zen provided excellent-quality music reproduction and never missed a beat. As the basis for a compact traveling system or as the centerpiece for late-night musical entertainment, the Zen Head is all gain and no pain.

Upping the ante a bit, I next tried two different pairs of over-the-ear phones made by Phiaton. This is a relatively new name in the headphone universe, but you’ll be hearing a lot more from them in the future. Phiaton’s parent company, Cresyn, is an OEM manufacturer of headphone parts, speaker parts and various headsets for home and commercial use.

The first model I tried was the MS-400, which is probably the coolest-looking set of headphones ever made. Probably the most prominent feature of these phones is the rigid carbon fiber enclosures, which greatly reduces resonance. Couple that with the ear cushions and head-band cushion, which are really soft and comfortable and bright red in color, and you get an impressive high-tech twist on a rather familiar form. So impressive, in fact, that these won the prestigious International Design Award last year for their category. But do these design flourishes make for a product that is all show and no go?  Hardly; they sound as good as they look.

Handily, the connector is a two-piece affair that gives you the option of using either a 3.5 mm mini plug or a traditional quarter-inch phone plug.  I plugged the mini into the Zen Head and fired up the iPod.  Those not familiar with headphones of this quality will be immediately struck by an eerie absence –  an absence of shrieking treble, an absence of midrange distortion and an absence of bass bloat.  Instead, what you’ll find is a neutral and linear sonic presentation. No portion of the music is exaggerated at the expense of another.

This kind of presentation makes for extended and non-fatiguing listening sessions.  Add the fact that the MS 400s weigh only 6.5 ounces, and the listener can enjoy them for hours on end without any kind of strain.  In addition, the earpieces fold flat, making them more compact for storing or traveling purposes.

The MS 400s enabled me to hear once again the strength of the Zen Head. And unlike using the in-ear Shures, I could hear further into the recording and pick out small details that had been slightly masked before. On acoustic bass, the roundness and resonance that one expects are present and accounted for; male vocals are accurate and non-chesty; and you can hear the recording engineer’s small tricks and cues plain as day.  This is probably the result of the Cross-feed circuit doing its thing.

For another $50 ($299),  you can step up in the Phiaton line to the PS 500.

This model is part of the “Primal Series,” but the only primal aspect I could find here was the covering of the enclosures, which was a mock crocodile-skin finish. The driver diaphragms are the same 40mm size as the MS 400s, but they are in a larger enclosure which gets the listener 4 dB more sensitivity (102 vs. 98) and greater power-handling (2000mW vs. 1000mW).   In addition, they are coated in vaporized titanium, which makes them very light and very stiff.  The only downside to the PS 500 might be that it  weighs 2.6 ounces more than the MS 400. I honestly never noticed the additional weight during my evaluation process.

The sound of the PS 500 is at once more-detailed and more-refined than that of the MS 400. It was also more extended at both ends.  The detail does not come at the expense of irritation or annoying tizziness; there’s just more to hear in terms of the shimmer and decay of cymbals, the ringing of guitar strings and the overtones of a violin.  The midrange was more open, which was especially noticeable on live recordings of small jazz ensembles.  Finally, the bass dug deeper with more detail and punch.  Low-register slap bass sounded powerful and quick, and bass drum had a more detailed impact.

On a lark, I decided to try the PS 500 with a Musical Fidelity X-Can V8 tube headphone amplifier. What I heard was a more-open soundstage and more separation of instruments.  But it didn’t have the clarity of the Zen Head in the bass region.  Nor is it at all portable. The beauty of the Zen is that you can enjoy its attributes just about anywhere.

The Decware Zen Head and the Phiaton headphones are welcome new products for headphone lovers. The Zen Head’s portability and super high-quality sound put it in some (if you’ll excuse the pun) heady company, and the Phiaton products’ great sound, unique cosmetics and good build quality make them another great choice for satisfying private listening.  — Richard Colburn

Decware Zen Head headphone amplifier and Phiaton MS400 headphones

www.decware.com

www.phiaton.com

Monster Cable, believe it or not, lies at the forefront of power in the earbud industry, and the 31-year-old manufacturer based just south of San Francisco refers to its models as “in-ear speakers” for good reason. The dynamic drivers employed in its range of earbuds models, especially the top-of-the-line Turbine Pro Copper Edition, deliver a powerful response throughout all frequency ranges, though listeners will be most impressed by the punch on the low-end. This is likely due to the fact that Monster’s 2009 foray into the earbud market sprung out of its partnership with rapper and music industry magnate Dr. Dre, who undoubtedly encouraged the company’s engineers to develop its earbud models to have a staunch low-end output able to accurately reproduce bass-heavy rap and hip-hop tracks.

Taking full advantage of such a wide-bandwidth driver requires delivering a pure signal, which Monster has done by employing its expertise in cable and connector production. The 24-karat gold corrosion-resistant contacts ensure the purity of the signal transfer from the source, while Monster’s patented Magnetic FluxTube cabling, the same technology implemented throughout the brand’s lines of speaker cables, delivers the signal to the drivers at maximum strength.

The durability of the Turbine Pro Copper Editions are best exemplified in its all-metal driver housings—made of copper, of course—which give the buds a very sturdy feel and serve to minimize internal resonance. This sense of stability, however, is also the Turbine Pros greatest downfall. These earbuds tip the scales at 20.5 grams, making them monstrous in terms of weight and, thus, they may not provide the on-the-go comfort that the majority of earbud wearers seek.

Monster does compensate for this by offering a variety of ear tips, including what the brand calls SuperTips, which are composed of a silicon composite material that creates a superb seal to deliver a very high-level of noise isolation. Monster also includes a pair of convenient cases for its Turbine earbuds—one with a nifty snap-open mouth for extra ear tips and Monster’s weighty quarter-inch converter, the other a durable pouch with a magnetic-button-clad flap for the earbuds themselves.

Monster obviously went the extra mile and spared no expense to create the Turbine Pro Copper Editions, and while they certainly produce sound appropriate to Monster’s labeling of them as in-ear speakers, most users are looking for earbuds that don’t feel like loudspeakers in their ears. –– Bailey S. Barnard

Monster Turbine Pro Copper Edition

MSRP: $399

www.monstercable.com

Klipsch also offers these models with a mini-microphone and three-button remote incorporated into the cable design so that wearers can adjust volume levels and, if their media device also doubles as a cell phone, take calls while wearing the  buds. Klipsch has indeed created the X10s to be the ultimate in terms of comfort, but truly discerning listeners may detect a slight abatement of audio reproduction quality.

This is most perceptible on the low-ends and in the overall sound stage; tracks exploring the full frequency spectrum will sound a bit washed with the X10s. These shortcomings, however, are minor and buyers seeking lightweight earbuds should not be discouraged. Klipsch took advantage of its 64 years of experience engineering speakers and drivers to create the X10s, which, considering their extraordinarily svelte design, deliver remarkable quality.

This is thanks to Klipsch’s full-range KG 926 armature drive component, which is among the most powerful drivers on the market for its size. Klipsch placed this armature in an aluminum chassis that is literally pencil thin and further contributes to the lack of obtrusion in the ears of the wearer. Klipsch includes with the X10s a simple desktop box for accessories and for storing the phones when not on the go, as well as a small travel-convenient faux-leather box with a magnetically sealing flap.

The X10s are versatile in design and, though perhaps lacking a bit in the power department, they still reproduce audio with precision and clarity that will not disappoint listeners. –Bailey S. Barnard

Klipsch Image X10

MSRP: $349

www.klipsch.com

Curiosity got the best of me when the assignment came to listen to B&W’s new headphones.  As far as I knew, Bowers and Wilkins was not a name I had previously associated with headphones.  The P5 is their first headphone and is part of a new group that B&W calls Mobile Hi-Fi.  And you can put a strong emphasis on fidelity because these phones sound great.

Retailing for $299.95, these relatively compact on-ear phones are exquisitely finished in brushed aluminum, black leather and chrome steel.  They’re beautifully packaged as well. The overall presentation is like that of expensive jewelry, not affordable consumer-electronics gear. The P5s also come with a high-quality quilted magnetically latched carrying pouch containing two different cords.  One features a microphone and volume control for use with the iPhone and the other without, as well as a mini-to-quarter-inch stereo phone-plug adaptor for use with more traditional audio gear. One slick feature is that the left earpiece is magnetically attached to the outer shell and can be easily removed. Once you’ve done that, you can attach the proper cord for your listening device of choice. What’s more, the P5s are “Made for iPod,” meaning that they have been certified by Apple to meet compatibility standards required by recent-generation iPods.

B & W claims that the same amount of intense acoustic engineering that they use in their speaker manufacturing went into the P5 so that you can listen to them for long periods of time without suffering listener fatigue.  After a few of my own extended listening sessions, it’s clear that they have achieved their goals. There are no screaming high frequencies, shouting midrange or bloated bass here. What you will find is a finely engineered set of transducers that faithfully produce music in a very neutral and linear fashion. Hmmm, kind of like B & W speakers. Great sound can be compromised without a comfortable fit, and the P5 hits the mark again. The soft leather head band and ear pieces are light and fit tightly, and they provide good but not complete isolation without any undue pressure.

My evaluation began with the Musical Fidelity X-Can V8 headphone amp, evaluating both uncompressed music stored on my hard drive as well as CD’s played via my computer’s optical drive. What is immediately obvious is that the P5s present a spacious concert hall right in the middle of your head. Listening to the latest from Moe, Smash Hits, Volume One, the vocals were natural and lacking any kind of artificial push. Guitars were well-rendered and the overtones preserved, while the bass drum and guitar had the requisite “thwack” with no overhang, a characteristic of good speakers but not many sets of headphones.

As I ran through dozens of pieces from all genres, I was struck by just how non-fatiguing the sound really was. For those of you accustomed only to ear bud-type phones, you will probably be in for a shock at how great your music can sound, even from an iPod. It’s not small, tiny and tinny. It’s really meaty, beaty big and bouncy, to borrow a phrase from the Who. Classical-music fans will be happy that the string tone on the P5s has a lot of body and never becomes shrill.

Next I moved to my iPod Classic, using a mixture of .wav and lossless files.  Considering that this is still the audiophile approach, I sampled the P5 with MP3 files toward the end of my listening sessions to see if these phones made sense as an upgrade for the average listener.  No matter what type of music I tried, the P5s came through with great results. The reggae bass line on “Chop ‘Em Down” from Matisyahu’s Live At Stubbs was forceful and full sounding but well-controlled, while they also conveyed a good sense of space in the club.  Moving on to “Miami Gato” from Medeski, Martin & Woods’ End Of World Party, the propulsive nature of Billy Martin’s drumming was captured faithfully and keeps the feet moving.  Finally, the skull ripping “Come On” from Stanley Clarke’s The Toys Of Men was served up with full impact by the P5s.

As a final test, I tried a few low-res tracks that were downloaded from iTunes. First up was “Don’t You Forget About Me” by New Found Glory, where I expected the vocals to sound really compressed; surprisingly, they weren’t. Next, the upbeat “Lump” by The Presidents Of The United States Of America sounded pretty dynamic where usually it would sound squashed with typical ear bud-type headphones.  It’s a tribute to the engineering behind the P5s that MP3s sounded entirely tolerable albeit not nearly as good as uncompressed music.  Regardless of your level of audio-equipment enthusiasm, the P5s are a worthwhile upgrade even for the MP3/iPod user.

The P5s have no negatives and a lot of positives: stylish looks, comfortable fit, good isolation and most of all, superb sound quality.  The B &W engineers have done a brilliant job on their entry into the highly competitive headphone world. Whether you are in the market for a reasonably compact set of headphones as a welcome relief to ear-bud fatigue or are simply looking for a great pair of headphones for home audio use, look no further that the P5s.  –Richard Colburn

B&W P5 Headphones

MSRP: $299.95

http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/

Grado Labs introduced its GR8 models for listeners seeking both power and comfort, and hats off to Grado’s engineers for producing these remarkable earbuds. The GR8s are extremely lightweight at 12.5 grams (Grado’s website claims that they weigh just 9 grams) and the design is very conducive to a seamless fit. Virtually oxygen-free copper wiring paired with a gold-coated brass mini-plug connector will deliver a pure signal, and Grado provides three silicon-rubber composite ear-tip options to provide comfort to a variety of ear shapes. For additional convenience, Grado has placed a raised dot on the left bud so that users can be sure that they’re wearing the correct bud in the correct ear even in the dark.

While Grado is better known for its large circumaural headphones, the GR8’s provide true top-notch performance, and like its over-ear phones, these earbuds deliver the same warm, full-bodied tones that enthusiasts have come to expect from this brand.

The GR8s give sensational clarity to vocals and present even the very highest register frequencies with precision and plenty of headroom. Per typical Grado fidelity, rock, pop, and soul tracks are rich with expressiveness and emotion, and even classical tracks radiate through the frequency spectrum.

The GR8s are indeed a very well-rounded pair of earbuds, providing a very high level of comfort and power.  –Bailey S. Barnard

Grado GR8

MSRP: $299

www.gradolabs.com

Some audio components aspire to wow you right out of the box.  They deliver thumping bass with frightening ease and highs so crystalline you wonder what details your previous piece of equipment masked.  Initially, this effect can seem transcendent.  But sometimes it inspires a nagging doubt about whether the gear truly offers the goods or if it has merely duped you with overemphasized frequency responses or other anomalies that have mysteriously captured your attention, only to become distracting or overbearing in the long run.

Other components impress in a different, subtler way—with a certain quiet authority that doesn’t attempt to raise its voice or shout and rant.  Such performance is implicit and doesn’t require the boisterous pomp and circumstance of equipment that has to slap you in the face in order to get your attention.

The Simaudio MOON 810LP Dual-Mono Phono Preamplifier falls into the latter camp.  It’s not just quiet; it’s dead silent, even tomb-like.  It’s also amazingly simple to operate.  Just plug in the power cord, push the lone button on the faceplate, adjust a few loading features and you’re ready to go in less than five minutes.  But that’s not the whole story.  After all, hi-fi isn’t about convenience.

Still, I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I received the unit.  What would distinguish the MOON 810LP, I wondered?  A number of nifty phonostages have passed through my system over the past year, including the Pass Labs XP-25, and each has had its own set of virtues.  But, of the solid-state units I’ve reviewed, the MOON 810LP possesses an absence of noise that is most enticing.

Entering the Silent Void

The technical prowess exhibited by Sim with this preamp did not surprise me:  The company is on a roll, having produced a series of new products that offer exceptional performance at reasonable prices.  Sure, anyone can achieve superior performance by pumping endless R&D dollars and cost-is-no-object componentry into a piece of equipment.  But is it really worth it?  In the case of the MOON 810LP, Sim has gone to great lengths to create a product that can go head-to-head with those from the likes of Boulder and other manufacturers producing stratospherically priced solid-state units.

Part of the MOON Evolution series, the 810LP boasts switchable capacitance and impedance load settings, which makes fine-tuning the MM or MC cartridge paired with the unit a bit easier.  This preamp also allows users to set the load level at any of 16 steps, from 40 dB up to a whopping 70 dB.  Users mandate these settings by flicking the various small switches located underneath the unit.  For this review, I used the Lyra Atlas cartridge, so I ended up setting the 810LP’s gain at 66 dB, a healthy level by any measure.

The adjustability of these settings, however, is not what accounts for the low noise of the unit, which measures -150 dB at 1 volt of input power, according to Sim.  A portion of the 810LP’s quiet operation can be attributed to its formidable power supply, which offers some 40,000 uF of capacitance and is located within the main chassis but housed in an isolated enclosure made out of satin-coated 14-gauge steel.  Sim mounts the audio circuit board on a five-point gel-based floating suspension.  While the phonostage has balanced circuitry, it can also be run single-ended.  By and large, balanced operation will run quieter than single-ended, but single-ended sometimes can be perceived as possessing a little more punch.

With some preamps, it takes a little time to figure out their sonic trademarks.  There was no such problem with the Sim, once powered up for 24 hours.  As soon as the needle is dropped, it becomes quite apparent that the Sim likes to boogie.  For example, on the recently issued Acoustic Sounds LP of Shelby Lynne’s album Just A Little Lovin’, the dynamism and jet-black backgrounds prove overwhelming.  Was I stacking the deck a little by choosing this album?  Sure.  The production values are awesome—a tribute to Chad Kassem’s indefatigable zeal to produce the best when it comes to LPs.  But the Sim brings a sense of placidity to the table, an unruffled evenness, with each note unhurried, as Lynne’s voice trails off into the ether—and the decays seem to reverberate almost endlessly.  The brush and cymbal work, too, were pellucid. And I, as a result, was transfixed.

Lest TONEAudio readers think I only spun fancy new pressings for this review, please rest assured that I also listened to an old warhorse: Debussy’s “Iberia” captured on a Living Stereo pressing with legendary conductor Fritz Reiner, whose fanatic precision and attention to detail come across beautifully on the LP.  Once again, the MOON 810LP stands out.  This time I was most impressed with the way the low noise floor exposed the inner detail of the orchestra, which would have been submerged when played through a lesser phonostage.

It was as though the aperture of a camera had been adjusted—suddenly there was new clarity.  In a sense, it became easier to listen to the music. The listener needn’t exert such effort, as the music was simply present, without struggling to emerge through a faint haze.  The fog had lifted, as a dealer put it to me years ago when I was listening to an upgraded Linn LP-12 versus an older version.  With the MOON 810LP, there is a lot of fog lifting.

Similarly, on a superb recording of Stephane Grappelli and Barney Kessel from Black Lion Records, the interplay between the violin and guitar is as vivid as I’ve heard it.  The absence of noise helps close the noise-floor gap between CDs and LPs.  Say what you want about digital sound—and I think it’s nuts to dismiss it—one of its strengths is that there is, essentially, no audible noise during playback, which helps endow the musical reproduction with a true sense of realism.  Sure, when you attend a live classical concert, you hear the screeching of chairs, the neighbor next to you reaching for a lozenge, or the snoring of a bored patron—or, at a rock concert, a shouting crowd.  But the one thing you don’t hear is distortion.  When listening to live music, there’s no barrier between you and the sound being produced, just air vibrations traveling toward your ear canal.  Now that ain’t happening in your listening room, no matter how festooned with dampening foam it might be.  The whole shebang—power chords, amplifiers and preamplifiers, cables, loudspeakers—amounts to a barrier between you and the real thing.  But one of the goals of audio reproduction is to move one step further toward the real thing—to reproduce it, if you will—which is what the MOON 810LP does with the utmost simplicity and clarity.

The Benefits of Being a Little Too Quiet

Now, you may ask, what doesn’t the MOON 810LP do?  A comparison with the Ypsilon VPS 100, a transformer-coupled tube-driven phonostage hailing from Greece, proved instructive.  After listening to André Previn’s incredibly pristine 1974 recording of Lieutenant Kijé on an EMI pressing, I switched the input on my Ypsilon preamplifier to the Sim, which revealed a completely different world.  The MOON 810LP acquits itself so admirably that its great strengths are immediately apparent: low noise and a matter-of-fact sense of control.  It has a certain clarity that is difficult to surpass.  On the other hand, it does not offer as much detail, dynamics or ambience as the much pricier Ypsilon.  With the Sim, there simply was not as much air around the instruments, such that the size of the hall in which the recording was taken seemed to shrink.  But the comparison is not really a fair one.  With its separate step-up transformer, the Ypsilon clocks in at around $32,000.  And a solid-state preamplifier, almost by definition, is going to have different sonic traits than one filled with vacuum tubes.

Regardless, at its price of $12,000—which is not inconsiderable, but not at the nosebleed level, either—the Sim offers sensational performance, which proves that that true fidelity can be enjoyed at prices that are steep but not prohibitive.  Already, even before packing it up, I’m feeling a little wistful at the very the thought of parting with the Sim. And, unfortunately, I can’t really justify purchasing another phonostage.  When it’s gone I’ll undoubtedly long for the Sim’s fundamental ability to efface noise, rendering the music in real-time and thus coming closer to the sound of a master tape.

This phonostage will not allow you to take a walk on the wild side. Its mantra is control. It never loses its composure, never becomes shrill, never allows a hint of noise to emerge. It subordinates everything to fidelity to the LP.  My guess is that it measures ruler flat.  I also suspect that, given the care that went into manufacturing the 810LP, it will prove very reliable, which is no small matter.  If you’re looking for a preamp that will impart the music with that eerily magical glow or bump up the mid-bass response, then search elsewhere.  But if you’re searching for a top-notch solid-state unit that is true to the music, then auditioning the Sim is a must.

Additional listening

By Jeff Dorgay

Having put the MOON 810LP through its paces before sending it to Jacob, I was highly impressed with this purist design.  Being a car guy, it reminded me of the original Lotus Elise Type 25 Special Editions that were sent to the US intended for club-racing purposes only and that were 500 pounds lighter than the current Elise. In essence, the Type 25 SE eliminated everything that took away from the car’s performance.  The MOON 810LP takes a similar approach to audio reproduction:  It offers only one input, minimal switching (all out of the circuit path) and no remote or fluorescent display to introduce noise or distortion.  While I must admit to enjoying the performance of my ARC REF Phono 2, which also has these features—and found that having to jostle the Sim around to change gain and loading slightly inconvenient—most people aren’t swapping cartridges as often as I do.  Audiophiles that zero in on a single cartridge and table combination will only have to do this on rare occasion when using the Sim.

Many have asked me to make the obvious yet unfair comparison between the $12,000 MOON 810LP and the $60,000 Vitus MPP-201, the latter of which has been one of my reference components for the better part of the year.  Much like Jacob’s experience with the Ypsilon, the Vitus offers extreme levels of performance, with slightly more dynamic slam and even further insight into a recording than the MOON 810LP.

However, the line of diminishing returns is definitely crossed here.  The MOON 810LP got me so close to the MPP with enough money left over to buy a nice pre-owned Lotus Elise that I can’t see why anyone not possessing unlimited funds would go the extra mile for the Vitus.  (It should be noted that I don’t possess unlimited funds; I’m just a little nuts, which helps explains why I drive a Fiat instead of a Lotus.)  Comparing the MOON 810LP with similarly priced phonostages is more realistic and more revealing.  Comparing 24 bit/192khz samples of tracks captured from the Boulder 1008 or the ASR Basis (both roughly $12,000) to those captured from ARC’s REF Phono 2 and Phono 2SE proves that the folks at Simaudio in Montreal have indeed done their homework.

Winning the Quiet Game

There is no clear cut “winner,” if you will, because each of the aforementioned units offers excellent performance and each caters to a different user.  The ARC offers a bit more reach-out-and-touch-it midrange, as you might expect from tubes.  And its two inputs (each user-assignable via remote) lend themselves more to the vinyl enthusiast with more than one turntable and cartridge at his or her disposal.  The Boulder also has two inputs, but it is the least easily adjustable of the group, requiring users to dig out the soldering iron to make changes.  But the Boulder has perhaps the most bass slam of the group, though it is a bit drier through the mid-band than the others.  Keep in mind that much of this can be minimized by choice of cartridge, phono cable and overall system balance.

The MOON 810LP, being the most neutral, will fit in the widest range of systems.  And, as much as I love vacuum tubes, I hate replacing them, especially when this can often bring unexpected results.  The MOON 810LP will sit quietly on your equipment rack and offer analog enjoyment for decades.

It also delivers tonal accuracy as well as tonal contrast, no doubt a result of its nonexistent noise floor.  While we don’t perform measurements here, when comparing the MOON 810LP to the MPP with identical turntable/arm/cartridge setups, our listening panel felt the MOON 810LP was the equal of the Vitus, if not a bit quieter.  There’s an additional socket on the rear panel of the Sim marked “DC Power,” which suggests that Simaudio may have an external power supply in the works.  I can only imagine the jump in performance that would give this preamp.

And, if you are a music lover that does not suffer the need for constant change and is loyal to a single cartridge, the MOON 810LP should be at the top of your list.  It offers class-leading performance and solid build quality.

Simaudio MOON 810LP Dual-Mono Phono Preamplifier

MSRP: $12,000

www.simaudio.com

I love music and make my living off of that love, in print and on the air. But when it comes to audio quality, I’m tuned out. In the family room, I’m just fine with Boston Acoustic A60s in the bookshelves above the stereo—just two of them. 5.1 is 3.1 more than we need. And in my office, I make do with a pair of Bose Companions. Beyond what I hear from the computer, all I need, for both fun and work (my radio column in the San Francisco Chronicle) are my Delphi satellite tuner, a Logitech Internet tuner, and a Radiosophy HD, which serves as my AM/FM radio.

Back upstairs, Dianne and I did opt for speakers in the kitchen ceiling and in the living room—just a pair of smaller Bostons flanking a raised fireplace. But bedrooms, bathrooms and other areas had to make do with radios—or nothing at all. It wasn’t exactly the sounds of silence, but close.

And that was fine by us. We don’t need our iTunes and CD library wherever we go. So, when Thomas Meyer and Eric Nielsen, who work at Sonos, came calling, offering to let me try out a Play:3 system, I put them off. Sure, it sounded enticing: a wireless system “to bring almost all the music you could ever want – from every corner of the planet – to every room of your home,” as Meyer put it. But I thought it’d be a headache setting up an around-the-house system. Nielsen  assured me that it’d be painless. I hemmed and hawed some more (I’m on deadline for a book on Little Feat), and finally agreed to check it out for a possible item in my radio column.

I have, and here’s the item. It’s not a review—I’m hardly qualified to evaluate audio equipment—but a report on what it’s like to expand the sound of music to…everywhere.

Back in the day—which is to say, when I was much  younger—when I wanted to hear the radio or hi fi in different rooms around the house, I had to wire up speakers in each room—or, in fact, hire someone to do it for me. If I paid extra, I could get separate volume controls for each pair of speakers. Otherwise, the amp or tuner controlled everything.  Now, of course, everything’s wireless, and it can be as cheap as a Windows Media Player sending programming to computer speakers around the house—or as sophisticated as a Bose, Lync or Crestron whole-house system, running from $2,000 to $5,000 and up – way up.

Sitting comfortably below those numbers is the Sonos Play:3, which, basically, sends audio from online sources (Pandora, Stitcher, Spotify, Rhapsody, etc.), including thousands of Internet radio stations around the world,  to wherever you place the Play:3, a speaker containing a pair of drivers and a tweeter.  As a controller for what music goes to which room, you can use your smartphone, iPad or computer. An optional “Connect” device links Sonos to your sound system, so your original speakers don’t go to waste. (Sonos has also introduced the “Sub,” which the company says boosts audio to supersonic levels.)

Not being an audiophile, I don’t know about that.  And, not being handy, I’m not in sync with the many reviewers who’ve lauded Sonos’ easy set-up. But, with help from my tech guy, Kevin Miller, I got my Play:3 system running. As it played, Miller exclaimed, “This is the kind of thing you used to have to pay $6,000 for.”

So, what do you have to pay these days? About $350 for the Play:3 and a bridge to connect to a router. Add $100 for a heftier Play:5 speaker, and $350 for “Connect.” Sonos has lots of options. It’s best you go to its site (sonos.com). I’m here to say that for radio fans who want both terrestrial and Internet radio, plus their own music collection, to be available beyond where the computer or stereo system is, this is pretty cool. I especially enjoyed exploring TuneIn Radio and its instant access to some 60,000 stations around the world, from local faves to, say, a classical station in Greenland.  (“Klassisk.”)

I’m on the great New Orleans station, WWOZ, right now, enjoying “The Kitchen Sink” and a segue from Taj Mahal to Kris Kristofferson. Upstairs, we have a San Salvador station (Laser Ingles) playing American hits. I can go to Sirius/XM and, later, my Little Feat channel on Pandora, or dig up any of 15 million tunes from MOG or RDIO, or a rare live cut on Wolfgang’s Vault. I can play a radio aircheck I have stashed on iTunes. With the brand new DAR.fm app, I can record any of thousands of AM/FM (and BBC) shows and play them back on demand. And on Songza, I can find channels to match any mood or activity. Crazy.

Through an audio input in “Connect,” you can even transmit music from your CD player, turntable or new-fangled digital music player to the Play:3. And it all sounds good. As an actual audio authority, Terrence O’Brien of engadget, noted, “The Play:3 is more than adequate for casual listening. It’s clear, loud, and punchy enough to start up a small dance party if need be.”

Even without guests bouncing around a parquet floor, you’ll appreciate Sonos.  It’s not all about high-end audio. It’s about being able to hear just about anything you might want, whenever and wherever you want. When Thomas Meyer, at Sonos, first invited me to check out a system, he claimed that “our customers listen to twice as much music after they buy, and are borderline fanatical about their experience.”  That didn’t sound right to me, but time with Sonos has proven him right. I’m well over the borderline. And it’s a good place to be.

Sonos Play3

MSRP: $299

www.sonos.com

A recurring theme in country music and, perhaps, in life is that you never realize what you’ve got until it’s gone.  Truer words were never spoken in the world of audiophilia when it comes to reproducing bass.  However, a subwoofer can drive you to madness, much like a high-maintenance romantic interest.  When it’s right, you’re giddy with delight and things couldn’t be better, but when it’s wrong, all you do is focus on said partner’s shortcomings—and, eventually, you both go your separate ways.

Having spent the last 20 years on and off the bus with a wide variety of subwoofers, I can highly recommend the REL G-2 for any number of reasons.  Perhaps this subwoofer’s greatest selling point, however, is that it comes with a remote.  My enthusiasm regarding this feature doesn’t (necessarily) speak to my inability to escape my listening chair’s gravitational pull; it is more to comment that having this wireless device in my hand satiates the nagging voice at the back of my mind that is always just slightly dissatisfied with the subwoofer settings.  The REL G-2 eliminates that stress completely by providing just the right amount of low-frequency (or LF) reinforcement right at your fingertips.

The G-2 is also easy to set up—that is, it’s as easy to set up as a 90-pound anything can be.  Thus, I suggest that even our more-muscular readers enlist help when moving the G-2, because it’s just big and awkwardly shaped enough to be a little tough for one person to lift.  Many users may even decide that incorporating a few of these subs into their system is necessary.  In this case, you should enlist the aid of an installer or, at the very least, a handful of burly buddies.

Sumiko Audio, the importer of REF subwoofers in Berkeley, CA, has a sizeable showcase of three G-1s flanking either side of Sonus faber’s celebrated flagship loudspeakers (dubbed simply “The Sonus faber”).  The audio experience this system provides is understandably impressive.  The LF performance is effortless, all encompassing and seamlessly integrated with the main speakers.  The bass swells up from the performance with an ease that suggests a major paradigm shift in how the lowest musical notes should be handled.

Priced at $3,495, the G-2 is slightly smaller in stature and reach than the larger G-1, priced at $4,495.  The G-2 uses a long-throw 10-inch woofer with a carbon-fiber cone and a 450-watt onboard amplifier, whereas the G-1 uses a 600-watt amplifier to drive its 12-inch woofer.  Down only 6 dB at 18 Hz, the G-2 should provide enough bass grunt for most users, either by itself or as a pair, but it can also be stacked and used as part of an array.

Major Differences

REL manages the lower frequencies differently than other manufacturers—and does so with excellent result.  While the company offers line-level RCA inputs, these should be used only as a last resort.  The supplied Neutrik speakON connector utilizes a high-level connection that goes directly to your power amplifier’s speaker outputs.  The sub’s high impedance does not affect loading of the main speakers, thus allowing the character of your amplifier’s sound to carry forward into the subwoofer.  Consulting the instruction manual and using my preamplifier’s outputs to drive the G-2 still results in decent sound.  When switching power amplifiers, from the Audio Research REF 150 to the Burmester 911 to the Pass Labs Aleph 3, a slight disconnect between main speakers and subwoofer exists.  However, during all of this, the bass reproduction does not change in character, even with these three very different amplifiers via the RCAs.  Moving to the provided speakON input reveals the variations between amplifiers more easily, with a more seamless blend between the main speakers.

Those wanting to use the G-2, or multiple G-2s, in a multichannel system will be happy to find that the sub can accommodate the .1/LFE signal from your processor of choice.  It also has a unique grounding circuit to work with class-D amplifiers or monoblock power amps.  All of this is clearly outlined in the well-written manual.

Though it adds cost and complexity, the G-1 and G-2 both use MOSFET class-AB amplifiers with massive power supplies instead of the class-D amplifiers found in many other subwoofers.  REL claims that its subs to have the fastest crossover filter networks, with a rise time of only 4 milliseconds.  I’m firmly convinced that these features, along with an additional filter with a gentle slope that removes content above 250 Hz, contribute to the level of fine detail that the G-2 offers.

REL prefers corner loading for the G-2, and that’s where I’ve had the best luck with the company’s subs in the past—so why mess with good results?  And this is where that nifty little remote control comes in handy.  As I said, fine-tuning a subwoofer, no matter what brand and by what method you choose, can make your hair fall out.  Like me, I’m sure you have your favorite tracks with deep-bass information that you use to audition any speaker, regardless of whether it has a subwoofer or not.

Now, as much as I dislike Jennifer Warnes’ “Ballad of the Runaway Horse,” I’ve always seen various Sumiko employees use this track to optimize speakers to great success, so when in Rome… While this track certainly impressed, even Romans like to party, so I moved on to something with a little more oomph for my review of the G-2.  With the best balance of weight and speed achieved, “Kill Everybody” from electronica master Skrillex blew me out of my listening chair—just like the guy in the Maxell ad from the 1980s.  The G-2 gives new meaning to the term “room lock.” Should Jennifer Warnes or a real-time analyzer not be your cup of tea, a series of test tones (like those from the early Stereophile test discs) simplify the process.  As you go down the frequency range, the transition from main speakers should appear at the same level.  It should also be difficult, if not impossible, to discern the location of the subwoofer when using just your ears.

Controlling this from your listening position dramatically reduces setup time, allowing you to remain planted in the same spot while making quick, small changes without having to psyche yourself out with aural memory tricks.  But best of all, the remote allows you to fine-tune on the fly.  No matter how great the G-2 sounds with your favorite bass track, it needs to be bumped up a touch up for Skynryd’s album Nuthin’ Fancy, and then way back down for the latest Cat Power release, Sun.  The LED indicator at the bottom of the G-2 lets you know the sub’s level, frequency and phase (0 or 180 degrees).  This makes up for the tiny though stylish type on the remote.  If you have kids or inquisitive friends, be sure to use the settings lock feature.

Fortunately, you’re usually never more than a click or two away on the level control and, depending on your main speakers, the crossover frequency can even benefit from a nudge now and then.  This takes the G-2 from merely great to awesome, and the more time you spend with the G-2, you’ll notice a more immersive experience at all listening levels.

Carry That Weight

The G-2 performs well with a wide range of speaker systems; but, in keeping with the REL philosophy of a sub-bass system with the sub augmenting the deepest frequencies, it is not intended to be part of a sub/sat system.  However, it still performs incredibly well throwing said suggestion to the wind, dialing the crossover frequency up to the 50-to-60-Hz range and using it with stand-mount monitors, or even ESLs.

Crossed over at 30 Hz or below, it’s virtually impossible to place the location of G-2 in the room, but it does start to lose a bit of its stealthiness when crossed over at a significantly higher point.  I suggest a pair of G-2’s if you need to operate your system this way for best results.  Fortunately, the G-2 has more than enough speed to keep up with any speaker you pair it with.

As good as the G-2 works with small speakers or panels, a full-range speaker system allows the G-2 to reach its full potential.  Crossover frequency now lowered to 27 Hz (adjustable in 1-Hz increments) the $3,495 G-2 brings the $22,900 Elipsa SE speakers eerily close in sound to that of the $45,000 Sonus faber Stradivaris.  Even my reference GamuT S9s, which are only down 3 dB at 18 Hz, open up with the G-2—and I now find myself dreaming of six of these!

Midrange Augmentation

Properly installed, the G-2 feels practically invisible, as it should, adding low-frequency reinforcement to the main speakers.  And there remains an equal benefit through the mid-band, which REL likes to refer to as “The REL effect.”  You’ll know you have the G-2 set just right when turning it on makes the side walls in your listening room disappear and when even musical selections with minimal low-bass content spread out across the soundstage with a bigger and broader effect than before.

Using the sub in this mode, only bringing up the deepest frequencies, helps convey spatial cues present in the recording space.  Even string quartets or acoustic music with no apparent major LF content open up and breathe, with my listening room feeling much bigger than it is.  I think the fourth dimension is deep bass, and the REL G-2 does it right.

Sampling familiar tunes, the wood block in Tom Petty’s “A Face in the Crowd” is now four feet in front of my face, where it was back in line with the speakers when the G-2 level is set back to zero.  Annie Lennox’s background vocals in “No More I Love You’s” appear way off center and down almost at floor level.  One-note bass is a thing of the past with the G-2.  Jaco Pastorius’ fretless bass line in Joni Mitchell’s “Jericho,” from her album Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter, comes through with the healthy dose of speed and overtones that made him famous.  Regardless of musical program, having the G-2 in the system is always a benefit.

Don’t Abuse the Power

The REL G-2 works equally well in both of my listening rooms—my main room is 16 feet by 25 feet; my second room is 13 feet by 16 feet—but, like any addictive substance, one has to resist the urge to overindulge.  For the first few days, it was fun to play a lot of Deadmau5, Skrillex and, of course, the artist formerly known as Snoop Dogg (who now calls himself Snoop Lion).  Finding new weak spots in my walls, I got used to the G-2 and prudence became more the rule than the exception.

Having auditioned many subwoofers over the years, the REL G-2 is now at the top of my overachievers list and is featured as a TOP TONE component in issue 48.  If you’d like to unlock your system’s full potential, you should audition one—or maybe six!

The REL G-2 Sub-Bass System

MSRP:  $3,495

www.rel.net (Factory)

www.sumikoaudio.net (US importer)

Peripherals

Perhaps the world’s most beautiful headphone stand is also the most expensive. 

But for those of you with primo phones, what better way to show them off on the Omega stands?  Available in five colors from fairly dark, to the light maple featured here, this stand is slightly smaller than the average head, so that very little pressure is put on the headband assembly.  We haven’t found a set of phones that don’t look great on the Omega stand, and they also feature a soft flannel pouch that will cover both the stand and phones to avoid dust buildup.  But what’s the point of that? – Jeff Dorgay

Sieveking Omega Headphone Stand

MSRP: $179

www.musicdirect.com

http://www.sieveking-sound.de

Always losing USB cables, in-ear phones and those new small chargers that come with the iPod and iPhone?  The Scooba Design Cable Stable Rollup Kit barely takes up any space in your purse, briefcase or suitcase and holds four such items.  Perfect for your next trip, photoshoot, or off world endeavour. – Jeff Dorgay

Scooba Design Cable Stable Rollup Kit

$14.95

www.skoobadesign.com

Whether you are having issues with a wiggly floor or would like to accommodate another turntable in your listening room, the Solidsteel WS-5 is a great way to get the job done. Its 19.5 x 16.25 inch shelf will work with all but the most humugous turntables and it has a claimed weight capacity of 130 pounds.  Remember to try and get at least one solid bolt into a wall stud and use heavy duty (100 pound) anchors on the other two.  Allen screws combined with tiny cones under the shelf allow for fine tuning shelf height so that your table is perfectly level. -Jeff Dorgay

Solidsteel WS-5 Turntable Shelf

MSRP: $399

http://www.solidsteel.it

Vienna Acoustics takes pride in doing things somewhat differently than the rest of the pack.  Most manufacturers refer to their SE models as “special editions,” yet the new Mozart is a “Symphony Edition.”  A nice touch.  Also, whereas many speakers utilize a ring radiator or metallic dome of some sort, Vienna chooses a 1.1-inch silk dome tweeter, produced to the company’s specs in the Scan-Speak factory.

“We kept the front faceplate from a standard Scan-Speak tweeter to keep cost down,” says Kevin Wolff, Vienna Acoustics’ International Sales Director.  “But inside, it’s all different.  We pushed for a handful of design changes to make this tweeter really special.”  And special it is.  The tweeter is the same one used in the $6,500-per-pair Beethoven Concert Grand speakers and, like those pricier models, the $3,500 Mozart SEs redefine “sweet spot.”

A visit from Wolff underlines just how good these speakers are and how critical it is to fine-tune speaker placement.  The Mozarts sound great right out of the box, but 20 minutes of careful fine-tuning takes them from great to sublime.  Think, for a minute, how your car’s ride is affected with one tire underinflated.  The crisp steering response you’re used to is diminished, but a quick trip to the air pump makes a substantial difference, making things right again.  It’s the same with speaker placement.  Once the Mozart’s are right, they disappear in the room like a great pair of mini monitors, but with a much more robust LF response.

Satisfied that things are performing properly, we audition a number of different tracks.  At the end of our listening session, the MoFi LP of Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get it On makes its way to the turntable and Wolff smiles.  The Mozarts definitely have the juju, revealing the magic of the Lyra Atlas cartridge—quite impressive for any speaker, but even more so considering their reasonable price.

Comfortable Playing Everything

The ultra-wide stereo effect of Lou Donaldson’s LD+3 immediately captivates, accentuating the improved sound of the Audio Wave remaster, as well as the timbral accuracy that the Mozart SEs bring to the presentation.  While we can blather on about crossover slopes and the like, suffice it to say that everything works together brilliantly—in seconds you forget such tedious technical details and concentrate on the music.  Gene Harris’ piano sounds wonderful and Donaldson’s sax commands the soundstage.  The Mozart’s simply let the music shine through, leaving you to just enjoy rather than analyze.

Students of PRaT (Pace, Rhythm and Timing) will be instantly smitten with the Mozart SEs.  Changing the pace from classic Blue Note jazz to the title track of Frank Zappa’s Jazz From Hell is equally fascinating.  The Mozart SEs do not miss a lick of Zappa’s rapid time changes and dissonant textures.  Donald Fagen’s new release, Sunken Condos, provides a calm middle ground.  The highly textured and stylized studio recording illustrates how well the Mozart SEs effortlessly keep everything sorted.

Don Henley’s “Not Enough Love in the World,” from his album Building the Perfect Beast, is similarly rendered.  This slightly compressed, over-processed and totally ’80s classic divulges new treasures.  Henley’s voice has major depth, combined with layer upon layer of synthesizers—you can almost feel someone bending the pitch wheel on that Yamaha DX7.  Leaving this ’80s genre for some heavier tunes proves an important point about the Mozarts:  They give a riveting performance of less-than-primo recordings, an important consideration for those of us living in the real world.

U2’s Rattle and Hum has to be one of the most poorly recorded live albums in history.  But, when cranking up “All Along the Watchtower” to what has to be the Mozarts’ breaking point (the meters on the ARC REF 250’s pushing close to the “caution” zone), the speakers handle it effortlessly, proving that these are not speakers limited to only a handful of audiophile-approved pressings.  In the midst of this gigantic ball of midrange, you can distinctly pick out the Edge’s backup vocals over the distorted guitars and throttling bass line.  The Mozarts are clearly just as comfortable playing it casual or formal.

The review wouldn’t be complete without playing a bit of the music for which these speakers are named—and Kathleen Battle performing “Motet; Exsultate, Jubilate, K.165” (from Kathleen Battle Sings Mozart) adequately fits the bill.  Battle’s pure soprano gently fills the soundstage, going rapidly up and down the scale.  Here, speakers lacking the Mozarts’ transient speed would blur horribly.  Again, the Mozarts maintain the pace perfectly with complex fare, even at low volumes.  The speakers realistically reproduce the violins while still giving more than enough weight to the orchestra.

Moving into a heavier and more-modern realm of musical selections, I was impressed with the level of bass output of the two 6.5-inch drivers.  A long playlist of electronica and hip-hop tracks proves that these speakers are only limited by the accompanying amplifiers’ power reserve.  Deadmau5’ “Right This Second” from the 4×4=12 album goes down very deep, forcing the Mozart SEs to move a serious amount of air, which they handle impeccably.  Before bouncing back to Daft Punk, a quick interlude of Pink Floyd, Genesis and Mickey Hart confirms the speakers’ major bass output.

Labeled a 2.5-way system, the speakers are equipped with two woofers, which handle the deepest bass tones and combine the speed of smaller drivers but have the output of a single larger one.  The lower driver gently rolls off as frequencies rise, offering the pinpoint imaging and low upper-bass coloration of a mini monitor.

Beautiful Inside and Out

Relying on gentle crossover slopes and wideband drivers, the Mozart SEs achieve a 90-dB sensitivity rating and are tremendously easy to drive.  Crossover capacitors are matched to 1% tolerance and the inductors to .7%.  You’d expect this kind of fanaticism in a $20,000 pair of speakers, but it’s unheard of in a $3,500 pair.  “We only know how to build a speaker one way,” Wolff says with a smile, as way of explanation.

The cabinets of these beauties are equally sumptuous yet understated.  The radius on the front baffle is hand-finished—the piano-black finish puts the paint job of an S-Class Mercedes to shame.  The binding posts are unique to Vienna Acoustics, and they’re not those dreadful plastic-coated binding items that so many manufacturers have adopted.  Even the front grille takes a different approach:  The crease down the middle helps to channel tweeter energy, in “all but the most critical listening situations,” according to the company.

The drivers are VA’s own design, assembled at the Scan-Speak factory, and it’s worth noting that the woofers show an equal level of obsession on behalf of the manufacturer.  The company utilizes its own X3P composite, which can vary in consistency to the intended application, so these are far from being off-the-shelf polypropylene cones.  The transparent cone used for the Mozarts has become a VA design cue, blending visually into the design of the black speakers.

This extreme attention to detail reminds me of when Porsche introduced the first water-cooled 911.  Comedian and freelance Porsche spokesperson Jerry Seinfeld commented on the “density of thought” that goes into the manufacturing of Porsche automobiles. Similarly, in sea of mass-produced speaker systems, the Mozart SEs exude quality, regardless of how far you dissect them.

Sure, the bigger VA speakers play louder and go deeper, but the sonic quality of these speakers is tremendous for $3,500.  The Mozarts prove a phenomenal match for the new Primare I22 integrated DAC/amplifier that Wolff happens to have on hand.  (A full review of that piece of gear is in the works.)  At $2,499, the Primare is an awesome match to the Mozarts, as are the various other reasonably priced amplifiers we have at our disposal.  Yet, when connected to a full complement of ARC reference components, the speakers deliver even greater performance, well beyond what you’d expect for $3,500 a pair.

Pick Your Finish

You can get your own pair of Mozart SEs in Rosewood, Maple, Cherry or the Piano Black that our review sample arrived in.  For an additional charge, a stunning Piano White is also available.  The beautiful finishes of these speakers serve to remind that, in a world where a $20,000 price tag is more common than not, it’s refreshing to find a pair of $3,500 speakers that are built with the same level of care and attention to detail as those with a five-figure price tag.

The Vienna Acoustics Mozart SEs combine musical accuracy with dynamic ability in a compact and stylish package.  They are not only worthy of one of our Exceptional Value Awards for 2012, they are one of the best speaker values this writer has encountered in a long time.

Vienna Acoustics Mozart SE loudspeakers

MSRP:  $3,500/pair (cherry and piano black)  $3,850 (rosewood and piano white)

www.vienna-acoustics.com

Peripherals

With a number of stratospherically priced DACs on the market, it’s exciting to see DACs priced between $1,000 and $1,500 offering so much performance.  Reminiscent of the horsepower wars of the 1960s, it seems that every time a new standard of DAC performance is reached the bar is raised even higher.  This time, Wadia—a company known for decades for its innovations in the realm of digital audio and, more recently, for its game-changing 170i iPod dock—delivers world-class sound at a very affordable price tag with its new 121 Decoding Computer.

Much like phonostages, you can purchase an outboard DAC for a couple hundred dollars and it’s a great way to embrace computer audio.  Outboard DACs can also serve as an upgrade to a budget CD transport.  Jumping to the $500 level brings more musicality and the ability to play high-res files, but going to the next level (the aforementioned $1,000-to-$1,500 range) is very exciting and, in the opinion of this reviewer, where the game gets seriously intriguing.  Combining a computer source and a great $1,500 DAC with your choice of high-performance playback software (like Pure Music, Amarra or one of the other current favorites) puts you in close proximity to what would have cost $10,000 two years ago.

Having used Wadia gear as a personal reference for years, I was excited to hear the company’s new S7i digital player during a recent visit to Sumiko’s sound room in Berkeley, California.  Immersed in the sound of the $200,000-per-pair Sonus faber flagship speakers and two towers of REL G-1 subwoofers, driven by Pass Labs monoblocks, I felt in familiar territory.  Yet, when I commented on how great the S7i sounded, I was instantly corrected.  “That’s the new 121,” a Sumiko representative informed me.  So, in the context of a major six-figure system, the 121 playing 16-bit/44.1-kHz files via a computer sounded damn good.

Imagine an S7i with no disc drawer, shrunk down to Barbie-Dream-House size.  That’s the 121—in general.  It does use an external wall-wart supply, but that’s the only place Wadia really scrimped on the design.  I’m sure making a super-high-zoot external supply would wring more performance out of the 121, but then it would probably cost twice as much.  (Mod-crazed audiophiles take note:  Sumiko’s John Paul Lizars made it very clear to me that the series 1 Wadia products would not be receiving upgraded external power supplies.)

Expensive power supply or not, the 121 is a serious DAC—or, as Wadia calls it, a digital decoding computer—which quickly becomes apparent when perusing its front and back panels.  Rather than work with the same chipsets used in many other DACs, the 121 uses Wadia’s patented DigiMaster circuitry to upsample the incoming digital data to a 32-bit, 1.40-MHz bitstream.  All inputs accommodate up to 24-bit/192-kHz data and the USB input is asynchronous.

Wadia also built a headphone amplifier into the 121, with a 1/4-inch jack on the front panel.  Running the gamut of headphones at my disposal from Grado, AKG, Sennheiser and Audeze proved enjoyable.  The 121 easily passes muster as a first-rate headphone amplifier.  It also makes a perfect system for playing music from portable devices when paired with Wadia’s 170i or 171i iPod dock.  The 121’s small footprint makes it an easy fit on a desktop next to your computer or on a nightstand for after hours listening.

But what really separates the 121 from the rest of the comparably priced herd is its 32-bit digital volume control, making this a true digital preamplifier, not just a DAC with an attenuator slapped on the end of the output stage.  Wadia includes a full-function remote to complete the package.

The 121 is a perfect example of the dividends reaped when a company building top-shelf products applies its expertise to something at this level.  “We incorporated as much functionality as we could into the 121,” notes Wadia CEO John Schaffer.  “We didn’t want to just put a few DAC chips on the board and slap a Wadia badge on the front.”

Back at the Mothership

It’s tough to argue with the performance heard at Sumiko, as the system was one of the best I’ve heard, but it’s always good to audition gear in familiar surroundings.  Plugged into my main reference system, comparing it directly to the Wadia 381i that I’ve owned for some time now, reveals the difference between the big box and the 121.

While it is unfair to compare the 121 to the $10K 381i, it’s fascinating to witness how much performance Wadia has been able to squeeze into this diminutive box, which is the exact same size as the 170i and 171i iPod docks.  When listening closely to the finger snaps in Giant Giant Sand’s “Ready or Not” (from the Tucson album) it is clear that the 381i delivers greater amounts of air and a longer-lasting decay, but the 121 handles the tonality amazingly well, while also presenting a big soundstage.  When listening casually to less-than-stellar program material, and not directly in the sweet spot, it’s easy to confuse the 121 for something much more expensive.

The 121 validates itself instantly when listening to how it delivers classical or acoustic music.  Spinning Itzhak Perlman’s Live in the Fiddler’s House instantly reveals this DAC’s ability to convincingly render the violin.  You can hear Perlman gently fingering the violin, with way more texture than you would expect at this price point and with ample air and decay.  It’s easy to forget what you are missing until switching to the 381i.  Yet, once switching back from the big-bucks DAC, the 121 continues to satisfy.  And this is in the context of a six-figure system, made up of all Audio Research reference components.

Placing the 121 in a system comprised of appropriately priced components—a PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium integrated amplifier and a pair of Vienna Acoustics Mozart speakers—is the right move.  High-resolution digital files via a MacBook Air and Amarra software meet or exceed the musicality delivered by a Rega RP3 turntable with Exact cartridge.

Blasting through a series of Blue Note XRCDs uncovers the same level of tonality:  Drums have the proper amount of attack and the standup bass is weighty as well as defined.  Wynton Kelly’s piano on Hank Mobley’s Soul Station floats in between the speakers, defined in it’s own space.  It’s not so much the jump between the $10K DAC and the 121 that’s tough to swallow; it’s going back to a budget DAC after listening to the 121 that proves there’s just no music in the inexpensive stuff—no life, no air, etc.

Compare and Contrast

The fairest comparisons for the 121 are the amazing Rega DAC for $995 and the Benchmark DAC1 USB at $1,195, especially given that the Benchmark can be used as a preamplifier.  It features a volume control (albeit an analog volume control, where the 121’s volume control operates in the digital domain) and headphone output.  All three DACs can handle 24-bit/192-kHz files.  Although neither DAC adds romance or sterility to the sound, the Rega has a slightly warmer, more romantic sound, while the Benchmark is straight-up—it’s a great “just the facts, ma’am” kind of DAC.

The 121 is closer to the Benchmark in tonality than the Rega, and each will appeal to a certain listener, but the Wadia’s edge is three-fold:  It has the widest dynamic range, more low-level-detail retrieval and more weight in the LF spectrum than the other two—again, very similar to my 381i.  Having lived with Wadia digital players for many years, I can tell you that the big, dynamic, weighty feel that Wadia DACs produce is easily recognizable—which is also the case with the 121.

In terms of connectivity, the TOSLINK input provided a slightly less-resolving presentation than the others, though it was still impressive and handy, should you have an older CD player that you would like to perk up.  A vintage Sony ES player, only having a TOSLINK output, showed a marked improvement via the digital output and the 121.  Comparing USB, SPDIF and the AES/EBU connections via 24/192 tracks, courtesy of the Aurender S10 server, revealed no anomalies between connections.  This plethora of inputs makes it easy to switch between a transport, music server and digital files on an iPod/iPhone via a Wadia dock—which makes the 121 perfect for the digital music lover with multiple sources.

All You Need

As great as the 121 performs in DAC mode, it’s the perfect hub for your music system.  The DigiMaster volume control is effective and sonically transparent, all the way down to the lowest range.  If there was some degradation of the original signal, we weren’t hearing it when I assembled the troops for a listening session.

Thanks to TOSLINK, BNC, RCA, AES/EBU and an asynchronous USB input, there are no limitations to what the 121 can use as a source.  We achieved excellent results using a Mac mini and MacBook Air, both running the latest version of Amarra; Wadia’s own 171i dock with an iPhone 4S; and an old Pioneer CD player as a transport.  The only thing keeping the 121 from appealing universally is its lack of a single analog input, which Benchmark incorporated into its highest-end version of the DAC1 PRE.  Including a single analog input gives someone wanting to integrate analog into their system the option to use the 121 as a full-function preamplifier.  For now, the 121 performs this task perfectly in an all-digital system.

The 121 does have fully balanced analog outputs that handle long cable lengths admirably.  The 121 has no problem with a 20-foot length of AVID SCT cable running from the rack to a bevy of awaiting power amplifiers.  Even terminating the amplifier end of the cable, with a Cardas balanced-to-RCA adaptor ,was no problem.

We paired the 121 with at least a dozen amplifiers, including tube, solid-state and class-D, and they all work equally well in terms of frequency range and drive.  However, this tube-lover favors the 121 with a number of low-power vacuum-tube amplifiers when using it strictly as a preamplifier.  Personal bias admitted, a touch of tubeyness goes a long way with digital sources.

Paired with the 121, the updated Conrad-Johnson MV50 tube power amplifier and Dynaudio Confidence C1 II speakers make for a fantastic, all-digital system, with more than enough resolution to easily discern between Red Book and high-resolution digital files, and compare various Amarra settings.  The 121 was no slouch driving the mighty Burmester 911 power amplifier directly; though, at this level, I did prefer having an active preamplifier in the signal path.  The bottom line:  With the 121, we have a $1,295 DAC that can hang with some pretty expensive company.

This is why we’ve determined that the Wadia 121 is more than worthy of one of our Exceptional Value Awards for 2012.  Whether seeking a high performance DAC or a fully functioning digital preamplifier to build your system around, your search is over.  -Jeff Dorgay

The Wadia 121

MSRP: $1,295

www.wadia.com

Peripherals

For those of you unfamiliar with Opera Loudspeakers, let us enlighten you.  Opera is the “other guy” making high-quality speakers in Italy.  The Seconda is the middle model in the company’s Classica line of reasonably priced speakers.  Compared to $4,995 for Opera’s Callas speakers and $9,995 for its Grand Callas—and considering the quality of the Seconda speakers—$3,995 is indeed a reasonable price to pay for this level of quality.

The Classica line features a leatherette covering rather than the real thing to help shave a few bucks off the price point.  Opera, like a number of luxury carmakers, is able to pull this off so tastefully that the fit and finish will fool all but the fussiest connoisseur.  Our review pair of Secondas arrived finished in a striking high-gloss white lacquer, which is becoming increasingly popular in Europe and making a comeback here in the U.S. The sides are made from real wood, with the front and rear baffles, MDF.

These speakers are no lightweights:  They tip the scales at an even 100 pounds apiece.  They offer nicely finished binding posts that allow for easy bi-wiring, and the company provides spikes for the bottom front of the speaker, as well as a spiked outrigger arrangement at the bottom rear to add stability and make it easier to set the rake angle.

An Unconventional Approach

Two 7-inch aluminum cone woofers and a 1-inch silk dome tweeter sourced from Scan-Speak lurk behind the black grilles, which are easily removed.  If you have no prying paws around, I suggest enjoying the beauty of the Secondas sans grille.  While most competing products opt for a ported design, the Seconda has a sealed enclosure, which makes for a gentler impedance curve—a definite plus when used in conjunction with a tube amplifier.  (Opera’s sister company, Unison Research, just so happens to excel at producing tube amplifiers.)

The crossover point of the Seconda is a commendably low 2,200 Hz, with a second-order slope.  It also maintains good off-axis performance and high overall levels of coherence.  Eschewing the ubiquitous curved side panel for a baffle that is curved and angled, the Seconda minimizes unwanted cabinet reflections, which helps lessen interference with the front baffle.

Wait For It

Slightly tight and bright out of the box, the Seconda reveals its charms after about 200 hours—and the effort is well worth the wait.  I would suggest letting them play every day when you go to work and, after a week, you will be rewarded with a pleasant surprise.  Once broken in, the Seconda exhibits a clear, open and lively character in the midrange, with a high-frequency range that is extended and smooth at the same time.  Those familiar with traditional Italian speakers might expect a kind of laid-back and mellow presentation, but this is not the case with the Seconda.

The sealed-box design yields a very even, gradual and protracted bass response, free from the usual impedance hiccup that can plague the tuning frequency of a standard vented enclosure.  This proves to be a wonderful counterbalance to the high-frequency extension of the tweeter.  The dual aluminum midrange drivers offer quick responses, which helps eliminate any inclination of a slow or bloated low end.

Everything about this speaker’s design bodes well for the music lover.  It possesses a sensitivity of 89 dB and a 4-ohm nominal impedance, which means you only really need 35 to 50 watts of juice to adequately drive each channel.  Pairing the Secondas with the Unison Research S6 integrated amp borrowed from our publisher for this review made for an excellent combination that was the definition of musicality.  I equally enjoyed the speakers when driving them with 100 watts per channel of solid-state power from my Class A Coda amplifier.

At Ease with Any Material

Dynamic classic-rock titles like Led Zeppelin II, Taste’s recently remastered On the Boards and Jefferson Airplane’s Bless Its Pointed Little Head all favored the big solid-state sound, especially at high volumes.  The speaker’s sealed cabinets yield a visceral presentation:  Drums come alive and the electric bass has a convincing wallop, with no loss of texture.

But the Seconda isn’t only about getting down with classic rock.  Teeing up some great CD recordings from the recent past tells a lot about this speaker’s ability to accurately portray large classical ensembles and intimate jazz groups in realistic scale.

During a listening session of drummer Peter Erskine’s jazz trio on Live At Rocco, the Seconda captures the wide-open ambiance of the venue.  You can easily discern all of the audience noises, such as clinking glasses and soft whispers.  Soft brush strokes on cymbals have the appropriate shimmer and decay, while the upright bass’s sinewy plucked strings resonate with strength.  Another great live recording, Tonic from Medeski, Martin & Wood, treats the listener to that same wide-open room sound.  On the track “Buster Rides Again” Billy Martin hammers away vigorously with his funky timekeeping, which the Secondas put right in the middle of the soundstage.

As for the bass prowess of these speakers, Alberto Iglesias’ soundtrack to the film Todo Sobre Mi Madre—a beautiful score, full of deep-bass lines—accentuates the Secondas’ ability to handle the lowest notes with ease.  The score’s short track “Le Faltaba la Mitad,” a mix of massed strings and haunting bass, feels as if it migrated from a Dead Can Dance album.  Here, the Secondas easily keep the pace solid, even at high levels, without distortion or soundtrack collapse.  At the same time, the sparse percussion gently dances throughout the soundfield unaffected—a very impressive feat for speakers at this price point.

Reference Recordings’ Mephisto & Co. showcases the Minnesota Orchestra in full song.  On this recording, the classic Mussorgsky piece “Night on Bald Mountain” perfectly illustrates the ability of these speakers to go instantly from loud to soft.  Playing perhaps louder than is prudent, with my Coda amp delivering the goods, the piece builds to crescendo, all the while maintaining the orchestra’s three-dimensional space.  The Seconda portrays the big stuff faithfully and then backs off beautifully to capture the softer passages featuring flute and piccolo.  Reference Recordings’ Symphonic Dances by Rachmaninoff reveals the speaker’s ability to render size and scale, at the same time casting a spotlight on how well the dual 7-inch woofers are able to start and stop without any overhang or fatigue.

Just as I was ready to wind up the review and begin packing the Secondas to send to their next appointment, Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits from Audio Fidelity arrived.  Again, I was reminded of the wonderful midrange that these speakers offer.  Dylan’s voice is eerily realistic and squarely in the room on “Blowin’ in The Wind,” on which I found the decay of both his voice and harp utterly captivating.  The speakers also handle male and female vocals with equal ease, so those partaking more of the latter will be equally smitten.  A quick spin of Shelby Lynne’s Just A Little Lovin’ (courtesy of the Acoustic Sounds’ remaster) is incredibly vibrant and realistic.

I thoroughly enjoyed the time spent with the Opera Secondas.  While these may not be the first name on the tip of your tongue when searching for your next pair of speakers, they are worth seeking out and even more worthy of an extended audition.  They bring a number of design elements together: a large sealed enclosure, quality drivers, elegant cosmetics and outstanding in-room performance.  And, at a relatively affordable $3,995 a pair, they offer incredible value, ranking highly on the wife-acceptance factor and also delivering great performance for the price.  If you’re looking for something other than the usual fare, and in the mood for something different, these Italian wonders are certainly worth a listen.

Opera Seconda Loudspeakers

MSRP: $3,995

www.operaloudspeakers.com

Available in the U.S. through Colleen Cardas Imports: www.colleencardasimports.com

Small speakers and small rooms usually mean not much bass.  A well-thought-out subwoofer will usually add LF content, but it also lightens your wallet.  If you’re looking to outfit a small listening space with a pair of compact speakers that combine the imaging of a mini monitor with bass you’d expect from a floorstander, try the Aon 3s from Maryland’s GoldenEar.

The opening bass riff of Paul McCartney’s “Let Me Roll It” immediately confirms that these speakers rock.  The weight, texture and sheer growl of what is arguably one of the best-known bass lines in rock and roll forces you to take notice and, perhaps, search for the subwoofer in the room.  But there isn’t one.  Taking advantage of room gain in room two (13 feet by 16 feet), the Aon 3s easily dip down to the upper 30-Hz range, with the ribbon tweeter offering a level of transparency that, along with the massive bass response, is something rarely heard—and even less rarely heard from a pair of speakers priced just under $1,000.

Easy to Drive

Tom Waits’ “Don’t Go Into That Barn” (from his Real Gone album) further confirms that these speakers have plenty of heft, as they easily handle the chorus of low-pitched grunts that linger in the background behind Waits’ wailing.  Keeping the mood heavy and dark, with Tool’s Undertow album conveys just how much punishment these little speakers can take and still deliver the goods.  The 20-watt-per-channel Carver Black Beauty was able to push the Aon 3s further than I expected.  But, not wanting to blow a tweeter, I switched to my BAT VK-60 monoblocks and twisted the volume knob a lot further.   Make no mistake:  These speakers can rock with the best of them.  The Aon 3s never miss a beat when Tool goes from slow motion into overdrive.

An 89-dB sensitivity rating and nominal 8-ohm impedance means the Aon3s work well with amplifiers great and small.  The Conrad-Johnson MV-50C1 (recently updated at the factory with CJD Teflon caps throughout) with EL34 output tubes proves magnificent, providing just the right balance between midrange magic and dynamics, and offering up the most musical combination of the review sessions.

It’s not that I didn’t have great luck pairing the Aon 3s with solid-state electronics—amplifiers from Pass Labs, McIntosh and Channel Islands were all good matches—but my first experience with the GoldenEar speakers was with tube power in the living room of GoldenEar founder Sandy Gross.  The experience, needless to say, really stuck with me.  Even with a low-powered tube amplifier at a modest listening level, these speakers fill the room with a highly engaging sound.

Tripping through Hawkwind’s “L.S.D.” feels so psychedelic and dimensional that a black light was in order.  For those of you not familiar, the massive ball of sound on this track extends way beyond the speaker boundaries, with layer upon layer of synthesizers, sound effects and equally driving bass and drums occasionally infused with somewhat guttural vocal chantings.  A little time spent with Can’s The Lost Tapes: 1968-1975 was equally mind-expanding, with multiple levels of distorted guitars that would blend together on a lesser speaker, but that are each easily discerned when played through the Aon 3s.

Further Explorations

While wacky electronic music doesn’t reveal much about a speaker’s ability to accurately reproduce music, it does disclose the speaker’s presentation, dynamics and soundstage.  Some speakers just sound small, but the Aon 3s do not fall victim to this.  I make no bones about having the “big-speaker sound” as one of my hot buttons, and the Aon3s deliver.

Going up the audiophile hierarchy of needs (your order may be different)—knowing the Aon 3s can produce a soundstage much larger than their small size would suggest, along with sufficient weight and dynamics—the last mountain to scale is tonality.  Not only do these speakers sound remarkably neutral for their modest price tag, they do a great job with male and female vocals, each of which presents a unique challenge.

The subtlety of female vocals can expose a speaker’s inability to recreate micro dynamics.  Patti Smith’s recent album Banga creates a dreamy, surf-like, (dare I say happy) mood, closing with Smith taking on Neil Young’s “After the Gold Rush.”  The end of the track has a chorus of young girls accompanying Smith as they sing “Look at Mother Nature on the run in the 21^st century.”  The Aon 3s keep the vocalists separate while brilliantly maintaining the pace of the track.

Rachel MacFarlane’s Hayley Sings provides more traditional yet sultry tunes.  Her performance of “Makin’ Whoopee!” slides out of the speakers in a highly convincing manner, so those having a taste for more traditional female vocals will be very satisfied with the GoldenEar speakers.  However, the female voice doesn’t tell the whole story.  Typically, if there are problems with the crossover point or the drivers don’t meld properly, the additional body of male vocals fails to come through, so that vocalists like Tom Jones, Johnny Cash or Brad Roberts appear to lack bulk.  Again, the Aon 3s do not suffer from this problem.  The speakers splendidly reproduce Robert’s vocal on the Crash Test Dummies’ album Give Yourself a Hand, as he goes from his trademark baritone to a newfound falsetto on this record.

Back to the Lab

Perusing the spec sheet for the Aon 3s shows that these little speakers mean business.  GoldenEar designed these puppies with a 7-inch woofer and a pair of side-firing passive radiators, allowing the Aon 3’s to move serious amounts of air.

The Aon 3s are a snap to set up.  Listening to them in room two, with the Aon 3s about 7 feet from my listening chair and about 4 feet from the side and rear walls, provides the best balance of bass reinforcement and midrange clarity.  Getting the tweeters as close to ear height as possible will provide the maximum soundstage in both dimensions.  As with any small but high-quality speaker, the Aon 3s have the maximum room interface if you place them on a high-quality, high-density speaker stand and use some Blu Tack or similar compound to couple the speakers to the stands.  Minor tweaks like this will pay huge dividends.

Thanks to the wide dispersion of the Aon 3s’ High-Velocity Folded Ribbon tweeter (and a GIK diffuser installed at the room’s first reflection point), no toe-in is needed, as these speakers have a naturally wide sweet spot.  Unlike my favorite pair of panel speakers, the Aon 3s also have wide vertical dispersion, with the image suffering very little falloff when you rise from the listening chair, making these great speakers for listening to music with a lot of friends.

This is the same tweeter used in GoldenEar’s top-of-the-range Triton speakers, which provides multiple benefits.  The obvious quality aspect of getting the flagship tweeter in a small package is great for those with smaller rooms and smaller budgets, but it also makes for a beautifully integrated sound, should you decide to incorporate a pair of Aon speakers into a multichannel system with Tritons as front speakers.

While GoldenEar has taken advantage of overseas assembly, it’s still garbage-in, garbage-out if you can’t design a great speaker.  The secret sauce here is between the ears of Sandy Gross himself, who was one of the original partners in Polk Audio and Definitive Technology, so the amount of time he spent in the designer chair can’t be dismissed.  Knowing where to pound the nail is the key, and the Aon 3s certainly benefit from Gross’ decades of speaker design and manufacturing experience.

The Aon 3s have a “truncated-pyramid” shape that improves sound quality by having no parallel cabinet walls, which provides a midrange and upper-bass response unfettered by cabinet resonance or reflections.  Taking the high-value concept further, GoldenEar makes the cabinets from MDF and covers them on four sides with a tight-weave grille fabric, leaving the top and bottom surfaces bare except for the finish.  Less money spent on the cabinet means more money for drivers and crossover components—yet another advantage for the GoldenEar speakers.

I’ve heard a lot of uninvolving loudspeakers in the $1,000 range, but I’m happy to report that the GoldenEar Aon 3s are anything but.  Construction is first-rate and the amount of music that these speakers reveal is nothing short of a miracle considering their size and price.  Those looking to assemble a high-quality, high-value system should make a GoldenEar dealer their next destination.  – Jeff Dorgay

The Golden Ear AON3 Speakers

MSRP: $499 each

www.goldenear.com

It was tough to turn on MTV in the fall of 1982 for more than 20 minutes and not see the video for Yaz’s “Don’t Go.” The shoulder pads were big, with big hair to match, and Brit synth-pop ruled the airwaves. Yaz members Alison Moyet and Vince Clarke would go their separate ways a year later, but they were two of the major architects of a sound that would influence many others.

Guilty pleasures confessed, an original copy of this record still lurks in my record collection, and the Mobile Fidelity reissue is superior in every way.  First released on Mute Records, the original is downright harsh and trebly.  What would you expect from a bunch of keyboards and drum machines?
The MoFi crew does an excellent job at giving this dancefloor classic a bit of air and extension, as well an actual soundstage, spread across the speakers with much more substantial bass energy that matches the dynamics of the group’s 45RPM maxi-singles. (yeah, guilty again). These characteristics are particularly evident on “I Before E, Except After C,” on which Moyet’s bubbly giggling fills the room with presence. It’s anemic on the original pressing.
Most importantly, we tip our hats to Mobile Fidelity for continuing to release fun records. If this era was part of the soundtrack of your life, this one’s a must.  -Jeff Dorgay

Mobile Fidelity Silver Series, LP

The Seeds of Love may not be Tears For Fears biggest commercial success, but it’s the most meticulously crafted album produced by the duo comprised of Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith. As well as it should be, having been made on a budget of one million pounds.  Combining a wide range of musical styles, The Seeds of Love has a slower, more deliberate pace than its predecessor, Songs From The Big Chair.

The gold standard is the UK Fontana pressing, but the US version is not far behind in terms of clarity and bass slam. The extra low-level information captured on the former version shows off the delicate layers of the compositional elements in a most exquisite fashion. Of course, this comes at a premium, with pristine UK copies fetching up to $75, and good-condition copies selling for about half that. The elusive Japanese vinyl appears on EBay and the like occasionally, and demands $100 and up. The US version is equally tough to find in record stores, but can usually be located on various auction sites for $15-$40. Caveat emptor.

Mobile Fidelity performed commendably on this new edition, bringing the classic to market in perfect shape for $22.95. The bottom end is well sorted and the hallmark MoFi quality is here in spades. Our test sample is flat, quiet, and centered, and features excellent reproduction of the original artwork.

As this is a Silver Label title, the original master is not guaranteed (as it is in the Original Master series), and the records are pressed on 140g vinyl. Direct comparison to UK and US originals reveal more smoothness in the upper registers, suggesting it was cut either from a high-resolution digital copy or perhaps a safety master.  This trait is most evident in the quietest passages, such as the beginning of “Swords and Knives” and “Famous Last Words.” The original vinyl sounds bigger, with more sparkle and clarity. Tunes with less dynamic range make it tougher to distinguish between the original and the remaster. So, unless you can be assured a perfect original, the Silver Label LP is the way to go. Grading these on a numerical scale, with a mint UK original at 100 and an immaculate US original 95, the Silver Label ranks 91. Pretty damn good.

Songs From the Big Chair equates to more of a toss-up. Utilizing a low-numbered US pressing for comparison, the Silver Label easily comes out on top in terms of a smoother high end, but the original has more low-frequency energy with bigger, punchier dynamics. The former sounds smoother, yet it’s a bit veiled. I still prefers the original. As it’s Tears for Fears’ biggest-selling record, you can get a clean one for about six bucks if you look hard. -Jeff Dorgay

Mobile Fidelity Silver Series LP

For many audiophiles, the equipment rack is the last thing in the chain to address for any number of reasons.  Many of us are too busy acquiring the next cool piece of hardware, while others just refuse to spend money on something that doesn’t necessarily contribute to the overall sound of the system.

But a good rack will offer a better overall presentation, and it always adds to the visual presentation.  Once you get use to the tidiness that a rack (or multiple racks) provides, it’s tough to do without.  The four-shelf Quadraspire EVO rack is reasonably priced at $700, available in black as well as a number of attractive wood finishes.  Additional shelves are $175 each and can be easily attached.  The Q4 EVO rack has a 19¼-inch opening for components, and it’s 15½ inches deep. Those with massive components can order the Sunoko Vent rack, which is an additional three inches deep.  This is Quadraspire’s top product and has a cost of $395 per shelf.

Built with care in the lovely town of Bath

The racks are meticulously made in the town of Bath in the UK. Quadraspire has a state-of-the-art facility, with the latest in CNC machining for the raw shelf components and an automotive spray facility to apply all of their finishes.  Everything is done in house at their shop. I was impressed with the level of care put into all of their racks when I visited the factory last summer.  You can get a mini tour from the Quadraspire website here:

To help in the development of their products, Quadraspire maintains a good demo room  so that they can compare products in various stages.  They had some top-line Naim gear with some floor-standing Tannoys that had a highly musical sound.  Owner Eddie Spruit showed us the difference between their past products and the new EVO shelves, which have some precise grooves cut in the bottom face to reduce resonance.

The difference was instantly apparent, with the EVO shelved gear taking on a more open and focused presentation.  It was enough of an obvious difference that can be easily heard even with a modestly priced system.  While my current use for the Q4 EVO is a $60,000  dCS Paganini stack, I noticed a substantial jump in image focus with my Naim Uniti and Rega P3-24 turntable on the EVO rack, compared to one of my DIY racks that pays no attention to vibration control.

The Q4 EVO arrives well-packed, with high-density foam bumpers to protect all of the edges, and it can be assembled in about 15 minutes.  It is worth noting that the enclosed instructions are excellent.  I found that a fairly large pliers used with a thick piece of rubber (to protect the hardware from damage) was the best way to tighten the rack enough so it was not wobbly.  The caps that attach to the top of the rack have holes that can be adjusted with the supplied tool.  I did notice that after a few weeks, the rack required additional tightening, but it remained stable after that.

While some equipment-rack manufacturers take the high-mass approach to eliminating vibration, Quadraspire goes the exact opposite, going in a low-mass direction.

An excellent addition to your system

Only so much can be said about an equipment rack, but the Quadraspire is at the top of my list for a number of reasons.  First and foremost, it makes an audible difference in the system.  Second, it is tastefully designed and should fit well into any decor scheme. Finally, it is well-built by skilled craftsmen, which assures that it will last for a long time.

If you are in need of a new rack for your HiFi system, I can’t recommend the Q4 EVO highly enough.

Quadraspire Q4 EVO

MSRP: Starting at $700

www.quadraspire.com

Though an iPad mini with a Retina display is probably be right around the corner, the current version, with its 7.9-inch display (versus 9.7 inches for the standard iPad), does remarkably well at delivering the iPad experience in a smaller, more-compact package. Best of all, Apple has trimmed the price:  The mini starts at $329 for a 16-GB, Wi-Fi-only model.

Feeling lighter than its 11-ounce weight, the mini delivers all the features you’re used to in the full-sized pad: front and rear cameras, FaceTime capability and a similar range of memory, from 16 to 64 GB.

Utilizing the same dual-core A5 processor as the iPad 2, the mini feels a bit sluggish in comparison to the current iPad, which has the A6X unit under the hood, when playing video games or surfing the web.  The mini still does admirably well with a fast Wi-Fi connection.

Much like Amazon’s Kindle Fire, or some earlier Android tablets, the mini seems to be a better Kindle than magazine reader.  But it’s a mega remote control for any of your music servers or other devices so equipped—and iTunes is also a blast to use on the mini via AirPlay, if you have a B&W Zeppelin or other AirPlay-enabled music player.  The additional screen real estate of the mini a blessing for those used to an iPod.

If you consider the current iPod touch a baby iPad, the family is now seamless, with offering in kid’s meals, regular and large sizes.  Should you be a multiple iDevice family, the mini shares the same power connector/charger as the iPhone 5.  Audiophiles will be disappointed to know that this means it is not compatible with the Wadia 170i or 171i docks.

Apple iPad Mini

MSRP: $329 – $659 (depending on configuration)

www.apple.com

If you’d like to get a bit more fashion-forward than that comparatively bland Discwasher you’ve been using since the ’70s, consider this:  Designed by a surgeon, based on a tool used for cleaning debris from operating-room instruments, the sticky surface of the In The Groove record cleaner is perfect for removing idle dust and dirt from your records.

While it is no replacement for a vacuum RCM, this nifty roller is incredibly handy to use before play.  Best of all, the sticky surface is easily renewed by rinsing in the sink.  You can towel dry, but air-drying leaves it pristine for the next use.

In The Groove

MSRP: $19.95

www.musicdirect.com

Is it a futuristic beer keg?  A spare droid from Star Wars?  A water conditioner?  While it does look futuristic, this curious device is available today from your local SoundCast dealer—and it’s one of the most interesting portable music systems we’ve seen.

The OutCast is a single 26-inch tall cylinder with a slight taper in the midsection.  The control panel is located on the top of the device.  It lets users operate an iPod or iPhone, as well as iTunes, Pandora, and Rhapsody.  The easy-grip handle, also on the top, has plenty of room for those with large hands, while the sealed function buttons should be impervious to prying hands and intoxicated neighbors.

Within the casing are four sections.  The uppermost section holds the receiver unit and a 100-watt Class-D amplifier.  The middle section contains four 3-inch drivers aligned in a right-left-right-left pattern that creates a 360-degree stereo output.  The bottom section features a sealed chamber holding the 8-inch IMPP woofer, which, with its down-firing placement, allows for even bass dispersion.  The bottom section has ports for the woofer and ambient blue lights, and also serves as a sturdy base.  The OutCast’s heavy-duty design and external material limits exposure to the elements, while still letting the music be heard.

Setting up the OutCast and installing its rechargeable nickel-metal hydride battery takes about five minutes, if you take the 90 seconds required to read the manual.  Both the audio-input jack for non-iPod MP3 players and the power-cord socket are covered by a flexible but tight-sealing rubber gasket.  The OutCast offers three 2.4-gHz channels, which are manually switchable, to prevent interference with other wireless devices.

A Perfect Partner

Placement of the OutCast is key to its performance.  Getting the unit away from anything within at least five or six feet is critical for stereo performance.  Then, once you’ve charged it overnight, you’re ready to rock.

Combining the iCast dock/transmitter (a $100 option) with an iPod Classic, the Outcast fills most backyards with quality-sounding music.  Sell that boom box at your next yard sale, because the Outcast has serious low-end grunt.  Its midrange punchiness combined with omnidirectional ambience redefines outdoor hi-fi.  Blasting Adele’s 21, the OutCast easily carries her vocals to the end of my backyard, yet it wasn’t so loud as to send the neighbors into fits of rage.

The conveniently placed handle makes light work of carrying the 25-pound OutCast around the yard or to a neighbor’s house.  And it’s equally at home indoors as it is outdoors.

Better than a Rock

Unlike those outdoor speakers that look like rocks (but do not rock when called upon), both the OutCast and smaller OutCast Jr. (which starts at $600) deliver the goods, no matter what the volume.  This is an all-purpose portable player with serious capability.  Whether I was playing John Mellencamp or AC/DC, the sound was full and clear.  At a recent outing, a few guests complimented the sound quality and wondered where the wires were—one of the OutCast’s most-noticeable perks.

The device claims a 300-foot range between it and the iCast wireless dock.  It was still playing solidly at the edge of my 200-foot yard, but does drop off somewhat around corners.  For best results, you’ll want to keep it within line of sight.  Like a tuner car from The Fast and the Furious, the OutCast features blue mood lighting to increase its sci-fi feel.

Don’t be surprised if taking the OutCast or Outcast Jr. to your next party makes you the hit of the neighborhood.

SoundCast OutCast Portable Indoor/Outdoor Speaker System

MSRP: Starting at $900

www.soundcastsystems.com

Power output meters are just cool. Back in the late 80s when the legendary Audio Research D-79 amplifier stood as my system’s cornerstone, watching the meters bounce into the red “caution” area—as the SPL got somewhat out of hand—made me feel like a mad scientist in a Mothra movie, waiting for sparks to fly. Fortunately, they never did, and my D-79 never missed a beat.

Today, my hair is as gray as the front panel on my ARC REF 150 power amplifier, which has served me equally well. But with a pair of speakers possessing an 88dB sensitivity rating, there are times when I find myself itching for a bit more power. And as awesome as a pair of REF 750s sound, the idea of replacing 36 KT120 power tubes on a semi-regular basis scares me. Perhaps if I could buy them by the palette at Costco…

For every one that’s lusted after a Ferrari and bought a Porsche 911 because it just made more sense on a daily basis, I submit the ARC REF 250 monoblocks. At $26,500 per pair, they are not an impulse purchase. Yet for those with an ARC amplifier (or amplifiers) already in their system, trading up isn’t a stretch. ARC’s Dave Gordon likes to say that the company’s best entry-level product “is a good, clean piece of used ARC gear.” Sounds like it’s time to pass that pair of REF 110s or VT100 on to another happy owner, and roll up to the bar for a pair of REF 250s. Then again, I can justify anything related to audio.

Quite the Trip

I have one main requirement for five-figure hi-fi: It has to take you on a trip, giving you an immersive experience that allows you to forget about the system and groove on the music. Forget about specs, measurements, tube, or transistor. Once the REF 250s have about 45 minutes on the clock, they take you there.

What better place to start than with the Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour in stereo? Argue mono versus stereo all day long, but the latter version is extremely trippy, and as wide as a stretch of US 40, driving through Kansas on a clear, sunny day. Lennon is all the way out in Missouri, McCartney is over in Colorado, Ringo drums g somewhere in Nebraska, and George Harrison sits in the seat right next to you. Who needs drugs when music sounds this good? The mix tightens up on Revolver, with more dynamics. Harrison’s guitar blazes out in front of the speakers, buzzing in my head during the chorus on “Taxman.”

Next up, AC/DC. Taking advantage of an all-ARC amplification chain, this time using the REF Phono 2, AVID Acutus Reference SP, and Lyra Atlas cartridge (mounted on the TriPlanar arm), the 45RPM single of “Let’s Get it Up” (from For Those About to Rock) sends the power meters dancing at the edge of the caution zone. It’s like old times, but better. Much, much, better. Move over Rover, the new REF series is where it’s at. Not stopping there, I dial up the 24/96 release of Kiss’ Destroyer from HD Tracks. Aural madness ensues.

The sheer dynamic punch the REF 250s possess is simply unbelievable—the soundstage never collapses, even at near concert-hall levels. I haven’t listened to music this loud in my listening room in a long time. Yet the REF 250s handle it so effortlessly, it’s easy to keep goosing the volume control further and further, waiting for a hint of compression or distortion. It never arrives. With all due respect to the ARC dealer network, unless a bunch of listeners have fearfully inefficient loudspeakers, I don’t know why they’d need the REF 750s.

Moving the cables back to the REF 150, the amplifiers sound relatively similar, especially at modest levels. Still, the full mono chassis and bigger power supplies make for a wider, deeper soundstage and more solid foundation to the bass lines, no matter what kind of music pours out of the speakers. Yes, the REF 250s are double the cost, but offer a commensurate increase in performance.

Catch the Buzz

A quick beverage break reveals I’m listening way too loud. My ears now have a slight tingle, so the volume comes down from 81 on the REF 5SE to a more prudent 30. Coasting through Aimee Mann’s new Charmer album provides an audio sorbet that calms and cleanses the palette before I peruse recent Music Matters Blue Note reissues. The REF 250s’ extra power and separate power supplies expand Blue Note’s super stereo feel beyond the norm, excelling in texture retrieval.

Forget The Sheffield Drum Record. Art Blakey’s Free For All is an amazing example of the maximum amount of drum sound a vinyl groove can hold. The REF 250s take the music beyond conceivable limits. I continue to push the volume, but my system never runs out of juice. This is the closest I’ve come to actually hearing a real drum kit in my room. Cymbal tone and texture are spot on, but Blakey’s explosive drumming doesn’t flatten out for lack of amplifier reserve.

Even with a fairly compressed track like U2s “Beautiful Day,” soundstage depth impresses. The Edge’s backing vocals, often lost in the mix, occupy their own private space, well off to the left speaker boundary, yet unmistakable nonetheless. Given how well they reproduce average recordings, the REF 250s seem borderline miraculous.

Slowing the groove for Mickey Hart’s audiophile classic Dafos makes for a welcome reunion. The delicate percussion in “The Subterranean Caves of Kronos” gets rendered with sublime smoothness, putting me at rest for almost three minutes until the monstrous drums of “The Gates of Dafos” sledgehammer my body into the listening chair and place me in the middle of a tribal mating ritual. Once again, the REF 250s strike an ideal balance between control, finesse, and impact. Herein lies the magic: massive power, yet the REF gear starts and stops on a dime, allowing for an incredibly fatigue-free experience.

Easy Implementation

The REF 250s prove at ease with every speaker we have at our disposal: GamuT S9, Sonus Faber Ellipsa SE, B&W 802D (notoriously difficult to drive), and even the Magnepan 1.7.  Thanks to multiple taps at 16, 8, and 4 ohms, you should be able to find the winning combination for your speakers.

Setup is also a snap, and at 73 pounds each, the REF 250s are not too dificult to move. As with any tube amplifier, they require adequate ventilation. The REF 250s are fan-cooled and extremely silent in operation. They use the same 20-amp IEC connector as other ARC gear, so keep this in mind if you are thinking of upgrading power cords. ARC claims power usage as 700 watts at 250-watt output, and 1000 watts “maximum.”  While you can use both on a 15-amp circuit, listeners pumping up the volume at high levels will benefit from a 20-amp dedicated circuit for the amplifiers.

Configuration

Along with doubling the power supply from the REF 210 it replaces, the REF 250 utilizes a design very similar to the REF 150, with eight KT120 power tubes per channel (instead of four) being driven by another pair of KT120s and the 6H30 that seems to be universal in current ARC amplifiers. A 6550C is employed as a voltage regulator. In a nod to past ARC designs, a traditional analog meter replaces the fluorescent display.

The KT120 tube proves excellent across the range. In addition to the increased power dissipation (which translates into increased power output), the KT120-based ARC amplifiers have more aural ease than earlier amplifiers using the 6550. Depth and air are more abundant, with speakers disappearing in the room more convincingly. And nobody’s going to complain about that.

Audio Research REF 250 Monoblocks

MSRP: $26,500/pair

www.audioresearch.com

Peripherals

Peachtree Audio burst on the scene in 2007 with its Decco integrated amplifier with built-in DAC and onboard USB input, which was somewhat of a novelty at the time but has since become ubiquitous.  It also has another fun feature: a vacuum tube in the preamplifier section that is visible through a glass window on the front panel, which breaks up an otherwise plain-looking case and combines design elements from audio’s past and present.  The success of the reasonably priced Decco—Peachtree sells refurbished versions of the original Decco for $499—led to a broader product line and contributed highly to the viability of a new renaissance of integrated amplifiers with built-in DACs.  Here, Peachtree was clearly a trendsetter.

Peachtree’s products combine stateside engineering and design talent with overseas manufacturing efficiencies.  It has grown its initial dealer-direct model to include an extensive dealer network to help support the company’s expanding product line.  Two of the newest additions to the lineup are the $999 novaPre and the $1,399 Peachtree220 power amplifier reviewed here.  The company has also moved further upmarket with its Grand series, which thus far comprises an integrated amplifier and a preamplifier.  We’ll explore these at a future date.

A Quick Tour

The novaPre features four digital inputs and an analog input, so those wishing to incorporate an analog source are not left out in the cold.  There are two single-ended RCA outputs, both with variable peak levels so that a powered subwoofer can be used, which is particularly useful for those employing a sat/sub system.  The Peachtree220 is a powerful Class-D amplifier, with 220 watts per channel into an 8-ohm load that almost doubles to 400 watts per channel when going into a 4-ohm load.  The review samples arrived with a beautiful rosewood finish.  (They are also available in high-gloss-black and cherry-wood finishes. Cherry is standard, rosewood and black a $100 upcharge.)

Fit and finish is impressive and build quality is at the top of the chart, with perhaps the only inconvenience being that the RCA jacks are a bit close together, which limits your choice of interconnect cables to ones with svelte connectors.  My reference cables from Kimber and Transparent just made it, but some others with large plugs may not.  Setting up the Peachtree combo has a low degree of difficulty.  Eschewing the stock power cords for a pair of Shunyata Venom cords adds a cost-effective bump in sound quality.

The novaPre’s digital inputs feed an ESS Sabre DAC capable of handling 24-bit/192-kHz data.  One of the digital inputs is the ubiquitous asynchronous USB, along with S/PDIF coaxial and TosLink inputs.  The novaPre’s optical input is limited to 24-bit/96-kHz data, while those from most others handle 24-bit/192-kHz data.  In addition to the variable line-level outputs, there is a headphone jack on the front panel.  The tube in the window remains, but now a 6N1P replaces the 6922 of the original Nova, and can be included in or out of the circuit with the flip of a switch.  In this case, it acts as a buffer stage—handy when a bit of tube warmth is really needed.  The 6N1P is a very reliable tube, but does not encourage tube rolling, as there are few variations on this one.  Oddly, the novaPre only features single-ended RCA outputs, while the companion power amplifier has a pair of balanced XLR inputs.

Good First Impressions

The Peachtree gear breathes life into familiar reference tracks as well as new favorites.  Marc Johnson’s latest ECM collaborative album with pianist Elaine Elias, called Swept Away, is a perfect example.  The natural elegance of the arrangements is reminiscent of Bill Evans—full of tonal color and richness.  Piano and acoustic bass are always tough to reproduce convincingly, especially on an amp and preamp with a lower MSRP than a pair of premium interconnects.  Particularly impressive was the Peachtree combo’s ability to control the lower frequencies, rendering the full-bodied, woody texture of Johnson’s bass lines, with no overhang into the midrange.  This only improves as the gear racks up listening hours.

Staying in the ECM groove, next up is Anouar Brahem, the Tunisian master of the oud, which is a Middle-Eastern variation on the lute.  Brahem’s recordings vary in texture, with accompaniment including saxophone, accordion and flute.  The Peachtree pair exhibited an overall smoothness and pace in capturing these exotic melodies and rhythms, which became simply hypnotic the longer I listened.  When mixed in with the other exotic instruments, the oud provides a true test of resolution that the Peachtree gear easily passed.

While I was drawn to recorded acoustic music, I also wanted to give the Peachtree gear a chance to rock out.  Texas singer-songwriter Ryan Bingham just released his fourth album, Tomorrowland, which is a more straight-ahead rock effort.  His previous outings were laced with Southwestern flavors, country and blues.  Bingham lets loose on this new self-produced and self-released recording.  He is pissed off and he wants you to know it.  The politically charged lyrics are perfectly underscored by the Stones-esque hard-charging backing.  The Peachtree duo did not falter in any way, providing plenty of the necessary drive and energy.

I Believe by the great ’90s band Spain was the last disc that crystallized what the Peachtree combo is all about: nuance.  The band’s music is filled with deep emotional content, played at downbeat tempos, and finely textured.  The Peachtree gear allowed all the emotion in these beautifully layered compositions to shine through brilliantly, especially on tracks like “She Haunts My Dreams” and “Born To Love Her.”

Moving on, now using the novaPre as straight preamplifier, with a Marantz CD player connected to the Peachtree’s analog inputs, I heard much of what I heard with sources connected to the digital inputs.  I found the novaPre to be rather straight up, with bad recordings not at all flattered.  Mumford & Sons new album Babel is somewhat brittle sounding, which is exactly what comes through the novaPre.  On the other hand, U2’s classic track “Please,” from the band’s Pop album, is big and bold, with plenty of drama and a warmer overall sound that the novePre rendered with equal fairness.  Regardless of musical choice, the novaPre neither embellished nor detracted from familiar music.

This writer preferred keeping the tube in the signal path, so I kept it engaged most of the time. The difference is subtle but obvious.  Engaging the tube adds an organic ease and additional harmonic complexity to the presentation.  Of course, your preferences will vary depending on your taste and the rest of the system, but it’s nice to have the option.

Born for Each Other

Both units worked flawlessly in my system during the review period.  My only complaint is a minor one:  I wish the volume steps at the lower settings were more nuanced via the remote control.  One tap brought it from conversation level to total silence.  It would have been nice to have a wider gradation, as with the volume control on the front panel.

The integrated amplifier with onboard DAC is a category that continues to become more popular as more music lovers turn to their computer as a source component—and the novaPre is a prime example.  Mating it to the companion Peachtree220 power amp makes for easy one-stop shopping.

Additional Listening

By Jeff Dorgay

With an admitted bias against Class-D amplifiers, I was smitten with the Peachtree220 when I first heard it early this year at the Consumer Electronics Show, where the Peachtree folks were using a pair of Aerial 7T speakers to showcase their latest products.  For those unfamiliar with the Montis, this is not a particularly easy speaker to drive, as it presents relatively low impedance at high frequencies, which more often than not throws both tube and Class-D amplifiers a curve.

The Peachtree combo proved a formidable partner for the Montis, and I would have easily believed Peacthree front man David Solomon if he had he told me that these two boxes cost twice as much.  They gripped the Logans with aplomb, casting a huge soundstage combined with a smooth high end—impressive.

Before sending these two pieces to Andre for review, I made it a point to try both the 220 amp and novaPRE here with the variety of different speakers that I have at my disposal—and they passed all tests with flying colors.  Even a couple of the more difficult speakers in my arsenal (the B&W 802D and the Magnepan 1.7) were no problem, so whatever you might be using, rest assured, the Peachtree220 will be up to task.

The novaPre proved equally flexible, whether using the Sooloos music server, Mac mini or an old Denon CD player as a digital source, with everything from MP3s to the latest offerings from HDtracks.

Two words sum up this combination: value and refinement.  In a world full of five- and even six-figure components, these separates from Peachtree offer mega performance at a modest price, allowing the creation of great music system on a tight budget.  I am happy to award them both one of our Exceptional Value Awards for 2012.

Peachtree novaPre and Peachtree220 power amplifier

MSRP:  $999 (novaPRE); $1,399 (Peachtree220)

www.peachtreeaudio.com

Peripherals

Clean power is always at a premium in a hi-fi system, and Furutech is one of the leaders in the field. Its f-TP615 works overtime in my system, where I never seem to have enough outlets. Performing in concert with Furutech’s top PowerFlux power cords, the f-TP615 provides an excellent way to keep gear supplied with the high-quality power it requires to be its best.

If you are a student of the “last wire” school of thought, and claim that the journey of power from the generating station to your system travels through junk wire—and that adding five feet of premium wire and connectors won’t change things—I won’t try to convert you. However, if you believe, like me, that AC power in the wall is more like a gigantic well, full of murky water into which one taps to power a system, read on. Remember, your hi-fi system essentially modulates the AC power coming into the box with audio signals that go to your speakers. The cleaner the source, the cleaner the result.

While I have tried the f-TP615 in several different systems, all yielding excellent results, it best proves its mettle supplying power to my digital front end, the four-box dCS Paganini stack.

Digital Enhancement

Swapping all four stock power cords with PowerFlux and f-TP615 instantly improves the dCS’ performance in two areas: Lowering the noise floor and removing hash/grain from the presentation.  All too often, we mistake the harshness of digital playback for grunge in the AC line.

Spinning David Byrne’s live performance with Caetano Veloso at Carnegie Hall illustrates the aforementioned effects. The sparse yet dynamic recording, featuring the two artists playing acoustic guitar, sounds fine when utilizing stock cords. But a quick switch to the Furutech components reveals more air around the guitar strings, a richer tone, and more body to the audience’s applause. It doesn’t hurt to have the Sonus Faber Aida speakers helping convey the very nuances the Furutech products bring to the dance.

Extended listening makes it easy to get used to the newfound liquidity, and it only takes a quick exchange back to the original setup to hear the soundstage collapse on itself. Everything sounds smaller, less focused, and as if I’ve moved my system to a smaller room.

Next Step, Analog

Anxious from noticing the improvements to the digital side of my system, I was curious to see how my analog front end would fare. Combining the distributor and cords with the ARC REF Phono 2SE, Simaudio 810LP, and Pass Labs XP-25 phonostages that supply my four turntables with amplification, I witness the same effect.

Interestingly, the Furutech components net a more pronounced impact on vacuum-tube gear, wiping away more “veil” than with the digital components at my disposal. Considering the miniscule signal voltages at work, this really is money well spent. Auditioning the latest release from Music Matters, Joe Henderson’s In and Out, cymbals spring to life with more vigor than before. There’s also a definite increase in bass texture.

Such improvements in analog resolution also mean that it’s easier to hear the positives of the Furutech DeMag/DeStat combination—two essential accessories in my analog tool kit.

In the Box

The f-TP615 is built to Formula One car standards. All parts and conductors are treated with Furutech’s Alpha cryogenic and demagnetizing process.  The outlets and receptacles are industrial works of art, which is why many other manufacturers turn to Furutech for plugs and receptacles. Twelve-gauge Alpha -22 wire is used throughout, and the aluminum chassis is covered in a proprietary coating, then combined with ceramic and nano-carbon damping spikes. Each detail ensures the power flowing to your components is as pure as possible. And it all works brilliantly.

While these Furutech designs qualify as premium power products, they will not turn a $500 CD player into a dCS stack. Exhaustive listening comparisons reveal a combination of the f-TP615s and PowerFlux power cords offers the greatest gains in the lowest level of a system’s resolution. Used in concert with top-shelf electronics, they allow components to attain maximum performance. In this context, I enthusiastically recommend the Furutech f-TP615 and array of PowerFlux power cords.

Furutech f-TP615 Power Distributor

MSRP:  $1,650

Alpha PS-950-18 Power Cords

MSRP:  $1,800 ea. (1.8m length)