Tabla de contenidos para July/August 2024 en The Absolute Sound

Email the Editor: rharley@nextscreen.com or: TAS, 2211 Denton Dr., Ste. J, Austin, Texas 78758 An Unlikely-but Useful-Reference Robert Greene's April review of the Cabasse Abyss integrated amplifier [Issue 348] had lots of great information, but what really got my attention and put a big smile on my face was his mention of using audience coughs as part of his evaluation. I thought I was the only one who did this! Every time I tweak my system, I listen to my favorite Tchaikovsky violin concerto with coughs everywhere in the concert hall. When I hear them loud and clear and in all the right locations, I know my setup is correct. Rick Seaman Golden Ears vs. Meter Readers The dispute between the measurement guys and the listener guys will never go away…

GMT® One Turntable Omega Drive System: Synchronous 15” diameter, 21 coreless-slotless, 3 phase zero-cogging, zero torque ripple, patent applied for direct drive motor. Alpha Drive: Computer controlled quartz referenced high precision sine waves. 3 super linear class A amplifiers. Computer controlled remote control systems. Computer controlled pneumatic self-levelling control for LeVeL isolation system. Speed range: 33.3, 45, and 78pm fully adjustable via dedicated Smart Device WB Control APP in 0.1 increments. Wow and flutter: Not measurable LeVeL Isolation System: Fully configurable according to specific requirements of any environment. No requirement for adjustment. Fully autonomous. R1 rack: Provides optimal location of all Alpha Drive & Omega Drive systems. Enables complete concealment of all energy systems. WB Control App on smart device: Provide GUI for complete remote control over all critical aspects…

Traditionally, buying a speaker is like buying a sweater. In the case of the sweater, you pick a style you like, and your only subsequent decisions involve size and color. With loudspeakers, it's been much the same. Within your budget, you identify a sonic character that appeals to you and then determine the model in a manufacturer's range appropriate for your room and choose a finish if, indeed, a choice is offered. Done. In the not-so-distant future, however, purchasing a loudspeaker may be more like purchasing a computer. When you order a new laptop, you settle on a base model and then choose “options”—how fast a processor to invest in, how much RAM and storage, which graphics card or word-processing program to get. Modern loudspeakers often do much more than…

OF the many thousands of hi-fi systems I've heard at shows over the years, two of the best-sounding and most memorable were based on full-range ribbon speakers made by the Spanish company AlsyVox. The first was at the 2018 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest where Jonathan Valin enthusiastically ushered me to the AlsyVox room in a rare “You've got to hear this!” moment. He was right; the AlsyVox sounded like nothing else at the show, with a transparency, continuousness, and lifelike realism that eluded every box speaker in Denver. Although we were interested in reviewing the speaker, AlsyVox was at the time a small unknown company with no U.S. distributor and no U.S. dealers. As good as a product may potentially be, it doesn't make sense to review a component that…

ALTHOUGH THE RIBBON speaker was patented in 1923, it's safe to say that no ribbon speakers have ever been built with the level of execution of the AlsyVoxes. The Caravaggio is a four-way system employing a planar woofer with a surface area of 5376 square centimeters (about 833 square inches). For comparison, a 10” woofer's surface area is 79 square inches. Looking at the photo, the woofer area is behind the section with the seven teak wood strips. The woofer diaphragm has an excursion of up to 20mm (almost 0.8”). When you consider that the acoustic output of a vibrating surface is a function of the surface area and excursion, you can appreciate that the Caravaggio can move a lot of air. Unlike the other three drivers that are attached…

Pay attention to the steady stream of audiophile reissues and you'll begin to recognize those records that continually get remastered and repackaged. At the same time, there are those projects make your ears perk up when you hear about them because they catch you by surprise. That's how I felt when Analogue Productions announced a UHQR edition of the White Stripes’ Elephant. I tried to cram my thoughts about that reissue into a single-column review for Issue 346, but it quickly became clear that I needed to dig deeper. Now I've embarked on another deep dive, but this one's a bit more daunting. Also an Analogue Productions reissue, this LP is one of 75 Atlantic titles AP is remastering in connection with Atlantic's 75th Anniversary—and, as fate has it, I…

When asked about my recent vacation and I reply that I went on a music cruise, the universal response is, “What's a music cruise?” Until very recently, I'd also never heard of a music cruise. Here's how it works. A company books an entire cruise ship, puts together a slate of bands and performers within a specific genre, and sells cabins to music fans. For the music enthusiast, this translates to four or more days of nearly non-stop musical performances spread out across many venues, accompanied by all the other pleasures of cruise travel—the food, fresh air, open sea, and port excursions. You wake up, hit the buffet, and go from venue to venue enjoying live music all day and night. I saw more live music in four days than…

Best Sound (cost-no-object) The Acora/VAC/SAT/Lyra/Aurender/LampizatOr/Cardas room Yes, again. Sure, there are plenty of other high-performance six-figure loudspeakers out there but when their creators start bringing their best efforts to audio shows, playing them with the finest associated equipment, springing for best room at the show venue, and setting up their system with maniacal care, these competitors will be in the running for this king of the hill designation. Best Sound (for-the-money) MoFi SourcePoint 888 loudspeaker Andrew Jones is a genius. Nobody tell MoFi, but these speakers would still be the best current value in hi-fi at twice the price. Most Significant Product Introduction MoFi SourcePoint 888 loudspeaker See above. Most Significant Trend Small, powered loudspeakers ready to accept a data stream via various interfaces or wirelessly. It was no surprise…

Absolute Analog Analog Audio Design TP-1000 Reel-to-Reel Tape Player Well, after admitting that I've overlooked French high-end audio for most of my reviewing career (see my JMF Audio review in the last issue), here I am back in France again—this time in a little commune called Pleumeur-Bodou in the Côtes-d'Armor department of Brittany, just a few kilometers from the English Channel. It was in Pleumeur-Bodou that Christophe Martinez—an engineer who'd spent 25 years developing flight-simulator electronics before going to work for Mulann RTM, a huge French conglomerate that, among many other things, manufactures magnetic recording tape—devoted four years of his life to designing and building the brand-new Analog Audio Design TP1000 two-track, quarter-inch, 15ips/7½ips, reel-to-reel tape deck that I'm about to review. Why would Christophe (or anyone, for that matter) spend…

Type: Three-way powered loudspeaker Driver complement: 1” aluminum/magnesium alloy dome tweeter, 8” aluminum cone midrange, 2x 8” aluminum cone woofers Crossovers: Fourthorder Linkwitz-Riley, 100Hz and 1.25kHz Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz Inputs: Analog: balanced audio over XLR, digital: AES3 over XLR Output: Analog: XLR for active subwoofer; digital: AES3 thru over XLR Networking: Ethernet over RJ45 Dimensions: 10.5” x 19” x 15” Weight: 57 lbs. each Price: $14,950 (additional $1100 for u-BACCH plug-in) DUTCH & DUTCH Sonarstraat 10 2901 AX Capelle aan den IJssel, Rotterdam dutchdutch.com North American Distributor (Bill Chi) Dutch & Dutch NA 4653 Nall Rd. Dallas, TX 75244…

Power output: 120Wpc into 8 ohms, 200Wpc into 4 ohms Inputs: Two RCA, one configurable as bypass; one XLR balanced Outputs: XLR pre-out D/A conversion: Multibit sigma-delta Formats: PCM up to 384kHz/DXD/DoP/native DSD up to DSD 256 Acoustic correction: 64-bit DSP, 8x parametric filters with automatic gain adjustment Dimensions: 17.7” x 4” x 15.5” Weight: 34 lbs. Price: $18,000 Silver or Black (custom colors available at extra cost) MONARCH SYSTEMS DISTRIBUTION 16 Inverness Place E, Building B Englewood, CO 80112 (720) 399-0072 monarch-systems.com b-audio.com…

THE CARAVAGGIO'S treble response is flat to 40kHz. But since we can't hear sinewaves above 20kHz (more like 13kHz in middle age), what's the point of this extended treble response? Although we can't hear ultrasonic sinewaves, we can hear the difference between a loudspeaker with 20kHz extension and one with 40kHz extension. The speaker with 40kHz extension can more accurately reproduce the temporal microstructure of sounds within the audioband. This faster transient speed can resolve timing information at lower frequencies and thus present a more realistic rendering of timbre. Until recently, it was believed that humans couldn't resolve this timing information because it was faster than what could be heard within a system of 20kHz bandwidth. In the last decade, however, researchers have independently confirmed that we are much more…

Kacey Musgraves: Deeper Well. Interscope/MCA Nashville. This follow-up to Musgraves’ melancholy 2021 divorce album Star-Crossed is almost chipper in comparison. Almost. Musgraves still leans on the heartfelt, introspective ballads that fans have grown accustomed to since 2018's critically acclaimed Golden Hour, the LSD-fueled recording that garnered Grammys for Album of the Year and three other categories. Deeper Well has a golden-hour aura, with psychedelia embellishing “Anime Eyes.” But for the most part these tender ballads are built around positive self-refection and delicate finger-picked acoustic guitar with sparse use of electronics. Such songs as “Giver/Taker” and “Too Good to Be True” ponder the risky nature of love and the fickleness of fame—“Lonely Millionaire” might set fans pondering the identity of the protagonist. But the emotional title track sets the mood for…

Ysaÿe: Six Sonatas for Solo Violin. Khachatryan. Naïve. Ysaÿe: Rêves: Violin Concerto in E Minor. Poème concertante. 2 mazurkas de salon. Rêve d'enfant. Graffin. Kantorow, Royal Liverpool PO. Avie. Most classical composers were—and still are—competent performers. A few were actually leading virtuosos of their day, and, as such, contributed invaluably to their instrument's repertoire. Representative keyboard players in this elite group were Chopin, Liszt, Busoni, and Rachmaninoff; violinists included Vivaldi, Paganini, Kreisler, and the great Belgian player Eugène Ysaÿe (1858–1931). Ysaÿe's most important compositions were his six sonatas for unaccompanied violin, pieces that test both the technical and musical chops of the very best performers. There have been dozens of recordings of the complete sonatas over the past half-century, from Ruggiero Ricci (1974) to Hilary Hahn (2023)—and now this one.…

Weiss Helios Reference DAC The Helios Reference DAC brings pro performance and versatility to the high end, even exceeding the bar set by the DAC501/502. Digital processing is performed by the 8-channel ES9038PRO chip, utilizing four DAC channels in parallel per channel for an unmatched S/N ratio of 128dB, with superb channel separation and noise rejection. Unique DSP algorithms can be activated to suppress room modes, correct less than optimal recordings, in particular de-essing, which removes excessive sibilance. A powerful non-switching power supply utilizes two toroidal transformers. All sensitive voltages have their own regulators, which are separated between left and right channels, key to reducing digital noise and channel crosstalk. The analog output stages utilize Weiss’ own discrete op-amps. All five digital inputs accept professional or consumer signals. Helios is…

Electrical Power supply: IEC 3-pole connector Voltage range: 90 to 264 VAC Line frequency: 47 to 63Hz Input 1: XLR, level selectable; balanced: +4dBu (in CAL), unbalanced: –10dBV (in CAL) Input 2: XLR (powered 48V), level selectable: -60dBV (in CAL), –40dBV (in CAL) Output: XLR, level selectable: balanced: +4dBu (in CAL), unbalanced: -10dBV (in CAL) Headphone output: 1.5W maximum (8-ohm load) Ethernet: RJ45 10/100Base-T for remote control and firmware update IR input: Infrared remote control Audio Equalization: NAB or IEC, switchable Reproduce record level: 320nWb/m or 514nWb/m, switchable Frequency response: 15ips = 30Hz to 22kHz (±2dB) at 0 VU, 7.5 ips = 30Hz to 20kHz (±2dB) at 0 VU SNR ratio: (THD-N, in CAL)/A-Weighting/15ips = 71dB/78dB, 7.5ips = 70dB/77dB Distortion: <0.8% at 1kHz/15ips Channel crosstalk: >60dB Mechanical Tape: 1/4 inch…

Apart from the recent availability of the u-BACCH plug-in, how has the 8c evolved over the years, in terms of both hardware and software? Over the years, like many manufacturers, we've consistently pursued incremental improvements. These are primarily focusing on improvements in manufacturability, supply-chain flexibility, and serviceability. However, with the exception of a small update that increased the maximum sample rate of the digital input from 96k to 192k back in 2020, the hardware of an 8c bought today remains essentially identical to one acquired in 2018. The real evolution lies in software. Dutch & Dutch operates as a small team of approximately 12 individuals, with a third of them dedicated to software development. We are currently working on expanding our portfolio, but the bulk of our software development remains…

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT B.AUDIO I turned to the team of Rich Maez and Jon Baker of Monarch Systems Ltd, B.audio's North American distributors. The company was founded in 2016 by a pair of brothers, both engineers, Cédric and Sébastien Bermann. Cédric is an expert in electronics and signal processing, notably in the medical-devices world, with a wide experience in the design of precision measuring equipment for electrical networks. Sébastien has worked on numerous research and development projects at Mercedes-Benz and has specific expertise in the area of tuning and testing. These experiences laid the groundwork and informed their designs, both technologically and esthetically. The brothers unfailingly credit much of their inspiration to their father's passion for music and technology. The company is based in Saint-Hippolyte, a small town in…

Type: Full-range four-way ribbon loudspeaker Frequency response: 22Hz–40kHz Sensitivity: 94dB Impedance: 4 ohms Woofer width: 320mm Midrange width: 37mm x2 Mid-tweeter width: 25mm Supertweeter width: 5mm Crossover frequencies: 700, 1500, 4500Hz Dimensions: 2’ 3” x 7’ 3.8” x 0.213” Weight: 330 lbs. each net, not including external crossover Price: $200,070 with X Crossover, $258,421 with XX Crossover ALSYVOX S.L. Calle Doctor JJ Domine, 4/2 46011 Valencia - Spain +34 697 454 945 info-alsyvox.com RHAPSODY AUDIO (U.S. Distributor) Brooklyn, NY rhapsodyaudio.com ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT Analog source: Basis Audio A.J. Conti Transcendence turntable with SuperArm 12.5 tonearm; Air Tight Opus cartridge; Moon 810LP phonostage Digital source: Wadax Reference DAC, Reference Server, Reference PSU, Akasa interface Amplification: CH Precision L10 Dual Monaural linestage; CH Precision M10 Dual Monaural power amplifiers AC Power: Shunyata Everest…

Chris Potter: Eagle's Point. Edition. The most technically gifted and authoritative tenor sax voice since Michael Brecker joins longtime comrades Brad Mehldau on piano, John Patitucci on bass, and Brian Blade on drums to form a modern-day super group on Eagle's Point, Potter's 25th album as a leader. Given their history together, going back to the 90s, their chemistry is evident through all eight tracks. “Dream of Home” opens with Mehldau's sparse, delicate piano statements before the piece builds to a dynamic showcase of masterful counterpoint and swaggering tenor. The all-out swinger, “Cloud Message,” paced by Blade's insistent ride cymbal work and syncopated flash around the kit and Patitucci's unerring pulse, is a launching pad for Potter's post-bop tenor heroics while Mehldau channels his inner Bud Powell on an inspired…

“It does not matter what's best for us; it matters what's best for the customer.” How and when did your interest in audio begin? I fell in love with The Doors at age 10. I hacked my parents’ console stereo with a small pair of box speakers and laid on my back, listening with my head between them, like a cheap 1968 version of planar headphones. What inspired you to get into tubes? At 16, I compared an old 1960s Sansui 1000A tube receiver using 7591s to the new solid-state Sansui 9090DB “Super Receiver.” The 1000A is so musical! I still have three of them.…somewhere. That comparison sold me on tubes. When did audio develop from a hobby to a career? At 18, I started working at a store named…