PS Audio launches new 'Mag'

Well, 'magazine' might be not what they intend PS Tracks to be seen as but it certainly is what it appears to be, check it out here.  Obviously PSA is a manufacturer so one should not be too put out by columns written by major sellers of certain gear (though they are apparently not 'reviews') but it does blur the lines. Still, there are some interesting contributions here, not least the work of Ken Kessler, and this is a step up from Paul McGowan's monthly newsletter which I always read. Worth checking out and keeping an eye on methinks.

The used table market

I know I should be less idealistic but it's just plain frustrating to me to see what happens over on A'gon. I started a post there about purchasing a table direct from the UK, through a legitimate dealer, since the list price there was less than half the MSRP here, and even with shipping and some imagined import duty, the buyer would come out ahead. The thread garnered lots of constructive comments, the end of which confirmed that under current US law, you can buy a turntable from overseas without incurring import tax. Thus, assuming you are not liable for the VAT and related other taxes the folks in Europe pay,  you can end up paying a lot less for a new item shipped than you can for a used item on A'gon. After a couple of weeks, the thread was deleted in the dark of night. Don't ask, they don't tell.

Well since then I've been watching the used table market closely. What I cannot fathom is how one well-ranked seller can keep listing the same tables over and over again at great prices but whenever anyone (not just me) asks about it, the table is always sold, about to be sold or spoken for by another customer. This is so noticeable that the seller's listings were mentioned on other audio forums where disgruntled potential buyers recognized each other from the shared complaints. One hopeful poster suggested we report this to A'gon. Doubt anyone did as today that little old table we all noticed came back on the market again, but guess what, if you try to buy it, it's gone!  And this from an apparent bricks and mortar store (though the recent name change might be a warning sign).

Now add in the use of current prices to describe the original cost of a 5 year old piece, third-hand passed around kit for which seller's expect to get 60% of current list price from you, the potential fourth owner,  or the estimates of use that suggest the table or cartridge has been sitting idle for years so it's really pristine, and you have a selling structure that is riddled with the potential for deception. I have to ask, why, given all these problems, you cannot find decent dealers willing to demonstrate new turntables......are we in the last throes of the turntable era or is there some inflexion point coming which will change the game? 

The 'father of the CD' dies

Just learned of the passing of Noria Ohga, the so-called 'father of the cd' who led SONY for many years. It's claimed he made many of the decisions that resulted in the technology we all subsequently experienced in audio-land and it's hard to argue with some of the facts. Whatever the motivations, he shaped the audiophile landscape and it's fitting his efforts be acknowledged. I never knew the man nor read much about him but you can find a fitting intro here.

The delights of a small system

Since I have the Harbeth P3ESRs in for review I've been warming them up in my second system while they wait their turn in the review cycle. They are so simple and elegant looking that I had to clear a space and set up a dedicated small system just for them. Running them with my Naim Nait II with the Harbeths on old QED tristands, I find myself drawn night after night to local NPR jazz broadcasts via my $70 Sony HD tuner, using my home made 4ft speaker cables. Via my trust old Denon 2900 CD, the sounds are sufficiently pleasing to make me think about finding a new DAC to give myself a serious second system, rather than a break-in rig which is all this setup really provides right now.  There is a lot to be said for scaling the speakers to the room, and it's easy to just be in my spare room now with the music playing, never dominating. The Harbeths are the most costly component here (at $2k for this little pair) but they work superbly. Looking forward to seeing how well they co-exist when the cost-relationship is inverted.

The $1m turntable cannot be far away....

You think the $150k Clearaudio table, or the Caliburn Continuum that S'phile love so much, would mark the upper end of turntable crazy prices but you would be wrong. AV Design Haus of Germany have a table with a built in microscope that HigherFi.com now lists at $650,000.  It's April.....but we're far beyond Fool's Day...maybe. Good luck to anyone who can afford it but you have to ask why....

Chesky does guitar

Apart from running Chesky Records, David Chesky is a keen musician and has launched an interesting challenge to fellow guitarists as part of his Urbancity release containing the  Concerto for Electric Guitar and Orchestra. A version is  available as a reduced price special edition download with full score and accompanying materials allowing the buyer to study the guitar parts and play along with the concerto’s movements. The price of participation includes you agreeing to upload a YouTube video of your attempts......you know this is going to be worth following! I've not heard the full music yet but I will report back when I know more. No, I won't be submitting a video, I have enough trouble working through the catalog of jazz standards I'm trying to master to engage in neck pyrotechnics, but it's great to have musicians as audiophiles, no?

New gear in for review

Just received a new integrated from NZ-based company, Perreaux. Their Audient 80i is, yes, an 80w, DAC-carrying, MM-phono stage bearing integrated amp that is aimed to give you a contemporary one box solution. Add speakers and you can run your laptop, cd player, turntable etc. The remote control also works with iTunes via its USB input too (that same input automatically selects the internal 24/96 DAC too). This is an intriguing product which is currently running in on my second system but I am keen to let it loose in my main rig.

Also have a pair of the totally gorgeous Harbeth P3ESR in for review. I loved these when I heard them at RMAF, actually enjoying them more than the larger Harbeth 5s in the same room, but that's probably just show conditions and the fact that the 3s make a stronger impression given the sonics that spring forth from such a diminutive box. Thanks to Walter at Fidelity for the review samples of both components, my review schedule is filling up but who could complain with gear like this to enjoy for a while.

SME factory tour

Attempting to learn what I can about the manufacture of quality tables, I came across this video tour of SME's plant in the UK from 2007. The link is to part 1, there are further parts to link on from there, be sure to watch 2 and 3 a they offer good detail on the arm construction, and are less noisy than part 1 which goes through the machine rooms. Lots of interesting perspectives and views here, and real evidence that making a hi-end table is no trivial matter. Good info here on the real differences between models and arms, love the quote about improving the bearings on the lower arms to bring them up to V5 standards, and some understated remarks from the ever patient SME service manager, Brian Laker, who notes that some audiophiles don't like Van den Hul wire. Watch these and then you might better understand why some tables cost a bit more. Best quote comes at the end when the interviewer says SME's are the Rolex of turntables and asks Brian, 'is there a factory outlet store?' 'Certainly not!' shoots back Brian, whose look of distaste is sadly not captured on camera.

Parasound JC-3 phono stage: $1k product for $2.3k?

Been spending time on various forums learning what I can about tables and who rates what. Frightening or enlightening? Take your pick!  I discussed options with Music Direct (yes, we've become more friendly now that I have a digital gauge that works) and among the suggestions made, the idea that my phono stage is the weak link has emerged. I agree, it may be the weak link and perhaps starting there to learn the limits of my table might be a good idea. So, given I run balanced, I started to see what I could get for $2k (not being convinced that the Sim Audio 310LP suggestion MD made would cut it) and double the price of my current stage. The Parasound JC-3 emerged as a serious option but then I read this by John Curl on the DIY Audio site:

"This design was really for a small insert board per channel for the JC-2. Unfortunately, it 'grew up' into being more than what it was originally designed to do. The original discrete design worked fine, BUT NOW the jfets it used are too hard, and expensive, to get, so it is a lost cause.  You just reminded me of the painful reality of what it costs to make things like this........ If the insides of this unit were packaged more cost effectively, I would have been more comfortable, as it then might have cost $1000 or so. However, marketing disagreed." (full link)

More evidence, if any were needed, that the price you pay is not set by the brains who created it or the logical addition of a simple profit on top of cost to build. But in fairness to Parasound, would any other company sell this for less?

Russian president was a child in time....

They say if you live long enough, you see everything. Well I am beginning to feel the push of time when I read that the Russian president, growing up under communism, was secretly a Deep Purple fan and today invited the band to have tea with him. No doubt, Richie was not part of the program but you could write a sociological thesis now on the impact of western rock and roll on the emerging democracies of the world.

"When I started listening to Deep Purple, I never imagined I would be sitting with you at this table," Medvedev, now 45, told the band in remarks televised Wednesday."  You and me both Dmitry!!!  I know Tony Blair made no secret of his love for the Purps strat-laden riffs but it appears their appeal crossed more than geographical bounds.  What's next, he needs a new turntable to spin his old copy of Made in Japan? 

The new table search starts

I've had it with my Aries. It can make great music once set up well (and boy, was this a learning curve the end of which I am delighted to reach) but it's out of its depth now with the rest of my rig. Further, I think now I just don't care for the JMW unipivot, it's too fiddly for my set-it-forget-it disposition. I mean, lift it up in a hurry at the end of a side and you risk throwing the azimuth out. Yes, the player spins well and always makes me feel like I can enjoy the music but I feel disinclined to spend more an a top cartridge until I feel the rest is as good as I can get it.

Now, the process of buying a new table is a real index of the state of audio retailing. The dealer network is sparse, home trials are impossible, yet the strength of user opinion online is through the roof. Here's what I've learned so far:

1) Every table has a fan and a dismisser. Some fans and dismissers have never heard the table in question.
2) There is no import tax on any overseas made turntable under current US regulations -- someone ask Sumiko to explain their prices here please since a new SME from the UK can be bought for less than the price of some used offerings here
3) Grown men get very heated over arm lengths and alignment geometries
4) Some people believe idler drive designs from decades ago outperform modern belt-drive tables but science seems to be unable to determine the veracity of such claims, either way. Even if it could, I doubt it would change some people's minds.
5) It's not clear why some tables costs thousands of dollars more than others.While one can envisage this being true in software based systems where it can be hard to see what went into the design, you might imagine that a physical artifact would reveal its quality to our senses directly.
6) Table companies don't seem unduly bothered by any of the above points and they have few ideas on how to make the situation better.

Onward.....

March 2011 edition of HiFi'Zine published

Issue 3, now available, my Bryston BDA-1 DAC review is here:

HifiZine - March 2011 issue

Equipment Reviews and Reports
Benz Micro Glider SL Cartridge
Musical Surroundings Nova Phonomena Phono Preamplifier
The Bryston BDA-1 DAC
The Audio-GD NFB-7 DAC
Technical and DIY
The Woden Design Dunideer
Refining a 4-way open-baffle speaker with the miniDSP 2×4
A Recipe for a Turntable
DH Labs Cables
 

The Music Corner
The Vital Importance of Music
Recordings of Special Merit
Bob Dylan : Self Portrait
Blood, Sweat & Tears : Child is Father to the Man
The Pulse
The Times… and Change
Readers: speak up!!

New products in the system

For the last few weeks, after returning the thoroughly impressive Bryston BDa-1 (review in March issue of HiFi'Zine, forthcoming as I type), I've been grooving to the PS Audio PWT/PWD. I will have to do a formal review of this combo as it's genuinely a step forward for me digitally. In the course of becoming familiar with this piece I committed to the I2S link, using the PS Audio HDMI 12 cable, reputedly the best there is for connecting these two boxes. Somewhat surprisingly, I've been finding the cable on price-reduction everywhere, which PS Audio claim is due to a push to reduce stock on their end. Well, as enquiring minds always think there is more, I was pointed in the direction of Harmonic Technology's own HDMI offerings which someone, whose opinion I trust, told me might be even better. Jim Wang sent one may way and it's in my rig now. More on this later.

I also have been exchanging a series of fascinating emails with Steve McCormack who will be the subject of a forthcoming interview in HiFi'Zine. I've been using his super preamp, the VRE-1, for the last year and I really think it is something worthy of more coverage, which hope to provide shortly.

And of course, with tweaks being a fave exploration of mine, I've added two pairs of EVS' Ground Enhancers to my Von Schweikerts, and been testing a CD spinner which uses some kind of magic treatment to improve your disks before you insert them into the rig. It's been fun asking people if they can hear anything different without giving them a clue what they are supposed to be witnessing.  Phew, audio life is never dull.

Used cartridges

If the vinyl resurgence is really on, why are all the used cartridges on Audiogon described as 'low hours'?

Gary Moore, guitarist, dies

To say I am saddened by this news would be an understatement but the BBC is reporting this morning that Gary Moore died last night in Spain. No cause of death has been mentioned and the official Moore website is down as I write. Hard to make too much of an audiophile case here but Moore was a really great guitarist even if he tended to overplay some of those blues (though unlike others, he never blanded out in the name of commerce). Seems he's been around all my life, from a wonderkid player in Thin Lizzy to a jazz rocker with Colliseum II,  then later a hard rock and blues player on his own and with others. Ozzy Osbourne famously described him as having 'a face like a welder's bench' but the man could play, and did play with some of the greats (Lynott, Bruce and Baker, Albert Collins, Peter Green etc). George Harrison remarked that Gary's playing made him feel 'like a skiffler' in comparison. Cue up Blues for Greeny and hear some of his tastier licks.  He was only 58.