Head-fi’ers: I’ve set up a forum here, for those of us “going nuts” due to Head-fi being down the past 15 days. I felt there was a need for a meetup spot/forum, even if it’s temporary. HF is such a big site, no doubt hundreds of us had deals going via PM, and so on.
http://stereo-untypical.com/temp-fi
This is meant to be only temporary, while Head-fi.org get its’ problems sorted out.
UPDATE: Looks like HF is back this morning 11/25! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!
Some great deals on the first-gen Microsoft Zune 30 MP3 players these days — I picked up a brown Zune 30 for $79 and a black one for $99 for my daughter, on the Woot.com daily deals. These were refurbished units with full warranty — both arrived mint, like new. I am pretty picky and honestly I couldn’t tell they were refurbs at all. 30 gigabytes of storage is great; these DAP’s also play video, and have a big bright 3″ LCD screen. Video frame rate is very smooth, both music and video playback have been flawless. Microsoft has just released the new Zunes and the new firmware and Zune software. Zune is now the best selling DAP after the iPod. Oh, they have FM tuners included as well.
They’ve been seen at similar prices since then on Buy.com and Amazon, but you may have to dig around to find them at that price. Check it out….very nice machine and makes a great Christmas gift!
For a simple, inexpensive plug’n'play solution focused on sound quality (not features), this offering from Pro-ject is certainly worth considering. That’s $299 for a brand-new unit with a warranty, fully assembled and ready to play vinyl - all that’s needed is an appropriate receiver and speakers.
From Needledoctor’s blurb:
“The Pro-Ject Debut includes a pre-mounted Ortofon OM-5E moving magnet phono cartridge and is an excellent choice for the audiophile seeking a cost effective vinyl playback solution. A felt-covered steel platter mates to a chrome plated stainless-steel axle running in a brass bearing housing for exceptional speed stability and accuracy. The aluminum tonearm employs inverted hardened stainless-steel points for superior tracking with the supplied phono cartridge. A silicone-damped armlift is supplied.”
This is not going to “blow away” a good digital playback chain, but it will sound good and allow you to play those LP’s. And that’s the whole point. For someone in need of a complete system, the Pro-ject, with an HK 3485 receiver, and AV123 x-ls bookshelf speakers would be a complete system of separate components at just over $700, brand new.
For a good 7-8 years Listener held court as the only really excellent audio print journal, IMO. Other magazines have done well in some respects, but Listener broke the mold. From its’ creative photoshopped covers to its’ most offbeat columns (Dr.Gizmo!), it broke the conventions of audio journalism, and made the hobby fun again. It made readers ask themselves tough questions. It put the focus on the music.
And it was a sad day in mid-2002 when we learned that the magazine would be folded.
I credit editor/publisher Art Dudley with turning me on to the joys of triode tubes, DIY’ing, Lowther speakers, and more. Fortunately, his ramblings can still be read in Stereophile - and to their credit, they make his column available online at no charge.
I have all my Listener issues (nearly a complete set), and I’ll never part with them. If you missed out on this great mag, check eBay from time to time, or put a wanted post up on Audiogon or AudioAsylum. You’ll be glad you did.
R.I.P. Listener, you are missed.
Listener vol.5 no.3 cover depicted a ‘crop circle’ made with vacuum tube schematic symbols. Brilliant.
Kill To Get Crimson, Mark Knopfler (2007, Warner Bros)
It’s been a good year for new pop music, with excellent releases from Wilco, Interpol, The White Stripes, Feist, Ryan Adams, Radiohead and many others. At the top of my favorites pile sits this disc from an old master, the venerable Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits fame.
And it’s at once both strange and understandable that one has to qualify him with those 4 words. While Knopfler has never enjoyed the Straits’ level of commercial success in his solo work, he’s been far from obscure. Performing alongside stars like Bob Dylan and Emmylou Harris over the years, MK has long been respected as a musician; at some point while we weren’t noticing, he’s also evolved into a songwriter of quite compelling stature. Kill To Get Crimson is just the latest in a string of very fine work.
Like Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky, it took me a few listens to get into it. There’s nothing flashy about this record. It sets a plaintive, folksy-electric tone, with Knopfler mixing major and minor chord progressions effortlessly as always. The musicianship is excellent, as you’d expect. And the patient listener is gradually rewarded with more and more ‘gold’, as these beautifully crafted songs slowly unfold to reveal a remarkable depth and layering. No overhyped guitar work, no shouting. Knopfler is so understated, he’s the epitome of cool. Yet when his songs call for vocal passion (Let It All Go, In The Sky), he delivers it in spades. When heartaches and regret bear down like a weight (True Love Will Never Fade, Behind With The Rent), he’s able to convey the sadness with his signature voice - which has aged extremely well. Other standouts (We Can Get Wild, Heart Full Of Holes) are so good I won’t even attempt to redux them.
For me, a near perfect record…very enthusiastically recommended. I will update this review when I’ve received the vinyl copy, mastered by Stan Ricker.
I’ve ordered 4 x 0.1uF Jupiter caps to replace the radial box MKC’s in my Baby amp. I’ll report on the results as soon as I have them installed and given a few hours to warm up.
I would like to spring for the V-Caps, to do a full comparison, but they are just too expensive for me right now. I’ve had some decent, though not staggering improvements with Auricaps in the past. I’m hoping for ‘more’ from the Jupiters.
Related link: Comparison of crossover and signal coupling caps
I picked up my used Baby amp about two months ago and I’ve been using it in several contexts. On my desktop, it drives my old B&W V201’s (90dB 4 Ohms) quite well; in my main system it powers my Silver Iris 15 Open Baffle Coaxials; and alternatively, my Audio-Technica ATH-W1000 headphones - yes, directly from the speaker taps using a 10 Ohm resistor in parallel accross each output. My Baby has the upgraded binding posts, and a pair of Western Electric 396A’s doing input tube duty. The Baby really is compact, and moving it around is not a big deal. Nice and versatile.
This amp is a winner. It retails for 799-899 in the US, but can often be found on Audiogon in the 350-400 range. For that kind of money this is a tough amp to beat. With 4 x 6P1T Russian output tubes in a push-pull configuration, it makes about 10 watts per channel. Using efficient speakers with a benign impedance curve is advisable to get the best performance out of the amp.
Listening to it direct with reference-calibre headphones really highlights the amp’s resolution and dynamic abilities. By using the 40 Ohm headphones with a 10 Ohm resistor in parallel, the amp sees a constant 8 Ohm load….very nice. I can hear previously unheard low-level details on many discs, not just breathing and the usual studio artifacts, but even harmony vocals that were obscured before. Dynamic capability is pretty decent also, though the amp can sometimes be overtaxed by complex music. Most of all this is a very musical tube amp, but with no trace of euphonic tube distortion. The sound is clean and balanced.
Very recommendable as a great used amplifier value.
Released in 2006 by True North Records.
Speechless: The Instrumental Bruce Cockburn. This CD has 15 superb instrumental tracks; 3 of which are new, and one which was previously only released in Japan. That track, Rise And Fall, is one of the standouts, and is a great test of bottom-octave bass response. Cockburn was a music major, and has been making records since 1970. His status is iconic in Canada, where he lives and works. As a songwriter, Cockburn is never at a loss for something to say - and his instrumental compositions bear this out also. His guitar work breathes and lives; the tunes are original, diverse, and memorable. They convey a broad spectrum of color, from dark and ethereal, to bright and joyful. Cockburn is a folk singer/songwriter, but as a musician and composer he’s quite unbounded by categorization. You’ll hear styles as far ranging as ragtime jazz, ECM 70s-era guitar jazz, and most everything in between. All played with heart and gusto.
A wonderful set of performances, in excellent sound. The production work is very good on this disc; despite the recordings spanning four decades, the songs share a similar sound signature, and the album is cohesive and works as a whole.
(Re)discovering WILCO about a year ago has had a bunch of positive effects on me. Apart from the pure enjoyment of devouring the rest of Wilco’s remarkable catalog, I’ve gradually become interested in pop music again..! Meaning (for me), a lot more catching up to do, finally discovering artists like Stephen Malkmus, Ron Sexsmith, Feist, Golden Smog, The White Stripes, Interpol, Ryan Adams, and Ray Lamontagne. It’s been a great year. I even started writing some music reviews for the Owl and Bear site.
My hats off to Tweedy: through many lineup changes, label difficulties, personal issues, and the demands of a young family, he’s not only continued to bloom as a songwriter, but along with remaining founding member John Stirratt, has maintained Wilco’s ethos and vision- while allowing the band to grow. I truly believe Wilco is the finest American rock band since The Band. They’re at the top of their game, and have a rabid following of devoted fans. Wilco have also been forward-thinking in encouraging show taping and music sharing/downloading….leaking their last few records to fans in advance of their release (what a concept). They’ve also supported vinyl by releasing most of the albums on LP.
If you don’t know their music - all of their albums are streamed in decent quality on their web site. I’d suggest starting with the stunning live disc Kicking Television, which features the current lineup, or with their seminal 2003 release Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
Wilco’s insanely gifted lineup now includes guitar virtuoso Nels Cline, and avant garde percussion whiz Glenn Kotche - both very accomplished musicians with vibrant solo careers of their own. Wilco just wrapped up a 6 month world tour in support of the excellent Sky Blue Sky, and after a 3 month break will finish the loop with shows in Japan and Australia. Let’s hope they tour here again in 2008.
‘The finest rock band in the world.’ Independent On Sunday
‘One of the best live bands in existence.’ Q
‘Wilco are among the best live acts in the world. When this band are on stage, wonders really do never cease.’ Financial Times
Head-Fi.Org — The world’s largest headphone forum (by far) is on life support. Head-fi.org is a tremendous resource by any measure, with a community of some 50,000 members. It’s a busy site and runs the vBulletin software platform. The site went down for planned maintenance sometime late 11/9 or early on 11/10, and then something in their RAID array failed.
For those of us who frequent the forum, this is getting to be agonizing. Sincere best wishes to all the admins and technical guys who make HF work, I hope they sort out the issues as soon as humanly possible. Sometimes technology just sucks!
If you have any updates from Jude, please let me know.
Not many headphones have generated as much splash as the AKG K701’s introduced in mid-2006. They are AKG’s current top-of-the-line offering and retail for $449 — but they’re commonly available now (brand new) for $229 - $269 from many online retailers. Intriguing!
Reviews: Stereophile, SoundStage. Also look at Headphonereviews.com and Head-Fi.Org for many user reviews.
The general consensus is that these ‘phones are indeed reference-quality monitors, leaning to the analytical side, and somewhat bass-shy. Adequate amplification is also a major caveat, the K701’s need top-quality source and amplification to give their best. For those not in a position to spring for a SinglePower amp or similar esoterica, the Heed CanAmp is considered an excellent mid-priced choice.
I’m an enthusiastic proponent of the venerable Denon DL-103 phono cartridge. In production for more than 40 years, it remains a faithful transducer, well-designed, robust, and boasting a flat frequency response and excellent real-world performance. At $200 this cartridge is a no-brainer for anyone with a MC phono stage. If your phono section is low-gain (MM), consider the Lundahl LL9206 step-up transformers from K&K Audio. This adds $150 and gives you a killer MC setup. I use this setup with the Hagerman ‘Bugle’ MM battery phono stage.
Lately I’ve been reading about Uwe, a German fellow who crafts and sells wood bodies to replace the Denon’s plastic shell. He also sells ‘finished’ DL-103R’s in wood bodies. Below are examples of his Rosewood and Ebony bodied DL-103R’s. You can find them on eBay under seller name fivre.
I have some fine Nazareno wood (Purple Heart) that I bought in Costa Rica more than five years ago, I plan to attempt a ‘Uwe clone’ wood body and will report back on the results.
UPDATE: I was browsing Herbie’s Audio (known for their tube dampers) and noticed they have the Gabon Ebony Domes on closeout for $3.65 each…I ordered 3 of them. These look like they could be a good starting point for my Uwe Clone. (pic below) They measure 1″ round and 1/2″ high. I suppose they’d be more readily useable if they were pre-hollowed, but we’ll see.
Last pic is of Herbie’s “Gabon Ebony Domes”. (link)
Audio-Technica ATH-W1000 Headphones
I’ve had my new-to-me W1000’s for 5 days now, and I’m very impressed with them. The build quality is very nice, and the comfort is outstanding. These are full-size ‘closed circumaural’ headphones, and they are BIG. The fit is not snug though, and there’s no pressure on the skull or ears. They’re quite light at 350 grams. These are my first really high-end ‘phones, so my references are limited.
The sound is outstanding. Excellent detail, very lucid, musical, warm midrange, lovely highs. Bass is good, though it may come accross as a bit recessed compared to others - these are not basshead gear…at all. Bass depth is ok, not especially great. What I like is that the mid-bass is articulate, and carries the musical line well. These headphones seem especially well suited to reproducing small-combo jazz, and folk music — two of my favourite genres. Vocals are also sublime.
When I say ‘excellent detail’, I mean it. Good recordings just became staggeringly good. On Bruce Cockburn’s wonderful Speechless instrumental CD, there’s now palpable ‘air’ around the notes; I can hear his fingers moving along the fretboard, and follow his fingerpicking techniques. In chamber music, the musicians’ breathing is now a part of the sonic landscape. This is a very front row perspective.
I will experiment with various modes of amplification, and different sources. I’ll definitely have more to say about the W’s, suffice to say I think they’re keepers!
What’s untypical about this piece of mass-fi gear? It has a phono stage! Hallelujah, it seems that some manufacturers in 2007 are clued in to the fact that there’s a mini vinyl revival happening. Kudos to HK. Here is a bona fide, powerful 2-channel (stereo) receiver for a very good price ($250), and it will accept your turntable’s output directly (low-gain or typically moving-magnet/MM cartridge). I haven’t heard one but I’m told they aren’t terrible-sounding. Could be great for a starter system for your kid in college, a bedroom system, or your Aunt Edna with the stack of unloved Babs LP’s.
Harman Kardon HK3485 High-Current Stereo Receiver
You could also look at the HK3480, for about $50 less. Otherwise, there are the Onkyo and Outlaw Audio receivers, but they’re both a fair bit more expensive.
This is one of the most well researched and enjoyable biographies on a music figure that I’ve read. If you like folk music, Americana, or just have an interest in modern history, Woody’s life as told by Ed Cray may captivate you. The author spends a good deal of time exploring Guthrie’s relationships, his songwriting, and his political motivations (or lack thereof). All against a backdrop of heart-wrenching tragedy.
Very recommended.
