THERE ARE AS MANY OPINIONS AS THERE ARE EXPERTS

AS WE BY JIM AUSTIN

SEE IT THIS ISSUE : Most punk rock wasn’t recorded to sound

real. That doesn’t mean that audiophiles can’t enjoy it.

Punk rock’s wild gift

T
his month’s music feature, by Mike Mettler, is an interview with John Doe, best and that’s fine. Our tent is large; there’s
known as cofounder, in 1977, of the legendary punk band X. During X’s long room for them. I stand, though, with those
recording career, Doe’s urgent voice has offset the starkly contrasting voice for whom music is the sole (soul?) rationale
of co–lead vocalist (and songwriting partner) Exene Cervenka, who was Doe’s for assembling a good stereo system. I in-
girlfriend before she joined the band; it’s one of the most recognizable sounds in punk. vest in hi-fi to extract from music as much
Over 45 years, X has continued to record (sparingly) and to evolve, from the literate punk juice as possible. Better system, better
of Los Angeles—to me one of the great albums ever, in any genre—through Wild Gift, which music, more juice.
leans toward country, to Under the Big Black Sun, which went in several directions at once: Punk rock, early jazz, classical voice—it
rockabilly, funk, folk, pop, and beyond. may not be your cuppa, but juice it’s got.
The first step to appreciating such music is
Meanwhile, Doe has maintained a career I anticipated) many recordings in what’s to set aside that silly “absolute sound” non-
as a solo and collaborative artist, with a often called “historical” sound; that’s sense. Sure, when it comes to evaluating a
dozen or so albums to his credit, including something it shares with a large quantity system, well-recorded acoustic music has
collaborations with prominent artists like of classical music and much jazz. Should clear advantages, but an album shouldn’t
Eddie Vedder and Aimee Mann. In one of we restrict ourselves to recordings made in sound like live acoustic music unless it was
the weirdest matchings in movie-music the last few decades, which rules out some recorded to sound like that. Every album
history, it’s Doe’s version of “I Will Always of the greatest music on record? Should we should sound like itself.3 Appreciating this
Love You” that plays on the jukebox in the ignore Charlie Parker because the sound of obvious fact—embracing it—can contribute
1992 film The Bodyguard as Whitney Hous- his records is typical of the era when they greatly to our enjoyment of this hobby.
ton and Kevin Costner dance. were recorded? What about Louis Arm- Some people maintain that a good hi-fi
Punk, with its intentionally crude strong’s Hot Fives and Hot Sevens? What system makes bad recordings sound worse.
musicianship and homebrew aesthetic, That has not been my experience. A good
isn’t exactly known for the quality of its I stand with those for hi-fi system, rather, can make bad record-
recordings. During his interview with Met- ings make sense. It can sort them out, al-
tler, Doe takes a moment to diss Steely Dan whom music is the sole lowing me to hear more clearly the various
in a non sequitur: “There’s just not a hair (soul?) rationale for contributors to each recording’s signature
out of place on those records. You wind up assembling a good stereo sound, including faults. Occasionally, that
thinking, ‘What the hell? Where’s the juice? new insight turns a recording I thought
Where’s the messiness?’” One man’s me- system. was poor into one I enjoy. But even if that
ticulous care is another man’s soullessness. clearer view fails to redeem a recording—
To me, Steely Dan’s music has plenty of about those great Duke Ellington bands even if it’s just bad sound—there is plea-
juice; it just takes a different form. Still, as through the 1940s and early ’50s? What sure to be gained from listening through
a generalization, “audiophile” recordings about Caruso? I’m not gonna ignore these those flaws to the music, which is easier to
tend to show off sound, not music—polish, masterpieces. do when the flaws are well-resolved.
not juice. Dismissing juicy music—music Do we need high-end systems to ap- Great-sounding recordings form a tiny
with life and spirit—because it doesn’t preciate such recordings? Apparently, it fraction of all recorded music, and they
sound great worries me. helps. In his review this month of the very rarely intersect with the very best music.
I love a lot of punk music—though not expensive Karan POWERa monoblocks (see What’s more, listening only to the best-
all of it—because of its energy, spirit, and p.37), Jason found himself drawn not to the recorded, most natural-sounding music
anger. Let It Be by the Replacements and A latest perfectionist recordings—although excludes the use of recording technology
Different Kind of Tension by the Buzzcocks he listened to some of those, too—but to a to create specific moods and impressions;
are among my all-time favorite albums. 1952 mono recording by contralto Kath- X’s Los Angeles is a fine example of that. No
So is Los Angeles, X’s debut. I like country leen Ferrier and pianist Frederick Stone. one will mistake it for live or for the state
music, too—the good stuff. I chose Jerry Why? More juice. “To my astonishment, the of the recording art, but it sounds exactly
Jeff Walker’s ¡Viva Terlingua! as one of my POWERa monos brought newfound clarity as it should. Q
Records to Die For in 2017.1 to Ferrier’s singing and conveyed all of its
1 See stereophile.com/content/records-die-2017-page-2.
Most nights, though, I listen to jazz. magic,” he wrote.
2 See stereophile.com/content/classical-voice-finding-
Sometimes it’s classical, especially cham- There are some unfortunate clichés your-way.
ber music or solo piano. The world is bless- about audiophiles. That we listen to the 3 “In the great majority of cases, there is no original
edly full of varied and distinctive music same half-dozen records over and over be- musical event that a record records or reproduces,” wrote
Evan Eisenberg, in his book-length essay The Recording
and musical taste. cause they make our systems sound great. Angel; John Atkinson quoted Eisenberg in his March 2019
In 2020, I asked Jason Victor Serinus to That we use music to listen to our systems As We See It. “Instead, each playing of a given record is an
instance of something timeless. The original musical event
write a piece on the classical voice. When it instead of using our systems to listen to never occurred; it exists, if it exists anywhere, outside
was published in late 2020,2 it featured (as music. Such people, I’ve learned, do exist, history.”

stereophile.com Q May 2023 3

excellence in all things
 0$<ৱ৯ৱ৲ Vol.46 No.5

p.119

FEATURES
105 Fables of the Post-Reconstruction
Mike Mettler chats with John Doe about seminal
punk band X and his solo career.

EQUIPMENT REPORTS
37 Karan Acoustics POWERa Mono
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by Jason Victor Serinus p.89
53 Moon by Simaudio Voice 22 loudspeaker
by Robert Schryer

65 Mastersound Compact 845 integrated

 DPSOLࢉHU
by Ken Micallef

77 Arvus H2-4D 16-channel digital audio

renderer
by Kalman Rubinson
p.53
89 Jay’s Audio CDT3 MK3 CD transport
by Michael Trei
Stereophile (USPS #734-970 ISSN: 0585-2544) Vol.46 No.5, May 2023, Issue Number 520.
Copyright © 2023 by AVTech Media Americas Inc. All rights reserved. Published monthly by

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 HANDCRAFTED IN THE USA
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INTERCONNECT
XLR termination (also available with RCA)

“Carbon only serves

one master—the
music itself.”
Niel Gader · The Absolute Sound · Issue 322

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 0$<ৱ৯ৱ৲ Vol.46 No.5

p.23

p.31 p.133 p.121

3 As We See It: Punk Rock’s Wild Gift 121 Record Reviews

Like most music, punk wasn’t recorded in the highest possible Our Recording of the Month is the Tyshawn Sorey Trio’s The
ࢉGHOLW\7KDWGRHVQȆWPHDQZHDXGLRSKLOHVFDQȆWHQMR\LW 2ࢃ2ࢃ%URDGZD\*XLGHWR6\QHUJLVP. Also in jazz, new music from
the Bobo Stenson Trio, audiophile vinyl from Kirsten Edkins,
11 Letters G Swiss trumpeter Franco Ambrosseti plays with strings, and
A knowing smile; home is where the YOUR SET ON Walter Smith III returns to casual. In classical, reviewers consider
OA
$%WHVWLQJLVKLࢉȆVHYHUULVLQJSULFHV VISIT THPBOX! Alexander Melnikov’s )DQWDVLH&RPSRVHUV.H\ERDUGV;
STEREOP E
biographical vinyl; Enjoy yourself: It’s HILE.CO Neilsen’s Symphonies Nos.2 and 6 conducted by Fabio Luisi;
FORUMS M
later than you think. Strauss and Debussy from the LSO and François-Xavier Roth; and
D%HHWKRYHQFRQFHUWRIURP9HURQLND(EHUOH5RFN3RSOHDGVRࢆ
15 Industry Update with a new reissue of %XUQLQȃ by John Lee Hooker, followed by the
,QPHPRULDP%U\DQ6WDQWRQ5,3-Hࢆ&RRPEV5HFRUG6WRUH'D\ ࢉUVWQHZPXVLFIURP3DUDPRUHLQVL[\HDUVDGHOX[HUHLVVXHRI
and other vinyl-related news; PSB Speakers embraces an New Order’s /RZ/LIH comes next, then new music from Yo La
MQA-based alternative to Bluetooth audio codecs; Under new Tengo.
RZQHUVKLS3DUDVRXQGDGGVNH\VWDࢆLQFOXGLQJ'DUUHQ0H\HUV
lately of PS Audio; Andrew Jones, loudspeaker designer, movie 133 Re-Tales
VWDU$ȉ'RSHIURP+RSHȊERRNȂSOXVKLࢉȁUHODWHGHYHQWV In South Portland, Maine, Chris Brewer is rejuvenating a
dealership that has been around since 1965.
STAY INFORMED: GO TO STEREOPHILE.COM
FOR UP-TO-THE-MINUTE INFO. 137 Manufacturers’ Comments
Representatives of Abyss, Eleven Audio, Moon by Simaudio,
23 Gramophone Dreams Arvus, and Mojo Audio respond to our reviews of their products.
Herb listens to new premium headphones from Abyss and Focal
and a new headphone amp from Eleven Audio. 138 My Back Pages
Sasha Matson enjoys the latest feast from the Bob Dylan %RRWOHJ
31 Brilliant Corners series.
Alex Halberstadt wanted to know why original recordings sound
better than modern reissues, so he asked four mastering
engineers.
INFORMATION
134 Manufacturers’
115 Aural Robert Showcase
Robert Baird reconsiders the career of the late, great 134 Dealers’ Showcase
Burt Bacharach.
135 Advertiser Index
117 Rabbit Holes 136 Audio Mart
Anne E. Johnson enjoys listening to the &RPSOHWH6WXGLR6HVVLRQV
from Glenn Gould’s 1981 recording of Bach’s *ROGEHUJ9DULDWLRQV.
p.121

119 Revinylization Follow Stereophile on Facebook:

Tom Fine enters soul’s kitchen with Craft Recordings, Jaws, and www.facebook.com/stereophile.
the Queen.

stereophile.com Q May 2023 7

 MAY 2023

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WWW.AUDIOVECTOR.COM
 LETTERS
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FEEDBACK TO THE EDITOR We reserve the right to edit for length and content.

A knowing smile The only A/B testing cause the industry to turn toward fancy au-
All of us have read numerous audio reviews diophile jewelry at the cost of sonics—because
ending with the same tired phrases: “Highly
that’s meaningful is in how many of those shopping at such prices are
recommended,” “Must audition,” “Put it on my home, with all my serious, critical, obsessed audiophiles?
your short list.” existing equipment— Fortunately, though, most companies
Jason, in his review of the dCS Vivaldi not an unfamiliar system selling to that market seem to be doing it in a
Apex, goes in a different, original, direction: serious, uncynical way, exploring what can be
“If you’re fortunate enough to own one, you at a dealer! achieved in engineering terms with such large
will have read this review with a knowing budgets. All that extra cash buys at least some
smile.” extra quality, and some of that extra quality
While most of us will never own a dCS, we I never quite get it about the high price of trickles down, so there’s that at least. Here’s
can appreciate the quality of the component some audio equipment. My first really pricey hoping the trickle-down accelerates and that
with that one simple sentence. purchase was a pair of Elipson speakers from companies drunk on luxury high-end cash
Jay Valancy, France at a price, then, of $400 Canadian! don’t forget about the rest of us.—Jim Austin
Sacramento, California Over the years, Yamaha, Harman-Kardon,
and Denon were bought to get a sound that I Biographical vinyl
Home is where the A/B testing is can call decent. It always pleases me. I always loved looking into someone’s record
A million years ago, I went to a high-end It was not until 2014 that I came back to vi- collection. It was like a free look into their
dealer to listen to a new-to-me speaker called nyl listening, for my retirement. I got into dif- personality. Even if I didn’t know them very
the Quad electrostatic. What a revelation! ferent setups, until last week I finally got the well, or at all, by looking at their albums, I
However, once I got them home: no bass. No sound I wanted for my music sanctuary with could tell what they dug.
change in components could remedy that. my integrated amplifier, a BC Acoustique EX- Thanks for letting us look into your writ-
Eventually, I moved on to the Infinity Servo 214—not too pricey, not too cheap—and I am ers’ personalities. We know and appreciate
Static 1. happy to report that for my needs, this setup their knowledge, and technical report, but
Years later, I ran into the salesperson who pleases both my ears and my wallet: the amp, it’s nice to see their artistic appreciation as
sold me the Quads at a different high-end a pair of bookshelf speakers (Monitor Audio well.
dealer. The problem with the bass was that Bronze 50), and a Denon 300F turntable with It’s also great to see you have so many
the dealer was using a hidden subwoofer! I an Audio-Technica VM540ML cartridge. punks on your staff!! I never would have
suspected some of this hanky panky at AX- I am a low-fi listener, but it pleases me: I guessed, but love you guys even more now!
PONA when a demo with a small standmount still read my copy of Stereophile just to see if Looking forward to next year’s R2L4.
speaker obviously had a sub in the system. the money spent on pricey systems would Bob G.
Many years later, I went to a dealer to buy affect my point of view. For now, no. Romeoville, Illinois
a highly rated CD player to replace my old Jean-François Laferté,
one, which died. Missing bass again! The Terrebonne, Québec Enjoy yourself
dealer demoed a CD player with the supplied Canada The magazine was in my letterbox this
power cable and with an aftermarket hose. morning. I first turned to the back page, as I
Wow, what a difference! Terrific bass! I The run-up in prices at the extreme high end is usually do because new or different writers
bought the hose but not the CD player. When astonishing and concerning. It’s also logical. are often found there.
I got home, yes, there was a difference, but I’m not an expert in the economics of this We should lament Terry Hall’s passing.
still not much bass. The dealer had me bring industry—far from it—but sales have presum- However, readers might assume he wrote
in my CD player and did the A/B demo with ably followed wealth as it has become more “Enjoy Yourself (It’s Later Than You Think).”
my player vs the store demo player. Wow—it concentrated. High-end hi-fi is simply going Published in 1949 and reaching #10 on
was my CD player! I bought the one the store where the disposable income is. Billboard, it was written by Carl Sigman and
was using, and I heard everything in my There’s a danger this could lead to too much Herb Magidson.
home that I heard in the store. focus on products for the wealthy and not Michael Quinlan
The moral? The only A/B testing that’s enough for those of more moderate means— Reigate, UK
meaningful is in my home, with all my exist- that is to say, most audiophiles. It could even
ing equipment—not an unfamiliar system at Mr. Quinlan, “Enjoy Yourself (It’s Later Than
a dealer! Nowadays, I only do business with LETTERS TO THE EDITOR should be sent as
You Think)” was, as you say, written by Sig-
dealers who let me try a component at home, e-mails only. Email: stletters@stereophile. man and Magidson. It has been performed
with return privileges. com. Please note: We are unable to answer over the years by artists including Bing Crosby,
Richard Potekin, UHTXHVWVIRULQIRUPDWLRQDERXWVSHFLࢉF Doris Day, Tommy Dorsey, Louis Prima, Jolie
Plantation, Florida products or systems. If you have problems Holland, Todd Snider, the Supremes—and of
with your subscription, call (800) 666-3746,
course, the Specials. (Yes, I looked it up.)
RUHPDLO673&XVWVHUY#FGVIXOࢉOOPHQWFRP
7KHHYHUULVLQJSULFHVRIKLࢉȆVKLJKHQG or write to Stereophile, P.O. Box 37965, Knowing that Bing Crosby and the Specials
As a 65 years of age person who began col- Boone, IA 50037-0965. recorded the same song makes me happy. So,
lecting and listening to music when I was 13, thank you.—Jim Austin

stereophile.com Q May 2023 11

DreamPlay X : the Ultimate Digital Source
SACD Player / Streamer / Digital Pre-Amp

Kalista® is a Brand of Métronome Technologie,

100% handcrafted in France

Distributed in the US and Canada by Wynn Audio

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 INDUSTRY AUDIO NEWS & VIEWS SUBMISSIONS: Those promoting audio-related

UPDATE
seminars, shows, and meetings should email the
when, where, and who to stletters@stereophile.
com at least eight weeks before the month of the
event. The deadline for the August 2023 issue is
May 20, 2023.

BRYAN STANTON PASSES Bryan Stanton was known by all of us in Labs for a long time—far longer than I had
Jim Austin the hi-fi press, but few knew him well.1 Dur- known him—so I asked Nelson Pass to com-
I met Bryan Stanton before I knew I had ing one of our marathon telephone chats— ment. He sent me this, by email:
met him, not too long ago. AXPONA 2019 Bryan was one of several members of our
was over. I packed my bags, came down- industry who helped me get up to speed It appears that I have known Bryan Stanton
stairs, and saw several of my colleagues after I took over Stereophile—he shared that for nearly 50 years. When René and I
sitting at a table. I’d be heading for the he was experiencing some health problems. launched Threshold and started going to
airport soon. I was sympathetic: He had Parkinson’s dis- trade shows, Bryan would come by and
With them was a gentleman I didn’t ease, and I’d recently watched that disease introduce himself and politely inquire if
know—or anyway, not by sight. Everyone claim my mother. we needed his PR services. We saw him at
assumed we knew each other, no one Bryan was an important figure in the every event. As we started to have some
introduced us, and neither of us introduced industry; years before, he had been even success, he began asking, “Well, are you
ourselves. We all chatted like old friends, more so. I took the time to learn more about ready for me yet?” We always politely
then I excused myself. My car had arrived him. He was a well-educated gentleman, demurred, but as the years went by, I came
to take me to the airport. a Harvard grad. He spoke a little Chinese. to appreciate his persistence, and the
Not a mile down the road, I got an email Long ago, he’d been a hi-fi editor like me, conversations became longer.
from Bryan. While we didn’t know each although his magazine was on the trade Some 20 years passed, and one day
other by sight, we’d exchanged many side, not the consumer side. He quit that job at Pass Labs we were sitting around the
emails—the first one in my inbox is from and started his business, J.B. Stanton Com- office counting the year’s profits. With CES
2005, when Bryan was representing NAD munications, in 1977. approaching, we discussed hiring Bryan,
and I was preparing a review—and shared a Before I became editor, I interacted with and [former president of Pass Labs, the
couple of long telephone conversations. Af- Bryan over brands including Auralic,
ter I’d left for the airport, Bryan had asked Clarus Cables, Mytek, and NAD, among oth- 1 An example of his apparent desire to stay out of the
who I was; embarrassed upon learning, he ers. I always found him professional and spotlight: It’s very difficult to find a photograph of Bryan.
I found three on the whole internet; two were far too
fired off an email. I just found it; the subject courteous; he was a true professional. Most small for print, and the third was of the back of his head. I
line is “Ships that pass in the night.” Which of my interactions with Bryan, though, eventually managed to track a photo down, but I’m taking
the dearth of photos as evidence of Bryan’s desire to keep
is a good way of expressing how I feel now were about Pass Laboratories (and First a low profile, which is why we’re not publishing a photo
that he’s gone. Watt) products. Bryan worked with Pass here.—Jim Austin

CALENDAR OF INDUSTRY EVENTS

ATTENTION ALL AUDIO SOCIETIES: We have a else is on your mind. For more information midwestclassicalshow.com.
page on the Stereophile website devoted to and registration, visit bit.ly/3RyaqX9.
you: stereophile.com/audiophile-societies. WASHINGTON
If you’d like to have your audio-society ILLINOIS ])ULGD\ȁ6XQGD\-XQHȁ3DFLࢉF$XGLR
information posted on the site, email Chris ] Friday–Sunday, April 14–16: Audio Expo Fest is shifting its dates forward from
9RJHODWYJO#FࢊUUFRP1RWHWKHQHZHPDLO 1RUWK$PHULFDȂZLGHO\NQRZQDV$;321$Ȃ the inaugural 2022 event’s early August
address.) takes place once again at the Renaissance weekend. PAF will take place once again
It is inappropriate for a retailer to promote Schaumberg Hotel and Convention Center DWWKH'RXEOH7UHHE\+LOWRQ+RWHO
a new product line in “Calendar” unless it is 7KRUHDX'U1RUWK6FKDXPEHUJ,/ International Blvd., Seattle, WA 98188) near
associated with a seminar or similar event. 60173) in the Chicagoland area. The large- WKH6HDWWOH$LUSRUW6HD7DF)RULQIRUPDWLRQ
VFDOHVKRZRࢆHUVVFRUHVRIGHPRURRPV YLVLWSDFLࢉFDXGLRIHVWFRP
CALIFORNIA WKHPRVWUHFHQWFRXQWLVDYHQGRU
] Friday–Sunday, June 9–11: Save the dates marketplace, several seminars each day, and MUNICH, GERMANY
for T.H.E. Show, which is moving to a new live music Friday and Saturday nights. ] Friday–Sunday, May 18–21: The High End
+LOWRQYHQXHLQ&RVWD0HVD+LOWRQ2UDQJH ] Saturday, May 6, 9:30am–3:30pm: The Society of Wuppertal, Germany, presents
County, 3050 Bristol St., Costa Mesa, CA 35th annual Midwest Classical Record Show High End Munich, an international audio
92626), approximately 28 miles south of the ZLOOEHKHOGDWWKH+ROLGD\,QQ1RUWK6KRUH VKRZDWWKH02&HYHQWFHQWHULQ0XQLFK
prior Long Beach location. Tickets will be LQWKH&KLFDJRVXEXUERI6NRNLH: This year’s show ambassador is guitar
available soon. For more information, visit Touhy Ave., Skokie, IL 60077). A range of YLUWXRVR$O'L0HRODDUJXDEO\EHVWNQRZQ
thehomeentertainmentshow.com. 0LGZHVWGHDOHUVZLOOVHOOUHFRUGV&'VDQG for the album Friday Night in San Francisco,
] Friday evenings, 5–7pm PST: The San open-reel tapes. Admission is $4; parking an audiophile classic, with John McLaughlin
Francisco Audiophile Society hosts a virtual is free. Interested sellers should contact and Paco de Lucía. The new-in-2022, trade-
Happy Hour via Zoom, open to anyone who’d %RE&UDLJDWRUHPDLO RULHQWHG,362(0VKRZZLOOWDNHSODFH
OLNHWRMRLQXVWRWDONDERXWKLࢉDQGZKDWHYHU [email protected]. For information, visit concurrently on the 18th and 19th.

stereophile.com Q May 2023 15

INDUSTRY UPDATE

late] Joe Sammut said, “Well, maybe we of his decisions. I did not know that Bryan had Parkin-
should put a quarter in the machine.” So Bryan was very private, and I knew son’s for some years and also developed
we hired Bryan and stayed with him until almost nothing about his personal life, ALS. He remained active until he informed
his passing 26 years later. including his partner of 27 years. I also me of this, and two weeks later, I was
As audio critics and editors know, Stan- knew little about any of his other clients, informed he had passed.
ton was very effective at representing us. although several contacted me as a refer- Bryan was a unique talent, an extremely
Did I mention persistent? He didn’t need ence before engaging him. He did once effective professional, and I owe him a
instructions, and we didn’t have to manage share the story about his unfortunate debt of gratitude for working with me all
him. In all that time, we did not regret any investment with Bernie Madoff. these years.—Nelson Pass

IN MEMORIAM: had served as president of Ambisonic

JEFF COOMBS OF sales at Origin Acoustics. He specialized
AMBISONIC SYSTEMS in ribbon-line arrays and had more than
Note: The following obituary, 54 years of experience in the design of
edited slightly, was supplied by professional and high-end loudspeak-
Origin Acoustics. ers. He is listed as the inventor on many
Jeff Coombs—best known as the founder of patents. His company and speakers are
two iconic consumer electronics brands, known for innovative concepts, break-
James Loudspeaker and Ambisonic Sys- through technology, and amazing sound.
tems—has passed away. After a battle with More importantly, Jeff was one of the most
cancer, Coombs died on Monday, February positive and happy-go-lucky people you
20, 2023, in Palm Desert, California, sur- could ever meet.
rounded by family who loved and adored Jeff and his family are longtime residents
him. He was 69 years old. of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, where they
Coombs founded James Loudspeakers centered their lives and businesses. He had
in 1999 and Ambisonic Systems in 2009. a deep love for the community and will be
Ambisonic Systems, which was purchased missed by many in that small city.
by Origin Acoustics in 2020, specializes Jeff is survived by his wife, Betty; his two
in high-output, audiophile-quality sound stepchildren, Tyler Rossetti and Ashley
reinforcement loudspeakers. Coombs Rossetti-Belton; his brother, Jay Coombs; his

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 INDUSTRY UPDATE

sister Diana Coombs; his two nieces Ivory took 45 years). His band members included Founded in 2007, Record Store Day
and Nicole Marinakis, and a grandniece, rhythm-section legends Sly Dunbar and the arose from “a gathering of independent
Haylee; along with many relatives, friends, late Robbie Shakespeare. record store owners and employees as a
and all those who admired the person he Other Legacy LPs present early mate- regular celebration of the unique culture
was and the products that he built. rial from Dolly Parton—a collection of surrounding nearly 1400 independently
Monument-era singles, 1964–1968—Miles owned record stores in the U.S. and thou-
Davis (Turnaround: Rare Miles from the sands of similar stores around the world.”
RECORD STORE DAY AND Complete on the Corner Sessions), and Elvis The inaugural RSD occurred on April 19,
OTHER VINYL NEWS Presley (Burning Love: The RCA Rehearsals). 2008. This year’s Record Store Day Ambas-
Julie Mullins
Record Store Day has become plural—Days,
not Day, with a new date on “black Friday”
and “RSD Drops” and “Essentials” through-
out the year—but the original April day,
which falls on the 22nd this year, brings a
dizzying array of special LP releases, some
of greater interest to audiophiles than
others. The April 22 RSD releases from
Legacy Recordings, Sony Music Entertain-
ment’s catalog division, span genres and A release of 13 Carole King demos captured sadors are Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires;
eras, though the scales tip toward the years between 1962 and 1971 is due out on “milky their EP The Sound Emporium comes out on
between 1960 and 2000. clear vinyl.” Speaking of colored vinyl, the Southeastern label for RSD.
Among Legacy’s RSD offerings are live there’s a “lemonade yellow vinyl” LP of Joan k ECM has announced a new audiophile
recordings from Billy Joel (Live at the Great Jett & the Blackhearts’ Grammy-nominated vinyl reissue series, which is due to start
American Music Hall 1975), Nas (Made You Up Your Alley (1988). with releases on April 28—just after RSD.
Look: God’s Son Live 2002), Pearl Jam, Soul One noteworthy release is more recent: a The series name, Luminessence, is not a
Asylum (MTV Unplugged), and, for the first 10th-anniversary edition of London Gram- misspelling; it’s the title of a 1975 album
time on vinyl, Peter Tosh’s Live & Danger- mar’s If You Wait—its deep bass helped featuring saxophonist Jan Garbarek impro-
ous: Boston 1976—a live performance from make it a favorite at hi-fi shows past—here vising over string arrangements composed
his first solo US tour supporting Legalize on two 180gm gold-with-black-splatter- by Keith Jarrett for the occasion. That 1975
It (which now seems prescient, and it only effect LPs. album is slated to get ECM’s new titular

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treatment for an upcoming reissue. ian single-string instrument with African (again just after RSD) is relaunching the
ECM described the new series’ hallmarks origins and associations with the martial OJC series with one of their most important
as “original and evocative music, imagina- art capoeira—in an orchestral context, ac- reissues: Workin’ with the Miles Davis Quin-
tively played and sensitively produced.” cording to press information. Also on deck tet, followed a month later by Thelonious
Many of the reissues will be cut from the are plans to reissue never-before-released Monk with John Coltrane. They’ll be avail-
original analog master tapes. albums and some long-out-of-print titles able on 180gm vinyl (pressed at RTI from
The debut releases include Kenny and special editions. lacquers cut from their original analog
Wheeler’s Gnu High (1975) and Naná k Another label of historical importance master tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent
Vasconcelos’s Saudades (1979), reportedly a is back and better than ever: The beloved Audio) and 24/192 HD digital. Other OJC
fulfillment of that Brazilian percussionist’s Original Jazz Classics (OJC) imprint is back albums are forthcoming from Bill Evans,
dream of hearing the berimbau—a Brazil- via Craft Recordings, which on April 28 Dave Brubeck, Yusef Lateef, and others.

LATEST MQA CODEC TO FIND at the time of this writing, is expected

A HOME IN NEW PRODUCTS in market by the first quarter of 2024.
Julie Mullins SCL6 is said to be seamlessly scal-
In the February issue of Stereophile, I de- able from below 200kbps to 20Mbps,
scribed a new MQA technology for wireless covering Bluetooth, Ultra-Wideband
hi-rez music playback. Known as MQair for (UWB), and Wi-Fi connections. It
marketing purposes and as SCL6 by devel- supports MQA and PCM datastreams
opers, MQair is “an advanced codec created up to 384kHz. The SCL6/PSB pairing
to offset wireless streaming’s bit-depth was made possible by Sonical, a tech-
and sample-rate transmission limitations.” development company specializing in
It’s the equivalent of a Bluetooth audio “the Headphone 3.0 market.” Founded
codec that utilizes core MQA ideas. The by Gary Spittle in 2020, Sonical
first MQair product has been announced, has created its own CosmOS operating cores, bringing unprecedented levels of
by Canadian manufacturer PSB Speakers, system—an “ear-computing platform”— connectivity and computational power to
part of parent company Lenbrook. PSB will with a dedicated silicon chip designed for headphones.” CosmOS’s ultrawideband
produce the first headphone to incorporate “hearables,” eg, (wireless) headphones and (UWB) radio technology is said to provide
Sonical’s CosmOS platform and the ad- earbuds, the press release said. The operat- a higher data rate and very low latency, for
vanced SCL6 codec. That headset, unnamed ing system “runs on powerful low-wattage more accurate sound and performance.

UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP, THAT ANDREW JONES

PARASOUND ADDS KEY STAFF Julie Mullins
Julie Mullins He’s everywhere: Andrew Jones, currently
As Jason Victor Serinus reported in the loudspeaker designer for MoFi, is one of
March issue’s Industry Update and also on- the best-known designers in modern-day
line,2 California-based Parasound recently hi-fi. He will soon be the subject of a docu-
changed hands: Richard Schram, who mentary film.
had owned Parasound for more than four Emiko Carlin is directing the film, THAT
decades, sold the company to entrepreneur Andrew Jones, working with her Los Ange-
David Sheriff. “Sheriff has pledged to main- les–based production company, Rose City
tain Parasound’s reputation for excellence Media. Carlin serves as vice-president for
while shepherding the company to ‘take T.H.E. (The Home Entertainment) Show and
the next step,’” Serinus wrote. A couple of is also a producer, musician (Hammond
those next steps have already happened: organ and keytar), and composer of film
Larry Bennett was hired as VP of sales and series scores.
and marketing; more recently, Parasound Why Andrew Jones? Many in the hi-fi
brought in Darren Myers as vice president industry community know him—but do
of research & development. Myers worked they really know him? “There’s a whole
most recently at PS Audio, where he was other Andrew Jones that is so much bigger
credited with designing that company’s than his wonderful and highly esteemed
Stellar line of amplifiers; his Stellar Phono loudspeaker designs for the hi-fi industry,”
phono preamplifier3 was Stereophile’s 2020 Darren Myers, the new vice president of research Carlin told me in a recent phone interview.
Analog Product of the Year. & development at Parasound. “The ‘why’ of who he is needs to be told.”
Myers graduated from the University of Media about audio design typically
North Carolina at Charlotte with an electri- ers will help move longtime Parasound focuses on the “how”—how the loudspeaker
cal engineering degree and a microelec- designer John Curl’s design ideas forward or other component works, she said. The
tronics specialization, the press release and broaden the scope of product possi- film will obviously cover audio, in addition
said. He’s also a passionate music enthusi- bilities to include, eg, custom installation. to Jones’s “journey and his actual method
ast, and he has long been interested in the Myers will also focus on upgrades for exist-
nuances of musical reproduction. ing products and developing new product 2 See bit.ly/3mDiKJJ.
According to the press release, My- ideas. 3 See bit.ly/3mz0x01.

18 May 2023 Q stereophile.com

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 INDUSTRY UPDATE

as a human being.” Her vision for the film is

“I never imagined
how much previously
to look both into and beyond the hi-fi indus-
try—to appeal to a wider audience. undelivered recorded
“There’s a number of compositional information the
things involved in the audio process that
should please audiophiles,” Carlin told me. Stenheim Alumine
But “this is going to cover a wider variety
of topics than just audio. It’s going to be a
Threes would bring
360-degree view of Andrew—like Andrew into my room.
in Dolby Atmos,” she said with a laugh.
“My hope is that it will be relatable.
Or how powerful
There’s a story there that can be of service and compelling this
to folks who are finding their way. He’s in
such a niche industry, one that’s dominated newly discovered
by tradition.”
Jones has designed speakers for compa-
nies including KEF, TAD, Pioneer, and Elac.
information would be.
—HERB REICHERT, Stereophile
”
Just over a year ago, as I reported from
AXPONA, he began designing speakers for Loudspeaker designer Andrew Jones.
MoFi Electronics.
Jones, for his part, was “surprised and which is anticipated to be about an hour
flattered” to be asked to participate in long, is underway, but no official release
the project, he told me in a recent phone date has been set yet. Carlin told me the
interview. He’s curious about the process documentary would not be released until at
and wonders how it will all come together. least the summer.
“This is an experiment, right? She’ll ask In the meantime, a short preview or
me questions,” he told me by phone. “But teaser could be shown at T.H.E. Show in
how do you condense whatever it is [she’s] Long Beach June 9–11. Carlin plans to post
trying to bring out of me? They say films updates on social media as the project
are all in the editing. … It’s in her trusted unfolds and hopes that will get people
hands.” involved: “This is really for everyone, not
Principal photography for the film, just for the audiophile community.”

DOPE FROM HOPE: series, which started in 1960. “Hope” here

KLIPSCH BOOK SCORES refers to Hope, Arkansas, longtime home
FULL CROWDFUNDING to Klipsch’s speaker manufacturing; it’s
Julie Mullins also the site of the Klipsch Museum of
Paul Klipsch, the man behind his epony- Audio History, run by Jim Hunter, and
mous company’s loudspeaker designs, left the birthplace of former US President Bill
behind a pioneering loudspeaker legacy, Clinton. Klipsch’s cult newsletter series
but there’s more to his story. Some older will be compiled into a limited-edition,
Stereophile readers might remember, or hardbound, archival book,4 thanks to a
at least be familiar with, Klipsch’s witty successful Kickstarter initiative5 launched
and wise “Dope from Hope” newsletter by Brooklyn-based DJ duo Barbie Bertisch
and Paul Raffaele under the moniker Love
Injection (a “print-first” monthly fanzine of
New York music and culture, record label,
DJ event hosting, radio show, etc.). Colleen Some manufacturers focus
“Cosmo” Murphy, the esteemed DJ and on the sensory, others on
Classic Album Sundays6 events founder, technology. We choose both.
also appeared in the Love Injection–di- Our speakers are elegant and
rected video that was made to support the neutral, producing rich, clear
campaign. tones that highlight the beauty of
The bad news is that now that the cam- the music and nothing else.
paign has ended, the window for ordering
the book has ended, too. The good news: For
now, you can watch the video on Kickstart-
er—and you can see the Klipsch heritage
alive in current Klipsch products. Q
www.stenheim.com
4 See dopefromhope.com. For further information and dealer inquiries,
Paul Klipsch with one of his namesake speakers. 5 See bit.ly/3YwFaJM. Contact our North American
6 See stereophile.com/content/classic-album-Sundays. Brand Manager: Walter Schofield,
WSchofi[email protected]
stereophile.com Q May 2023
 EXPLORING THE ANALOG ADVENTURE

GRAMOPHONE
DREAMS BY HERB REICHERT THIS ISSUE: On headphones: A lovely
lady from Abyss; how do you get to
Broadway?; and a new Focal Utopia.

Two at the Top

S
ince the 1980s, I’ve been asking every speaker designer I meet, “What amplifier of distortion knew immediately that the
do you recommend using with your speakers?” Annoyingly, they always say, “My Abyss AB-1266 Phi was one of the lowest-
speakers are easy to drive. Any amp will do.” Whereupon I’d whine, “Aww, come distortion transducers ever invented.
on man, don’t feed me that. What amp did you use when you were designing the In 2017, Joe got tired of people bitchin’
speaker?” The closest any manufacturer came to providing a real answer was Wendell about his headphone’s form factor, so he
Diller of Magnepan, who, when I reviewed his .7 quasi-ribbon speaker, said, “We used an went out and got all Anna Wintour on
amp of our own design. It’s not for sale. But any amp that doubles its power into 4 ohms them, creating what might be the “world’s
will be fine.” Wendell’s answer helped me choose effective amplification and feel more most high-fashion” headphone. Realizing
confident about my conclusions. that the AB-1266’s unique physical struc-
ture did not lend itself to extended casual
Unlike loudspeaker manufacturers, Because the Z10e is the headphone amp listening, Skubinski decided to make his
headphone manufacturers know that I use most, it was perfect for double-check- new headphone lighter, slimmer, and more
which amp a reviewer uses could make or ing my findings against the other ampli- comfortable, fitting more neatly onto the
break a review of their product. So, wisely, fiers provided for this month’s headphone user’s skull. This second headphone design,
they seem grateful when I ask for guidance. auditions, by Abyss and Focal. which he named after his wife, Diana,
When I reviewed Dan Clark’s flagship employs a slightly smaller (63mm vs 66mm)
Stealth planar-magnetic headphone in Abyss goes high-fashion planar-magnetic driver that was adapted
Gramophone Dreams #62,1 I asked Clark Thirty years ago, Joe Skubinski founded from the AB-1266 in a sturdy, luxurious,
Audio’s president, Andy Regan, if he what became a successful audio-cable aluminum headset. The Abyss website
would “please” recommend an amp that he manufacturing business called JPS Labs claims it is the “world’s thinnest planar
thought would allow the Stealth to perform LLC. Ten years ago, in his first-ever attempt headphone.” The stock, fourth-generation
at its full potential. In response, he sent me at designing a headphone, he created what Abyss Diana TC I’m reviewing costs $4495
HeadAmp’s $1995 GS-X Mini headphone I still consider the state-of-the-art planar and may be purchased direct from Abyss in
amplifier/preamp. This popular, drives- magnetic: the Abyss AB-1266. What are the no fewer than 30 fashion-conscious colors
everything headphone amplifier allowed chances of hitting a home run in your first of oven-cured polymer ceramic. Dealers
the Stealth and every other headphone I’ve major league at bat? carry only gray and bronze.
run through it to reproduce recordings When I first reviewed the Abyss AB-1266 What are the chances of hitting another
with a grainless, easy-flowing dynamic that Phi headphones back in Gramophone home run in your second at bat?
makes vocal recordings sound exceptional- Dreams #17,3 I found them to be the most For this report, Joe sent me what he calls
ly natural. Because it is more powerful (6W open, lightning-fast, microscopically trans- the Complete package, which, at $1500
into 25 ohms, 4W into 50 ohms, 2W into parent transducers I’d ever used. Their extra ($5995 total), substitutes a 1.8m
100 ohms) than the amps described below, only competition for clarity, detail, and Superconductor HP cable for the standard
I used the GS-X Mini as a reference during neutral tone were Stax SR-009 electrostat- 1.5m cable, in your choice of termination:
the course of this report. ics and AKG’s K812 dynamic open-backs. three- or four-pin XLR or 1/4" plug. (Other
When I review state-of-the-art electro- To me, the AB-1266 sounded more con- lengths are available.) In addition, Joe sent
static headphones, Woo Audio proprietor spicuously “right” than any headphone I’d along a set of optional ported pads, which
Jack Wu loans me his divine $8999 paral- encountered since my audition of Sony’s JPS offers as an alternative to the stock
lel, single-ended 300B 3ES electrostatic MDR-Z10s from 1989. lambskin or vegan Ultrasuede earcup pads.
amplifier/preamp. For all other types of Friends who tried the Abyss were in awe According to Skubinski, the ported pads
headphone reviewing, and for daily use, I of its sound, but all of them took some issue “add a gentle bass bump in the lower bass
rely on Linear Tube Audio’s uniquely won- with its form factor. range, adding a bit more soundstage depth
derful Z10e, a full-function tube integrated Besides their vaguely Frankenstein and openness.”
amp that, in addition to powering magnetic look, my head-fi pals struggled with the In my experience, headphone driver
headphones, drives electrostatic earspeak- fact that the AB-1266 is big and designed technology rarely accounts for more
ers and my reference loudspeakers. Ever to float loosely near the listener’s head than 60% of how a premium, audiophile
since I first raved about it in Gramophone instead of sealing snug against the skull. headphone sounds. The other 40% is split
Dreams #36,2 the $6950 Z10e, which is This not-unprecedented feature caused the between cables and earpads. Headphone
specified to output 3W into 32 ohms, has Abyss to fall off when users bent over, and manufacturers know this, so it’s not
been the steadfast anchor of my desktop it frustrated measurement geeks because, 1 See stereophile.com/content/gramophone-dreams-
system, driving my Dynaudio Excite X14 like horns, omnidirectional speakers, and 62-dan-clark-audio-stealth-warwick-acoustics-bravura-
speakers while also allowing me to feel like panel speakers, the AB-1266 is difficult to headphones.
2 See stereophile.com/content/gramophone-dreams-36-lin-
an old-school headphone connoisseur as I measure in a way that accurately reflects its ear-tube-audio-z10e-integrated-amplifier.
enjoy the luminous charms of my beloved real-world performance. Nevertheless, ex- 3 See stereophile.com/content/gramophone-dreams-
Stax SR-007 Omega electrostatics. perienced listeners familiar with the sound 17-abyss-ab-1266-phi-headphones.

stereophile.com Q May 2023 23

 GRAMOPHONE DREAMS

surprising that Joe Skubinski started his providing space for four acoustically not easy to choose a favorite.
audio life as a cable manufacturer or that shaped ports that exit at the earcup’s cor- The Diana TC weighs 390gm (the AB-1266
mastering the esoteric science of earpad ners. It was easy to distinguish between the weighs 640gm) and has a 69 ohm imped-
design would appeal to him. His bass-bump punchier, more direct stock pads and the ance (the AB-1266’s impedance is 47 ohms)
pads are very cool: Each pad’s magnetic ported ones, which, as Joe suggested, play anda 90dB/mW sensitivity (compared to
base is thickened by a millimeter or two, a touch warmer and more spacious. It was 88dB for the 1266).

ELEVEN AUDIO BROADWAY

Like Andy Regan and Jack Wu before him,
Joe Skubinski sent me his recommended
headphone amp, the $2599 Broadway
by XIaudio (aka “Eleven Audio”). The
Broadway is small (8.3" × 6.1" × 1.9"), light
(2.5lb), and totally unglamorous looking.
It is specified to output 1.5W into 32 ohms
in full, differential-balanced class-A. Its
only input is balanced (XLR), and its two
outputs are both balanced: 4-pin XLR and
4.4mm Pentaconn. Its top plate is easy to
remove, exposing a colony of green boards
populated by hundreds of anthead-size
surfacemount parts.
Besides the volume control and a 3W
power resistor, the only normal-sized parts
were the four user-replaceable, 3000mAh,
3.7V Li-ion batteries. According to the
Abyss website, “This amp will run for up
to six hours without AC power, or plug in
for continuous play, with the same highly
refined sound on either power source.

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Circuitry is designed to float the batteries Michael had gone to great lengths to make it to its wall wart and again observed no
on the mains at all times.” I asked Joe what sure charging was not audible. Xiao said change in sound quality. I also tried to see
that meant. He told me that Michael Xiao, the cells were chosen for best sound. how long it would play without plugging in.
the Broadway’s designer, created this fully I tested Joe’s and Michael’s claim by lis- It shut down after almost six hours.
differential BJT amp to be run entirely off tening without the charger for about four The Broadway has a 1.0V input sensitiv-
user-replaceable batteries, even when the hours. I noticed no degradation of sound as ity and, according to Joe’s measurements, a
amp is connected to the charger, and that the batteries lost charge. Then I connected healthy 18dB of gain into 50 ohms.

ABYSS DIANA TC richly shaded sonic structure. At my low energized air surrounding Díaz-Latorre’s
The Broadway’s specified 1.5W into 32 listening levels, the 1266 and the Broadway guitar and exposed more of its internal
ohms seemed like it might be a little four- worked beautifully together. volume. The Diana TCs kept me glued to the
cylinder–ish for the heavyweight JPS Labs I was surprised that, when I switched performances.
AB-1266, which thrives on turbocharged from the 50 ohm, 88dB/mW-sensitive The most exciting part of listening to
V8s. So, naturally, I started these auditions Abyss AB-1266 Phi TCs to the 69 ohm, 90dB/ this unusual album is how it slowly builds
using the Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC, to see if mW-sensitive Abyss Diana TCs, I had to its own universe—inside the headphone
the Broadway could muster enough steam turn the volume down on the Broadway,4 listener’s head—becoming more visual and
to reproduce the tempestuous Yuja Wang and how, with the Diana, the sound seemed emotionally associative with each track.
playing her 2018 Berlin Recital (24/96 FLAC, to relax a little. When I played “Preludio: Its progression of tracks and successions
DG/Qobuz). My first impressions were of Asturias,” the first track on La Guitarra of tempos represent a musical promenade
strength and vigor and fierce forward mo- dels Lleons (16/44.1 FLAC Cantus/Tidal), through the 16th to the 19th centuries in
mentum, from the amp and the artist, with with Xavier Díaz-Latorre on guitar and Spain, played on guitars that might have
no noticeable clipping or compression. Pedro Estevan on percussion, the sense been used to play these works by the com-
The AB-1266 played forcefully. More of urgent, delirious forward momentum posers themselves. Played on guitars that
than force, though, what impressed me was spellbinding and impactful with the had not been played in generations. When
most about the 1266 with the Broadway 1266s, only slightly less so with the Diana. this album is reproduced in its full colorful
amplifier was its delicacy, and how it The 1266s were breathier and more explicit pulsing vibrancy—like it was for me with
let sounds start and stop naturally and above 2kHz and more vivid and brighter the Diana TC—it goes beyond delirium
breathe real air during the sustain, with through the upper bass, where the Diana and psychedelia in its effect. It’s one thing
complete, understated assuredness. No came across as smoother, darker, more
headphone I know manufactures a more luxuriant. The 1266 displayed more of the 4 Volume correlates to voltage, not power.

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to hear these guitarists play and quite an- how headphones image. With both
other to experience the feeling behind their headphones, Díaz-Latorre’s guitar was
playing. The Diana TC preserved the nu- bigger than my head and centered at
ance of these artists’ most subtle dynamic the front of my skull. But the sound of
shifts, letting me feel the musicians “feeling Estevan’s drumming was positioned
it” more and better than with the AB-1266 completely outside my head, about an
and every other headphone I can remem- arm’s length away to my right. After
ber using. I put a high value on that. listening a while, my brain rendered
In order to contextualize the above those easily mappable spatial effects
observations, I decided to see how this re- into a scene in a bare, shadowy David
cording would sound with Eleven Audio’s Lynchian room with me facing a spot-
Broadway powering the $4000 open-back lit guitarist and a drummer displayed
planar-magnetic Meze Elite headphones I in a narrower light about 10' behind.
reviewed in Gramophone Dreams #64.5 But here’s the fascinating part: As one
On that same “Preludio: Asturias” track, La Guitarra dels Lleons track led to the
the Elites made Díaz-Latorre’s guitar play- next, my brain enhanced this vivid, in-
ing sound bolder and more colorful and the-room picture to the point where
more elegant/beautiful—but farther away. my consciousness left that imaginary
The recording’s space appeared deeper room and began carousing backstreet
with the Elites, but the sound felt a few cafés in Barcelona. That was my reward for
percentage points recessed through the focused listening.
presence region, with less perceived light With the Diana TCs, that raw, sound-
and speed. Observing this made me wonder to-mind picture progression happened
whether both Abyss ’phones emphasized quickly and effortlessly. What more should
music’s presence region, or, alternatively, I care about?
if the Meze flagship just slumped a touch I divide headphones into three
between 1kHz and 4kHz. categories, by place of use: bike
On the 17th century Gaspar Sanz composi- riding, subways, and flaneur-
tion, “La Tarantella & Improvisación,” the ing; home office, all day at the
Diana TC lit up Xavier Díaz-Latorre’s guitar, computer; and deep-night lights
positioned stage front, and presented Pedro out. I use my HiFiMan RE2000 IEMs when
Estevan’s drumming at the back of the stage I travel. I use my long-hours–comfortable
with a crisp, spotlighted presence. With the Sony MDR-Z1 closed-backs at my desk.
Meze Elite, those backstage drum sounds Now, JPS Labs’ Diana TC and Eleven Audio’s
were as clear and distinct as they were with Broadway have become my first-choice late-
the Diana, but they appeared smaller and night dreamscape generator. The Abyss
5 See stereophile.com/content/gramophone-dreams-
more submerged in darkness. Diana TC is the Abyss AB-1266 disguised as 64-meze-audio-elite-headphones-headamp-gs-x-mini-
This track provides a good illustration of a pretty woman. balanced-headphone.

FOCAL’S NEW UTOPIA ing “clear as outer space” Audeze LCD-2 Chris Shaw said is made of 30% copper “to
+ NAIM UNITI ATOM HE (pre-Fazor), which I still regard as one of improve reliability” and 70% aluminum,
When I reviewed Focal’s glamorous-look- the greatest headphones ever. But that was “to reduce weight.” According to Chris,
ing, serious-sounding Stellia closed-backs 2016. Today there is a whole cadre of “great- “This alloy provides a rejuvenated sound
in GD41, Wendy Knowles (head of PR for est headphones ever.” signature that lends even greater neutral-
Focal Naim America) sent me Naim Audio’s Focal’s new Utopia is only slightly ity, with powerful bass and more mellow
posh Uniti Atom HE DAC/amplifier/preamp changed from its forebear. The most obvi- treble.” He added, “Exclusive to Focal, the
(Headphone Edition). This helped a lot. ous difference is a cosmetic upgrade involv- patented speaker drivers run with zero
With Focal-recommended electronics, I felt ing less silver trim, more open-looking active or passive correction from 5Hz to
confident I was evaluating the Stellia not “honeycomb” inner and outer grilles, and a over 50kHz.” This, to me, is key, because
only in a manufacturer-approved manner new lighter-weight, more stylish yoke made the chief reason I enjoy headphones is that
but also in a way that it was likely to be from “forged recycled carbon.” The effect of their direct connection to an amplifier
used by potential customers. these external changes is to make the new lets me feel like there is less electrical and
For this report, Wendy upped her glossier-black Utopia look more luxuri- room-acoustics mishegaas between my ears
already fantastic game: She sent not only ous—more like the “flagship” in Focal’s line and the recording.
Naim’s $3799 Uniti Atom HE amplifier but of exceptionally stylish headphones. I enjoy doing component comparisons,
also Focal’s previous, 2020 edition of the According to Focal, the Utopia’s new in- especially of upgrades to long-admired
Utopia so I could compare it to the new—re- ner grilles are M-shaped, conforming to the products like Focal’s Utopia. For these
leased in September 2022—version. Thank shape of the M-shaped driver which, Focal’s comparisons, I used only one DAC: the
you, Wise Wendy. product specialist Chris Shaw told me in an dCS Bartók into the line-level input of the
I remember when it first came out, de- email, “smooths out the higher frequencies Focal-endorsed Naim Audio Uniti Atom
claring the original Utopia more transpar- and improves clarity in the midrange.” Headphone Edition amplifier.
ent to the source than my reference AKG Best I can tell, the most important Comparing both versions of the Utopia,
K812 and more dynamic than my thump- change is Utopia’s new voice-coil, which the first thing I listened for was to see

stereophile.com Q May 2023 27

 GRAMOPHONE DREAMS

whether the new voice-coil that came with the 2022

made any difference in Utopia. Using the dCS Bartók,
dynamic linearity. A lighter I listened to Jacqui McShee
moving mass should be less singing “Let No Man Steal
inclined to compress changes Your Thyme” off Pentangle’s
in volume, better expos- eponymous 1968 release
ing nuance-level dynamic (16/44.1 MQA, Transatlantic/
shifts in voice, rhythm, and Tidal). This beautifully
reverberation. Casting about recorded tune sounded sweet
for the right record, I decided and set instruments in an
that variations in these traits appealing acoustic space.
might be easy to spot while With the old cables on the old
listening to volume 17 of Utopia, the recording sounded
Dylan’s latest Bootleg, Frag- clearer and more intelligible
ments – Time Out of Mind than I remembered it
Sessions (1996-1997) (24/96 sounding when I was 18 and
FLAC, Columbia/Qobuz), a had a huge crush on Jacqui.
2022 remix of the original With the new cables, it opened
reverb- and effects-soaked up considerably, becoming
Grammy-winning 1996 brighter and more see-into.
release produced by Daniel Space and reverb were more
Lanois. This new 5-CD box explicit. Jacqui was closer to
set was created by mixing en- her microphone.
gineer Michael Brauer, who
says he was trying to capture Headphones for the ages
“something that had more of If I already owned 2020
a feel of what was going on in Utopias, I would not sell
the room, with less addi- them. But I might consider
tional processing.”6 Using the owning both, or experiment-
new Utopias, I listened first ing with amps and cables.
to the Time Out of Mind track Compared to its predecessor,
I knew best, one that always the 2022 Utopia exhibits a
holds my attention, provokes more complete transparency,
the strongest feelings, and a quicker, higher bounce,
sticks stubbornly in my head: and a more assured way with
“Tryin’ to Get to Heaven.” momentum. Focal’s Utopia
is easy to drive, and its looks
I’ve been walking through the
and sonics are competitive
middle of nowhere
with today’s best at any price.
Trying to get to heaven before they close the I expected. A must-audition. Q
door To learn more, I tried the old Utopias on 6 See rollingstone.com/music/music-features/bob-dylan-
It took only seconds to notice the new a fast-moving song called “Believing” off time-out-of-mind-bootleg-series-1234666125.
scrubbed-clean, less reverb-saturated air a 2001 album called Renegade Heaven by
around Dylan’s vocals. Through the 2022 the Bang on a Can All-Stars (16/44.1 FLAC,
Utopias, this fresher, more brightly lit Cantaloupe Music/Tidal). This album emits
CONTACTS
remix felt like I was listening with Michael waves of delicious reverb while showcasing
Focal-JMlab
Brauer in his mastering studio. Crisp, dramatic shifts in volume, tone, and texture.
108 rue de l’avenir, 42353 La Talaudière
clean, and studio monitor–like were the “Believing” moves at a hectic, staccato
cedex, France.
adjectives that jumped into my mind. My pace. The 2020 Utopia tracked its move-
Tel: (33) 04-77-43-57-00.
brain told me, “This is it. This is how this ments extremely well, but the sound was
Web: focal.com/en.
remastered recording actually sounds.” I vaguely dark and “compressed” micrody-
US distributor:
found the new, “unsaturated” Time Out of namics-wise.
Focal Naim America, 313 Rue Marion,
Mind a lot easier to grok than the original. When I returned to the new Utopia, both
Repentigny, Quebec QC J5Z 4N8, Canada.
Then I played “Tryin’ to Get to Heaven” “Believing” and “Tryin’ to Get to Heaven”
Tel: (800) 663-9352.
through the “old” Utopias. The sound were brighter, clearer, and more reverber-
Web: focal.com/us.
closed down more than I imagined it would ant.
(remember: sequence is everything). With In contrast to box speakers, audiophile- XiAudio
the 2016 Utopias, the 2022 Time Out of Mind grade headphones do not require multiple imported by JPS Labs (see below).
sounded more like Lanois’s 1996 version: drivers or reactive crossovers and Abyss Headphones
darker, thicker, and less three-dimensional. therefore can and usually do sound quite A Division of JPS Labs LLC, 16 Lancaster
This reduction in clarity made the song feel different with different cables. The cable on Pkwy., Lancaster, NY 14086.
like it was moving more slowly. These old- the new Utopia looks completely different Tel: (716) 288-9112.
new Utopia differences seemed irrationally than the one on the old Utopia, so I decided Web: abyss-headphones.com.
more dramatic and different in nature than to audition the old Utopia with the cables

stereophile.com Q May 2023 29

 ALL THINGS MUSIC, CONNECTED

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 PEERING INTO HI-FI’S BACK ALLEYS AND DUSTY NOOKS

BRILLIANT BY ALEX HALBERSTADT

CORNERS
THIS ISSUE: In which Alex wonders why
the old records still sound better than the
new ones—even audiophile reissues.

Something old, something At this point, attentive readers will

begin to suspect that the preceding burst

new, something borrowed, of sunshine is bound to be followed by

some bitching. As it happens, the subject

something Blue. of this screed concerns those in the online

vinylsphere who claim that today’s reissue
companies are creating the best-sounding,

I
t turns out that PVC, or polyvinyl chloride—the stuff used to make Starbucks gift definitive versions of a whole range of
cards, imitation leather wallets, inflatable pool unicorns, the pipes under your sink, records from the golden age of the 1950s
and Billy Idol’s pants—is also the main ingredient in phonograph records. And today and ’60s. This opinion is echoed by certain
we’re living in the silver age of PVC. Not the golden age, since records are no longer audio writers and the copywriters of the
the dominant medium for recorded music, but these days we’re lucky to again have access companies themselves, some of whom
to a remarkable amount of music stamped on top-quality hot plastic. will have us believe that the mastering
Better still, as listeners have become more knowledgeable and demanding, vinyl engineers and technologies of the golden
releases have become more scrupulously sourced, pressed, annotated, and packaged. era were downright primitive compared to
Many of today’s records show an unprecedented level of care and transparency about the technological wizardry and knowhow
their production—and sound terrific to boot. Some of these new records happen to contain available to us now.
old music, and a listener interested in buying a classic jazz title like, say, Sonny Rollins’s To get the obvious out of the way: In
Way Out West has more choices than ever, ranging from the helpfully ubiquitous to the some cases, the online commentariat is
thrillingly exotic. Thanks to online resources like Discogs, they can choose between a correct. Outside Japan, the practices of the
wonderful-sounding 1957 original on the Contemporary label, a still-superb mid-1970s record industry in the 1970s and ’80s were
Contemporary reissue made with the original stampers, a delightful 1988 Japanese reissue particularly dire, and even in the golden
from Victor, a 1992 Analogue Productions reissue mastered by Doug Sax, a 2003 version age record bins were loaded with mediocre-
from the same company mastered at 45rpm
by Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman, a 2018
set with an additional LP of outtakes from
Craft Recordings, and last year’s two highly
limited reissues from the Electric Record-
ing Company in the UK—one mono, the
other stereo—that are currently averaging
more than $600 on the resale market. These
are only a few of the available options, and
no doubt more will be released in the full-
ness of time.
In practical terms, this abundance means
we are awash in great-sounding copies of
landmark records. Consider the reissues
of The Kinks Are the Village Green Preserva-
tion Society (BMG/Pye Records/ABKCO
BMGAA09LP), John Prine’s eponymous
first album (Atlantic RD1 19156), Miles
Davis’s Kind of Blue (Columbia/Legacy
88697680571), and John Coltrane’s Giant
Steps (Atlantic 75203) currently resid-
ing on my shelf. The original versions of
these records are difficult to find in good
condition and range in cost from pricey
to midlife-crisis insane. And in the case of
Giant Steps and the Prine album, the first
pressings don’t sound all that great anyway.
The four reissues, mastered by Kevin Gray
at Cohearent Audio, sound excellent, and,
except for the Kinks record, can be had
for the price of two tickets to see Puss in
Boots: The Last Wish at your neighborhood
cineplex. If only in regard to new vinyl, it is
a quickening time to be alive.

stereophile.com Q May 2023 31

 BRILLIANT CORNERS

sounding product. Just listen to original For me, this realization took hold about
US pressings of Bill Evans on Riverside, 25 years ago after an encounter with a
Aretha Franklin on Atlantic, Dionne War- disconcertingly young guy who was selling
wick on Scepter, or Johnny Cash on Sun. In some old Blue Notes on a blanket in Wash-
many cases, reissues have improved on the ington Square Park in lower Manhattan.
sound of this wonderful music. He said they’d been given to him by his
But to my ears, many of the records grandparents, which sounded like bullshit,
from the 1950s, ’60s, and even early ’70s but my curiosity got the better of me and I
remain the zenith of recorded music on walked away $2 lighter with a beat-up copy
vinyl. I’m talking about the output of not of Sonny Rollins (Blue Note BLP 1542, some-
only celebrated companies like Blue Note, times called Sonny Rollins Volume 1). Years
Impulse!, Contemporary, RCA, Columbia, later, I figured out that what I’d bought was
Decca, EMI, Mercury, and Capitol but also an original 1957 deep groove mono, record-
Reprise, United Artists, Warner Broth- ed and mastered by Rudy Van Gelder in his
ers, Elektra, ABC, A&M, CTI, Monument, parents’ living room in Hackensack, New
Hi, Stax, Chess, Vee Jay, Duke, and oth- Jersey, and pressed at Plastylite a few towns
ers. The titles from some of the smaller away in North Plainfield. But later that
companies aren’t going to impress anyone afternoon, when I lowered the record onto That nearly 70-year-old record still
looking for transparency or neutrality, the platter of my forest green Rega Planar makes the hairs on the back of my neck
but an early-1960s Bobby “Blue” Bland 3, all I knew was that it was scratched, stand up, though my system has changed
release from Duke or a Jimmy Reed title scuffed, and dirty. Sure enough, after I drastically. And today, my collection
from Vee Jay can teach us a lot about pres- lowered the needle, a sandstorm of noise includes many other titles with that ultra-
ence, physicality, chunk, color, and sheer crackled from the speakers. Which didn’t vivid Mount Rushmore sound: Canções
excitement. And the best-sounding of these prepare me for the music that kicked in a Praieiras, a 10" of Dorival Caymmi’s ballads
postwar records—the work of engineers second later: outside of a real performance, of Bahia from 1954 (Odeon LDS-3.004); an
like Rudy Van Gelder, Roy DuNann, Fred I’d never heard anything so vivid, colorful, original mono copy of Elvis’s His Hand
Plaut, Kenneth Wilkinson, Lewis Layton, C. big, and physically palpable. It had a level in Mine (RCA Living Stereo LSP-2328); an
Robert Fine, Bill Porter, and John Palladino, of realism I simply hadn’t encountered—it early Parlophone pressing of the Beatles’
working at a time when LPs were the lingua sounded undeniable, as though etched in Rubber Soul (Parlophone PCS 3075); the
franca of reproduced music—often make stone. The groove noise didn’t detract from Louvin Brothers’ Ira and Charlie from 1958
for astonishing listening. this sensation. (Capitol T910); a 1961 Ray Charles and Betty
 BRILLIANT CORNERS

mation, particularly ambient information,

that some listeners describe as “hearing the
room.”
For years now, I’ve wanted to learn
more about what I was hearing and just
what was encoded on those great-sounding
early records—and about why that sound
seems to elude engineers today. When
you write about things, sometimes having
preferences and opinions isn’t enough, so
I reached out to four mastering engineers.
This turned out to be a mistake. For start-
ers, engineers love master tape, which
sounds better than records and digital but
is largely off limits to those of us who listen
at home. How many audiophiles have even
heard a master tape? Second, three of the
Carter (ABC-Paramount ABCS 385); and the concerns of contemporary audiophiles engineers are, or have been, involved in the
a first German copy of Kraftwerk’s Trans by offering more bass, a smoother and making of vinyl reissues and could hardly
Europa Express on the band’s Kling Klang more neutral tonal balance, and an effect be expected to speak critically about their
label (Kling Klang 1C 064-82 306) are just a Herb Reichert calls “sparkle,” which you own product. Then, of course, engineers
few that come to mind. As well as more 45s can hear particularly well on many Mobile and audiophiles listen in different ways
than I can mention here. Fidelity LPs. And of course, new releases go and for different reasons: the former to
What I’m hearing on these old slabs of a long way toward satisfying the listening create a commercial product that works in
PVC is tonal density aligned with saturated public’s Torquemada-like preoccupation a plurality of systems, the latter as a (hope-
color, dynamic kick, and the sensation of with eliminating surface noise. fully) pleasurable pastime with few other
air being pressurized in the manner of Yet to me, the reissues lack the uncanny demands. Finally, it turns out that master-
actual music, which I think of as presence. realism of the best early pressings. Looked ing engineers agree with each other about
And here’s the thing—I have yet to hear that at more analytically, what I’m not hearing as seldom as audiophiles do, a discovery I
sound from a reissue, no matter the source on these records is that density and satura- find weirdly comforting.
or cost. These days, many reissues cater to tion as well as a stratum of low-level infor- Still, our conversations proved fascinat-
 BRILLIANT CORNERS

ing and useful, in the sense that there’s machines, the Scully/Westrex lathes, and Steps (The Electric Recording Co. ERC059/
utility in having the dust periodically the tube electronics that a lot of the original Atlantic 1311) informed me that it was cut
blown off one’s assumptions. First, I fol- LPs were mastered on. These days, most en- using original analog tape in true mono us-
lowed a tangent about the condition of the gineers use modern mastering equipment, ing a Lyrec SV-8 valve lathe and an Ortofon
source materials used in today’s reissues. which opens up the sound of recordings DS522 cutting head. It sounded wonderful,
Has some of the glorious sound of the early and reveals more detail, but in the process with gorgeous tone and subtle tube glow;
pressings simply vanished from the master some of that force probably gets dissipated. compared to the Kevin Gray remastering
tapes as they deteriorated over the past 60 I don’t think it’s possible to make records on my Rhino stereo reissue, it was more
or 70 years? I asked Richard L. Hess, one of that sound like the old ones today.” intricate and transparent if not quite as
the foremost experts in the restoration of I thought about this for a while, wonder- punchy. And I’d never heard Scott LaFaro’s
magnetic tape. Hess told me that the answer ing what it would be like if some enterpris- bass sound so incisive and full-bodied as on
to my question is impossible to generalize ing dreamer had painstakingly recreated the ERC reissue of the Bill Evans Trio’s Sun-
about, varies from tape to tape, and de- a completely vintage mastering chain day at the Village Vanguard (the stereo ver-
pends on factors that include storage condi- and then used it to press new records. So sion: ERC ERC040S/Riverside RLP 9376).
tions, how much the tape has been played I called someone who’s done exactly that: My 1974 Japanese reissue came across a bit
and handled, and the physical and chemical Pete Hutchison, the wizardly proprietor cold and polite in comparison.
composition of the tape itself. He directed of London’s Electric Recording Company, Yet as much as I admired and enjoyed my
me to several of his extremely thorough which makes probably the most labor- time with these British reissues, I had to ad-
published papers on the subject, the gist of intensive and sought-after reissues on the mit that they didn’t sound like my favorite
which is captured by the following quotes: market. Hutchison agreed with Fine that vintage records, either. Despite the British
“It is extremely difficult to predict the the secret of the early pressings lay in the records’ delicacy and ravishing sound, they
lifetime of any given tape. Archivists must equipment used to make them. To capture lacked the drive and tonal saturation of
assume that all tapes, and the machines to their sound, he has spent untold riches those sides, as well as their uncanny sense
play them, are degrading. … Unlike wine, procuring, restoring, and modifying 1950s of presence. Now I was even more confused
tape does not improve with age.” Clearly and ’60s reel-to-reel recorders, lathes, and and becoming a little irate about it.
the simple answers I’d hoped for weren’t cutting heads from Lyrec, EMI, and Ortofon To calm my nerves, I reached out to Joe
forthcoming. and rewiring their tube electronics with Harley, the producer of the Blue Notes reis-
My ill-advised PVC pilgrimage contin- “mined silver.” “It started as wanting to sued by Music Matters Jazz and the man
ued with a fascinating conversation with recreate the original but not make it a behind the very popular Tone Poet releases
mastering engineer and Stereophile con- sort of pastiche,” he told a New York Times from Blue Note itself. One of the most gra-
tributor Tom Fine, whose parents happen interviewer. “And in order not to create a cious, kind, and open people in the record
to be Wilma Cozart Fine and the afore- pastiche, we had to do everything as they business, he is also a longtime collector of
mentioned C. Robert Fine, the producer had done it.” As Hutchison and I spoke, my original Blue Note LPs. Harley listened to
and engineer, respectively, of the beloved ears lit up. Here was someone as captivated my predicament with fatherly sympathy.
Mercury Living Presence series of classical as I was by that golden age sound who had He reminded me that during mastering,
recordings. In the first five minutes, Fine gone to fanatical lengths to reproduce it Rudy Van Gelder used compression and
told me that he preferred listening to his today. goosed the upper midrange to make the
parents’ records, which he’s involved in I don’t own any Electric Recording records sound lively—which may explain
reissuing, on high-rez digital, a format that Company releases, so I borrowed a few some but certainly not all of their uncanny
to him sounds more like the master tape from my friend Beau and sat down to listen. vividness and realism. He also told me
than vinyl does. When I asked what went The lovely packaging of Coltrane’s Giant that while he preferred the sound of the
into the sound of the best
vintage records, he suggested,
very nicely, that perhaps I
simply enjoyed the murkiness
and distortion artifacts of the
mastering chains of the 1950s
and 60s.
But after a while, Fine did
cotton to knowing what I was
going on about. “I love rhythm
and blues,” he said, “and some-
times when you listen to those
old records, the music just
comes out of the speakers into
the room and punches you in
the face and sounds so incred-
ibly human. I think of it as a
kind of force.” After we turned
this phenomenon around and
cracked each other up for a
while longer, he said, “What
I think you’re responding to
is the sound of the old tape

34 May 2023 Q stereophile.com

 BRILLIANT CORNERS

Tone Poet reissues to the originals, he had too different from the one I owned when I be accessed online with a few keystrokes.
listened to “vintage or single-ended-type first listened to that battered Sonny Rollins And this is probably as good a place as any
systems” through which the early pressing record—and came away preferring the to suggest that if your hi-fi plays only your
sounded better. early Blue Note pressings made from Van best sounding records well, you should sell
“I think those systems are more suited to Gelder’s lacquers. Go figure. it and buy something else.
the older records, in the sense that they are What have I learned? Instead of finding After speaking to Harley, I made tea,
almost reverse engineered to play them,” answers, I was reminded yet again that the spun up the turntable, and listened to
he told me. “But when I produce reissues, world is complex, disordered, and frequent- “Sayonora Blues” from a 1962 copy of The
I need to make sure that they sound good ly contradicts itself—and that it’s prudent Tokyo Blues (Blue Note BST 84110) by the
on as many systems and in as many rooms to make peace with the uncertainty of not Horace Silver Quintet, with Van Gelder’s
as possible.” Harley then described some knowing and try to enjoy ourselves. initials and the Plastylite P stamped in
of the more out-there listening situations I remember hearing, as a kid growing the dead wax. I could almost see the brass
he’s encountered among jazz fans. Cackling up in Moscow, neighbors my grandpar- glow of Junior Cook’s tenor sax and Blue
ensued. ents’ age talking about the past. According Mitchell’s trumpet; under Silver’s fingers,
Since my apartment contains a “vintage to them, nearly everything—ice cream, the Steinway Model B grand piano sounded
or single-ended-type system” of the kind strawberries, bread, books, music, even heavy and rich. The music in my room
Harley was talking about, he suggested I women—was better in their youth, during pulsed with the force Tom Fine had spoken
compare some early Blue Notes with the Stalin’s Great Terror. They treated these about. Then I put on a Tone Poet pressing of
Tone Poet reissues on a more conventional opinions as immutable facts of life. The Sonny Red’s Out of the Blue that the FedEx
hi-fi, like his own: Harley’s home system same tendency crops up in writing, par- guy had delivered that morning, which I’d
uses Vandersteen speakers and solid state ticularly criticism: There’s nothing more bought mostly to revel in Wynton Kelly’s
amplifiers. He told me that if he had a tiresome and predictable than middle-aged floral piano lines. Though it didn’t offer
larger home, he’d get a second system with men railing about the alleged deficits of the Cinemascope pleasures of the Horace
horn speakers and tube amps. “I need my contemporary culture and going on about Silver record, I loved the superb playing
system because it tells me the truth about some golden age when things were done and the detailed, pristine sound. (After I
what’s on the records,” he said. “But some- right. And when it comes to reproduced learned that the sole available copy of the
times you want a system that’s just for fun!” music, make no mistake—we’re living in original 1960 pressing of Out of the Blue was
For what it’s worth, I performed Harley’s the best of times, able to avail ourselves in France and selling for €600, I liked the
experiment at a friend’s home on his Pro- of the celestial jukebox of streaming Tone Poet even more.) I sat back and closed
Ject turntable, Yamaha integrated amp, services, great-sounding new vinyl, and a my eyes happily. Both records sounded just
and KEF bookshelf speakers—a system not rich marketplace for old records that can great. Q

P UR E
P L AYE R
$.*1 -
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 E Q UIPMENT REP ORT

JASON VICTOR SERINUS

Karan Acoustics Master Collection

POWERa Mono
MONOBLOCK POWER AMPLIFIER

I
t began with a bad outlet. Perhaps
two weeks after my husband and
visiting friend created several
delightful holiday light displays in
the living room, one of the living room
outlets died. Every time I tried to plug in
part of the light show, it, along with the
living room sound system and reading
lights, lost power. If the Grinch didn’t
exactly steal Christmas, he sure tried to
guarantee it would arrive silently under
the cover of darkness.
Evil Grinch proved no match for the
visiting electrician. While our savior
was here, I tapped his knowledge of
the eccentricities of Port Townsend’s
electrical grid. When queried about the
underground wiring to our house from
the transformer across the street, he said,
“Given the age of your house [1992], I am
more than 99% certain that the wiring
to the meter and your breaker panel is
aluminum.” After opening the panel, he
shattered all illusions by declaring that
the underground wiring from the main
house to the second breaker panel in the
detached music room was also aluminum.
What? Back in the spring of 2015, when
we designed the music room, I spent a
lot of money installing a dedicated line with two legs. One led to a and earth ground conductors twisted around each other instead of
single AudioQuest duplex outlet and a second, on a different break- running parallel as they do in typical cable (think Romex). Twist-
er, led to a double-duplex AQ outlet, with four receptacles. We used ing the conductors helps with common-mode noise cancellation,
10-gauge copper conductors in metal-clad cable, the hot, neutral, the grounded metal sheath shields noise, and the large, 10-gauge

SPECIFICATIONS
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SRVWV3RZHURXWSXW: WLPHQV6OHZUDWH9 Serial numbers of units re- 86$&DQDGDGLVWULEXWRU
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VSRQVH+]ȁN+]sG%'&ȁ PP':HLJKWOE Manufacturer :HEZ\QQDXGLRFRP

stereophile.com Q May 2023 37

 KARAN ACOUSTICS MASTER COLLECTION POWERA MONO

conductors reduce the resistance of the circuit. sistant, Kenneth, ensuring that David and I would not be crippled
Nearly eight years later, I’d discovered that my entire dedicated for life by our attempts to haul them into place. Wong also agreed
line was fed by aluminum, which is notorious for adding noise to to bring a 6-outlet Acoustic Revive RTP-6 Absolute power box to
the line and muddying bass.1 No wonder that time and again, ampli- help plug everything in.
fiers sounded smoother, warmer, and more musical when they Before electrical work began, I enlisted the assistance of power
were plugged into an AudioQuest Niagara power conditioner or expert Ed DeVito of Audio Ultra in Sumner, Washington, near
Stromtank battery power source rather than directly into the wall. Seattle. I also consulted Garth Powell of AudioQuest. Rather than
Knowledge is power when it leads to action. I moved fast. go with Audio Ultra’s full AU3000 power package, which would
Distributor Wynn Wong would arrive from Toronto in less than have necessitated more electrical and structural changes than time
a month, to install two Serbian-made Karan Acoustics POWERa and bank account allowed, we took a more modest approach. We
monoblocks ($106,000/pair) for review. These monoblocks weigh replaced the music room’s existing breaker panel with a Square
an astounding 231lb each, with a shipping weight of 286lb; each D QD 100-amp subpanel that uses bus bars of tin-plated copper3
contains two 2700VA toroidal transformers and a 210,000uF bank rather than aluminum. We added a UL-approved EP2050EE surge
of custom capacitors. Each monoblock requires two 15A power protector/noise filter from Environmental Potentials, Audio
cables, one for each amplifier stage.
1 From a practical perspective, the main problem with aluminum wiring is that, because
I doubted that the Stromtank S 2500 Quantum MKII was its resistivity is higher than that of copper, it heats up more than copper does, and when it
equipped to handle such a big power draw while conveying the full heats up, it expands. Over time, this can cause electrical connections to lose integrity and
fail. This led to many house fires in the late 1960s and early ’70s, especially in houses rigged
dynamic capabilities of these amplifiers.2 I needed a viable alterna- with a certain aluminum alloy. Any 1992 installation performed by a qualified electrician
tive; there was no way I was going to compromise sound quality should be safe. So what are the consequences of aluminum wire in a hi-fi system? Other
than increased energy dissipation per unit length (for the same gauge of wire), I don’t
by plugging the POWERa’s into outlets mostly fed by aluminum know.—Jim Austin
wiring. 2 By email, Stromtank’s Wolfgang Meletzky confirmed that the S2500 Quantum MKII can
First, Hans Frederickson of Frederickson Electric—a man (and a deliver peak power up to 2800VA/3s. “If the continuous consumption is -12A or below then
it is no problem with dynamics with 8-ohm speakers. If you are using a 4 or 2-ohm speaker,
company) that understands the needs of audiophiles—made room we recommend using a higher performance Stromtank like our S4000 Pro Power or our
in his schedule for the two-stage wiring upgrade. Second, Wong top model S5000 High Power.” The Wilson Alexia V’s nominal impedance is 4 ohms.
agreed to travel to Port Townsend and install the amps with his as- 3 Silver-plated copper is even better, but it costs substantially more.

MEASUREMENTS
measured one of the Karan POWERa

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serial number 005. Because the OHDVWȂUHVLGHQWLDOQHLJKERUKRRGDQG'&LV YHU\KRWDWr)r&7KHVLGHSDQ-
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to the Karan from the 20A circuit in the 2XWRILWVFUDWHWKHDPSOLࢉHUZDVLFH G%IRUERWKWKHEDODQFHGDQGXQEDO-
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stereophile.com Q May 2023 39

KARAN ACOUSTICS MASTER COLLECTION POWERA MONO

Ultra’s affiliate company, to provide, in Ed’s words, “non-sacrificial Previewing the main character
protection from transient voltage surges and spikes” and to “opti- What is this beast of an amplifier? Here’s what I can share about
mize system performance by absorbing … noise between 3kHz and the POWERa, from information provided on the Karan Acoustics
1MHz without shunting energy to ground.”4 We tested grounding, website, by distributor Wong, and responses to questions sent to
examined panel loads, and ensured that we met Ed’s specifications company founder and chief designer Milan Karan in Novi Sad,
as we created two in-phase 20A branch circuits to feed the audio Serbia.
system’s dedicated outlets. Having two circuits allowed me to Karan, 57, initially made his living designing “sophisticated
separate the amplifiers from the front-end components. We could medical equipment” while building audio equipment on the side
do nothing about the aluminum wiring that ran underground from “just because of my passion for music.” A guitar player for the joy
the transformer across the street to our meter, but most everything of it, he created Karan Acoustics in 1986 after his musician friends
else was changed. kept saying “good things” about the amplifiers and preamplifiers
Some of this work took place two weeks into the review. The he had built. A music lover who tests his equipment with all kinds
listening report that follows covers sessions conducted after ev- 4 Translation: The EP2050EE helps filter out noise from appliances, heating units, comput-
erything was in place, settled in, and performing optimally. ers, dimmers, LEDs, and more.

measurements, continued

both input types. I measured 29.6k ohms LQWRDQRKPUHVLVWLYHORDGࢉJEOXH even-order harmonics of the 60Hz power-
from 20Hz to 20kHz for the balanced input, trace) was down by 3dB at 81kHz, a lower VXSSO\IUHTXHQF\ZHUHSUHVHQWLQWKH
half that value for the unbalanced input. IUHTXHQF\WKDQWKHVSHFLࢉHGȁG%DW .DUDQȆVQRLVHࢊRRUࢉJWKHVHZHUHYHU\
The Karan’s output impedance was 300kHz. The increased output impedance ORZLQOHYHODWȁG%DQGEHORZUHI:
0.5 ohm at 20Hz and 1kHz increasing to DWN+]PHDQVWKDWWKHȁG%IUHTXHQF\ into 8 ohms.
RKPDWN+]7KHVHࢉJXUHVLQFOXGH was somewhat lower into 4 ohms (ma- When I tested the POWERa Mono’s maxi-
the series impedance of 6' of spaced-pair genta) and 2 ohms (red). However, the mum power into 8 ohms, the THD+noise
loudspeaker cable.) These impedances are POWERa Mono’s reproduction of a 10kHz UHDFKHGRXUVWDQGDUGGHࢉQLWLRQRI
higher than I expected from a solid state VTXDUHZDYHLQWRRKPVࢉJZDVVXSHUE FOLSSLQJDWN:LQWRRKPVࢉJ
design, presumably because the output with no overshoot or ringing. 32.67dBW). While this is lower than the
FRPSULVHVWZRDPSOLࢉHUVWDJHVLQVHULHV Measured with either the unbalanced VSHFLࢉHGN:LQWRWKLVORDGG%:
a topology used to obtain the POWERa’s input or the balanced input shorted to the AC wall voltage had dropped from
YHU\KLJKVSHFLࢉHGSRZHU7KHPRGXODWLRQ JURXQGWKH.DUDQDPSOLࢉHUȆVXQZHLJKWHG 9ZLWKWKHDPSOLࢉHULGOLQJWR9
RIWKHDPSOLࢉHUȆVIUHTXHQF\UHVSRQVHGXH wideband signal/noise ratio was a very ZLWKWKHDPSOLࢉHUFOLSSLQJ7KH.DUDQȆV
to the Ohm’s law interaction between this good 71.8dB ref. 1W into 8 ohms. This ratio PD[LPXPSRZHULQWRRKPVLVVSHFLࢉHG
source impedance and the impedance of improved to 79dB when the measurement as 3.6kW (32.55dBW). I measured 2.5kW
our standard simulated loudspeaker,2 was EDQGZLGWKZDVUHVWULFWHGWR+]ȁN+] 2 See stereophile.com/content/real-life-measure-
sG%ࢉJJUD\WUDFH7KHUHVSRQVH and to 81.3dB when A-weighted. While ments-page-2.

% % %

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Fig.4 Karan POWERa Mono, distortion (%) vs 1kHz Fig.5 Karan POWERa Mono, distortion (%) vs 1kHz Fig.6.DUDQ32:(5D0RQR7+'1YVIUHTXHQF\
continuous output power into 8 ohms. continuous output power into 4 ohms. at 12.67V into: 8 ohms (blue), 4 ohms (magenta), 2
ohms (red).

40 May 2023 Q stereophile.com

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of music but prefers live jazz and classical, Karan regularly attends “My goal was to make the POWERa the best sounding ampli-
concerts during travel to other cities and countries, and his nine fier, without compromising anything,” Karan wrote in an email. “I
employees are all music lovers who listen to designs together and wanted to achieve a natural sound as close as possible to live music
compare prototypes, testing out small changes. and build an amplifier that would not change the input signal in
Karan Audio has been distributed in Europe and Asia for more any way, … just deliver a lot of power to ensure there is enough
than 25 years. North American distribution began five years ago headroom to drive any speaker while providing air/transparency,
after Karan met Wynn Wong. separation among the instruments, etc.”

measurements, continued

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stereophile.com Q May 2023 43

 KARAN ACOUSTICS MASTER COLLECTION POWERA MONO

Karan began designing his top-line Master

Collection (topped by the POWERa) 10 years
ago. “It’s a huge, cost-no-object step up from
its predecessors,” he continued. “I put every-
thing I learned from 30 years of medical and
audio engineering into it.
“I would love to make the POWERa lighter
without compromising the sound, but it’s
otherwise impossible to achieve a high output
power capability like its 2100W into 8 ohms,
3600W into 4 ohms, and 6000W into 2 ohms.”5
Peak power is even higher, at 2400W into 8
ohms, he noted. “The weight comes from a
high quality chassis with good acoustic and
vibration isolation, overbuilt internal heat-
sinks, and high current/low-noise transform-
ers. To achieve a natural, precise, focused,
dynamic sound, the heatsinks are designed to
eliminate acoustical and vibrational feedback
to electronic components. You cannot have
dynamics if the vibration affects the sensitive
components. The PCBs are decoupled with a
special kind of spacer and copper discs to al-
low the musicality and harmonics to flow.”
The POWERa neither runs too hot to touch
nor heats the room to an excessive degree. As
Wynn Wong explained, “Karan amps may be
class-A, but they don’t run hot like traditional
class-A amplifiers, which run a constant high
bias. Because of the POWERa’s ‘sliding class-A bias circuit,’ the bias flanked by panels covered with small, heat-releasing holes. The
level is adjusted based on the signal (from the preamp) in real time.” CS2M footers, too, are “safe,” being tall enough to enable the amp to
“The design is fully balanced, very high speed, and extremely be lowered and raised without crushing your fingers. Hernias are
quiet,” Karan wrote. “I used the best possible components; some are another story.
custom-made for my company. I also selected the best PCB conduct- I asked Karan what setup he considers optimal. “The amplifiers
ing and isolation material. The thickness of the copper on our PCB will sound noticeably better with amp stands, but you still get
is much higher than usual. I tried many samples of different thick- decent sound placing them on the floor,” he replied. “The CS2M
ness and chose the right one by listening. The design of the PCB, the footers are the latest model from Critical Mass Systems. Wynn dis-
architecture, and component placement also affect the sound. I had tributes Critical Mass Systems, and he suggested a few years ago
to make small adjustments to further improve performance and that I try their footers. They have greatly improved the sound.”
ensure that components would not interfere with each other.” Karan is currently developing prototype speakers that include
One of the POWERa’s unique features is “a proprietary, in house a matching sub tower with active crossover. It takes six POWERa
designed, built in Line (mains) Conditioner.”6 Activation is by a tog- mono amplifiers to drive them. Prepare your mansion now!
gle switch located on the bottom center of the rear panel, directly
below the speaker cable outputs and the single-ended and balanced Onward
inputs. Counterintuitive though it may seem, power conditioning I thought the POWERa monos sounded mighty fine powered by
is engaged when the switch is in the “0” position and disengaged the Stromtank, sounding best when their power conditioning was
in the “1” position. (It’s the opposite turning the amps on and off.) turned off, but I was also aware that current limitations imposed
Karan claims the Line Conditioner acts in part as “an efficient DC by the S 2500 Quantum MKII might squash dynamics. Not that I
‘eliminator’,” and that its rating of 60A or more can cater to “at least expected to use anywhere near each monoblocks’ 3600W into 4
three times more” than the maximum current and voltage flow ohms in my 16' × 20' × 9.25' listening room.
required from the main power supply. With wall power, the POWERa monoblocks sounded best with
Each POWERa contains two toroidal transformers, one for each their internal power conditioning engaged. It’s not that they didn’t
amplifier stage; each requires its own 15-amp power cable. Their sound quite good without power conditioning—my wall power
IECs are located on each side of the rear panel, each beneath its provides far smoother sound than it did before the wire upgrade,
power switch. There is no standby button. Asked the rationale for and bass is tighter. Nonetheless, engaging power conditioning
this two-cable, two-switch design, Karan replied, “It’s not possible made the sound even smoother, the noisefloor lower, the top-to-
to connect two big transformers to one switch/fuse because they
5 Such a high power rating is not achievable with US household power, even if each of the
draw too much current. We did a comparison, and it sounds much two power cords is on its own circuit branch, with its own 20A breaker—that’s four circuit
better with two switches/power cords, one for each stage.” branches altogether—two for each monoblock, for amplification only. Karan specifies the
input power at 115V, so the maximum continuous power, with two 15A power cords and two
The POWERa’s front consists of a central black glass panel on independent circuits, is 2 × 115V × 15A = 3450W per channel. If we assume that the amplifier
which the Karan logo and name are tastefully and moderately can draw the full 20A, despite the 15A-rated IEC connector, then each monoblock is capable
of putting out 4.8kW of continuous power.
illumined in red. Flanking the black glass are silver-colored
6 The quote is from the website. As I learned from distributor Wynn Wong while editing
aluminum panels. The buffed silver aluminum top continues the this review, the “power conditioner” in the Karan is really just a DC filter. No doubt, it’s a
front’s geometric layout, with a large logo engraved in the center very well-executed DC filter.—Jim Austin

stereophile.com Q May 2023 45

KARAN ACOUSTICS MASTER COLLECTION POWERA MONO

bottom focus tighter. The POWERa’s

internal power conditioning al-
lowed the inner glow of instruments
and voices to emerge with no sense
of dynamic constraint.
I reserved the double bank of
dedicated duplex outlets for the
POWERa’s, plugged the Stromtank
(which continued to feed front-
end components) into one of the
other outlets, and used the Acoustic
Revive RTP-6 to power several other
products. This was as close to my
usual power setup as I could get.

The discovery
My first listen came within an hour
of installation, before power cables
had settled in and wiring changes
were complete. Setup was less than
ideal, with no attention paid to
whether the internal power condi-
tioners were on or off. Nonetheless,
my first impression proved accurate.
The sound was as natural as I’ve
come to expect from D’Agostino,
Audio Research, VTL, and a host of other top-flight companies that Trio No.2, on the recording Schubert: Chamber Works with cellist
specialize in amplification, if perhaps a little closer to neutral than Tanya Tetzlaff, her violinist brother Christian Tetzlaff, and the late
some—but there was something that set them apart. “These amps pianist Lars Vogt (24/96 WAV, Ondine 1394), I was struck as much
give me more of everything I value from the D’Agostino Progres- by the cello’s rich, haunting eloquence as by the piano’s poetry. Dy-
sion M550,” I thought. “There’s greater color saturation, more namics were tremendous, and Schubert’s mix of pain, resignation,
presence, and stronger bass. There’s more there there.” and affirmation was more shattering than I have heard it.9
As I got my power act together and fine-tuned the system (as Never before had recordings of the marvelous mezzo-soprano
I always do, as a matter of course), the POWERa monoblocks Marianne Crebassa displayed such convincing warmth, so much
surpassed that initial assessment. By a lot. I queued up an old fullness in the core of her voice. (I listened to several of her
standby, Yello’s “Electrified II” from Toy (Tidal 24/48 MQA, Polydor albums.) Never had soprano Julia Bullock sounded so soulful, so
0602547879851). Whoa! Even more than the soundstage, which cov- rooted in her open heart, as on her performance of “Brown Baby”
ered the width of the room and extended far up, what stood out was from her treasurable album Walking in the Dark (24/192 WAV,
the strength and solidity of deep bass—and beyond. Everything Nonesuch 695267).
from the pounding beat to Dieter Meier’s recitation and Malia’s It may seem strange to cite a mono recording from 1952 in a
vocals seemed to have greater presence. For visceral impact, review like this, but I found myself turning to contralto Kathleen
swiftness of attack, and sheer, apparent accuracy, the POWERa Ferrier’s recording of Ralph Vaughan Williams’s “Silent Noon,”
monoblocks top every other monoblock, stereo amp, or integrated made with pianist Frederick Stone at the BBC Broadcasting House
I’ve reviewed.7 Ditto for color saturation, shading, dynamics, and on June 5, 1952—one of many high points in the 10-CD remastered
the ability to portray the most complex passages without a hint of Kathleen Ferrier Edition (16/44.1 FLAC, Decca/Qobuz).
compression. Ferrier’s performance of this song stands apart from all others.
Another, far more system-trying test of bass is the second move- The metronome imposes no restraints on her treatment of Dante
ment explosion in Shostakovich’s Symphony No.11 as performed Gabriel Rossetti’s lyrics. “Your hands lie open in the long fresh
by Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra on their grass,” she sings with rapt stillness. After intoning the words “’Tis
award-winning live recording, Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 11 visible silence, still as the hour-glass” as though they were the holi-
“The Year 1905” (24/96 MQA, DG/Tidal). I’ve heard this recording est of revelations, she pauses. Universes of meaning, the wisdom
on many systems, including those with speakers far bigger than of the ages, the confessions of countless lovers—all resonate in
the Alexia V’s. But never have I heard a huge bass drum portrayed that silence.
with such convincing realism: The virtually instantaneous transi- She continues. “Oh! Clasp we to our hearts, for deathless dower /
tion from the initial sharp attack to the forceful resonance and This close-companioned inarticulate hour / When twofold silence
decay; the size and weight of the sound; and the depth of emotional was the song of love.” It is impossible to listen to this great perfor-
impact felt true to the source.
I cannot recall when I’ve heard this 11th’s churning conveyed so 7 To the naysayers and cynics who think, “Oh sure. Serinus sees the POWERa price tag
and how much it weighs and immediately proclaims it ‘the best,’ I respond: If you have the
clearly, so musically, with so much devastation. To repeat descrip- means to visit a Karan dealer or audition these monoblocks at a show at which setup con-
tors already invoked, the sheer presence and weight of the sounds, straints do not compromise sound quality, please go and listen for yourself. I fully expect
along with the degree of resolution, consistently brought me closer you to discover that the POWERa deserves the accolades.
8 I’ve heard the BSO under Nelsons perform Shostakovich live at Philharmonie de Paris.
to the live symphonic experience than anything else I’ve heard.8
9 Admittedly this is a new recording, so I haven’t heard it on very many systems—but I did
This “presence” was not limited to large-scale works. Listening hear it with the very different sounding Esoteric Grandioso M1X monos, which I reviewed
to the deeply moving second movement of Franz Schubert’s Piano in the April issue.

46 May 2023 Q stereophile.com

R Series
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 KARAN ACOUSTICS MASTER COLLECTION POWERA MONO

mance without sensing that Ferrier, who was mortally ill, must
have realized she had limited time left to share her gifts. ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT
I’ve listened to this recording countless times, in various remas-
terings. In every instance, the limitations of the fuzzy transfer, Digital sources dCS Vivaldi Apex DAC, Vivaldi Upsampler Plus,
which apparently derives from early pressings with groove noise Vivaldi Master Clock; Innuos Statement NextGen Music Server;
and occasional high-pitched ticks, left me feeling bereft at what Uptone Audio EtherRegen, AfterDark Giesemann Emperor
had been lost from the original recording. To my astonishment, the Double Crown Master Clock, and Nordost QNet Ethernet
POWERa monos brought newfound clarity to Ferrier’s singing and Switch, all powered by Nordost QSource linear power supplies
conveyed all of its magic. (2); Synology 5-bay 1019+ NAS, Small Green Computer Sonore
As I discovered how much sound and pleasure the Karan Acous- Deluxe opticalModule, Linksys mesh router and Arris modem,
tics POWERa monos could deliver, I found myself going back in all powered by HDPlex 300 linear power supply; Apple 2017 iPad
time to some of the greatest vocal recordings I’ve been privileged Pro and 2017 MacBook Pro laptop with 2.8GHz Intel i7, SSD,
to hear. Some readers may think someone crazy to spend $106,000 16GB RAM.
to better extract information buried in old mono recordings, but Preamplifier Dan D’Agostino Momentum HD.
those who value great art will sense the gifts these monoblocks Power amplifiers Dan D’Agostino Progression M550 monob-
can deliver. They may delight even more when I recount that play- locks.
ing Ferrier’s recording of Hubert Parry’s “Love is a Bable” from Loudspeakers Wilson Audio Specialties Alexia V.
the same broadcast session brought out her restrained, oh-so-Eng- Cables Digital: Nordost Odin 1, Odin 2, and Valhalla 2 (USB and
lish humor to a greater extent than I ever thought possible. The Ethernet), Frey 2 (USB adapter); AudioQuest WEL Signature,
POWERa laughs, cries, longs, and loves with equal honesty. Wireworld Platinum Starlight Cat8 (Ethernet), OM1 62.5/125
Other kinds of music? The John Coltrane Quartet’s “Nancy (with PXOWLPRGHGXSOH[ࢉEHURSWLF,QWHUFRQQHFW1RUGRVW2GLQ
the Laughing Face),” from Ballads (24/96 MQA, Impulse!/Tidal), 2, AudioQuest Dragon. Speaker: Nordost Odin 2, AudioQuest
sounded gorgeous, Coltrane’s tone warm, round, and smooth, Dragon. AC: Nordost Odin 2, Valhalla 2; AudioQuest Dragon and
even when he moves fast between notes. James Blake’s “There’s a Firebird. Umbilical cords: Ghent Audio Canare for HDPlex 300
Limit to Your Love,” from his eponymous album (16/44.1, Poly- LPS and NAS; QSource Premium DC cables with Lemo termina-
dor/Qobuz), may be well known amongst audiophiles—I play it tions for QSources.
often, and the bass never sounded more convincing than with the Accessories Grand Prix Monza 8-shelf double rack and amp
POWERa’s—but I often treat it as a throwaway cut: Check out the stands, 1.5" Formula platform; Symposium Ultra Platform;
bass and begone. This time, I found the sound so interesting that I Nordost 20-amp QB8, QKore 1 and 6; Titanium and Bronze
listened all the way through. Sort Kones, Sort Lifts; Stromtank S 2500 Quantum MKII power
A shout out to the immersive deep bass on Ryuichi Sakamoto’s generator; AudioQuest Niagara 7000 and 5000 power condition-
“20210310,” from 12 (24/96 FLAC, Milan Qobuz), which sounds fabu- ers, NRG Edison outlets, JitterBugs; ADD-Pwr Sorcer X4; Wilson
lous through the POWERa’s. So do the distinct colors of original in- $XGLR3HGHVWDOV$95RRP6HUYLFH3RO\ࢊH['LࢆXVHUV5HVROXWLRQ
struments on the Chiaroscuro Quartet’s recent recording Mozart: Acoustics room treatment; Stillpoints Clouds (8) and Aperture
The Prussian Quartets (24/96 WAV, BIS 7318599925585). I listened 1 (2) and 2 (2) acoustic treatments; HRS DPX-14545 Damping
to this recording carefully when I reviewed it a few months back, Plates; Stein Music Blue Suns; Bybee Room Neutralizers; Abso-
but it never displayed colors as convincing, distinct, and realistic lare Stabilians; Marigo Aida CD mat.
as through the POWERa’s. Dedicated listening room 20' L × 16' W × 9.25' H.
Returning to voices: If you want to hear how a great singer —Jason Victor Serinus
projects radiant sounds high in their range, go no farther than
soprano Elisabeth Schumann’s
1934 recording of Josef
Strauss’s “Sphären-Klänge”
(Music of the Spheres), from
the invaluable ICON box set,
Silver Thread of Song (16/44.1
FLAC, Warner Classics/
Qobuz), where the POWERa’s
convey her infectious joy,
glowingly sweet, disembodied
high notes, and boundless
personality like no other amps
I’ve heard.
I said goodbye to the Karan
Acoustics POWERa monob-
locks with two selections: Julia
Bullock’s heart-opening rendi-
tion of Connie Converse’s “One
by One” and the Chiaroscuro
Quartet’s performance of the
sublime Larghetto from Mo-
zart’s String Quartet No.22 in
B flat major, K. 589. Both were
heavenly. I sat, transfixed.

stereophile.com Q May 2023 49

 “NEW COMPANY.
NEW SPEAKER. NEW WORLD.”
Kalman Rubinson Stereophile, December 2021

10/2022
PERLISTEN AUDIO S7T
PREIS/LEISTUNG
+++++
ÜBERRAGEND
www.stereo.de

PERLISTEN AUDIO | Wisconsin, USA

 KARAN ACOUSTICS MASTER COLLECTION POWERA MONO

The not-really rival

In recent amplifier reviews, I’ve often omitted direct compari-
sons due to major price discrepancies. Here, such discrepan-
cies are unavoidable, but I’ll make a comparison anyway. My
reference D’Agostino Progression M550 mono—the least ex-
pensive monoblock in the D’Agostino line—cost less than half
the Karan POWERa monoblock’s considerable price. Nothing
in the D’Agostino line, short of the top-level Relentless Epic
1600 Mono Amplifier10 (even more expensive at $349,500/
pair, rated at 3000W into 4 ohms), can come close to matching
the POWERa’s output.
Power for its own sake means little, however; what matters
is the ability to harness power to achieve higher musical ends.
Here is where the POWERa excels. Even without amp stands
or a silent battery power source, the POWERa outperformed
the Progression M550 in my system. More transparency,
more resolution, more midrange and low-end weight and sub-
stance, more color saturation—the ability to harness power
to reach deeper into the musical fabric and extract emotional
truth—more and better are the bywords of the POWERa.

The clincher
The Karan Acoustics POWERa monoblocks are big, heavy, ex-
tremely powerful, and extremely expensive. Yet, thanks to their viously. The Karan is a phenomenal achievement, a benchmark for
sliding-bias class-A design, they will likely not tax your power grid what can be achieved, at least in my modestly sized listening room.
every time you turn them on. If you treasure greatness in audio reproduction and have the
What they give you in return for your investment, in the context means to purchase a pair, seek them out. If you do not have the
of a similarly high-achieving system—I should say, what they’ve means, be careful: I, for one, do not wish to get their sound out of
given me—is sound that has taken me closer to the transformative my head. Q
visceral, emotional, mental, and spiritual impact of great artists
performing great music than anything I’ve heard in my system pre- 10 I have not heard any D’Agostino Relentless product in my system.
 E Q UIPMENT REP ORT

ROBERT SCHRYER

Moon by Simaudio Voice 22

LOUDSPEAKER

I
’m picturing a gaggle of cigar-
chomping Simaudio execs in
an office discussing what to do
about the fact that their high-end
amplification lines have become so suc-
cessful that their names have become
synonymous with the company. “In the
’90s, people thought our company was
called Celeste,” one floor-pacing exec
says, speaking for everyone in the room.
“Now they think we’re called Moon!
How do we fix this?” After much debate,
a member shouts: “We add ‘by Simaudio’
at the end!” The execs hoot, holler, and
slap the conference-room table—and
thus is born Moon by Simaudio.
A fictional account? Sure, but, as
they say in the movies, it’s based on a
true story. In fact, I intended it as a sort
of parable, the message being that we
humans always seek balance. The name
“Moon by Simaudio” struck a balance,
like a see-saw, the two brands pivoting
on the word “by.”
For those who remain confused about
the naming: Simaudio is the company.
Moon is a line of products produced by
the company. When referring, eg, to
the monoblock amplifier we recently
reviewed, it’s common to write, or say,
“Simaudio Moon.” That isn’t wrong, but “Moon by Simaudio” does a a popular mid-priced product, and so many times we’ve been asked
better job of conveying the relationship between the two words, the if speaker X-Y-Z would be a good match with it. Now, with the 22s,
company name and the name of the line of components. there can be no doubt about the match between speakers and the
Another example of the search for balance can be found in the ACE, whether regarding sensitivity, impedance, or sonic presenta-
company’s decision to stray from its amplification roots into digital tion.” It’s a match—or balance—that earned the ACE/Voice 22 com-
sources and enter the all-in-one product category with its ACE: just bination the EISA Award for High-End Audio System 2022–2023.
add speakers. The ACE then became the catalyst for yet another The Voice 22 is smallish—7.9" (20cm) W, 13.8" (35cm) H, 11.4"
product. To quote the literature for the Moon Voice 22, “The ACE is (29cm) D. Look at it on a table or stand, and it appears weightless,

SPECIFICATIONS
Description Two-way, +]ȁN+]ȁG%6HQVLWLYLW\ SLDQR PDGHLQ&DQDGDE\7DUJHW
VWDQGPRXQWHGUHࢊH[ORDGHG G%9P1RPLQDOLPSHG- Serial number of units $XGLR
ORXGVSHDNHU'ULYHXQLWV DQFHRKPV5HFRPPHQGHG reviewed09%* Manufacturer
PPWH[WLOHGRPHWZHHWHU SRZHUȁ:SF 'HVLJQHGLQ&DQDGDEXLOWLQ 6LPDXGLR/WG
ZLWKZDYHJXLGHPP DimensionsPP ,QGRQHVLD 1HZWRQ5G%RXFKHUYLOOH
PLQHUDOࢉOOHGSRO\SURS\OHQH :™PP+™ PriceSDLU$SSUR[LPDWH 4X«EHF-%+&DQDGD
FRQHPLGEDVVGULYHU)UH- PP':HLJKWOE QXPEHURIGHDOHUV:DU- 7HO
TXHQF\UHVSRQVH+]ȁN+] NJHDFK UDQW\\HDUV2SWLRQDOVWDQGV :HEVLPDXGLRFRP
sG%)UHTXHQF\UDQJH Finishes%ODFNSLDQRZKLWH LQEODFN6DQGWH[ࢉQLVK

stereophile.com Q May 2023 53

 0221%<6,0$8',292,&(ৱৱ

floating about an inch off the surface.

This is not due to any Moondust magic.
It’s an optical illusion attributable to
the speaker’s removable “hover” base, a
tapered platform magnetically affixed
to the speaker. On the underside of the
base is Poron—a rubberlike material—
which compresses under the weight of
the speaker and isolates it mechanically,
converting vibrational energy into heat.
It also protects the surface under the
speaker, keeping it safe from scratches
while holding the speaker stably in
place.
Like all speakers, though, the Voice 22
sounds best when positioned carefully
on an appropriate stand. Moon supplies
a stand made by Target Audio especially
for the Voice, a steel one in a black pow-
der-coat “sandtex” finish ($400/pair).
When the stand is used, the “hover”
base is removed from the bottom of the
speaker; some effort is required to pry it
off. The top of the stand—also equipped
with the damping material—extends up into an indention in the with a cast aluminum basket, a soft, low-damping rubber surround
speaker base, forming perhaps the snuggest, most secure speaker/ for good transient response, and a pole piece that’s vented to re-
stand integration I’ve encountered. duce compression and coated in an extended copper sleeve for low
The Voice uses a 1.14" (29mm) textile-dome tweeter with a large inductance and distortion.
surround and a waveguide optimized for directivity; the wave- Why not a paper membrane? In one of our several conversa-
guide allows the Voice 22 to cross over to the woofer at a lower- tions, Moon Product Director Dominique Poupart explained:
than-usual frequency, which is useful in a two-way. The tweeter “Paper works great, but we preferred to use polypropylene
employs a saturation-controlled motor system to reduce distortion because it’s a more stable material for various environments,
and a “nonreflective”1 rear chamber for improved dynamics. The especially humid ones, and quite simply for the sound we managed
long-throw woofer’s 6.1" (155mm) cone is made of polypropylene 1 Presumably, this means that the back wave from the driver is absorbed or diffused—
that’s mineral-filled to increase its stiffness-to-weight. It’s equipped a very common feature in loudspeakers.—Jim Austin

MEASUREMENTS
used DRA Labs’ MLSSA system and a tude plot has a saddle in the bass centered

I
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responses. As the loudspeaker’s manual The enclosures’ side and top panels YLFHVDVWKHORXGVSHDNHU6HHȉ$XGLR3RZHU$PSOLࢉHUV
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WKHȉEHVWUHVXOWVȊWKHPHDVXUHGEHKDYLRU my knuckles. When I investigated these index.html.
was taken without the grille. panels’ vibrational behavior with a plastic- 6HHVWHUHRSKLOHFRPIHDWXUHVLQGH[KWPO
The Moon Voice 22’s sensitivity is WDSHDFFHOHURPHWHU,IRXQGDVWURQJ
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VSHDNHUȆVLPSHGDQFHPDJQLWXGHࢉJ be fully developed.2+RZHYHUDVWKH9RLFH
VROLGWUDFHUHPDLQVDERYHRKPVLQWKH 22 has a compliant pad inserted into its
XSSHUPLGUDQJHDQGWUHEOHEXWGURSV EDVH,UHSHDWHGWKLVPHDVXUHPHQWZLWK
below 4 ohms in the bass and lower WKHVSHDNHUVLWWLQJGLUHFWO\RQWKHࢊRRU
PLGUDQJHZLWKDPLQLPXPYDOXHRI This reduced the level of the resonant
RKPVDW+]7KHHOHFWULFDOSKDVHDQJOH PRGHE\G%,QDQ\FDVHDVWKHPRGHLV
GRWWHGWUDFHLVRFFDVLRQDOO\KLJKZKLFK both relatively high in frequency and has a
means that the equivalent peak dissipation KLJK44XDOLW\)DFWRULWVHࢆHFWRQPXVLF
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much of the bass and midrange. The mini- The Moon speaker’s impedance-magni- VROLGDQGSKDVHGDVKHGRKPVYHUWLFDOGLY

stereophile.com Q May 2023 55

 0221%<6,0$8',292,&(ৱৱ

to get from it. It’s a material with highly similar sonics to the textile sionwise. A woofer, by its nature, starts to beam as its frequencies
material used for the tweeter. Achieving good integration of sound rise. In a lot of loudspeakers, where the crossover frequency is set
from the drivers depends not only on the crossover but also on the higher, the woofer will start to beam before the crossover sends the
similarity of the sonic color of the respective drivers. For example, signal to the tweeter, which has a much wider dispersion pattern.
metal domes typically have a brighter, shinier sound—which you This causes a discontinuity in the sound and a global frequency
may or may not prefer, but it has a unique timbre. That means that response that’ll vary off-axis. In the Voice 22—and this was a
even with the best-designed crossover and tweeter, if the timbre design goal—the off-axis dispersion is very good throughout the
of the separate drivers is not alike, or at least similar enough, the frequency range.
loudspeaker will sound different in different frequency bands, “Another advantage is [that] a tweeter produces lower distortion
which causes the reproduction to be unnatural, especially notice- than a woofer. Having the tweeter playing lower in the midrange
able in a two-way loudspeaker. A real piano keeps the same timbre lowers the distortion in the upper midrange and gives the Voice
when playing its low notes or its high notes.2 A loudspeaker should great clarity and definition in that register. Not all tweeters can
behave the same way. For the Voice 22, we worked to make sure the behave well in such a low frequency range, but we designed our
two drivers were well matched in terms of sonic character.” tweeter so it could.”
At 1.5kHz, the Voice 22’s crossover frequency is low for a two- The crossover itself is assembled on a dual-layer PCB using met-
way standmount equipped with a 6" woofer. Poupart: “There are
several advantages to having a low crossover, especially disper- 2 This is true of very good real pianos—not all real pianos.—Jim Austin

measurements, continued

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Amplitude in dB

Frequency in Hz

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UHVSHFWLYHO\SORWWHGEHORZ+]DQGN+] RIID[LV

stereophile.com Q May 2023 57

 0221%<6,0$8',292,&(ৱৱ

alized polypropylene film capacitors and air-core inductors. snake-shaped groove, asymmetrical to the other groove, filled with
The speakers were designed in Canada but, in contrast to the a damping material, on the inside of each side panel. According to
company’s electronics, which are built in Canada, the Voice 22 is Poupart, “The path of the groove makes the lengths between edges
built in Indonesia. Poupart said there was simply no way the com- different at any point on the surface, limiting panel resonance.”
pany could achieve the 22’s level of quality, especially when it came The Voice 22 is a bass-reflex speaker; its port is flared to avoid
to the cabinet’s construction and finish, at its intended selling price chuffing. “The aerodynamics of the port matter,” Poupart said. “Air
if it were made in North America. velocity can get quite high with bass, and a port without flared ends
And that’s the catch for these speakers: the playing field. Compe- can create turbulence in the air flow at greater sound pressures.”
tition in the 22’s price range is fierce. Only one speaker, though, is Their nominal impedance is specified at 6 ohms, its sensitivity at
intended as an ideal companion for the Moon by Simaudio ACE. 89dB/2.83V at 1m.
During my visit at Moon headquarters, a 30-minute car ride The Voice 22 is available in black or white “piano” finishes.
from where I live, Poupart showed me a section view of the cabi-
net’s interior. The outside and inside bracing panels looked chalet- Setup
board thick and sturdy. A unique feature is the company’s patent- Poupart told me the Voice 22 likes some juice to get going. The
pending CGD (Curved Groove Damping) technology—a squiggly manual recommends driving them with a minimum of 50Wpc,

measurements, continued

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stereophile.com Q May 2023 59

0221%<6,0$8',292,&(ৱৱ

but I heard no sign of congestion or clipping using them with my Voices reproduced an introspective, well-lit environment bathed
37Wpc Shinai with music played at normal-to-loudish volume. in texture and space. They were adept at exposing reverb. How
Still, Poupart wasn’t blowing smoke. A word about which, later. adept? I couldn’t help noticing how much the engineers respon-
The Voices are designed to be positioned facing forward, not toed sible for this record loved reverb—so much that they added it to
in, a setup that has always felt counterintuitive to me: If I’m talking everything that moved and some things that sat still. The voices
to someone, I expect them to face me so that I can hear them better. showed me all that. This wasn’t the overexposed imagery of a tilted-
But audio, thank its crafty little heart, isn’t always so obvious. up frequency response, which erases lines. The Voices unearthed
Using my own trusty stands, provenance unknown, which lines—imprinted them. This was my first indication that the Moon
placed the tweeters roughly 1.5" above ear level, I attempted both Voice 22s have a special way with space.
straight and angled positions and their subvariants—toward me, The 22s made all that reverb sound less like what it was
straight ahead, and in slivers of angular pie slices in between. dangerously close to sounding like—an overused, music-dating
Huh. The designers at Moon were right. The counterintuitive, studio gimmick—and more like it was surely intended to sound: a
straight-ahead toe-in (or lack of it) was bet- harmonic aureole around each instrument,
ter. The sound was clearer and more incisive drawing our attention to it. The effect was re-
that way, yet also bloomier and more open- splendent—a multitude of beating, pumping,
air breathy. radiating vortex points that sucked my atten-
The Moons seemed to offer a more stable tion toward the instruments’ fuzz-soaked,
image than other speakers I’ve tried at home fluorescent, slightly antiquated bellies.
that work best when toed in toward my ears. At times, certain instruments—notably the
When I moved my head sideways to outside sax, trumpet, flute (the latter well separated
the sweet spot, with the speakers pointed from those drum thwacks out front, maybe
forward, the image didn’t collapse or shift 6' farther back)—sounded vivid, animated
excessively. The manual advises keeping the in a way that brought to mind the intimate
space between the speakers and surrounding physicality that SET amps and electrostatic
walls to at least twice the dimensions of the speakers are known for.
cabinet. Position them too close to a wall, the The second bit of evidence of the Voices’
manual cautions, and the bass could become special way with space was in how linear
bloated and sluggish. If that happens, advises and seamless their presentation sounded—
the manual, insert the included port foams. smooth, like a freshly Zambonied ice rink.
The manual was preaching to the choir Effects and musical lines slid from one end of
when it boldly announced, and I’m para- my room to the other as if I were listening to
phrasing, “Remove the grilles before you a single wall-sized transducer instead of two
listen to these speakers! They will sound small standmounts.
worse with them on!” You don’t have to tell The soundstage was divided into three
this sharp-witted guy twice after my KLH major depths of field—front, speaker-level,
Three fiasco.3 and back—knitted together in fine filaments
of flowing decays, lasting sustains, and far-
Listening flung musical sightlines. McDuff’s at-times
I started listening to Brother Jack McDuff’s grumbling and at-other-times jubilant syn-
Moon Rappin’ (LP, Blue Note 84334), which, thesizer notes produced a colorfully lifelike,
with the funk-fueled “Flat Backin’” leading finger-leapfrogging sound that eviscerated
off, should leap out of the gate rhythmically. me with lightsaber stabs. Bill Phillips’s flute
I had to jack the volume knob up pretty far emitted a vibrancy of color-in-movement;
before it would make that leap—my first hint it beamed. Joe Dukes’s drum hits produced
that the Shinai, a 37Wpc solid state integrat- resounding aftershocks. Richard Davis’s
ed with tube-circuit topology, might not be an tightly sprung electric bass notes were
ideal match, powerwise, for the Voice 22s. bulbous-tipped and resonant. This was the
Not that it mattered much. With the third indication of the Voices’ special way
Shinai–Voices combo, “Flat Backin’” sounded with space. They energized it. They shot out
dynamic and vibrant, its soundstage a big- sound along clearly delineated paths like lit-
cityscape of light and movement, airy with a up runways. They brought the reverberant
slightly dark-lit quality to it that put sounds energy of notes—harmonic trails—into my
in relief. A vibrant cityscape at night. listening space in a way that was unusually
Drum thwacks popped and quickly tactile, omnipresent, and microdetailed. It
retreated in crisp decays. The midtrack drum told me the Voices’ resolution was high, not
solo revealed a complex panoply of force just in relation to the recording but also to
intensities, surface textures, and technical my amp’s character.
nuance. Cymbal taps produced a realistic In the mood for more funk jazz, I spun
tink-bell sheen, microrattling splash, and record 005 in the Jazz Is Dead series of analog
granular trickling of notes dripping out and recordings by funky-jazz torch bearers Ali
diverging. Shaheed Muhammad and Adrian Younge,
While the 22’s treble couldn’t reach the with guest organist Doug Carn (45rpm 2 LPs,
same airy heights of my twice-the-price 3 With the volume turned up, the KLH Three’s grilles pro-
reference Focal Aria K2 936 speakers, the duced quite a racket.

60 May 2023 Q stereophile.com

For Your Review
Primare has been producing awarding winning electronics for
over thirty years. The current line of models continues that tradition
with the logos below representing only a small selection of the
reviews and recognition they have earned worldwide. Review them
for yourself at any of our authorized Primare dealers.

For all the reviews and details, go to primare.net

Further information and dealer inquiries

US and Canada authorised representative nexusaudtech.com contact Nexus Audio Technologies
at [email protected]
 0221%<6,0$8',292,&(ৱৱ

Jazz Is Dead, JID005). This is a contemporary funk-jazz release of

music propelled by a rhythmically shifting drumbeat taking center ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT
stage while loping forward.
Two things stood out about that drumbeat. The first was its tone, Analog source Rega P5 turntable with RB700 tonearm and
so drenched in reverb that it sounded almost like a steel drum. Audio MusiKraft Denon DL-103 cartridge.
Second, while the beat may not have been as viscerally pounding Preamplifier Sonic Frontiers SFP-1 Signature phono preamp.
as it is through my reference Focals, it had swagger, which I found Integrated amplifier Grandinote Shinai.
magnetic—a sort of pivot-point force that drew other instruments Loudspeakers Focal Aria K2 936.
into its orbit. Listen to the sax and trumpet solos through the Cables Interconnect: Audience Studio ONE. Speaker: Audi-
22s, and I’m sure you’ll hear it, too: the sense of collaboration, the ence Studio ONE, Kimber Kable Monocle XL. Power: Shunyata
feeding-off-the-beat excitement, the inspirational lift. It made me Research Black Mamba CX, LessLoss DFPC.
realize how important the connection between the drum and the Accessories Shunyata Research Venom PS8 power conditioner;
other instruments was in making this music work. Loosen that a component rack and a wood plinth stand (under turntable)
connection, and you dilute the bond—and the music’s impact. whose brand names are lost to time.—Rob Schryer
This isn’t a great recording; it sounds a bit murky and cramped.
Still, through the 22s, Carn’s organ jabs sounded dynamic, chiseled
in space, luminous. Shai Golan’s alto sax and Zach Ramacier’s too ripe. The Voices shaved off some of the bloat, adding definition
trumpet were recorded almost on top of each other, yet even when and articulation.
their playing overlapped and became busy, I could easily distin- During one passage in the album’s second track, “Shiva-Loka,”
guish their timbres and melodies. Meanwhile, the soundstage all the sounds culminate in a mike-overloading white-noise climax.
bulged with touchable, bustling, lush-toned life. Still, I was able to sort out from within the melee the various shak-
Again, that space—harmonic strains washed up to me like musi- ers and tambourines and, in some cases, their relative positions.
cal tides. No doubt the Shinai contributed to that effect, but it was The soundstage seemed to reach my ears not from speakers but
more than that: It showed how coherent the Voices’ midband could from all around the room, from many angles, a vibrant-toned
sound and how good they were at producing a stereo effect. hologram that seemed alive, spontaneous, quilted together yet
Next, I listened to six-piece instrumental band Bell Orchestre’s liberated not just from the speaker cabinets but from the instru-
album House Music (LP, Erased Taped Records ERATP141LP-CA), ments themselves.
a rock-and-chamber-music–influenced work split into 10 heart-
palpitating movements constructed ornately of soaring, plucked, The end
bowed, blown, and chanted sounds. Through the Voices, bowed Auditioned in my system, the Moon Voice 22’s most conspicuous
violins sounded thick, textured, guttural. Double bass plucks pro- sonic attribute was its well-sorted, seamless midrange.
vided a tactile, supple, pulsing undercurrent. Drum and cymbal Listening to these speakers inspired, in the introduction to this
hits were hyperfocused. The French horn rang with a golden, review, the subject of balance: balance in the stereo image; the bal-
burnished glow. It sounded majestic. ance between the drivers, in how they seemed to complement each
Despite all those moving layers, the 22’s presentation was mov- other and sound uniformly in sync, at times almost like a single,
ing-picture smooth. All its drama and glistening textures cohered. full-range driver. When one hears this type of continuousness,
Next up: Alice Coltrane’s Journey in Satchidananda (LP, Impulse! the brain relaxes because it has less work to do trying to sort it
IMP-228), recorded at Coltrane’s home studio in Dix Hills, New all out; the stereo construct—the illusion of a real sonic event—is
York. The 22s provided a close, explicit perspective on the re- easier to accept.
corded performance. Pharoah Sanders’s searing sax solos sounded The Voices provided a sense of motion-picture fluidity that
pure and extended. Coltrane’s rapid notes flicked out like confetti made it easy to give myself over to their storytelling, to forget the
flurries. Through my Focals, Cecil McBee’s double bass is almost machinations and illusions hi-fi is built on. They attuned me to
something I hadn’t paid much atten-
tion to before: That it’s not only the
direct sound from instruments that
constitutes music but the subsequent
sounds that those original sounds
give rise to in a room. The Voices
made me think of that.
Take those power requirements
seriously; the Voices would have
benefited from a bit more power
than my Grandinote Shinai could
provide. Yet, in my listening room,
the Shinai-powered Voice 22s
provided an attractive combination
of soundstage energy, touch, and
lustrous density. The best recorded
sound is the recorded sound you for-
get you’re hearing because the music
takes over. The Voices facilitated
many such moments, sending me on
frequent side trips of mindful musi-
cal immersion. Q

stereophile.com Q May 2023 63

 E Q UIPMENT REP ORT

KEN MICALLEF

Mastersound Compact 845

INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER

B
ack in the ’50s, Cesare
Sanavio, then a new
electronics graduate
with a specialty in
output transformers for tube
amplifiers, began his career in
radio and television, traveling
to various locations outside
his native Italy to apply his
expertise. Eventually he settled
in Paraguay and started design-
ing tubed sound systems for
public installations, teaching
his son Luciano the art. A few
years later, Sanavio and his fam-
ily returned to Italy. There, he
worked as a consultant to several
hi-fi companies. Finally, in 1994,
drawing on decades of accumu-
lated knowledge of tube-ampli-
fier design and manufacturing,
and a particular focus on output
transformers of the highest
quality, Cesare Sanavio and his
two sons, Luciano and Lorenzo,
formed Mastersound. The Compact 845 ran hot, and Today, Mastersound’s stated goal is to
When Cesare Sanavio died, produce tube amplifiers of the highest qual-
Lorenzo and Luciano continued
so did the music that flowed ity available on the market. To this end, the
operations. In 2015, the company from its mighty triodes. company hand-builds each amplifier in its own
re-formed, with some new inter- laboratory, “one by one, with extreme care,”
national business connections and a new CEO, Antonio Ferro. The their “Made in Italy” webpage asserts, “using the best components”
company’s new headquarters is in Arcugnano, a small town in the and manufacturing techniques. Mastersound output transform-
province of Vicenza. It employs six people, four in production and ers are hand-wound on a mechanical winding machine in a secret,
two in the office. Luciano is now the company’s lead designer and closely guarded process the company claims makes them “unique
production manager, a role previously held by Lorenzo, who has in the world.”
retired from such duties but remains a co-owner of the business. The company’s line currently includes three preamplifiers,

SPECIFICATIONS
Description Tubed integrated RKPV,QSXWVHQVLWLYLW\9 PP':HLJKWOENJ 7HO
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ELDV7XEHFRPSOHPHQWWZR 5&$XQEDODQFHG2XWSXWV Serial number of unit reviewed 86GLVWULEXWRU
3VYDQH+L)L6HULHV%WZR-- WZRVHWVRIVSHDNHUELQGLQJ 0DQXIDFWXUHGLQ,WDO\ 0R)L'LVWULEXWLRQ
(&&WZR7XQJ6RO61*7% SRVWVFRUUHVSRQGLQJWRDQG Price1XPEHURI86 :%U\Q0DZU$YH
3RZHURXWSXW:SFLQWRRU RKPWUDQVIRUPHUWDSV3RZHU GHDOHUV:DUUDQW\ࢉYH\HDUV &KLFDJR,/
RKPVG%:G%: FRQVXPSWLRQ:1HJDWLYH Manufacturer 7HO
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sG%2XWSXWLPSHGDQFH Dimensions"PP 9LD*DOLOHR*DOLOHLȁ :HEPRࢉGLVWULEXWLRQFRP
RKPV,QSXWLPSHGDQFHN :™"PP+™" $UFXJQDQR9,,WDO\

stereophile.com Q May 2023 65

 0$67(56281'&203$&7৷৳৴

which use ECC82 and ECC83 tubes; three monoblock power power connector. The XLR and RCA jacks are manufactured in
amplifiers utilizing 6SN7, 300B, and 845 tubes; and nine inte- Italy, by Axiomedia, as are the speaker posts. The unit sits on four
grated amplifiers, which, variously, set ECC802, EL34, 300B, 6SN7, robust, tall feet.
845, KT120, and KT150 tubes aglow. The Compact 845 integrated As mentioned, the output transformers are the company’s
($10,495), the subject of this review, is one of Luciano’s designs. particular focus and point of pride. In a recent email, Ferro, the CEO,
elaborated. “Power and output transformer are designed and built
Design by hand, by us, using high-quality OFC copper cable and grain-
The Compact 845 is beautiful. Its stout pair of Psvane 845B HiFi oriented sheet metal. Our transformers have EI-type cores. Each
Series power triodes is protected by a butterfly-like, laser-cut, an- amplifier has its own dedicated power and output transformer,
odized aluminum tube guard; its curved black-walnut side panels designed especially to obtain the maximum performance from the
adorn a hefty, CNC-fabricated chassis made of antimagnetic stain- tubes used. Our output transformers have a unique design that
less steel. The 75lb Compact 845 stands 10.8" high, 18.1" wide, and permits a very large bandwidth and allows us to zero the feedback,
16.3" deep, which stretches the “Compact” designation to its limit. with enormous benefit to the naturalness of the sound.”
The sleek tube guard creates a symmetry that ties the amplifier’s The Compact 845 includes custom capacitors by Italian firm
external components together in graceful, flowing lines. The Com- ICEL. Why custom? They’re “made for us in polypropylene,”
pact 845 is sure to draw looks and praise for its striking design. Ferro wrote, “because this type allows much better insulation.”
Viewed from the front, two large aluminum knobs occupy the The amplifier also makes use of Vishay 1% resistors and Swiss
two sides of the faceplate: The left knob allows the user to choose Huber+Suhner wire. In addition to the big Psvane 845B HiFi tubes,
among five input sources, marked CD, Tape, Tuner, Aux, and Di- the Compact 845 employs long-plate JJ ECC802 triodes in the
rect; the right knob controls a motorized, Alps 50k ohm logarith- preamplifier stage (because they’re “quieter and less microphonic
mic potentiometer, one of the silkiest, most solid-feeling volume than the standard ECC82,” Ferro explained) and TungSol 6SN7GTBs
controls I’ve encountered—a feature I appreciated especially after driver tubes. The 845 uses solid state rectification.
learning that the lovely, wood-encased remote control didn’t work. Tube bias is factory-set and mustn’t be altered, Ferro stressed,
Back-panel connections include the two pairs of RCA and XLR except when changing tubes. “Biasing … is usually unnecessary
inputs for connection to an external preamplifier; three pairs of for the 845 because these tubes usually work for a very long time.
gold-plated RCA inputs and one pair of XLR inputs; two sets of We have our own design of auto-bias circuit that maintains the
speaker binding posts (4 and 8 ohm taps); a fuse plug, and an IEC tubes’ value constant during [their] life. Our triode amps are set at

MEASUREMENTS
performed the measurements of the ance was much lower, at 3230 ohms across tions of loudspeaker responses with both

I 0DVWHUVRXQG&RPSDFWDPSOLࢉHU
with my Audio Precision SYS2722
system.1 The tubes were installed
when I received the review sample, and I
waited for an hour after powering up the
the audioband.
The source impedance from the 8 ohm
output tap was a high 3.5 ohms at 20Hz,
2.6 ohms at 1kHz, and 7.3 ohms at 20kHz.
The variation in the small-signal frequency
RXWSXWWDSV,QWRUHVLVWLYHORDGVࢉJEOXH
red, cyan, magenta, and green traces), the
0DVWHUVRXQGDPSOLࢉHUȆVRKPRXWSXW
VKHOYHGGRZQEHORZ+]DQGUROOHGRࢆ
above 10kHz, reaching –3dB at 18kHz. A
DPSOLࢉHUEHIRUHVWDUWLQJWKHWHVWLQJ7KH response with this output with our stan- VKDUSO\GHࢉQHGUHVSRQVHSHDNDWN+]
Mastersound runs hot—after an hour the dard simulated loudspeaker2ࢉJJUD\ correlates with overshoot and ringing
temperature of the top panel in front of trace) was therefore moderately high, at LQWKHDPSOLࢉHUȆVUHSURGXFWLRQRIDN+]
the line-stage tubes was 115.9°F/46.6°C. ±1.7dB. The 4 ohm tap’s source impedance VTXDUHZDYHLQWRRKPVࢉJ7KLVSHDN
The Compact 845 inverted polarity was lower, at 1.7 ohms at 20Hz, 1.3 ohms was higher in amplitude with higher load
from both the 4 ohm and 8 ohm output at 1kHz, and 3.15 ohms at 20kHz, which
1 See stereophile.com/content/measurements-maps-
transformer taps with the balanced and meant that the response variation with precision.
single-ended inputs but preserved abso- the simulated speaker was lower, at ±1dB. 2 See stereophile.com/content/real-life-measure-
lute polarity from its Direct inputs, which +RZHYHUWKHUHZLOOEHDXGLEOHPRGLࢉFD- ments-page-2.
E\SDVVWKHSUHDPSOLࢉHUVWDJHDQGYROXPH
control. The voltage gain at 1kHz from the
unbalanced Direct inputs was 23.1dB from
the 8 ohm tap and 20.7dB from the 4 ohm
WDSERWKࢉJXUHVLQWRRKPV)URPWKH d
regular inputs, the gain into 8 ohms from B
r
the 8 ohm tap with the volume control set
A
to its maximum was 32dB, balanced, and
36.55dB, unbalanced. The maximum gains
from the 4 ohm tap were both 2.3dB lower.
7KHLQSXWLPSHGDQFHLVVSHFLࢉHGDVD
high 50k ohms. For the single-ended Direct Hz
input, I measured 33k ohms at 20Hz and
1kHz, and 28.6k ohms at 20kHz. The nor- Fig.1 Mastersound Compact 845, 8 ohm output tap, Fig.2 Mastersound Compact 845, 8 ohm output tap,
mal unbalanced input’s impedance varied frequency response at 2.83V into: simulated loud- small-signal 1kHz squarewave into 8 ohms.
speaker load (gray), 8 ohms (left channel blue, right
from a high 71k ohms at 20Hz to 52.6k red), 4 ohms (left cyan, right magenta), and 2 ohms
ohms at 20kHz; the balanced input imped- (green) (1dB/vertical div.).

stereophile.com Q May 2023 67

The
 0$67(56281'&203$&7৷৳৴

the factory and only need be set again when the power tubes [are] Setup
changed.” Tubes should, consequently, only be changed by a quali- The Compact 845 fit snugly into my five-tier Salamander Arche-
fied technician. “For our pentode amps, it’s completely automatic type rack. I connected it to my Tavish Design Adagio phono stage
and doesn’t need to be set again until the tubes need to be changed.” and, variously, pairs of DeVore Fidelity O/96, Volti Audio Razz, and
Ferro recounted when
Luciano Sanavio illustrated
the difference between class-A
and class-A/B designs by way
of analogy: “Luciano did a
demonstration at an Italian
audio dealer where he asked,
‘Do you know the ball-throwing
machine that is used in tennis
for training? You can have the
ball inside the machine that is
already turned on, or you can
insert the ball and then turn on
the machine: class-A is the first
case—at all times you’re run-
ning at maximum power; class-
A/B, instead, operates only
when necessary. Therefore,
class-A/B won’t have the same
reactivity and speed in tran-
sients as class-A.’” The Compact
845 operates in class-A.

measurements, continued

impedances and from the 4 ohm output WKHDPSOLࢉHUGULYLQJN+]DW:SFLQWR with the inputs shorted to ground and the
transformer tap. ohms—it was still readily audible and was volume control set to its maximum, was
Fig.1 was taken with the volume control not masked by the NPR news playing on a G%DYHUDJHRIWKHWZRFKDQQHOV7KLV
set to its maximum; the left channel is nearby portable radio in the test lab. ratio improved slightly to 68.5dB when the
0.26dB higher in level at 1kHz than the The Compact 845’s channel separation measurement bandwidth was restricted to
ULJKW7KLVGLࢆHUHQFHLQFUHDVHGWRG% QRWVKRZQZDVUHODWLYHO\SRRUDWG% 22Hz–22kHz, and to 78.9dB when A-weight-
when I repeated the measurement with in both directions below 1kHz, decreas- ed. With their lower gain, the ratios from
the volume control set to –20dB, though ing to 30dB at the top of the audioband. the 4 ohm outputs were 2dB greater.
the response was otherwise identical. I monitored the waveform on an oscil- Spectral analysis of the low-frequency
Something I noticed while doing these loscope when I performed this measure- QRLVHࢊRRUZKLOHWKH0DVWHUVRXQGȆV
tests was that the Compact 845 emitted ment, which indicated that I was measur- ohm taps drove a 1kHz tone at 1Wpc into
audible sounds, which seemed to be com- ing true crosstalk rather than noise. The 8 ohms with the volume control set to
ing from the output tube circuitry rather 0DVWHUVRXQGDPSOLࢉHUȆVRXWSXWKDGD WKHPD[LPXPࢉJOHIWFKDQQHOJUHHQ
than the transformers. While the level relatively low level of noise. The unweight- ULJKWJUD\UHYHDOHGDORZOHYHORIUDQGRP
wasn’t very high—the spl in front of the HGZLGHEDQGVLJQDOQRLVHUDWLRUHI: noise. However, AC supply–related spuriae
DPSOLࢉHUZDVG%&VORZEDOOLVWLFVZLWK LQWRRKPVWDNHQIURPWKHRKPWDSV at 60Hz and its odd- and even-order

d
B
% %
r
A

Hz W W

Fig.3 Mastersound Compact 845, 8 ohm output tap, Fig.4 Mastersound Compact 845, 8 ohm output tap, Fig.5 Mastersound Compact 845, 4 ohm output tap,
spectrum of 1kHz sinewave, DC–1kHz, at 1Wpc into GLVWRUWLRQYVN+]FRQWLQXRXVRXWSXWSRZHULQWR GLVWRUWLRQYVN+]FRQWLQXRXVRXWSXWSRZHULQWR
RKPVZLWKYROXPHFRQWUROVHWWRLWVPD[LPXPOHIW 8 ohms. 4 ohms.
FKDQQHOJUHHQULJKWJUD\DQGWRȁG%OHIWEOXH
ULJKWUHGOLQHDUIUHTXHQF\VFDOH

stereophile.com Q May 2023 69

 0$67(56281'&203$&7৷৳৴

MoFi Electronics SourcePoint 10 loudspeakers with Analysis Plus I attribute partly to its aforementioned silence: the long decay of
Silver Apex speaker cables. Acoustic Signature Maximum Neo, reverb tails contrasting that outer-space–blackness each enhanc-
Thorens TD 124, and Kuzma Stabi R turntables were my analog ing the other. Against this backdrop, music blossomed, consistently
sources. creating a you-are-there, live-performance quality that made my
When you turn on the Mastersound amplifier, a red LED DeVore Fidelity O/96s resemble Quad ESL-57s. Music had energy,
begins to flash; when the amplifier reaches operational status, it speed, dynamics, punch, and depth. The Compact 845 ran hot, and
stops flashing. For optimal performance, the Compact 845 should so did the music that flowed from its mighty triodes.
be turned on at least 30 minutes prior to listening, the manual The Compact 845 inspired me to audition some new LPs and a
advises, to allow the tubes to stabilize at their optimal operating few old ones. I listened to Wayne Shorter (may he rest in peace),
temperature. The manual also notes that during operation, the cy- Tony Rice, and Maki Asakawa—to Renata Tebaldi, the Beatles, and
lindrical transformer enclosures, which act as heatsinks, become ZZ Top. The Compact 845 did not favor one genre of music over
quite warm, which is normal. another. It rendered a sense of intimacy on operatic vocals, jazz,
The manual recommends a minimum of 200 burn-in hours for and bluegrass; it was equally generous with rock, electronic, and
peak performance. I dutifully streamed Roon/Tidal/Qobuz for classical works. Its broad, deep soundstage framed each record in
about this duration, using an Apple iPad mini and a HoloAudio its unique space and time, encouraging repeated playback.
May DAC as a source. The Contemporary Records recordings of engineer Roy DuNann
are the most natural-sounding small-group jazz recordings I’ve
The 845–O/96 combination ever heard. For 50-year-old recordings, they sound oddly modern
I began my audition with the two-way DeVore Fidelity O/96 and immediate; these are perfect records to audition hi-fi equip-
loudspeaker, a rich, warm, incisive speaker that uses a 1" silk-dome ment with. I started with “Custard Puff” from Barney Kessel,
tweeter and a 10" paper-cone woofer and sounds good with every Ray Brown, and Shelly Manne’s The Poll Winners Ride Again! (LP,
amplifier and in every room I’ve heard it in.1 It was a natural fit for Contemporary Records S7556). A buoyant, bubbly performance,
the Mastersound.
I had to push my reference DeVore Fidelity O/96 loudspeakers 1 See Art Dudley’s review at stereophile.com/content/devore-fidelity-orangutan-o96-
loudspeaker, his follow-up three years later at stereophile.com/content/devore-fidelity-
back 6" to optimize coherence and clarity; once I did that, the sys- orangutan-o96-loudspeaker-january-2015, and Jim Austin’s follow-up at stereophile.com/
tem sang. The 845 wowed me with its immense soundstage, which content/devore-fidelity-orangutan-o96-loudspeaker-jim-austin-september-2017.

measurements, continued

harmonics were present, and their levels didn’t get close to that power. With both a larger load impedance, not lower. At 3%
didn’t change when I experimented with channels driven, I measured a clipping THD+N, the 4 ohm tap was putting out
WKHJURXQGLQJEHWZHHQWKHDPSOLࢉHUDQG power of 11.5Wpc from the 8 ohm tap into 10Wpc into 8 ohms.
the Audio Precision analyzer. The highest RKPVG%:ࢉJDQG:SFIURP Fig.7 shows how the percentage of
of these spuriae, at 120Hz, lay at –73dB WKHRKPWDSLQWRRKPVG%:ࢉJ THD+N in both channels varied with fre-
(0.02%). Repeating the analysis with the Raising the clipping limit to 3% THD+N, quency, with the 8 ohm tap driving 8 and
volume control set to –20dB (blue, red I measured 22Wpc with each output tap RKPVDW9ZKLFKLVHTXLYDOHQWWR:
traces) lowered the levels of the power matched to the load. At 10% THD+N, the into 8 ohms and 6W into 4 ohms. The huge
supply–related spuriae by up to 6dB, &RPSDFWDSSURDFKHVLWVVSHFLࢉHG rise in distortion above 10kHz may well be
EXWWKHUDQGRPQRLVHࢊRRUȆVOHYHOGLGQȆW power. GXHWRWKHKLJKIUHTXHQF\UROORࢆLQWKLV
change. 7XEHDPSOLࢉHUVXVXDOO\KDYHOHVVGLVWRU- region and, perhaps, to the fact that the
0DVWHUVRXQGVSHFLࢉHVWKH&RPSDFW tion when the load impedance is greater GLVWRUWLRQLVEHLQJPDJQLࢉHGE\WKHRXWSXW
845’s maximum power as 30W, which than the nominal output transformer im- WUDQVIRUPHUUHVRQDQFHVHHQLQࢉJ7KH
is equivalent to 14.76dBW into 8 ohms SHGDQFH$VUHYHDOHGLQࢉJZKLFKSORWV THD+N rose slightly at low frequencies and
and 11.76dBW into 4 ohms. According to the THD+N percentage against output was higher into 4 ohms (green and gray
Stereophile’VXVXDOGHࢉQLWLRQRIFOLSSLQJ power with the 4 ohm tap driving 8 ohms, traces) than it was into 8 ohms (blue and
ZKHQ7+'1UHDFKHVWKHDPSOLࢉHU the Mastersound’s THD+N was higher with red traces). At the same voltage from the 4

% %

Avg: 16
W Hz

Fig.60DVWHUVRXQG&RPSDFWRKPRXWSXWWDS Fig.70DVWHUVRXQG&RPSDFWRKPRXWSXWWDS Fig.80DVWHUVRXQG&RPSDFWRKPRXWSXWWDS

distortion (%) vs 1kHz continuous output power into 7+'1YVIUHTXHQF\DW9LQWRRKPVOHIW left channel, 1kHz waveform at 1W into 8 ohms,
8 ohms. channel blue, right red), 4 ohms (left green, right 7+'1WRSGLVWRUWLRQDQGQRLVHZDYHIRUP
gray). with fundamental notched out (bottom, not to scale).

stereophile.com Q May 2023 71

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the Mastersound played it with great weight, air-moving dynam- grounds dead quiet. The music was full-toned and populated with
ics, and tangible textures, especially on guitar and drums. The dry dramatic stop-start rests. The sound was warm and lush but not
ride cymbal, taut snare drum, and all the other pieces of Manne’s syrupy, detailed but not analytical.
drums came to life with the Mastersound/DeVore pairing: I felt The Mastersound Compact 845, like my Shindo Labs separates,
like I was sitting right in front of the kit. As I jotted in my notes, veers toward the dark side of neutral, yet it is faster and somewhat
again and again, the soundstage was extremely deep, the back- more transparent than the Shindo separates. In this respect, it fell
somewhere between the rich, opulent tone of the Shindos and the
Mastersound’s Vicenza Conservatory Project detailed transparency of the Audio Note Meishu Tonmeister, which
I reviewed in the February issue.2 The Mastersound, though, cast a
,QODWHDIWHUȉWZR\HDUVRIFRQWDFWVDQGH[FKDQJHVȊ wider, deeper soundstage than either of the other amplifiers.
0DVWHUVRXQGDQGWKH&RQVHUYDWRU\RI9LFHQ]Dȉ$UULJR3HGUROORȊ The 845–O/96 pairing (re)created a dense, finely layered stage
inaugurated a new listening room at the conservatory, which on Vincent d’Indy’s Symphony on a French Mountain Air (LP, EMI
ZDVIRXQGHGLQZLWKLQDWKFHQWXU\PRQDVWHU\7KHSURM- ASD 3480). On Roy Haynes’s engrossing We Three (LP, New Jazz NJ-
ect, which was conducted in partnership with the conservatory’s 8210), it pulled an intimacy-and-bangers feat similar to what it did
GLUHFWRU\LHOGHGDOLVWHQLQJURRPHTXLSSHGZLWK0DVWHUVRXQG on The Poll Winners disc. On jazz-vocal great Betty Carter’s Inside
DPSOLࢉFDWLRQDQG6RQXV)DEHU2O\PSLFD1RYD,,ORXGVSHDNHUV1
Betty Carter (LP, United Artists Records UAL 3379), it cut through
the poor recording quality to extract gut-punch dynamics.
6RQXV)DEHULVEDVHGLQWKHSURYLQFHRI9LFHQ]D$GYDQWDJHV
The 845–O/96 duo produced sweet tone, lush, transparent mids,
ࢊRZERWKZD\V6WXGHQWVJHWWRHQMR\OLVWHQLQJWRUHFRUGHGPX-
and satisfying bass—of the full-bodied variety, not carved-in-space
VLFLQWKHKLJKHVWࢉGHOLW\ZKLOH0DVWHUVRXQGJDLQVIHHGEDFNWKH
tight. To my ears, perfect balance.
human kind) and regular access to live music that allows them
WRLPSURYHWKHLUSURGXFWVȉDQGWRPDNHDQLPSRUWDQWFRQWULEX-
The 845 with the Volti Razz
WLRQWRWKHVWXG\DQGIDLWKIXOUHSURGXFWLRQRIVRXQGȊ7KHTXRWH
The Volti Audio Razz loudspeaker is a three-way, hybrid bass
LVIURPWKH0DVWHUVRXQGZHEVLWH—Ken Micallef
reflex/horn loudspeaker that combines a 1" horn-loaded tweeter,
1 See Larry Greenhill’s review of this speaker’s little brother, the Olympica Nova I.
2 See stereophile.com/content/audio-note-meishu-tonmeister-phono-integrated-amplifier.

measurements, continued

ohm tap (not shown), the distortion in the GULYLQJDQHTXDOPL[RIDQGN+]WRQHV FDSDEOHRISXWWLQJRXWPRUHSRZHUWKDQ

midrange and treble was close to 0.6% into DW:SFSHDNLQWRRKPVࢉJWKHN+] WKH%ȂWKHVHUHVXOWVDUHYHU\VLPLODUWR
4 ohms and 1% into 8 ohms. GLࢆHUHQFHSURGXFWOD\DWȁG% WKRVHPHDVXUHGLQWKH0DVWHUVRXQG%
)RUWXQDWHO\DVࢉJVKRZVWKHGLVWRU- and many higher-order intermodulation 6(LQWHJUDWHGDPSOLࢉHUZKLFK$UW'XGOH\
tion was predominantly the (arguably products were present. This behavior cor- UHYLHZHGLQ0DUFK37KHKLJKOHYHOVRI
innocuous) second harmonic, with higher- UHODWHVZLWKWKHLQFUHDVHLQ7+'1LQWKH distortion and the high source impedances
order harmonics progressively lower in WRSDXGLRRFWDYHVHHQLQࢉJ7KHDPSOL- will be due to the single-ended triode
OHYHOࢉJ+RZHYHUDWORZIUHTXHQFLHV ࢉHUPD\ZHOOVRXQGEHWWHUWKDQWKLVWHVW topology and the decision not to use loop
ࢉJWKHOHYHORIWKHWKLUGKDUPRQLFZDV suggests, since top-octave energy level is QHJDWLYHIHHGEDFN,FRQFOXGHGP\GLVFXV-
the same as the second, perhaps indicat- typically lower in music than in test tones. VLRQRIWKH%6(PHDVXUHPHQWVE\
LQJWKHRQVHWRIFRUHVDWXUDWLRQLQWKH +RZHYHUWKLVLQIRUPDWLRQLVSUHVHQWHG asking whether the reviewer liked the am-
RXWSXWWUDQVIRUPHUV here, as it is with every review, since we SOLࢉHUEHFDXVHRIZKDWLWGLGULJKWdespite
'XHWRWKHPDVNLQJWKHOHYHORIWKH VWDQGDUGL]HGRQWKLVLQWHUPRGXODWLRQWHVW what it did wrong, or becauseRIZKDWLWGLG
second harmonic may not result in audible ZKHQZHVWDUWHGPHDVXULQJDPSOLࢉHUV ZURQJ,Q,GLGQȆWKDYHDQDQVZHUWR
distortion with music, as long as it is not three decades ago. WKDWTXHVWLRQ,VWLOOGRQȆW—John Atkinson
accompanied by intermodulation distor- 2WKHUWKDQWKHGLࢆHUHQFHVFDXVHGE\ 3 See stereophile.com/content/mastersound-300-b-
tion. With the Compact 845’s 8 ohm taps GLࢆHUHQWRXWSXWWXEHVȂWKHWXEHLV VHLQWHJUDWHGDPSOLࢉHUPHDVXUHPHQWV

d d d
B B B
r r r
A A A

Hz Hz Hz

Fig.9 Mastersound Compact 845, 8 ohm output tap, Fig.10 Mastersound Compact 845, 8 ohm output tap, Fig.11 Mastersound Compact 845, 8 ohm output tap,
VSHFWUXPRIN+]VLQHZDYH'&ȁN+]DW:SFLQWR VSHFWUXPRI+]VLQHZDYH'&ȁN+]DW:SFLQWR +)LQWHUPRGXODWLRQVSHFWUXP'&ȁN+]N+]
RKPVOHIWFKDQQHOEOXHULJKWUHGOLQHDUIUHTXHQF\ RKPVOHIWFKDQQHOEOXHULJKWUHGOLQHDUIUHTXHQF\ DW:SFSHDNLQWRRKPVOHIWFKDQQHOEOXHULJKW
scale). scale). UHGOLQHDUIUHTXHQF\VFDOH

stereophile.com Q May 2023 73

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 0$67(56281'&203$&7৷৳৴

a wide-dispersion, metal midrange horn with a 2" composite-dia-

phragm compression driver, and a 12" paper-cone woofer paired to ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT
a front-firing rectangular port. I’ve reviewed the Volti Rival;3 the
Razz is cut from a similar cloth. The Razz is considerably heavier Analog sources Acoustic Signature Maximus Neo turntable
than the DeVore Fidelity O/96, although its cabinet volume is with Acoustic Signature Neo TA 1000 tonearm and Maximus
slightly smaller. And where richness, sweetness, and detail are the MCX3 MC cartridge; Kuzma Stabi R turntable, Kuzma 4Point
DeVore’s strengths, what’s most notable about the Razz is a clear- tonearm, and Luxman LMC-5 MC cartridge; Thorens TD 124
blue-sky top end and earth-rumbling lows. turntable with Jelco 350 S tonearm and EMT TSD15 N MC car-
On record after record, with the Compact 845 in the driver’s tridge.
seat, the Razz produced deep, clean, copious low end, a sparkling, Digital sources HoloAudio May DAC, Sonore opticalRendu,
neutral midrange, and brilliant, wide-open treble. On Art Pepper’s Roon Nucleus+, Small Green Computer power supply, TRENDnet
Smack Up (LP, Contemporary Records S7602), Pepper’s tone was switch, Apple iPad mini.
tart and fast, Jack Sheldon’s trumpet spun his Schoolhouse Rock! Preamplifier Tavish Design Adagio phono stage.
days on their head, and the rhythm section of bassist Jimmy Bond Loudspeakers DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/96, Volti Audio
and drummer Frank Butler delivered dancing cadences at a mea- Razz, MoFi Electronics SourcePoint 10.
sured pace, with appropriate momentum. Cables Interconnects: Triode Wire Labs Spirit II, Shindo Labs,
This combination also ran the table with classical vinyl due to Analysis Plus Silver Apex (RCA). Speaker: Analysis Plus Silver
its exceptional clarity, beautiful layering of instruments, impres- Apex Speaker. AC: Triode Wire Labs Obsession NCF.
sive speed, and deep soundstage. On Boulez Conducts Stravinsky: Accessories Pro-Ject VC-S2 ALU Record Cleaning Machine, Au-
Firebird Suite (Columbia MS 7206), the pairing heightened the dio Desk Systeme Vinyl Cleaner Pro, Hunt Mark 6 Carbon Fiber
sense of drama and urgency of the piece. A rip-roaring Night on Record Cleaning Brush, IsoTek EVO3 Aquarius line conditioner,
Bald Mountain, with the Cleveland Orchestra under Lorin Maazel, 6DODPDQGHUࢉYHWLHU$UFKHW\SHUDFN,.($$SWLWOLJEDPERR
from Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition / Night on Bald Moun- chopping boards (under turntable, preamp, power and inte-
tain (LP, Telarc 10042), played with such spirited power that I felt JUDWHGDPSVPDKRJDQ\EORFNVXQGHUFXWWLQJERDUGV+LࢉVHW
as if I myself were being chased down the mountain, the devil at XSRQVKRUWZDOOࢉULQJLQWR' × 12' room, wood slat on plaster
my heels. The 845/Razz combination had tone and texture as well, walls.—Ken Micallef
amply heard in Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra’s
recording of Shostakovich’s 5th Symphony (LP, RCA Red Seal ARL1-
1149). the deepest, punchiest soundstage I’ve heard. It was also eerily
quiet. Like the Audio Note Meishu Tonmeister integrated amplifier
The 845/SourcePoint duo I reviewed in January 2023, I would be happy to live with this am-
Just as I was finishing this review, I received the MoFi Electronics plifier for the rest of my days. With the Compact 845, Mastersound
SourcePoint 10 loudspeakers, which Technical Editor John Atkin- moves to the front row in the hallowed hall of master tube-ampli-
son reviewed in the January 2022 issue.4 John used a variety of fier manufacturers, alongside Shindo, Audio Note, Air Tight, Line
solid state amplifiers to drive the SourcePoint 10, from Parasound, Magnetic, Luxman, and PrimaLuna. Q
Schitt, and Benchmark. I wanted to audition the MoFi speaker with
3 See stereophile.com/content/volti-audio-rival-loudspeaker. Also see Tom Gibbs’s Razz
tubes. review at stereophile.com/content/volti-audio-razz-loudspeaker.
With the Mastersound driving the SourcePoint 10s, I heard noth- 4 See John Atkinson’s review at stereophile.com/content/mofi-electronics-sourcepoint-
ing tipped up—but I did hear a treble that was lit, clear, dense, and 10-loudspeaker.
superdetailed. Tony Williams’s
hi-hat and ride cymbals, on
“Love for Sale,” the title song
of an album by the Great Jazz
Trio (LP, East Wind EW-8046),
played with detail, silken
texture, and clean, full-bodied
attack—more so than I’d ever
heard it. On the same track, Ron
Carter’s bass was incredibly
deep and tight. The Master-
sound and the SourcePoints
played together like friends in a
hi-fi sandbox.

Conclusion
The Mastersound Compact 845
hits all my sonic sweet spots:
gorgeous, burnished tube tone,
palpable instrumental texture,
unerring naturalism, lush,
rich, transparent midrange,
solid bass, open treble, black
background, precise layering
of instruments and vocals—and

stereophile.com Q May 2023 75

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 E Q UIPMENT REP ORT

KALMAN RUBINSON

Arvus H2-4D
16-CHANNEL DIGITAL AUDIO RENDERER

B
efore I can get to what the Arvus H2-4D does and how well music, the music industry could entice music buyers to purchase
it does it, I have to explain why I think it’s an important new equipment and music, including a back-catalog of music they
product. I spent years as an advocate for multichannel au- already own in other formats.
dio for music, based on discrete, lossless sources such as I came away from the 2019 AES Convention fascinated by these
DVD-A, SACD, and high-quality downloads. All of these were either new options for encoding, mastering, and distributing music. “In-
PCM or DSD and were accessible via a wide range of disc players, stead of multiple masterings and formats for binaural, stereo, and
DACs, and local file playback apps. multichannel,” I wrote in January 2019,1 “a single-format release
I am well aware that the majority of Stereophile readers are can be played on any suitably equipped system.” It would be the
not (yet) into multichannel, but two-channel and multichannel equivalent of a “single inventory” for the streaming and distribu-
audiophiles have long relied on similar media and components. tion sites for all formats.
Some of us have added more channels. In parallel with this, the It has taken almost three years, but Dolby Atmos is now per-
home theater world was committed to multichannel (or surround meating the music-streaming sites; note that most of the recent
sound), but instead of DSD and PCM, they spoke multiple dialects Grammy winners are available in Atmos.
of Dolby and DTS. Those oft-compressed formats required propri- Up to now, access to Atmos has been largely restricted to HT
etary decoders for each dialect, which their developers were happy hardware; its success for music will depend on wide availability
to license for use in AVRs and preamp/processors. and non-HT options for audiophile music lovers to stream and to
The entertainment industry noticed that the newer sound for- play discs or files in Atmos, especially in lossless versions.2 Enter
mats that support many horizontally and vertically arrayed sound the Arvus H2-4D.
sources, such as Dolby Atmos, Sony 360 Reality Audio, DTS-X, and
1 See stereophile.com/content/immersive-audio-aes.
Auro-3D, were natural for cinema and home theater, since they
2 Some music labels, most notably 2L, still offer discrete 7.1.4 channel files in WAV format
could create a more convincing experience of being present or im- for download. These can be played back on systems with the requisite number of channels
mersed in the action. By applying these immersive technologies to without any decoding.

SPECIFICATIONS
Description 16-channel Dolby Outputs: Word Clock on BNC, range: 20Hz–20kHz. Supplied partnership license.”
Atmos and DTS-X renderer, 2 HDMI (full A/V passthrough accessories: External wall-wart Price $4990 (including FedEx
Dolby, DTS, and PCM decoder, and audio-only), Dante/AES67 power supply. shipping). Warranty: 5-year full
and digital-to-analog converter. on RJ45, AES3 16 channels via Dimensions 8.75" (483mm) W × replacement.
Input: 1 HDMI/ARC/eARC input 1 DB25 connector, balanced 1.75" (44mm) H × 6.3" (245mm) Manufacturer
with word clock on BNC. Sup- analog (16 channels via 2 DB25 D. Weight: 7.7lb (3.55kg). Arvus International Ltd.,
ports PCM (44.1–192kHz/16–24 connectors). Network interface Finish Black. 71-75 Shelton St.,
bit), Dolby Digital (DD+, with PoE via RJ45. THD+N: Serial number of unit re- Covent Garden, London,
TrueHD, Dolby Surround, analog output @4V RMS, viewed ARVUS-H2-4D-080. “De- United Kingdom WC2H 9JQ.
Atmos), DTS (AES, HD Master <0.01%, AES3 output @0dBFS, signed in New Zealand, United Tel: +64 21 121 66 44.
Audio, HD High Resolution Au- <0.0001%. Frequency response: Kingdom and China, manufac- Email: [email protected].
dio, Express-HD LBR, Neural-X). 20Hz–20kHz, ±1dB. Frequency tured in China under exclusive Web: arvus.com.

stereophile.com Q May 2023 77

$5986+ৱ৳'

What is it?
There are three basic sources for Atmos playback: web streaming
from an app or a device like an AppleTV, local discs, and local files.
But without an Atmos-enabled AVR or pre/pro, there has been no
simple way to decode these streams.3 The Arvus4 H2-4D is a simple
solution to this problem. Its compact, nondescript 1U chassis
contains an HDMI input and digital, analog, and LAN outputs. It
decodes and renders all extant varieties of Dolby (including At-
mos), DTS (including DTS-X), and stereo and multichannel PCM (up
to 24/192). The only front-panel features are a power switch and
multicolor LED that indicates power, signal lock, and data format;
once set up, it should require no user attention.
The rear panel contains, on the far left, a single HDMI input not ideal: Tapping on a screen in 1dB increments is tedious; Arvus
and a word clock input; on the extreme right is a place to connect has promised new possibilities in the next firmware update.) The
a wall-wart power supply. In between is an array of outputs, all GUI also displays the firmware version, allows you to update the
active simultaneously. The outputs include (from left to right): two firmware with a click, and allows for a factory reset. It also shows
HDMI pass-throughs (one full A/V, one audio-only), 16 channels the codec in use, which is useful, although it doesn’t show the
of AES3 outputs via two DB25 connectors, 16 channels of Dante sample rate.
outputs and inputs on a single RJ45 connector; 5 16 channels of bal-
anced analog output via one RB25 connector, and a data connection The H2-4D in my system
on RJ45 for setup and control via the local network. I set up a system to audition remote streaming, disc playback, and
A one-page GUI is accessible from any device on your LAN, for local file playback in Atmos, DTS-X, and PCM via the Arvus. For
accessing the Arvus from a computer, but I found my iPad most the input end, I acquired a Marantz VS3003 3 in/1 out HDMI Switch
convenient. The GUI lets you select an input (HDMI, ARC/eARC, ($199), which supports the same audio formats as the Arvus. I
Dante) and a loudspeaker configuration. You can choose among
settings for Mute, Standby, and Global Delay (useful for video 3 Dolby offers desktop/DAW software licenses only for the professional market.
sync), LAN settings, and individual speaker delays for each chan- 4 Arvus is a 40-year-old independent company with deep ties to the music industry. Its
earlier products include many loudspeakers and an 8-channel HDMI to AES3 digital audio
nel. There is also a Global Volume control, which is necessary if converter that has long been described as “unobtanium” in the US.
you are using output devices that lack that feature, as when you’re 5 Due to a surprise visit from COVID, I was unable to use the H2-4D in a Dante environ-
feeding an array of active loudspeakers. (Essential as this is, it is ment, but I hope to do so soon.

MEASUREMENTS

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78 May 2023 Q stereophile.com

 Fly With the Horses

You might have noticed that the top tier of

AQ cables are all Mythical Creatures that fly:
ThunderBird, FireBird, and Dragon.
Well, Mythical Horse Pegasus also flies.
Please take a pair for a test flight.
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connected the HDMI outputs from my Apple TV 4K, my Oppo

BDP-105, and my PC/Windows-based streamer to the Marantz. The
Marantz’s output fed the input of the Arvus, and the HDMI output
of the Arvus went to my Toshiba PC monitor so that I could see
each user interface as it was selected.
My regular speaker system setup is 5.1, consisting of five
full-range speakers plus a trio of subwoofers run via the BassQ
controller. For this review, I added PSB Imagine XA and Atlantic
Technology 44-DA Dolby-enabled speakers, relocated from my
Connecticut to my New York City system, as front and rear height
speaker pairs, respectively, each driven by a Parasound Zamp.
I began using the Arvus’s AES3 outputs because my DACs have
volume controls, and when the Arvus first arrived, its volume
control had not yet been implemented. With the assistance of Mo-
gami’s Phil Tennison,6 I obtained a custom Mogami Gold AES TD
DB25–XLR snake to connect to the AES3 connector on the Arvus.
I then plugged XLRs 1–4 to the Okto DAC8 Pro and XLR 5 into a
Mytek Brooklyn+ DAC. I assumed that software would route the ap- 1 Left, Right *
propriate channels through to the power amps, as would typically 2 Center, LFE *
happen with a pre/pro. But when I switched everything on, with 3 Left surround, Right surround *
the Arvus set to output 5.1.4, I got 5.1 correctly—plus Front Height 4 Left back, Right back
sounds out of the Rear Height speakers and nothing from the Front 5 Top front left, Top front right *
Height speakers. If I switched the Arvus to output 7.1.4, I got the 6 Top side left, Top side right
usual 5.1 plus Rear L/R channels out of the Rear Height speakers! 7 Top back left, Top back right *
Here’s why. The order of the channels in Atmos world is fixed, 8 Left wide, Right wide
and you must connect your DAC/amp/speaker to the correct physi-
cal channel even if the intervening channel cables are left unused. Thus, in my setup for the digital outputs from the Arvus,
The Arvus was designed for studio professionals, who would
6 When I explained what I was doing, Phil swiftly realized the stock cables would not suit.
know this. For reference, here is a list of the default AES3 outputs; “Normally, AES DB25 cables have 4 XLRs out and 4 in. Yours has 8 out, so it deviates from
the asterisks indicate channels used in my 5.1.4 channel setup: the normal configuration. More like a Tascam Analog cable using AES cable.” He was right.

measurements, continued

ringing on either side of the single sample responses at the two sample rates appear YHU\JRRGDWG%LQERWKGLUHFWLRQV
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stereophile.com Q May 2023 81

 $5986+ৱ৳'

outputs 1–3 and 5 went to the Okto for 5.1 and the front heights and immediacy for a huge enhancement in the acoustic space.
output 7 went to the Mytek for the rear heights. Moving to music that is already familiar in multichannel,
Later, after the central volume control was added to the Arvus, I Morten Lindberg’s magnificent recording of Arnesen’s Magnificat
used direct balanced connections from the two analog output con- (2L-106, SACD/Blu-ray), the Atmos rendition adds, in my recently
nections using a pair of DB25-to-8XLR snakes. Of course, with ana- revised system, four height channels to the SACD’s already im-
log, there is one XLR per channel; the ones I used are listed below. mersive mix, but it lacks the fine-spun detail of the SACD. Yet the
k Balanced Analog (1–8): 1 Left, 2 Right, 3 Center, 4 LFE, 5 Left sur- streamed Atmos rendition delivered through the H2-4D was even
round, 6 Right surround more breathtaking than the SACD due entirely to its superior
k Balanced Analog (9–16): 1 Top front left, 2 Top front right, 5 Top recreation of the Nidaros Cathedral acoustic. While the SACD
back left, 6 Top back right. presents chorus, orchestra, and organ all around, the Atmos ver-
sion fills the listening space with a convincing envelopment. It’s
Streaming Atmos with the H2-4D thrilling despite the lossy medium.
I acquired an AppleTV 4K some time ago,7 for the express purpose I wanted to hear Atmos content from the Berlin Philharmonic’s
of streaming Atmos from Apple Music; since then, the amount of Digital Concert Hall. It’s one of my favorite music resources, and it
Atmos content has exploded. Browsing the Classical repertoire, has embraced Dolby Atmos.10 At first, I hit a snag: I couldn’t access
a randomly chosen recording is almost as likely to be available in Atmos with their desktop streaming app because it is accessible
Atmos as not. only via Apple hardware and Apple’s Safari browser; I live in Win-
I clicked on Sol & Pat. The Arvus recognized it as “Dolby Atmos dows world. Fortunately, I was able to load the Digital Concert Hall
(Multi-CH PCM)” at 48kHz, but to me the sound was completely app on my AppleTV 4K. Lo and behold: a new library of recorded
new. The transition from stereo to “immersive” was startling. From live concerts in Atmos!
the opening tambourine fanfare on through, the experience was
7 In 2019, my Marantz AV8085 pre/pro was updated to support Atmos and Auro-3D, and
much more “you are there” than the “we are here” of the stereo I was greatly encouraged by the first immersive audio recordings I sampled. stereophile.
depiction (24/96 download, Alpha ALPHA757). The recorded, com/content/music-round-97-hegel-c53-dspeaker-anti-mode-x4-recordings-round.
reproduced ambience completely replaced any awareness of my 8 Mastering engineers have told me that these days an Atmos mix is an essential deliverable
in most studios, which argues for the former for recent releases like Sol & Pat.—Jim Austin
listening room. The two performers were steadfastly stationed
9 In Apple Music, lossless and Atmos are two distinct formats.
up front, where they should be. I have no information on how the
10 The BPO’s Digital Concert Hall provides Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 at 1024 kbit/s via Dolby Digi-
recording was mastered for Atmos—whether it was mastered for tal Plus, the same technology used by Apple Music (although not necessarily at the same
Atmos in the studio or by some automated process.8 Apple Music’s bit rate). It’s lossy, sure, but to look at it another way, the 7.1.4 BPO feed contains about 30%
more information than a two-channel CD-rez FLAC stream does. What’s more, that extra
Atmos is lossy,9 but I find it a credible alternative to the high-rez information is far more sonically meaningful than some extra samples in a two-channel
stereo release (24/96 in this case), swapping the latter’s clarity and feed.—Jim Austin

measurements, continued

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stereophile.com Q May 2023 83

 David Lewis Audio.com
THE FINEST IN HIGH END AUDIO

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Playing them in Atmos through the Arvus, I was impressed

with their consistency. My favorite so far is a BPO concert from
December 22, 2022, with Vikingur Olafsson at the piano and
Santu-Matias Rouvali conducting works by Salonen, Adams,
Bach, and Prokofiev. Of the four pieces on the program, one in
particular—Prokofiev’s Symphony No.5 in B flat major—clearly
demonstrates what Atmos has to offer. Despite the lossy, 48kHz
constraint, the H2-4D delivered balance and clarity with good
soundstage detail, all within the acoustic space of the Berliner
Philharmonie. Begin with the polite applause that accompanies
Rouvali’s entry, and don’t be timid: Turn the volume up. The
symphony starts with an Andante that’s appropriately gentle,
but an intensifying development section builds to the staggering Hagia Sophia, with Alexander Lingas and Capella Romana (Capella
coda, with its emphatic tam-tam. By the time you reach this point, Romana CR420-CDBR), is actually a studio performance that has
you will feel that you’re hearing the full orchestra at what seems been digitally enhanced to recreate a performance in the domed
like concert levels. That illusion is achieved not because Atmos Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque in Istanbul. In stereo, the voices were
has injected another 200Wpc into your system but because those indistinct and seemed to swim in the lively acoustic. Multichan-
immersive enhancements have convinced your ears that you are nel added specificity to the ambience and definition to the voices.
in the concert hall. The Atmos tracks provided a much more realistic experience than
stereo—even than 5.1—in that the distance between the listener
Multichannel discs with the H2-4D and individual (and group) voices was specific with Atmos, defined
If you thought streaming via Arvus from the AppleTV+ was easy not just by level or the degree to which the voices became lost in the
(once the Atmos system was assembled), playing Atmos and other ambience but as if the musicians and the listener truly were shar-
“immersive” formats from Blu-ray discs is a piece of cake. Plus, it ing the same space. A true immersive experience.
comes with the bonus of truly lossless 48kHz audio. I selected my I bought Yello’s much anticipated 14th album, Point (Blu-ray,
Oppo BDP-105’s HDMI output with the Marantz switch, popped in Polydor – 06024 3551161 0) in anticipation of the arrival of the Arvus
a Blu-ray disc, and navigated the menu with the Oppo’s remote con- H2-4D. Point is an enjoyable, playful mélange of rhythms and sounds
trol. The H2-4D displayed “Dolby Atmos (Dolby TruHD),” although bounced around in three dimensions. Riffs and details popped up
still at 48kHz. where I didn’t expect them. The effects were often startling and
First up: a much-praised disc that had already shown me, via always entertaining. As music I didn’t find it all that interesting, but
5.1, how inadequate two-channel stereo is to resolve musical detail it is fun enough that I expect it to grow on me as I listen more.
in recordings made in highly reverberant venues. Lost Voices of Overall, though, disc playback with the Arvus H2-4D is more

measurements, continued

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stereophile.com Q May 2023 85

 $5986+ৱ৳'

satisfying than streaming because the user interface is more

coherent. Discs also permit easy comparison of Atmos with higher- ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT
resolution multichannel formats.
The 2L label has released many recordings that include both Digital sources Oppo Digital UDP-105 universal disc player,
an SACD with discrete multichannel tracks and a Blu-ray disc Apple TV 4K, Custom Intel/Win11 music server running JRiver
with Dolby Atmos (48kHz), 5.1 DTS HD MA (24/192), 7.1.4 Auro-3D Media Center v30. exaSound s88 Mark II, Okto DAC8 Pro D/A
(96kHz)—even 5.1 Dolby TruHD (24/192). Since the Arvus does processors. QNAP TVS-873 NAS.
not play DSD or render Auro-3D,11 I chose to focus my listening on Preamplifiers Coleman Audio 7.1SW for balanced source
how Dolby Atmos (48kHz) sounds different from 5.1 DTS HD MA VZLWFKLQJ7RSSLQJ3UHSUHDPSVIRUEXࢆHUOLQHGULYHUV
(192kHz) and 5.1 Dolby TruHD (192kHz), all lossless. Power amplifiers Benchmark AHB2, Paradigm Zamp.
Atmos and Dolby TruHD versions are found on Stale Kleiberg: Loudspeakers KEF Blade 2 Meta (L, R), Revel Ultima2 Studio (C).
Concertos, with Marianne Thorsen, Fredrik Sjolin, Eivind Ring- Revel Performa3 f206 (SL/SR). 2 SVS SB-3000 and 1 SVS SB-2000
stad, Peter Szilvay, and the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra (2L Pro subwoofers connected via JBL BassQ Room Mode Correction
2L-166-SABD). With Atmos, the soundstage expanded vertically Manager.
and horizontally. I heard a consistent, albeit small, advantage in in- Cables'LJLWDO$XGLR4XHVW&RࢆHH86%Mogami Gold
ner detail with the higher-resolution TruHD. More important than AES TD DB25–XLR snake. Analog interconnects: Benchmark
either of those differences is the contrast between Atmos’s “you Studio&Stage XLR–XLR, Kubala-Sosna Anticipation (RCA),
are there” presentation and the “they are here” presentation of the Cardas Cross (subwoofers). Speaker: Benchmark Studio&Stage,
discrete multichannel experience. Blue Jeans Canare 4S11. AC: SignalCable MagicPower 20A. DC
I had a similar response to the Atmos and DTS HD MA ver- umbilical for server: Revelation Audio Labs Passage CryoSilver
sions of Ole Bull – Stages of Life, with Annar Follesø, Wolfgang Reference.
Plagge, Eun Sun Kim, and the Norwegian Radio Orchestra (2L Accessories AudioQuest Niagara 5000, BrickWall 8RAUD, and
2L-159-SABD). Higher resolutions confer an advantage, but the CyberPower 850PFCLCD UPS power conditioners, Teddy Pardo
more-immersive Atmos has undeniable appeal. 12V PS (for exaSound s88), HDPlex 300W Linear Power Supply
(for server).
3OD\LQJORFDO$WPRVࢉOHVZLWKWKH+' Listening room 24' L × 14' W × 8' H, furnished with 2 MSR
As of now, Dolby does not offer an Atmos renderer as a consumer Acoustics Dimension4 SpringTraps in the front corners. Sidewalls
software product;12 thus, for now, the Arvus H2-4D is the simplest, ODWHUDOWR/5VSHDNHUVKDYHWKLFN
ZLGHࢊRRUWRFHLOLQJ2&
most direct way to play Atmos files. This is straightforward with 705 panels. Front wall has large windows partly covered by fabric
Macs, but for Windows users (including me) there’s a small compli- drapes and 4" thick 2' × 4' OC 705 panels.—Kalman Rubinson
cation: We must download the Dolby Access app13 from the Micro-
soft Store and install it. Once I did that, I was able to play the IAA
Sonic Brand & Dolby Atmos Channel Test in MP4 format,14 using immediacy of the performers was clear in both Atmos (via the Ar-
JRiver to confirm my speaker/channel layout. So far so good—but vus) and 5.1 24/352.8 FLAC (direct to DAC)15 versions. If there was
I did struggle getting JRiver to work with some files in MKV Video any difference at all, it was that the projected space was marginally
and other formats. Rather than delay this review, I switched from more generous in the former, while the higher-rez FLAC provided
JRiver to the VLC media player, which seems to play anything. a feeling of more delicate detail.
Now I was able to access the Spatial Audio Calibration Toolkit,
downloaded from spatialcd.com. The toolkit is invaluable for The bottom line
anyone setting up an Atmos system, providing a wide array of tests There are really two. First, with the hardware finally catching up
and calibrations for perceptual evaluation and measurement with with the software, Dolby Atmos is going to be a major factor in
a calibrated mike and Room EQ Wizard. Setting levels, timing, music going forward. I think it may succeed, finally, in pushing
polarity, and bass management can be a bear if you’re not using an multichannel reproduction into the mainstream. The 48kHz limi-
AVR or pre/pro, but the toolkit makes the process at least coherent. tation may be an issue for some, but a horsepower race may drive
I finally got to play some files, downloaded from the 2L and that up if Atmos becomes a media standard.
TRPTK websites. Recordings from both labels capture the ambi- Second, the Arvus H2-4D is the single piece of audio hardware
ence of the performance space, but they do it somewhat differently. that can deliver Atmos into a component audio system. Whether
Tuvayhun (2L 2L-171) is a delicate, moving, multimovement work auditioned through its digital outputs (via my Okto DAC8 Pro) or
by Kim André Arnesen for voices, solo instruments, and small its analog outputs (via its own, unspecified DAC hardware), the
orchestra, performed in the same Nidaros Cathedral as Arnesen’s results were excellent. True, it was not made specifically for the
much larger Magnificat. Playing the Atmos file through the Arvus, home, and users may have to wrestle a bit with system integra-
the cathedral’s vast space dominates our attention in what’s prob- tion, but their efforts will be rewarded. Adventurous audiophiles
ably an accurate representation of how this small ensemble really everywhere take note! Q
sounded in that space; it certainly was convincing. Switching to
11 Actually, the H2-4D is not supposed to play Auro-encoded material, but it does. However,
the 5.1 DTS MD MA (24/192) file, I felt a closer connection to the it displays it as DTS and the soundfield it generates seems quite different from the other
performers, probably as a result of the obvious reduction in ambi- formats. It is also different from what I hear with a real Auro-3D decoder on my other
ence, although the higher resolution may also be a factor. These system.

differences seem mostly attributable to the choices made by the 12 Dolby does include the Dolby Atmos Renderer in Mac and Win versions of its Dolby
Atmos Mastering Suite. The suite is offered under an annual license.
recording engineers (at TRPTK, Brendon Heinst, Antal van Nie, 13 The app says it is free for 14 days and, afterward, costs $14.99 only for headphone use.
and Hans Erblich; at 2L, Morten Lindberg). Continued use of it for file output is free indefinitely. After install, click “Skip” to get to
There was little to choose when making the same comparison “Products” and select Setup for “Dolby Atmos for Home Theater.”
14 Free download from immersiveaudioalbum.com/product/iaa-sonic-brand.
with B.ACH (TRPTK ttk0096). Featuring an instrumental group of
15 The H2-4D could play this file, but I could not get it to play it (or any PCM file) at more
seven musicians playing flutist Kersten McCall’s arrangements in than 48kHz from my WinPC. TRPTK also offers files in DXD 5.1.4 WAV, which will be ideal
the smaller Waalse Kerk (the Walloon Church) in Amsterdam, the once I figure out how to manage them.

stereophile.com Q May 2023 87

 E Q UIPMENT REP ORT

MICHAEL TREI

Jay’s Audio CDT3-MK3

CD TRANSPORT

T
hey say a jack of all trades is the mas- Why does a CD player need to Among the many who
ter of none. While this expression is decided to try is Jay Ho of Jay’s
typically used to describe people, it
include error correction if there Audio, who set out to create
also works for machines that play 5" aren’t any errors to correct? the ultimate player for the bil-
optical discs. lions of regular CDs out there.1
The Compact Disc was launched in 1982, but the four decades That quest has culminated in the CDT3-MK3. (I’ll simply call it the
since have seen an alphabet soup of similar-looking shiny discs in- CDT3 from here forward.)
cluding major formats like DVD, SACD, DVD-A, and Blu-ray Audio. Few subjects are guaranteed to raise the hackles of the measure-
As each new format arrived, hardware manufacturers scrambled ment-centric audio crowd quite as much as a discussion on the sonic
to keep up, developing machines that could play just about any qualities of CD transports. Okay, maybe high-performance audio
disc you could throw at them (or, rather, insert in them). The result cables is another, and also digital-audio servers—but digital audio is
was a bunch of “jack of all trades” disc spinners like the deservedly perfect, right? After all, they’ll tell us, bits are bits: It doesn’t matter
popular Oppos, which some boutique manufacturers then used as how fancy the machine spinning the disc is as long as all of those
a base unit to create their own multiple format players. bits make their way over to the D/A converter with the right values
But what if we gave up the notion of universal compatibility and (machine-readable as one or zero) and in the right order.
concentrated on building a player dedicated to squeezing the best But if there’s one thing we’ve learned over 40 years of improving
possible results from the very first, and by far the most common, CD playback, it’s that the format really isn’t perfect at all. To start
shiny 5" disc, the good old-fashioned “Red Book” Compact Disc?
Would we get better performance? 1 Just under 2.5 billion CDs were sold in the year 2000 alone, the year CD sales peaked.

SPECIFICATIONS
Description CD transport sup- tion: Direct, 16/44.1, 4× overs- Finish Silver or black. 408868.
porting CD, CD-R, CD-RW with ampled (24/176.4), switchable. Serial number of unit re- Tel: +65 8898 0911.
3.12” dimmable OLED display, Power requirements: 110–120V, viewed VS22110304, Manufac- Web: jays-audio.com.
front-panel push buttons and 220–230V, 50/60Hz, set at fac- tured in China. Global distributor:
remote control. Digital outputs: tory. Power consumption: 50W; Price $4998. Warranty: One Beatechnik, same address.
2 S/PDIF (RCA and BNC), AES3 1W standby. year, parts and labor. Approxi- Email: [email protected].
ALL PHOTOS: © BEATECHNIK

(XLR), 2 I2S (HDMI/LVDS and Dimensions 17.0" (430mm) mate number of US dealers: North American sales and
RJ45/LVCMOS). Reference clock W × 15.0" (380mm) D × 5.9" Sold direct. service center:
input and output 10MHz on (150mm) H. Weight: 48.5lb Manufacturer Jay’s Audio, TEK Audio Specialties.
75/50 ohm BNC. Output resolu- (22kg). 33 Ubi Ave. 3, Singapore Web: tekaudiospecialties.com.

stereophile.com Q May 2023 89

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with the most basic: Why does a CD player need to include error a CD are less tightly packed and must be read with a red laser. So
correction if there aren’t any errors to correct? Then there’s the a universal drive has several laser diodes in different colors that
importance of timing, a topic that has been discussed exhaustively the drive switches between as needed. Jay Ho believes that this
in these pages.2 compromises its performance.
Every digital disc transport has at its heart a drive mecha-
nism that spins the disc and reads its surface with a laser, but Building the beast
because building this component is beyond the capabilities of To create the best possible single-purpose CD transport, Ho turned
smaller high-end manufacturers, even the most high-end player to the last CD-only drives developed by Philips, co-inventors of the
starts with a drive made by another, larger company with more Compact Disc, specifically their top-of-the-line CD-Pro series first
resources. This approach is pretty common with cutting-edge launched in 1997. The CD-Pro2LF used in the CDT3—the very last
technology; it’s really not much different from building a $3.4 of that series—was built from 2005 until 2013. So any CD-Pro2LF
million Pagani Huayra supercar, which uses an engine made by drive around today was originally built at least a decade ago, with
Mercedes-Benz. Unfortunately, most of the disc mechanisms in no continuing support available from the original manufacturer.
current production are multiformat drives intended for comput-
2 Among the “perfect sound crowd,” the errors go deeper still. For example, there’s the fact
ers and/or designed to play a variety of disc types. They employ that the assumptions made in the field’s underlying theory are unphysical—that is, they
parallel systems to gain that level of versatility. For example, as cannot be satisfied in the real world—and that in processing, the original datastream is
often replaced with a completely new datastream, and that often the mathematical “kernel”
its name implies, a Blu-ray disc relies on a blue laser, which has a used in the D/A conversion is different from the one used in the A/D conversion … but I
very short wavelength, to read the tiny pits, whereas the data on digress.—Jim Austin

MEASUREMENTS
he most meaningful test of a CD Precision’s Digital I/O panel indicated

T
'XQQ-7HVWVLJQDOZLWKWKH-D\ȆVUHDUSDQHO
player or transport is of how well it switch set to a 44.1kHz output sample rate. that the expected 16 bits were active with
deals with disc errors. I examined With an ideal transmission system, all the 44.1kHz, all 24 bits in the AES3 stream were
WKH-D\ȆV$XGLR&'70.ȆVSHUIRU pulse transitions in the datastream overlay active when the data were upsampled to
mance with the Pierre Verany Digital Test CD, one another to produce an image of a 176.4kHz.
which has tracks with single or double gaps ZLGHRSHQȉH\HȊZLWKMXVWRQHWUDFHYLVLEOH 6HHVWHUHRSKLOHFRPFRQWHQWPHDVXUHPHQWVPDSV
in the data spiral. It successfully played Fig.1 was plotted over one “unit cycle” precision.
tracks with gaps up to 1mm in length, but from the AES3 output. The eye is superbly
when the gap was 1.5mm or longer, there wide open, with no blurring of the leading
were audible glitches. The Compact Disc or trailing edges; the pattern was equally
standard requires only that a player cope good from the transport’s coaxial S/PDIF
with gaps of up to 0.2mm. The Jay’s trans output. The average jitter level, assessed
port copes well with damaged CDs. with a 50Hz–100kHz bandwidth, was a low V
Next, I examined the amount of timing 389.2 picoseconds (ps).
XQFHUWDLQW\ȂMLWWHUȂLQWKH&'70.ȆV Fig.2 shows the eye pattern with the
AES3 output by looking at the datastream’s Jay’s transport set to output upsampled
“eye pattern.” I overlaid successive snap 176.4kHz data. There is still no blurring.
VKRWVRIWKH&'70.ȆV$(6RXWSXW The average jitter level with 176.4kHz data
taken over a 60s time window, with my Au ZDVSV5HSHDWLQJWKLVWHVWZLWK&' sec

dio Precision SYS27221 system’s digital os data representing a 1kHz tone at 0dBFS
Fig.1-D\ȆV$XGLR&'70.H\HSDWWHUQRI$(6GDWD
cilloscope function. The data, played back reduced the jitter with upsampled data RXWSXWFDUU\LQJELWN+]-7HVWGDWDQRXSVDP
IURPD&'5UHSUHVHQWHGWKHELW0LOOHU to 437.8ps. Interestingly, while the Audio pling (±2V vertical scale, 175ns horizontal scale).

stereophile.com Q May 2023 91

 HEARING, SEEING, IS BELIEVING!
tŝƚŶĞƐƐĞƐƚŚĞ<ŝƌŵƵƐƐƌĞĐŽƌĚŝŽŶŝnjĂƟŽŶƉƌŽĐĞƐƐĂƚyWKE͘
sŝƐŝƚŽŽƚŚϵϮϬϬ͘ƌŝŶŐƵƐĂƌĞĐŽƌĚĨƌŽŵŚŽŵĞĨŽƌƵƐƚŽƌĞƐƚŽƌĞ͊
The KA-RC-1 RESTORES, not just surface shines:
2 X LP, 1 X ´X 45 simultaneously in 18-25 minutes.
1.3 to 4 dB gain over floor based on record provenance.
RESTORED RECORDS repel water. Records come
out virtually dry as PVC repels water. No air or
vacuum or spin drying needed. Once restored,
ABOVE: /ŵĂŐĞŽĨĂĚƵƐƚƉĂƌƟĐůĞ only a 2 minute pass in the machine as needed.
How does your sonic fare?
ĨƵƐĞĚŝŶƚŚĞƌĞůĞĂƐĞĂŐĞŶƚĂƚƚŚĞ KA-RC-1 Ultrasonic Pressure AXPONA SHOW SPECIAL $994
ƉƌĞƐƐŝŶŐƉůĂŶƚĐĂƵƐŝŶŐƚŚĂƚĂŶŶŽLJͲ of 812 Cavins measured (US Model, with added accessories)
ŝŶŐ͞ƉŽƉ͘͟ between all records.


>Kt͗ZĞůĞĂƐĞĂŐĞŶƚǁŝƚŚĚƵƐƚ dyWKEϮϬϮϯ͗BOTH KIRMUSS AUDIO AND

ƉĂƌƟĐůĞƌĞŵŽǀĞĚ͕ĚĞƚĂŝůĂŶĚ AXPONA ARE PROUD TO BOTH SPONSOR
ďƌĞĂƚŚŽĨƚŚĞĂƌƟƐƚƌĞǀĞĂůĞĚ͘ CANADIAN JAZZ SINGER AND SONGWRITER
zŽƵƌŶĞĞĚůĞƉŝĐŬŝŶŐƵƉƚŚĞĚĞƚĂŝů
ŽĨƚŚĞƐƚĂŵƉĞƌŽŶĐĞŚŝĚĚĞŶ͊ EE/^^KE
APRIL ϭϰ—ϴPM
OPEN TO ALL. 

::: &20 - 

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Images © 2023 Kirmuss & Associates, LLC.
2D/3D Images taken with Keyence VHX-7000
Universally acclaimed! Dealers welcome!
Results guaranteed!
 -$<Ȇ6$8',2&'7৲0.৲

Ho says Jay’s Audio has stockpiled a substantial inventory of these

drives and is confident they have plenty on hand to cover potential
future service issues. Each CD-Pro2LF drive is thoroughly scru-
tinized and put through its paces before it goes into a transport,
and the company performs a number of unspecified tweaks and
upgrades in house. The CD-Pro2, with its heavyweight aluminum
construction, has a reputation for being one of the most rugged CD
drives ever made; most continue to operate after decades of use, so
drive failure shouldn’t be a major concern.
Selecting the drive mechanism was the starting point in Jay Ho’s
quest to build his ultimate CD transport. Next, he wanted to create
the ideal mechanical and electronic environment for that drive to
operate in, and here’s where he really took things to an obsessive
level. The first thing you notice when unpacking the CDT3 is its
weight: At nearly 50lb, it’s heavier than some pretty beefy power
amplifiers I’ve encountered. This is because the entire chassis is
built from machined aluminum slabs; you won’t find any flimsy
folded sheet steel here, with all of the CDT3’s working parts at-
tached to a central shelf that divides the internals into two halves.
With the top cover removed, you can see that the upper side of the
shelf has been milled out to split it into six recessed compartments.
These hold the digital output board, the clock board, and of course
the CD-Pro2LF drive itself, while three additional compartments To support the entire structure, three isolating legs pass
contain linear power supply circuits for each of those components. through the bottom cover of the chassis and are attached directly to
It all looks very impressive for something that only spins CDs and the center shelf. Each footer has a built-in Soundcare SuperSpike
doesn’t even including a D/A converter, but that’s only the start. isolator made by SEAS in Norway, and this helps to prevent vibra-
Flip the CDT3 upside down and remove its base plate, and you’ll tion from entering the transport through its base, minimizing the
find a massive primary power supply attached to the other side of influence of the supporting shelf on the CDT3’s performance.
the shelf, which delivers clean power to all of those smaller indi- With all of this chunky ultrasolid construction, it would be a
vidual circuits on the top side. This section has five encapsulated letdown if the CDT3 came with a cheap generic plastic remote
toroidal transformers with a combined capacity of 105VA and a sea control. Thankfully, the accessory follows the example set by the
of over 40 electrolytic capacitors totaling 150,000uF to smooth the transport itself. Weighing in at almost 11oz, the remote is machined
incoming power. from the same type of solid aluminum block as the CDT3 itself. Its

measurements, continued

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stereophile.com Q May 2023 93

-$<Ȇ6$8',2&'7৲0.৲

metal buttons are satisfying to press. The remote offers a number

of functions not found on the transport’s front panel, plus a few
unused buttons corresponding to features found on other Jay’s
Audio components. Due to international shipping regulations, the
two required AAA batteries were not provided, but they do pro-
vide a small screwdriver, which is needed to remove the remote’s
back panel to install batteries yourself.
Until a few months ago, Jay’s Audio products were distributed
worldwide by Alvin Chee at Vinshine Audio in Singapore, but
recently, Chee decided to dedicate Vinshine to handling only the
Denafrips brand while a new company, Beatechnik, handles Jay’s
Audio. Another recent change is the appointment of a US-based
representative, Tek Audio Specialties, to handle service and
ordering; new orders are shipped directly from Singapore, as
they always have been. I was told they plan to eventually have Tek
Audio handling inventory and shipping directly from the US, but
that change has not yet been made.

Hooking up
To plug the CDT3 into the rest of your system, the player’s back
panel provides a comprehensive set of digital output connec-
tions. From right to left there’s AES3 on a male XLR connector, S/
PDIF on BNC and RCA, and I2S on both RJ45 and HDMI. There are the signal to more than one component simultaneously.
no optical outputs. The HDMI I2S output does not conform to the Rounding out the CDT3’s back-panel features are an IEC power
HDMI standard, so you can’t use it to interface the CDT3 with an connector, a master power switch, and a pair of BNC connectors
AV receiver or processor. Instead, it follows the I2S connection that allow you to connect an external clock or use the CDT3’s own
protocol established by PS Audio and now used by several other oven-controlled crystal oscillator clock to command downstream
high-quality DAC manufacturers including Denafrips, Holo Audio, digital components. A little toggle switch tucked in next to the
Singxer, and of course Jay’s Audio. outputs lets you engage the CDT3’s 4× oversampling feature. More
Each of the CDT3’s digital outputs has its own Scientific Digital about that later.
decoupling transformer, which is filtered using a high-quality The CDT3’s front panel is an exercise in simplicity with just a
Mundorf capacitor. Such galvanic isolation means that all of the standby power switch, a clear OLED display screen, and a few basic
digital outputs can be (and are) active all the time, so you can send transport controls like play, pause, stop, and track skip. Additional

measurements, continued

ing digital-domain spectral analyses of the N+]RXWSXWࢉJUDQGRPQRLVHLVQRZ processors that are connected to the Jay’s
transport’s AES3 output while it played the SUHVHQWMXVWEHORZȁG%)65HPHPEHU &'70.EXWLWZLOOOLPLWWKHHࢆHFWLYH
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tween the harmonics. While the odd-order W\SLFDORIELW/6%OHYHOGLWKHU %RWKW\SHVRIRXWSXWRࢆHUORZMLWWHUDQG
harmonics of the low-frequency square- ,GRQȆWNQRZZKDWHࢆHFWWKLVGLWKHU ZHOOUHVROYHGH\HSDWWHUQVFRXSOHGZLWK
wave are still at the correct level with the will have on the performance of D/A excellent error correction.—John Atkinson
Instantaneous Level (D)

d d
B B
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S S

Hz Hz
Time (s)

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TXHQF\RIWUDFHN+]IUHTXHQF\UDQJHsN+] WUDFHN+]IUHTXHQF\UDQJHsN+]

94 May 2023 Q stereophile.com

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transport functions, like direct track access, fast forward and back,
repeat, random, and the display dimmer, can only be accessed ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT
from the remote. The CDT3 is a top-loading player, so there is no
mechanical drawer or disc loading slot. To play a disc, you slide Digital sources Audio Note CDT2, Oppo UDP205, CD transports,
back a thick aluminum cover, place the disc directly onto the drive Denafrips Terminator II DAC, Audio Note DAC3 Signature DAC.
spindle, then place the provided carbon-fiber disc clamp on top of Preamplification PrimaLuna DiaLogue Premium, Croft Vitale.
the CD spindle before sliding the cover forward to the closed posi- Power amplifier Audio Note P2-SE Signature, Belles 150A,
tion. For clear disc-loading access, allow at least 6" between the top Conrad-Johnson Classic Sixty.
of the CDT3 and anything above it. Integrated amplifier Pass Labs INT-150.
For this audition, I paired the CDT3 primarily with one of its Loudspeakers Quad ESL-57 electrostatic speakers with Gradi-
natural partners, the Denafrips Terminator II DAC.3 Denafrips ent SW-57 woofers, PSB Synchrony One loudspeakers, HSU
and Jay’s Audio are said to be completely independent companies, Research TN1220 subwoofers (2), SVS SB-2000 Pro subwoofer.
but they share a common worldwide distributor (Alvin Chee, op- Cables Interconnect: Cardas Neutral Reference, Cardas Golden
erating under different company names), and there’s clearly some Reference. Speaker: Cardas Neutral Reference.
common design DNA between the two brands. The CDT3/Termina- Accessories Shunyata Denali 6000/S, Shunyata Hydra V-Ray,
tor II pairing allowed me to connect the transport and DAC using ASC Tube Traps, Room Tune acoustic panels, Zoethecus Z4 rack,
I2S over HDMI and compare it to the more common AES3 connec- Sicomin platform, Target TT5T stands, Goldmund cones.
tion. I found that the differences were pretty small, but Jay’s Audio —Michael Trei
feels strongly that I2S over HDMI is the preferred connection, so I
mostly stuck with that. For comparison, I used the similarly priced
Audio Note CDT2 transport, which uses the same CD-Pro2LF disc in my opinion you’re going in the wrong direction. For example,
drive, and also my Oppo UDP205 universal player. nobody would put Julian Cope’s 1991 album Peggy Suicide (Island
CID9977) on a list of reference records, but the way it sounds can
What can it play? tell us a lot about a system. Starting with a CD transport like the
While the CDT3’s user manual claims compatibility only with stan- CDT3 helps you to hear around the recording and make a connec-
dard CD, CD-R, and CD-RW, I was curious to see if it could play the tion with the music making rather than the sound. On the song
other types of discs that are supposed to be playable on a regular “Promised Land,” the raw and unvarnished quality of Cope’s vocals
CD player. In addition to a few CD-Rs and CD-RWs I had burned sev- and guitar is easily heard, despite the sound being kind of com-
eral years ago on my Alesis Masterlink, I tried a handful of hybrid pressed and bright.
SACDs to see if reading the CD layer might cause difficulties, and I Peter Gabriel’s sixth album, Us, on the other hand, is a carefully
tried the CD side on a couple of DualDiscs. Because they are double thought-out recording. I still wouldn’t call it audiophile sound,
sided, DualDiscs are slightly thicker than standard CDs, which but it will certainly wake up your system. Played on the CDT3, the
can cause loading problems with some transports, but the CDT3 enhanced focus it delivers brings a sumptuousness and ease to the
handled them all without skipping a beat. In fact, the only time I sound that makes you want to keep listening instead of hitting the
did encounter skipping it was with a standard CD. When I stopped next-track button.
the player and inspected the disc closely, I found a big crack, which
ran from the spindle hole to about 0.25" into the data area. Even Conclusions
with that much damage, the CDT3 was able to read the disc’s table Distributor Alvin Chee says that the goal is to minimize costs by
of contents and play the later tracks without a problem.4 eliminating as many middlemen as possible, and because shipping
50lb CD transports around the world is expensive, Jay’s Audio
Listening doesn’t currently offer any kind of a return policy. It does come
Fifty years ago, Linn founder Ivor Tiefenbrun proclaimed that the with a one-year comprehensive warranty that covers you in the un-
source was the most important component in any system because likely case of product failure or shipping damage, but you’d better
once you screw things up there, it doesn’t matter how good the rest be pretty sure that this is what you want, because they don’t offer a
of your equipment is: It will never recover what was lost at the refund if you simply decide that it’s not the right product for you.
start. He was talking about analog—turntables—but I feel there is While that doesn’t leave the buyer with a lot of options, Jay’s Audio
still validity to that thinking with digital sources. explains that this is how they are able to keep the price as reason-
Asking someone to describe the sound of a CD transport feels a able as it is, and to be fair, going strictly by parts content and build
bit like asking a sommelier to describe the taste of a wine decanter, quality alone, the CDT3 is an undeniable bargain. Just an NOS CD-
but careful listening does reveal real, clear differences. When the Pro2LF drive on its own sells on the sharp side of $1000 these days.
digital stream is better, the sound gains focus and solidity; once It’s also true that both Jay’s Audio and Denafrips have been operat-
you’ve heard it, it’s impossible to ignore it. ing under this same policy for years, and the vast majority of their
Playing “Manhã do Carnaval” from The Three (East Wind 35JD- customers appear to be thrilled with their purchases. So maybe it’s
1), there was a clear improvement in resolution resulting in a just my baby boomer expectations that make me a little more wary
better defined and more spacious soundstage with the CDT3 over about committing to a big-ticket purchase from the other side of
the AN CDT2. Curiously, engaging the 4× upsampler enhanced this the world shipped sight unseen.
effect a bit more, while fleshing out the harmonic tonal color of The good news for you is that I have seen it, and heard it, and can
Ray Brown’s bass and Joe Sample’s piano. Normally I find enhance- report that the Jay’s Audio CDT3-MK3 is a truly exceptional way to
ments like digital upsamplers to be a mixed bag, often preferring play your CD collection. Q
the straight poop over the embellished product, but the Jay’s
upsampler seems to offer a genuine improvement. 3 See Herb Reichert’s coverage of the Denafrips Terminator Plus DAC at stereophile.com/
content/gramophone-dreams-60-denafrips-terminator-plus-denafrips-gaia-holoaudio-
In the past, I have described how I believe a system is better spring-3 and his treatment of the original Terminator DAC at stereophile.com/content/
judged by its ability to play poor recordings than good ones. If your gramophone-dreams-40-denafrips-terminator-ares-ii.
system is narrowing your music selections because it’s “too good,” 4 CDs are read from the inside out.

stereophile.com Q May 2023 97

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 A SECOND IMPRESSION

FOLLOW-UP BY JOHN ATKINSON

THIS ISSUE : Technical Editor John Atkinson listens to the

Mojo Mystique X SE DAC he measured last month.

MOJO MYSTIQUE X SE D/A PROCESSOR Mystique’s sound quality; the tonal balance
Herb Reichert reviewed the Mojo Mystique X SE very favorably in Stereophile’s April 2023 was warm, and there was nothing fatiguing
issue.1 While he found that the dCS Bartók DAC made piano recordings sound crisper and about the treble. But when I compared it
more dramatic, “sounding bigger, tighter, and more forceful through the piano’s left-hand with the more expensive MBL processor,
octaves” than they did through the Mystique X SE, “Mojo’s Mystique X SE … disappeared I found that female voices were projected
from my listening awareness more than any DAC I’d previously encountered.” He con- forward in the soundstage via the Mojo
cluded that this nonoversampling (NOS) D/A processor “produced a unique, sophisticated and were perhaps a touch coarse-sounding.
listening experience that presented digital recordings as beautiful, probing, and engaging.” This was noticeable with two sparsely
scored tracks that Roon Radio had selected,
In my measurements, I found that while USB output from my Nucleus+ to the Mojo Cassandra Wilson’s “No More Blues” (from
the Mojo processor offered low levels of via an AudioQuest JitterBug FMJ and an Another Country, 16/44.1 FLAC, eOne Mu-
harmonic and intermodulation distortion AudioQuest Coffee USB cable. (Roon rec- sic/Tidal) and Christy Baron’s “Will It Go
and good channel separation, those charac- ognized the Mystique as an ALSA device.) I ’Round In Circles?” (from Steppin’, 16/44.1
teristics were paired with relatively high used the Mojo’s balanced outputs, connect- FLAC, Chesky/Tidal).
levels of jitter-related artifacts through all ing them to a pair of Parasound Halo JC 1+ Similarly, the cello on Schubert’s Arpeg-
three digital inputs—AES3, coaxial S/PDIF, monoblock amplifiers via an NHT passive gione Sonata (16/44.1 ALAC file, ripped
and USB—and its resolution was limited to balanced volume control. Loudspeakers from The Wigmore Hall Recital, CD, DG
about 16 bits below 1kHz and 17 bits above were my usual KEF LS50s. 479 0965) sounded slightly more rosiny, a
about 4kHz. In addition, the vintage, 20-bit For reference, I used the Benchmark little more like a viola, than it had with the
Analog Devices AD1862 DACs the Mojo DAC3 B ($1799) I reviewed in the March MBL N31. However, the hall ambience sur-
uses demonstrated high linearity error at 2023 issue,2 this also connected to the Roon rounding the image of the piano was more
low levels, as a result of which a dithered server’s USB output, and the MBL N31 audible with the Mojo processing the bits
tone at –90dBFS was reproduced almost ($18,680 with Roon Ready module),3 which than I am used to with this recording.
10dB too high in level. I wondered whether was fed audio data over my network. The The Mystique’s upper bass sounded
this behavior correlated with something output levels of all three D/A processors warmer than the MBL’s upper bass: Rob
Herb wrote in his review: that the Mojo were matched to within 0.5dB with the Wasserman’s double bass on Jennifer
“made piano tones glow and whisper, how 1kHz, –20dBFS warble tone from Stereo- Warnes’s “Ballad of a Runaway Horse”
all the little quiet notes—ones I don’t usu- phile’s Editor’s Choice CD, using the NHT (16/44.1 FLAC, from Duets, Verve/Tidal)
ally hear—got through, letting me enjoy control for the Benchmark and Mojo DACs
1 The Mystique costs $9999 as reviewed. (The non-SE
their unique expressiveness and admire and Roon’s volume control for the MBL. version costs $7999.) Mojo Audio, 12941 Marva Pl. SE, Albu-
them individually.” I used the Mojo for a few days of casual querque, NM 87123. Tel: (949) 438-6656. Web: mojo-audio.
I concluded my measurements report by listening before starting my critical audi- com.
2 See stereophile.com/content/benchmark-dac3-hgc-da-
writing, “The Mystique X’s measured per- tioning in order to get comfortable with preamplifier-headphone-amplifier-benchmark-dac3-b.
formance was disappointing, though it is its presentation. I didn’t notice anything 3 See stereophile.com/content/mbl-noble-line-n31-cd-
probable that the problems I found will be immediately questionable about the player-dac.
least audible with 16/44.1 data. … Even so, I
feel the limited resolution, coupled with the
high positive linearity error at low levels,
is a matter for concern.”
Given the conflict between the audition-
ing comments and the measured behavior,
once Herb’s review had been prepared for
publication, Editor-in-Chief Jim Austin
proposed that I write a follow-up review.
“This DAC does raise the issue of measured
vs subjective performance quite acutely,”
he wrote, “so I’d be very interested in your
subjective observations in the light of
your measurements.” Initially I demurred,
concerned that my experience with the
measurements would influence my listen-
ing. But Jim argued that I should honestly
test my expectations against what I heard. I
therefore agreed to do a follow-up.
As Herb Reichert had exclusively used
the USB output of his Roon Nucleus+ server
as the source for his review, I connected the

stereophile.com Q May 2023 99

 FOLLOW-UP

lacked a little articulation as a result. But, whatever resolution or format music file on the Arpeggione Sonata recording didn’t
as with the Schubert recording, the rever- streamed or played from computer audio.” sound as rosiny when played back from CD.
berant decay on the double bass at the end Also, Mojo’s Benjamin Zwickel wrote in an The imaging with the CD played back with
of each verse was nicely audible. Paradoxi- email to Jim Austin, “My ‘less is more’ design 4× upsampling was holographic.
cally, though, the apparent enhancement allows you to fully appreciate the benefits Listening to the Molto Molto CD with
of recorded ambience didn’t lead to a great of more advanced clocking in your external the transport set to output a 44.1kHz
sense of soundstage depth. With the late digital source. This is why my current refer- datastream, there was a little less sense of
Lars Vogt performing the first Brahms ence is the Jay’s Audio CDT3-MK3 CD trans- air around the solo instruments, and the
Piano Concerto with the Royal Northern port set to 176.4kHz upsampling (it only cymbals seemed less precisely defined in
Sinfonia (24/48 FLAC, Ondine/Qobuz), the reads 16/44.1 discs), with its advanced OCXO space at the CD’s native sample rate. I re-
image of the orchestra seemed to be almost clock reputed to have residual jitter of <1ps peated the auditioning with the Jay’s Audio
in the same plane as that of the piano. And (undetectable by most test equipment).” transport into the Benchmark DAC3 B and
at climaxes, when piano and orchestra were As coincidence would have it, I had the noted the same difference between the two
playing together, the presentation started Jay’s Audio CD transport ($4998) in house sample rates.
to sound a touch congested. to examine its measured performance; see Intrigued by the improved sound qual-
This was also the case with the 24/96 Michael Trei’s review on p.89 of this issue. ity I noted with the Jay’s Audio transport,
master files for Sasha Matson’s new album I connected the Jay’s AES3 output, set to I examined the effect of datastream jitter
Molto Molto (Stereophile STPH023-2). Con- upsample CD data to 176.4kHz, to the Mys- on the Mystique’s analog outputs using my
gestion set in on climaxes, like that at the tique and played the Sasha Matson Molto Audio Precision SYS2722 system.4 I wrote
end of the third movement of Symphony Molto CD. Without adjusting the volume, an article for Stereophile in 2009 on how
3. Again, soundstage depth was restricted there was an immediately audible improve- I measure the effects of jitter.5 I feed the
even though the reverb on the piano was a ment compared with the 24/96 data fed to device being tested undithered J-Test data,
little more noticeable than I usually hear. the Mojo’s USB input. The congestion at 4 See stereophile.com/content/measurements-maps-
Comparing the Mojo Mystique with the orchestral climaxes I noticed with the USB precision.
less-expensive Benchmark DAC3 B, both data was noticeably absent, and the cello 5 See stereophile.com/content/case-jitters.
fed USB data, the Benchmark had a better
sense of drive and low-frequency impact
as well as excellent clarity and transpar-
ency. The close-balanced piano on David
Chesky’s The Great European Songbook
(DSD64, played natively with the Bench- d d
B B
mark, transcoded by Roon to 24/176.4 PCM r r
with the Mojo, The Audiophile Society) A A
sounded more uneven with the Mystique,
with some notes jumping forward a little
more than they did with the Benchmark
and Billy Drummond’s cymbals positioned
closer behind the piano. But the double Hz Hz
bass had better upper-bass weight with
the Mojo, providing a solid foundation for Fig.1 Benchmark DAC3 HGC, high-resolution jitter Fig.2 Mojo Mystique X, high-resolution jitter
David Chesky’s improvisations. spectrum of analog output signal, 11.025kHz at spectrum of analog output signal, 11.025kHz at
–6dBFS, sampled at 44.1kHz with LSB toggled at –6dBFS, sampled at 44.1kHz with LSB toggled at
The DAC3 B’s low-frequency balance was 229.6875Hz: 16-bit USB data (left channel blue, 229.6875Hz: 16-bit USB data (left channel blue,
lighter than that of the Mystique, making right red). Center frequency of trace, 11.025kHz; right red). Center frequency of trace, 11.025kHz;
me wish I was still using the Dirac low-fre- frequency range, ±3.5kHz. frequency range, ±3.5kHz.
quency EQ I had used with the LS50s for my
review of the NAD C 3050 SE in the April is-
sue. I didn’t feel I needed to boost the KEFs’
lows with the Mojo DAC. However, the
occasional sense of congestion that I heard
d d
on orchestral climaxes with the Mystique
B B
was absent with the DAC3 B. r r
Overall, with USB data, the Mojo proces- A A

sor did better with simple mixes—female

voice and backing, for example—or solo
piano than it did with complex orchestral
recordings. It stepped out of the way most
successfully with solo piano, such as Lars Hz Hz

Vogt’s performance of the Op.10 Ballades

on the Brahms concerto album. Fig.3 Mojo Mystique X, high-resolution jitter Fig.4 Mojo Mystique X, high-resolution jitter
spectrum of analog output signal, 11.025kHz at spectrum of analog output signal, 11.025kHz at
The Mystique’s manual says that “16-bit –6dBFS, sampled at 44.1kHz with LSB toggled at –6dBFS, sampled at 44.1kHz with LSB toggled at
44.1kHz music files played from a high- 229.6875Hz: 16-bit AES3 data from Jay’s Audio 229.6875Hz: 16-bit AES3 data from Jay’s Audio
performance CD transport will have better CDT3-MK3 upsampled to 176.4kHz (left chan- CDT3-MK3 (left channel blue, right red). Center
nel blue, right red). Center frequency of trace, frequency of trace, 11.025kHz; frequency range,
time, tune, tone, timbre, and harmonic 11.025kHz; frequency range, ±3.5kHz. ±3.5kHz.
coherency than any MQA, SACD, DSD, or

stereophile.com Q May 2023 101

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 FOLLOW-UP

which represents a high-level tone with a outputs, which performed slightly better better with upsampled AES3 data than it
frequency equivalent to one-quarter the with the J-Test signal than the single-ended does with USB data.
sample rate, over which is superimposed outputs, which I had used for fig.11 in the
an LSB-level squarewave with a frequency original review’s measurements.) The Summing up
of the sample rate divided by 192. This odd-order harmonics of the undithered Its pleasantly warm tonal balance notwith-
signal was developed by the late Julian low-frequency, LSB-level squarewave all standing, overall I was disappointed with
Dunn of PrismSound and Paul Miller,6 and lie higher than the correct levels, and the the sound quality of the Mystique X SE
because both test signals are exact even- level of random noise is higher than in fig.1, when it was used with USB data played with
integer fractions of the sample rate, there particularly in the left channel (blue trace). Roon, which HR used for his very positive
is no quantizing noise or distortion. Any Feeding 16-bit J-Test data from the Jay’s review. But my auditioning confirmed the
spuriae that appear in the decoded analog Audio CDT3-MK3, upsampled to 24/176.4, recommendation from Mojo’s Benjamin
noisefloor are due to the behavior of the to the Mystique X’s AES3 input gave the Zwickel: that CDs are best played with the
device under test. spectrum shown in fig.3. While the level of Jay’s Audio CDT3-MK3 CD transport set
Although the J-Test is not diagnostic random noise in the left channel is mostly to 176.4kHz upsampling. This extracted
for USB data, where the clock is not identical to that with USB data, the right the best sound from the Mystique and the
embedded in the datastream, I still find channel’s spectrum is significantly cleaner, most optimal measurements. But at $14,997
it useful. Fig.1 shows the spectrum of a and in both channels the harmonics of the for the pair, this is a high price to pay for
D/A processor that does well on this test low-frequency squarewave are very close good CD sound, particularly as the Rotel
when fed 16-bit, 44.1kHz J-Test data via to the correct levels. Repeating this analysis DT-6000 CD player, which offers state-of-
USB. The spectral spike that represents without upsampling gave an interesting the-art measurements from CDs, and which
the high-level tone is cleanly defined, the result (fig.4), revealing that the Jay’s Audio HR enthusiastically recommended in his
odd-order harmonics of the undithered transport dithers its digital output at the March 2023 Gramophone Dreams column,8
low-frequency, LSB-level squarewave all LSB level with this setting.7 There are now costs $2300. Q
lie at the correct levels, these indicated by equal levels of random noise in both chan-
the sloping green line, and the noisefloor nels, these levels equivalent to 15 bits of 6 In addition to being editor of Hi-Fi News and Stereophile’s
editorial director, Miller is a designer of measurement
between the harmonics is extremely low resolution, and the squarewave’s harmon- equipment and the founder of Miller Audio Research; see
in level. ics are almost all masked by this noise. milleraudioresearch.com/index.html.
By contrast, fig.2 shows the spectrum of It is impossible to directly correlate these 7 See the measurements report on the Jay’s Audio trans-
port, p.91
the Mystique X’s output when its USB input spectra with sound quality, but they do con-
8 See stereophile.com/content/gramophone-dreams-
was fed the same J-Test data. (This test firm that other than the linearity error, the 69-trance-dancing-maxwell-street-rotel-dt-6000-dac-
was performed with the Mojo’s balanced Mojo Mystique X performs significantly transport.
 “You´re In Control!”

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 EW PEOPLE MAKE ALBUMS ABOUT
isolation and loneliness sound as appeal-
ing as John Doe does. That’s what Doe
has achieved with his latest solo release,
Fables in a Foreign Land (LP, Fat Possum FP
18001). Set as a song cycle in the 1890s, the
album’s 13 songs reflect Doe’s penchant
for dust-and-diesel storytelling, within an
acoustic-trio format. It’s “telling stories
and playing music around the modern
campfire,” Doe said in an interview.
Doe’s mining of what some call the “dark
folk” vein during the latter portion of his
solo career hearkens back to his roots in
X, the Los Angeles–bred iconoclast punk
band he co-founded in 1977. Though X
FABLES OF THE could be raw and confrontational, the
POST-RECONSTRUCTION band had killer vocal harmonies and a
BY MIKE METTLER rockabilly-tinged sonic edge. X caught the
eye and ear of Ray Manzarek, cofounding
keyboardist of the Doors and long-established LA rock royalty, who produced the
band’s first four albums,1 providing some recording lessons in the process.
“What Ray brought to us was validation,” Doe reflected, as we chatted before
our recent interview. “He was a bona fide rock star with one of the coolest bands I
thought ever was, especially as a teenager. He also taught us what’s most impor-
tant in a recording: a good performance! If you don’t have a good performance,
even if you add all kinds of bells and whistles, it’s still gonna sound bad. It’s not
PHOTO BY TODD V. WOLFSON

gonna sound convincing, because you’re really just making a record of what you
did in the moment.”
What Doe has been doing for nearly six decades of recording has been, in
essence, to extrapolate the title of a 1986 documentary about the band: to take un-
1 Los Angeles (LP, Slash SR-104), Wild Gift (LP, Slash SR-107), Under the Big Black Sun (LP, Elektra 60150), and More
Fun in the New World (LP, Elektra 60283-1).

stereophile.com Q May 2023 105

 JOHN DOE

other. There were no headphones. There

were just a bunch of mikes and a ton of
bleeds, so we had to play. And we had to
play really, really good.
God bless all those classic rock records,
but thank goodness we’re many years away
from Steely Dan. There’s just not a hair
out of place on those records. You wind
up thinking, “What the hell? Where’s the
juice? Where’s the messiness?” So, it was
pretty rewarding to just record and know
that this is the way it’s gonna be.
METTLER: I see your working with Fat
Possum as a seal of approval from an artist
who’s been on major labels in the past but
can now feel more invested in—not as a
numbers act or a sales generator, but as a
real, creative person.
DOE: Yeah, well, I haven’t had that double-
edged-sword label choice to make in some
time, and God, am I relieved.
METTLER: Fat Possum also brought the
first four X albums under their wing, in 2019,
for reissue.
DOE: Yes. We got back all those masters for
the first four records, and in April 2020,
they also put out the newest X record,
heard music and make it be heard. When I R. L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough— Alphabetland, because—well, because we
suggested that, Doe answered, “I’ll take that that’s my kind of company.5 Can you imag- could! We had finished it, and we were
compliment, but that title was probably ine saying, “Here’s my business plan. I’m thinking about putting it out in September,
inspired by T. S. Eliot.” gonna base it on two guys who are in their but they said, “Screw it! Let’s just put it out
Doe is correct: The title of that docu- 50s and 60s that nobody knows—but they’re now. We’ve got a captive audience. Every-
mentary, The Unheard Music,2 comes from amazing”? [Laughs] It’s like, “Yeah, that’s one’s at home. Everyone’s wishing they had
Eliot’s Four Quartets.3 A passage from “The cool.” It just means you’re going with your something to do.” I thought that was really
Dry Salvages,” part of Quartet No.3, ends heart and your intuition, not some logical, cool of them.
with “music heard so deeply / That it is not thought-up, premeditated nonsense. METTLER: When you’re listening to a mix
heard at all, but you are the music / While METTLER: I read that you and your fellow with your producer and engineer, do you
the music lasts.” Under his own name and members in the John Doe Folk Trio recorded have a picture in mind of what needs to be
under the rubric of the still-vibrant X, Doe Fables in a Foreign Land live in the studio captured?
is making music to last a lifetime at least. in Austin, Texas, with all of you in the same DOE: I rely on Dave Way to know that. We
In our interview, Doe explained his use, room working face to face. Is that correct? tried a bunch of different things, and then
in Fables, of an acoustic-trio format, the DOE: Yes. It was all done at Public Hi-Fi, I said, “Yeah, that’s the one,” and we went
relationship between vocalists and micro- the studio built and run by Jim Eno, the with that.
phones, and a change to the wording in the drummer from Spoon. It was COVID time, METTLER: Can you give me a sense of the
X classic “Los Angeles.” The interview has nobody was touring, and we had a year proximity of the three of you in that room?
been edited for clarity and concision. and a half to figure out how we wanted it to How far apart were you? How was the album
MIKE METTLER: Tell me how you work sound. recorded?
with your label, Fat Possum, to get what you When it came time to record, I asked DOE: Oh, it was maybe 10 to 12 feet. We did
want on vinyl. Steve Berlin of Los Lobos if he would be
2 The 1986 documentary was directed by W. T. Morgan.
JOHN DOE: Oh, let’s see. They do a specific part of it, and he said yes. Then I asked my
3 T. S. Eliot’s Four Quartets was published individually
master for vinyl, which is critical. They friend Dave Way, whom I’ve worked with between 1936 and 1942, and subsequently made available in
also have a good history with both Steve many, many times, and he said yes, too. book form in 1943.
Berlin and Dave Way.4 I trusted them, and it We all set up in there: Me [vocals and 4 Berlin, Way, and Doe are the album’s co-producers; Way
also recorded and mixed it.
turned out great. When I got the reference acoustic guitar], Kevin Smith [upright
5 Fat Possum Records was founded in 1991. Blues artists R.
disc, it was good to go. and electric bass], and Conrad Choucroun L. Burnside (1926–2005) and Junior Kimbrough (1930–1998)
Fat Possum built their business plan on [drums and percussion], all looking at each were among the label’s most prominent early signings.
PHOTO BY AUTUMN DE WILDE

stereophile.com Q May 2023 107

 JOHN DOE

put up one baffle, between Conrad’s drums DJ Bonebrake, Billy Zoom,

front of it. Maybe
and me. The one thing we did do is, we’d re- Exene Cervenka, and it was positioned
cord it on tape, dump it down to Pro Tools, John Doe of X. that way for the
and then we would cut between takes. Like, visual framing.
if there was a one- or two-measure section When you’re actually singing into a mike, are
where there was a bum note, we’d cut it. I’ve you “right up on it”?
been told they did that on jazz records like DOE: Oh, it totally depends on the mike.
those done by Rudy Van Gelder. Conrad has With recording mikes, you have to be a
great time, so all the takes were about the good 6" away from them. But with most
same speed, and we could do that kind of traditional live mikes, you’re right up on
editing with the sound. them and touching the windscreen.
METTLER: I’ve watched the video clips you METTLER: Johnny Mathis once told me he
shot for three of the songs on Fables; they had a specific distance for any microphone in
are in black and white. There are some color any studio. He wouldn’t do it any other way.
sequences in “El Romance-O,” but you are DOE: Ah, and just think of what he was go-
living in black and white there. ing for, with that most magical voice—ever!
DOE: That’s true. I’m super-grateful that Anyway, that was a big factor in our choice
Gilbert Trejo, who’s done a bunch of other of going with Public Hi-Fi as the studio.
videos, was willing to work on that. We just They’re very technical, but they still have
loosely talked about having some sort of a that “raw” sound and great mikes and out-
story between a mentor and an apprentice, board gear. I leave it to the professionals,
where the apprentice becomes the mentor but I still know the difference.
and the mentor just sort of fades away. METTLER: The sequencing on Fables is key
That’s what happens to people who are un- to telling the story. By the time we get to
reliable. Liars. That’s what mentiroso means “Sweetheart,” you feel like it’s in the right
in Spanish: a liar. place—it couldn’t have been, say, track 2; it
METTLER: In the “Never Coming Back” vid- had to be track 12.
eo, you’re standing in front of a cool-looking DOE: I let Steve Berlin do the Fables
microphone. Was it just used in the video, or sequence. He said, “Can I have a shot at it?”
was it used during the recording sessions? And I said, “Sure, go for it.” We all agreed it
DOE: I didn’t use that one in the recording, was a good sequence. I think we made only
but I use it live. It’s from a new company one or two changes. We left “Sweetheart”
called Ear Trumpet Labs. They make mi- off the vinyl, so don’t be too disappointed.
crophones designed for bluegrass groups We did that because the sides were a little
and more acoustic settings, but you can uneven, and we didn’t want that.
get right up on it, and it works. It’s got a METTLER: Well, you can put “Sweetheart”
PHOTO BY KRISTY BENJAMIN

big diaphragm, so it’s got a little bit more out as a Record Store Day 45, or something.
oomph. I’ve used it live several times, and DOE: There you go. Absolutely.
it’s a really great mike. METTLER: Was the opening track, “Never
METTLER: In the video, it appears halfway Coming Back,” recorded first?
down your chest when you’re standing in DOE: I had written maybe two or three

stereophile.com Q May 2023

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 JOHN DOE

other songs before that. Once we The John Doe Folk Trio, do, D.J.?”7 They
worked up “Never Coming Back,” I clockwise from left: Kevin Smith came with more
thought, “Oh, well, this can open the (string bass), Conrad Choucroun confidence and
(drums), John Doe.
record.” It was sort of a defining mo- more experience,
ment. I had that happen before with and I just let go of
6
a Knitters record and even an X record. my ego, and it was really productive and re-
When I started working on “Alphabetland,” warding. Everyone was invested. Everyone
the first, title song of the 2020 X record, was bringing something to the table.
I thought, “oh, this has got substance. It’s It was like that, too, working with Louie
weird. There’s something about it that’s Pérez, of Los Lobos, and with Terry. And
different.” when Shirley Manson says,8 “Hey, let’s write
METTLER: Where did the name Alphabet- a murder ballad,” it’s like, “Fuck yeah—I’ll
land come from? write a murder ballad with you!” That was
DOE: That came from guitarist Billy Zoom. “Destroying Angels.” And then Exene added
Exene Cervenka and I were calling it a bunch of lyrics to the chorus.
something like Oh Mercury, a phrase from METTLER: It’s such a great, collaborative
the song, but Billy just kept going, “there’s piece of work. So you got some help from
something about the alphabet,” you know, Louie Pérez with the Spanish lines in “El
“alphabet mine,” “alphabet wrecked,” that Romance-O.”
sort of thing. [Those phrases are also in DOE: Oh yeah. That name, “El Romance-O,”
the lyrics.] There’s a kid’s game called came to me in a dream, and I thought, “Who
Alphabetland, and Billy kept referring to is this character?” Since the name is kind of
the song as “Alphabetland,” so we just threw Spanglish, I thought maybe it should have a
our hands up and said, “Okay, fine.” And verse in Spanish. Louie is an old friend and
then we realized, “Oh, this is a great title!” an obvious choice for something like that.
After that, we got artist Wayne White to do
6 The Knitters is an X side-project band featuring Doe,
PHOTO BY TODD V. WOLFSON

artwork for it. It was really wonderful. Exene Cervenka, D. J. Bonebrake, Dave Alvin, and Jonny
METTLER: Describe your songwriting pro- Ray Bartel. Alvin was the subject of a feature story in
cess and the collaboration. Stereophile’s February 2023 issue; see stereophile.com/
content/dave-alvin.
DOE: If I thought some chord changes 7 D. J. Bonebrake, X’s drummer.
weren’t working, I’d just open up and ask, 8 “Terry” is veteran outlaw country singer-songwriter
“What do we do, Billy?” or “What do we Terry Allen. Manson is the lead vocalist for Garbage.

stereophile.com Q May 2023

 JOHN DOE

hard time as well. Why not go, “Okay, cool.

Let’s work together”? But it doesn’t seem to
be the case.
METTLER: The very last song, “Where the
Songbirds Live,” is an optimistic end to the
record. It’s about redemption. You give us a
little bit of hope there at the end.
DOE: Yes. I felt like the narrator travels
from somewhere in the south across the
country and maybe ends up looking at a
lake or the Pacific Ocean and thinks, “Well,
this is a little bit safer and gentler; maybe
METTLER: Getting back to the Fables I can stay here.” That was influenced by
album: In the song “Missouri,” your articula- the song “The Big Rock Candy Mountains,”
tion of the word “go” in the phrase “let me which I’ve covered.10 It’s a little bit of a
go” changes slightly each time. I feel like wish. Musically, it is a little bit of an outlier.
those subtleties are the kinds of things that When Kevin and Conrad came up with that
take the listener deeper into the story. drum/bass thing, I immediately thought
DOE: Ah, that’s the goal. That’s the hope. of Ennio Morricone and what he did for
Also, having Carrie Rodriguez hold that one Sergio Leone movies—you know, the
note, on violin, is … . Yeah, she’s awesome. marching kind of drum pattern and that
METTLER: I’ve been listening to those four really melodic bass. See, another advantage
X reissues from Fat Possum on vinyl, and I’m of having just a trio is that the bass and
struck by how a song like “Nausea,” from Los drums are much more melodic. They have
Angeles, comes across differently in today’s the room to do that.
context. METTLER: What do you want listeners to
DOE: Well, in 1980, Los Angeles was re- get out of your music?
ceived by a very small number of people. DOE: I want them to experience a good
But now it continues to be exposed to other story, poetically told, that makes them feel
audiences, and so—God, we won the lot- something or see something they didn’t
tery! It’s like putting $100 into a T-bill and think they could, something surprising. If
40 years later, you’re still reaping rewards. there’s anything I hope for us—and that’s
We’re incredibly grateful for that. kind of the basis of this Fables record—it’s,
METTLER: The lyrics of the title track, “Los I’m gonna make a little world for you, and
Angeles,” had to be adapted a little to mod- I hope you like it enough to get in there
ern sensibilities. But its subject matter is as and walk around, see what it feels like, see
relevant today as it was back then. some things and smell some things. And
DOE: Yes. Using the N-word at that time is then you come back and go, “Oh wow, that
the same as it is right now. I’m not gonna was a trip. That was beautiful,” or “that
be an egotistical artist and say, “Well, that’s was terrifying.” Whatever it was, you went
the way it was written,” because we just somewhere.
changed it. Now, the song’s narrator is Even with Los Angeles, on the song and
saying “Christian and Jew” rather than “N- on the record, we told stories. They’re
word and Jew” in it.9 The point of it was to people, they’re places, they’re things. I’ve
hold a mirror up to people and say, there’s always been drawn to cinematic songs and
rampant racism, and when you get into the cinematic telling of stories. It could
crisis and you’re pushed to the limits of be “Gentle on My Mind,” or it could be
your will and your patience, you’re gonna something outrageous like “Ballad of a
see things in black and white. You’re gonna Thin Man” or “Apartment No. 9” by Tammy
lash out. Your worst traits are gonna be Wynette.11 In all those songs, you’re seeing
amplified. And that’s obviously still true. something, and you’re feeling something.
METTLER: The line in “Guilty Bystander” It’s like, “Oh wow, I just went someplace for
that hits me the most is “Open your eyes and three minutes.” Q
save someone else.”
DOE: It’s not savior mentality; it’s don’t be 9 The full line in “Los Angeles” Doe is referring to is now
selfish and have some fucking empathy, “She hates every Christian and Jew.”
you know? It’s sad to me that people have 10 “The Big Rock Candy Mountains” is a country/folk
standard first recorded by Harry McClintock in 1928. It has
responded to the last couple of years with since been covered by Pete Seeger, Roger Whittaker, Tom
fear and anger, though I do understand Waits, and Lisa Loeb, among others.
PHOTO BY BARY LEONARD

it—I do. Once you’ve seen the chaos, it 11 “Gentle on My Mind” was written by John Hartford and
released on his 1967 album Earthwords & Music, and it
makes you afraid. One would think you has been covered by Glen Campbell, Frank Sinatra, Elvis
might have some empathy, because you’ve Presley, and Aretha Franklin. Bob Dylan’s “Ballad of a Thin
Man” first appeared on 1965’s Highway 61 Revisited. Tammy
gone through a hard time and, oh gee, Wynette’s signature version of Bobby Austin’s “Apartment
maybe the other person has gone through a No. 9” was released as a single in October 1966.

stereophile.com Q May 2023

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 THERE’S ONLY TWO KINDS OF MUSIC: THE BLUES AND ZIPPETY DOO-DAH.—TOWNES VAN ZANDT

AURAL BY ROBERT BAIRD

ROBERT
THIS ISSUE: Burt Bacharach’s
music may seem dated now,
but it is timeless.

Bob Meets Burt

B
ack in 2003, in an uptown New York City studio, a man who epitomized cool in Love” is a brilliant touch. Arranging is also
the 1960s waited patiently for my next question. Well into his 70s but still thin at the center of the all-instrumental easy
and handsome, Burt Bacharach was casually dapper in his contrasting sweater listening albums he made under his own
and polo shirt. In town to perform with Ronald Isley in support of their new name, such as 1967’s Burt Bacharach: Reach
record together, Here I Am - Isley Meets Bacharach, the songwriter extraordinaire is warm Out. His arrangements became the tem-
and approachable, wary but unusually guileless when answering the questions of a life- plate for ’60s seduction music, rechristened
long fan of his melodies, a fan who’s trying hard to be professional and hide the fact that “bachelor pad music” in the early aughts.
he’s utterly starstruck. Detractors, and they continue to be a
passionate minority, are
As rhythm has become predominant lin, Jackie DeShannon, repelled by the elegant
in pop music and melody has receded in and Dionne Warwick all surfaces, cheesy lyr-
importance, Bacharach and lyricist Hal Da- had hits with Bacharach/ ics, and string-soaked
vid’s brand of sleek, memorable tune craft David numbers. Given arrangements that, ac-
has slipped into history. Yet despite Bacha- how definitive many of cording to them, conceal
rach’s death in February 2023, at age 94, the versions with female vacuity and a $$$-fo-
their body of work is timeless. While they vocalists are, I have cused insincerity. The
knew how to gush in tunes like “This Guy’s always suspected that directness and immedi-
in Love with You” and “Raindrops Keep Bacharach wrote many acy of singer/songwrit-
Fallin’ on My Head,” among others, they of his most emotional ers like Dylan made his
were at their best writing anti-love themes, songs to be sung from music seem overly man-
such as “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again” and a female viewpoint. nered and frivolous. Too
“Are You There (With Another Girl).” Even Warwick’s career is so cloying, crafty, or old
better are the sweet’n’sour hybrids where intimately entwined school for later genera-
heartbreak and hope mix—tunes like “A with Bacharach/David tions of music fans, who
House Is Not a Home” and “Make It Easy on productions that her feathery and nimble worshipped electric guitars, Bacharach’s
Yourself.” David’s lyrics, often a forgotten voice is what many fans think of when they music—like the output of The Beatles, who
part of their collaborative artistry, were ace think of Bacharach’s music. Her album became his contemporaries—exists in its
at detailing the downsides of love, whether Dionne Warwick’s Golden Hits – Part One, own inimitable universe no matter who
contracting pneumonia from a kiss or how from 1967, collects many of those hits. interprets it. The Beatles covered Burt’s
chairs do not make a home. While the gush- Warwick is also a key part of the most “Baby It’s You” in 1963; in the US, the song
ing could sometimes become embarrassing, comprehensive collection of Bacharach’s appeared on Introducing…The Beatles.
as in “What the World Needs Now Is Love,” music, The Look of Love: The Burt Bacharach The genius spark of writing singular
and the heartbreak could be maudlin, as in Collection, a three-CD set Rhino Records melodies left him later in life than most.
“A Lifetime of Loneliness,” their best work released in 1998. Following 20 years of silence, during which
acknowledged love’s endless power for Bacharach and David challenged great many thought his career was over, Bacha-
both redemption and ruin. singers to emote, to reach higher, to go rach united with Elvis Costello for 1998’s
At one point during our afternoon places they’d never been before. Many of Painted From Memory, a cowriting project
together, this New York–native-become– their creations have become standards. that produced “God Give Me Strength,” a
Los Angelino—because where else can you “Alfie,” initially a hit for both Cilla Black hit from the soundtrack of the film Grace of
play tennis all year round?—quietly told and Cher, has since been recorded by My Heart.
me with a smile that as much as he desired artists as diverse as Rahsaan Roland Kirk, The urge to supervise recordings of his
it and as hard as he tried, he’s no singer Barbra Streisand, and Bob Welch. Although music never left him. He shepherded the
himself. Yet Bacharach’s connection with he wrote songs for singers to interpret in aforementioned Isley project, which turned
singers was primal. He made them look their own way, Bacharach always preferred out as haunting and effective as his ’60s col-
good, and their instruments breathed life to perform with singers, conducting and laborations with Warwick. In recent years,
into his vision. This one-time accompa- shaping live and recorded performances Dutch singer Trijntje Oosterhuis has made
nist to Vic Damone and Marlene Dietrich from the piano bench. His songwriting was a trio of studio albums and a live album of
became expert at writing for voices, but he nearly equaled by his prowess as an ar- Bacharach’s music, all sung in English, with
never made it easy for them. Uncontrolled ranger. His distinct style was cinematic and the Metropole Orchestra, the composer on
vibrato or stumbling through the tricky rooted in strings and chic use of trumpets piano, Vince Mendoza conducting, and Al
twists and turns spelled instant failure in and French horns. No arranger has ever Schmitt as mix engineer. They all get to the
a Bacharach song. But for singers with the used a trumpet in pop music with more heart of his music. And heart, in the end,
chops to handle it, his songs were career flair than he does in “Walk On By.” The is what Bacharach’s music should be most
makers. Dusty Springfield, Aretha Frank- Bossa Nova–lite rhythm to “The Look of remembered for. Q

stereophile.com Q May 2023 115

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 A DEEP DIVE INTO OVERLOOKED AND UNDERAPPRECIATED MUSIC

RABBIT HOLES BY ANNE E. JOHNSON

THIS ISSUE: An 11-disc set holds
more banter than music—and
that is why it’s so rewarding.

Glenn Gould’s Goldberg Variations from 1981

I
n 1955, Canadian pianist Glenn Gould surprised executives at Columbia Masterworks reels. Russ and Kistner used the analog
by choosing J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations for his debut recording. His performance sources almost exclusively for this trans-
was fast and fluid and sparkling and delicious, and it was an astonishingly big seller. fer, capturing them digitally at 24/96.
In 1981, Gould came full circle and recorded the Goldbergs again. It was his last studio The book is an audiophile candy store.
recording. That second attempt could not be more different from the first: relentlessly Each CD label looks like the Ampex reel-
intellectual, percussive, insistent. to-reel from a session, scrawled with a
job number and date.
Outtakes from the 1955 sessions were 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle There’s an array of
released by Sony in 2018. Late last year, by making 10,000 pieces recording ledgers,
to honor what would have been Gould’s and discarding 90 per- cards kept by Colum-
90th birthday, Sony put out a package cent. Only then can they bia to verify daily
with a full-color coffee table book and assemble the puzzle. activity at its legendary
10 CDs of unreleased outtakes from the The book includes 30th Street studios in
1981 sessions—The Goldberg Variations: two illuminating essays. Manhattan. Shots of
The Complete Unreleased 1981 Studio Ses- The first is by Richard the sound room and
sions—with an 11th disc containing the 1981 Einhorn, who stood in engineer’s desk are nos-
album. This is not some nice Bach to play as producer for a few talgic; the place closed
in the background during dinner; to reap days while Carter was down not long after
any reward, the listener must work almost ill. Einhorn reports these sessions.
as hard as Gould and producer Sam Carter some of Gould’s record- Musicians will get a
did. But for anyone with a deep love of ing habits. For example, thrill from the scans of
Bach, Gould, the piano, or sound record- Gould always did a take to capture the variations from Gould’s editing copy of
ing, there are many fascinating moments. length of silence he wanted between two the Goldbergs. The printed music is nearly
Some outtakes expose Gould’s per- variations, even if the take wasn’t used. obliterated by comments and reminders
fectionism. Track 1 of Disc 2 is labeled The engineer then knew what timing to scribbled violently in black and orange
“Rehearsal: Variation 11 - 2nd half - Prepa- recreate. marker.
ration for next take - 2 false starts”; Gould Gould’s mathematical approach to the Each musical moment is surrounded by
plays eight bars exquisitely, then, when Goldberg movements, new since 1955, discussion between Gould and Carter, with
Carter asks him if he’s ready, replies, “I’m affected the studio setup. In Einhorn’s occasional interjections by filmmaker
not [ready], this piece is murder.” He tries words, “he developed a way to intercon- Bruno Monsaingeon, who was in the stu-
again, with just as much grace, and is still nect the variations through an elaborate dio to shoot footage for a documentary. It’s
unhappy. proportional tempo plan; the upcoming fun to be a fly on the wall, but it’s easy to
This collection can improve the listen- variation’s tempo would be some ratio lose focus listening only to the voices and
er’s ear. Listening with Gould, one starts to of the previous variation.” Gould had an short bursts of music.
hear the tiny inconsistencies, contrapun- engineer play back the end of the previous That’s why the book is essential: It offers
tal motions a microsecond out of sync, the variation on a spare analog machine then a complete transcription of the dialog. You
difference between a convincing cadential mute it as Gould calculated his new tempo can page through and choose tracks to
landing and a merely serviceable one. and started to play the next movement. compare, then read along as you listen. A
The project is also a lesson in the impor- Would Gould have minded letting his clean score—marked only with footnotes
tance of a well-qualified record producer. dirty takes hang out in public like this? relating to the transcript—is included on
Carter, who won a Grammy for his work on Einhorn thinks not. “Unlike the many every page to aid in hearing changes from
this album, knows the score as intimately other artists who claimed they ‘never take to take. (Incredibly, the promo copy
as Gould. In Variation 25, Carter points spliced,’ Glenn was very open, even I received of this high-quality book had
out the “sticky” second note in a triplet proud, that he edited his recordings.” pages 133–144 bound in upside-down.)
pattern. In the Aria da capo, he finds the The second essay is by Robert Russ, the The way to benefit most from this
bassline slightly heavier in bars 27 and 28. producer of this collection, and Martin collection is to pick and choose. Don’t
Examples like this are myriad, and Gould Kistner, the mix engineer. They describe try to listen all the way through. It’s like
almost always agrees. He obviously trusts the limestone mine in Pennsylvania where a vast museum, where you’re better off
Carter, who is savvy enough to repeat one the Masterworks archives are housed and concentrating on a room each visit, or a
sentence several times each session: “That the types of material they drew from. The few rooms. Or think of it as hundreds of
was very beautiful.” 1981 Goldbergs were recorded digitally— samples of priceless liqueurs: taste small
The outtakes offer Bach in two- to four- U-matic digital tapes and 1/4" digital tapes mouthfuls from a few bottles each time. It
bar bites, the Goldbergs reduced to their with a 50.4kHz sampling rate and a bit will always be there waiting for you when
cellular structure. Gould and Carter craft a depth of 16—and backed up with analog you’re in the mood to sample more. Q

stereophile.com Q May 2023 117

 A MONTHLY SURVEY OF THE BEST NEW LP REISSUES

REVINYLIZATION BY TOM FINE THIS ISSUE: Craft Recordings

reissues some tasty soul-jazz
classics in a four-LP box set.

In soul’s kitchen with Jaws and the Queen

E
ddie “Lockjaw” Davis, also known as Jaws, was a self-taught originator of soul would be at home in an urban chapel. Jaws
jazz. He recorded the first records that blend Hammond organ and tenor sax, with spreads fire everywhere, alternating liquid
Bill Doggett at the B3, for Roost Records in May 1952. He continued to develop his lyricism with full-on power blowing. When
blues-based, jukebox-friendly style of jazz and, in 1955, joined forces with a young he and Richardson are both playing sax, the
organ player from Philadelphia named Shirley Scott. They recorded together for King and contrast is perfect, the flavors distinct.
Prestige Records and formed a gigging band with drums and bass. The “Cookbooks” burst out of the gate
In three 1958 sessions at Rudy Van Gelder’s Hackensack, New Jersey, “living room” with “Have Horn, Will Blow,” but they hit
studio, Davis and Scott recorded four seminal soul-jazz albums, the “Cookbooks.” Themed their stride on Side 2 of Volume 1. “In the
around bluesy originals and spirited takes on comfortable standards, the albums featured Kitchen” would be at home on a pure blues
liner notes and song titles that relate to an imagined soul kitchen, with a generous helping album, except for Richardson’s deep-dig-
of kitschy references to the “simmerin’” music on the platters. The biggest hit was “In the ging flute solo. The track fades out into a sea
Kitchen,” from the first album, which became a staple of jazz radio shows in the late ’50s of Van Gelder plate reverb, a technique re-
and early ’60s and was issued as a two-part jukebox single. The album version clocks in at prised on at least one slow number on each
nearly 13 minutes. of the subsequent “Cookbooks.” The album
ends with the fast, jovial “Three Deuces,”
Craft Recordings, the reissue label for the June and December sessions—to record named for a late, great NYC jazz club.
the Concord Music Group, has collected the Davis’s Prestige album Jaws. This quartet Volume 2’s best side is the first. Open-
four “Cookbook” albums into a box set of vi- session turned out to be productive, and ing with another slow-boiler, “The Rev”—a
nyl cut from the two-track master tapes by extra songs were included on Cookbook sax-organ call-and-response right outta
Bernie Grundman and plated and pressed Volume 3, issued in 1961, and Smokin’, in church—it closes with a heartfelt rendering
at RTI in California. Cookin’ With Jaws and 1963, along with extras from the December of the classic “Stardust,” featuring tasty,
the Queen features original stereo-release session. The first 2 “Cookbooks” were first close-miked brushwork by Edgehill. Side 2
cover art and a nicely illustrated 12×12 issued in stereo in the mid-1960s. is no slouch, especially the two Davis-Scott
booklet with an essay by Willard Jenkins. This is music for enjoyment among originals, “Skillet” and “The Broilers.”
The physical product looks and feels friends or late night with a comfortably The two later albums are more of a gum-
deluxe, and the platters are superbly cut stiff drink. It’s not navel-gazing, obtuse, bo, not as tightly sequenced or themed but
and pressed quiet and flat. This kind of pre- or an acquired taste (unless you don’t like offering plenty of musical nourishment.
sentation is why people pay extra for vinyl. rhythm and soul). The tempos vary from In 1958, Rudy Van Gelder was still
The music was also released as a four-CD blistering bebop-fast to funeral march slow figuring out mono-stereo compatibility. A
box with some extra tracks, and it streams walking blues. Duvivier and Edgehill lay a one-man operation, he didn’t have the time
in a range of formats, from lossy to 24/192. solid foundation and maintain forward mo- to edit separate full-track mono and 2-track
The Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis Cookbook, mentum. Scott revels in the rhythm pocket, stereo master tapes. So he came up with
originally issued with a different cover and eschewing the bass pedals—there’s a bass a system called “50-50,” which involved
in mono, was recorded June 20, 1958, and player after all—and concentrating on per- recording to 2-track “stereo” (really, in to-
released later that year.1 Its unexpected cussive accent chords and soulful runs that day’s lingo, two separate mono mixes, one
success on radio and jukeboxes prompted per channel) and monitoring the sessions
Prestige owner Bob Weinstock to hold a in mono to assure his two tracks could be
December 5, 1958, session for Cookbook summed to cut mono LPs, by far the bread-
Volume 2, which was issued in 1959, again and-butter medium for music at that time.3
in mono and with a different cover.2 Both The result of all this—and its relevance
albums featured Davis and Scott with here—is that the stereophony
bassist George Duvivier and drummer sounds different in each of the
Arthur Edgehill. But the secret sauce at three recording sessions, a small
those sessions was multi-instrumen- annoyance and the only criticism I
talist guest Jerome Richardson, who have about this set.
played flute, baritone, and tenor Davis, Scott, and company laid
sax. Richardson’s flute was a unique down a feast for the ages, and the Craft
flavor in the musical stew, espe- crew have done their best to serve it up for
cially on deep blues numbers like a new century. Q
“In the Kitchen” and “The Skillet.” This new
ingredient to soul jazz made the albums 1 See bit.ly/3KUH6c9.
2 See bit.ly/3IKXIjx.
stand out.
3 See bit.ly/3ZvIWUI. For more information on these
The same group (sans Richardson) issues, see Rich Capeless’s excellent “RVG Legacy” website,
gathered on September 12, 1958—between rvglegacy.org.

stereophile.com Q May 2023 119

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 CLASSICAL
ROCK / POP
JAZZ

RECORD REVIEWS
T
here is no one like the song dark as a dirge over the
Tyshawn Sorey. As a jazz EDITOR’S PICK slow throbs of Hall’s bass.
drummer, he is at home
in the far reaches of the
RECORDING This album documents two
noteworthy events: the first time
avant-garde. As a composer of OF THE MONTH an extraordinary band ever played
contemporary classical music, together, and the resurrection of
he gets commissions from major Greg Osby. In the 1990s and early
orchestras for his concertos, 2000s, Osby made 14 albums for
oratorios, and operas. His extreme Blue Note and was one of the
eclecticism makes him an enigma premier alto players in jazz. Since
(he cites Asian folkloric music then, he has not led a working band
and death metal as influences), yet and has recorded infrequently. He
his renown keeps growing. He is is still an exciting, fearless, tireless
ridiculously prolific. The long list improviser. On the two takes of
of awards he has won includes the “Ask Me Now,” he wrings every con-
MacArthur “genius” Fellowship, ceivable implication from Monk’s
one of the most coveted prizes in great ballad.
American arts and sciences. This album is also a breakout for
The New Yorker once described Diehl. Until now, he has been re-
Sorey as “unpredictable to the garded as a refined, skilled, relative-
point of unnerving.” Last year, he ly conservative player, grounded in
did the one thing no one expected the great jazz piano tradition. (He is
him to do: He released a standards best known as Cécile McLorin Sal-
album. Mesmerism had Aaron vant’s accompanist.) Sorey brings
Diehl on piano, Matt Brewer on TYSHAWN SOREY TRIO + 1 out a side of him few knew, given
bass, and Sorey on drums. Sorey to jagged harmonies and naked ag-
has now followed it with The Off- The Off-Off Broadway Guide gression. His edginess here makes
Off Broadway Guide to Synergism, to Synergism his lyricism all the more piercing.
which also contains jazz standards Sorey’s achievements as a
Sorey, drums; Aaron Diehl, piano; Russell Hall, bass;
and pieces from the Great Ameri- conceptualist and composer have
Greg Osby, alto saxophone
can Songbook. It is a three-CD set, caused people to neglect what got
Pi P196 (3 CDs, available as download). 2022. Sorey, prod.;
recorded live over four nights in Kengchakaj Kengkarnka, recording/mixing eng.
him noticed in the first place: his
March 2022 at the Jazz Gallery in PERFORMANCE   drumming. Because of his complex,
New York. It keeps Diehl as pianist SONICS   surging, protean percussion, this
but subs Russell Hall on bass and music, even in its quieter inter-
adds Greg Osby on alto saxophone. ludes, always feels dangerously
Sorey’s embrace of standards is not a mances extends from minimal intrusions volatile. As for Hall, he specializes in highly
retreat toward convention. On the contrary, on silence to thunderous tumult. Tunes effective motivational bass ostinatos.
it is yet another of his iconoclastic acts. segue from one to the next without breaks. Press notes say that this project was
Today’s jazz world has become obsessed Some songs are sacred texts, like Billy “inspired” by a 1997 live Blue Note album
with original composition. Records made Strayhorn’s “Chelsea Bridge,” which these by Osby, Banned in New York, which was
by jazz musicians under 40 tend to be all or players clearly regard as too beautiful to recorded, famously, on a MiniDisc player
mostly original material. Meanwhile, the entirely deconstruct. Osby acknowledges on a table in front of the band. Fortunately,
vast legacy of great repertoire in the jazz Strayhorn’s melody in the long flowing of Sorey’s album sounds nothing like Banned
canon lies fallow. his introductory cadenza, but his phrasing in New York. The Jazz Gallery’s house
By basing his sets at the Jazz Gallery on reshapes it, and he adds his own decora- engineer, Kengchakaj Kengkarnka, used a
familiar tunes, like “Out of Nowhere” and “I tions and asides, while Diehl imagines new simple setup with very little separation or
Remember You,” Sorey connects his music chords and counterlines. On Fats Waller’s individual miking beyond the stage mikes.
to history. The songs become touchpoints, “Jitterbug Waltz,” Osby lunges down the It works. The sound is neutral, plain, and
messages embedded within the otherwise song’s famous stairsteps, almost crashing. clear.
boundless designs of a wildly creative Moods can shift without warning, even Sorey’s first standards album, Mesmer-
ensemble. It is a rush when, on the very within tracks. The band rewrites “What’s ism, was widely acclaimed. The closely
first track of the set, you realize that Osby’s New?” on the spot. Osby’s outpourings of watched JazzTimes critics poll chose it as
passionate onslaughts contain fragments of eighth notes contain only occasional sug- the second-best jazz record of 2022. The
Cole Porter’s “Night and Day.” gestions of Bob Haggart’s wistful hymn to Off-Off Broadway Guide to Synergism is even
The dynamic range of these perfor- lost love. When Diehl takes over, he turns better. —Thomas Conrad

stereophile.com Q May 2023 121

 RECORD REVIEWS
C L A SSIC AL
limitations magnify the unrelenting sense
of torment that pervades this shattering
music.
Melnikov plays the Chromatic Fantasia
and Fugue in D minor magnificently; the
same can be said for the similarly moving
Free Fantasia in F-sharp minor by J.S.’s son
C.P.E. Bach. Melnikov’s keyboard of choice
for this piece, a tangent piano from 1790,
which permits dynamic shading, enables
the unleashing of a gorgeous flood of sound
that at one point resembles a lovelorn song-
ALEXANDER MELNIKOV bird crying desperately for its mate before NIELSEN
Fantasie: 7 Composers, 7 Keyboards sinking into silent resignation. Symphonies 2 (The Four Temperaments),
Alexander Melnikov, keyboards “Is this actually by Mozart?” you may ask 6 (Sinfonia semplice)
Harmonia Mundi 902702 (24/96 WAV). 2023. upon hearing the surviving fragment of Danish National Symphony Orchestra/Fabio Luisi
Martin Sauer, prod.; Benedikt Schröder, eng. that composer’s Fantasia in C minor. Per- Deutsche Grammophon 00028948634811 (16/44.1WAV).
2023. Bernhard Güttler, prod.; Mikkel Nymand, eng.
PERFORMANCE   formed on a fortepiano inspired by Anton
SONICS  Walter’s Viennese fortepiano of 1795, the PERFORMANCE  
On the face of it, Alexander Melnikov’s sadness and strangeness of this music can SONICS  
Fantasie: 7 Composers, 7 Keyboards is an au- be overwhelming. The fortepiano’s respon- The second symphony, with its depiction of
diophile’s dream. A follow-up to keyboard sive action allows Melnikov to employ the the four classical “humors” in convention-
genius Melnikov’s marvelous 2018 Harmo- finest grades of dynamic shading to express al, easily grasped structures, is the most
nia Mundi recital, Four Pieces, Four Pianos, the fragility and pathetic whimper in the readily accessible Nielsen symphony. For
it presents the keyboard fantasies of seven surviving fragment of another Mozart the maestro, though, it’s harder: The busy,
great composers, from Johann Sebastian fantasia, in D minor. When Mozart shifts almost pointillist scoring requires skilled
Bach to Alfred Schnittke, on seven very surprisingly from sadness to joy midway balancing, and it presents a notorious con-
different-sounding historic instruments. through, the tonal envelope shifts as well. ducting trap that isn’t avoided even in some
Each of the instruments, which range from A Graff fortepiano, built in Vienna a major productions.
a copy of Hans Ruckers II’s two-manual third of a century later, provides extra heft Luisi is up to the challenges, as we know
harpsichord from 1624 (rebuilt c. 1720) to a ideal for Felix Mendelssohn’s ultra-roman- from the incisive opening address. The gen-
Steinway & Sons Model D-274 piano from tic Fantasia in F-sharp minor. Longing, tler following transition, and the plaintive
2014, produces the sound the composer churning torrents of emotion—expressed oboe solo, bespeak a taut, characterful first
likely expected to hear. through an instrument that produces deli- movement with an occasional rhetorical
Superbly recorded in the ideal acoustic cate highs with significantly less sparkle touch. Luisi avoids the trap at the start
of the famed Teldex Studio Berlin, Fantasie than the earlier keyboards—culminate in of the “phlegmatic” second movement—
is an excellent test for the timbral accuracy, a breathtakingly fast Presto that dies off though the scansion is correctly ambigu-
resolution, speed, dynamic control, and unexpectedly at the end. ous—which is controlled yet easygoing. The
realism of any system. If you crank up Chopin’s Fantaisie in F minor deserves main theme of the Andante malinconico,
the sound of the harpsichord, which was no less than a classic Parisian Érard from stoic and resolute, opens into an anguished
designed with smaller venues in mind, you 1885—and it gets one. Melnikov exploits lament on its tutti return. The moderately
may be blasted away by the Steinway D. If every sound this large instrument can paced finale is bustling, even boisterous.
they sound similar in volume and weight, produce, from the depth of its extended The title of the sixth, Sinfonia semplice,
your hi-fi system has a problem. low end to the sparkling chime of its high is ironic: There’s nothing simple about it.
But Fantasie’s value extends well beyond treble. It may be true that neither an Érard Nielsen weaves the two outer movements
the audiophile kingdom. As historic nor an AI chatbot has a soul, but Melnikov from wisps and fragments: The opening
keyboard specialist Melnikov traces the makes it seem as though this Érard piano bars are almost Webern; later, a fugato de-
evolution of the “fantasia” (aka fantasy, shares Chopin’s. velops from peculiar reed curlicues. Cutesy
fantaisie, Phantasie)—a free-form format Busoni’s Fantasia in modo antico seems dance motifs belie, or are interrupted by,
through which composers often share their tailor-made for the darker, more ponder- the turbulent goings-on around them. As
most personal and emotionally revealing ous low end of an early 20th century performed here, both middle movements
music—he does so as a poet gifted with Bechstein, and Schnittke’s genre-shattering reminded me of Bartók’s Concerto for
heightened emotional intelligence and Improvisation and Fugue demands a mod- Orchestra, with the Proposta seria building
superb technique. His performances ravish ern Steinway, which effectively delivers its to an intense outcry. Bracing brass attacks
the emotions much as his instrumental profane screeches, shocks, and disruptive and fluid woodwinds color the finale’s
choices nourish the senses. outbursts. Schnittke’s music, with more variations; the performance ends as myste-
The influence of Bach’s intense Chro- than a little help from Melnikov, pounds riously as it began, here with a low unison.
matic Fantasia and Fugue in D minor can be the fantasy genre to shreds before laughing In the second, the heavy ambience,
heard in every other fantasy on this record- its way to its final bars. No wonder the noticeable after cadences and around solo
ing. Probably composed around 1720, it Soviet Ministry of Culture, which commis- reeds, produces a vivid presence but neu-
may convey his torment at the unexpected sioned the work for the 1966 Tchaikovsky tralizes some of the score’s color. The sixth
death of his first wife, Maria Barbara. The Piano Competition, chose not to have it has plenty of variety: The glockenspiel taps
harpsichord’s high-frequency clatter, the performed there. A perfect end to a nigh- are crisp and clear, while the unison horns
bass rumble of its action, and its dynamic perfect recital. Bravo!—Jason Victor Serinus have impressive depth.—Stephen Francis Vasta

stereophile.com Q May 2023 123

The B-Series stands out for
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 RECORD REVIEWS
CL A SSIC AL JAZZ

R. STRAUSS /DEBUSSY BEETHOVEN BOBO STENSON TRIO

Also sprach Zarathustra/Jeux Violin Concerto in D Major (cadenzas Sphere
London Symphony Orchestra/François-Xavier Roth
by Jörg Widmann); Fragment from Stenson, piano; Anders Jormin, bass; Jon Fält, drums,
LSO Live LSO0833 (CD). Nicholas Parker, prod.;
Violin Concerto in C Major percussion
ECM 2775 (CD). 2023. Manfred Eicher, prod.;
Jonathan Stokes and Neil Hutchinson, engs. Veronika Eberle, violin; London Symphony Orchestra,
Stefano Amerio, eng.
PERFORMANCE   Sir Simon Rattle, cond.

SONICS  LSO5094 SACD (24/96 WAV download). 2023. Andrew PERFORMANCE 

Cornall, prod.; Neil Hutchinson & Jonathan Stokes, eng. SONICS 
For 15 minutes or so, Roth delivers one of
PERFORMANCE  
the best Zarathustras in a while, a reading Bobo Stenson may be the most under-
marked primarily by restraint. He doesn’t SONICS  recognized great pianist in jazz. He was
overplay the familiar “sunrise”: The organ This D Major concerto is equally essential essential to the aura of mystical lyricism
pedal point is solid and unobtrusive, the because of Veronika Eberle’s musician- that prevailed on Charles Lloyd’s first five
fanfare firm and grand. The divided strings ship, Rattle’s sympathetic conducting, ECM albums. That partnership ended more
enter cautiously but with silky, vibrant and the strength of the percussion—all than 20 years ago.
tone. Roth’s speed for track 4 leaves the well-captured in DSD256. Rattle first Stenson has been leading his own trios
little notes sounding slightly frazzled, but began championing Eberle when, at age on ECM for 50-plus years. His current trio,
it surges effectively. The Grablied fugue be- 16, she performed this concerto at the 2006 with bassist Anders Jormin and drum-
gins almost too quietly but builds steadily. Salzburg Easter Festival. If her playing is a mer Jon Fält, released Cantando in 2008,
Riding out of it, Roth nails the sudden mite emphatic in the opening movement, it Indicum in 2012, and Contra La Indecision
upward color shift. sings tenderly, with heartbreaking loveli- in 2018. Now there is Sphere.
But in the forthright Der Genesende, the ness, in the middle movement. Her softest It is impossible to rank these four
playing turns slightly nervous, lacking tones pull you deep into Beethoven’s world, recordings. All are magical. All convey a
buoyancy; only at the violin solo do things which makes that movement’s unbroken sense of concentrated, timeless purity, as if
settle, though still without the previ- transition from Widmann’s universe to they were preserved in amber. But Sphere
ous unforced assurance. Das Tanzlied Beethoven’s finale all the more striking. is the quietest and the most Scandinavian.
rolls along brightly, for once avoiding Equally striking: finding the seeds of the D Unlike most jazz musicians today, Stenson
longueurs, though the climax could be Major Concerto in the sole surviving frag- does not prioritize his own compositions
weightier. In the closing section, the string ment of a violin concerto, in C Major, begun over the works of his predecessors. He is
“duets” are calm, but the concluding bass 16 years earlier. a consummate, distinctive interpreter of
pizzicatos teeter on inaudibility: They As accustomed as Beethoven lovers songs by composers from many genres and
really are too soft. may be to a choice of multiple cadenzas, cultures, from Ornette Coleman to Silvio
The shimmering, indirect harmonic the cadenzas by Jörg Widmann stand Rodríguez to Bartók. On Sphere, his trio
progressions of Debussy’s Jeux make it distinct. Rather than either mimicking plays pieces by Per Nørgård of Denmark,
a good foil for the Strauss. Again, Roth Beethoven’s style or wrenching his music Alfred Janson of Norway, Jean Sibelius of
begins much too quietly, but thereafter ahead 216 years, Widmann opts for a hy- Finland, and Sven-Erik Bäck of Stenson’s
he invests much of it with an appropriate brid approach in which, in his own words, homeland, Sweden.
dancing lightness and lilt—this is a ballet, “Beethoven’s themes could appear in a very The Scandinavian origins of this mate-
after all—and the LSO plays splendidly, the different light.” That they do, especially rial are submerged. Stenson uses songs like
fleeting, darting fragments coalescing into when the violin is joined, as it is here some- Nørgård’s “You shall plant a tree” (played
small-scale surges. times, by timpani and double bass. In the twice, beautifully and differently) as points
How’s the sound? The disposition of in- first movement cadenza, the violin seems of departure for his far wanderings. Two
struments across the playing area is clear; to be at war with timpani, the recurring pieces by Bäck, “Spring” and “Communion
Strauss’s organ bass pedal is clean, with the feeling of opposition related more to events Psalm,” are only outlines, cells of melody
quieter ranks slightly distanced. The tim- in Beethoven’s life than to the music he that set Stenson’s trio into motion. On their
bres are vivid, and the brass choir—even in composed for the concerto. Despite that journeys, they discover new melodies that
Zarathustra’s soft trombones—has plenty of weakness, Beethoven’s themes remain rec- coalesce in the moment, rapt moods, and
depth. In some climactic tuttis, however, the ognizable, in ways that make this recording shifting tides of emotion.
treble turns edgy. beyond fascinating. Add the defiant dia- Jormin and Fält are the subtlest of collab-
Confusingly, the downloadable Zara- logue in the final movement cadenza, and orators, yet they continuously enlarge this
thustra files credit Dudamel and the Berlin you have a must-listen recording for lovers music, Jormin with his illuminating bass
Philharmonic instead of the performers of classical and contemporary music. subtexts, Fält with his hushed, perfectly
listed here.—Stephen Francis Vasta —Jason Victor Serinus timed cymbal swells.—Thomas Conrad

stereophile.com Q May 2023 125

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 RECORD REVIEWS
JAZZ

KIRSTEN EDKINS FRANCO AMBROSETTI WALTER SMITH III

Shapes and Sound Nora return to casual
Kirsten Edkins, tenor saxophone; Gerald Clayton, piano; $PEURVHWWLࢊXJHOKRUQ8UL&DLQHSLDQR6FRWW&ROOH\ Smith, tenor saxophone; Taylor Eigsti, piano,
/HPDU*XLOODU\WURPERQH$KPHW7XUNPHQRJOXEDVV EDVV3HWHU(UVNLQHGUXPV-RKQ6FRࢉHOGJXLWDU Fender Rhodes; Matt Stevens, guitar; Harish Raghavan,
Chris Wabich, drums 22-piece string orchestra bass; Kendrick Scott, drums; two guests
&RKHDUHQW5HFRUGV&5$9/3'DYH&RQQRU (QMD(1-K\EULG6$&'-Hࢆ/HYHQVRQ Blue Note B003704402 (16/44.1 WAV). 2023.
prod.; Kevin Gray, Ryan Wirthlin, engs. prod.; Jim Anderson, eng. Smith, prod.; Chris Allen, eng.
PERFORMANCE   PERFORMANCE   PERFORMANCE  
SONICS  SONICS  SONICS 

New, genuinely audiophile recordings The SACD format, especially in 5.1 chan- Walter Smith III has been coming up in
may be a small slice of the musical pie, but nels, is a small, specialized niche in the au- the world. Most people first heard of him
within that frame, Shapes and Sound from diophile world. But for those with systems when he occupied the tenor saxophone
saxophonist/composer Kirsten Edkins is capable of playing Nora in 5.1 surround, a chair in one of the most important jazz
high profile. That’s because Shapes and special sensory and aesthetic experience groups of the new millennium, Ambrose
Sound is the first release from Kevin Gray’s awaits. Akinmusire’s quintet. But Smith has played
new Cohearent Records, recorded in his Swiss trumpet player Franco Ambrosetti with other prominent leaders (Terence
new studio, built by hand next door to his has always wanted to make a recording Blanchard, Christian Scott) and has been
mastering facility in North Hills, Califor- with strings. With this album, recorded at making records under his own name since
nia. The label carries the slogan, “All-valve age 80, he didn’t just fulfill his dream; he 2006. Most recently have come three well-
from microphones to cutterhead.” To fans went first class. Prestigious collaborators received albums by a project called In Com-
of tubes, that’s sheer poetry. (see above) were brought in. Conductor mon, co-led by Smith and Matt Stevens.
Shapes and Sound is the sophomore Alan Broadbent created arrangements Now Smith has crossed a threshold that
album for saxophonist Edkins. Of the eight for a 22-piece string orchestra. Renowned proves a jazz musician has arrived: He has
tunes on the album, she composed six. engineer Jim Anderson, an authority on been signed by the Blue Note label. On the
Leading a quartet, which expands to a quin- “immersive sound,” recorded and mixed it. evidence, he is ready.
tet on a couple of tracks with the addition of The set list includes diverse works that Smith was an in-demand sideman
trombonist Lemar Guillary, Edkins seems all share qualities like lush romanticism because of the firepower he could bring to
comfortable within various jazz traditions, and warm intimacy. Ambrosetti chose the a band. He can still knock you on your ass
especially bop and post-bop, as in originals songs for their seductive melodies, which with his solos, but return to casual suggests
like “Wuhoo” and “Bird Shapes.” he plays lovingly, in a pure, glowing tone, that he is more interested in composing, ex-
I hear, in Edkins, some of the probing on flugelhorn. There is not a single sharp ploring fresh, diverse ensemble concepts,
sound of a young Wayne Shorter (may edge in this music. Ambrosetti’s spare lines and conceiving complete album designs.
he rest in peace), and on the one ballad stan- deal in essential notes only. His sidemen The 10 tracks are concise. Smith has worked
dard, “Dedicated to You,” I thought I heard excel. On John Coltrane’s rapt ballad “After with all these players before, and the band
and felt a little Coleman Hawkins as Edkins the Rain,” John Scofield’s guitar tones hover is tight. But his carefully crafted arrange-
stepped closer to the mike. Blue Note artist in free air with the lingering vibrato only ments provide open spaces for the strong
Gerald Clayton is at the Steinway B, and his he seems able to impart. soloists here to break temporarily free in.
loose, lively turns and twists bring Wynton Broadbent says his charts are intended Most prominent is Smith himself. But Matt
Kelly to my mind and ear. to create a “subsong” for the strings to play Stevens’s stinging, keening guitar makes
The sound of this record is amazing: “in quiet counterpoint with the lead song.” “quiet song” the noisiest piece on the al-
warm, rich, detailed, never bloated. All Anderson wraps those strings around bum. Pianist Taylor Eigsti is sweeping and
instruments were single-miked, recorded you, subtly, even subliminally. Instead of a exhilarating on “Shine.”
direct to stereo tape. “phantom” image between the front left and Akinmusire guests on two numbers.
Gray deliberately modeled the construc- right speakers, there is a stable one in the He is a trumpet talent so special that he is
tion and layout of his studio on Rudy Van center channel. The mix is 5.1, but Ander- capable of stealing any show you put him
Gelder’s first studio; he calls his room son achieves an illusion of height. The in. His outing on “River Styx” is the most
“Cohearent Recording aka Hackensack sensation of open space around you makes stunning moment on the album. But on
West.” The insert included with the album you swoon. “Amelia Earhart Ghosted Me” he serves
describes his recording chain, stating, “No In a jazz culture that values energy and the ensemble cause, contributing his vivid
transistors or ICs are used anywhere in the surprise, “pretty” can be a pejorative adjec- voice to the theme statement then teaming
signal path.” Get a copy before they’re all tive. Franco Ambrosetti doesn’t care. Nora with Smith in a wildly creative joint impro-
gone.—Sasha Matson is lavishly, shamelessly pretty.—Thomas Conrad vised enterprise.—Thomas Conrad

stereophile.com Q May 2023 127

 RECORD REVIEWS
ROCK / P OP

Now at
3mA Audio
Houston, Texas
(832)530-4716
JOHN LEE HOOKER PARAMORE LMC Home Entertainment
Burnin’ This Is Why Scotsdale, Arizona
Vee Jay/Craft Recordings CR00544 (LP). 2023. No prod.
or eng. listed.
Atlantic Records (16/44.1 FLAC stream/Qobuz). 2023.
Carlos de la Garza, prod.; Harriet Tam, eng. (480)403-0011
PERFORMANCE   PERFORMANCE  
SONICS  SONICS 
.\RPL$XGLR
Though it’s often forgotten in the wake of Coming nearly six years after Tennessee- &KLFDJRΖOOLQRLV
Motown’s success, there was also a blues based Paramore’s previous album, This Is 
scene in Detroit in which no one loomed Why is a welcome arrival. Lead singer Hay-
larger than John Lee Hooker. Cut at a single ley Williams made two solo albums in the Learn more
session in 1962 in Chicago, Burnin’ has intervening years, which partially explains
been reissued by Craft on 180gm vinyl. the band’s studio silence. It’s good to hear mbl-northamerica.com/news
Hooker, who began his career playing Williams collaborating again with guitarist
solo, rockin’ joints with his upbeat crowd Taylor York and drummer Zac Farro on
pleasers put over by his growling vocal de- this latest effort.
livery, decided here to play with a group of As with the band’s first five albums,
musicians imported from Detroit, includ- the main influences continue to be punk
ing Benny “Papa Zita” Benjamin and the and indie rock. But here the sonic ingenu-
great James Jamerson, the two most famous ity is enhanced at the hands of producer
and talented members of the legendary Carlos de la Garza and engineer Harriet
house band at Motown, The Funk Brothers. Tam, who create a relief map of intense
Also on the record are Hank Cosby and An- textures. Shimmering distortion on the
drew “Mike” Terry on tenor and baritone guitars on “Crave” contrasts the clarity of
saxes, respectively, Joe Hunder on piano, the drum-kit sound. The natural resonance
and Larry Veeder on guitar. of woodwinds is intriguingly synthesized
The opening track, the inimitable stomp in “Figure 8.” “Running Out of Time” blos-
“Boom Boom,” was undoubtedly the biggest soms into a kaleidoscope of bending guitar
hit of Hooker’s career. Two years later, it pitches and layered percussion.
became a hit for The Animals. Like most Beyond the sound quality, the main
Hooker tunes, it’s about women, in this draws are the songs themselves and Wil-
case the desirable variety: “I love to see liams’s wide range in both vocal register
you strut/up and down the floor/When and emotion. Consistent with the punk
you talkin’ to me/That baby talk/I like it tradition, anger is an essential ingredient,
like that.” Along the way, Hooker lets out a as in “The News,” where the rhythm’s wild-
“How, How, How,” an exclamation appro- ness mirrors the insanity of world events
priated later by ZZ Top for their hit, “La and their media coverage.
Grange.” Other songs are snide: “Big Man, Little
Double standards abound. “Johnny” Dignity” finds the narrator admiring a man
won’t stay home and settle down in “Lost a across the room, but it’s soon clear that
Good Girl,” but that’s exactly what Hooker she’s only amazed by his vacuousness and
wants his woman to do in “Drug Store privilege.
Woman.” The band adds a lot to these tunes, And then there’s Williams’s dour lost-
verging on rock’n’roll in “Let’s Make It,” girl role, a staple of her Paramore reper-
with an unexpected rhumba beat on “Keep toire. “I am a magnet for broken pieces / I
Your Hands to Yourself.” Remastered from am attracted to broken people,” she keens in
the original analog tapes by Kevin Gray at “Thick Skull.” It may sound pathetic, but it’s
Cohearant, the impressively quiet pressing effective, thanks partly to her husky-voiced
from Memphis Record Pressing—the 1962 delivery and partly to the skillful, poignant
originals don’t sound bad—adds space to placement of a rest after the word “broken”
the mix, with Hooker farther forward and in each line. With songwriting like this,
the band spread farther to the rear. Essen- Paramore continues to be a relevant force
tial. —Robert Baird in indie rock. —Anne E. Johnson

stereophile.com Q May 2023

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 RECORD REVIEWS
ROCK / P OP

NEW ORDER YO LA TENGO

Low-Life (Definitive Edition) This Stupid World
Warner 0825646253012 (1 LP, 2 CD, 2 DVD, Book) Matador Records OLE1929 (LP). 2023. Yo La Tengo, prod.;
New Order, Rich Osborn & Trish Macgregor, prod.; James McNew, eng.
Michael Johnson, eng. PERFORMANCE  
PERFORMANCE   SONICS 
SONICS  Age has privileges and advantages. Near-
Power, Corruption and Lies (1983) is ing 40 years together, Yo La Tengo has
regarded by many as New Order’s master- earned the trust and freedom to write and
piece. Well, maybe so, but the album that play whatever they feel or want to say. Over
followed it, Low-Life, is pretty damn tasty, the years, they’ve explored most avenues,
too. Incorporating more synths, they built from soul to indie pop, laconic country to
on the success of the single “Blue Monday,” outright noise. Now nearing 20 albums to
combining post-punk and dance music. their name (depending on how you count
Here, Low-Life gets the super-deluxe collaborations), this most textural of all
treatment, similar to what that previous al- indie rock bands has made another master-
bum received in 2020. The price is the price, piece to add to its oeuvre.
and it isn’t cheap, but you get a lot for your Following a five-song 2020 pandemic re-
money. First there’s the lush packaging— cord, We Have Amnesia Sometimes, which
positively a work of art—and then there is seemed like an enjoyable jam tape, guitar-
an impressive book, featuring photos and ist Ira Kaplan, drummer Georgia Hubley,
interviews with the band describing the and bassist James McNew have returned
growth of each song. The band’s Mancunian on This Stupid World, an LP whose sonics
wit ensures it never becomes boring. vary from deliberately noisy to wonder-
And what of the music? The album itself, fully crisp and detailed, depending upon
included on both CD and 180gm vinyl, is as the song.
magnificent as ever. The remastering gives What’s new here (though not entirely
it extra bounce. But it’s the other included unexpected for a band with a 66-year-old
stuff that will entice punters and many guitarist) is that time, as in how much of
fans. Two DVDs contain footage of five 1985 it is left, has become an obsession. Set to
live concerts from a time when the band a perky, quasi-Brazilian rhythm, “Until
was getting into gear. It’s not slick, but it It Happens” is blunt about what’s ahead:
is invigorating. Bernard Summer’s frail “Prepare to die/prepare yourself while
vocals and understated guitar, Stephen there’s still time/it’s simple to do/and then
Morris’s strategic drumming, Peter Hook’s it happens to you.” Most accessible are
thumping bass, and Gillian Gilbert’s the likable chords of “Fallout,” a clas-
keyboards increasingly mesh as the band sic example of the band’s gift for sweet
moves further away from convenient, guitar pop. Kaplan fights time, wishing to
lazy, music tags. In addition to the Low-Life “Hold back unwind/before it lays me flat.”
numbers, other classic numbers enjoy Produced by the band and featuring the
sweaty workouts, such as, from the Leuven trio playing live together in the studio, a
date, Joy Division’s “Atmosphere” and the gentle side arises in “Aselestine” as Hubley
band’s own “Blue Monday.” The Extras CD sings softly over a gentle bed of pedal-
is also full of gems, “The Perfect Kiss” and steel effects, offering, “Where are you, the
“Sunrise” being just two examples. From drugs don’t do what you said they do.” The
the “Writing Session Recordings,” these are opener, “Sinatra Drive Breakdown,” is an
more basic, under-construction, guitar- exercise in trust, as Kaplan sings in plain-
and bass-based songs, the rock glinting tive voice before fussing through fuzzy
beneath the polished dance. This last bit guitar freakouts while Hubley and McNew
may be mainly for die-hard completist New stay the course with a steady snare and
Order fans, but if that describes you, you bass beat. This indie rock institution still
will love it. —Phil Brett has much left to say. —Robert Baird

stereophile.com Q May 2023

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RE-TALES BY JULIE MULLINS THIS ISSUE: Christopher Brewer is rejuvenating

a venerable New England dealership that’s
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life into a long-established dealership. Christopher Brewer is doing exactly that. but I like to think we live in a place that
New England Hi-Fi was founded as the New England Music Company by Derek R. Burt,2 values local business and community.” So
in 1965—on the early side of hi-fi’s heyday. Back then, the store carried the 1965 KLH line he focuses on developing relationships
and other pioneering products, with a self-proclaimed emphasis on customer service. with his customers. That means offering
Founded in downtown Portland, Maine, the dealership moved to Scarborough in 1984 and affordable equipment alongside higher-end
then to South Portland, in a corner space across from the Maine Mall. equipment. “Hi-fi should be accessible, and
the fact that it often is not, whether
Before he became the owner, Brewer was by price or pretense, is too bad,” he
an employee. Before he was an employee, said. “I guess we’re hi-fi socialists.”
he was a customer. While he was a cus- Brewer seems realistic, with feet
tomer, he worked at Circuit City, making, planted firmly on the ground. He’s
he says, $8/hour. Circuit City, which was a student of what works in his mar-
located just down Maine Mall Road from ket and what doesn’t. He has found,
New England Hi-Fi, is long gone: The chain for example, that even including
went bankrupt in 2009. Good riddance, custom installs, surround sound is
Brewer says. “I think I can safely confess on the decline. New England Hi-Fi’s
that I spent a lot of my time in the audio focus on the lower- and midpriced
department there advising customers to go parts of the market runs counter to
to New England Hi-Fi.” opinions I’ve heard from some oth-
Brewer, 41, took over New England Hi-Fi er sources in column after column
when Andy Keniston, the previous owner, over the last few years—though
retired. Brewer moved the store to a new opinions have admittedly been
location, in the Mill Creek area of South to have a longtime friend with some skill— mixed.4 “There are plenty of companies
Portland. “I wanted to be in a busier, ‘up and to have had a 20-year-old wunderkind offering performance that’s affordable, but
and coming’ area,” Brewer said. “A total come through my door one day.” a lot of dealers want to leave that to the big
restart seemed like the best way to make Brewer’s prior hi-fi sales experience boxes and lean into the higher end. I totally
the changes I wanted.” informs his selection of components to sell. get it, and I’m sure that’s great in some
I wasn’t around in 1965, and neither was His go-to word is “reasonable”: reasonable markets. … It’s just not what works here. I
Chris Brewer, but it’s all but certain that build quality, reasonable design, reasonable think the future is in mid-fi and in earning
customers have changed since the original reliability, reasonable performance in rela- the support of our communities.”
store’s Mad Men–era founding. Brewer tion to price; ie, value. He is willing to take Dealership proprietors must understand
sees a wide range of customers: men and chances on new brands; sometimes they and serve the markets they’re located in
women, old and young, hobbyists and “one- prove popular, sometimes not. “We sell a while running businesses they can believe
and-done.” He describes his customers as lot of affordable gear in this market, but we in. “The gap between high-end prices and
“loyal.” Their loyalty is likely attributable won’t sell bad gear.” “Bad gear,” he clarified, entry level is absolutely enormous,” Brewer
to his store’s main ethos, which, he told me, could mean an unjustifiable price, a dead- told me. “The aspirational became the im-
is to treat customers (and employees) fairly. end design flaw, glitchy software, mislead- possible.” That ultimately might not benefit
It was not uncommon for those old- ing specs—or it could just mean bad sound. the industry because it pushes some people
school high-end dealerships to be snooty; New England Hi-Fi carries mostly new away, so to Brewer it makes little sense.
we have all heard stories of casually equipment, but the store stocks and sells “This hobby and industry is obviously
dressed customers being ignored, snubbed, select vintage gear, including items that in an overall decline from where it was, so
or insulted, only to take their hi-fi money might have been sold in the store’s prior don’t gatekeep it against anyone who wants
elsewhere.3 Brewer advises other dealers, incarnation, such as a pair of old Klipsch in,” he advises. A dealership’s success—and
“Don’t shame anyone for not being as com- speakers seen there recently. the hi-fi industry’s health if not survival—
mitted or high-budgeted as the ideal.” Brewer faces challenges hi-fi stores depends on it. Q
Brewer maintains one aspect of old- didn’t face in earlier decades. Back then,
world service: equipment service and retailers had protected territories. Today, 1 See stereophile.com/content/lyrical-denouement.

repair. That’s no easy feat these days: Such local retailers compete with larger online 2 For more, see newenglandhifi.com/our-history.
3 See Twisted Sister guitarist and former hi-fi salesman
skills are increasingly rare. “It’s essentially retailers; it’s even difficult for a small local Jay Jay French’s account of working at Lyric Hi-Fi, at bit.
impossible to find someone qualified to dealer to obtain and maintain product ly/3ISflOy.
repair hi-fi,” he said. “I was very fortunate because bigger dealers get priority. That’s 4 See bit.ly/3mgwQAx.

stereophile.com Q May 2023 133

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 Definitive Technology 96 Magico 2 Ultra Systems 134
STEREOPHILE
ADVERTISER INDEX Devialet 30 MBL 129 Upscale Audio 38
DS Audio 44 Metaxas & Sins 103 Used Cable 134
Airtight A&M 90 Electrocompaniet 12 Music Direct 16, 17, 20, 110 VAC 68
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Analog Manufaktur Germany 64 Estelon Audio 86 Technologies 21, 61, 74 Vitus Audio 95
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Aqua Acoustic Quality 41 Fidelis Distribution 92 Now Listen Here 109 VPI 54
Audio Advice 70 Focal Naim America 130 Ortofon 111, 131 Weiss Engineering 26
Audio Crasmen 126 Gryphon 104 PerListen 50 Western Electric 128
AudioQuest 19, 79 Hana 58 PrimaLuna 10, 56 Wilson Audio 4
Audiovector 9 Harbeth 92 Primare 61 Wireworld 62
Audirvana 35 HCM Audio 74 Rethm 82 Wynn Audio 14
Axiss Audio 102 HiFi Rose Back Cover Rogue Audio 51 YG Acoustics 48
AXPONA 132 Infigo Audio 74 Scott Walker Audio 112, 134 Zu Audio 135
Bel Canto 106 Java Hi-Fi 36 Sierra Sound 64
Brinkmann 126 Joseph Audio 8 SME Limited 66
Burmester 124 KEF 47 Soundgenic/Fidata The Ad Index is provided
Cabasse 88, 108 Kimber Kable 6 by I-O Data Device 114 as a courtesy. The
The Cable Company 32, 33 Kirmuss Audio 92 Source Systems LTD 114, 122 publisher is not liable
for incorrect information
Canton Loudspeakers 42 KLH Audio 80 Stenheim 21 or excluded listings.
Clearaudio 22 Legacy Audio 52 Stillpoints 72 Advertisers should
contact their sales
Crystal Cable 139 LINKWITZ 72 SVS 100
representative to correct
CS Port 28 LKV Research 113 Tekton 98 or update a listing.
David Lewis Audio 84 Lumin Music Systems 122 Triangle 13

stereophile.com Q May 2023 135

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 ANY CLOD CAN HAVE THE FACTS; HAVING OPINIONS IS AN ART

MANUFACTURERS’
COMMENTS
THIS ISSUE : Representatives of JPS Labs, Eleven
Audio, Moon by Simaudio, Arvus, and Mojo Audio
respond to our assessments of their products.

Abyss Diana TC and as there are manufacturers. Despite what

Eleven Audio Broadway some may want you to believe, there isn’t one
Many thanks to Herb Reichert and Stereo- approach that is inherently correct; the best
phile for this fabulous review of our Diana approach, rather, depends on what specifi-
TC headphone and the XIAUDIO Broadway cally the designer aims to achieve.
headphone amplifier. It’s simply AWESOME At Mojo Audio, we seek to provide the
to be able to tickle a highly experienced lis- most transparent window possible to the mu-
tener’s engrams with a high-resolution audio sic on the recording as opposed to a measur-
system that’s as easy to set up as placing on ably more accurate or universally pleasing
your head. interpretation. Every circuit, component,
Herb’s recall of his past review of our and module we use is painstakingly chosen
AB-1266 headphone as “the most open, from among the best in the world through a
lightning-fast, microscopically transparent series of blind A/B listening tests in order to
transducers I’d ever used” underscores the select the ones which yield the most harmoni-
design philosophy of Diana TC to instill the cally coherent results.
resolution of our patented planar speaker his appreciation is conveyed through the It would be obvious to anyone who
drivers into a comfortable slim-fit head- review. M. Schryer used a 37W-rated ampli- reviewed our long history of prestigious
phone, having a linear frequency response fier, which, as we understand by reading the awards and raving reviews that our approach
into the subsonic range (or not as tailored by review, did not prevent him from enjoy- to R&D has a high degree of success. A signifi-
the magnetic ear pads in use). ing the musicality and well-defined sonic cant percentage of the musicians, reviewers,
presentation of the Voice 22. Nevertheless, and music lovers who audition our DACs
we feel he may have missed some of the fun consider them to either be comparable to
he could have experienced by using a more ones costing several times as much or simply
powerful, more “current capable” amplifier the best they’ve heard regardless of price.
to deliver all the qualities these loudspeakers However, our signature sound isn’t for
are capable of in the lower frequencies. As JA everyone. Our DACs are certainly considered
noted, they have good sensitivity, but they do among the best in the R-2R genre. But we
require current in the low frequency range aren’t known for being the most resolving,
and are better suited with amplifiers at ease analytical, romantic, or dynamic sound-
with such a load. The Voice 22 was designed ing. Rather, our DACs are known for being
to match with MOON amps, with which this is extremely easy to listen to, for their organic
not an issue: MOON amplifiers are renowned character, and for allowing the listener to
for their high damping factor and current
capability.
Still, it was our pleasure to help blur the
lines between “the real sonic event” and
“the machinations hi-fi is built on,” in M.
Schryer’s words.
As a side note, included with all current Dominique Poupart, Product Director
Diana models are a soft headband pad and Moon by Simaudio
pillowtop ear pads, which helps explain
Herb’s use of Diana as a sleep aid. I also need Arvus H2-4D
to give credit where credit is due: My sons The team at Arvus were determined and
Eric and Jason work hard to take products passionate to develop this new class of Dolby
such as this, custom bass ported ear pads Atmos solution. So, after almost 3 years of
and the like, from concept to reality. It’s the engineering with market engagement, we are
sum total of our appreciation of music and thrilled with this thorough and intelligent hear every detail of the music without any
complementary skill sets and dedication to review done by Stereophile. Arvus has other one aspect drawing attention to itself.
designing products that wow listeners that cutting-edge solutions in development to If you are looking for a DAC that conveys
makes this all happen. support the adoption of spatial audio, so stay the emotional content of the music, has an
Joe Skubinski, CEO tuned for future Arvus releases. organic character, and incredible harmonic
ABYSS Headphones/JPS Labs Matthew A. Simmons, CEO-Founder coherency, then I would recommend taking
Arvus advantage of our 45-day no-risk audition and
Moon by Simaudio Voice 22 comparing one of our DACs to your current
We would like to thank M. Schryer for Mojo Audio Mystique X SE reference. Hearing is believing.
reviewing our Voice 22 loudspeakers. We In the highly polarized world of high-end Benjamin Zwickel, Owner
believe he enjoyed listening to them, and audio, there are nearly as many approaches Mojo Audio

stereophile.com Q May 2023 137

 GOOD AND BAD, I DEFINE THESE TERMS QUITE CLEAR...—BOB DYLAN

MY BACK PAGES BY SASHA MATSON

THIS ISSUE: Columbia releases a
new volume—number 17—
in Bob Dylan’s Bootleg series.

A masterpiece as it is painted

C
olumbia Records continues to extend its Bob Dylan Bootleg Series, which began in ing a tender sentiment, there’s more there
1991. The latest edition in this complex warren of burrows brings us to Volume there now.
17, Bob Dylan – Fragments – Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996 – 1997). The labyrinthine nature of this Dylan
Fragments—the title—feels inaccurate; these recordings are not shards of some rabbit hole becomes apparent when you
missing whole. Rather, they form a single large, varied portrait. To borrow an analogy from compare the original album with the
art history, what we have here is the result of cleaning and restoring a large canvas, remov- newly released alternate takes and live
ing layers of varnish and dirt that had obscured the true colors and textures that were there performances. How much of that you can
when it was first painted. Now we can experience this masterpiece in a new way. access depends on which version you
choose. I bought the 4-LP set (Columbia
This Dylan Bootleg songwriting; of the 11 Legacy 19439981971): LPs 1 and 2 contain
Series Vol. 17 collection songs on Time Out of the new remix; LPs 3 and 4 are outtakes
combines the original Mind, four are classic and alternates. There is also a two-CD set,
tracks from the 1997 re- 12-bar blues and two a five-CD set, and a 10-LP version, the last
lease Time Out of Mind others resemble vamp available only on Dylan’s website. And the
along with previously blues with refrains. whole shebang is out there streaming in
unreleased studio out- Lanois, a successful, 24/96 hi-rez.
takes and live perfor- widely admired record We are talking about Bob Dylan, so noth-
mances. The original al- producer with distinc- ing is set in stone. The full “Deluxe Edition”
bum has been remixed tive ideas about sound contains six versions of “Mississippi”—five
by Michael Brauer, and music, played a from the studio, one live—which didn’t ap-
working with veteran key role in forming the pear on Time Out of Mind, although it was
Sony Legacy producers soundscape for Time planned for that album. It was rerecorded
Jeff Rosen and Steve Out of Mind: dark, for 2001’s Love and Theft (Columbia CK
Berkowitz. Remixing— mournful, spacey, with 85975). (The line “I stayed in Mississippi
going back to the individual tracks and lots of reverb and echo. In hindsight, some a day too long” is from a song recorded by
recombining them in a new way—is a more people who write about the music are piling Alan Lomax in 1947 at the Mississippi State
extensive refreshment than remastering. on. But I’ve got to admire the chutzpah of a Penitentiary.) Listening to these alternates
An obvious, high-profile comparison is the guy who could stand up to Bob Dylan cre- is a mini–master class in how to find the
recent remixes of Beatles albums by Giles atively; not easily done, I wouldn’t think. right tempo, the right drum groove. You
Martin and his Abbey Road team. Dylan’s voice was recorded with direct are there with Dylan as he feels his way
Time Out of Mind was a long time com- vocal miking and through a guitar amp. forward with his muse.
ing. When released in 1997, it had been Added to that was plentiful reverb and slap- Another connection: The Deluxe Edi-
seven years since Dylan had released an back echo, added during mixing. (Think tion has four versions of “Tryin’ to Get to
album of new, original material. The record rockabilly, Sun Records, and John Lennon.) Heaven.” The third verse contains the line,
was highly praised; it sold well and yielded The result—the original Time Out of Mind “I’m just going down the road feeling bad.”
three 1998 Grammy awards including mix—is mysterious and opaque, unique Ring them bells? Woody Guthrie covered
Album of the Year. But the back story for and haunting. The downside of his high- the traditional folk song “Going Down
this success wasn’t an easy one. Dylan calorie style of recording and mixing is a the Road Feeling Bad.” Bob sang it with
brought back producer Daniel Lanois, loss of clarity, reducing the power in the The Band during the 1967 Basement Tapes
with whom he had last worked seven years delivery of Dylan’s lyrics. period, itself the focus of a volume in the
earlier, on 1989’s Oh Mercy. Starting in fall Engineer Michael Brauer, who has been Bootleg series, Vol.11, released in 2014. The
1996, at Lanois’s Teatro studio in Oxnard, involved with the Dylan Bootleg Series for Grateful Dead made the song a permanent
north of Dylan’s Malibu home, the initial many years, said “I was told to make it part of their setlists, and Dylan toured with
sessions employed a small band consisting sound more like a singer-songwriter re- the Dead in 1987. Dylan eulogized Jerry
of Dylan, Lanois, Tony Garnier on bass, cord. … I respected the original record. I’ve Garcia at his funeral in 1995, a year before
and Tony Mangurian on drums. In January done it differently in a good way.” Colum- the Time Out of Mind sessions began.
1997, Dylan decided to move recording to bia/Sony Legacy producer Steve Berkowitz I loved hearing four versions (two stu-
the well-known Criteria Studios in Miami, said, “Make it simpler.” The end result, for dio, two live) of “Cold Irons Bound,” which
where a whole bunch of other musicians this listener, is a dramatic increase in the won Bob another Grammy in 1998, for Best
joined in—13 are credited—all recording in visceral emotional wallop of Dylan’s great Male Rock Vocal.
the studio live. songs. Now you can hear precisely how Dylan is like a surfer in the deep water
Creative sparks flew. Dylan had been edu- Dylan attacks each vowel and consonant, below his home in Malibu, knowing that if
cating Lanois with old blues records. The delivered as only he can. Whether he’s he waits, another big set will roll in and lift
blues has always been an anchor for Bob’s spitting out a scalding putdown or caress- his career toward the shore. Q

138 May 2023 Q stereophile.com

 NEW!

Diamonds Are Forever