Sunday, July 16, 2017

Another audio meet up in Austin area

Thanks to hosts LoneStar Audio, based in Lakeway, TX, a gathering of audiophiles from Austin, Houston and San Antonio met up at host Jim's home to enjoy two rooms yesterday. Both relied on Magico speakers, the S1 in a smaller, mainly vinyl room; and the S3Mk2s in a slightly larger, digital room. Lots of excellent and expensive gear in the rigs, not least Constellation amplification, Aurender DAC, Oracle turntable with linear tracking arm and gorgeous Ortofon A95 cartridge, Rogers phono stage, power conditioning by Torus, and treatments by ASC and Synergistic Research.

Naturally my eyes were drawn to the wonder vinyl set up, where the Oracle was drop-dead beautiful to behold. Delivering through Rogers phono, to Boulder amplification and the small (relatively) S1 Magicos, the sound was sweet, pleasing and scaled nicely to the space.  Of course, in a completely new rig it's hard to know where the magic is occurring but host Jim was quick to point out that the room was heavily treated with Synergistic Research products (small objects stuck to the wall, graphene panels, and some signal generating device whose electromagnetic magic was beyond my comprehension).

The larger room drew the greater audience, where the Magico S3s were augmented, sometimes, by JL subwoofers. Is it a surprise that audiophiles have opinions?  Well, every time I entered there was an ongoing discussion about whether or not the subs should be engaged, or if they were crossed over too high, too low etc.  Lots of digital tracks gave me the impression that high resolution digital can sound quite harsh in the upper frequencies. Yeah, lots more 'detail' than vinyl is deliverd but in a way that makes me often hear (or think about) the studio more than the music.

The S3s were impressive in some areas -- the ease of lower instrumental lines and the continuity across the range are qualities I associate with Magico and were on display plentifully here at times -- but for reasons that I could not attribute to any one factor (was it the room? the DAC, the subs?)  I found myself enjoying the music less here than in the small room. On Chris Jones' 'No Shelter' (an audio show staple, sadly), the bass boomed so much at the back of the room that I thought there's no way I wanted subs in the mix, but in other on-off comparisons, I experienced the opening of soundstage that good sub matching can provide.   Sonically, more questions than answers for me, and I found myself wondering just how good I could get the S3s sounding in my larger listening room, or if the S1s might actually work in that larger space.

Main host Jim was charm personified, cheerfully answering repeat questions across the day, admitting that he was still tweaking the sub combo, and happy to let people wander around his rooms with some very expensive gear left unattended. This is where he hosts customers who want to audition gear, and it's a fine, relaxing environment.




Thursday, July 13, 2017

News from Raven Audio

As an admirer and owner of Raven Audio's tube amps, I found the AudioXpress interview with chief Dave Thomson a worthwhile read.  Change afoot, but the company is moving forward, and it's great to see. Check out my reviews of their integrated Nighthawk and Blackhawk in the side bar.


Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Rega announce new MC and phono stage

I've not used a Rega cartridge for years, and not since I gave up my trusty old Rega 3 15 years ago, but am pleased to see the company continuing to push through new products. Of course, the PR is the usual breathless stuff, full of references to expert-this and sophisticated-that, no doubt to be repeated in reviews up and down the land, but here, a picture of the MC is worth a thousand such words:




At $795, the Ania has real appeal for many I presume -- no compliance figure provided so am fairly sure it's not a great match heavy arms, but other specs below:
  • Tracking Pressure 1.75 - 2.00g
  • Input load impedance 100 ohms
  • Output impedance 10 ohms
  • Nominal output voltage 350μV (.35mV)
  • Channel Balance: ≥ 20μV
  • Separation : ≥ -29dB
  • Iron cross & micro-coil assembly
  • Cutting-edge neodymium magnet
  • Elliptical profile stylus
  • High specification 0.018mm fine coil wire
  • 3-point Rega mounting style, compatible with 2-point style headshells
  • Fortron-PPS body

Friday, July 7, 2017

Berg and Finck slow burner out on Chesky

Am enjoying the latest Chesky release, a jazz duo recording of pianist Shelly Berg and bassist David Finck, The Deep. Again, this is a single mic'd binaural recording, and the result is an intimate, spacious sound with real presence. The music is a pleasing mix of improvisation and standards, recorded in a single take, with Why Did I Choose You a standout for me so far. But it's early days, and I am struck by the apparent irony of something recorded so directly and quickly requiring repeated listening to fully appreciate. Of course, the quick process of these artists is built off many years of preparation and dedication to the craft of jazz.   In a world of disposable consumption, I am grateful for the work of such artists and of companies such as Chesky that commit to sonic quality and artistic vision.

You can learn more here:

Wednesday, July 5, 2017

New Wes Montgomery out there?

Not sure how I missed the vinyl copy (must be that RSD tie-in which has no interest for me usually) but there's actually new Wes emerging that is worth knowing about if you enjoy jazz guitar.   This is an old radio broadcast of a club show, decent enough sonically though not quite enough of Wes for me across the recording. That said, Resonance Records is to be thanked for digging this stuff up and getting it out there, decades after the event. We used to dream of more live Wes so I'll take what I can get, so I bought a copy on CD (that should tell you how valuable I think this is).  Find the story here:

Sunday, July 2, 2017

Roger Waters is back

And I for one will always welcome new music from the man - here are my thoughts on his "Is this the life..." album.