The Dynaudio Focus series of speakers work equally well for home theater and music.
(Credit: Dynaudio)Yes, it might seem reasonable to expect that a home theater system will automatically sound equally good with movies and music, but that's not easy to do. With speakers especially, the difference in performance requirements is significant.
And though there are some specific models from Klipsch and Dynaudio that are adept with both forms of entertainment, most speakers skew one way or another. For music, overall sound quality is the top priority, for home theater it's more about clarity and the ability to handle the extreme dynamic range of special effects such as explosions.
The Klipsch RF-82 has plenty of home theater muscle and still sounds great with music.
(Credit: Klipsch)For maximum home theater thrills you'll need as much power as you can afford, a potent subwoofer, and speakers that perfectly blend with said sub. With home theater your attention is focused on the picture; sound plays a supportive role. As long as the receiver and speakers don't overtly distort when they're playing at the volume level you want, and there's enough subwoofer bass to make special effects come alive, it's mission-accomplished time. Achieving reasonably good home theater sound isn't all that demanding from an equipment point of view, but careful speaker setup and room placement are crucial for best results.
... Read More
Olive's 4HD music server sounds better than a CD player.
(Credit: Olive)I read Geoffrey Morrison's review of the Olive 4HD music server on the Home Entertainment Web site with great interest, because I recently heard the 4HD at a friend's house. The review provides a lot of information that I'm not covering here.
It's a cool-looking device, and I really like that it can be used without being hooked up to a computer. It's more like a CD player with a built-in 2TB hard drive.
There's a Gigabit Ethernet port and a Wi-Fi module if you're into the home network thing, and a free application to let you use your iPhone or iPod Touch as full remote control. Also, you can use the 4HD's HDMI interface to hook up your HDTV.
The 4HD's rear panel.
(Credit: Olive)The 4HD can store high-resolution audio files, up to 24-bit/192KHz on its hard drive. But what I wanted to know was does the 4HD sound better than a CD player when playing ripped CDs?
I listened to a number of CD/4HD comparisons and came away a believer. The 4HD sounded "less digital," cleaner, and just better than the original CDs. The difference in clarity was the single most impressive improvement hard drive replay offered.
We even compared SACDs to CDs (of the same title) ripped to the 4HD. Again in this test, the 4HD's clarity trumped SACD's. I love the fact that the 4HD, unlike most music servers, doesn't need to be hooked up to a computer. It's just a great sounding hi-fi component that can store up to 20,000 tracks at 24-bit resolution.
The 4HD sells for $1,999; however, Olive also has standard definition models starting at $1,499.
A computer soundcard for audiophiles.
(Credit: Stereophile)I have to admit up front that I'm pretty clueless about computers and computer audio. I use a pair of Audioengine A2 speakers hooked up to my Mac Mini, and the combination sounds fine to me. For "serious" listening I have a pair of Magnepan 3.6 speakers hooked up to my hi-fi system on the other side of my loft apartment. Computer audio is a low priority.
But computer audio is coming on strong, even among serious audiophiles. Need proof? Stereophile magazine's editor, John Atkinson, has been using and occasionally reviewing the best-sounding computer audio gear for at least 10 years. Granted, most high-end audio is expensive, so I was pleased to see Atkinson was smitten by a $200 sound card.
The Asus Xonar Essence ST/STX PCI and PCI Express review appeared in the January 2010 issue of the print version of Stereophile and is now on the magazine's Web site.
Sure, you could get computer audio over S/PDIF, USB, FireWire, Wi-Fi, or Ethernet connections, but that's not what the Asus Xonar Essence ST/STX sound cards are for; they plug into your PC's motherboard. Old school, but audiophile quality to be sure. I'm leaving out most of the nuts and bolts computer stuff; read the actual review to get the detailed rundown.
... Read More
(Credit:
WAM)
The Women's Audio Mission is a San Francisco based, nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of women in music production and recording arts. WAM provides hands-on training, experience, career counseling and job placement for women and girls.
I spoke with WAM's founder and executive director, Terri Winston, by phone earlier this week. Before she started WAM seven years ago, she was a college professor and developed the recording arts degree program at City College of San Francisco. Ms. Winston is also an electrical engineer, musician, recording engineer, and record producer.
Steve Guttenberg: Is it fair to describe WAM as a school?
Terri Winston: Yes, but it's small and it doesn't look like a school; more like a studio. The classes are small, with between seven and fifteen students. WAM has 350 to 400 students a year, and we try to funnel them into two- and four-year programs.
SG: Can local musicians and bands record at WAM?
TW: Yes, we offer no- and low-cost recording services for independent artists. We did a band called Built For the Sea that was on Live 105, and we're currently working on other projects.
SG: I truly admire WAM's goals, but recording studios are closing left and right. It's not a growth industry; why train a new generation of engineers? More and more bands are recording themselves, aren't they?
WAM's Terri Winston
(Credit: WAM)In the 1970s, the U.S. audio market was dominated by American-made products. Case in point: the original Dynaco A-25 speaker, introduced at the end of the previous decade, sold really well. The oft-cited sales number was something like 1,000,000 speakers sold.
Annandale Acoustics took the original Dynaco as the inspiration for its A-25 XL2. It's not a replica per se, more like the A-25 XL2 is a pumped-up version of the original concept. The company is selling the speaker directly, with a 30-day in-home audition.
The Annandale A-25 XL2, a big speaker with a big sound.
(Credit: Annandale Acoustics )The A-25 XL2, like the original A-25, is a large two-way system with a 1-inch soft-dome tweeter and a 10-inch woofer. That's interesting, as a 10-inch woofer is a good deal larger than the more typical 6.5-inch woofer found in most of today's "full-size" bookshelf speakers. So the A-25 XL2's bass punch and oomph are more like what you'd get from a hefty tower speaker.
Rather than use a standard medium-density fiberboard cabinet, the A-25 XL2 features a 15-ply Baltic Birch wood enclosure with constrained-layer damping and internal bracing for stiffness and low cabinet-induced coloration. The A-25 XL2 is finished in real American maple wood veneer.
It's available from Annandale for $2,499 per pair. Each speaker is 21 inches high by 12.5 inches wide by 10.5 inches deep, and weighs 30 pounds.
So yes, the A-25 XL2 is a lot more expensive than the original A-25, and if you're new to the hi-fi scene, you might want to find an original pair to get a taste of the classic hi-fi sound on the cheap. Trust me, if your idea of good sound is an iPod speaker, you'll be blown away by the A-25.
The A-25 XL2 is really for those of you with fond memories of the A-25 but who want something that takes advantage of today's vastly higher build-quality standards.
The new Jeff Rowland preamplifier.
(Credit: Dave Clark, Positive Feedback)My pal Dave Clark, editor at Positive Feedback Online, took a lot of great pictures at CES 2010. After the jump, see but a brief sampling from his Web site.
... Read the full post at CNET's CES 2010 blog
Compressed music sounds bad for a couple of reasons.
Dynamic range compression and lossy file compression are completely different things. What's the difference?
Dynamic range compression squashes soft-to-loud volume shifts. This form of compression has been used by recording, mixing and mastering engineers for decades.
Other than bona-fide audiophile recordings, most of the music you hear has been dynamically compressed--which isn't necessarily a bad thing, as dynamic range compression adds punch, presence, and impact to music.
It's just that over the past decade or so the trend is to overcompress dynamics, so not only has music lost most of its natural soft-to-loud dynamics, but nuance and subtle detail are missing as well. The loud-all-the-time aesthetic is boring.
Recordings with less compression have lower (quieter) overall volume, so if you go from listening to maximally compressed contemporary recordings to something with less compression you need to turn up the volume to compensate for the difference.
As a consumer of music, you don't have the option of buying uncompressed music. If the engineers squashed the soft-to-loud dynamics out of the new Lady Gaga record there's no way of getting them back. Once sound is compressed, you can't decompress it. If you want to hear music with less compression, buy original pressings of 1960s or 1970s LPs. Yes, some of those will be compressed, but less than contemporary recordings.
... Read More
Tubes and iPods never sounded better than this.
(Credit: Ultimate AV)I didn't go to CES, but a lot of my friends did. I call them all the time, and they don't seem to be all that jazzed about what they're seeing. "Nothing new" is what I keep hearing, but there were a few juicy tidbits to be found.
The new 3D TVs and Blu-ray players may or may not render the AV receiver you bought way back in 2009 obsolete. I can't get a consistent answer to the question: do you need a receiver with HDMI 1.4 to pass 3D program material to your 3D TV? You may not care about 3D, but if you do please direct your anger at the consumer electronics industry that regularly leaves its client base high and dry. We'll have to see how 1.4 works out.
Ultimate AV magazine was impressed with the Manley Stingray iTube stereo integrated amplifier. Sure, we've seen vacuum tube iPod dock/amps before, but this is the first one with real audiophile appeal. The blue LED displays surrounding the input and volume knobs can be dimmed down or turned off entirely. Manley makes truly stellar tube electronics for audiophiles and the pro market.
... Read More
A turntable, amplifier and speakers on display at BDDW.
(Credit: Steve Guttenberg)Exoticism and the high-end audio aesthetic ought to be a natural combination, but that's rarely the case. There are exceptions, and when I find them I'll cover them in this blog.
Walking down Crosby Street in SoHo in Lower Manhattan with a few friends, we spotted a trendy shop, BDDW. The window display featured brilliantly designed furniture.
Once inside, it wasn't just the furniture that dazzled, there were quite a few vintage motorcycles on display! Looking further I came upon one of the strangest looking turntables I've ever seen. BDDW was definitely not your average boutique operation; its heady mix of audio, furniture, and motorcycles is something I won't soon forget. Manhattan rents being what they are, BDDW must be doing something right.
High-end speakers and vintage motorcycles, only at BDDW!
(Credit: Steve Guttenberg)BDDW's Jon Thorson told me the belt-drive turntable (in the top picture) was so heavy they needed a forklift to put the turntable in its place. This stereo system is mounted on a huge piece of marble, placed on top of an impressive hunk of machinery.
I didn't catch the names of most of the audio products on display, but some were by Phila Audio.
Another turntable on display at BDDW.
(Credit: Steve Guttenberg)
(Credit:
TONEAudio)
If you think all high-end products are stupid expensive or mammoth monstrosities, the MiniWatt vacuum tube integrated amplifier should change your mind. What differentiates high-end gear from mass market technology is performance; mainstream manufacturers know sound quality isn't much of a priority for most buyers, so they build their products to sound just good enough.
By high-end standards at least, the MiniWatt is dirt cheap, just $229 (shipping is $40). And measuring just 5 by 4 inches, the little guy can fit anywhere. Powerful it's not, just 2.5 watts for each channel, but that should be plenty for desktop applications with wee speakers, like the Audioengine P4s I recently wrote about.
The MiniWatt's rear-end sports just one set of stereo RCA inputs.
(Credit: TONEAudio)Not convinced? Over at ToneAudio magazine, they hooked up the MiniWatt to a pair of $3,500 Zu Essence tower speakers and were blown away by the sound--so much so that ToneAudio named the amp "Product of the Year" in its budget audio category.
You can get yours in black, silver, gold, red, blue, or green.
Like any tube amp, you can improve the MiniWatt's sound with upgraded tubes.
(Credit: ToneAudio)Downsides: You get just a single stereo input, but you could add some sort of external switcher to accommodate more sources. You have to buy your own AC power cord; the MiniWatt doesn't come with one.
The mini wonder is garnering raves from a number of audiophile magazines worldwide, and I think that's just great. If you're curious about the sound of tubes, here's your chance to get in on the fun.
