Table of contents for January 2024 in The Absolute Sound

Email the Editor: rharley@nextscreen.com or: TAS, 2500 McHale Ct., Ste. A, Austin, Texas 78758 Diversity of Design Approaches I read with interest the reviews of the Esoteric Grandioso T1 and tonearm and the Basis Bravo turntable and Vector tonearm [Issue 341]. It was perhaps serendipitous to have both reviews in the same issue, as the design ethos in each turntable/tonearm could not have been more different: the weight of the T1 being close to 139 pounds versus the Bravo's 28 pounds; the unipivot arm used on the Basis versus Esoteric's inhouse arm that's not a unipivot design; the magnetic drive with clock generator in the T1 versus a more traditional external motor with belt used in the Bravo; and lastly the price—$107,000 “all-in” with the T1 versus $16,000 for the Basis…

Eloquence has reissued the complete Mercury recordings of Antal Doráti conducting the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, divided into mono (31 CDs) and stereo (30 CDs) albums. The project was supervised by Thomas Fine, the son of C. Robert Fine and Wilma Cozart Fine, who produced and engineered the original Mercurys. Despite their age, these newly remastered CDs originating from what has been called the Golden Age of Recording have held up well sonically compared to many contemporary releases. Doráti's conducting style was dynamic, powerful, and emphasized rhythmic intensity that was likely a product of his experience as a superb ballet conductor. His mono complete The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and The Sleeping Beauty were landmarks in recording history because of their white-hot performances and sensational sound. Similarly, the Stravinsky ballets (The Firebird,…

Areader question on The Absolute Sound's Substack newsletter asked us to explain the technical basis of grounding devices such as the Shunyata Altaira I reviewed in Issue 334. The writer cited a website that he called a “credible audio source,” which claimed grounding devices made no sonic difference. Indeed, the website ridiculed the category. He asked us to “rebut the criticism from the naysayers.” I've long since learned to ignore critics who dismiss the audibility of a phenomenon purely on a primitive theoretical understanding of the “scientific high ground.” It's not incumbent upon us to “prove” to the skeptics that a particular product renders an audible difference. Even if you can show, say, a lower noise floor, the anti-audiophile brigade dismisses such an improvement as beyond human hearing. These naysayers…

The French manufacturer B.audio's first streaming integrated amplifier, the Alpha One, is the result of experience acquired during the development of the company's Reference Series electronics and represents a synthesis of B.audio's technological know-how. It combines cutting-edge digital electronics and conversion, volume control, and multiple analog and digital inputs with a dual-mono, 120Wpc Class AB amplifier. B.audio's proprietary EX networking module offers 64-bit active acoustic correction and advanced streaming capabilities. It's a Roon-certified endpoint, enables Qobuz, Tidal, and Spotify streaming, and includes Apple's wireless AirPlay connectivity. The Alpha's built-in room-correction software helps to bring the system in sync with the unique acoustic characteristics of any room. B.audio develops and builds in-house all the main components of its products. The manufacturing of casework and electronic boards is carried out in France;…

Equipment Report Dynaudio Confidence 20 Loudspeaker The Confidence Series from Dynaudio stands at the summit of the Danish company's wide range of loudspeakers. Comprising four models—three are floorstanders, slender designs built in three-way bass-reflex configurations, ranging from the 64”-tall Confidence 60 to the smaller 59” Confidence 50, and 52” Confidence 30. Transducer and crossover technology are shared in a lineup with mutual DNA separated mostly by size. And then there's the lone two-way compact, the standmount Confidence 20, under review. But don't shed a tear for its lack of a third driver or its diminutive specification. As I discovered, the Confidence 20 more than knows how to take care of itself. Like its floorstanding siblings, the $13,000 Confidence 20 features a 28mm Esotar3 soft-dome tweeter, developed with over 40 years…

Dvnaudio Confidence 20 Loudspeaker On behalf of everyone at Dynaudio, we thank Neil Gader, Robert Harley, and TAS for such an enjoyable and eloquent review of our Confidence 20. We also offer special thanks to Alan Taffel, who heard the ‘20 in our suite at AXPONA 2023 and recommended it as a “must review in TAS” candidate. Although it lacks the benefits afforded by the additional drivers and DDC lens of its larger brethren, Confidence 20 exudes a similar prowess and finesse because it was designed to be the best compact Dynaudio monitor ever made—and we've made more than a few. Perhaps “there is something special about 2-way monitors”; however, we posit this is where our in-house design and production capabilities matter most. In addition to proving all aspects of…

Les McCann: Never a Dull Moment!—Live from Coast to Coast (1966–1967). Resonance Records. Joe Alterman Plays Les McCann: Big Mo & Little Joe. Joe Alterman Music. In the mid to late 1960s, the permeable musical genre known as “soul jazz” yielded a number of pop hits, including the Ramsey Lewis Trio's version of “The ‘In’ Crowd” (1965) and Cannonball Adderley's “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy” (1966). The biggest was Les McCann and Eddie Harris’ rendition of Gene McDaniels’ “Compared to What” (1969). It's no coincidence that all three were recorded in concert. Rooted in gospel, blues, and hard-bop, soul jazz communicated its spirit most convincingly in clubs and on festival stages, and that same sense of immediacy and in-person excitement animates Never a Dull Moment, the new three-LP (and threeCD) set of…

“Our ears are the best quality control for producing consistently real-sounding systems.” How and when did your interest in highend audio begin? One of my earliest memories is looking up at my dad's Altec Lansing 604E horn speakers on the bookshelf in our living room (they looked absolutely enormous to me as a little kid). We always had music playing in our house, usually classical or jazz, from LPs or from the great FM radio stations we could pick up. I would say that was when my interest in music and high-end audio began. Soon after I learned to play instruments. I started on cello and then the trumpet, which has been my primary instrument to this day. For me playing music, going to concerts, and listening at home are…

If you're looking for more great high-end audio coverage, check out The Absolute Sound's new YouTube video channel. Our channel is chockfull of videos (more than 125 and counting) that cover everything from a nostalgic look at classic audio products to reviews of the latest components. We've got behindthe-scenes factory tours, show reports, audio-basics tutorials, and designer interviews. We've also got product reviews, primarily of lower to mid-priced components that are stunning overachievers. New videos on our channel include an extended tour (in 4k video) of Michael Fremer's listening room. The newest video is an in-depth look at the design and construction of my listening room, including tips on how to improve your room's acoustics at minimal expense. A second companion video takes you through all the components in my reference…

Put yourself in the shoes of an audio designer like industry veteran Peter Madnick. You are tasked with creating a phono preamplifier at a given price point. In the case of the MoFi MasterPhono phonostage, around $6000. That puts it not at the “luxury” level but well above “entry level.” Absent price constraints, a designer can offer high sonic performance and a generous feature menu, but as the price drops, the higher becomes the tension between features and performance. Madnick set high design bars for both features and performance and then got down to figuring out how to offer both for $6k. For instance, the best way to minimize noise and increase S/N ratios would be to locate the power supply outboard in its own chassis, but a second chassis…

We're trying something new with this music section. Already, at the end of every year, we've compiled top ten lists focusing on the best new music from that year. That part of the music section remains the same this time around, but now we'd like you to think of the entire music section as a list in two parts. Almost all of the titles in the top ten lists consist of new music, which means you have almost 90 albums of newly recorded albums that our music writers have recommended. At the same time, some high-profile reissues and archival releases have been vying for everyone's attention. This year we decided to weight our reviews and feature articles toward some of the most appealing reissues and archival releases, including a number…

The Replacements: Tim: Let it Bleed Edition. Sire/Rhino (4 CDs + 1 LP). The fourth deluxe edition compiled from seven Replacements records, Tim: Let it Bleed Edition could be their best boxset. From the raw riches of “Hold My Life,” “Bastards of Young,” and “Left of the Dial” to the forlorn acoustic performance of “Here Comes a Regular,” Tim is the Replacements’ most consistently glorious record, and Westerberg's songwriting exudes a casual brilliance. Despite its topshelf songs, 1985's Tim has often been criticized for producer Tommy Erdelyi's (aka Tommy Ramone) shrouded digital reverb-to-the max mix, 1980s style. Here engineer Ed Stasium remasters Tim with a newfound sonic depth and instrumental clarity that accentuate the band's feral ferocity in song. On the Sons of No One: Rare and Unreleased tracks disc…

Igor Levit: Fantasia. Music of Bach, Busoni, Liszt, and Berg. Sony. Like a lot of today's younger artists, Igor Levit, who's still in his 30s, has a thing for concept albums. It's not a bad thing. Witness this thematic “double album” from Sony, devoted to two works by each of four composers either written or arranged for the keyboard. Levit's selection contains a great deal of musical interest, and the pieces are placed in thoughtful juxtaposition—the kind of thing Serkin and Brendel used to do in their day. The big items here are the Liszt B minor Sonata—the biggest item in a lot of pianists’ playbooks—and the Fantasia Contrappuntistica (1910) of Busoni. Each one dominates half of the program and takes upwards of half an hour to play. But Levit's…