Welcome to Audiophilia. We publish honest and accurate reviews of high end audio equipment and music.
As chosen by Audiophilia's Publisher, Anthony Kershaw.
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Available at most online sites. Reviews have to be published in Audiophilia during 2017 and the recording released internationally in 2017. Media and label noted under the image.
I'm often asked what's my favorite LP. I always respond with it's too difficult to choose. Yet, to myself, Bill Evans' Waltz for Debby sometimes shoots to the front of my cerebral cortex or Dorati's LSO Firebird on Mercury. Muddy Waters Folk Singer on MoFi, too. Reiner/Chicago has to have a couple of LSCs in there, right? But, you know, there is one, no matter the year, the month, the day, the mood, which always places itself first among equals, pushed to the front of my line by its brilliance and unquantifiable musical kismet. A perfect musical storm. Arnold: Overtures with the composer, Malcolm Arnold conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra on Reference Recordings.
The primary reason I'm writing this article is to give a copy of this brilliant album (newly remastered and pressed by Reference Recordings) to one of our readers, not simply to give you my nominee for heavenly vinyl status. That said, I'm sure many of you have one for stardom. Please comment below. I would like to read your choice.
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.
The works on this CD cover over half a century of Ralph Vaughan Williams' (RVW) composing career and go a long way to explaining why he is probably the most international and well known British composer of the first half of the 20th Century.
RVW was happy to break boundaries and although he was taught by Bruch in Berlin and Parry and Stanford at the Royal College of Music, he rejected the straight jacket of German romanticism in favour of a more personal approach to composing. His time spent with Ravel in Paris crystallized his thinking and gave him his first major success with the Variations on a Theme of Thomas Tallis – one of the finest string works to be written in the 20th Century.
The 1st World War also had a huge impact on his life and attitudes but before any of this happened he produced a number of works that showed a real talent for combining folk music with orchestral development, not least the Bucolic Suite of 1900 with a middle movement of great beauty and style.
Sony Classical asked me if I was interested in reviewing a comprehensive set of Glenn Gould's seminal recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations. There have been quite a few 'collections' over the years as Sony cash in on one of its most valuable classical assets. As recording technology improves, especially digital restoration, out come the reissues. Being a huge fan of Gould, 'sure', I said, expecting the typical chubby box of remastered (yet again) CDs.
What I received at the office was a large package from Sony Classical with a very heavy box inside. I was surprised and thrilled at the same time. Next time, I'll read the email requests more carefully. The box was so heavy, I thought it was a set of LPs. It's actually 7 CDs, a large poster, the original LP in a new, 180g pressing, and a book (280 page, hard cover, coffee table book with 45 newly discovered photos). The major weight comes from the very comprehensive book discussing the recording legacy of this 1955 mono release in great detail. Seemingly, no information is left out. We even see how much Gould (and Steinway) were paid for each side of the LP. Charming.
That’s a pretty fancy title for a power conditioner. A device to clean up the nasties that find their way into your system. Fancy, maybe, but I find the good ones an indispensable component. Is the impressive moniker apt?
AudioQuest, maker of very fine cables and digital devices has produced a new series of power conditioners (the conditioner under review, the 5000, USD$3995—sits between the 1000, USD$995—and the 7000, USD$7995). AudioQuest is very serious about the technology and ingenuity they bring to solving this pesky audiophile problem.
AudioQuest says: ‘The science of AC power delivery is not a simple one; it demands focus, and the devil is in the details. In fact, the great increase in airborne and AC-line-transmitted radio signals, combined with overtaxed utility lines and the ever-increasing demands from high-definition audio/video components, has rendered our utilities’ AC power a somewhat antiquated technology.‘
This record is famous for its superlative Berliner Philharmoniker performances and Karajan’s sophisticated interpretations more than its DG house sound sonics. It’s earned its reputation well over the years, but sadly for audiophiles, the sound doesn’t improve on this DG 180g vinyl reissue.
Unlike the four Kleiber DG reissues reviewed recently in Audiophilia, where the DG remastering managed to salvage slightly better instrumental timbre and a smidgen of the glorious acoustic of Vienna’s Musikverein, we get no such luck here in Berlin.
The sound is unflattering throughout with compression at the loudest dynamics and a general lack of sparkle. Otto Gerdes (producer) and Günter Hermanns (engineer), the legendary team that recorded lots of 60s DGs, missed the mark, here. Maybe it was Karajan’s influence? He had an odd sense of ‘natural’ recorded sound considering he produced a uniformly beautiful one live with his orchestra.
I love quality vinyl reissues. Many of the DGs, though, are handcuffed from the start because of the original sound. This one doesn’t escape the murk. What a shame, as you will not find better performances anywhere.
Is there a better opening in music than the mighty Feierlich, Misterioso of Bruckner’s final symphony? Like the start of most of his symphonies, a quiet tremolando in the strings makes way for the drama to follow, here in the superb key of D minor. Just to remind your ear, Bruckner plonks down a unison D in the oboes and bassoons' lowest registers, before the horn section commences its glorious climb toward heaven. It’s nobility personified.
Italian maestro Riccardo Muti is a master Bruckner conductor. Interestingly, he stays away from Mahler -- the two usually go hand in hand for many conductors. Before they became mainstream, writers would often pair the two as the subjects of essays and books. I've had lots of arguments with my friends, family and colleagues why I think Bruckner the superior composer (in so many ways), though I do love Mahler, especially his very late masterpieces. This argument is almost as heated amongst musicians as the vinyl/digital debate is with audiophiles.
Anyway, enough of that. You're here because you're a Bruckner or Muti fan. Let me tell you why you can buy this Chicago Symphony Orchestra self release (its ReSound label) with the utmost confidence.
Emergency! All hands on deck! You know the feeling, audiophiles. You’ve just launched a stylus, the digital box just crapped out, or you just blew a tweeter changing interconnects without switching off. Happily, nothing like that here, but I was out of rack space. I hear you significant others laughing, but for OCD types like me, with three pieces of gear to review without a home and with deadlines looming, well, panic stations! Not even time to call the Canadian Target, Harmonic Resolution Systems (HRS) or Massif Audio Design (MAD) reps (my three favourite racks) to wangle a rack at an accommodation price. I want it now! And I’m in beautiful, but somewhat sleepy Victoria, BC.
I headed down to Atlas Audio and Video where I knew they sold great high end kit but also showcase some gorgeous racks. No MAD or HRS, but they did have Target and some very lovely Salamander Designs racks on display. Karl Sigman wrote a review of one of their racks in Audiophilia and did a tour of the factory. Because of the strong US dollar, the price of Salamander’s Archetype System stand made me flinch. Atlas’ very nice owner took pity on me and let me have the stand at his cost. Thank you, William. Cost was still a mouthful, but the stand is so beautifully made and my need was great, so I got out the card.
Unpacking the wood and hardware was the cost's tell. The stand is simple but made beautifully. The hardware works smoothly and effectively. Quality machining and lovely carpentry. My rack is in maple (also available in Walnut, Cherry and Black Ash).
This is the big daddy. The Citizen Kane of classical recordings. The greatest classical recording ever made!
Silly, yes, considering the pantheon of superlative classical recordings, but there is some truth to the imprimatur.
The magician of conductors, Carlos Kleiber became legendary at an early age for his ability to take the great classics, all with very famous interpretations attached to them, and make them singular, fresh, brilliant, invigorating.
Deutsche Grammophon selected four of Kleiber’s gems, remastered them and released them on 180 gram vinyl. All have now been reviewed in these pages.
From the prophetic rhythm of the most famous four bars in music, Kleiber sets out his stall. I’ve never heard the notes so beautifully balanced with so much propulsion. This high octane energy is maintained throughout the opening movement, interrupted magically by the quietest transition chords. Mesmerizing stuff. The Wiener Philharmoniker is peerless here. Personally, I’ve never heard it played better.
Blues master Doug MacLeod and audiophiles have had a love affair for several decades. A damn good one. Blues, for musical and/or acoustic reasons, lends itself to quality recordings. Muddy Waters, Philadelphia Jerry Ricks, and a host of others, are blessed both sides of the microphone. We audiophiles and blues fans are the richer for it. And we expect a lot from our ‘own’ Doug MacLeod.
MacLeod was producing legendary audiophile blues records before receiving the fairly recent Reference Recordings benediction. Come To Find on AudioQuest (my copy is on the magnificent LP) and You Can't Take My Blues also on AudioQuest (mine is on a superb JVC XRCD Reissue) are but two recorded in the 90s that will stand the test of time. Both, like this fabulous new Reference Recording, highlight MacLeod’s ‘storytelling’ singing style, with his penchant for toe tapping, up tempo rhythms interspersed with soulful songs.
Break the Chain does not do musically what the title implies. We have brilliant consistency. Here, you’ll find eleven songs and a ‘holler’ (story). Audiophiles will especially like the spoken voice track as they are so difficult to get right on recordings.
When my publisher informed me he had made arrangements with PS Audio to do a review of their latest DAC and that I would have the good fortune to do the review, I was interested. My Audiophilia colleague, Karl Sigman, is very high on their products and having heard them at his lovely abode I was looking forward to the arrival of their latest offering.
The Stellar series is comprised of the DAC and a choice of two amplifiers: the S300 stereo amplifier and a pair of S700 Mono-blocks.
As it turns out, the DAC is not only a DAC but a full function preamplifier making it the center piece of a system with remote control operation. It’s quite a package.
Comparing the DAC of the PS Audio Stellar with my reference DEQX HDP 4 processor proved to be challenging. For those of you who are unaware of what the DEQX can do, suffice it to say it offers the ability to greatly modify and alter the sound through its speaker and room correction capabilities. It also allows you to let the signal go through without any modification — that is the way I use it.
Brahms’ glorious Fourth Symphony is the crowning achievement of a well nigh perfect collection that set the standard for the symphony as a form since those of Beethoven.
In the four movements, Brahms moves from a flawlessly executed Sonata Form opening movement, to a gloriously elegiac Andante to a rollicking third movement, culminating in the famous, granitic Passacaglia serving as the finale.
As befits one of the great masterpieces of Western Music, recordings are legion, many of them very good. And to be honest, you can never have enough great Brahms recordings in your library.
We will focus on my two favourites, the great Chesky/Reiner/RPO and this incredible performance by the magician of conductors, Carlos Kleiber.
More magic music making from this team. You’ll find my first DG reissue review of Brahms Fourth Symphony above. This superb Schubert release from Carlos Kleiber and the Wiener Philharmoniker is the second, and I’m scheduled to review the other two DG released of the great conductor on vinyl, Beethoven 5 & 7.
This is the tale of two worlds, one the bright, happy Schubert of the coffee houses and Saturday morning gossip. The other, the dour, brooding Schubert, musically ominous, yet featuring incredible imagination producing an unfinished masterpiece.
Whether sunny or cloudy, Kleiber brings great energy and imagination to both performances. You won’t hear better playing anywhere — even the vaunted Sinopoli DG Philharmonia can’t compete. The balance of the sections, the articulation of the unique Puchner oboes and Viennese Horns (single F horns with piston valves), and the sound of the wonderful clarinets and trombones (Kleiber’s direction of them in the Unfinished’s syncopations is marvellous) is echt Vienna/Schubert. Hard to replicate echt anything on rainy winter morning session in a London studio!
Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic continue to be top of the classical music pile. They boast a full complement of recordings that sell extremely well and the orchestra’s own benchmark digital delivery system, the Digital Concert Hall. The ‘Hall’ is sponsored big time by Deustche Bank and is state of the art in HD, production and direction. That it has the world’s greatest orchestra and finest conductors doesn’t hurt, either.
Rattle can (and does) conduct and record whatever he likes — a testament to his incredible musicianship, the love the players have for him and the esteem in which he is held by recording companies. Everyone wants Rattle.
For the last decade I have been living happily with my upgraded AVID Volvere/SME IV turntable/arm combination, but ten years is a very long time and I got that itch. You know, that ‘itch’. The one that grabs hold and says I need to make a change, something new to satisfy that need for something better.
During this ten year period the fate of the LP has dramatically shifted. The LP has come back from the dead and a resurgence of sales has occurred. Demand for records has skyrocketed. New generations have ‘discovered what we oldsters have known about for a long time, the sound of the LP is still superior to that of digital and when played on a good system, absolutely breathtaking.
This rebirth of the LP not only impacts the turntable, tonearm and cartridge industries, but improves the health of all segments of the highend audio industry. This benefits all of us.
The striking women on the cover is the London Philharmonic's new star principal flute, Juliette Bausor.
London and Paris trained, Bausor is but one of a long list of wonderful young players filling important posts worldwide. Bausor follows in the footsteps of some wonderful long retired LPO principals like Richard Adeney and Jonathan Snowden, both of whom recorded superb Mozart Concertos, much like the fabulous Mozart heard here on Bausor's new Signum Records release.
Coupled with the Mozart G Major Concerto (and his lesser known works for flute, the Andante in C and Rondo in D), is the problematic child of 'modern' flute concertos, the eccentric and enigmatic Flute Concerto (1926) of Carl Nielsen.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, last year's audiophiliacamp, our annual magazine get together, was cancelled. Sad times, as it's our one time all year where we are all together. 2017 has been much better, circumstantially, so nothing was getting in our way this year.
Usually, it is held at Michael Levy's glorious summer home in upstate New York. Mike used to write for Audiophilia before he became a big shot speaker designer (Alta Audio). Mike and Maryann's custom home is on a large plot of land on a bend on the Hudson River. The night brings fireflies and the distant sound of a train horns on the other side of the Hudson. Truly idyllic.
Because of work (both reviewing and teaching) on an east coast swing, we had to 'suffer' and hold court in Manhattan. Our hosts, Marty and Lillian Appel. Marty is a longtime writer for Audiophilia. They live in a lovely pre war apartment opposite Riverside Park on Riverside Drive. Luckily, Karl Sigman, another of our superb writers, lives in an equally lovely pre war on Riverside, half a block up. Two superb audiophile systems to listen to, steps from each other.
