tas159_gea_05

SALLIE REYNOLDS

Musical Fidelity A5 CD player

$2500 (signalpathint.com)

Spendor S8e loudspeaker

$3000 (qsandd.com)

Prima Luna Prologue Three preamplifier and Five amplifier

$1295 each (upscaleaudio.com)

Musical Fidelity’s A5 CD player is musical, excit-ing, clear, extended, and balanced. It produces anextraordinarily broad, deep, and high soundstage,when soundstaging information is on the CD. Itshighs are sweet and pure, its mids rich and natu-

ral, its bass extended and full, yet tight and precise. Itreveals the wonderfully rich layers of complex music in away that sounds natural—which, in my experience, isunusual in reproduced sound at anywhere near this price—and it does so without picking the fabric of the musicalwhole to pieces. The A5 looks good, is easy to set up andreliable, and plays beautifully in every system I have tried itin, modest and not so. A nearly perfect component. (Ibought it.)

Every now and then, a component comes along that

clicks into place in your system and makes you veryhappy with your music. The Spendor S8e loudspeaker (atwo-way floorstanding model), among the heirs to the BBCmonitors of yore, did this for me. Spendors have long beenknown for their gorgeous midrange and treble. The S8ehas, in addition, clean, clear, dramatic bass—even low bass.Without a subwoofer, it reproduces even full pipe organsoul-satisfyingly. With a good sub, you will get clearer andpurer low lows, but even without, such is the balance andpurity of these drivers, you will love what you hear. TheS8es also recreate a wide, deep soundstage, one whoseheight is especially good with singers. The stage is at its

best when the listener is in the sweetspot, but you can really be anywhere inthe room and get a sense of being sur-rounded and enveloped in glorious music.The transition from driver to driver isbeautifully inaudible. These speakers areeasy to set up. They do not require mega-buck ancillary equipment, though thefiner the equipment you connect to them,the better everything sounds. In a pricefield that contains several lovely speakers,there is still something mysteriouslywonderful about these, and I wouldn’t

want to be very long without them. The PrimaLuna Prologue Three preamp and Five power

amp are at the top of my list for good sound, good value, andsimplicity. They are also good fun, if you like playing withtubes (they are built to accept many types, including the EL-34), but you don’t need to play with tubes. You can be a com-plete tube neophyte and enjoy these units. They fill theroom with exquisite sound, from the whisper of a strokedcymbal or muted violin to the foundation thunder of a greatorgan. That’s the key. The ProLogues make music; theymake it simply; they make it well.

They are also easy to set up, nearly indestructible, and playexcellently with a variety of speakers. If you like tubes, listento these. They will confirm your tastes. If you don’t like tubes,listen to these. They will change your mind about tubes.

40 THE ABSOLUTE SOUND n FEBRUARY 2006

The Absolute Sound’s 2OO5

Golden Ear AwardsW

elcome to the latest edition of The Absolute Sound’s Golden Ear Awards. Unlike last issue’s compre-hensive Editors’ Choice list, Golden Ears is the place where our editors and most frequent contrib-utors choose the components that, whether long-term or newfound favorites, have won a specialplace in our hearts. The assignment came with no guidelines or restrictions, and, as you might

expect, the results are as wide-ranging and unpredictable as the high end itself. Note: Harry Pearson’s GoldenEar winners may be found in HP’s Workshop, page 99.

JONATHAN VALIN

MBL 101 E “Radialstrahler”

$46,900 (mbl.com)

MBL 6010 D linestage preamp

$18,920

MBL 9011 monoblock amplifier

$73,480

Audio Research Reference 3 linestage preamp

$10,000 (audioresearch.com)

Audio Research Reference 210 monoblock amplifier

$19,990

Edge NL Signature 1.1 linestage preamp

$10,900 (edgeamps.com)

Edge NL 12.1 stereo amplifier

$18,500

Afew years ago I rec-ommended threedifferent systemsbuilt around thesame exemplary

loudspeaker—the Maggie1.6QR. For this year’sGolden Ears, I’m going todo the same thing: Awardmy Ears to a single speakersystem and three differentsets of electronics. Thespeaker is the MBL 101 E“Radialstrahler,” the fabledominidirectional loud-speaker from WolfgangMeletzky. Not only is the101 E a stunning techno-logical tour-de-force andbeautiful object, it is thesingle most-lifelike trans-ducer I’ve heard. I could goon about the 101 E’s phe-nomenal low-level resolu-tion, uncannily realistictreble, “you-are-there” midrange, and extraordinary bass—but what the 101 E really offers that no other loudspeakerdoes to the same degree is excitement.

Like live music heard in a concert hall, recital room, orrock club, the 101 Es will consistently raise the gooseflesh onyour arms, the hairs at the back of your neck, the muscles thatset your feet tapping and your baton arm swinging—as any-one who has auditioned these incredibly cool-looking thingsat a CES or CEDIA can attest. They’re simply more alive thanthe competition, even the horn-based competition.

My first 101 E system, and overall much the best ofthe lot, is all-MBL, comprising the MBL 6010 D solid-statelinestage preamplifier and MBL 9011 solid-state monoblockamplifiers. Whether your source is digital or analog, MBL’spreamp and amp bring out more of the 101E’s many aston-ishing qualities better than its rivals—and in two particularinstances, much better. Nothing I’ve yet heard competeswith the resolution and sensational dynamic range of thisMBL gear. In combination with each other and the 101 Es,the 6010 D and 9011 dig more deeply into pianissimos andplay fortissimos with greater ease and clarity than virtuallyany hi-fi I’ve heard.

All this paradigm-shifting resolution and dynamic lifecomes at a steep price, however. Which leads me to my sec-ond 101 E system, the tube-powered Audio ResearchReference 3 linestage preamp and Reference 210 monoblockamplifiers. I’ve been talking about Audio Research preampssince the first review I wrote for TAS, and I am pleased to saythat ARC’s latest is also its greatest—neutral, detailed,focused, fast, “pure,” and grainless, with less resolution,extension, and dynamic oomph but more lifelike timbresand better staging than the MBL 6010. As good as it is on

its own, in combinationwith the Reference 210the Ref 3 becomes aworld-beater. The MBLelectronics had pushedme over to the DarkSide of solid-state, thenI heard the References.Now…well, if themusic you listen to isprimarily acoustic andif soundstaging isimportant to you, thisARC combo is a must-audition.

My third 101 E sys-tem is the Edge NLSignature 1.1 battery-powered linestage pre-amp and NL 12.1 stereoamplifier. If MBL andARC (to a somewhatlesser extent) give you amicroscopically fineview of the soundstage,

the Edge preamp and amp gives you an “exploded” view,where certain instruments rich in upper midrange har-monics (like strings and piano) seemed to be reproduced“closer-up.” Big, bloomy, airy, and beautiful-sounding,the Edge doesn’t have the speed, detail, and bottom-octave clout of the MBL electronics nor the magical stag-ing of the ARC combo, but is still so lifelike in the mid-band that the losses may not matter to you. They don’tmuch to me. But then I could live happily with any ofthese combos.



PAUL SEYDORSME Model 30/2 integrated turntable

$35,000 (sumikoaudio.net)

McIntosh MC275 Series IV amplifier

$3500 (mcintoshlabs.com)

Etymotic ER-4S headphones

$330 (etymotic.com)

If ever therewere a statement prod-uct, the SME Model 30/2 is it. As Ipointed out in my review (Issue 154), SME’sAlastair Robertson-Aikman applies the principles of

high mass, tuned suspension, and judiciously applied damp-ing more effectively than anyone else. Pair it with an appro-priate pickup (medium-to-high mass and compliance) andyou have playback of vinyl sources that is virtually peerless,especially in the areas of overall background-blackness,dynamic range, and that elusive quality of liveness. It goeswithout saying that it is also dead neutral, tonally accurate,and wholly without personality as such. At $35,000 (includ-ing SME’s flagship arm), it is expensive beyond expensive(though by no means the highest ticket out there); butshould you be fortunate enough to own one, I have no doubtthat if vinyl is still being played a hundred years from nowyour heirs will be enjoying it on your Model 30.

I have never heard a better tube amplifier thanMcIntosh’s reissued and updated MC275 Series IV, and fewbetter amplifiers period. If you think tubes must have asonic personality, the extraordinary neutrality and tonalnaturalness of this one may shake your prejudices to theirfoundations. With enough power for all but very inefficientspeakers in very large rooms, the MC275 yields some of themost musically persuasive and satisfying reproductionyou’re ever likely to hear. Consider this a recommendationwith highest possible enthusiasm.

If you use conventional headphones in a typical large,urban gymnasium, with its Muzak blaring all the time,and you play your CD portable or iPod loudly enough tobe heard over the ambient noise, then you are almost cer-tainly damaging your ears. The same may be true for air-line travel. Alarmist? Think again—hearing damage hasbecome so pervasive that in the past year alone both

major news mag-azines, Time and

Newsweek, have runcover stories on the sub-

ject. Etymotic is not theonly company to make ear-

phones that fit directly into theear canal, but it is arguably the

one with the solidest credentials.For over 20 years this company has

been researching, designing, and manufacturing productsto measure, improve, and protect hearing (with 89patents and a government grant for research).

The main reason why headphones such as this mili-tate against hearing damage is that they block out ambi-ent noise more effectively than conventional designs—23dB with the ER-4S—thus allowing you to play themusic at a lower level, which you should be doing any-how. The ER-4S is perhaps the most musically naturalheadphone I’ve heard. They’re a little shy in the bass(although bass response, as with all headphones, is great-ly affected by how you fit them on, or in this case into,your ears), but the highs are extended yet smooth andsweet (rather tube-like, in fact), with none of the tipped-up character of conventional headphones, even the bestof them. And the midrange is rich and detailed.

A lifelong runner, I passed the age of 55 and had toadmit that my hip joints no longer liked pounding thepavement. So I’ve had to get my aerobic workouts ingyms. The ER-4S came as such a revelation that I can’timagine life without them. Headroom’s Airhead portableheadphone amplifier is a logical companion, and willblow away the tinny amplifier wannabes that come inportable CD players and iPods. Highest possible recom-mendation, then, for both products: sonically and for thehealth of your ears!

SUE KRAFTB&W 800D loudspeaker

$20,000 (bwspakers.com)

McCormack DNA-500 amplifier

$6800 (mccormackaudio.com)

My first pick for Golden Ear honors this year goesto the B&W 800D. This state-of-the-art loud-speaker will forever change the way you hearrecorded music. Our brain processes live(unamplified) music as a whole entity because,

obviously, that’s the way we hear it. With the vast major-ity of multi-driver loudspeaker systems, the playback ofrecorded music—whether we are consciously aware of itor not—is processed in sections, because that’s also theway it’s typically heard. The diamond-dome tweeter tech-nology of the 800D so intricately weaves the high fre-quencies back into the fabric of the music, it’s as if thewholeness of the live event has been recreated. Thiswholeness results in spectacularly solid, seamless, andlifelike images—the best I’ve heard to date. It’s almost abit eerie at times. The varying heights of performers onstage, for example, are so clearly discernable I’ve beentempted on occasion to jaunt up to the front of the roomand draw outlines around them. Although this breath-taking wholeness of imaging was initially whatcaptivated me, I found the performance ofthe 800D to be equally stunning inevery other regard as well. The capa-bility of this loudspeaker to com-pellingly recreate musical per-formances ranging from the deli-cate intricacies of a solo piano tothe brute force of a full orchestrawas nothing less than awe-inspiring. Never mind thedrop-dead-gorgeous looksof these 275-poundbeasts. This is the firsttime in over 20 yearsthat non-audiophile vis-itors to my home haveactually wanted to hearmy system. B&W is atechnology-driven com-pany that leaves noaspect of a speaker’sdesign to chance, andthe 800D is truly thecrowning jewel of thatphilosophy.

My next Golden Earpick goes to theMcCormack DNA-500(500 watts per channel)

solid-state power amplifier. If I were to make a list of thecomponents I’ve missed the most since (sadly) having tosend them packing after a review, the DNA-500 wouldstand alone at the top. HP has long said it’s all about thedynamics, and he couldn’t be more right. Have you everwalked by the open door of a bar and immediately beenable to tell that the music coming from within was live?Have you thought about the reasons why? Above all else,it’s boundless energy and through-the-roof dynamicsthat allow us to immediately identify a live perform-ance. I can recall the words “buoyancy” and “bounce”coming to mind every time I listened to the DNA-500,and still I worried that my description of what I washearing would not do this amp justice. That’s thetoughest part of this job, trying to convey what I’mhearing and feeling and attempting to relate the mentalimages I experience as I’m listening. Sometimes wordsand descriptions make no sense unless you’ve actually

heard the equipment for yourself. The word “liveli-ness” doesn’t begin to do this amp justice. It’s

simple to see why designer SteveMcCormack has garnered such a stellar

reputation and loyal customer follow-ing over the years. The DNA-500’s

exquisite balance between liquidease and raw power makes mostother solid-state amps soundmechanical and sterile in com-

parison. It would be hard toimagine any serious music

lover not being taken inby the easygoing yetauthoritative nature ofthis gentle giant. Icould easily recite alaundry list of all theother things the DNA-500 does right, butmore than anythingelse, it’s the buoyancy,the bounce—theeffortless energy andspark of life from with-in—that touched mysoul and captured theessence of live musicfor me.


CHRIS MARTENS

Usher Dancer CP8571 MkII loudspeaker

$7735 (usheraudio.com)

NuForce Reference 9 monoblock amps

$2500 (nuforce.com)

Kuzma Stabi S turntable and Stogi S tonearm

$3300 (themusic.com)

The veteran audiophile played one reference record-ing after another through the Usher DancerCP8571 MkII floorstanding loudspeaker. He wasquiet, so I couldn’t tell whether his impressionswere favorable or not. Finally, the veteran—who was

no stranger to loudspeakers priced at five figures per pair—turned and softly asked, “How much did you say these cost?”“Around $7700 per pair,” I replied. My guest nodded slow-ly and then said, “You know, if you had told me these speak-ers cost $20,000 I’d have said, ‘That’s a good price for them,considering their sound and build-quality.’ But at thisprice….” The Taiwanese-made Dancer, a design shaped byDr. Joseph D’Appolito, is by no means inexpensive, but it isso good that listeners invariably compare it to speakers sev-eral times its price. Here’s why. The Dancer offers essential-ly full-range sound, with highs produced by one of thesmoothest yet most articulate tweeters you could ever hopeto hear, an open-sounding midrange with explosive dynam-ics, punchy yet finely-textured bass, and the sort of overar-ching soundstage focus that is rare at any price. Factor inUsher’s stunning woodwork and you have a loudspeaker thatpleases in many of the ways that Wilson Audio’sWATT/Puppies do, but at a fraction of the price. For audio-philes who aspire to owning top-tier loudspeakers, butwhose ships have not yet come in, Usher’s Dancer offers seri-ous sonic excellence and tremendous value.

When I was a child I loved the story of David and

Goliath, and there are many things about NuForce’sReference 9 monoblock power amps that remind me of thatstory. These 160-watt Class D amps are small and affordable,and look unassuming, but they open up a giant can of sonicwhoop-ass on most amps their price, and they sound betterthan many that cost more. The Reference 9s are exceedinglytransparent yet not bright, and they offer potent and expres-sive dynamics, excellent soundstage width and depth, andworld-class bass. What’s not to like? Well, the amps gener-ally don’t deliver the holographic, illuminated-from-withinmidrange of the best tube amps, and they can at timesexhibit an accurate-to-a-fault, garbage-in/garbage-out qual-ity. But once you hear the way the NuForces uncover previ-ously unheard nuances in your favorite recordings, I thinkyou’ll be hooked. Will other modern Class D designs soundas good as, or perhaps better than, the NuForces? Maybe,but for now the Reference 9s establish a new benchmark foraffordable excellence in amplification.

Lately I’ve been doing a lot of listening to the simplebut sophisticated Kuzma Stabi S turntable and Stogi Sunipivot tonearm from Slovenia, and the combination hasreally won my heart and mind. As many analog loversknow, the tonal quality of background silences variesfrom turntable to turntable, and the Stabi S produces adeep, warm, black background that reminds me of thehush you might hear in a concert hall just before themusic begins. In turn, the Stogi S is a minimalist butvery effective design that can unleash the formidable per-formance potential of great moving coils such as theShelter 90X. In particular, the Stogi S promotes absolute-ly effortless and highly holographic soundstaging, lettinghigh-frequency details come through without edgeenhancement, while providing a wonderfully solid bassfoundation. But perhaps the truest indicator of theKuzma pair’s sonic goodness lies in the fact that whenev-er I start spinning favorite LPs on this rig, I just can’tseem to stop. If that’s not analog magic, what is? (See fullreview elsewhere in this issue.)


ROBERT E. GREENEGradient Revolution active loudspeaker

$7645 (mayaudio.com)

McIntosh XRT28 loudspeaker

$19,000 (mcintoshlabs.com)

TacT Audio RCS 2.2X/Allison 3/

Harbeth Monitor 40

corner woofer system

$3990 (tactaudio.com)

“Acoustics is everything.” No doubtwe all admire the rococo varia-tions of high-end audio electron-ics, but to my mind the really fun-damental issues of audio are

speakers in rooms and, of course, recordings.Experiments have shown that speakers, togeth-er with a good amplifier, can accomplish some-thing remarkably like facsimile reproduction, ifyou listen anechoically. Pick up the speaker out-put with a good microphone in an anechoicchamber, and it’s hard to tell that pickup of theamplifier-speaker combination from the origi-nal signal when you listen to it later on eitherspeakers or headphones. The direct arrival can,in short, be almost perfect. But preserving thisperceived accuracy in actual listening rooms isdifficult indeed.

My three choices this year are allattempts at solving that fundamental prob-lem of audio—making a speaker that is unaf-fected by the listening room’s acoustics.None is perfect, but all three are unusuallyeffective at letting you hear what is really onthe record—and nothing else.

In theory, one of the very best ways tomake a speaker that ignores the acoustics ofthe listening room is to have dipole radiationin the bass, but in the treble to have forwardradiation only in a uniform but relativelynarrow pattern. This theoretical dream wasrealized some years ago by the GradientRevolution. With its dipole bass and car-dioid forward radiation, it was and is aremarkable success at ignoring its surround-ings (and sounding neutral in nearly anyenvironment). The original model has beenrecently supplemented by a new version witha line-level electronic crossover. This design,which requires bi-amplification, allowscrossover adjustment of the bass level tofit room size and acoustics. If high bassdynamic capability is desired and/or thespeaker is used in a large room, then

the bass units can be doubled up—two (ormore) can be used per channel. TheRevolution, even with extra bass units, isquite compact, but it is a giant in soundquality.

With woofers on the floor and a highlydirectional array of midranges and tweetersabove, the McIntosh XRT28 makes thedirect-arrival sound surprisingly dominantover all subsequent reflections and rever-beration. The speaker is not completelysmooth and flat in the top end, but thatquibble aside, it projects you into therecording venue like few others. With agood orchestral recording and in the right(somewhat restricted) listening position, itis closer to “being there” than you mighthave thought possible. The listening roomaround you is quite nearly gone, replacedby the recorded venue.

Decades ago, Roy Allison pointed outdefinitively to the audio world thatwoofers belong in corners—not just sub-woofers but woofers. Unfortunately, afull-range speaker in a corner tends todevelop colorations from the wall load-ing and has imaging difficulties fromearly reflections. Enter the TacT con-cept: Woofer in the corner, digitallytime-delayed main speaker out in theroom, the TacT RCS 2.2X doing thecrossover at 200Hz and DSP in-roomresponse correction of the whole thing.The particular speakers used are not thepoint, but it was a pleasure to realizeAllison’s vision with his own speaker.The result is a completely coherent sys-tem that combines the imaging of out-in-the-room speakers with the bass ofcorner-loading, nearly eliminating the

effect of the listening room. Hearingis believing.


NEIL GADERPlinius 9200 integrated amplifier

$4095 (pliniusaudio.com)

ATC SM20-2 speaker

$5500 (atc.gb.net)

REL Britannia B3 subwoofer

$2195 (sumikoaudio.net)

Accuphase DP-57 CD player

$4900 (accuphase.com)

Plinius CD-101 CD player

$4495 (pliniusaudio.com)

Plinius electronics and ATC speakers are two compa-nies that have figured strongly in my reference sys-tem, but the competition has been steadily closing inand this venerable duo was lately looking a bit longin the tooth. For this writer the last half of 2005 will

be remembered as the moment both responded to the chal-lenge con brio. With the introduction of the Plinius 9200integrated amplifier and the ATC SCM20-2 compact moni-tor speaker, liquidity and transparency were lovingly restoredas the rules of the day. At a conservatively rated 200Wpc thePlinius 9200 is more settled in the mids and plainly quieter(the noise floor has been lowered) than in either of its previ-ous 8150/8200 iterations. Always a sprinter in terms of tran-sients and dynamic responsiveness, the latest version hasremoved the vestigial sting that sometimes crept into the tre-ble on hard transients, without sacrificing perceived speedand energy. At the other end of the frequency range, bass def-inition has been improved and now matches the class-leadingbass extension that the Plinius has always possessed. Still agreat value, especially in light of the newly improvedphonostage that is still standard equipment.

In another fit of evolution and true intelligent design,British-based ATC has further refined the venerableSCM20SL. The warmish coloration in the mid/upper basshas been exorcised—non-parallel sidewalls and a stiffer com-posite cabinet are the main heroes here. The significantlyextended soft-dome tweeter is all new for this model, havingbeen adapted from ATC’s futuristic flagship, the SCM70SL.The net result is an openness and honesty that trumps eventhe substantial gifts of its forebear. Mind you, this is not afull-range loudspeaker, but its excellent response into themidbass makes it a prime contender for pairing with aworld-class subwoofer—anything less would undermine theprodigious charms of this studio-caliber monitor.

That theoretical subwoofer would first and foremostneed to speak with the same voice as the SCM20-2, i.e., withauthority as well as speed and subtlety. The REL BritanniaB3 (the smallest of three models designed for both musicand movies) fills the ATC’s dance card like few pairings out-side of Fred and Ginger. Optimizing the REL for the satel-

lite and room takes a bit of experimentation, but therewards are well worth the effort. The B3 doesn’t overlay itsown personality on the music. At times it doesn’t seem to bedoing much of anything. When there’s no deep bass, you’llwant to check whether the B3 is plugged in. But when itgets the call, the B3 unleashes the dogs with response that isat once spectacular, naturalistic, and nearly limitless. Itsexpansiveness almost redefines the scope and scale of the lis-tening space. And it never becomes the center of attentionlike lesser subwoofers—the music remains the central event.As with all REL subs it doesn’t high-pass the main speakers,so you’ll need to be certain they have the intrinsic oomphand dynamism to run full-range.

Finally I would be remiss in not mentioning a pair ofCD players that sprinted across the finish line in a dead heat.Both the Accuphase DP-57 and the Plinius CD-101 weresurpassingly musical performers with distinctive personali-ties. The former, soothingly warm, refined, and naturalistic,sang like a rare acoustic instrument. The latter, rhythmical-ly propulsive, was a bit cooler yet stunningly dynamic andtransparent. Both of these players left me in the samequandary I often found myself in analog’s “olden days,”when trying to choose between phono cartridges. LP junkiesalways had at least a couple on hand. In a perfect world I’down both of these CD players, too.


WAYNE GARCIA

Redpoint Audio Model B turntable

$11,000 (redpoint-audio-design.com)

Artemis Labs LA-1 linestage and PL-1 phonostage

$2850 and $3350 (aydn.com)

Balanced Audio Technology VK-55 amplifier

$3995 (balanced.com)

Kharma Ceramique Reference Monitor 3.2 speaker

$21,500 (gttgroup.com)

Though it’s only a few years old, Redpoint Audioseems destined for great things in analog. The com-pany’s Model B, a 150-pound, 3-pod design, hasbeen my reference for the better part of the past year,and it is easily the finest-sounding turntable I’ve

used. That’s not to say I’ve heard ’em all, or that a few of thefinest—such as the Rockport and Walker—might not be“better.” But when paired with the Tri-Planar VII arm (andI’m sure others, as well), the Model B delivers music againsta devilishly low noise floor, with a huge dynamic spectrum,terrific weight, exceptional resolution, and magical spatialqualities. Record after record has been not just a revelation,but tremendously fun and satisfying.

Another relative newcomer, Artemis Labs was my sur-prise discovery of the year. The handmade LA-1 linestage andPL-1 phonostage are tube-driven components, and theysound distinctly so in the best sense of that phrase. Extremelyairy and holographic, this gear brings a great sense of physi-cal shape and presence to instruments and voices. And whilethese designs also excel at harmonic, textural, and dynamicnuance, and have an effortless sense of dynamic projection,what’s harder to describe is the sheer spine-tingling beautyand aliveness the Artemis gear brings to music. The compa-ny’s first amp is in the works—stay tuned.

While Balanced Audio Technology makes many fine

components, and I’ve heard and reviewed my fair share ofthem, the one that most recently captivated me is not one ofthe company’s biggest or most expensive efforts, but the rel-atively small (50 pounds), relatively low-powered (55 watts),and relatively affordable ($3995) VK-55. After more thanten months of pretty constant use this sweet-honey of anamp continues to impress with its inherent ease and musi-cality. While it doesn’t have the kind of “etched” detail someaudiophiles crave, and the bottom end doesn’t have ultimatereach and impact, its warmth, natural textural and harmon-ic qualities, and open, airy presentation are very satisfying.It’s got what I call “musical detail, ” in that everythingcomes through in a way that serves the musical whole, allow-ing you to enjoy and become immersed in each performance.

I’m not sure if I have anything new to add to JonathanValin’s Golden Ear comments about the Kharma 3.2 in Issue139, or his full review in Issue 140. But I’m so smitten bythis small, two-way, floorstanding design, and it has beensuch a great source of musical pleasure as well as an invalu-able evaluation tool this past year, that for me to not give ita Golden Ear for 2005 would be criminal. Granted, I have asmall room, but I’ve always preferred small-to-medium sizedspeakers to behemoths. To these ears, most big speakers(with the exception of Maggies and Sound Labs), sound likebig speakers. Despite their ability to create life-size images,scale the largest dynamic peaks, plumb the deepest bass, andmove massive amounts of air, the big guys rarely sound likereal music to me. I’m too aware of driver discontinuities andother electro-mechanical events at work. The thing that’s sogreat about the 3.2 is that it has the kind of single-drivercoherence you get from a Quad, but it’ll play rock or any-thing else at lifelike levels, and has as good a 40Hz bassresponse as anything going. In addition, the 3.2 creates aremarkably large and deep soundstage (if not the height of alarger speaker), is transparent to whatever is placed before it,and capable of a dazzling array of instrumental layers, tex-tures, and colors.


ROBERT HARLEYWilson Audio MAXX 2 loudspeaker

$45,000 (wilsonaudio.com)

Balanced Audio Technology VK-600M SE amplifiers

$7995 to $23,000 (balanced.com)

Naim Nait 5i integrated amplifier

$1350 (naimusa.com)

Shunyata AC power-conditioning system

Hydra-8: $1995; Hydra-2: $395: Power cords:$1995 (shunyata.com)

After hearing the MAXX 2 in five differ-ent systems and rooms, including myown for the past eight months, I’mconvinced that this is one of theworld’s great loudspeakers. It has

never failed to sound anything less thanspectacular despite the wide number ofplaces and electronics with which it hasbeen partnered. More telling, perhaps, isthat after eight months of daily listen-ing I continue to be amazed at what thisloudspeaker can do. Rather than reveal-ing flaws that become increasinglyapparent, long-term familiarityhas, instead, deepened my appre-ciation of the MAXX 2’sachievement.

It may seem ludicrous to calla $45,000 loudspeaker a bargain.But when compared with manyof the stratospherically pricedsystems—including Wilson’sown $135,000 X-2 Alexandria—the MAXX 2 holds its own inthis world-class company, and ata fraction of the price.

BAT’s VK-600M SE some-how manages to combine seem-ingly unlimited dynamic expres-sion and center-of-the-earth basssolidity with the midrangeimmediacy and transparency of alow-powered minimalist design.I won’t belabor the sonic descrip-tion since my full review appearsin this issue, but suffice to say thatthe VK-600M SE is special indeed,and when used with the MAXX 2,brings out that loudspeaker’s bot-tom-end resolution and dynamicpotential.

We’ve long touted Naim’s integrated amplifiers in thesepages, but it’s impossible to heap too much praise on thismusical marvel. This Nait 5i’s musicality demands that weshout its virtues from the rooftops. This is not just a stagger-ingly great amplifier; its $1350 price makes it, in my view,the greatest bargain in hi-fi today.

The latest iteration in the long-running Nait series, the5i delivers greater output power (50Wpc) and an even morerefined sound than its predecessors. The 50Wpc rating

should allow the 5i to drive a widerrange of loudspeakers, overcoming aperceived shortcoming of the 5i’s low-powered progenitors. (The Nait 2,which I reviewed in 1989, deliveredjust 18Wpc. But what an eighteenwatts it was.)

The Nait integrated amplifiers arespecial because they sound like music,not hi-fi. They have a gorgeous render-ing of timbre, a relaxed and spacioussound, and an engaging musicality thatinstantly makes me forget I’m listeningthrough a playback system. Used with-in its power limitations, the Nait 5i isas good as—and in some ways betterthan—some five-figure separates.

Although I’ve only recentlyinstalled the Shunyata products

in my system, their effect onthe sound is so dramatic thatI’ll award them a Golden Earin advance of my full review.The products include theHydra-8 and Hydra-2 AC con-ditioners and Anaconda Helixand Python Helix AC cords.Used together, they elevatedmy system to a new level oftransparency, resolution, spa-ciousness, and bass definition.Removing the Shunyata prod-ucts threw their effect intosharp relief; with stock ACcords and no conditioner thesound became hard, flat, two-dimensional, lacking bloomaround individual instrumentsand sounding more like a col-lection of sounds than a musi-cal expression.

I’ll have more to say in theupcoming review, but be alert-ed: This is one serious, thoughhideously expensive, AC-treat-ment system.


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AMPLIFIERSASR Emitter II Model 2005

This amplifier not only joins the rank ofthe great classics of audio design, like,

say, the Audio Research D-150 andReference 600s, but also actually advancesthe art in its fiendishly clever integrationof a battery-powered linestage into theamp itself. It sounds as if there is nolinestage at all in the circuit.

The battery-powered linestage is, Iam sure, partly responsible for the van-ishingly low noise floor of this high-

powered, solid-state component. If thereis a “new wave” in high-end sound, andI maintain there is, it lies in those com-ponents—like the Dynavector XV-1Smoving coil, the VPI ScoutmasterSignature, and ASR’s own battery-pow-ered Basis phonostage—that have solowered the noise floor that we, the lis-teners, are able to hear much moredeeply into the recorded soundspace.

But it isn’t just the lowering of thenoise floor that accounts for some of thisamp’s magic; it is also the reduction ofwhat Lew Johnson (of connie-j) calls

“the grunge.” You can decrease the noisefloor of a given component and still hearabove that its electronic or mechanicalsignature. In the case of tubes, we havecalled this “tube rush,” and in solid-stategear we have heard it as a kind of subtleelectronic hash or fine-grained sandinessor electronic glaze.

I came at this backwards when Inoted the way the Emitter allowed a lis-tener to hear through both the compactdisc and the analog LP in a new way,without their usual seemingly inherentsonic signatures—the kinds of anom-

Golden Ear Awards, and a Short Think Piece on Digital Domination

Harry Pearson

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Golden Ear AwardsAmplifiers

ASR Emitter II Series 2005 integrated (fanfareintl.com) $25,900 Wyetech Sapphire 300B single-ended triode (wyetechlabs.com) $6800

Integrated TurntableVPI Super Scoutmaster Signature (vpindustries.com) $5500

Moving-Coil Phonograph CartridgesDynavector XV-1S (dynavector.co.jp) $4250 Benz Micro LP Ebony (musicalsurroudings.com) $4700

Compact Disc Players47/Lab PiTracer CD transport and Gemini converter (sakurasystems.com) $25,000 and $3500 Jadis JD-1 player and JS-1 digital converter (pierregabriel.com) $40,000 Bluenote Stibbert (fanfareintl.com) $4900

AccessoriesNordost Thor power-distribution system (nordost.com) $3200

Multichannel EquipmentEMM Labs CD/SD SACD playback deck (onahighernote.com) $7900 EMM Labs DAC-6e SACD digital-to-analog converter (onahighernote.com) $11,500 Edge Electronics G AV 55 modular amp (500-watt module version) (edgeamps.com) $11,250

alies you just learn to listen around.Their absence was startling in the case ofthe best CDs—e.g., Mercury’s two-discset of The Composer and His Orchestra andthe XRCD transfer of The Planets fromthe Decca/London original. The best discsdidn’t sound “digital” in the way we haveall come to dread. I just wish I knew,technically, how the designer FreidrichSchäfer accomplished this. Especiallysince his amps contain two of the solid-state bad boys—op amps and no fewerthan 20 MOSFETs, in the past, sure indi-cators of rocks in the sonic belfry.

Since I wrote that review, I have got-ten hold the of a second ASR (on loan,naturally) and assigned it the task ofdriving the bass towers of the NolaGrand Reference, thus replacing theAntique Sound Labs Hurricanes. The200-watt Hurricane monoblocks weremore than an acceptable match with thewoofer system—four 12-inch porteddrivers per channel that operate below40Hz—surprisingly so, and in con-tradistinction to the usual mythologyabout tubes and deep bass. Once the sec-ond ASR was in place, the shortcom-ings, comparatively speaking, of theHurricanes became obvious: an overlyromantic mellowness in the 30-to-40Hzrange and just enough tube grunge tocreate a slightly veiled masking effect.

With the ASR on the woofer towers,not only was there an articulation andpurity in the bottom frequencies (welldown toward the lower 20Hz mark), butwe could now hear deeper into the stage,getting even more ambient informationfrom the recording site and a muchclearer picture of the relative “size” ofinstruments from bass drum to bassoon.Some of the improvement was actuallyaudible in the harmonics well above thewoofers’ range—and I mean well above.There was a richer field of harmonicinformation past the middle frequencies.The principal gain in ambience retrievalcame in two ways: (1) with an enhancedsense of the actual depth and delineationof real space from front to back, and (2)in our ability to hear the sounds of theacoustic shell surrounding players in areal space, i.e., the walls of the stage

“sounding” as instruments are beingplayed. This furthers the sense that youare in that space with the players insteadof listening to a replica of the originalsound. (I am assuming here that those ofyou who are serious listeners will havedamped the sidewalls of your musicroom to minimize their interplay withthe hall sounds.)

As we discussed originally, becauseof the absence of a separate AC-poweredlinestage we have been able to plug bothphonostages and CD players directlyinto the ASR’s battery-operated input,and, when it strikes our fancy, to com-pare both balanced and unbalanced out-puts if the gear in question has balancedoutputs. This has given us a much clear-er picture (see our notes on CD playersbelow) of the real capabilities of the newgeneration of digital playback gear.And, again, as noted, we found thatusing the balanced inputs does make adifference in further lowering the per-ceived noise floor of the playback gearand, to our ears, in improving the tonalbalance of the sound, perhaps simplybecause we can hear more deeply intothe soundspace. Oddly, methinks, thetop octaves become sweeter, moredimensional, and seemingly better atthe rendition of dynamic contrasts.

The ASR does have a sonic “charac-ter,” and that is a “yin”-like darkening ofthe original. It is certainly not as neutralas say the best of the early Bill Johnson-designed tubed amplifiers, nor is it asSymphony Hall (Boston) golden insound as the best conrad-johnson work.But it doesn’t sound like either “solid-state” or “tubes,” a distinction even theaudio neophyte can usually makeinstantly—in this respect, the ASR isessentially colorless. It has so much out-put power (greater, I would think, thatthe nominal 275 watt-per-channel rat-ing) that it has the ability to float effort-lessly over the most intense fortissimos Ican throw at it (and don’t think for amoment I am not expert at this). Put allof this together and you, perhaps, cansee why I am wrung in the withers overthe yin of its character.

Mechanically, things are a bit more

complicated. And the ASR is a bitkinky. It is best to turn it off if you aren’tgoing to be around for extended periodsof time, and best, if you are going to bearound but not playing it, to let its bat-teries recharge (they are good for 100hours of play) and to be careful not tosend transient pulses through it, lest youshut it down. Also, it sounds best after ithas been in the operating position—thatis, at full power—for 30 or so minutes.

Oh, yes, we have begun to test itsabilities with other speaker systems.From the field reports I hear, the ASR candrive even a difficult and cantankerousload, such as the big Wilson speakers.(SEE FULL REVIEW, ISSUE 152, PP. 104–119)

Wyetech Sapphire 300B single-ended- triode monoblock amplifiers

If you do not insist on overtaxing thisunit with high playback levels on low-

sensitivity speakers—those, say, withless than 95 or so decibels of measuredsensitivity—you’ll be in for the samesurprise as I was. Up until the Sapphires,SET amplifiers struck me as having asimilar sonic signature despite thedesign differences of their individual cir-cuits. That is to say, SET amplifiers hada “soft” bottom octave, a somewhat pro-tuberant and romantic midbass, a trèssweet midrange, and a vanishing topoctave. Perhaps in a narrow band of themidrange, they sounded “purer,” more“alive,” even a shade faster than they didelsewhere in the frequency range.

Now it seems that the more recentwork with the better SET designs haslicked this characteristic commonalityand that SETs are finally coming intotheir own, if we can find good-enoughhigh-sensitivity speaker systems to takeadvantage of their strengths. (Some vet-erans of the audio wars may rememberhow a five-watt amp could drive thebejeezus out of the biggest and bestdesigns in the latter days of the monoLP.) With a speaker system both flat andhighly sensitive and with a not-so-sensi-tive but highly neutral speaker fromAudio Physic, the Caldera, I have beenplaying single-ended games.

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The star performer so far, and one ofthe best-sounding amplifier of anytubed provenance, is the Wyetech,which has a simply phenomenal bottomend—taut, articulate, and dynamic(even on low-sensitivity designs)—andan airy, uncolored top octave that won’tsound ugly even when you push it intoclipping, though it does exhibit a slightsizzle and minor tearing at extremelyhigh levels on speakers it wasn’t meantfor (on the Caldera, for instance, therange of reproduced dynamics really suf-fers, but the Sapphire’s bejeweled sonicstrengths still shine through).

If you must view these words asanything, look at them as a sneak pre-view. I know how good this amplifieris—but what I want to do before writ-ing about it again is spend much moretime on the appropriate high-sensitivityspeaker systems.

If a high-powered amp (say 100watts or more per channel) could bemade that was a sonic duplicate of this,it would immediately become, in myestimation, a reference standard in tubedesign. (REVIEW TO COME)

INTEGRATED TURNTABLESVPI Super Scoutmaster Signature

There are, I do not doubt, “better”-sounding turntables to be found, or,

put rightly, turntables less resounding,but I wonder if any are to be found anythat combine performance and cost to theextent that the Scoutmaster Series does.

The Scoutmaster is Harry Weisfeld’s“bargain” design that has evolvedthrough three separate incarnations,each one more refined and better bal-anced than the last. I do not intend todelineate the individual changes to eachmodel (you can do that yourself courtesyof VPI’s Web site), but I think I should,to give a context, mention some of whatis going on with the Signature.

Its arm is still the JMW 9-inch off-spring of its 12-inch uni-pivoted broth-er. In the arm’s last two iterations,Nordost interconnects (whose soniceffects we described in an earlier assess-ment) were added, first to the arm itself

and, in the newest version, to its junc-tion box. The result, which will surpriseno one familiar with what the Nordostcan do, is less veiling, and, obviously,greater transparency, and, to these ears,a more natural tonal balance. TheJMW-9, now raised to the Signaturelevel, finally has a real anti-skatedevice instead of the awkward twisted-wire arrangement of olde. The amountof internal damping—again to reduceresonance—has been increased and, forthe first time, there is external damp-ing (in the form of the arm’s stainless-steel tubing) as well as somewhat high-er mass, thus allowing the use oflighter cartridges. For the ’table itself,there is a more refined motor drive(same as in the HRX), a better beltsystem (four black nitrates, replacingthe oft-unreliable beige-colored sliderof the previous version). There is also aperiphery ring that holds down theouter lip of the disc—and it reallyworks without getting in the way ofthe cartridge—and a center clamp. (I’dalso recommend the SDS speed control,which adds $1000 to the arm/’table’smodest $5500 cost.)

In and of themselves, these refine-ments may not seem, on paper, all thatimpressive, but each contributes to theaudibly smoother and more neutralsound we get from this combo (and, no,guys, the arm’s improvements don’tbegin to put it in the same league as theKuzma air-bearing straight-line track-ers). The new drive belts are not as proneto slipping, and thus speed variations, asthose on the older versions of the ’table;the periphery clamp minimizes the tor-sional distortion that occurs thanks tothe raised outside edges of most LPs,while the center clamp holds down theraised center of most LPs, and the addeddamping supposedly makes the sound farsmoother. I don’t know how to quantifyeach of the differences because I have notheard them added to the basic design oneat a time. What I do know is that thething, as it has evolved, has become lessand less a creature with its own sonic sig-nature and, thus, more and more trans-parent in the reference system. In many

aspects of its performance, it exceeds thebest sound in ’tables available a decade orso ago. But not every last one.

What would you get for moremoney? One hopes better isolation fromacoustic feedback—we first used ours onArcici racks, where it needed extra isola-tion to prevent acoustic breakthrough.Then, of late, we have been playing witha new toy from the designers of an elec-tron-microscope suspension system thatjust may be the last word in what theVibraplane designers started years ago.We certainly could expect more precisespeed control, just maybe more sonicsolidity in the middle frequencies, andperhaps the kind of awesome thunder inthe 30Hz region one gets from the bet-ter Clearaudio designs. But theSignature has considerable dynamic“jump” (as do all VPI designs), and asolid if not perfectly articulated bottomoctave (below, say, 30Hz). It has a won-derfully musical authenticity and manyanalog lovers probably aren’t going tofeel the need to spend more for dimin-ishing sonic returns.

MOVING-COIL CARTRIDGESDynavector XV-1S

This is a five-star moving-coil design.I have little else to say about it, since

it is the best of these babies I haveencountered—ever. I hear no seriousflaws. I hate to say this, but, in the hereand now and until I hear somethingmore lifelike and better, I can hear noflaws at all. (One of HP’s Laws of HighEnd goes like this: You can’t imaginesound better than the best in the hereand now until you encounter it.)

However, I have loaded the car-tridge into a 47k ohm input, and preferthat setting. I also have found, at thatsetting, a tracking force between 2.6and 2.8 grams to be optimum (depend-ing on the arm you use). Otherwise,before the cartridge actually mistracks,it sounds stressed and compressed inthe top octaves on fortes. The importerhas waxed furious over this tracking-pressure recommendation since hebelieves that force should be what the

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manufacturer/designer recommends,which is in the 2.1-gram range.Perhaps, as he suggests, this wouldwork if the cartridge were loaded way,way down below 47k, as he also sug-gests. I wonder, though. I have neverfound a correlation between input load-ing and tracking force, but I can seehow, if the top end is rolled off, whichusually happens with very low imped-ance inputs, you might not hear all theeffects of lowered tracking force.(Perhaps to prove his point, theimporter has supplied a Dynavectordesigned and approved moving-coilstep-up device, which I haven’t yet gotaround to evaluating. There are anupcoming cartridge survey and severalseemingly promising designs on hand,most of which we haven’t extensivelytested yet.)

Benz Micro LP Ebony

The best-sounding transducer I’veheard from that company whose past

products have always left me wantingmore. This one, mated with the rightarm, is quintessentially musical.

ACCESSORIES

In turning to accessories, we have awealth of choices to nominate for a

Golden Ear. I could have discussed, asI did before, the Cambre Core isolationracks, which had—I think inexplicablygiven their looks—a genuinely posi-tive effect on the sound of the amps Iplaced upon them, or the co-called“Magic Sticks” (more accurately andmuch more pompously, the StateTechnology Room CollimatingPillars), which I’ve feared writingabout since I cannot correlate theirperformance with any known explana-tion of what they do (and believe mewhat they do is revelatory, but why,why, why?). Then again, we have thesmall but significant Clearaudio testdevice that helps you set the speed ofyour turntable quite accurately andwith a minimum of fuss, courtesy of itsblue laser light. (It’s called theClearaudio Speedstrobe and consists of

a test disc and a small blue strobelight,the combo priced, by the way, at$150—way above what somethingsimilar might set you back at a localRadio Shack.)

Instead, I chose the Nordost Thor,perhaps because it is one of the “newwave” components that reduce both thenoise and grunge level of any audio sys-tem. It is called an audio-distributionsystem, and it was developed in con-junction with Isotech, a British firmexpert in the design of such devices. TheThor isolates each device you plug intoits eight inputs from any other device,all of which remain “invisible” to eachother. (It also has surge protection andis, happily, fused, and without, Nordostsays, ill sonic effects.)

There is also the matter of its topog-raphy—a silver-plated copper circuitboard, Nordost Valhalla “mains” leads,and insulation from current conductorsto ensure, the company says, “maximumpower transfer.”

More mystically, at least in Nordostpresident Joe Reynolds’ description of it,it works a kind of quantum-level“voodoo,” radiating a signal into thepowerlines and into all the devices fedinto the Thor. This, he says, lowers thenoise floor. He is loathe to say what issupposed to be happening, since theauteur behind the quantum treatment isalmost mum about what is going on,but, supposedly the device produces “anordered spin on all the electrons transit-ing the circuitry.” It is treated,Reynolds, said with a “proprietary elec-tro/magnetic field.” “It works,”Reynolds says, suggesting some of itsmost striking effects will be seen on avideo image. That notion I haven’t putto the test just yet.

So what is there to say about theThor? Well, pending a more detailedexamination, let’s just call it a grunge-eater. It removes background noise, tex-tures, and other common systemicquirks that are easy to hear onceremoved, but hard to define— perhapsbecause our audio language is still evolv-ing in this area—in conventional terms,partly because they are so endemic.

MULTICHANNEL GEAR

EMM/Labs CD/SD playback deck

Without a doubt, the state-of-the-artturntable for SACD discs, and in

its sexy industrial look, close to art.Also, simplicity itself to use. (SEE SNEAK PREVIEW, ISSUE 152)

EMM/Labs DAC-6e

This is the latest revision of the SixSeries (just released this autumn), and

as expected, considering the author (wiz-ardly designer Ed Meitner), an interest-ing refinement and improvement uponthe previous version. What is mostnotably striking about the “e” version liesin its tonal balance and reproduction ofharmonic overtones. Prior to this, theDAC sounded noticeably “whitish” (toomuch yang) up high and bleached out onstrings, without much in the way ofinstrument dimensionality as one ascend-ed unto the heights. With the “e,” theovertones are much more complexlydelineated and, dare I say, enriched, withthe net result of a sound more suggestiveof the best things about good analog. Thepotential of the high-definition digitalsystem, as incorporated in DSD encod-ing/decoding, stands nakedly revealed.

Edge Electronics G AV55 multi-channel modular amp

E ach module, in this version, is capable ofa 500-watt output, or so say the specs

(we did not measure). I believe it. Why?Because, first off, we evaluated the 200-wattversion, which was not at all to my liking,since it seemed to leave the power-hungryMagneplanars (in the Super Maggie system)wanting—that is, dynamically compressedand prone to high-frequency distortion. Nosuch thing with the G Series 55, which han-dles the biggest moments (say, those in thenew RCA Verdi Requiem by Harnoncourt)as if it were throwing rose petals to the lis-tener. We have mostly been using EdgeElectronics with the multichannel systemin various combinations (Signatures, othersin the G series), but here we have boththe virtues of simplicity—in setup—and an almost creamy sound, and thatfrom solid-state. (REVIEW TO COME)

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Two Golden Ear Multichannel DSDRecordings

Music for Organ, Brass, and Timpani. Anthony Newman (organ);

the Graham Ashton Brass Ensemble with Timpanist, Duncan

Patton. Steven Epstein (prod.); Richard King (eng). Sonoma

SAC 001.

You need listen no further than the opening Richard Straussditty re-scored for organ, timpani, and brass ensemble—

whose long-winded title, here translated from the German, is“Solemn Entry of the Knights of the Order of St. John”—tohear what a spectacular sonic thriller this recording is. Themiking is held to a minimum and the resultant sound is verymuch as I heard it from the pews of St. Ignatius Loyola churchon Manhattan’s Upper East Side during the recording session.If you have a system that goes all the way, and with plenty ofsubwoofer power for the “.1” channel to capture the lowestnotes of the church’s justly famed organ, you can almost exact-ly replicate the performance and St. Ignatius’s glorious andwarm reverberant acoustic. It was designed to be a showcase

for the best that DSD has to offer and it is essential for anybasic SACD collection.

Verdi: Messa da Requiem. Vienna Philharmonic, Nicholas

Harnoncourt (cond). Arnold Shoenberg Choir. Soloists. Recorded

live, Musikverein, Vienna. Friedemann Engelbrecht (prod); Michael

Brammann (eng). RCA Red Seal. 2 CDs.

Up until now, I’ve always found Harnoncourt dull to thepoint of extinction, but in the Verdi Requiem, he comes

alive with a vengeance. The Dies Irae is a blockbuster, pureand simple, with a bass drum that will either bend the beamsin your walls or destroy your subwoofers. Or maybe both. Oh,yes, the brass choir is placed at an admirable distance behindyou, making full use of the multichannel capabilities.Thrilling sonically and, from an orchestral and choral stand-point, a wonder to be-hear. But, not all the soloists are, shallwe say, to the manor (or manner) born. If you are at all skep-tical about the strengths of multichannel or of high-resolu-tion DSD encoding, these two discs will go a long way towardmaking you a believer.

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