"Music
is first!"
November
24, 2015
Marc,
Please
share with us the names and catalog numbers of the CDs that Warren Gehl recommended and
played during your visit to Audio Research. I'd like to see if any are
of interest to me. Music is first!
Peter
Kuntz
Warren and I talk about music all of the time, and we're both fans of just about
anything on the ECM label, as there's always an interesting cut or two (or more) on every
disc.
In
addition to the CDs I mentioned in my article (Suzanne Vega's Close-Up Series
[Amanuensis 2507 and Art of Noise's Moments in Love [RCA Ariola 651757]), Warren
and I played these when I visited Audio Research.
Roy Hargrove / Christian McBride / Stephen Scott Trio - Parker's Mood
[Verve 314 527 907-2]
John Abercrombie - Current Events [ECM 21311]
Bela Fleck with the Marcus Roberts Trio - Across the Imaginary Divide
[Rounder 191422]
The
John Abercrombie CD is long out of print and therefore not easy to find (or cheap when you
do find it). The other two are common and shouldn't cost much. -Marc Mickelson
Power
for a computer
November
17, 2015
Marc,
My
Mac computer is plugged into the wall, but the DAC in the line conditioner. Do folks plug
the computer into the line conditioner as well?
Sheldon
Simon
Computers
generate an incredible amount of noise. I've mentioned in the past that when I worked in
IT I moved many computers because they interfered with radio reception. I suspect that
audiophiles plug their computers into line conditioners, because doing so will improve the
system's sound. This occurs because so many line conditioners have isolated outlets (often
intended for digital) that separate the products plugged in to them from the outlets for
the other components and don't allow digital noise to pollute the entire system. Thus, for
this reason, you should plug your computer into your line conditioner (provided it has
isolated outlets, that is); in fact, a better idea would be to have a second line
conditioner plugged into a separate AC circuit that you could plug your computer into.
This would isolate it even better. Running the computer off battery power and placing it
physically away from your DAC would be better still. -Marc Mickelson
Enough
power for 20.7s?
November
11, 2015
Marc,
Interesting
read, as always.
Was
the Reference 150 SE powerful enough for the large Magnepan 20.7s? I can get a good deal
on this amp, but I am a bit hesitant, because I'm not sure whether it is a good match for
my 3.7s or not.
Hasse
Jerresand
In
a word, yes. When I was at Audio Research, I asked about the Reference 75 SE and the
20.7s, and Warren Gehl said it was marginal in terms of power, but I can attest that the
Reference 150 SE was a great match for the biggest Maggies. At no point during my
listening did the amp seem to strain, and we were playing the music at high levels. As you
know, Magnepans present a uniform load to an amplifier, but they need power because they
are not very efficient. The 150Wpc Reference 150 SE had plenty of power for the 20.7s and
would for your 3.7s too. -Marc Mickelson
Luxman
and CD
November
5, 2015
Dennis,
I
just read your Luxman D-08u review and have one question for you. Everyone knows
that the SACD format is really good and if we want to have something on the same level
with CD then we need to spend more money for a better CD player. So could you write a few
words about how this Japanese tank is with CDs? I don't want to compare with SACD, but
what is your opinion about CD only? I am considering a full Luxman system with the D-08u
as the main source, but I have 3000 CDs, many SACDs and a big collection of files too.
Lucas
Luq
I
agree that, as important as SACD playback is, one also needs to have as good a CD player
as possible, because the vast majority of discs are not SACDs. In case it doesn’t
come through from my writing, I still consider LP playback the gold standard -- leaving
aside tape, which is really not a practical medium for anyone other than the 1% or
reviewers. That said, it has been hard to get excited about CD sound when compared to
truly exceptional LP playback. Two things shifted for me over the last year. First,
several of the latest generation of CD players started to catch up and sound very nice
indeed, to the point of setting me on a search for a modern digital playback system to
keep around long term. Hence the search for a one-box CD/SACD player. Furthermore, short
of finding the SACD player of my dreams, I wanted to see if the current crop of CD players
was good enough to obviate the need for an SACD player.
I did compare the CD layers of hybrid discs (the Luxman allows switching between
layers) between the Luxman and competitively priced top-end CD players from Audio Research
and Aesthetix, and I found the Luxman playback of Red Book audio on par with these
players. As indicated in my review, however, I also recently listened to the Neodio Origine, a much more expensive CD-only player, in a familiar
system, and then in my own home. This remarkable player brings out so much in Red Book
audio that I never suspected lay hidden there. I now spend far less time listening to
vinyl and far more time exploring old and newly acquired CDs.
I
was recently told that the computing power of a smart phone today equals that of a
several-hundred-thousand-dollar mainframe computer of yesteryear, and the price of course
is millions of times less than the earliest computers. I wish I could say that the same
trend has occurred with CD players. Although the improvements have been dramatic, they
come at a dramatic price! - Dennis Davis
New
Time Out
November
1, 2015
Marc,
I
received this morning the announcement from Acoustic Sounds of the appearance of Dave
Brubeck’s Time Out, newly pressed by Analogue Productions and Quality Record
Pressings. Surprisingly your review was added to this announcement -- "surprisingly"
because the impression is given that this newly pressed vinyl record was only launched the
other day.
Anyway,
I am still in the possession of a Dutch pressing [CBS 62068] from 1964 in mint condition
which I bought 50 (!) years ago and which I obviously played immediately this day, finding
a fantastic, detailed sound on my Thorens-Quad setup. I'm wondering if there would be any
difference in sound quality with Analogue Productions' newborn child? The only way to find
out is to spend around $60 (includes shipping to Europe) and compare the two records,
which I find too much for satisfying my curiosity.
By
the way, checking Discogs I found around 800 vinyl copies of Time Out or related
to Time Out for sale, many in good condition at reasonable prices. Isn’t it
fascinating how things don’t change in a half-century time span?
Peter
de Rooy
The
new version of Dave Brubeck's Time Out from Analogue Productions is a single
33rpm LP; the version I reviewed in 2012 was a two-record 45rpm set. So presumably the
mastering of the new version is different and the sound probably is too.
As
I observed in my review, Time Out is not a rare record by any means. I have a
number of original pressings, and I paid no more than a couple of dollars for any one of
them -- and more often than not much less than this. However, as I also observed, none of
those sounds as good as the Analogue Productions 45rpm set I reviewed. Paying the cost of
a new copy of the album is certainly a personal choice; for me, even with all of the
copies I have, the Analogue Productions pressing is worth the money because it really did
reveal more of the recording itself, and this was rewarding for a record I know so well. Time
Out is a classic, and I suspect there will be more new pressings in the future, not to
mention digital versions (of which I have five or six already). Marc Mickelson
