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All in Star Component Award
A reexamination of my Phasemation PP-300 cartridge review will be helpful in learning about Phasemation as a company, its info/philosophy, etc. I spent a few very pleasurable months listening to and writing about the gorgeous little nugget from the Japanese high end company.
Spring has been a bumper cartridge season here at Audiophilia—I reviewed Shelter's Model 501 III MC Phono Cartridge (another Japanese gem), as well as the 300. Now, Phasemation’s top of the line, $6000 PP-2000.
Serendipity plays a role in discovering new equipment. Lately my vinyl setup wasn’t sounding the way it should so I started to examine my components to see if there were any obvious problems. I then decided to do a little house cleaning and rearranging of my system. During this move there occurred a few rough interludes where equipment and bodies made unintentional contact. It became clear that my Shelter 9000 cartridge was badly damaged.
I called a few buds and they recommended I check with Peter Ledermann of Soundsmith. The man is a legend in the field of cartridge design and repair. After chatting with him, I sent my cartridge in for evaluation. It turns out that I had really done a number on the Shelter. The cantilever was twisted, the stylus was completely gone and there was a lot of dirt trapped in the body. Peter assured me that he could fix the cartridge and bring it up to full working order for $550.00. He also explained how his policy for repair and rebuild is rather unique—all Soundsmith cartridges can be rebuilt to new, forever, for 20% or less. According to Peter, the Soundsmith cartridges therefore have a far lower cost per play over the years.
Shelter has been hand making moving coil phono cartridges in Japan since 1986. It ships two series of cartridges, the ‘Ultimate Line’ and the ‘Legendary Line’. The 501 III moving coil cartridge is mid price point in the Legendary Line, at $1295. The original 501 was produced in 1990. The Mk. III under consideration has the combination of an aluminum clad boron cantilever and an elliptical diamond stylus.
I first heard of Shelter when my Audiophilia colleague Martin Appel purchased a 9000 moving coil (top of the Legendary Line) a few years ago. He uses it on his VPI Avenger turntable. It sounds wonderful. Detailed and vibrant.
The 501 III arrived at the office in tandem with a few other high end pieces and the superb Phasemation PP-300 moving coil cartridge, which is roughly the same price.
Japan’s Phasemation began life in 1970 as Kyodo Denshi System. The company name was changed to Phase Tech in 2002, morphing into Phasemation in late 2010. Much like Britain's SME and other precision analogue companies, Kyodo made its real money in more lucrative tech. In this case, developing measuring devices for the IT industry. It just so happens the company CEO is an audiophile.
I became aware of the company a decade ago after brief listens to sundry Phase Tech cartridges. The company was gaining some ground in the advance notice stakes; lots of analog buzz on the forums. In fact, they were splendid and for a reasonable cost. My local dealer went nuts for them.
Not many American high-end start-ups have made such a splash as Audeze. Founded a mere ten years ago, the decade has cemented Audeze's place among the very best, brightest and innovative of headphone manufacturers.
Audeze arrived on the scene at just the right time—at the genesis of mass market smartphones, mobile music, streaming, and headphones/earphones in general. Musical kismet.
The LCD-3 is the natural development from Audeze's original headphone, the legendary LCD-1. The back story from Audeze's About page reads as follows: Audeze’s origins go back to 2008 when founders Sankar Thiagasamudram and Alexander Rosson met engineer Pete Uka who developed specialized flexible circuit materials for NASA. They quickly realized the material might be perfect for headphones. That’s when Dragoslav Colich, who has 30+ years’ experience in designing planar drivers, joined the team as CTO to create the LCD-1 headphone.
Digital Analog Converters (DAC) in recent years are achieving better and better sound quality, with some getting smaller and lighter that, yes, can still be considered of audiophile/high-end quality both in sound and construction–and at a lower cost than one might think. Some of these newer smaller DACs have a variety of integrated features from among volume control, a preamp for analog input, headphone amp, phono stage–and even amps and streaming, in some cases. This trend is yet another example in high-end audio, where the meaning of ‘integrated’ has been expanded to describe any audio unit that incorporates several functions for your audio system.
Certainly a prime example of this progress is demonstrated by the Brooklyn, New York based company Mytek, which, in mid-October 2017, released the object of this review, the new and improved Mytek Brooklyn DAC +. I am grateful to Mytek President Michael Jurewicz for promptly sending me a unit for review.
I had spotted the DAC + at the recent RMAF 2017 (Denver Colorado, early October) in the lobby with Jurewics, where it was being debuted and was sufficiently impressed to accept his offer of reviewing it. As a Manhattanite, naturally I was initially interested in reviewing the much more expensive Mytek Manhattan II DAC; but the tiny size, lower price, and extraordinary array of included technology in the new Brooklyn DAC + truly intrigued me.
Naim Audio is one of the high end companies we have begun to take for granted. Founded back in 1973 in beautiful Salisbury, Wiltshire by the late, aristocratic Julian Vereker MBE, Naim Audio has become synonymous with the very finest in modular and single components and loudspeakers. A true legacy company of our avocation. British audio royalty.
With the company's success, the vibe has become a little more corporate, a long way from the beginning where Vereker would shout from the rooftops the benefits of beautiful, if austere, design and the unending benefits of power supplies (the more, the merrier).
I have been a huge fan of Naim Audio almost since its inception. I heard my first Naim products in London way back in the late 70s/early 80s when I was studying music there. Along with Cyrus, Arcam, Rega Research, Audiolab and others, Naim Audio began making its name producing very high quality components, eschewing the huge box, huge power, American high end audio design philosophy. You got the MG/Spitfire/Austin Healy power/design acumen, but with reliability. I remember being thrilled with an Arcam integrated with a whole 25 watts per channel, and loving it.
While spending more time using vinyl in my audio system, I came to realize the importance of a phono stage; in particular matching one appropriate with one’s turntable and cartridge. This is a huge grey area, and one in which passions are high. If you ask for advice you must be prepared to enter a mine field. Some will insist that all-tube phono stages are the only way to go, while others will insist on solid state. Not having any strong pre-conceived ideas of my own, I considered whatever advice I could get and then researched/explored further. I tried both types, plus the solid state one I own, the PS Audio NuWave Phono Converter, which has the unusual ability to convert to digital on the fly and send the output to my DAC--in addition to offering a purely analog path. As I gained a better understanding of what I did and did not like about sound quality revealed by different phono stages, I concluded that the reason my digital setup had the overall upper hand in sound quality was due to its superior components; the weak link in my vinyl setup was the phono stage. So, here we are; the raison d’etre for this review.
Being of a practical nature, I did not like the moving coil (mc) versus moving magnet (mm) dichotomy incorporated in the vast majority of phono stages. Why? Because the cart I liked so much as my reference was neither; it was a moving iron (mi) and had other unusual properties that were not accommodated by some of the most expensive and well regarded phono stages.
Recently, I had an unforeseen reason (disaster?) that offered me a chance to check out a new phono cartridge for my VPI Industries Scout turntable. Among the cartridges I focused on for review was the Grado Labs Statement v2 (reviewed here), but it was a much more serious and expensive cartridge than the one I had before (the very nice Ortofon 2M Black (MM)). As such it was considered by both Grado Labs and VPI Industries to be more suitable for a higher level turntable, so I used a Prime in my Grado review; I am grateful to VPI President Mat Weisfeld for allowing me access to the Prime for that review. Here, I review the Prime itself; after all, I have spent quite some time with it by now– and I am deeply impressed by it. A fine cartridge can’t show off unless it is mounted on a fine turntable, right?
I had a lovely Facebook Messenger conversation with Lars Kristensen of Denmark's Raidho Acoustics about how much I was loving my X-1 Loudspeakers -- more like adoration, if truth be told.
He mentioned the X-1 now had an upgrade to XT-1 and that he could organize that for me if I wished. Giddyup! True to his word, my speakers were picked up, shipped to Denmark, and were upgraded and back on their stands in less than three weeks! The cost of the upgrade is USD $1,500 /pair plus shipping. A new pair of XT-1s will run you USD$7,700/pair plus the proprietary (and necessary) stands.
Readers may find my original review of the X-1 helpful.
Michael Levy, the owner of Long Island's Alta-Audio and designer of its range of speakers, is as passionate an audio professional I know.
Levy leverages every ounce of that energy, extreme knowledge and passion into his loudspeaker design.
Two Audiophilia writers, Martin Appel and Karl Sigman, both have Alta Audio FRM-2 Celestas as their references. At USD$ 15,000, they are worth every penny. Encased in the most gorgeous polyester piano black finish, these stand mount gems are among the best sounding speakers you can buy. Truly magnificent.
Most audiophiles have a similar story to tell as the one I hereby offer as the lead to this review: One day some months ago, a friend came by excited to play on my turntable what he said was a very fine LP. When the tone arm dropped, all we heard was a loud screeching sound, no music. Close inspection revealed that ‘someone’ had meddled with the diamond tipped needle, and like an acrobat it was now in a most contorted configuration, bent 180 degrees with some cute wiggles too. The needle cracked off shortly after.
Although my 3-year old daughter admitted that she was to blame, she had such a logical and endearing explanation for her action that of course I could not take her to task except to make her promise never again to 'mess around with Papa’s stereo system'. [I introduce to you, fellow audiophiles, Karl Sigman, the most patient man on the planet - Ed]
The new bookshelf loudspeaker from Montreal's Totem Acoustic looks almost identical to the company's legendary Model 1 from twenty years ago.
That speaker, like the new Sky, was housed in a small enclosure that packed a musical wallop. It was refined, too. So much so that my choice for my first reference came down to it and Stuart Tyler's ProAc Tablette Signature. I went with the signed Brit. And loved it. It was my reference for several years. All the while my friends with the Totem kept reminding me of the 1's superiority in many audiophile checks and balances.
It was just about fifteen years ago that I first became aware of and reviewed the Audience Au24 interconnects and speaker wires. At that time, I made particular mention of their user friendliness and was also favourably impressed with the musicality of these rather thin cables. Then as now, many audiophiles have been conditioned to believe that the better and more expensive audio cables are, the heaver gauged and more massive the cables have to be. I have friends who truly believe that “you need a thick cable to carry the full audio signal”. Personally, I have grown tired of cables that could be considered “Audio Pipes”.
Audience has steadfastly resisted this trend. As soon as I became aware that Audience had revised their entire line and the new Au24 SX interconnects and speaker wire were at the very top of that line, I felt that it was a good time to revisit Audience’s cables. I contacted Audience’s John Mc Donald to arrange for some review samples.
It would be instructive to read my original review of the full SONOS system [PLAYBAR, SUB, PLAY:5].
This review will examine the addition of two PLAY:1s to that superb system. The PLAY:1 is the smallest SONOS speaker at (USD) $199.00 /each. They will be auditioned as rears converting my main floor lifestyle system into 5.1 surround sound. I'll also add my thoughts with the PLAY:1s setup as a standalone stereo pair.
When it comes to loudspeakers, I like ones that are meant for a relatively small intimate setting as opposed to a large space. This is in line with my preference for attending small get-togethers as opposed to huge parties, or my preference for listening to a string quartet, or a small ensemble consisting of a handful from among a pianist, singer, bassist, cellist, guitarist and percussionist (drummer) versus a full-blown orchestra/band; it’s just the way I am, other people are different. This allows me to be very happy with the sound of my reference system in my small cozy apartment living room (16′ (W), 9′ (D), with 9.5′ high ceilings).
My first discovery of these fascinating speakers was at the Montreal Audio Show from a few years ago. A local dealer had them set up beautifully with well matched gear SET gear and nothing but some red Barcelona Chairs for company. It was a very musical and stylish presentation.
I have a long history with JM Labs/Focal. One of our most fervent supporters has been a long time dealer.
The original JM Labs looked magnificent with their great covers of wood. For some reason, these beautifully engineered speakers were not my cup of tea.
A good solid read of my detailed review of the powered version of this speaker may well be instructive.
The new passive version from Audioengine maintains many of the qualities from that fabulous little gem of a speaker, with the new one allowing for your own favourite type of amplification.
The HDP6 is a retro version, stripped of all the powered guts and gizmos.
I'm not sure why the Brits call a fully featured 'integrated amplifier' an 'Amplifier'. I'm sure it's just another example of the many idiosyncrasies of the English language and its enigmatic [eccentric] users. We've all got our favourites. Mine, a car 'hood'. In England it's called a 'bonnet'. Cute. What's the phrase? 'Two nations divided by a common language.'
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