BG Cables 2014

buyer's GUIDE to
Cables, Power Products,

Accessories, & Music
go to: Contents | On The Horizon | Cables & Interconnects | Power Conditioner & Power Cords | Accessories | Music
Contents
Departments
From the Editor
On The Horizon
Cable and
Interconnect
Reviews
WyWires Blue
Survey:

New Cables from
Cardas, MIT, and Wireword
W
ireword Equinox 7 and Eclipse
N
ordost Purple Flair
E
nKlein Amphora Phono Cable
C
rystal Cable Absolute Dream
M
IT Oracle MA-X SHD
T
ransparent Reference XL
Digital Link
S
ynergistic Galileo LE
A
coustic Zen Absolute Copper
M
oon Audio Silver Dragon V2
ireworld Platinum Eclipse 7
W
A
udience Au24 SE
THIS SECTION Sponsored by
2 Guide to Cables, Power Products, Accessories, & Music
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Power Conditioner
and Power Cord
Reviews
Audience Adept Response
Shunyata Venom PS8
Shunyata Typhon
Synergistic Tesla
13 Power Cords Under $500
Three Power Cord Upgrades
THIS SECTION Sponsored by
Accessories
Klaudio KD-CLN-LP200
Record Cleaner
Auralic Gemini 2000
Headphone Dock
Audio Desk Systeme Record
Cleaner
Critical Mass Systems Sotto
Voce Equipment Rack
Cl ick herexttopagoge .to

th e ne
Music
Feature: Beatles in Mono

F
eature: A Personal Discographic
Companion to Inside Llewyn Davis
Top Ten New CDs of 2014
Top Ten CD Reissues of 2014
Top Ten New Vinyl of 2014
T
op Ten Vinyl Reissues of 2014
T
op Ten Pop/Rock High-Res
Downloads of 2014
T
op Ten Classical High-Res
Downloads of 2014
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buyer's GUIDE to
Cables, Power Products,
Accessories, & Music
publisher. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jim Hannon
editor-in-chief. . . . . . . . . . . . Robert Harley
executive editor. . . . . . . . . . Jonathan Valin
acquisitions manager
and associate editor. . . . . . Neil Gader
music editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeff Wilson
editorial assistant and
buyer's guide editor. . . . . . Spencer Holbert
creative director. . . . . . . . . Torquil Dewar
art director. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shelley Lai
webmaster. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Garrett Whitten
re to go to. th e
Cl ick heiou
prev s pa ge
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senior writers. . . . . . . . . . . . A
nthony H. Cordesman
Wayne Garcia
Robert E. Greene
Jim Hannon
Chris Martens
Tom Martin
Dick Olsher
Andrew Quint
Paul Seydor
Steven Stone
Alan Taffel
reviewers &
contributing writers. . . . . . D
uck Baker, Greg
Cahill, Stephen Estep,
Jacob Heilbrunn,
Sherri Lehman,
Ted Libbey, David
McGee, Kirk Midtskog,
Bill Milkowski, Derk
Richardson, Jeff Wilson
nextscreen, LLC
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2014 NextScreen, LLC
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FROM THE Editor

Welcome to the 2014 Absolute Sound Buyers Guide to Cables, Power Products, Accessories, and Music. You
will find that this edition is filled with expert reviews of some of the best speaker cables, interconnects, power
cords, AC conditioners, record cleaners, and equipment racks on the market. In addition, we have included more
than 40 pages of the best musical releases of 2014.
Technology has come a long way in the past decade, and todays high-quality speaker cables, interconnects, and
AC power cords can help you realize the potential of your system to an extent never before possible. With all the
electromagnetic radiation and RFI floating through our homes and introduced through power lines, upgrading
power cords can dramatically lower the noise floor of your reference system, while speaker cables and
interconnects that reduce or eliminate colorations can help deliver the transparent, finely detailed soundstage
you're looking for. Record cleaners have also progressed in leaps and bounds over the past ten years, with new
ultrasonic record cleaners that dig deep into the grooves to remove grime thats been stuck between you and
your systems true sonic potential for years (or decades). We've even included a review of an equipment rack
that is both sonically beneficial and visually striking. And we finish up with page after page of the best music of
the year, from LPs to digital downloads.
Given the sheer number of speaker cables, interconnects, AC

power cords, and audio accessories on the market, it is always
a daunting task for a consumer to choose the products most
worthy of valuable audition time. With this Buyers Guide, you
can narrow your list to a few candidates, and rest assured that
the components recommended are of the highest quality. We
hope this Buyers Guide will steer you in the right directions
and help you with your next purchases.
Happy listening,
Spencer Holbert
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go to: Contents | On The Horizon | Cables & Interconnects |

Power Conditioner & Power Cords | Accessories | Music
ON THE HORIZON
Hot New Products

Coming Your Way
Cl ick an yanad to
vis it
ad verti ser ' s w eb site.
AudioQuest
Water, Earth, Wind, and Fire Analog Interconnects
AudioQuests new Element line builds on the companys 30 years of experience designing some
of the best cables on the market. Each cable in the Element Series uses a 72V dielectric-bias
system to maintain a constant charge, and therefore essentially eliminate the need for break-in.
The Elements also feature high-performance, state-of-the-art technologies, such as a carbonbased, six- and eight-layer noise-dissipation system, solid perfect-surface conductors, controlled
directionality, and air-tube insulation. The Water, Earth, and Wind interconnects are available in
RCA or XLR terminations, which are cold-welded with hanging-silver plating over red copper; the
Fire interconnects take things to the next level with WEL-type, double-contact, extreme-purity
terminations available in RCA or XLR. As always, the AudioQuest Water, Earth, Wind, and Fire
interconnects are wrapped in a sleek, braided dielectric, which makes a sonic and visual statement.
Starting price: Water, $450/0.5m; Earth, $750/0.5m; Wind, $1495/0.5m; Fire, $2145/0.5m.
audioquest.com
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AudioQuest
Chicago Analog Interconnect
Even entry-level systems can benefit
from high-performance cables. Thats why
AudioQuest has introduced the Chicago Analog
Interconnect, the newest addition to its River
Series Analog Audio interconnects. Starting at
only $64 for a 0.5m pair, the Chicago features
solid long-grain-copper conductors, doublebalanced geometry, hard-cell-foam insulation,
metal-layer noise dissipation, and cold-welded,
gold-plated terminations (RCA only). These
cables can help realize the true sonic potential
of an entry-level system without breaking the
bank. Price: $64/0.5m pair; longer lengths $59
+ $10 per extra meter. audioquest.com
6 Guide to Cables, Power Products, Accessories, and Music
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WyWires
Diamond Series
Diamond is a brand-new design from WyWires
that features a new Litz-wire, air-dielectric
design. The Diamond Series cables employ
complex architectures optimized to produce
neutral timbre and detail retrieval that far
surpasses that of previous designs. Stellar
textures, transparency, and dynamics are
hallmarks of the Diamond Series, which
represents WyWires pursuit of the ultimate in
cables and interconnects. Price starting at:
Interconnects, $4499; speaker cables, $7999.
wywires.com
EnKlein
David Power Cord
The David Power Cord from EnKlein attempts
to achieve highest performance by drawing
upon years of design experience in the
government- and commercial-signal industries.
The David features balanced-shield noise
cancellation, an electromagnetic-interference
system-shield (EMISS), and a patent-pending
shield-energy-dissipation controller, all of which
aim at lowering the noise floor to an absolute
minimum to retain signal purity. The goal is
to shield your reference system from all the
extraneous and spurious noises that can be
introduced through electromagnetic radiation
from external sources, as well as from the
myriad radio frequencies floating through your
home. Price: $7500/1.25m; additional lengths
available. enklein.com
EnKlein
Big Tom II
Compared to other models available from
EnKlein, the Big Tom II AC power cord is
downright bargain-priced. Featuring rhodiumplated solid-copper conductors and a nylon/
fiberglass front plate, the Big Tom II uses
trickle-down technology from the more
expensive TReX power cord. With premium,
stranded, 14-gauge-copper cores and EnKleins
EMISS shielding, the Big Tom II enhances
the quality of the power delivered to your
equipment by removing spurious signals. The
result is a lower noise floor and less grunge.
Price: $875/1.24m. enklein.com
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ON THE HORIZON
Music Interface Technologies

Oracle Matrix SHD 120 Rev.1
Pioneered by Bruce Brisson of MIT Cables,
the latest generation of Oracle Matrix SHD
120 Rev.1 speaker cables features the newest
iteration of 2C3D (2-channel, 3-dimensional)
technology. According to MIT, 2C3D makes it
easy to identify individual instruments and
voices within a well-defined, three-dimensional
soundstage, at any volume level. The new
Oracle Matrix SHD 120 Rev.1 speaker cables
put more energy in front of and behind your
reference speakers to produce a deeper stage
and more holographic imaging. The 2C3D
circuitry can easily be switched on or off in
order to compare the difference the technology
makes. The Oracle Matrix SHD 120 Rev.1
speaker cables employ the same technology
used in MITs new flagship Oracle MA-X SHD
Rev.1. Price: $27,999. mitcables.com
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Shunyata Research
MPC-12 Media Power Center
The Media Power Center 12 is the most
complete, multi-function, high-current power
distributor Shunyata has yet produced. Six
of the MPC-12s twelve outlets are designed
exclusively for digital system components.
These digital outlets are isolated from the
bank of six analog outlets via Shunyatas
hand-wound air-coil technology. This custombuilt coil prevents high-frequency digital
noise generated by digital electronics from
contaminating the analog components plugged
into the other side of the MPC-12, making for
a far lower noise floor, blacker backgrounds,
and less grunge in the audio signal. The MPC-12
is essentially two discrete power conditioners
in one box, which allows both superior noise
reduction and maximum current delivery. On
top of the noise reduction, spike-and-surge
protection ensures your valuable components
wont be fried during electrical storms or power
outages. The MPC-12 comes with Shunyatas
proprietary massive-gauge power cord, the
Venom HC, which normally retails for $295 as a
stand-alone product.
Price: $2495. shunyata.com
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Equipment reviews
Cables & Interconnects

SPONSORED BY
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WyWires Blue Speaker Cable

and Interconnect
Sweet, Supple, and Sensible
Neil Gader
lex Sventitsky, the who behind

the why of WyWires, says that
he began thinking about making
audio cables in 2002, but because of
his career in the computer-software
industry had to put that passion on
the back burneruntil 2010, that is,
when he made the leap from software
to wires. A self-described lifelong
audiophile with music in his DNA
(his father was an audio-equipment
manufacturer in post-WWII Europe and
Latin America), Sventitsky regards his
firm grounding in mathematics as one
of the keys to WyWires development.
After Sventitsky completed his own
intensive research, WyWires was
officially launched in March 2010.
Today, WyWires is a global company
with distribution in ten countries along
with fifteen dealers in the USA.
There are three WyWires lines. The entrylevel is Blue, the middle-range is Silver, and the
flagship is Gold. A new Platinum line is under
development. They all share the same design
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principles, using air, cotton, and PTFE Teflon

dielectrics along with WyWires own Litz-wire
geometry. The Blue line is derived from the
Silver line with key differences that include
a less costly combination of conductor, outer
sheathing, and connector. Blue uses Cardas
RCA and Neutrik XLR connectors whereas
Silver is equipped with more costly Xhadow
connectors. The elite Gold ups the ante in every
dimension and, in a unique spin, integrates
Bybee Slipstreams for interconnects, phono,
and digital, and Quantum Purifiers for the
speaker cables and Juice II Power cords.
All WyWires are manufactured by hand
at room temperature, which according
to Sventitsky allows the use of the best
conductor material without fear of damage
due to excessive heat. Conductors are ultrapure copper allowing them to withstand
prolonged, intensive use. WyWires use the ideal
insulator: air with a little assist from cotton.
The conductors are wrapped in organic cotton
(mostly air after all) and then encased in a
larger diameter PTFE tubethat Teflon tube is
three isolating layers away from the conductor.
WyWires Blue is lightweight and very flexible,

one of the most flexible cables Ive handled in
years. Yet it sounds anything but humble in
playback. Its sonic signature is dynamically
energetic, with a potent midrange, plenty
of drive, and a slightly forward tilt. The Blue
doesnt sound juiced-up or overheated; if the
goal is high transparency and black-satin
background silences, it can be considered a
real achiever.
The Blue may lack the physical bulk of some
of its competitors, but dont be fooled. Its
bass response was strong, even intimidating,
during the Copland Fanfare [Reference]. While
veering slightly to the cooler side of neutral,
it exhibited fine rhythmic pace, excellent
top-to-bottom balance, and a good sense
of dimensionality along the horizontal and
vertical planes. Tierney Suttons jazzy vocals
were appropriately lively and playfulmy

attention was only diverted momentarily when
I noted a hint of added sibilance on certain s
sounds, as in the line Get your kicks on Route
66. During Mary Chapin-Carpenters intimate
When Time Stands Still I heard the wonderful
way the cabling has with inner detail. It revealed
the striking amount of piano pedal in this
song along with the breathy details borne of
the close-miked vocal.
The purity of the WyWires performance
makes it awfully difficult to be critical. At the
end of the day its less about raw tonality
and more about fairly minor subtractions. For
example, during Norah Jones Sinkin Soon
from Not Too Late [Blue Note] the Blue conveyed
a presence range with a bit of silvering around
the edges of images. During Evgeny Kissins
performance of The Lark piano chords were
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EQUIPMENT review - WyWires Blue Series

not as pristinely delineated as Ive heard from
some cables; there was just a hint of smearing
that reduced the clarity of individual notes.
During Ms. Suttons Alone Together, the
low-end response from the standup bass had
a little added thickness that undercut detail
and subtracted some of the resonant decay at
the end of each vamp of the intro compared to
more expensive competition.
clean top end, very quick delivery of transients,

and well-balanced tonality. In comparison, my
current reference USB cable, AudioQuests
Coffee, has a few more ounces of weight in
the bass frequencies and a touch more lowlevel resolution. However, in image focus and
harmonic integration my guess is that both
these wires have enough sonic caffeine to keep
you up all night listening.
WyWires Silver Series Litespd USB

Ive been listening to a lot of hard drive-sourced
music via USB lately so I had a go with WyWires
Silver Series Litespd USB cable. Im glad I did.
Like the Blue speaker and interconnects, the
Litespd is remarkably flexible. Id recently
downloaded Carol Kings Tapestry [Ode] from
HDtracks in 24-bit/192kHz format. It has been
nearly a generation since I sat down to listen
critically to this mega-hit disc. It was both a
disappointment and a delight sonically. Its
vintage analog soundwarm and woolenwas
dated to be sure, but amidst the nostalgic hiss
of tape noise there also rose an acoustically
unprocessed truth and honesty that is so often
missing in todays recordings, where studios
perform digital plastic surgery to lift, fill, and
tune every flaw of a recording. The track So
Far Away held some surprises. There was
considerably more definition and punch to the
simple kick drum downbeat and downward
spiraling bass line; the images were nicely spread
and airy. The guitars of James Taylor and Danny
Kortchmar, in particular, were more detailed and
defined than I recalled them. The Litespd turned
in a terrifically musical performance with a
Why Not?
Some cables just want to be the star of the
show. But nothing impresses me more than an
unpretentious component that lets the quality
of the recorded performance speak for itself.
Here we have a humble cable in the WyWires
Bluea cable with a small visual footprint but a
mighty sound. WyWires puts the music upfront
and centerstage. A truly auspicious debut.
SPECS & PRICING

Price: Blue Series
Wywires
speaker cables,
16501 Sherman Way,
$599/8' pr.; RCA analog
Suite 120
interconnects,
Van Nuys, CA 91406
$469/4' pr.; XLR analog
(818) 981-4706
interconnects, $499/4'
wywires.com
pr.; Litespd S/PDIF

digital, $249 for 1m;
Silver Series Litespd
USB digital, $429 for 1m
CLICK HERE TO COMMENT at www.theabsolutesound.com
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New Interconnects and Cables from

Cardas, MIT, and Wireworld
Mid-Priced Cable Survey
Ron Doering
arlier this year I reviewed Dynaudios XEO 5 wireless speaker system,

which wasnt truly wireless. While it was true that speaker cables were
relieved of their duties, plenty of work was still found for AC cords, line-level
interconnects, and coaxial and USB cables, which makes me doubt whether such
wireless designs will ever be seen as a threat by the wire-makers of the world.
Wire and electronics go together almost inseparably; yes, its possible to make one
that operates without the other, but it is relatively difficult to do. Wires, or more
specifically the conductors inside wire, do a splendidly efficient job at two things
that make electronics go: transmitting power and isolating small-scale signals.
But conductors, any conductorsbecause none can completely remove itself from
the process of transmitting an electrical signalcant help but impart a signature
of their own, as subtle as that may be. Thus, paradoxically, the best cable firms
are also working hard to make the wires between components disappear. Three
of these firms are here under the spotlight in this survey of their latest mid-line
interconnects and speaker cables.
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Rightly or not, I took as gospel that it was

the goal of cable designers is to eliminate any
character imparted to the audio signal by the
device itself. I also assumed that the more
there was of the device, the easier it would be
to discern this character. So I asked for three
meters of interconnectwhich wouldnt be out
of place in order to more conveniently place
a preamplifier near the listenerand another
three meters or thereabouts of speaker cable.
Although none of the interconnects tested was
marketed as such, I also tried each connected
to a moving-magnet input of my Parasound
Z phono USB preamp, leaving the other end
disconnected, as a check for shielding against
hum and noise.

To preserve my sanity (and yours) and because most people I suspect would buy wire by
the label, I chose not to report on the results
of mixed-brand listening, although I did give it
a try. My conclusion? Differences among the
interconnect cables outweighed those among
speaker cables. Finally, and again in the interest
of my own sanity, I limited the music material to
three recordings: 96/24 hi-res renditions of Ella
and Louis [Verve] and the Grateful Deads American Beauty [Warner Bros.], and Glenn Goulds
1981 performance of Bachs Goldberg Variations
on State of Wonder [Sony], ripped to my computer and upsampled to 96kHz.
Cardas Clear Light Interconnect and Clear
Sky Speaker Cables
There are two things to like about these Cardas
cables even before you connect them up. The
first is that they are proudly (any other adverb
possible?) designed and made in the U.S.A.
The second is packaging, which is about as
low-key and at the same time environmentally
agreeable as you can get: a zip lock plastic bag
and two-pieces-of-paper-worth of product info.
I put the paper in the recycling bin and used the
bags for sandwiches. Ok, maybe a brown paper
bag would beat this, but really! All perfectly
adequate to the purpose, and neither adds
nor detracts from the inherent quality of the
product itself. And, I think, a classy choice.
For the uninitiated, Cardas Audio is built on
the philosophy of the supremacy of the golden
ratio otherwise known simply as the irrational
number 1.618 (in short form). It has been argued
that this ratio accounts for the most pleasing
aesthetics in art, architecture, and the human
form. It is also suggested that it explains the
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EQUIPMENT review - Interconnects & Cables from Cardas, MIT, & Wireworld
growth patterns of some animals, including the

nautilus shell, a cross-section of which is the
corporate symbol of Cardas. I suppose George
Cardas reasoned that if the golden ratio was
good enough for art and nature, it should work
a treat in cable-conductor geometry.
At $692 for a meter pair, the Clear Light
is Cardas second priciest interconnect, but
its still a huge step below the top-of-the-line
Clears $1840 price tag, while the Clear Sky
speaker cable, at $900 for a three-meter
terminated pair, is fourth out of nine in the
Cardas pecking order (the top-range Clear
Beyond is priced at a cool $9884).
Just keeping things in perspective.
Aside from the packaging, the fat blue cables
are suitably physically impressive, and yet the
soft rubber casings made them very flexible
and easy to dress.
Except for the Wireworld Equinox 7 speaker
cables, the Cardas wires were the chunkiest
Ive ever used in my system, and I cant

help to think that the visual image I have of
these cables might have affected my aural
observations (if true, then blind-listening
tests may indeed have a purpose). So is my
mind equating big and fat cables with big, fat,
round, bassy sound? I may never know, but I
heard good detail along with a slight fullness
to the upright and electric basses. This warmth
invited me when listening to Ella and Louis to
focus a bit more than normal on Ray Browns
bass playing, which is really not a terrible
thing, although the records presentation now
became that of three headliners rather than
two. However, Phil Leshs electric bass on Box
of Rain was at the boundary of being a little
too full, and with it suffering a wee loss of
control and definition, although not unlike an
experience I had listening to them live in New
Yorks Madison Square Garden back in the early
eighties.
Mind you, this was a relatively small
magnitude effect which could easily have been
the result of a system mismatch with my Snells
and could be welcome in other setups. Hum
rejection was quite good although somewhat
less so than the Wireworld cable, which was
almost inaudible.
MIT StyleLine SL 8 Interconnect and SL 9
Speaker Cables
I always equated MIT (Music Interface
Technologies) audio cables with crazyunreachable prices even if you do get a set of
magic boxes along with the wire. Try $17,000
for the Oracle MA-X Rev. 2 Proline Balanced
(1 meter) or $53,500 for eight feet of Oracle
MA-X Super HD Bi-Wire speaker cable, and

you see what I mean. But thats only the very
top end of a quite large range in cable pricing.
Towards the other end is the new StyleLine
series, which starts at $200 per meter pair
for the SL 3 interconnects and $500 for an
eight-foot pair of SL 5 speaker interfaces (MIT
speak for cables). I reviewed the slightly more
expensive SL 8 ($499) interconnect and SL 9
($799) interface. This line also encompasses
HDMI, digital coaxial, TosLink, and USB cables,
as well as power cords.
Im not going to go too deeply into this as
I hardly understand it myself, except that

superficially the numbers (3, 5, 8, 9, and so on)
stand for the number of poles of articulation,
of which (you guessed it) the more the better.
The companys high is 159 poles, so you see Im
really slumming. According to MIT a pole is an
optimized range of frequencies at which a cable
most efficiently stores and transports energy
and therefore is the region where it has best
articulation. These poles are relatively narrow,
so the more you can get in and distribute
evenly across the audible range, the higher the
articulation achieved.
SPECS & PRICING

Cardas Clear Light
Music Interface
ASSOCIATED COMPONENTS
Interconnect and Clear Sky
Technologies
Rogue Sphinx integrated amplifier;
Speaker Cables
4130 Citrus Avenue, Suite 9
Kenwood KT-8300 AM-FM tuner;
$692 meter pair
Rocklin, California 95765
Rotel RDD-980 CD disc drive;
interconnect/$900 for three meter
(916) 625-0129
Meridian 203 DAC; Dell Inspiron
terminated pair speaker cable
mitcables.com
530 PC running Windows Vista,
Cardas Audio, Ltd
Wireworld Equinox 7
HD2 USB DAC; Thorens TD309
480 Eleventh Street, South East
Interconnect and Speaker
turntable; Dual CS 5000 turntable
Bandon, Oregon 97411
Cables
(78s Only); TP 92 tone arm;
(541) 347-2484
$200 meter pair interconnect/$870
AudioTechnica AT-95B cartridge;
cardas.com
for three meter terminated pair
Ortofon OMB 78 cartridge;
speaker cable
Bellari VP129 phonostage; Snell
J River Media Center 15; Hegel
EII loudspeakers; JPS Labs
MIT StyleLine SL 8
Interconnect and SL 9
Wireworld, Inc.
Ultrconductor 2 interconnects;
Speaker Cables
6545 Nova Drive, Suite 204
Kimber Kable KWIK-12 loudspeaker
$499 meter pair interconnect/$799
Davie, Florida 33317
cable; Staples 5 meter USB cable;
for eight foot terminated pair
(554) 474-4464
Have Canare DigiFlex Gold coaxial
speaker cable
wireworldcable.com
digital cable
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EQUIPMENT review - Interconnects & Cables from Cardas, MIT, & Wireworld
Whatever is going on in MIT cables, the results
sounded pretty positive to these ears. The SL 8
did have the poorest rejection of 60Hz hum and
noise, but when it was used as intended I heard
a very neutral top-to-bottom balance. Bass
was certainly present, but it didnt overwhelm
everything else. On the other hand, I was able
to bask in the detail-fest that makes the sport
of high-end audio so much fun: mouth sounds,
the signatures of the microphones, the sound
of the recording studio, the bite on brass that
makes me fear for what Pops chops must have
been going through on Armstrongs solo breaks
on Isnt it a Lovely Day. How about the sound of
the action on Glenn Goulds piano? Clear as day.
Magic boxes? Poles of articulation? Just like my
late-model computer-controlled car, its beyond
me how it works, but I do like what it does.
Wireworld Equinox 7 Interconnect and
Speaker Cables
The Equinox is right smack in the middle of
Wireworlds extensive new Series 7 line of
interconnect and speaker cable, which also
encompasses HDMI, USB, coax/TosLink, and
power cables. Priced at $200/meter pair
(interconnect) and $870/3 meter pair (speaker
cable), Equinox appears to be good value in a
range that tops out at $3000 and $24,400
respectively.
Unlike MIT cables, there are no magic
boxes to be found; instead, the Equinox is all
about good quality materials and geometry.
The conductors are of Ohno continuous-cast
copper, and these are arranged to minimize
inductance effects in what the company calls
its DNA Helix configuration. Wireworld claims
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a side benefit of this is superior immunity to

EMI and RFI noise. Indeed, the 7 interconnect
displayed the best hum and noise rejection of
the cables in this review.
The Equinox 7 interconnect is a particularly
good value, being possessed of a pleasingly
rounded and warm presentation not unlike the
Cardas Clear Light but for less than one-third the
price. The tremendously bulky and stiff Equinox
7 speaker cable was also very similar to the
Cardas Clear Sky in sonics, but in this case the
prices were similar as well. While the Equinox was
easy and never fatiguing to listen to, the added
warmth was not what my system needed. But in
a hi fi thats a bit tilted forward towards the right
of the frequency continuum, the Equinox 7 may
be very welcome indeed.
Conclusion
Like choosing among mid-priced sedans from
Honda, Nissan, or Toyota, it will be hard to go
wrong with any of the cables reviewed here.
This is really no surprise as Cardas, MIT, and
Wireworld are blue chip companies that have
been in this business for quite some time, and
they know what they are doing. Yet, there are
sufficient differences in the sonic personalities
of these components that I highly recommend a
trial listen before committing to a purchase.
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Wireworld Series 7 Equinox and

Eclipse Speaker Wire and Interconnect
Lucky Sevens
Neil Gader
ver the years numerous examples of Wireworld

Audio speaker cables and interconnects have
crisscrossed my listening room. So many in
fact that a common theme has gradually emerged.
On a tonal basis, Wireworlds wires have been eerily
consistent model to modeleven to the point of
predictability. Their character has always centered
on the midrange first, eschewing frequency-extreme
flashiness in favor of an overall neutral response. At
times Id characterize them as leaning slightly toward
the darker side of the tonal spectrum, but thats an
impression I dont want to exaggerate. It is more a
reflection of the fact that Wireworld doesnt hype the
treble octaves like many other cables Ive encountered.
There is no false detail or transient etching.
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Still, in retrospect, there seemed to be room for improvement

in its mid-priced offerings, especially in spatiality and low-level
resolving power. Thus, when I was afforded the opportunity to
hear Wireworlds popular Equinox and Eclipse wires in their new
20th Anniversary Series 7 configuration, I jumped at the chance.
These mid-priced wires are the heart of the Wireworld line
what I consider the two most popular upgrade price points. Both
use Ohno Continuous Cast copper conductors (OCC), but Eclipse
uses a heavier gauge, which results in thicker, stiffer products.
If my coverage of Equinox 7 is giving you a sense of dj vu,
it should. In Issue 236 TAS writer Ron Doering included Equinox
in a survey of mid-priced cables. In that article RD pointed out
its pleasingly rounded and warm presentation, a conclusion
that Id reached in an earlier go-round with Equinox. Even so, I
wanted to contrast Equinox 7 with the uptown Eclipse 7 wires,
bouncing them off one another to illustrate what enthusiasts

can expect when contemplating an upgrade.
My impressions of Equinox 7 essentially mirror RDs with the
exception that compared with earlier Wireworld iterations, the
Series 7 wires are a bit brighter and more open in the treble,
and though they have a warm overall signature, low-level veiling
has been reduced and the recovery of inner detail improved.
The Equinox Series 7 is a more tonally neutral and open wire
and bears a significant tonal resemblance to its pricier sibling,
Eclipse 7. However as I listened to Rhapsody in Blue [St. Louis,
Slatkin; Reference Mastercuts], the Equinox Series 7s balance
was clearly more midrange-y and just a little brasher and flintier
on brass transients. Soundstage width and dimensionality were
mid-pack for this range with a corresponding hint of congestion
around neighboring orchestral images. On balance Equinox will
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EQUIPMENT review - Wireworld Series 7 Equinox and Eclipse

be a tough competitor with the recent reviewed
Nordost Purple Flare and WyWires Blue (Issue
236).
Turning to Eclipse 7, its larger-gauge OCC
copper conductors seemed to embolden its
sonics. Several differences are obvious. Though
very good in this regard, the Equinox 7s micro-dynamic energy cant match the vitality of
Eclipsethe perceived rhythm and pace of pianist Jeffrey Siegel playing during Rhapsody is a
good example. Keyboard feel is crucial to communicating Gershwins music and Eclipse simply
has more jump and immediacy that makes notes
seem to spring from the keys. Likewise, Donald
Fagens I.G.Y. from his Nightfly LP is a great example of how small shifts in soundstage geography are differently handled by these two wires.
With Eclipse, Fagen drops back a step or two, and
the stage widens, allowing the guitar fills on the
left and the percussion licks on the right more
elbowroom. Backup voices are more defined and
layered and Fagens lead vocal seems to float on
a raft of air. As I listened to BS&Ts And When I
Die [Direct-Disk Labs] it was easy to hear that
hard percussive transients, light hi-hat figures,
and brass section bursts were generating more
texture and complexity, particularly in sustain
and decay. These are fine distinctions, yes, but
if you ever wondered whether you get what you
pay for, here is proof that you do.
Key, however, is how Eclipse 7 adds a finer
and richer complexity to performances, particularly in the way it reproduces ambient space.
During the Gershwin the sensation of the orchestra pressurizing the venue and launching
a wave of sound outward into the space became more palpable. As I listened to a bevy of
orchestral vinyl like The Wasps Overture [RCA

Red Seal], certain common traits with Wireworlds flagship cable, Platinum Eclipse (review
forthcoming), presented themselves. Foremost
was the sense of layered depth that brings
symphonic works alive in the listening room.
String sections and the positioning of individual players became more finely resolved, each
instrument revealing its own voice blending
among many rather than being homogenized
into a single melodic line. In essence, Eclipse
reproduced the performance in a fashion that
came much closer to the reality of many players performing together.
The obvious conclusion would be to proclaim
Equinox as the bargain choice of these two
models. But as good as Equinox is, (a genuine goto wire in its class) its the pricier Eclipse 7 that
steals that honor. Admittedly its roughly twice
the Equinoxs price but its vivid performance
draws closer to statement-quality wire (which
includes my first impressions of Platinum
Eclipse 7) than I would ever have imagined. If
your upgrade plans include major system-wide
renovations, this particular Eclipse is one you
dont want to miss.
David Salz on the Series 7 Design

Twenty years in business is quite a milestone, no matter how you spin it. But Wireworlds 20th Anniversary
Series 7 products are not just a collection of cosmetic upgrades, although the commemorative coins inset
in some of the models is certainly attractive. I asked founder and designer David Salz the goal Wireworld
set for itself in developing the Series 7. Because it marks our 20th anniversary, I felt that Series 7 needed
to be a real leap toward my ultimate goal of creating cables that preserve every nuance of a live musical
performance.
My development process for Series 7 began with the discovery that the most audible differences
among cable insulation materials are caused by spectral variations in the noise they create. Furthermore,
that noise is modulated and therefore amplified by the electrical energy of the music signal. This discovery
SPECS & PRICING
led me to focus on custom-blending composite insulation materials to be specifically optimized for sonic
purity. The result of that effort is our Composilex 2 insulation technology, which provides more vivid sound
on a quieter background than ever before. Composilex 2 insulation technology dramatically reduces the
WIREWORLD AUDIO
Price: Equinox 7,
triboelectric noise (note: static electricity occurring through friction is an example of triboelectric noise)
6545 Nova Drive, Suite
$200/1m interconnect;
generated by the interface between conductor and insulation.
#204
$870/3m speaker
Davie, FL 33317
Eclipse 7, $450/1m
from new versions of our DNA Helix conductor geometry, which channels more electromagnetic energy
(954) 474-4464
interconnect; $1800/3m
and therefore more music, than the previous designs. Both of these advances improve preservation of
wireworldcable.com
speaker
timbre, dimensionality, and dynamics.
While our Series 7 speaker cables also benefit from Composilex 2, their greatest improvements result
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Nordost Purple Flare Cable

My Blue Heaven
Neil Gader
he original Nordost Blue Heaven cable was, for many years, one of my budget
reference wires. It debuted in 1994 and featured Nordosts now iconic Flatline
cable design. I knew this cable backwards and forwardsits many strengths
(excellent transparency and detail) and its modest weaknesses (a slightly upward
frequency tilt and a hint of opacity and edge in the top octaves). Blue Heaven has
been improved at least a couple of times since I reviewed it. However, Nordosts
Purple Flare, considered a rung below the current incarnation of Blue Heaven,
doesnt just conjure up fond memories. Its a little trip to heaven of its own.
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The visual look of Purple Flare speaker wire is

unadorned classic flatline. It comprises fourteen
15-gauge silver-plated 99.9999%-purity OFC
solid-core conductors in FEP (Fluorinated
Ethylene Propylene) insulation. The interconnect
is fully-shielded with six 26-gauge, silver-plated
99.9999% OFC solid-core conductors wound in
a minimum cross-section configurationa design
Nordost uses to eliminate unnecessary fillers or
padding elements. Insulation is also a high-grade
FEP. There are two termination options: balanced
or single-ended. Like all Nordost cables, Purple
Flare is manufactured and hand-terminated in
the U.S.A.
When a new wire enters my system for an
initial round of listening, my habit is to glean an
overall impression of the cables signature. Its
a casual, even subliminal process that helps me
get a handle on tonal accuracy, dimensionality,
dynamic anomalies, general transparency,
transient attack, and so on. The more time
I spend with the wire, the more specific and
critical these impressions become. Straight
out of the blocks the Purple Flare evinced
sprinters speed and did not suggest any serious
tonal-balance discontinuities. Its treble range
was wonderfully free from constriction. Not
overly brilliant, it was, on balance, as open and
transparent as Ive heard from a cable in this
class. It was highly revealing of the finer dynamic
gradations and low-level details of well-recorded
orchestral works. (The huge orchestra required
for Ashkenazy and the Berlin Philharmonics
performance of Stravinskys Rite of Spring
[Decca] is a superior test for this purpose
particularly the quieter moments featuring the
delicate and colorful interplay between clarinet,
bassoon, and oboe.)
During Norah Jones My Dear Country from
Not Too Late [Blue Note], there was a natural

amount of vocal air riding along with her voice,
which imparted a relaxed warmth that settled
the track into a smooth groove. This trait was
also on display during James Taylors Only One
from Thats Why Im Here [Columbia/Legacy], a
track that catches the clarity of Joni Mitchells
high harmony during the chorus. Like tapping a
fine crystal goblet with a fingernail, the ring of
Mitchells soprano was pristine and impeccably
defined. I cant say that the Purple Flare fully
explored the dimensional component that exists
on this pop track, but more on that later. Still,
Purple Flare really shines in the midband with a
slightly forward, driving energy that imparts a
dynamic liveliness to all genres of music.
Tracks that Im especially attuned to, like
Rosanne Cashs If I Were a Man from 10 Song
Demo [Capitol Records], were as familiar as an
old friend. This is a cut where you can select the
right volume and almost forget it is a recording as
Cash eerily begins to materialize in the room. And
its not just the vocal or the reassuring, almost
metronomic strumming of the acoustic guitar
that springs to life; its the sound of the strings
radiating off the soundboard, amplifying the note
and projecting its energy in your direction.
One of the reasons I continue to listen to
familiar tracks like Holly Coles Take Me Home
on Temptation [Capitol Records] is because
the spareness of the arrangement rewards
the ear with a lot of reverberant information,
low-level detail, soundstage layering, and the
dimensionality of Coles voice. The Purple
Flare left the familiar cues in place and lined
up remarkably close to my current reference
cables, the Wireworld Platinum and Synergistic
Research Element Tungsten.
One of the few tonal concessions Purple Flare
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EQUIPMENT review - Nordost Purple Flare

makes to reference-caliber wire is the lowest
bass, where it is not quite as full in extension
or bloom. Also theres a bit of coolness in the
middle treble that leads to a tiny hint of etch
in the sibilance range, although overall this
critical region is strikingly free from grain or
grit. Transient speed is also very good but, as
with the aforementioned sibilance region, there
remains a bit of hardness on smartly struck
percussion and high-intensity brass.
No doubt about it, Purple Flare has significant
macro-dynamic punch. Orchestral crescendos,
full-blown percussion breaks, brass section
blasts, and so forth are impressive. However,
after listening to a great deal of solo piano from
Keith Jarrett to Evgeny Kissin, I noted that
the Purple Flare reduces micro-information
just enough to suggest a bit of damping of
the players touch during lightening-quick
arpeggios, such as those flying from the fingers
of Kissins right hand. Similarly, low-octave
chords that typically rev up the soundboard
with wave-upon-wave of resonances come off
just a bit lighter in color and power.
The best cables Ive heard reveal ambient and
reverberant cues that ultimately give shape to
the soundstage. They define the venues scope,
and if the recording is especially good, its wall
boundaries. As good as the Purple Flare is, some
of this bass bloom and ambient expansiveness
was curtailed a bit during Vaughan Williams
The Wasps Overture [Chandos]. The stage
narrowed ever so slightly and there was the
distinct sense that orchestral sections were
cozying up to one another a little more closely.
That said, perspective please! These minor
flaws will seem almost silly when the Purple
Flare is placed in context with the entry-level

audio systems it likely will be paired with.
My recent experience with WyWires Blue
(a little cool, pacey, and highly dimensional),
Analysis Plus Silver Oval (superb balance and
a sweet, smooth treble response), and now
Nordost Purple Flare continues to reinforce my
opinion that the world of superior entry-level
and mid-priced cables is actually expanding
rather than contracting. And for those
naysayers who promulgate the view that wire
is wireblah, blah, blahI can only recommend
they listen to this exciting segment.
Far be it from me to preach to anyone on a
budget, but let me offer two cents of advice.
No one I know builds a system around cables.
Rather, cables permit us to realize a systems
potential. They add polish and patina and need
to be selected in proportion to the system
theyll be use with. How much to allot for wire?
Theres no hard-and-fast rule. But Nordosts
Purple Flare certainly makes the decision less
painful and expensive. I cant say it enough
Purple Flare is like a little trip to (Blue) Heaven
for those of us earthbound on a budget.
SPECS & PRICING

Price: Speaker: $518/2m,
Nordost
$596/3m; Interconnect:
Corporation
$260/1m, $365/2m
93 Bartzak Drive
Holliston, MA 01746
(508) 893-0100
nordost.com
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EnKlein Amphora
Phono Cable
A Promising Debut
Jacob Heilbrunn
ables, its commonly agreed, are one of the more mysterious parts of the high
end. Designs vary wildly. So do prices. But only the most hardened doubleblind-testers would deny that cables can significantly influence the sound
of a stereo system, changing everything from bass impact to treble extension,
from perceived instrumental detail to timbres. Thus, in recent years, a number of
companies have entered the cable marketplace with new designs that promise to
deliver on the promise of improved sound.
Into this very crowded field steps EnKlein,
a manufacturer that specializes in lowmass cables. EnKlein produces a variety of
interconnects and speaker cables. The one the
company sent me for review is the Amphora

silver phono cable, which boasts the very
lowest mass of all its cables, as well as some
exceedingly attractive silver WBT connectors.
The cable appears to be carefully constructed.

Its extreme flexibility means that it would take
an effort to stress the connectors or otherwise
harm the Amphora.
EnKlein suggests that the significance
of low mass is often underestimated by
cable manufacturers. The company works to
minimize disruptive mechanical vibrations,
which can have a deleterious effect upon the
signal. Its director David Kleinbeck, who has
worked for companies such as Sprint, has
some pretty serious engineering chops when
it comes to the wireless world. EnKleins Web
site says, The thin film shield and sacrificial
ground of 99.999% oxygen-free copper
configuration creates a passive damper for
extremely low capacitance and reactance,
targeting the preservation of signals from a
broad range of cartridges including extremely
low-output cartridges.
In plain English, EnKlein is saying, I think,
that cables need to have their own version of
bodyguards in order to preserve bandwidth
and detail. And make no mistake: listening
to its cable was a pleasure. The qualities of
the Amphora were not difficult to detect. It
is fast, precise, and transparent. The bane
of silver cables, however, can often be that
that speed is accompanied by an etched and
fatiguing sound, particularly in the treble. This
was not my impression with the Amphora. On
the contrary, its felicitous character was a
welcome surprise. Take the LP I Remember
Django [Black Lion Records], which, among
other things, features a languorous version
of the old standard Honeysuckle Rose.
Both Stephane Grappellis violin and Barney
Kessels guitar were beautifully rendered
with a full body of tone and minute shadings.

Particularly noteworthy was the hall ambience
conveyed by the Amphora. This quality also
came across on vocals: On an LP I recently
acquired on Deutsche Grammophon of the
baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau singing
Richard Strauss lieder, the Amphora provides
a real sense of the joy and pathos that FischerDieskau imparts to each song.
Perhaps it was the alacrity of the Amphora
that was most startling. On Trinity, a
sensational SteepleChase recording of Boulou
Ferre, Elios Ferre, and Niels-Henning Orsted
Pederesen (if youre a jazz or guitar fan, or
both, snatch up this album if you come across
it), the speed and snap of the guitars were
almost enough to induce whiplash.
Given the staggering variety of phono cables
available, its important to emphasize that
careful matching with a cartridge and table is
essential. The Amphora is a reasonably priced
cable that seeks to combine the speed of silver
cables with a more full-bodied tone. If I had
my druthers, I would try and add even a little
more harmonic richness to the sound. But
its a very promising debut. In a cable world
that is already swarming with competitors,
and that continues to attract new entrants,
EnKlein looks to be a comer.
SPECS & PRICING

Type: Phono cable
EnKlein
Price: $3595 (first 1.5
enklein.com
meters)
Comment on this article on the Forum at avguide.com
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Crystal Cable Absolute Dream

Speaker Cable, Interconnect,
and Power Cords
Absolutely Wonderful
Jonathan Valin
owadays, what I look for in a

cable is pretty simple to sum
up: higher resolution of those
low-level details that bring instruments
and vocalists (and the space they
are playing in) to life; a neutral tonal
balance, which doesnt favor the bass or
the treble (i.e, isnt particularly dark, or
bright, or both at the same time); high
transparency to the sources ahead of
and behind the wire so that differences
in recording/mastering quality, digital
and analog replay, amplification, and
transduction are marked; freed-up
dynamics with no sense that the wire
(or the network box it may be plugged
into) is sitting on the energies of the
music, either at low levels or high ones;
and the complete absence of RFI, hum,
and other spurious noises, which some
wires seem to tune in like antennae (and
others dont). It is also niceparticularly
for a reviewer, who is prone to plug and
unplug his wires a helluva lot more often
than the average civilianif a wire is
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both sturdy, relatively light, and highly

flexible, rather than fragile, bulky, and
stiff. The last thing I need is something
I have to wrestle with every time I
change review gearor that begins to
break down after a half-dozen or so
swaps.
Like I said, what I want in cables and
interconnects is easy to summarize; achieving
itall of itis a different matter. I havent heard
a cable yet that does all of the things Im
looking for equally well, although (sonically, at
least) Synergistic Galileo comes closest. And
nowwith some differences in emphasis that
Ill get to by and byeso does Crystal Cables
Absolute Dream.
Despite my aversion to cable reviewing, I
took Crystal Cables top-line wire and power
cords on for two reasons: sentimentality
(Siltech, Crystal Cable's partner, was my first
indisputable glimpse of better in a cable and
interconnect) and, well, charm.
The charm part was entirely the work of CEO
of Crystal Cable, Gabi van der Kley-Rijnveld.
The TAS crew and I had dinner with Gabi and
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EQUIPMENT review - Crystal Cable Absolute Dream

her husband Edwin in Munich last year during
the M.O.C. trade show, and in the course of
the meal I got to know a good deal more about
Ms. vdK-R, whom Id only met in passing at
previous trade shows.
A child prodigythe first Ive ever had the
chance to talk toGabi spent her youth and
young adulthood traveling the world, living
the busy life of a professional concert pianist,
before retiring to the Netherlands to become
a teacher. (One of her first pupils was Siltech
founder/CEO Edwin van der Kley-Rijnveld
andwell, you can guess the rest of the
story.) Though she never intended to become
a businessman, life with Edwin and her own
musical training (upon which Edwin grew more
and more dependent for the voicing of his
cables) gradually changed her mind. Crystal
Cable was the outcome. While Edwin still does
the technical design work, it is Gabis ear
and sense of style that distinguishes Crystal
products from Edwins own Siltech ones.
In my dinner conversation with her, Gabi
proved to be as musically knowledgeable a
person as Ive encountered in the high end.
When it comes to the sound of the real thing, a
lot of people talk the talk. Gabi not only talks
it; she has played it in concert and recital halls
all over the world. To make a long story short,
by the end of dinner I was thoroughly smitten.
Reviewing Absolute Dream from Crystal Cable,
the company that Gabi runs and Edwin designs
for, was my chance to pay homage to bothto
the past and the present.
In one respect Crystal Cable Absolute Dream
is quite a pleasant departure from what Ive
grown used to over the past decade. Though
complexly engineered by the redoubtable

Mr. van der Kley-Rijnveld (about which, more
in a moment), Absolute Dream cables and
interconnects are not complex-looking. They
have none of the bulk or doo-dads that previous
cables Ive reviewed have come equipped with.
There are no vacuum dielectrics that end
up making cables and interconnects as thick
as corn snakes and about as inflexible and
prone to snap in two at the connector ends
as bread sticks; there are no massive junction
boxes with leads so short you have to seat
the cable box on a riser behind the speaker
or component just to connect it to inputs or
outputs; there are no active-biasing boxes
that have to be plugged into separate power
sources, creating a maze of crisscrossing
wires that can, under the right (or would that
be, wrong) circumstances, cause ground loops
or screaming high-frequency noise or dead
shorts. Nope, the Dreams are surprisingly thin
(less than the thickness of your little finger)
and easily manageable. In the sturdy, light,
and flexible category they earn an A+.
They also earn an A+ in the looks
department, although in this case their beauty
is literally more than skin deep. Edwin van der
Kley-Rijnveld has a long history with preciousmetal cables; indeed, he was a pioneer in this
regard. Absolute Dream is the culmination of
his decades of research.
Literally at the core of the Dreams is a single
conductor made from monocrystal silver
one of the first of its kind in an audio cable.
A good deal of research has been done on
how the impurities (typically iron) in precious
metals create hysteresis effects (phase
and time shifts) that subtly alter the signals

passing through them. It is also a fact that
the inevitable spaces between the molecular
crystals in the lattice structures of metals
have similar hysteresis effects, which grow
worse as those spaces are filled over time with
iron oxides caused by corrosion.
For a while, van der Kley-Rijnveld sought
to solve both of these problems by using the
purest silver metal (which has fewer iron
contaminants than copper) for his conductors
and filling the spaces between the molecular
silver crystals in his wires with gold, which
doesnt oxidize. But relatively recently
metallurgists developed a way to create
metals that are essentially one large crystal
with no internal spaces to fill. Unfortunately,
the process used to create these monocrystal
metals was slow and prohibitively expensive
until the development of new, less costly
(though nothing like cheap) manufacturing
procedures made commercial use feasible.
(Technically and sonically, monocrystal metals
were always superior; they just cost too much
to market.)
In Absolute Dream, the monocrystal silver
core conductor is shielded with helically wound
Kapton and Teflon dielectrics. (Kapton, of
course, is the selfsame stuff that loudspeakermanufacturers use for voice-coil formers.)
The core is further shielded by two braided
layers of silver-plated monocrystal copper and
gold-plated monocrystal silver. Four of these
coaxes are twisted into the dual braided layers
of each cabletwo signal-bearing coaxes and
two for use in Crystals patented Bridge
technology.
Ill be honest: While I can follow the

construction of Absolute Dream this far, its
Bridge system eludes me. It has something
to do with lowering resistance to minimize
signal loss, filtering ultra-high-frequency noise
to prevent amplifier oscillation, and doubling
up the return path of the cable to neutralize
ground leakage. Like every other part of
Absolute Dream, its purpose is to lower noise,
enhance low-level resolution, and improve
imaging, but Id be lying if I said I understood
how it does these things.
In keeping with Absolute Dreams all-in
construction, the van der Kley-Rijnvelds
chose to terminate their cable with extremely
expensive Furutech Alpha connectors, which
use OCC rhodium-plated conductors housed
in a gorgeous carbon-fiber/eutectic (yeah,
I had to look it up, tooit means a material
of greatest fusibility, i.e., with a melting point
lower than that of any other alloy of the same
SPECS & PRICING

Price: Absolute
(+312) 6 3539045
Dream speaker cable,
crystalcable.com
$28,100/2m pair;
interconnect, $13,100/1m
Distributor Information
pair; power cords,
Audio Plus Services (US
$7200 apiece
Distributor)
156 Lawrence Paquette
Crystal Cable-
Industrial Drive
Siltech
Champlain, NY 12919
IAH WTC, Arnhem
(800) 663- 9352
The Netherlands
audioplusservices.com
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materials), non-magnetic-copper housing. All
lead connections are made via silver solder
and crimping.
As I said earlier, to look at a length of
Absolute Dream cable, interconnect, or
power cord (all of which share these same
extraordinary parts and construction), one
would never guess that it is so rigorously and
complexly engineered. It looks more like a
strand of gold/silver jewelry than audio wire.
But then that was Gabis intention: to hide the
engineering beneath something beautiful to
see, exceptionally light and flexible to handle,
and sonically without peer.
Lets talk about those sonics.
Here is what Absolute Dream can do:
Coupled with the most discerning speakers
and electronics (for which see my review of the
Audio Research Reference 250 monoblocks,
Reference Phono Two SE phonostage, and
Reference 5 SE linestage in this issue), it
can not only resolve those micro-details
that make instruments and performers very
nearly visible; it can do this same trick with
things the eye cant seeit can fill the space
of your room, from wall to wall to wall, with
the sound of the studio or hall in which the
recording was made, all the while making the
speakers themselves vanish (in so far as they
are capable of vanishing) within this threedimensional ambient field.
Now, lots of wire can reproduce ambience.
And the Dreams exceptionalism in this regard
depends entirely on what you take that
word to mean. If by ambience you mean a
consistent darkening or brightening of the
air in your rooma black scrim-like curtain,
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say, hung between your speakersthen the

Dreams arent going to be for you. They dont
color anything, not even air. Instead, the
Dreams reproduce an ambient field the way
the best planars often do: not by adding a
grainy texture or dark hue to the soundfield
but by seemingly expanding the volume of air
in your room and charging it with energy (as if
a fan were blowing it in your direction), so that
in a subtle (but fully audible and unmistakable
way) it is still aircolorless, grainlessonly no
longer the still air of your room, but rather
the moving air of the studio/hall in which the
performance was recorded, lit by the energy
of instruments and heard by the microphones.
It turns the motionlessness of ambient air
into motion-filled miked airif that makes
sensewhile also altering the dimensions of
your room by seemingly moving backwalls
further back and sidewalls further to the sides
in imitation of the volume of the recording
venue.
I have no idea if Im clearly conveying the
point I want to make here. But, to put this
more simply, Absolute Dream (like Synergistic
Galileo) is capable of such colorless neutrality,
limpid clarity, and extremely fine resolution
of extremely low-level detail (such as the
sound of air charged with musical energy
as heard through microphones) that it is that
veritable transparent window on the recording
we all claim were looking for.
Obviously, Absolute Dream is very low
in distortion. You hear this in the sheer
abundance of detail it reveals at low levels and
high onesthe whispery little vibrato that a
singer like Melody Gardot adds to the tail ends
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of certain notes as she runs out of one breath

before taking another; the way that pizzicatos
are passed across the stage from string
section to string section during Bartoks Music
For Strings, Percussion and Celesta, like wind
rattling tree limbs; the hilariously explosive
sforzando crash with which the piano answers
that capering trumpet in the last movement of
Shostakovichs marvelous First Piano Concerto
(and the pianos own great caper, as it breaks
into that droll Liszt-like dance right before the
close); or, as I note in my ARC review in this
issue (there will be other cross-references
because, after all, a cable or interconnect is
always working in concert with whatever it
connects), the way the timbre of Lou Reeds
voice on White Heat/White Light from Rock
and Roll Animal is magically transformed
from generic Lou Reed to that of a still-veryyoung man, fueled by the excitement of the
moment and the enthusiasm of the crowd
and the energy of that great pickup band of
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his; or, for you transparency freaks, the way

miking schemes (close/distant, spare/multi)
and engineering (compressed/uncompressed,
fiddled-with/pure) markedly change on great
recordings from different labels, and the way
the characteristic acoustic differences among
the halls themselvesthe alto note of Kingsway,
for instanceare captured by that miking and
engineering. It is the Dreams incredibly low
noise floor that permits this astonishingly
high resolution, dynamic freedom at low levels
and high, and clear-as-glass transparency to
sources.
But you dont just hear the Absolute Dreams
low noise floor in the timbral, dynamic, and
spatial details these cables retrieve from
every kind of music; you hear it in the dead
silences between cuts. The Dreams immunity
to RFI, EMI, and humof which there is a
superabundance in my 160-year-old house and
RFI-rich neighborhoodis at least as good as
that of my reference Synergistic Galileo (and
you may recall that Galileos freedom from

hum and noise was one of its most impressive
virtues). Even with the volume control left
way up after one of mywhat is it Paul Seydor
says?head-banging sessions with Lou
Reed or David Byrne, background silences
remain very nearly dead-quiet with Absolute
Dream in the system. (And this is with a phono
source.)
If youre waiting for the other shoe to
drop, youre going to be disappointed. I dont
really hear a downside to Absolute Dream.
Ergonomically, it is superior to Galileo;
sonically, it is fully competitive, although (save
for the incredible amount of detail the two
retrieve) they do not sound the same.
In timbre, the Absolute Dream is a bit less
bottom-up-sounding, (to quote Raidhos
Michael Borresen yet again) than Galileo. Now,
the difference Im talking about is every slight,
but it is there to be heard. Maybe it is because
the Galileo is a little more generous, bloomy,
and deep-reaching in the bottom bass, and
the Absolute Dream a little tighter and more
controlledkind of like the difference between
tubes and solid-state. I could argue that the
Dream is the more neutral and transparent
of the pair, but that would be misleading
because Galileo is not colored sounding and
is anything but opaque. I could argue that the
Galileo is denser in tone color, but that wouldnt
be right, either, as the Dream is capable of
swooningly gorgeous string, wind, piano, and
vocal timbre (if theyre on the recording). Even
as a transparency-to-sources kind of listener I
dont know which Id pick.
Happily I dont have to pick. Crystal Cable
Absolute Dream cable, interconnect, and

power cords (all three of which have exactly the
same virtues) now joins Synergistic Research
Galileo cable, interconnect, and power cords
(ditto) as my references. Thats how good I
think they (all) are.
Break-In
The bane of cable reviewing (and buying) is the
fact that wireany wiretakes time to break
in. For a reviewer, this means that for several
weeks and sometimes months youre listening to
a moving targeta component that you cant be
sure youve got a true fix on, because it seems to
change its sound daily.
In this regard, Crystals Absolute Dream was
no exception. When I first got it I thought it was
too light in balance then, a week or two later, too
robust. Somewhere during the good four months
or so Ive been listening to it, it settled down to
just rightto sounding like that transparent
window on the recording (and the recording
process) Ive described in this review. My point
is that, if youre fortunate enough to be able to
spring for this stuff, be aware that itll take some
time to sound its absolute best. As is usually
the case, it is the bass octaves that come in
last. But they do come in, firming up, gaining
color and control, power and extension. (This is
particularly true of the Absolute Dream power
cords, which, it seemed to me, took even more
time to come into their own than the signalbearing wires. Nonetheless, they now sound
marvelousthe perfect match to the cables and
interconnects.) JV
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MIT Oracle MA-X SHD

Loudspeaker Cable and MA-X2
Interconnects
Reference Quality
Robert Harley
efore I describe MITs top-of-the-line loudspeaker cables and interconnects

and report on their performance in my system, I must address head-on
the issue of their astronomical price. An 8' pair of MA-X SHD loudspeaker
cables is $49,999. A one-meter pair of MA-X2 interconnect is $14,399. Can any
cable be worth that kind of money?
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When assessing the value of a component its

a mistake to think of that component in isolation
and assign value based on your preconceptions
of the component-category. If you used these
criteria, no speaker cable could possibly be
worth fifty grand. A more insightful approach,
however, is to listen to a system that includes
the cable under evaluation and then substitute
a less expensive cable and ask yourself if, in
the context of the entire systems overall cost
and performance, youre willing to live with the
performance reduction imposed by the less
expensive product. Let your ears be the judge of
whats worth the price, not prejudice.
There are two other factors to consider in
this exercise. The first is the products cost in
relation to the overall system investment. The
second is simply your financial means. To the
vast majority of audiophiles, never mind the
general public, a $50k speaker cable cant
possibly be worth the asking price. But to those
who can afford the best of everything, why live
with second best in your audio system if you
dont have to?
That raises the question of just how good
the MIT Oracle MA-X SHD and MA-X2 really is.
For this asking price, the performance must be
the absolute state of the art. Before tackling
that question, Id like to relate a story about
this products predecessor, the original Oracle
MA. A few years ago the designer of a sixfigure reference-grade loudspeaker arrived at
my home to set up the newly arrived review
samples. I was to have received the Oracle MA
loudspeaker cables and interconnects before
the loudspeakers showed up, but the cable
delivery had been delayed. The loudspeaker
designer proceeded with the setup using my
reference cables, but wasnt satisfied with the

sound. He tweaked and tweaked, but the system
just didnt cohere. At the end of a long day we
agreed that he would return in the morning
to keep perfecting the speaker placement.
An hour into the next days work with no
progress, my doorbell rang; it was FedEx with
the MIT Oracle cables and interconnects. It
was the middle of winter and the cables were
nearly frozen to the touch. Nonetheless, we
put the MIT cables and interconnects straight
into the system and instantly the problems
the loudspeaker designer had been battling
vanished. The cables literally transformed the
system, and eventually allowed this statementclass loudspeaker to achieve its full potential.
It was an eye-opening experience.
The cables and interconnects under review
here are an evolution of those products. The
developments in the new models include two
technologies that go by the acronyms SHD
(Super High Definition) and FAT (Fractional
Articulation Technology). I confess that I dont
understand how these technologies work, so
I asked MIT founder Bruce Brisson to explain
them in the accompanying interview.
The termination box on the loudspeaker
cables is massive, measuring 12" x 7" x 5.5"
and weighing about 20 pounds (a guess). One
end of the box houses a massive threaded
connector for attaching the cable that runs to
the amplifier. The other end has short captive
runs of cable terminated with spade lugs. The
termination housing features a three-position
switch marked SD, HD, and SHD. Two sixposition knobs on one end of the termination
box are marked Articulation, one for the
bass and one for the treble. Looking next
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EQUIPMENT review - MIT Oracle MA-X SHD and MA-X2

at the interconnect, its termination box is
small in comparison (3.5" x 6"). It offers two
adjustments, one to match the cable to the
input impedance of the component it is driving,
and the other a five-position knob marked
Articulation.
The MA-X SHD cables (MIT prefers to call
them interfaces) are designed for any
loudspeakers. The MA-C interconnects that
I received for review are a variation of the
MA-X2 that has been specifically optimized
for electronics from Constellation Audio (the
impedance selector switch is disabled). My
review system includes the Constellation Virgo
preamplifier and Centaur monoblock power
amplifiers. The rest of the system is truly of
reference quality, with Magico Q7 loudspeakers,
a dCS Vivaldi digital front end (reviewed last
issue), and an LP playback system comprising
the Basis Inspiration turntable, Air Tight PC-1
Supreme cartridge, and the Simaudio 810LP
phonostage. The equipment sits on Stillpoints
racks and the amplifiers rest on amplifier
stands from Critical Mass Systems. AC
conditioning is provided by the Shunyata Talos,
Triton, and Typhon. My review samples included
a one-meter pair of MA-X2 from the Vivaldi to
the Virgo, and a 14' pair of MA-C (from the Virgo
to the Centaurs).
The MA-X SHD loudspeaker cables and MAX2 interconnects are an evolutionary step
up from their predecessors, which were my
references for many years. The new SHD
versions share certain characteristics that
Im very familiar with. One thing that all MIT
cables do, particularly the upper-end models,
is present the musics spatial qualities with
tremendous depth, separation among images,

and very fine resolution of spatial cues. You
hear this clearly when switching from any
other cable/interconnect system to the MA-X
SHD; the soundstage with the MIT is suddenly
larger, deeper, more finely woven, and has a
greater sense of the vivid air in which the
images exist. Moreover, the MIT paints a more
tangible picture of the recording venues size,
shape, and acoustic characteristics by virtue of
its resolution of micro-details. I also find that
this interface system presents a tremendous
sense of bloom around image outlines, as well
as action, the sense of hearing the expanding
envelope of sound as an instrument projects
its energy into the room. All these qualities
contribute to the systems realism and life.
MIT cables, and particularly those reviewed
here, are also notable for their fully fleshed-out
tonal balance. From the upper bass through the
lower midrange, in particular, these cables have
a richness and harmonic density that sets the
foundation for the rest of the systems sound.
They have a warmth and saturation that reveal
the power of left-hand piano lines, the body,
SPECS & PRICING

Oracle MA-X SHD
Music Interface
Loudspeaker Cable
Technologies
Price: $49,999 (8' pair)
4130 Citrus Ave., Suite 9

Rocklin, CA 95677
Oracle MA-X2
(916) 625-0129
Interconnects
mitcables.com
Price: $14,399
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weight, and size of doublebass and cello, and
the purring quality of a Fender Precision
bass. This characteristic, which affects an
orchestras power range, better conveys
the physicality of orchestral fortes. These MIT
cables also have extraordinary depth, weight,
and impact in the bottom octave.
It would be a mistake to read what I just wrote
and infer that these cables have a warmish
coloration that adds a little plumminess to
the bass, or a little extra bottom-end bloom,
or a darkish cast to timbres. Rather, this
tonal richness and warmth arent instances
of artificial bloating or ripeness, but rather of
the more natural rendering of instruments as
we hear them in life. So many cables tend to
sound thin in the power region, with skeletal
timbres and threadbare tone colors. These MIT
cables are unique in my experience in their
ability to present the full harmonic richness
of instrumental timbres without a trace of
coloration or false warmth.
Higher up in frequency, the Oracle maintains
this saturation of tone color and density of
information. They are not bright sounding;
yet they present a rich and vivid rendering
of upper-midrange and treble timbres. Its a
wonderful combinationa highly detailed and
resolved presentation without the treble etch
that reduces listener involvement and induces
fatigue. These cables are completely lacking in
edge, grain, or treble forwardness.
The adjustments are interesting, particularly
the SD, HD, and SHD knob on the loudspeaker
cables. In the SD position, the loudspeaker cable
is excellent, exhibiting the characteristics Ive
described. Turning the knob to HD increases
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the clarity, renders timbres with more color,

makes the soundstage more transparent, and
better resolves individual musical lines within
complex passages. Turn the knob again to
SHD and these qualities are magnified yet
again. The difference between SD and SHD
is startling; the SD by comparison sounds a
little opaque, lower in resolution, less lifelike in
timbre, a bit congealed, and not as expansive.
Switching from SD to SHD (bypassing for the
moment the middle HD position), I heard an
improvement that was certainly as significant
as changing from an excellent power amplifier
to a reference-quality model. Keep in mind the
phrase by comparison; the cables in the SD
position are superb but the SHD position puts
them over the top. The sense of seeing through
the soundstage to instruments at the back of
the hall and hearing them as separate objects
rather than as part of the overall sonic tapestry
is alone worth the price of admission. The sound
is so much more vivid and immediate in the SHD
position. The wooden percussion instrument in
the piece Postcard from Playing With Fire
[Reference Recordings] is audible toward the
back of the soundstage behind the orchestra,
and somewhat indistinct in the SD position.
Switch to SHD and the instrument is suddenly
separate from the rest of the orchestra, the
pitches are more apparent as are the transient
attacks, and the instrument sounds more
like wood being struck rather than simply an
undifferentiated percussive sound. The cables
two other adjustments, marked Low Frequency
Articulation and High-Frequency Articulation
had a similar, though less dramatic effect.
Given the obvious superiority of the SHD
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setting, why would MIT include the SD and
HD settings? One explanation is that some
listeners might value a slightly softer and more
forgiving presentation. Another is that MIT
wanted to show definitively that SHD is real
and profound by creating a product that is a
vehicle for instant comparison. Even though
my system is extraordinarily resolving, I cant
imagine a listener preferring the SD or HD
setting to SHD. Whatever the case, you have
the ability to listen to the settings and decide
for yourself.
The MIT MA-X SHD loudspeaker cable and
MA-C interconnects are simply without peer,
in my experience. They are singular in their
spatial resolution, tonal density, and ability to
resolve upper-midrange and treble information
with sounding bright or forward. I dont
understand the technical explanation of SHD
and Fractional Articulation Technology, but I
can say that these cables and interconnects
are world-class references.
Before dismissing these products out of
hand because of their prices, you should listen
to them in a reference-quality system and
compare them with other cables. Assuming you
can afford them, ask yourself if youre willing to
live without the unique musical virtues these
cables bring to the table. I think youll find that
the answer to that question is a resounding
no.
MIT Founder Bruce Brisson Talks with Robert Harley

RH: Give us an overview of the Oracle
Technology.
BB: The Oracle technology started with me
How specifically does the cable design do this?
novel device developed by Hewlett-Packard called
By forming what we call poles of articulation.
an interval analyzer. I began to look at different
This is simply how much energy a cable or a
cables and listen. This is what youve got to do
designing an optimizing network for each of the
network stores and releases. Associated with
in this businessmeasure, listen, measure, listen,
octaves. We started at A440, because thats the
that release of energy is a rise time and a fall
measure, listen, then send it out for listening to
frequency most musical information surrounds
time, which is accompanied by a settling time. We
different beta sites. I went to work on the project
and we worked on a network for each subsequent
install networks in the cables which are formed
it was about a two-and-a-half-year projectand
octave, up and down, from there. That was the
from inductors and capacitors and resistors. We
what I found was exactly what I thought. Jitter
original Oracle technology. We built on that
begin our optimization at A440, and then move
affected spatial qualities. But more than that,
by coming out with what we call HD, for high
out. So first we do the octaves then we do the six
and I was bowled over by this, was that it affected
definition. What that meant was that we extended
harmonics of the fundamental which is your 7th
timbre to such a degree in the lower frequencies.
the Oracle technology to ten octaves and
harmonic. Then we go between the octaves and
We found that reducing jitter made things
optimized for seven harmonics. The harmonics
we add networks to form the poles of articulation.
sound much more natural and dense. I think the
extend linearly from those octaves. Linearly
But they dont have the magnitude that an octave
term "dense" is something that your readers will
means any harmonic has to be a whole number
wouldthey dont store as much energy. We
identify with. This all extends from the fact that
no fractions. If there is a fraction involved, and it
make sure that the rise time and fall times are
audiophiles cant control the rhythm, the beat, the
deviates much, it becomes a spurious overtone.
within certain parameters that we have learned,
general pace of the music, but what they do tend
Instruments and voices produce overtones, but
empirically, doing this over 30 years, that the
to try to control is timbre and spatial qualities in
we dont want to produce them in an audio signal-
audiophiles ear responds to.
their systems.
What do the adjustments on the network

boxes do?
it manifests itself as accurate timbre and also an
Technology, which is where our research led us
On the speaker cables, the first switch allows
have large images. Within the large images you
next; to make optimizing networks for the musical
you to play in either standard definition, high
have smaller micro-images. You have micro-level
information between the octaves. Not extending
definition, or super-high definition. In the super-
details like backwashes off one wall, the right wall,
forward from the octave by something greater
high definition we do one more thing, which is
not the left wall. When you control jitter, all of
than one, but the inter-octave spectra, which we
reducing analog jitter within the cable down to
those things, particularly that backwash off just
call notes. The distance between one note and
2.8 microseconds. After reading some scientific
one wall, become very, very apparent.
another note can be expressed in cents100
information on jitter that suggested we could hear
cents is a half step, 200 cents is a full step.
jitter between our right ear and our left ear down
With Fractional Articulation Technology we can
to 2.8 microseconds I became fascinated. Ive got
optimize the spectra between the octaves.
to find out why, right? These things control me;
carrying conductor or in any amplifier. That covers

the first two evolutions of the Oracle.
From there we created Fractional Articulation
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With the SHD line we bring that all together and

accurate soundstage. Within the soundstage you
I dont control them. So I go on the hunt using a
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Transparent Reference XL
Digital Link Interconnect
Must-Audition
Jacob Heilbrunn
lose readers of TASand what

other kind are there?may recall
that I recently contributed
a sidebar to editor Robert Harleys
comprehensive review of the new dCS
Vivaldi CD/SACD playback system.
In it, I compared and contrasted the
performance of the dCS Scarlatti, the
companys longtime flagship, to the
Vivaldi, concluding that the latter
handily surpassed its predecessor.
There I thought the matter rested.
I was wrong. In recent months,
there have been rumblings of even
greater gains to be had by employing
Transparent Audios new Reference
XL line of digital cables. Transparent
itself claims new technological
advances in designing these cables.
It says, Reference XL Digital
Link uses Transparent Advanced
Expanded Foam Technology for precise
impedance control and low noise
signal transmission. With a solid OFHC
conductor that is significantly larger
than the Reference 75-ohm Digital Link
conductor, Reference XL Digital Link
has far more surface area with which
to transfer digital signals accurately.
It doesnt take more than a glance
to see that the construction of these
handsome cables is exemplary.
But how much further could the performance
of the dCS Vivaldi be taken? Well, the answer
to that question is not exactly what I thought
it would be. After Transparents Brad OToole
sent me the new cables for review, I anticipated
some improvement in the bass and treble, and
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perhaps a pinch more detail. Once again, I was

dead wrong.
The improvement rendered by the new cables
was not subtle or minor or difficult to detect.
On the contrary, inserting them proved to be
one of the most flabbergasting experiences I
have ever had in the high end. The Reference
line did not improve the sound; it took it into
another realm. As good as the Vivaldi isand
it is superbthere can be doubt that ancillary
equipment such as the digital cables employed
on it not only can but do have a profound effect
upon its reproduction of music.
This is not an easy concession for me to make
because it adds substantially to the cost of the
already costly Vivaldi. But friends, there is no
way around it. The Transparent digital cable
makes an immense improvement by banishing
any lingering digital artifacts, opening up
the treble, sending the bass plunging down
another octave, fleshing out the midbass, and
noticeably increasing the articulation and
weight of instruments and voice.
Take the recording by the London Brass of
Francois Couperins La Triomphante. The brass
possess a vibrancy, a snap and sassiness, that
simply was not present previously. Somehow
micro-dynamics also benefit immensely
from the Transparent cables. The attacks of
trumpets are resoundingthey pop into the
air. They sound, to put it another way, as if
they are supported by more air. The swells and
crescendos of the brass choruses are vastly
clearer. But at the same time, the increase
in dynamic range means that pianissimo
passages simultaneously sound softer and
clearer. It is as though these cables increase
the bandwidth of a recording. At the most basic
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EQUIPMENT review - Transparent Reference XL Digital Link

level, the intonation of voice and instruments
the centering of an individual noteis much
more precise.
Nor is this all. Soundstage separation also
benefits. The soundstage seemed to expand
laterally and to deepen. The sense of threedimensionality, of an actual stage populated
by musicians and instruments, is heightened.
Suddenly a background chorus to Leonard
Cohen on his CD Old Ideas isnt simply floating
murkily in the background but is its own distinct
entity. Or take John Eliot Gardiners recording
of Bachs Advent Cantatas for Arkiv. There is
something profoundly moving about the ability
to hear each chorus gently enter without
intruding on the others. The anchoring of the
instruments, the lack of any sense of drift,
means that it becomes simplicity itself to
track complex passages of music, something
that also becomes abundantly clear on Andras
Schiffs marvelous recording on ECM of the
Bach Partitas.
But the greatest merit of the Reference XL
is its supernatural ability to help deliver a kind
of clarity on digital playback that I have never
previously experienced. The slightest swish of
the cymbals, a foot tapping on a piano pedal,
the mildest brush of the bow on a cellonothing
is effaced by these cables. There is a limpidity
and tranquility, a sense of ease to the sound,
that are hard to forget once youve heard
them. Whether on jazz, classical, rock, or rap,
the Reference XL/Vivaldi possesses the ability
to vanish from the signal chain, imposing no
audible coloration.
No doubt further advancement in digital
playback looms. The high end bears more
than a passing resemblance to an arms race

in which various manufacturers constantly
attempt to one-up each other. But for now, the
combination of the dCS Vivaldi and Transparent
Reference XL digital cables exceeds anything
else I have heard. I could tell you that it took
a lot of listening and chin-stroking to arrive
at this conclusion. Fiddlesticks. It didnt take
long at all to realize that these cables take
digital performance to a glorious place. If you
have a high-end digital rig, then auditioning
Transparent Reference XL is not a good idea.
It is a must.
SPECS & PRICING

Reference XL Digital Link
Transparent Audio
(75 ohm): $3195 (one
47 Industrial Park Road
meter)
Saco, ME 04072
Reference XL Digital Link
(207) 284-1100
(110 ohm): $3595 (one
transparentcable.com
meter)
(longer lengths available
at additional cost)
previous page
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Synergistic Research LE Cable,

Interconnect, and Power Cords
The State of the Art for Less
Jonathan Valin
ome three or four years ago I

reviewed what remains the most
complex and ingenious cable/
power-conditioning system Ive come
across in forty years of audiophilia:
Synergistic Researchs Galileo system.
Sonically Galileo was the very model
of a gorgeous-sounding, very lownoise, very high-resolution cable.
Ergonomically, however, it proved to
be a bit of a painat least it did for a
reviewer like me who often switches
gear. Ironically, the reason Galileo
sounded great and the reason it was
relatively fragile were one and the
same: its unique architecture.
To refresh your memories, unlike virtually
every other high-end interconnect/cable I can
think of (save for flat ribbons) Galileo did not
use a Litz-like structure of multiple insulated
strands of wire twisted, braided, or woven
together in a single bundle. Instead, it used
individual air stringsseparate, currentbearing, actively shielded, copper/silver
alloy, pure silver, pure gold, or pure platinum
conductors that were routed (via LEMO
connectors) into and out of free-standing
electromagnetic
power-conditioning/activeshielding junction boxes (called Active Mini
EM Cells) that themselves were plugged into
quantum tunneled Mini Power Coupler power
supplies (wall-wart-like devices that provided
the DC current for the active shielding and
EM power conditioning of the cells and the
precious-metal strings attached to them).
Obviously Galileo involved a lot of connections
and a lot of connectors (twenty separate LEMO
plugs for a single set of interconnects). Alas,
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the more often you plugged these cables in and

out of your system, the more physical stress
you put on the connectors (and on the solder
joints inside the EM junction boxes). When
you added the effects of mass and gravity (if
the equipment you were connecting to was
mounted on a shelf, the wire dangling from
the rear of the component would perforce be
pulled down by the not-inconsiderable weight
of the junction boxes) to so many joints, over
time the interconnects and the junction boxes
could develop intermittent shorts, making for a
very pretty, very expensive, and utterly useless
loom of silver, gold, and platinum wires.
Comes now the successor to Galileo, Galileo
LE. And Im delighted to report that the LE
version gives you all the sonic virtues of the
original in a much sturdier (though every bit as
sophisticated and ingenious) package. Im also
delighted to report that LE costs about twofifths of what Galileo did. That doesnt make LE
affordable, of course, but it does make it a lot
less money than my other referencesCrystal
Cable Absolute Dream and Galileo preand
than many other reference-quality wires
currently on the market.
Like Galileo Senior, Galileo LE is not just a
series of similarly constructed interconnects,
speaker cables, and power cords. It is an
entire system of wire and power-conditioning
products. The main physical differences
between it and Galileo are structural. The
principles behind both cables (e.g., active
shielding, grounding, and tuning of the wire)
remain the same, but where Galileo looked
like an exploded view of a typical cablewith
its separate air strings running between freestanding electromagnetic junction boxesLE
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EQUIPMENT review - Synergistic Research LE

looks more like a conventional, braided, single-piece wire.
Looks, however, are deceptive. Each leg of LE interconnect
actually comprises three to five individual, pure-silver air strings,
each with its own air dielectric and grounding wire (three sets
of these strings per interconnect for RCA connectors and five
sets for XLRs). Although the strings are braided together into
a bundle, each one functions independently and each one is
separately hard-wired into and out of two carbon-fiber-encased
EM Cells, which are now integral in-line parts of the cable rather
than free-standing objects. When these EM Cells are powered by
Synergistics wall-wart-like Mini Power Couplers (supplied with
each cable), they perform the same function that the outboard
EM Cells did with Galileo Senioractively shielding, conditioning,
grounding, and tuning the air strings for audibly lower noise and
higher resolution and transparency.
I could spend pages dissecting the many new features of the

Galileo LE system (including its Enigma Tuning Circuit which
allows you to voice each cable/interconnect from warmer/
darker to lighter/quicker to better suit your system, and
Synergistics new Transporter Ultra SE power supply which,
in concert with the PowerCell 10 SE Mk III power conditioner,
provides a tidier, more centralized, and markedly lower-noise
way of supplying the juice to the EM Cells built into Galileo LE
cables, interconnects, and power cords), but Id imagine that
most of you are more interested in how the LE system sounds
than how it works. And here the news is, as already noted,
entirely positive.
In my current system, Galileo LE is as good as any cable
Ive heard at any pricewhich is to say it is among the most
gorgeous-sounding and lifelike on the market, capable (with
the right ancillaries) of a resolution of low-level detail that is
unmatched in my previous listening experience.
Take, for example, a piece of music Ive referenced many
times in past reviews: George Crumbs Four Nocturnes for violin
and piano. Like so much post-Bartkian chamber music Four
Nocturnes is as much about creating new sounds and textures
from traditional instruments as it is about the eerie moonlit
nightscape (and moonlight spell) those sounds conjure up. Ive
discussed many of these sonoristic effects before: the explosive
Bartk pizzicatos, pizzicatos with glissandos, and pizzicatos
with harmonics on the violin; the strumming, striking, plucking,
and rubbing of the strings of the prepared piano; the rhythmic
drumming and tapping on the bodies of both instruments (often
quite amazinglywhile they are simultaneously being played in
conventional and, occasionally, quite unconventional ways). Half
the fun of hearing this remarkably engaging piece is marveling
at the skills of the performers and wondering how they can
possibly achieve the unique timbral and dynamic effects they
manage to produce.
Well, wonder no longer. The Galileo LE brings so much new,
previously unheard, very-low-level harmonic, dynamic, and
textural detail to light it is almost like standing over violinist
SPECS & PRICING

SYNERGISTIC RESEARCH, INC.
record player, AMG Viella 12
17401 Armstrong Avenue, Suite 102
Phono cartridges: Clearaudio
Irvine, CA 92614
Goldfinger Statement, Ortofon MC
(800) 578-6489
A90, Ortofon MC Anna, Benz LP
synergisticresearch.com Prices:
S-MR
Galileo LE interconnect, $7500/1m
Digital source: Berkeley Alpha
pair RCA and $9500/1m pair
DAC 2
XLR; Galileo LE speaker cable,
Cable and interconnect: Synergistic
$15,000/8' pr. (single-wire) and
Research Galileo and Galileo LE,
$16,500/8' pr. (bi-wire); Galileo LE
Crystal Cable Absolute Dream
AC power cord, $5600/5'
Power Cords: Synergistic Research

Galileo LE, Crystal Cable Absolute
JVs Reference System
Dream
Loudspeakers: Raidho D-5,
Power Conditioner: Synergistic
Raidho D-1, Estelon X Diamond,
Research Power Cell 10 SE Mk. II,
MartinLogan CLX, Magnepan 1.7,
Synergistic Research Transporter
Magnepan 3.7, Magnepan 20.7
Ultra SE, Technical Brain
Linestage preamps: Soulution
Accessories: Synergistic ART
520, Constellation Virgo, Audio
system, Shakti Hallographs (6),
Research Reference 10, Siltech
A/V Room Services Metu panels
SAGA System C1, Zanden 3100
and traps, ASC Tube Traps, Critical
Phonostage preamps: Audio
Mass MAXXUM equipment and
Research Corporation Reference
amp stands, Symposium Isis
Phono 10, Innovative Cohesion
and Ultra equipment platforms,
Engineering Raptor, Soulution 520,
Symposium Rollerblocks and Fat
Zanden 120, Constellation Perseus
Padz, Walker Prologue Reference
Power amplifiers: Soulution 501
equipment and amp stands,
and 711, Siltech SAGA System V1/
Walker Valid Points and Resonance
P1, Constellation Centaur, Audio
Control discs, Clearaudio Double
Research Reference 250, Lamm
Matrix SE record cleaner,
ML2.2, Zanden 8120
HiFi-Tuning silver/gold fuses,
Analog source: Walker Audio
Synergistic Research RED fuses
Proscenium Black Diamond Mk V

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Paul Zukofskys and pianist Gilbert Kalishs
shoulders with a pair of binoculars to your eyes.
For example, Crumb specifies that the piano
strings should be rubbed alternately with the
tips of the fingers and with the fingernails to
produce slightly different timbres and textures.
Though other cables certainly reproduce these
string piano effects clearly, they can leave
you in doubt as to how they were made. With
Galileo LE you are never in doubt about which
parts of his fingers Kalish is using. (Indeed,
resolution is so high you can actually hear the
sandy catch of Kalishs nails as they brush the
ridges of the pianos coiled strings.) Similarly,
the subtle colors that violinist Zukofsky adds
to certain notes by bowing a single string and
then, mid-way through the duration of its tone,
lightly plucking a second string to add a brief
new burst of color to that of the original note
(rather like a delayed double-stop) are made
clearer than Ive ever heard them sound before
(and this is an LP Ive listened to a lot).
To be fair, this is not the sort of detail that
you would likely hear in a concert hall; it is the
result of extremely close and skillful miking
(and the extraordinary quality of the rest of the
system Im currently using). But in a sonoristic
piece like this one, where the way the music is
being made is as interesting asin fact, part
and parcel ofthe effect the music is aiming for,
such very high resolution is truly illuminating.
Lest I leave the impression that this plethora
of detail makes Galileo LE sound analytical,
let me quickly add that it is anything but. LE
is perhaps the most purely beautiful-sounding
cable Ive heard, and it is just as impressive
(and persuasive) on much larger-scale musical
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moments as it is on tiny ones. Consider the

sound of the Count Basie Orchestra going
full out on Steet of Dreams from Sinatra at
the Sands [MoFi]. Like Galileo, Galileo LE has
such dense and beautiful color from the bass
through the power range and lower midrange,
that it gives a big band like this one (or a full
orchestra, for that matter) the physical weight
and near-avalanche power it actually has in
life. It is quite literally thrilling to hear tuttis
reproduced with this kind of authority.
As was the case with Galileo, Galileo LEs
remarkable clarity, ravishing color, and
realistic dynamic weight are clearly the
result of Synergistics clever use of air-string
architecture and the lower noise floor afforded
by the active shielding and tuning of those
strings via the in-line EM Cells. However, there
is a slight (and I mean slight) trade-off involved

in all this electrical conditioning, which Ive
also noted with Galileo pre.
While no one would ever call Galileo or Galileo
LE slow (which is to say, lacking in pace),
neither is it quite as incisive and well-defined
on the leading edges of transients, or as toetappingly tuneful in the bass, as Crystal Cables
(much more expensive) Absolute Dream. In
addition to these differences in speed and
timing, Id also say that the Absolute Dream
has (at lower volumesthe difference narrows
at higher ones) a slightly wider soundstage
than Galileo LE and a somewhat deeper-going
low end, though the differences here are very
small.
Dont let any of this bother you. Without
question Galileo LE is high among the most
gorgeous and lifelike cables Ive heardand

perhaps the highest in very-low-level resolution of timbre and texture. Yes, you do trade a
small measure of transient speed and pace for
LEs richer, denser, more beauteous tone color
and more lifelike weight and authority. But this
is a trade I think many listeners would be more
than willing to make, especially when they consider the cost of Galileo LE vis--vis the company it keeps. Here is state-of-the-art wire
at a price that many companies ask for their
second-tier offerings. It should go without saying that I recommend this stuff most highly and
enthusiastically. Indeed, alongside Crystal Cables Absolute Dream, Galileo LE has become
my reference, and will likely be a Product of the
Year Award-winner come January.
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The Synergistic Research Acoustic ART and HFT/FEQ Systems
Using things that resonate harmoniously to
override inharmonious sounds or reflections
dates back to antiquity.
You may not know this but the ancient
Greeks and Romans used just such room
treatments in their theatersbronze acoustic
vases of various sizes, strategically placed on
and about the stage. The size of the vases
determined their resonances, and those
resonances were intended to make the sounds
of speaking or singing voices louder, clearer,
and purer by reinforcing fundamentals and
suppressing confusing overtones and echoes.
The same technology was used in Medieval
churches to make small choirs sound like
larger ensembles; in fact, a variant is still
used in Buddhist temples, which is where Ted
Denney of Synergistic Research discovered
that the resonances of Tibetan prayer bowls
harmoniously altered the acoustics of a shrine
he was then visiting.
It immediately occurred to him that a
system of resonating bowls could be used
to acoustically treat listening rooms: We
began our research by studying Helmholtz
resonators, which have been used for over a
century to tune low frequencies in an acoustic
environment. We worked to modify Helmholtz
resonator principles to incorporate the full
spectrum of sound; not just low frequencies
and found we could tune music with a system
of resonators working together in harmony at
key acoustic pressure points.
previous page
The ART system is the upshot of this

research. Typical of Denney it is offbeat,
inspired, and ingeniousand it works. Ive
been using the Acoustic ART system in my
listening room for four years (supplemented
by other room treatmentstraditional ones
like ASC Tube Traps and A/V Room Services
Metu panels and oddities like the Shakti
Hallographs, which frankly work along the
same lines at the ART system but seem to have
slightly different, broader-band clarifying/
sweetening effects).
ART comprises three different components:
a Bass Station (a small metallic bowl that sits
on a magnetic pin set into a wooden stand
which is placed on the floor in front of the
woofer of your speaker), a series of Satellites
(small metallic bowls that sit on magnetic
pins set into wedge-shaped wooden brackets
which are attached, via Velcro strips, at
regular intervals to the back and sidewalls
of your listening room a foot or more above
speaker-height), and the Vibratron (a giant
resonating globeactually two large metallic
bowls that face one another with a flat disc of
metal between themthat is attached to a tall
plank of wood at a height approximately sixto-eight inches above the speakers tweeters
and situated between the speakers, usually on
the backwall). All three devices use magnetic
materials to control and shape the frequency
and duration of the bowls resonances (which
are excited by the sound waves of your hi-
fi); all three devices have an audible and a

measurable effect on room acoustics. The
differences they make can easily be hearda
presentation that is smoother, clearer, more
neutral, more detailed, more spacious, more
transparent-to-sources, and more beautiful
and dynamic.
Just recently Synergistic has added a new
tool to its room-treatment package: the HFT/
FEQ system. The HFT is a mini-Helmholtz
radiator that looks rather like a tiny thimble.
Because it is so light in weight, it can easily
be Blu-tackd to your walls (an ample square
of Blu-tack is supplied with each box of
HFTs). The FEQ is a rectangular box that
plugs into the wall. Near as I can tell the FEQ
generates some sort of ultra-sonic pulse that
activates the tiny HFT, causing them to
resonate consonantly and uniformly. Thus,
they not only ring in response to the music
being played but they also ring in a controlled
and predictable fashion. The HFTs can also
be attached to your gear to improve their
sound (via consonant resonance), as Denney
memorably demonstrated with a Bose Radio
at a recent Rocky Mountain Audio Show.
On walls or on gear or on both, the HFT/FEQ
systems works, improving the sound (and better disappearing your room) in much the same
way that the ART System does, although unless
the HFTs are used in abundance their effect is
not as dramatic as that of the ART System.
Using resonators
dates back to
antiquity.
Do not expect miracles: If you have a
particularly nasty room resonance in the
bass, for instance, neither the ART nor the
HFTs will remove it. For such problems,
moving your speakers to more congenial
spots or, if necessary, installing bass traps
are better bets. (Also I should note that
when it was plugged via its wall-wart
supply directly into a Synergistic Research
Power Cell SE Mk III into which other gear
was also plugged, the FEQ introduced
an audible low-level switching noise on
analog sources. This problem completely
disappeared when the FEQ was plugged
directly into the wall.)
I cant guarantee that the Synergistic
Research Acoustic ART and HFT/FEQ
systems will perform the same magic
on your room that it has on mine, but
if ART and HFT/FEQ are used properly
(and augmented as necessary by other
treatments such as Shakti Hallographs,
AV Room Services Metu panels, RPG
Skylines and bass traps, and ASC traps) I
cant imagine that they wont have a very
positive effectand that that effect wont
be limited to a single microphone-sized
spot at the center of your listening seat.
Highly recommended. JV
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Acoustic Zen Absolute

Copper Interconnect
Must-Audition
Neil Gader
coustic Zen is best known

for its high-end loudspeakers
like the vaunted Crescendo
2, warmly reviewed by Dick Olsher
in Issue 229. Its no wonder that a
statement product like that could
easily overshadow the fine lineup of
cabling which the company also offers.
However, ignoring Acoustic Zens wire
would be a big mistake.
Its Copper Series interconnect isnt the
most expensive in the linein fact by todays
standards its mid-priced. Construction is
robust, and terminations are excellent. Its
also fairly stiff due to its braided jacketing.
The Absolute Copper uses zero-crystal ribbon
copper conductors in a flexible twist array.

Insulation is top-notch, utilizing hollow-corefoam Teflon tubing, not polyethylene, that is
symmetrically configured to Acoustic Zens
patentedConstant Air Twist geometry. Teflon
is widely considered to be second only to an air
dielectric. Acoustic Zens Absolute Copper can
be ordered in any length (1 meter and up) with
standard RCA or XLR terminations.
As I listened to Norah Jones lead vocal
and overdubbed harmonies during Wish I
Could from Not Too Late [Blue Note], I found
the Coppers smooth sonic performance
satisfyingly close (perhaps uncomfortably so)
to the best cables I had on hand, including my
reference Synergistic Tesla CTS and Wireworld
Platinum Eclipse Series 7, as well as the recently

arrived Kimber KS6068. In comparison to
these elite wires AZ Copper was very detailed
but just a bit cooler in personality. Yet, its a
cable that doesnt put a foot wrong in terms
of midrange tonal balance. It images well and
locks in a rigid soundstage, and for the most
part simply gets out the way of the music. The
all-important sibilance range was seemingly
unforced, but came up just shy of the rounder,
sweeter voicing that is consonant with acoustic
music and my reference wires. Its overall tonal
neutrality and macro-dynamic energy, however,
were right on par with these top wires.
The Zen has superb low bass, a bit richer
and plummier than some but addictively so. It
was a trait that could be instantly appreciated
during cellist Pieter Wispelweys reading of
Bruchs Kol Nidre [Channel Classics]. There
was a wonderfully immersive character to the
soundstage, a nice combination of depth and
dimensionality. At moments there was a slight
sense of top-end edge from the cello, but this
was minor. More importantly, on cello Absolute
Copper found the balance between mellow and
melancholy, resonance and throatiness, the
near-human voice that makes it such a difficult
instrument to convincingly reproduce.
During the Rutter Requiem Copper easily
captured the scope and inner detail of the large
chorale, the intensely colorful vocal groupings
of baritones and tenors, while keeping its finger
on the pulse of the accompanying harp and
celloelements that are easily buried beneath
the sound of the large chorus and intermittent
rumblings of the pipe organ.
As I listened to solo piano performances of
Evgeny Kissin and Valentina Lisitsa the Copper
provided a wealth of soundstage information
and placement cues whereby even the position

and angle of the instrument began to materialize in the minds eye. In Lisitsas performance of
the Thalberg Grande fantaisie [Naxos] the Coppers character was a bit more forwarddetailed
and quick but not entirely capable of capturing
some of the softer tactile elements of the performance, the gradations of touch upon the keys,
if you will.
On an absolute level, Acoustic Zen Copper
misses tiny morsels of low-level resolution
and articulation. And its modest forwardness
provides a little less depth information on
something like the soprano solo that introduces
Rutters Lux Aeterna. However, in their proper
perspective such small flaws in no way impinge
on the near-irresistible musicality these wires
represent.
All told, the Acoustic Zen Absolute Copper is
a cable so satisfying that it may very well give
you pause about spending more. It certainly
would give me pause. There are few serious
audio rigs that would not strongly benefit from
Absolute Coppers expressive musicality and
real-world affordability. A cable that belongs
on every audiophiles must-audition short
list.
SPECS & PRICING

ACOUSTIC ZEN
16736 West Bernardo Drive
San Diego, CA 92127
(858) 487-1988
acousticzen.com
Price: $1600, 1m
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Moon Audio Silver

Dragon V2 Interconnect
Dracarys!
Neil Gader
visit to the Moon Audio Web

site and on-line store reveals
an honest passion for the high
end, with a particular enthusiasm for
headphones and head-amps and for
the bespoke cables to drive them. This
is Moon Audios specialtycustom,
handcrafted cabling for any application
from home theater to high-end stereo,
as well as iDevices and laptops.
Moon Audios top audiophile interconnect
offering is the Silver Dragon V2, the successor
to the Silver Dragon. It still uses a braided
geometry made of eight, solid-core, 99.999%
pure silver, 26AWG wires with Teflon insulation.
However the braiding has been upgraded
and an external shield added to the mix for
further noise rejection and durabilityhandy
for lengthy runs across a studio floor. The
connectors have also been upgraded; after
extensive testing, Moon Audio selected the

new WBT Nextgen WBT 0102Ag for unbalanced
RCA and the Furutech FP-601 in rhodium for
XLR.
It doesnt take exhaustive listening sessions
to understand why Moon Audio cabling has
already achieved near-cult-like status. The
Silver Dragon V2 (SDV2) slipped into my
system without a hiccup. Key among its
strengths was the noise-free environment it
establisheda dark, dead-silent background
from which music freely and cleanly emerged.
Another key was its smooth, rich midrange
elegant in its neutrality, color saturation, and
fluidity. There was a satisfying mellowness to
the SDV2s characterone that didnt exactly
soften transients (theres plenty of snap and
speed to go around), but that did add a measure
of overall warmth to the presentation.
Vocals were always unwaveringly positioned
in space. Tom Waits throaty, barrel-chested

voice rumble onstage fully focused, while
Rene Flemings dark mezzo soared on a thick
cloud of air. The lower-mid and bass octaves of
the SDV2 also had a distinctive weight and heft
that reproduced the resonances of orchestral
instruments like bass, cello, and bassoon with
a gut-level thrum of authenticity. And as I
listened to the title track of Michael Garsons
Serendipity, now a Reference Recordings LP
chestnut, I was reminded of the wonderfully
raspy attack of the sax and the bell-like sustain
of the piano. The Silver Dragon reproduces
these concurrent timbral contrasts and
dynamic energies beautifully. Its inside game
is also very good. Norah Jones Sinkin Soon
from Not Too Late [Blue Note LP] proved a
feast for the Silver Dragon as it delineated the
inner vocal harmonies and the extreme lowlevel details from the quirky percussion section
of this clever tune.
Regarding the SDV2s top end I held my
breath as the Ray Brown Trio launched into
Thats All from its classic Soular Energy
[Groove Note]. This track, in all its acoustic
and naturalistic purity, has become a beacon
of resolution and detail for me. So why the held
breath? Even now my ears remain on alert for
the colorations/distortions I associate with
earlier iterations of silver wire. Its true that
current, state-of-the-art silver cabling has

largely moved on from the thin, dry, tipped-up
treble that this conductor offered once upon a
time. But most of the current crop of sterling
wires are costly no-holds-barred efforts. The
SDV2 is priced quite modestly by comparison.
Nonetheless, it conveyed none of the searing
vices from yesteryearand I began to breathe
more easily.
On the aforementioned cut from Soular
Energy, the SDV2 did come up a bit shy of
the pure, unveiled treble-range openness
of reference wires like the Synergistic Tesla
CTS and Wireworld Platinum Eclipse Series 7.
These cables leave behind very few traces of
their own signatures. That said, Silver Dragon
captured the delicacy of the pianos slowly
decaying upper harmonics, the intensity of
Gene Harris lightning keyboard trills, and the
top-end air of the brushed snare and cymbals
quite realistically. Ray Browns bass was rich
in dark woody timbre, with a certain creamy
thickness to its rotund resonances.
The Silver Dragon was very specific in
placement and perspectiveeach musician
positioned clearly and each slightly forward
on the stage. What was interesting was to
contrast this fairly upfront and slightly flatter
SPECS & PRICING

MOON AUDIO
140 Iowa Lane, Suite 204
Cary,NC,27511
(919) 649-5018
moon-audio.com
Price: $500 (RCA & XLR)
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EQUIPMENT review - Moon Audio Silver Dragon V2

perspective with that of the Kimber Select
1136 pure-silver interconnectsa way, way
pricier option to be sure, but still an instructive
comparison. When I switched to the Kimber
(review to come) the performance settled back
into the studio slightly, though it was not laidback in the tonal sense. Micro-information and
balances were unchanged; rather, the players
seemed less stiffly regimented in lines across
the stage, and spatial relationships were better
defined and ultimately more immersive. Ray
Browns bass also seemed to open up slightly
as if shifting from an emphasis on tight pitch
control to a looser, thicker, more lifelike
measure of reverberation.
I dont begrudge anyone who has the

bankroll buying the high-priced spreads. Ive
heard some great expensive cables. And in
the same general range of the Silver Dragon
there is stiff competition from the likes of
WyWires Blue Series and Nordost Purple Flare
(reviewed in Issues 235 and 236). These are
competitors, however, not dragon-slayers. Ive
got to give it up for the Moon Audio Silver
Dragon V2. Its a David in a world of Goliaths. It
defies every expectation for a modestly priced
interconnect. To say Im impressed doesnt go
far enough. Youre just going to have to hear
these for yourself.
A Few Words with Moon Audio's Drew Baird

Moon Audio President and Founder, Drew Baird, is a self-professed audio junkie. An electronic music DJ
in high school and college, he had early aspirations of becoming a speaker designer and builder. However,
after doing some research during his early years at Penn State as an Electrical Engineering major, he
quickly changed to Structural Engineering after some advisor meetings. In an e-mail conversation, he
adds that most EEs dont believe in the psycho-acoustical effects of audio equipment and especially
changes in sound based on cables, etc. I am a true believer that all pieces in the signal path make a
difference. In conversation, Bairds a direct kind of guy and thats exactly the kind of retail audio store
he runs in Cary, North Carolina. Moon Audio is a rare type of shop, as we are both a cable manufacturer
and also a high-end-audio retailer. I only sell products that I believe in and use myself as I cannot sell
items that I dont perceive great value in as a consumer. In addition, our cables are not three inches thick
and stiff as flag poles. They are simply hand-crafted, in house, with passion and high-quality materials.
Moon Audio sells direct to the consumer in order to keep pricing at a minimum and we never discount
our cables. You will rarely see Moon Audio cables on the used market because our cables hold their
value. We also build everything to order and to whatever specs the customer needs and wants for his hifi setup. Overall, we cater to our customers passions and desires, plus as a company we try to live by the
golden rule. This has served us well and continues to create long term relationships with our customers,
and for this we are truly thankful.
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Wireworld Platinum Eclipse Series

7 Speaker Cable & Interconnects
The Sound of Nothing?
Neil Gader
ireworld always seems to

end up on my short list of
preferred speaker cables
and interconnects. The reason? The
line embodies uncolored sonics year
in and year out. If we can agree that
every wire (every component) leaves
something akin to fingerprints on a
pane of glassa smear, a smudge that
impairs transparency and resolution
Wireworld, in my experience, has
consistently left fewer traces of itself
than most others. Actually, as weird
as this may sound, Wireworld wires
never seem to be actively doing much
of anythingexcept making music, and
a whole lot of it, as I discovered with
Wireworlds latest, Platinum Eclipse.
(The flagship now carries the Series
7 moniker in celebration of the firms
20th Anniversary.)
Beyond its newly refined cosmetics, Platinum Eclipse represents the summit of Wireworlds current thinking. When I reviewed the
previous page
entry-level Equinox and mid-priced Eclipse

(Issue 238) Wireworlds David Salz discussed
Series 7, and his remarks regarding its improvements bear repeating here. He describes
a developmental process that began with the
discovery that most audible differences among
cable insulation materials are caused by spectral variations in the noise they create. Furthermore, that noise is modulated and therefore amplified by the electrical energy of the
music signal. This discovery led me to focus on
custom-blending composite insulation materials specifically optimized for sonic purity. The
result of that effort is Wireworlds Composilex
2 insulation technology, which dramatically reduces triboelectric noise (note: static electricity occurring through friction is an example of
triboelectric noise) at the interface between
conductor and insulation. Additional improvements were garnered from new versions of
Wireworlds DNA Helix conductor geometry,
which channel more electromagnetic energy
and therefore more music, than the previous
designs. The new geometry is the most obvi-
ous visual difference compared with the flatprofile of the cables immediate predecessor.
Platinum Eclipse Series 7 (PE7) uses
heavy nine-gauge OCC Silver conductors
(interconnects are seventeen-gauge OCC
Silver). The speaker cable is as stiff and
unwieldy as the interconnects are supple. That
stiffness made me reconsider my choice of
the delicate banana terminations used for my
review samples. I would opt for the more robust
spades if these were mine.
Over the years Ive found that when a system
is paired with Wireworld cablingentry-level
to cost-no-objectthe distinctions are not
(initially) obvious. Its not a sense of lights on
in the treble or fasten your seatbelts in the
bass. Platinum Eclipse, for all its technology
and (lets face it) awesome cost, is not about
hype. If there is one phrase that describes its
character, it would be relaxed but ready. PE7
is first about balance and about uncovering
the bundles of inside activity that animate
a great recording. These include the details,
dynamic gradations, and harmonic nuances
that were preserved during the recording/
mixing processand the higher the playback
resolution the better (LPs especially).
At rest, theres an underlying silence to this
wire that creates something akin to a glassy
expanse of deep black watera motionless
landscape waiting in anticipation of the microripples of music to begin. Listening to Malcolm
Arnolds English Scottish and Cornish Dances
I could hear the ever-present hall sound
reverberating behind every note and filling
every pause and musical rest. Or the crackle of
the far upstage tambourine that rockets down
the center section of the London Philharmonic
orchestra, its reverberation flaring and fading
into the soundscape. The point is that its the

sheer silence of these cables that provides the
launching pad for all that comes later.
Tonal balance is essentially neutral with just
a suggestion of midrange warmth and a top end
that at first blush can sound slightly shaded,
but in fact is not. Ill return to this point further
on. Most importantly PE7 possesses a uniform
palettethere are no color shifts across the
musical spectrum. Rock-steady, its sonics dont
ripen in one octave and then narrow or bleach
out in another. And these include the frequency
extremes where such discontinuities manifest
most audibly. When I listen to Joni Mitchell
singing A Case of You as I recently did in
my evaluation of the Ortofon Quintet Black
cartridge (review in this issue) I dont want
to hear splashes of treble harmonics and air
decoupled from the fundamentals of the vocal.
This is all too common in cables that miss the
mark. But Platinum Eclipses overall response is
continuous and smooth. At the other extreme,
its bass response is as open, well defined, and
complex as its treble, imparting body and air
proportional to the demands of the music. For
instance, listen closely to the final smack of the
bass drum during John Williams Liberty Fanfare
[Wilson Audiophile]. Beyond the immediate
and immense impact, youll hear and feel the
resonance and flutter of the drum head as it
does a slow fade into the background.
As I alluded to earlier, Platinum Eclipse is at
its most expressive in the treble octavesto
my mind audios most precarious region where
most wires either narrow, bleach, or otherwise
wring out the harmonic juices of the signal. The
initial tip-off for me is the sibilance range, the
68kHz regions, where overtones either gently
punctuate a singers articulation or begin to
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EQUIPMENT review - Wireworld Platinum Eclipse Series 7

sizzle like bacon on the griddle. As I listened to
Norah Jones Wish I Could, consonants and
especially s sounds were smooth, devoid of
trailing smudge off the transient. At first blush,
this can lead to the (false) impression that there
is some shadowing in the treble, but its really
the reduction of distortion. It was a lesson in
naturalistic reproductionlike I said earlier, no
hype. What you wont hear from the Platinum
are violin sections losing bits of resonant
body and sounding stringy, or brass sections
depleted of their sparkling golden bloom from
lack of air and truncation of harmonics.
In these upper octaves PE7 most reminds
me of my first experience listening to Tara
Labs Zero and Omega (at JVs suggestion)
many years ago. They were driving MBLs
three-way compact, the mbl 121 Radialstrahler
via MBL electronics. This omnidirectional
speaker (since replaced) had a reputationas
musically luminous as a loudspeaker could be,
it was equally ruthless in the way it exposed
component impurities. Prior to the Taras it was
also disturbing to me that the vaunted treble
purity of the Radialstrahler was proving so
elusive in my listening room. The violin solos of
Arturo Delmoni from Songs My Mother Taught
Me [JMR] had a stridency, a stinging string
tone more penetrating than the instrument
deserved. Similarly the upper octaves of
Valentina Lisitsas piano registered a more
metallic signature as if the felt had worn off
the keyboards hammers. The Tara effectively
put an end to that immediately. It smoothed,
sweetened, and opened up these octaves. The
Platinum Eclipse is the first wire since the Tara
to score as highly in this area. On solo piano
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and violin there is a consistent sweetness,

especially in the treble range, a warm air
enriching each image in the way an artist adds
rich swathes of color to a line drawing.
Beyond its upper-octave performance,
dimensionality and spatial gradations are
Platinums most persuasive virtues. It sets a
symphonic soundstage with the same precision
as the staff preparing the dining room table
at Downton Abby. Once again I turned to
Rutters Requiem [Reference Recordings],
a reference album of immersive spatiality
and vast staging. As heard through the PE7
wire, the Turtle Creek chorale remained fully
integrated within the reverberant venue yet,
if the minds eye so chose, the individual vocal
nuances of each chorus member could be
singled out. The presentation never devolved
into a slice-and-dice affair that set players
apart from their acoustic surroundings. Only
the Synergistic Research Tesla CTS, with its
uncanny holographic soundstage, has bettered
the Wireworld in this regard.
What price glory? Platinum Eclipse is
certainly well beyond my pay grade. But dont
assume that just because it is so costly it
requires an ultra-high-resolution, fancy pants
system to make its magicor that it wouldnt
make a dimes worth of difference in a more
real world high-end system. Unfortunately
it does make a difference, and all too much
of one. Loudspeakers as cost-accessible as
the new Audio Physic Classic 30 floorstander
and the ATC SCM19 stand-mounted monitor
benefitted to no small degree from these wires.
So much so that it may not be a good idea to
try them unless youre prepared to go all the
way to purchase.
For those prepared to go all the way, and
Im glad there are those of you out there, I
wouldnt hesitate to commend these wires.
Ive heard plenty of other cables that have
proven themselves over various criteria,

but Wireworlds Platinum Eclipse Series7 is
the most balanced and musical cable Ive
experienced yet. A component worthy of the
designation, the state of the art.
urther Thoughts From Wireworlds

F
David Salz
Its consistent with the Wireworld philosophy
the Cable Comparators. With direct switching
that the only valid comparison is against no
between cables and the reference bypass, I was
cable at all, hence the creation of the Cable
then able to test more easily, and I also gained
Comparator. I asked Salz about its development.
the capability of demonstrating the audibility
Back in 1980, about 14 years before I even thought
of cable losses in double-blind comparisons.
of creating a Cable Comparator, I performed my
Even though the Cable Comparators are a great
first cable bypass test by soldering together a pair
convenience, I now perform most of my bypass
of two-inch-long twisted-pair jumpers to replace
testing manually to avoid the sonic losses of
the various high-end one-meter interconnects
the extra connections within the Comparators.
I had been using between my preamp and

amplifier. The moment I listened to my system
Do you have more than one reference system
with the interconnect bypass, I realized that I was
and do you use a listening panel?
hearing much more music than I had ever heard
Throughout my thirty-odd years of performing
through any of the one-meter interconnects. The
cable bypass tests, I have always gone out of
confusion of only being able to hear differences
my way to repeat important tests on multiple
between cables was gone, because I had gained
reference systems to avoid system-dependent
the ability to hear what each cable was losing! I
effects or limitations. Despite obvious differences
also realized that I had discovered the way I could
in the sonic impact of various cables on those
learn to create cables that let more of the music
systems, I have learned that the actual effects of
through, and so I vowed to turn that challenge
cables are very consistent from system to system.
into my career.
I have also enjoyed the benefits of having some
Creating excellent cable bypass tests is rarely
very talented listeners, including high-end audio
easy and its often very tedious to keep switching
designers, recording/mastering engineers, and
among various cables and reference jumpers. The
musicians, assist me in my testing and prototype
very detailed and tiring work of perfecting and
evaluations.
performing these tests is what led me to invent
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Audience Au24 SE Power Cable,

Au24 SE Interconnect,
and Au24 SE Speaker Cable
A Veritable Steal
Jacob Heilbrunn
ohn McDonald, the president of

Audience cables, has been in
business for several decades,
but he isnt someone who makes a big
fuss about the properties of his cables.
Theyre slim and unpretentious, even
dare I say it?unprepossessing, at least
visually. All this is intentional. Audience
cables follow a low-mass/low-eddycurrent design that ensures they look
as if theyve been put on a starvation
diet next to some of the hulking
monsters out there. Those audiophiles
who equate performance with bulk and
heft probably wouldnt give Audience
much of an audience.
But does size really matter when it comes to
cables? Does bulk determine performance? Is it
imperative to have cables the length and girth of
pythons snaking around your audio gear?
Judging by the sonic qualities of Audiences
latest offerings, the answer has to be a
resounding no. Over the past few months, Ive
had the opportunity to sample the companys
latest interconnects, as well as speaker and
power cables. And its new line represents a
substantial leap beyond the Audience cables
that favorably impressed me a few years ago
particularly when it comes to power cables.
Audiences build-quality has always been
exemplaryits a sophisticated company that
sells high-quality capacitors, power conditioners,
and, not least, loudspeakersbut quite frankly I
wasnt expecting the degree of improvement that
these new wires offer across the board. Whether
on the dCS Vivaldi CD/SACD playback system or
on preamps and phonostages, improve things
they did, and not by a small margin.
One of the novelties of Audience designs, at
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least when it comes to power cords, is that they

come in three gauges. For power amplifiers,
which require a lot of current, Audience offers a
10-gauge cord. For medium power requirements
between 50150 wattsyou can order a 14-gauge
cord. And for CD players and other equipment
that doesnt draw much current, Audience
offers a low-power version. (Note that owners
of Audience cables can upgrade to the new SE
versions.)
If this sounds overly complicated, its really
not. And even if it were, that wouldnt stop most
audiophiles. But heres the deal: The cords work
extremely well. The first thing I noticed when I
inserted the power cords into the dCS rig was that
the noise floor dropped quite a bit. They helped
to create a more sumptuous and velvety black
background. With it came more detaildetail that
helped create a more lifelike sound. My take is
that the Audience cords help to reduce distortion,
which is to say the smearing between notes that
our ears subconsciously perceive. Remove that
almost imperceptible layer of grunge and you
achieve a new level of clarity, both in rhythm and
image solidity. Everything starts to sound better.
On digital this was apparent to me on CD after
CD. Consider Murray Perahias recording on Sony
of Handel and Scarlatti. The music may not be
all that complicated, but sometimes a more spare
recording gives you a chance to listen more deeply
than a bunch of razzle-dazzle sonic fireworks.
Here it was clear that the interstitial black space
between notes was audibly improved. Individual
notes seemed to linger even longer, decaying
into the ether. Ditto for the Eagles on the Hotel
California cut on the album Hell Freezes Over. It
was now possible to distinguish even more clearly
between the singers and instruments. The power
cables helped to create a wall of sound.
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EQUIPMENT review - Audience Au24 SE

The same went for vinyl. I plugged the cables
into the Ypsilon phonostage and preamplifier.
On Red Garlands album All Kinds of Weather
[Prestige], a wonderful mono LP recorded
in 1958 by the immortal Rudy Van Gelder, it
was clear that the reduction in noise allowed
me to hear further into the music. All of
the instrumentspiano, bass, and drums
sounded as though they were being more
clearly resolved. You got the benefits of lower
distortion without any supression of dynamics.
On the contrary, there was greater snap and
precision to classic numbers such as Rain and
Stormy Monday. It almost sounded as though
my mono Miyajima Zero cartridge was tracking
the LP more accurately, especially on LPs that
I thought were hopelessly compromised due
to wear. It was a real treat to discover that
they were, in fact, more listenable than I had
previously thought.
Adding in the Audience speaker cables and
interconnects did nothing to subtract from
these appealing qualities. The most notable
virtue of the speaker cables is that they follow
the audio equivalent of the Hippocratic oath,
which is to say that they dont do anything
wrong. These are not cables that have even
a trace of etch or tizziness. Nor are they
saccharine or rolled-off. Rather, they seem to
conduct the signal with no fuss or muss. They
are accurate, lithe, and taut. When I used them
with the Boulder 2050 monoblock amplifiers,
which put out an imposing 1200 watts of pure
Class A power, the Audience speaker cables
performed admirably. Coupled with Audience
interconnects in balanced mode running
from the dCS into the Boulder preamplifier,
my system delivered some of the best sound

Ive been able to get from itthe shimmer
on cymbals was so beautifully controlled,
expanding effortlessly into the air as though
the instruments were hovering right before me.
And the bass. Oh, my. It sounded like tectonic
plates were shifting on Mavis Staples new
album One True Vine. Sometimes these sonic
experiences are just hard to forget.
Suffice it to say that the Audience speaker and
interconnect cables may be relatively diminutive but they will never short-change your system, whether it comes to sonic prowess or nuance. Still, for all their virtues, I have to say that
it was the power cables that ended up stealing
my heart. The number of power cables on offer
is daunting, and skeptics love to maintain that
the notion that they can improve your system is
bogus. My experience with them says otherwise.
Their flexibility and extreme performance make
Audiences latest assault on power delivery a
steal in the world of the high end.
SPECS & PRICING

Prices: Au24 SE
powerChord (5 feet,
unbalanced (1meter),
standard full-gauge),
$1290; Au24 SE
$2250.
balanced (1 meter),
$1895; Au24 SE speaker
AUDIENCE
cable (2 meter), $2095,
120 N. Pacific St., K-9
Au24 SE LP powerChord
San Marcos, CA 92069
(5 feet), $1030; Au24
(760) 471-0202
SE MP powerChord (5
(800) 565-4390
feet), $1175; Au24 SE
audience-av.com
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Equipment reviews
Power
Conditioner
& Power
Cords
SPONSORED BY
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Audience adeptResponse
aR6-TSS AC Power Conditioner
"You Need A Power Conditioner"
Garrett Hongo
n Oregon where I live, audiophiles

I know dont tend to use any power
conditioning, believing, rightly or
wrongly, that the power we get locally
and from the Bonneville grid is superior
to the dirty power we read about
folks having in big metro areas. I have
mainly done without line conditioning,
although I have noticed that grunge
and grain creeps into the system
periodically during summers, when
everyones running A/C. When that
happens, I simply switch from my usual
deHavilland KE50A tube monoblocks to
a pair of Herron solid-state M1 monos
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and the problem goes away. In the fall,

I switch back to tube amplification.
One summer, though, I did try a line
conditioner, a power regenerator with
a transformer, but I didnt like it as
it obviously compromised dynamics
and added its own whitish haze to the
treble. I sold it. And, up until a few
months ago, Id simply used power
distribution without filtering, either
from Isoclean, Siltech, or Weizhi, and
had been very pleased with my sound.
But a new pair of loudspeakers took up
residence in my system recentlythe Von
Schweikert VR-44 Aktive ($25,000, reviewed
in Issue 230). These speakers are much more

resolving than my previous reference, the
Von Schweikert VR-5 HSE, and challenged
many things about my system and approach. I
found the new speakers so highly resolving, in
fact, that I was able to hear profound changes
any time I swapped electronics or sources.
Furthermore, they also revealed there was a
lot of noise in the power line that manifested
itself as high-frequency grit and grain in the
audio signal, particularly compromising purity
in the upper mids and treble and ruining my
enjoyment of violins and choral music. At first, I
worried the VR-44 speakers were the problem.
Then I noticed that the issues disappeared late
at night, when the power tends to be cleaner
and more constant. It was then I recalled an old
invitation from John McDonald, President of
Audience AV. We were at RMAF a few years ago,
listening to great sound coming from his demo
room. I was praising his audio cables when John
said, in that beautifully slight and sonorous
Texas drawl of his, Weve got to get you to try
our adeptResponse one of these days.
So I called McDonald and, after a brief
conversation, we quickly agreed I should try
the new adeptResponse6-TSS ($6000) along
with the new Audience powerChord Au24 (a
$1550 upgrade at 6'). Hed also send along
the 6' stock Audience powerChord e (price
included) as a reference. As this was late in
the fall, there was a high demand for his units,
and it took a few weeks for all to arrive, but
once they did I immediately put them into the
system and the results were remarkable. All
the problems with line grunge I was having
simply fell away and I could hear speakers and
electronics easily singing together without
the scrim of noise riding along on the current.
In fact, the aR6-TSS so clarified my sound, I

could discern things I hadnt before regarding
matching electronic equipment for optimum
performance, source changes, and the distinct
sonic differences that can be made switching
through the various upsampling rates available
on my Cary 303/300 CD player. The aR6-TSS
made a serious improvement in my listening.
Background
Audience AV has been making a version of the
adeptResponse conditioner since the summer
of 2005, when the first adeptResponse12 was
released. Since then, there have been steady
improvements in passive parts that Audience
claims have lowered the noise floor, improved
soundstaging, and resulted in wider-bandwidth
filtration. In 2008, Audience introduced the
aR-T, which substituted Auri-T Teflon caps for
the Auricaps used in the original units. In 2010,
the aR-TS was introduced, featuring another
upgrade in capacitors (to the Auri-TO) and the
addition of a ground plane inserted into the
unit. Finally, released just this past year in 2012,
the aR-TSS (the unit under review) features an
optional S-filter that Audience claims lowers
noise even further.
In a recent phone interview, I asked Audience
engineer Roger Sheker what his goals were
in designing the adeptResponse and what, in
particular, was special about the aR6-TSS. He
said the basic principles were threefold: (1)
to have a low-impedance power path of less
than 40 milli-ohms to allow current to flow
without resistance (the problem with most
power conditioners on the market); (2) to use
high-quality parts in capacitors, wire, method
of assembly, buss bars, and surge protection;
and (3) not to use an IEC, which he considers a
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EQUIPMENT review - Audience adeptResponse aR6-TSS

poor connection that doesnt ensure complete
contact. He said all three contribute to the goal
of a low impedance path.
Sheker further explained that theyd observed
that the design of most line conditioners
was actually quite good, but that there were
big differences in execution, coming down
to choices made in passive parts and power
connections. For instance, from the start, after
trying dozens of alternatives, Audience chose
the well-regarded Hubbel receptacles for the
best combination of sound and clamping force.
Audience also eschews using the metal oxide
varistor (MOV) employed by many other line
conditioners to protect against high-voltage
transients.
It absorbs surges all right, McDonald
chimed in (this was a three-way phone hookup).
But its also always in the pathway, storing
and releasing energy out of phase, creating
distortion, and wearing out over time. Ours
doesnt wear out and is not in the pathway until
there is a surge.
Sheker also pointed out that they rejected
the thermal circuit breaker used by so many
others because it heats up when theres a
transient and creates resistance, which ruins
dynamics. Instead, Audience chose a magnetohydraulic breaker at more than twenty times
the wholesale cost as it doesnt get hot and
compromise dynamics.
Its the same reason we chose passive and
not active conditioning, Sheker continued.
An active has to use a transformer, which has
high DC resistance, limiting dynamics. There
isnt an active conditioner that doesnt limit
dynamics.
Through the years, Audience has not only

changed the kind of capacitors it uses in the
adeptResponse, but also the capacitor leads
themselves from standard copper to the
current monocrystal. Theyve changed the way
the buss bar is builtfrom at first being drilled
and pieced together to soldering those parts
for more direct contact. A big change was
adding the ground plane with the aR-Ta big
copper plate on the bottom of the unit that is
weld-connected in a star-ground configuration.
For the TSS, the optional S-filter uses a passive
Balun transformer that goes between the input
connector and the circuit breaker, lowering
noise from the upper audible range to well
beyond the audible bandwidth, Sheker said, but
resulting in an improved soundstage.
But what about that IEC-business? Its a
sloppy connection, McDonald said. It doesnt
make good contact and was developed for
computers, not audio. We chose the Neutrik
PowerCon connector that twists and locks in,
doesnt vibrate, and can never fall out of the
socket, guaranteeing a secure connection and,
again, a low impedance path.
Owners of previous adeptResponse models
can upgrade their older units. Audience
charges $1000 to upgrade from the TS to the
TSS. Upgrading from an aR-T to the new TSS
is more involved, essentially constituting a
rebuild of the unit, adding the ground plane,
changing the buss bar from parted pieces to
soldered, adding the S-filter, and changing all
the capacitors to the TO version that are made
with Ohno (monocrystal) leads. It costs $2800
for the 6-outlet version.
Both cables are quite flexible and easier
to work with than most power cords, largely

because they are made with stranded copper
wire.
Description and Installation
The six-outlet aR6-TSS sits at midpoint in the
Audience line of power conditioners, between
the two-outlet aR2-TSS ($5200) and the twelveoutlet aR12-TSS ($9995). My review unit came
in silvery brushed aluminum (black is also
available) with a faceplate just slightly bigger
than the chassis, featuring understated lettering
that said adeptResponse/High Resolution
Power with a dot of an LED within an oval logo.
Installation and assembly were literally a

snap. I plugged in all my power cords, including
the one for my Cary CD player, as recommended
by the manualplugs for high-current units
closest to the power inlet and plugs for frontend gear farther away. As each of the six outlets
is individually filtered and double-filtered from
every other outlet, the aR6-TSS is claimed to
provide maximum component-to-component
isolation. I have to admit, though, that plugging
my CD player into the same line (via the aR6TSS) went against my habit of keeping digital
sources on a completely separate line from
my other electronics (more about this later).
SPECS & PRICING

Current/voltage: 15A or 20A/120V,
Raven Two turntable, TW-Acustic
Speaker cables: Siltech 330L, 330L
220V, 230V, 240V
Raven 10.5 tonearm with Zyx Airy
jumpers; Audience Au24e with
Power outlets: Six Hubbell high-
3 cartridge (0.24mV), Ortofon
Au24 jumpers
conductivity power receptacles
RS-309D tonearm with Ortofon
RCA Interconnects: Siltech 330i,
Dimensions: 10.5" x 4.75" x 8.25"
90th Anniversary SPU (0.3mV),
Audience Au24e, Auditorium 23
Weight: 11.1 lbs.
Ortofon Cadenza Mono (0.45mV),
USB cable: Wireworld Silver
Price: $6000 (6' powerChord e
and Ortofon Mono CG 25 DI MKII
Starlight
included); PowerChord Au24,
(1.5mV)
Power cords: Siltech Ruby Hill II,
$1500/6' (upcharge)
Digital sources: Cary 303/300 CD
Siltech SPX-800, Cardas Golden
player, Apple iMac with Eximus DP1
Reference, Harmonix XDC Studio
Audience AV
USB DAC
Master, Silent Source Signature
120 N. Pacific St., K-9
Preamplifiers: deHavilland Mercury
Power conditioner: Siltech Octopus
San Marcos, CA 92069
3; Herron VTPH-2 phono stage;
Signature 8 with 20A Siltech Ruby
(760) 471-0202
Music First step up
Hill II power cord
audience-av.com
Power amplifiers: deHavilland
Accessories: Box Furniture S5S
KE50A monoblocks
five-shelf rack in sapele, HRS
ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT
Speakers: Von Schweikert Audio
damping plates, edenSound FatBoy
Analog sources: TW-Acustic
VR-44 Aktive
dampers, Winds VTF gauge
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As for the pecking order of plugging the cords
for amps closest to the power inlet, McDonald
explained this was because the large capacitors
that stored energy were situated closest to the
Neutrik connecter and that amps, needing that
stored power at peaks, worked best connected
as close as possible to them. Finally, I plugged
the Au24 powerChord into the wall outlet and,
once every component was plugged into the
aR6-TSS and contacts seated and checked, I
flipped the circuit-breaker switch, powering
the unit on, whereupon the LEDs blue light
appeared. I was ready to go.
Listening
On recommendation from John McDonald,
I kept the aR6-TSS powered on constantly
and spent about a week burning it in and not
taking any notes but just playing through
a variety of CDs of all genres. On first
impression, there was a noticeable big gain
in clarity and organicism, perhaps due to the
monocrystal wire used throughout the unit,
orchestral violins in particular sounding more
natural. But, on subsequent days, I heard
that dreaded treble grittiness in the violins of
another orchestral CD, or a whitish sound in
the treble, or occasional episodes of dynamic
compression. The unit did indeed need burning
in. After about sixty hours in use, I could tell it
was settling down, noticing a marked reduction
in the day-to-day sonic variation in the system.
In fact, what had vexed me no end beforethat
intermittent grit and grunge in my system
sound popping up on every odd dayno longer
seemed to be a problem. That small yet dire
tinge of stress Id been feeling because of the
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line noise was completely gone. To me, this was

a very big deal, as, after about a week of the
aR6-TSS being in the system, I never had any
more of those periodic days of awful sound
coming from my system. It just never happened
again. The aR6-TSS had banished the nasties!
Sometime after everything had settled down,
I put on a CD of Mozarts Piano Concerto No.
20 in D minor played by Ivan Moravec with the
Academy of St. Martin in-the-Fields, directed
by Neville Marriner [hnssler], and what I
heard was very promising. The most immediate
difference was string sound, which sounded
much smoother. There was more detail, more
sweetness, more mellowness. The aR6-TSS
made a very musical difference. Orchestral
violins were open and resolved and, on piano,
the nuances of Ivan Moravecs pedaling were
much more noticeable. I concluded the aR6-TSS
had lowered the noise floor. Individual piano
notes sounded a touch more incisive on attack,
bloomed more palpably in sustain, and seemed
to float in the air, lingering longer in decay. The
soundstage was noticeably bigger and deeper
and the overall presentation was sweeter,
prettier! Bass was deeper and more articulate,
tighter, and more focused. There were deeper
orchestral space and spatial cues in the string
notes too. But, though I was starting to feel quite
taken with the aR6-TSS, I was not yet completely
convinced. The presentation definitely sounded
more organic and less electronic, but I also
worried the Audience conditioner took some
juice away, extracting some measure of verve
and jump from the overall presentation.
Putting aside my focus on classical strings
for the moment, I started listening to some jazz
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CDs too, and the aR6-TSS did spectacularly
good things. On James Carters Chasin the
Gypsy [Atlantic], his homage to French guitarist
Django Reinhardt, although Id heard it before,
that bass drum strike at the beginning of the
first track was somewhat startling. The drum
note was full of skin and harmonics, tactile
and supremely present, then it reverberated
and started dying away, its passing punctuated
by a snare roll and the pattering of castanets.
When Carters dark and blatty bass sax took
up the recognizable theme of Reinhardts
Nuages, all was as sinuous and sublime as an
anaconda flowing over the branches and trunk
of a rainforest tree. Across the soundstage, an
accordion wheezed melodically, suspended bells
were deftly struck, an acoustic guitar was being
rapidly plucked, each string distinct in attack
and decay, and a beaded gourd rattled softly as
a rainstick behind it all. The standup bass was
tight, played deftly, notes distinct but flowing in
an infectious tango rhythm. A purer silence in
the background made the birth and departure
of each sonic event seem more properly timed
and clearly presented. There was a fabulous
depth to the stage, a palpable sonic imaging of
each instrument and the feeling of real space
around them, particularly around Carters bass
sax as it dug into its lowest registers. Ill risk
saying it was evident that what I was hearing
was transparency to the source.
Clarity of imaging, a large soundstage of
real depth, and the rhythmic presentation of
a complex sonic tapestry of multiple acoustic
instruments were all also evident on vinyl
playback. On the Grateful Deads Ripple
from the classic American Beauty LP [Warner
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Brothers], I heard, without any sharp transients

marring the very natural presentation, a
gorgeously
articulate
string-band-style
interplay among a mandolin playing lead,
multiple guitars in accompaniment, an electric
bass, and drums. The soundstage was huge and
very tall, the instrumental images stable within
it. Though I thought the vocal imaging outsized,
the clean, airy harmonies among those voices
told me that the timing was perfect.
Throughout my listening, I did wonder about
the conditioners effect on dynamics. It was
clear the system made huge gains in midrange
smoothness, treble and bass extension and
clarity, soundstaging, timing, and noise. But,
from the start, I thought Id heard a slight loss of
punch and musical weight at times, particularly
on orchestral crescendi. To test this, I pulled
the CD players power cord (a Siltech SPX-800)
out of the aR6-TSS and plugged it directly into
the wall outlet of a dedicated line separate
from where the conditioner got its juice. This
was my longstanding practice anyway, keeping
digital sources on a different line from other
electronics. Going back to the same Mozart
Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor performed by
Moravec with the Academy of St. Martin-in-theFields, I now heard starker dynamic contrasts,
more punch in the timpani strikes and more
emphatic swells in orchestral tuttis. Piano notes
were still sweet and clear, but forte keystrokes
and bass notes gained impact and suddenness.
On the downside, violins sounded glassy in
accompaniment and the fine inner details of
performance, particularly the coordinated swells
of vibrato, were obscured. And the entirety of the
music seemed stripped of its natural overtones,
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its harmonic richness, dynamic shifts sounding
more Spartan than Apollonian.
The conditioners effects on my analog chain
were also somewhat ambiguous, especially on
rock and R&B. With my Herron phonostages
power cord, a Silent Source Signature, plugged
into the aR6-TSS, I played Otis Redding In
Person at the Whiskey a Go-Go [Sundazed]. The
horn section on I Cant Turn You Loose had a
punchy thunk in repeated choruses of the same
riff, punctuating and pushing the driving beat,
accentuating Reddings soulful and rhythmic
bluesy hollers. But on Mr. Pitiful, I felt that
Reddings hoarse baritone voice sounded more
gut-thunking with the phonostages power cord
plugged directly into the wall. And, absent the
Audience conditioners effects, horns were a
touch more forward, the midrange generally had
more presence, and the music sounded fuller
and energized the room more. Though very
close with it, I thought PRaT seemed a touch
more immediate without the ar6-TSS in line.
On balance, however, I much preferred the
sound of my audio system with the Audience
aR6-TSS in it than without. For me, the real
test of a system is how it plays large choral
ensembles with full orchestral accompaniment.
In this kind of music, there are big demands on
power amps and the timing of all components
as they try to work together, stressing their
resolving capabilities and overall sense of
spaciousness, their abilities to create a bloom
of sound while maintaining musical coherence.
Ive made myself very unpopular at audio
shows traipsing around with my demo CDs of
Mozarts Mass in C and Requiem. These choral
warhorses have crushed many a megabucks
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system, solid-state or tube.

My own home system is put together
expressly to meet the challenges I cite above
the deHavilland KE50A tube monoblocks,
though only rated at 45W of output, nonetheless
have a secondary stage of output (its design
incorporates an interstage transformer in
addition to the power and output transformers)
that sustains power through increasingly
demanding passages such as required
with choral/orchestral music with operatic
soloists. On the CD of the Bach Society of the
Netherlands performance of Mozarts Requiem
[Channel Classics], what you can hear, when
the system is optimized, is the rendering of
multiple thematic linesmens voices, womens,
strings, woodwinds, brass, and hornswith
deftness and aplomb, giving each its particular
definition and timbral character, the voices
remaining open and clear throughout every
crescendo. For example, there was a moment
during Lacrimosa, the eighth movement, when
I heard a stunning billowing of voices in the
shape of one of Joseph Stellas Moebius strip
sculptures. The face of the choral wave of sound
moved in a kind of elliptical, figure-eight pattern
across the front of the soundstage, surging from
the sopranos down through the altos and then
sweeping up through the basses to the tenors,
then spuming back againall in an instant. It
was imaging at its astonishing best to menot a
mere holographic presentation of sound coming
from a stable image of an instrument in space,
but the dynamic movement of a splash of theme
moving in the span of seconds across the face of
the entire choir as depicted in the soundstage.
Its the way music actually makes its swift
passage through an orchestra or choira theme

sometimes taken up in a kind of semaphoric
sequence as the singers or musicians sound
their musical contributions. That my system,
with the Audience aR6-TSS in it, could render
this magical thing demonstrated that its
contributions benefitting resolution and timing
were more than considerable.
I also tried the aR6-TSS with the stock
powerChord e instead of the Au24 powerChord
and, in general, the system lost a smidge of
intensity. On Nuages from James Carters
Chasin the Gypsy, things became a touch muted
by comparison, the saturation of tonal colors
in the instruments a shade less intense and
imaging within the soundstage slightly more
diffuse. It wasnt a big differencethe overall
character of the presentation was very much
the same, just not quite as dramatic or vivid.
Both cables are quite flexible and easier to work
with than most power cords, though the Au24,
being of stranded copper, is much more so. If
its within your budget, I highly recommend you
spring for the upgrade to the Au24 powerChord.
Or, you might start with the stock e cord and
upgrade to the Au24 later. Its worth it.
dimension to them, soundstaging was grander,

and imaging and spatial cues startling. The ar6TSS contributed a remarkable refinement and
brought real precision to my system.
If youre in the market for line conditioning,
I think you ought to take a serious look at this
one. There can be differences in performance
depending on the system and the nature of the
power in your own region, but, for me, it was a
no-brainer. Like TAS editor Robert Harley once
said to me, You need a power conditioner. I
have one now. Its the Audience aR6-TSS.
Robert Harley on
the aR6-TSS
Ive been using the aR6-TSS in my system and
largely agree with Garretts findings. The unit
significantly lowers the noise floor, which in turn
leads to increased resolution of very fine detail.
This resolution increase is heard as more vivid
timbres and density of tone color. Fine transient
information is also better portrayed; listen to
brushes on snare drum, for example. With the
aR6-TSS theres just a greater impression of the
mechanism by which the sound is made. The
Conclusion
In the end, I found that I simply could not do
without the salutary effects of the aR6-TSS
and Au24 powerChord on most of my music,
on the entirety of my system. The benefits
far outweighed any slight downside. With all
my components plugged into the Audience
conditioner, violins were unfailingly silkier,
voices and instruments emerged from a blacker
sonic background with more nuance and
increased smoothness and reduction in glare

that Garrett noted is, in my view, alone worth the
price of admission. I dont hear any reduction in
dynamics with the aR6-TSS. In fact, the lower
noise floor fosters the impression of greater
dynamic range; the silences are quieter and the
background blacker, making transients seem
as if they are delivered more quickly and with
greater impact.
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Shunyata Venom PS8

Power Distributor, Venom
Defender, and Venom HC
Power Cords
How Dedicated Are You?
Neil Gader
y history with AC powerdistribution and lineconditioning products is a

fairly spotty one. Sonically, they give
and they take away, and I generally
put them aside after a few weeks.
Nowadays I just grab a power cord and
head for the nearest available outlet,
avoiding power-surge-protection strips
for critical components. Ive come to
view such convenience strips as
a hangover from the days of tower
computers, forty-meg hard drives,
and 14" monochrome displays, when
the fear of a brownout sent shivers
down the spine. My listening room
isnt blessed with a dedicated circuit,
either. Ive considered remedying this
but just havent gotten around to hiring
an electrical contractor. The truth is
that Im a little skeptical of monkeying
with power and conditioning products.
My room is quiet with a seemingly
low noise floor. Basically what Im
admitting is that my listening space is
probably a lot like yours. Sensible but
nothing fancy.
Shunyata mustve seen me coming. It has
designed a system that takes the existing AC
power entering a listening room to the next step
without engaging the services of an electrical
contractor. There are three basic components to
its entry-level Venom Series of power products,
starting with a Venom PS8 power strip. Nicely
constructed of heavy, brushed steel, the PS8 is
20-amp rated to cover even the most demanding high-current components, provides eight
Hubbell outlets that are cryogenically treated
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using Shunyatas Alpha process, and a tough

Carling Hydraulic Electromagnetic breaker. It
sits on thick rubber feet, but steel spiked-footers with floor protectors are also offered as a
$195 option.
The second component is the Venom
Defendera tidy little plug-and-play power
conditioner. Chassis-free, its a plug-in module
that incorporates the MPDA (multi-phasedifferential-array),
thirty-element
parallel
filters found in Shunyatas flagship Hydra
models. Ruggedly built, Defender is equipped
with 20,000 amps of surge protection and
its own LED fault-detector. It can be plugged
directly into the PS8 or, ideally, into the same
wall outlet.
The final link in Shunyatas power chain are
the Venom HC power cords. Big brothers to
the original Venom cords (still a steal), they
use heavier 10-gauge conductors, and employ
hand-soldered contacts that are crimped to
improve the metal-to-metal contact integrity.
All Shunyata components are cryogenically
treated. Each can be purchased individually,
but these three have been designed and priced
to perform in trio. With three Venom HC cords,
the complete Venom system Shunyata set me
up with retails for under $1800.
Shunyatas Grant Samuelson filled me in on
Venom system particulars. He reiterated that
all home electronics are extremely peakcurrent-sensitive. Their power supplies draw
current dynamically off the peak and trough
of the sinewave. Any break or open contact in
the electrical chain represents a loss that can
affect system performance.
Shunyata, he says, views current delivery
as a high-frequency event, not a low-frequency
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EQUIPMENT review - Shunyata Venom PS8, Defender, and HC

event because systems draw current at
a high-frequency and they output highfrequency noise. It all starts and ends with
junction integrity, material quality, material
manipulationall aimed to lower the insertionloss of the device. The overriding design goal of
this system is to minimize peak-current loss at
every junction.
The Defender builds upon the foundation
the PS8 establishes. Its filters are computermodeled to capture and filter the highfrequency noise that exists on any line and
prevent it from re-circulating within the
system. All of this is accomplished without any
added connections and with no loss of peak
current integritywhich is our baseline for
performance.
All Amped Up
My approach to evaluating power strips, power
cords, and line conditioners pretty much comes
down to the same tried-and-true methodology.
After concluding a period of extended listening
with the current reference system, I unplug
the entire rig, substitute the electricals under
evaluation, and let er rip. Electronics in this
instance were the Parasound JC 3 phonostage,
the mbl Corona C11 preamp, and the mbl C21
stereo amplifier in rotation with the Aragon
8008 amp (review to come)a system requiring
three power cords. A Meridian Director USB
DAC decoded computer-sourced files.
My first impression of the Venom system flatout caught me off-guard, largely because my
expectations were built on previous encounters
with power distribution products, some good,
some not so good. I began by cueing up The
Wasps Overture [RCA] followed by the third

and fourth movements of the Beethoven Ninth
Symphony [Decca]. In each instance I heard the
same thing, which arrived in the form of newly
discovered orchestral weight and a more rigidly
grounded soundstage. The system revealed a
density change in the way I perceived ambient
information. At first I thought I was hearing a
tonal shift downward, as if a darker palette of
colors were being applied to the performance.
But in truth this was more about system or
line noise being reduced to the extent that
significantly more ambient information and
harmonic minutiae from venue and orchestra
were freely emerging.
Celli and bass viols exhibited more pitch
precision and less bloat. The individual voices
of a chorus were unwavering in space and could
be more easily pinpointed, almost visualized.
String section layering was better defined
in depth. The Venom system was not just
quieting the system down; it was also allowing
resolution within those silences of the acoustic/
reverberant life that exists between notes or
during musical pauses, but which is so often
obscured. It was like the air was fueled with
a different mixture of energy and harmonics.
I listened closely to Coplands Fanfare For
The Common Man and its near overpowering
dynamic swings. Thankfully, what I didnt hear
was a softening or smoothing over of transient
detail and contrasts. The textures of music,
from the reedy and bristly to the buttery, were
fully represented. Compression of dynamics
the bane of many conditioning productswas
non-existent on either the micro or macro
scale.
Weirder still was that when I took out the

Venom system the individual artists of St
Martins in the Fields, performing excerpts
from Stravinskys Pulcinella, seemed somewhat
abandoned, as if they were separated by
acoustic dead zones rather than joined as a
contiguous ensemble. With the PS8 out of
the system, the air and dimensionslity, the
swirl of ambient activity became spotty. The
impression of a single soundspace unbroken
from one end of the proscenium to the other,
upstage and down, sounded more thread-bare,
like an unframed musical canvas. Reinserting
the Shunyata into the system, the fully framed
picture rematerialized.
When I turned to pop vocals like Shelby
Lynnes Just A Little Lovin, I encountered the
same enriched ambient quality that I had with
symphonic recordings. In this instance it was
the distinctive, heavily damped, reverb-washed
character of the recording studio. Imaging
on this disc was truly stunning. Drums, bass,
acoustic guitar cues were so clean, quick, and
stable that it was as if someone had applied
a squeegee to a grimy window. Even the title
tracks metronomic hi-hat had more drive
and a thicker, less tinny quality. The Shunyata
found more sustain in the instrument, while the
slight smearing that collected in the wake of
certain of its transients all but vanished. Bass
response was further defined in character and
timbre. For example, the bass vamp that kicks
off the intro to Holly Coles I Can See Clearly
didnt come off as more deeply extended per
se but as considerably tightened up, with more
rhythmic bounce and melodic character.
In as little time as it takes to plug in a couple
power cords, Ive gone from skeptic to believer.

The Shunyata Venom system refined the
voicing of my system to an extent I never would
have predicted at the outset. And I never felt
the music was being compromised. To be clear,
Shunyata doesnt promise a seismic shift in
system performance, but a subtle clarification
of previously hidden musicality. Dont look
at me to pull the plug anytime soon. For the
dedicated among us (without a dedicated line)
the Venom system represents a cost-effective,
plug-and-play, real-world solution to power
issues. Another way of saying that I guess I
better tell my electrical contractor not to wait
up for my call.
SPECS & PRICING

Venom PS8
Shunyata Research
Number of outlets: 8
26273 Twelve Trees
Price: $695
Lane, Ste D
Defender
Poulsbo, WA 98370
Price: $195
Venom HC Power Cord
(360) 598-9935
shunyata.com
Price: $295/1.75m
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Shunyata Research
Hydra Typhon
World's First Two-Chassis Power Conditioner
Kirk Midtskog
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n September, 2012, the TAS Web site

ran a short piece announcing the
introduction of the Hydra Typhon, an
optional, dedicated, A/C-line noise-reduction
unit intended for use with the Hydra Triton
power distributor. Since Id reviewed (and
highly recommended) the Triton in Issue
219, I decided to give Shunyatas add-on
Typhon a listen.
The Typhon and Triton units have the same
cosmetics, dimensions, and price ($4995 each).
The heavier Typhon is an additional, passive,
noise-filtering slave unit which simply plugs
via a Typhon Umbilical cordinto either an
unused standard A/C receptacle on the Triton
or into a Typhon-ready receptacle. (Note
well: You will have to order an umbilical cord
preferably as short as possiblewith one of two
different terminations, depending on the type of
receptacle you intend to plug the Typhon into.)
Shunyata recommends using an unused normal
receptacle, but all Tritons come with an auxiliary
receptacle, so that all eight normal receptacles
may be used for electronics if needed. Since the
Typhon is not in the current path, as such, it does
not alter the total current-delivery capacity
of the Triton (2400W at 120VAC, 4800W at
240VAC). The Typhon simply provides additional
noise-suppression capacity to the Triton. In
effect, the Triton and Typhon pair becomes one
power conditioner in two chassis.
Fairly early in the development of a
new, higher-performing power conditioner,
Shunyatas designer Caelin Gabriel ruled out
offering one large unit in favor of splitting up
the two main sections into smaller chassis.
This offers consumers more flexibility; they
can start with a Triton and add a Typhon later
as funds allow. I have to say, the two smaller

chassis are also easier to place than a single,
double-sized unit would be. In my setup, the
Typhon is on the bottom shelf of a rack, and
the Triton rests on a spiked platform on the
floor next to the rack. Shunyata does not
object to stacking the two units if that works
best for you. Shunyata also offers sets of four
1.25-inch-tall stainless-steel spiked feet ($195)
and matching protective discs for enhanced
performance over the stock rubber feet when
either unit is placed directly on a floor. (More
on these optional feet later.)
Almost the entire internal chassis space of
the Typhon is devoted to two large cylindrical
Noise Isolation Chambers (NIC) filled with
proprietary ZrCa-2000, a ferroelectric
compound. The hot and neutral A/C power legs
are routed through the NICs via Shunyatas
hollow-core,
high-purity,
CDA-101-copper
VTX wiring. The large volume of ZrCa-2000
material, combined with the large surface
area of the internal copper cylinders, is said
to provide very effective ultra-high-frequency
noise-dissipation characteristics through an
E-field coupling between the ferroelectric
material in the NICs and the electric field of
the high-frequency noise that rides on the AC
signal. The main unit of the tandem, the Triton,
already has three fairly large NICs, so the addon Typhon increases the total NIC capacity to a
much more robust level.
Does the Typhon significantly reduce signalobscuring noise? Yes, and I would add the
Typhons most prominent sonic effect on the
connected system is that it enhances the
systems ability to portray spatial cues. The
Typhon does not alter tonal balance or macrowww.theabsolutesound.com
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EQUIPMENT review - Shunyata Research Hydra Typhon

dynamic behavior, so listening for typical
changes after you insert a new device is not
a standard exercise with the Typhon. What the
Typhon does do is allow your system to better
reproduce depth of both individual images and
of the overall soundstage. Spatial cues around
individual images are more clearly defined, with
more body and solidity. As a result of clearing
up the surrounding, obscuring, gray electronic
fog, images stand out in greater relief within
their ambient surroundings. The Typhon also
expands soundstage width and height, though
not to an appreciable degree in my setup.
The Typhon also subtly clarifies a few
other aspects of music playback: tonal colors
and textures are more vivid, fine details are
more apparent, transients are cleaner and
less smeared, and micro-dynamic shadings
which seem to be so important to reproducing
artistic expressivenessalso come through
more readily. What this all points to, in my
estimation, is a reduction in underlying noise
across the board. Essentially, the Triton/
Typhon combo enhances what your electronics

can already do, not only by feeding them a
cleaner A/C stream but also by reducing the
noise those electronics feed back into the A/C
line. If your system already has a good measure
of the qualities you are looking for, youll get
more of them with the Triton/Typhon pair.
Realizing the benefits of the Typhon/Triton
pair takes some time. Just as most of us
would not unpack a new piece of electronics
and immediately set about conducting quick
side-by-side comparisons against warmedup, familiar gear already in the system, the
Typhon, too, should be integrated into a
system with some settling time. Shunyata
recommends plugging it in to an active Triton
for at least five days before critical listening.
I plugged the Typhon into the Triton and left
my system on for eight days before I did any
critical listening. When I first sat down to listen
closely, the Typhons effect seemed subtle. As
I mentioned, the typical cues we listen for with
the introduction of a new piece of gear, such
as a shift in tonal balance or macro-dynamic
emphasis, are not there with the Typhon.
Rather, the benefits of the Typhon become
readily apparent when you pull it out of the
system for a few songs and then plug it back
in. Those qualities I mentioned (depth, spatial
clarity, vividness of tone colors, etc.) were all
better with the Typhon plugged in. I like the
improvements so much that I would feel a bit
short-changed without the Typhon, especially
after living with it for over a month. Adding a
Typhon will probably not transform a mediocre
system into a giant-killer, but it will elevate
an already good system another notch in
musically meaningful ways. I imagine that most

audiophiles who would contemplate purchasing
two $4995 power conditioner chassis (and
two good 20-amp power cords) have already
invested a great deal of money in their systems
and would truly appreciate the next level of
realism the Triton/Typhon combo brings to the
equation.
As for those optional spiked Stainless Steel
Feet (SSF), they simply screw into the sockets
of the stock rubber feet they replace. I tried
them only with the Triton because the Typhon
was sited in a rack without enough clearance to
accommodate the Typhon with the 1.25" SSFs
installed. At $195 for a set of four, the SSFs are
a good way to deploy the Triton directly on a
floorbetter than the stock rubber feet. The
Tritons ability to help my systems electronics
make leading edges sound more defined was
improved when the SSFs were installed. Since
the Triton is situated on a wood platform in my
setup, I also tried a set of three Aurios Pro Max
bearings between the Tritons chassis and the
platform. This yielded greater overall clarity
than either the stock rubber feet or the SSFs.
Since these sorts of individual tuning options
can vary greatly from system to system, listen
carefully for your own results if you experiment
with Triton/Typhon footers.
In conclusion then, if you already have a
Triton main unit and would like to ratchet
up your systems performance even more,
adding a Typhon is a worthwhile option. If you
do not already have a power conditioner and
are comfortable with the $4995 price tag for
each unit, the Triton/Typhon combo very much
deserves your consideration. The Triton can
get you started and the Typhon can be added

later. The benefits the pair brings to bear serve
the music well and do so without any negative
effects. Highly recommendedespecially for
those with relatively high-resolution systems.
SPECS & PRICING

Connection: One 20-amp
running JRiver MC 17,
receptacle
Hegel HD2 and HD20
Power rating: 2400W
DACs, Ayre P-5xe
(120VAC)
phonostage, Ayre K-1xe
Dimensions: 17.25" x
linestage, Hegel H200
5.75" x 16.50"
integrated, Gamut
Weight: 43 lbs.
M250i power amps,
Price: $4995 (requires a
Dynaudio Confidence
Typhon Umbilical cord)
C1 Signature, Aerial 7T,

YG Kipod II Signature
Shunyata Research
Passive speakers,
26273 Twelve Trees
Shunyata Anaconda
Lane NW, Suite D
ZiTron signal cables,
Poulsbo, WA 98370
Analysis Plus Big
shunyata.com
Silver Oval speaker
(360) 598-9935
cables, Audioquest
shunyata.com
Coffee USB and Hawk

Eye S/PDIF, Shunyata
ASSOCIATED
Anaconda and Cobra
EQUIPMENT
ZiTron power cables,
Basis Debut V turntable
two 20-amp dedicated
with Vector 4 tonearm,
lines, Shunyata
Benz-Micro LP-S
Triton and Typhon
cartridge, Ayre C-5xeMP
power conditioners,
universal disc player,
PrimeAcoustic Z-foam
Sony VAIO VGN-FZ-490
panels and DIY panels
previous page
NEXT page
Synergistic Research
Tesla PowerCell 10 SE AC
Conditioner
No Tradeoffs
Jacob Heilbrunn
few years ago at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, Synergistics Ted Denney III ushered
Neil Gader and me into a small, dark hotel room that featured his latest Tesla cables,
which used active shielding sourced via a complement of different tubes. Different tubes
shouldnt have affected the sound, but, of course, they did. After that experience, I went on to
try some of Synergistics REL subwoofer cables, which added to the potency of the RELs, and
not by a small margin.
previous page
So when the chance came up to try

Synergistics latest power conditioner, I bit.
Having tried a fair number of conditioners
over the year, Ive become less enamored of
them the more Ive used them. The pluses and
minuses almost always seem to balance out
in the end. Sure, theres the initial excitement
of hearing a few notes that werent there
before or a blacker background. But then
reality begins to intrude. Werent the highs a
little more extended before I put conditioner
X into my system? And so on. If it was just a
matter of tradeoffs, it really didnt seem to be
worth the outlay. Recent exposure to the latest
conditioners from Audience and PS Audio
suggested, however, that matters have begun
to change for the better.
The $5000 Tesla PowerCell 10 SE, which is
supplied with Synergistics top-of-the-line Tesla
Precision AC cord, thus offered another chance
to see if the conditioning field has continued to
advance. Unlike many conditioners, it doesnt
feature chokes or transformers. The chassis,
Synergistic says, is electromagnetically inert,
but on the inside it conditions the electricity
by subjecting it to various electromagnetic
fields. The power cord for the unit also allows
for active shielding. The unit is said to be
non-current-limitingwhich many conditioner
manufacturers say, but which often turns out
not to be the caseand is lightweight, making
it easy to move around. Nor does it have an
on-off switch. You simply use its locking power
cord and plug it into the wall. Its best to have
any equipment you intend to use with it turned
off before you plug it in. After letting it burn
in for two weeks, I inserted it into my system,
adding one component at a time.
The difference was surprisingly dramatic.

The Einstein preamplifier Ive been using
recently is quite dynamic, but can be a little
astringent at times. The Synergistic PowerCell
immediately offered a warmer and more relaxed
presentation. It also made the Wilson MAXX 3
loudspeakers sound more elegant, particularly
in the highs. By comparison, the sound before
I added the PowerCell seemed somewhat
disjointed. In addition, the conditioner endowed
intricate passages with greater resolution,
helping to delineate musical lines more clearly.
Overall, the PowerCell had a holistic effect,
drawing me further into the music.
One of the Teslas most palpable improvements
was its ability to open up the soundstage. On
Simone Dinnersteins intriguing recording of
Bachs Goldberg Variations [Telarc], which
features a reconditioned Steinway Model D
concert grand played in the town council of
Hull in Northeast England, it was easier to hear
both the reverberations of the piano within the
concert hall and its rich, earthy sound, closer
almost to a Bsendorfer than a Steinway. The
sound of the felt hammer hitting the string was
also more articulate. As always, such clarity
may be something of a double-edged sword
recordings provide a lens into music-making
that a concert hall simply will not offer, further
proof, I think, that its very tricky to compare
CDs with live music. But honest to gosh, I
almost swear you can hear the aged quality of
the wood.
The ability of the PowerCell to help disentangle
complicated passages was underscored by a
wonderful piece, W.L. Thompsons Theres A
Great Day Coming [Gala], which is played by six
trumpeters led by the New York Philharmonics
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Philip Smith. There was no suppression of
dynamics; if anything the PowerCell conveyed
a greater sense of authority and body. The
burnished sound of six trumpets popping up
seemingly out of nowhere was quite striking.
In fact, I would say that it was the closest
reproduction of the actual sound of a trumpet
that Ive heard.
But the most striking improvement rendered
by the PowerCell was the ease with which
the music unfolded. The presentation simply
seemed more relaxed and self-assured. On
Angela Hewitts recording of Bachs English
Suites [Hyperion SACD], for example, the
piano simply sounded less constricted and
compressed than it had previously. The
graceful, composed nature of her playing
emerged more fully.
Was the PowerCell, however, blurring
transients? Not to my ear. I can see that not
everyone will gravitate to the PowerCell. If
your system tends to the warm, lush, rich side,
you might not welcome the extra dollop of
plushness that the PowerCell provides. But I
wouldnt consider my overall system, given the
number of tubes in it, on the dry side, even when
using solid-state amplification. To my mind, the
fuller presentation of the PowerCell was more
authentic. Whats more, the PowerCell really
does seem to be non-current-limitingit does
not choke amplifiers, which, generally, are best
run directly into the wall.
Perhaps the performance of the PowerCell
shouldnt be surprising. The blunt fact is that
the electricity flowing into most homes is
pretty wretched. I have gone to some lengths
to try and improve it by, among other things,
installing a dedicated, active grounding rod, as
well as a separate Isoclean breaker box and a
number of dedicated lines running from it. Even

special wall outlets can make an improvement.
But theres always more to be had.
Conditioning makes a lot of sense, but the rub
has always been that it often seems to subtract
as much as it adds. Still, my sense is that its
hard to go too wrong with the PowerCell 10 SE.
It ably improved the performance of a number
of components and is simplicity itself to use.
No doubt conditioners will continue to improve
in coming years, and they seem to represent
something of a black art. But the PowerCell
represents a startling and welcome advance,
suggesting that the inventive mind of Ted
Denney continues to seek new ways to enrich
musical reproduction. It would be too much
to say that the PowerCell 10 SE provides a
romantic presentation, but it may well win your
heart.
SPECS & PRICING

Type: AC power
Price: $9500
conditioner with five

Wave Stabilizer modules
Synergistic
Supplied accessories:
Research, Inc.
Vesuvius II power cord
17401 Armstrong Ave.
with Furutech IEC
Ste. 102
connector and power
Irvine, CA 92614
connector, and Eden
synergisticresearch.com
Sound TerraStones
silvercircleaudio.com
footers
previous page
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Equipment Report
Bakers Dozen
13 Power Cords $500 and Under
Neil Gader
here is no easier improvement to an audio system than upgrading from the original equipment power
cord. Unplug the old, plug in the new, and listen. Its a good reason why this segment of the market
is so competitive and why every cable company wants a piece of the action. And why, in my view,
power cords were crying out for a listening survey. The premise was: Keep it simple. Id use a reasonably
priced, conventional setupan integrated amp and CD playerthats two power cords. Id listen, note the
differences, compare to a reference pair of power cords, and then move on to the next pair. The price cutoff
was established at $500 or lesswhich kept the cost within the realm of a reasonable upgrade. I left it to
the invited manufacturers to send a pair of cords of their choosing within that price range.
Note that this is not a discussion about power-cord
regarding power cords were that, compared with
technology or philosophy. Manufacturer claims about
interconnects and speaker cable, their sonic virtues
the superiority of a given cable geometry or dielectric
were less conspicuous and they did not create the same
are set forth at the companies Web sites for all to read
marked differences in tonal balance. These impressions
and investigate further. This survey only summarizes
held (relatively) true throughout the survey (although
my listening conclusions based upon a single reference
output level was another issue altogether, with various
system. For that reference system, I used the Audio
cables showing some remarkable variations). Mostly,
Research CD-5 compact disc player and the Audio
the different cords tended to reframe the sonic tableau
Research DSi200 amplifier. Both excellent, highby either expanding or contracting the boundaries of
resolution components that, as you will read, reveal any
the soundstage in width, depth, and focus. In essence
systemic differences. The power cord reference was
they tended to speak the same language but with
the $2600 Synergistic Research Tesla Hologram D for
different accents and inflections. The largest single
the digital source and the $1800 Precision AC for the
factor that distinguished one cord from another tended
amp. Im intimately familiar with these cords and theyve
to be immersiveness. Id call it a density factor, an
performed at a high level with the finest of associated
aspect that envelopes the listener in a dimensional
gear. They are the champs at maintaining a seamless
soundstagethe sense of music being reproduced as
curtain of ambient sound across the stage, and their
fully saturated dynamically and tonally. I will reference
combination of pace, delicacy, micro-dynamic nuance,
this factor throughout the survey. In alphabetical order,
and low-level timbral details has always been winning.
lets begin.
Going into this survey my general impressions
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EQUIPMENT rePORT - 13 Power Cords Under $500

Acoustic Zen Tsunami
Audience powerChords
AudioQuest NRG-4
$350
The Tsunami ran smoothly down the middle of this
pack in terms of overall performance and sonic
character. It possessed a modestly lighter balance,
with a forceful midrange that marks it as just a degree
or so cooler in presentation. Its strengths were its
smooth mids and solid soundstage depth and
dimensionality. Its treble range was properly detailed
yet just a bit dry, so that during Jennifer Warnes
Lights of Lousianne there was a small amount of
brightening on the leading edges of the accordion.
I thought it could have been a touch sweeter and
airier on top, but to be fair none of the cords matched
the survey reference in that regard. Bass response
was very good although the Tsunami couldnt quite
reproduce the full extension or resonant timbre of the
talking-drums in Warnes Way Down Deep. And
there was also an aura of micro-dynamic restraint
during violinist Anne-Sophie Mutters reading of
Korngolds Concerto for Violin and Orchestra [DG].
It handled the larger scale of complex symphonic
orchestrations with aplomb and very little image
congestion. While competitive with most of the other
cords, it couldnt quite match the low-level resolving
power of the survey reference, and it gave up just
a shred of transparency and that immersive density
factor to the very best in this survey. Overall and with
only minor subtractions, this was a very satisfying
power cordone that established solid benchmarks
for the rest of the pack.
$482
From note-one it became abundantly clear
that in many ways the Audience was nipping at
the heels of the surveys reference cord. Music
seemed to emerge from a profoundly quiet and
orderly soundstage and to take on a more vivid
presence and ambience. Imbued with a cleanly
defined and deeply dimensional soundstage the
Audience also offered the bass clarity, weight,
and pitch resolution that placed it at or near the
top of the pack. On a track like Rosanne Cashs
God Is In The Roses there was a sense that
the air around images had dissipated somewhat,
but it was still close to the survey reference in
this regard. The feeling of transient speed and
sustain from the guitar during this same track was
enormously satisfying. In fact, except for the slight
treble congestion and somewhat laid-back overall
presentationa trait that I clocked with many of
these cordsthere was little deviation from tonal
neutrality. I found that only a handful of cords
approached the reference in creating black-quiet
backgroundsan element pivotal to revealing
musics micro-dynamic charms. In this area
especially, the Audience was one of the standouts
of the survey.
$350
The AudioQuest NRG-4 was impressive in the workmanlike and honest manner it went about its job.
Modest in appearance, almost electro-retro with its cloth-like jacketing, it was definitively midrange in
balance, like the Tsunami. Its a signature that suffuses a singers voice, male or female, with tangible tonal
richness and physical weight. There was little out of joint here, and only a slightly lighter overall feel tended
to lend it much character at all. The NRG-4 had a delicacy and clarity in the lower half of the treble that
enlivened piano harmonics and brass ensembles. It began to narrow in the upper-reaches of the treble, but
this was a minor subtraction. The NRG-4 had excellent dimensionality with good lateral presentation and an
exceedingly well-focused center soundstage. A sense of modest micro-dynamic compression of the deep
bass seemed to limit its slam, but this subtraction was more than made up for by a sense of speed and
pace that was rhythmically very satisfying. String section layering was smooth and clean, although inner
detail of violin pizzicatos during the Anne-Sophie Mutter Korngold lacked the finer delineation and decay of
the reference. Although it didnt throw a big sonic image, its density factor, soundstaging performance, and
dimensionality were very good, indeed. An excellent all-around performer that sweats the smaller stuff.
AudioQuest NRG-4
Conductor: Solid PSC conductors in a self shielding
counter-spiral with two RF stoppers filters to block radio
frequencies
Price: $350
(949) 585-0111
audioquest.com
Audience powerChords
Conductor: 10 AWG high purity stranded OFC
Insulation: Flexible PVC
Connector: Wattgate IEC and plug
Price: $482 (5ft)
Acoustic Zen Tsunami

Conductor: 10 AWG OCC 6N Zero Crystal Copper
(760) 471-0202
Insulation: CL3 rating PE and two center Teflon tubing with
audience-av.com
air-twisting geometry Teflon tape, copper braided shielding.

Connector: AC plug and IEC plug custom made gold-plated
OCC copper
Price: $350
(858) 487-1988
acousticzen.com
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Harmonic Technology Fantasy
AC10SE
$500
Harmonic Technology has produced a highoutput cable that seems to magically raise the
volume levela trait that was likely emphasized
by
its
forward-leaning,
highly
charged
presentation. Bass response in general was
very tight, perhaps too much so. But, during the
Copland Fanfare, dynamics and transient attack
were nothing short of exhilarating. Although very
smooth and extended in the upper registers,
the Fantasys treble never quite opened up
completely, diminishing air and harmonics with
high-pitched percussion, winds, and strings.
The soundstage also didnt have the expansive
spread of the survey reference so that during the
Anne-Sophie Mutter performance of the SaintSans, the orchestra doesnt have quite the
ambient wingspan that Im use to hearing from
this track. And as explosive as the Fantasy is in
the macro sense, it doesnt throw as much light
into the micro-interiors of the soundstage. Thus
during the North Dakota duet between Lyle
Lovett and Ricki Lee Jones the interplay of their
vocals had softer transient edges and a small
degree of veiling. While other cords may offer
superior low-level refinement, the Fantasy was
explosively musical.
Harmonic Technology Fantasy AC10SE
Furutech Absolute Power I8P
Kimber Kable PK-10AG
Purist Audio Musaeus Praesto
$352
The Absolute Power 18P won high marks and
virtually matched the reference in output. It
always made me consider backing off the volume
a dB or so. Output aside, its general character
was slightly laid-back, almost easy-going to the
point of relaxationa trait I ascribe to a darker
tonal balance and a softening of micro-dynamics.
My only reservation was a reduction of back-tofront dimensionality during Yo Yo Mas 1Aa
characteristic that left soundstage layering just a
bit flat and made the three-dimensional acoustic
of the venue less enveloping. Similarly the spread
across the soundstage for the three instruments
(cello, bass, fiddle) narrowed slightly making it a
little more difficult to follow the interplay of the
musicians. However, its excellent bass and ironfisted control made following acoustic or electric
bass lines and rock rhythm sections a breeze.
During Diane Reeves One for My Baby, I felt
micro-dynamic energy waver and dip a bit in
terms of outright immediacyheard as a modest
shortfall of liveliness and transient impact. And
during some of the more electric passages
from pianist Evgeny Kissins performance of
The Lark, traces of congestion dampened the
pianos notes. A solid performance that still only
lands it midpack in this tough field.
$371
Years ago, Kimber Kables original PK10 Palladian
was a jaw-dropper, with revelatory soundstaging,
dimensionality, and openness. The PK-10AG
picks up where the mean green Palladian
left off but in a more malleable, far less costly
package. And once again, it connected with me.
Dianne Reeves cover of How High The Moon
was reproduced with a very open and detailed
signature. The Kimber nicely captured the weight
and resonance of Reeves full-bodied voice in
much the same way it reproduced the resonant
and throaty timbre of Pieter Wispelweys cello
during Bruchs Kol Nidre. On a track like Holly
Coles Heart of Saturday Night, the Kimber
was an exemplar of the heavy-hitting power
cordhigh output, energy, and dynamics. It
had a rich dense midrange with an emphasis
on soundstage depthnot unlike Kimbers
topflight Palladian, although not as wide-open
on vocals as the survey reference. But for bass
extension and sustain it is deserving of some of
the highest marks in the survey. Thus for rock
music, it provided a rich heavy beat, even slightly
overripe depending on your system, but nicely
detailed and uncompressed. Compared with the
reference there were touches of treble peakiness.
The PK10 offered an open, colorful, high-density
sound that placed it near the top of this survey.
$360
As it turned out the Purist Audio Musaeus Praesto
was the first cord plucked out of its box and
dropped into the deep end of this survey. It set a
standard that was often matched throughout these
listening sessions of transparency and delicacy in
the midrange, with a lighter overall balance and
very good upper-frequency air. At the outset, it
didnt exhibit any tonal balance anomalies, but later
on I did note a slightly subtractive character when
it portrayed Pieter Wispelweys cello during the Kol
Nidre with a little less woody resonance, making the
instrument not quite as darkly mysterious. During
Holly Coles Heart of Saturday Night, there was a
little hint of midrange presence lift, a characteristic
that probably bolstered the impression of enhanced
transient speed (transients seemed to burst forth
from the accompanying guitar and pedal steel).
The Purist didnt seem quite as substantial in
orchestral weight and lacked the dramatic depth
and ambience retrieval of some of the contenders
in this field. Although it didnt quite match the loweroctave bloom and slam of the survey reference
during the Copland Fanfare, this cord won high
marks for low-level resolution, dynamic energy,
and a general lack of congestionattributes that
kept the Purist Audio in the thick of the running.
Purist Audio Musaeus Presto
Conductor: Stranded 14AWG copper OFC
Furutech Absolute Power I8P
Conductor: 6N copper
Conductor: Alpha OCC
Insulation: PE insulation
Insulation: PE with Teflon
Conductor: 10AWG copper/
Shielding: Aluminized foil layer
Connector: Furutech
Connector: Furutech, rhodium-plated
spiral lay or traditional twist
Insulation: Polyvinyl chloride
Price: $500
Price: $352
Insulation: Chroma-free TPE
Connector: Wattgate, screw termination, UL approved
(858) 486-8386
(323) 466-9694
Connector: Wattgate AG connectors, UL approved
Price: $360
harmonictech.com
furutech.com
Price: $370
(979) 265-5114
(801) 621-5530
puristaudiodesign.com
Kimber Kable PK-10AG
Geometry: Twisted
kimber.com
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Shunyata Venom3
$95
If there was a ringer in this field, the Venom was
it, providing much of the density factor and
dimensional qualities of some of the pricier
cords. Only a bit of image definition and focus
escaped it, and only a hint of image constriction
deprived the Venom of the last iota of realism.
Tonally it was a little darker overall but with a
very rich signatureso much so that after much
listening I finally had to concede that there
wasnt a lean bone in the Venoms slithery body.
However, transient attack was a tick slower
and Venom didnt quite have the depth of the
reference. As a result the Venom3 sounded a
bit more forward but its sound also provided an
exciting experience that really lit up the low-level
dynamics during the Rutter Requiem chorale. In
this instance the layering was finely graduated
and the decaying organ pedal points sustained
nicely. Wispelweys cello was wonderfully
resonant while the orchestral sections remained
relatively well focused rather than congealing
together in soup of timbral generalities. As good
as the Venom was, however, I still felt that during
Anne-Sophie Mutters Korngold the cellos and
doublebasses were not quite as well defined
and darkly forbidding in weight. Inner detail was
good if not the final word in refinement. But for
less than a hundred bucks, I had to ask myself, is
Shunyata on a mission to embarrass everyone?
Synergistic Research Precision AC

Basik
$250
The kid brother to the surveys reference, the
Synergistic Precision AC Basik strode through all
genres of music with much of the same panache as
the survey reference. Tonally just a bit cooler than
its Hologram cousin, its strengths were evidenced
in the way it imparted depth to orchestral
sections, its retrieval of ambience, and its lively
and extended bass responsebigger in fact than
that of the Wireworld and Kimber. In many ways
Basik veered very close to the survey reference;
the critical differences lay in the fact that it didnt
sort out inner voices as neatly as the reference,
whose greatest strength is a lack of background
noise, which allowed instruments to materialize
from the authentic acoustic silence of the venue
rather than from an electronic glaze overlaying
the presentation. The Basik was, indeed, quiet,
but like every other cord in this survey couldnt
quite match the reference benchmark. Still, in
every other way there was no denying the family
resemblance of the Precision AC Basikfrom its
penetrating dynamics, to its finer gradations of
low-level detail, to its immersive density factor.
There was just a hint of added sibilance during
Dianne Reeves One For My Baby, but overall
Id have to conclude that, like Shunyata with its
Venom 3, the Synergistic team may well have
outdone itself on the value side with Basik and, at
$250, ended up picking its own pockets.
Wireworld Electra 5.2
$500
Dont be fooled by the plain-Jane, black wrapper
of the Tara Labs RSC (Rectangular Solid Core)
Prime. It may look like a stock OEM power cord
but its performance was superb. Both fluid and
immersive it delivers a big, dense sound in both
timbre and bass definition. Although theres a
good amount of midrange warmth, its character
in the upper octaves was a bit drier and brighter
than the survey reference. Fortunately, it was
largely free of upper-frequency peakiness. On
Mutters violin, the RSCs voicing was smooth
and refined, with one of the sweetest and most
open upper registers in the survey. With its slight
forwardness and quick-footed personality, its
a cord that can do rock or classical. Image or
soundstage congestion was slight even in the
the most complex orchestral passages, but there
were some instances where I felt the immediacy
factor could be bettered. For example, in the
hands of the reference power cord I could follow
in detail the rippling air of Mutters vibrato and
nearly feel the brushes along the drumhead of the
snare during One For My Baby. With the Tara
(and to a degree all of the surveys power cords),
this kind of low-level resolution was difficult to
match. All in all, a power cord with no significant
weakness.
$360
Whatever smarts Wireworld uses to brew its
speaker wire mustve filtered into its power-cord
recipe. Like its elite Platinum and mid-line Eclipse
cabling, Electra has no tonal dips or peaks. The
result is an even and immersive energy that places
this cord up with the best in this survey. In fact, its
powerful dynamic character, and its composure
with thickly layered orchestral material, brought to
mind the Kimber Palladian PK10. Images were not
as widely spread as I would have wished, but no
apologies were needed here either. With a vocalist
like Jennifer Warnes the Wireworld offered a
velvety warmth and weight that grounded the
singers body to the soundstage. However, I found
that in comparison to the survey reference Holly
Coles vocal during Jersey Girl was skewed to
a slightly cooler temperature, and I noted a very
modest veiling on low-level percussion cues. The
widely detailed soundstage was very impressive.
Although there was little congestion per se, the
Wireworld seemed at a slight loss, in comparison
to the survey reference, when it came to sorting
out the full harmonic and imaging complexities
of a high-revving orchestra, but on the whole it
struck a fluid balance of resolution and natural
weight. The Electras flat physical profile made
these power cords among the easiest to handle.
Though the Wireworld didnt quite equal the
preternatural silence and immersiveness of the
survey reference, this is still a cord that struck all
the right notes.
TARA Labs RSC Prime

Conductor: Rectangular solid core conductors
Insulation: TARA Labs proprietary Aero-PE
Shunyata Venom3
Conductor: 12AWG conductors, OFC, twist-link geometry
Tara Labs RSC Prime
Synergistic Research Precision AC Basik
Connector: Wattgate wall plug and IEC
Insulation: TPE dielectric
Conductor: 14 AWG, quantum-tunneled copper, proprietary
Price: $500
Connector: Phosphor bronze contacts, medical-grade AC
geometry, highly shielded
(541) 488-6465
Conductor: Silver-clad copper-alloy contacts
Connector 100% RFI/EMI shielding, UL approved
Insulation: Modified PE
taralabs.com
Insulation: Composilex Connector: Silver-clad brass contacts
Price: $95 (360) 598-9935 shunyata.com
Connector: Synergistic G07, quantum-tunneled

Price: $250
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(949) 476-0000
Wireworld Electra 5.2
Price: $360
(954) 680-3848
wireworldcable.com
synergisticresearch.com
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VooDoo Ultra Wave and Vector
Dragon
$375 and $425
Voodoo specifies the Ultra Wave for analog
power and the Vector Dragon for digital front
ends. Since both were within the surveys price
cap and would likely be offered to customers in
this configuration, we tried both. The Voodoos
were high-output cords with a forward sound
and hint of a darker tonality that placed Pieter
Wispelweys cello nearer the edge of the stage
than in a mid-stage central pocket. In that
vein orchestral layering and soundstage cues
were well defined, but I found the soundstage
a hint narrower and not quite as immersive
or as dimensional as the survey reference.
Occasionally on a track like Jennifer Warnes If It
Be Your Will, bass could sound slightly overripe
and the vocal less rooted, but overall this was a
very well integrated performer with music always
sounding of-a-piece. More impressive was its
reproduction of tracks from Clark Terrys One
On One and the soundtrack to Good Night and
Good Luck where transient energy and speed
are key elements that really pace the percussion
and rhythm sections and impart a realism and
liveliness to this pure acoustic music. The track
Misty produced a gorgeous piano sound that
was both warm and naturalisticdynamic rather
than hard or icy. The VooDoos captured the
players toucha feat that made it a near match
for the survey reference in micro-dynamics. Add
to that a sumptuous low end and the net result
was a visceral performance with many satisfying
qualities.
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VooDoo Cable Ultra Wave

Conductor: 10 AWG silver-plated copper/concentric
geometry
Insulation: Teflon and polyethylene dielectric/polyethylene-
CUSTOM DESIGNED AUDIO CABLES
MORE MUSIC FROM THE GROOVE TO YOU
mesh jacketing
Connector: Wattgate 320i IEC and Hubbell 5266 AC Plug
Price: $375 (510) 535-9464 voodoocable.net
VooDoo Cable Vector Dragon
Conductor: 10 AWG silver-plated copper/helical geometry
Insulation: Teflon and polyethylene dielectric/polyethylenemesh jacketing
BUILT FOR YOUR SYSTEM

PERSONALIZED FOR YOU
Connector: Wattgate 320i IEC and Hubbell 5266 AC plug

Price: $425
(510) 535-9464
voodoocable.net
Conclusion
My view is that power cords serve
the system in much the way speaker
cables and interconnects doby honing
and polishing areas of resolution that
the owner considers a little soft, dull,
sharp, or rough around the edges.
That said, in terms of straight-line
performance, clearly this was a tightly
grouped collectiontighter even than
my descriptions allowed. As alluring
as it is to anoint a single Best in a
survey, when it comes to wires so much
is dependent on their synergy with
associated system components that
these impressions will better serve
you as a guide to narrowing down your
choices to a select two or three for
audition. After that, your own ears wont
lead you wrong.
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HAND-CRAFTED IN LOS ANGELES

PERSONAL AUDIO CABLES
PHONO, INTERCONNECT, DIGITAL,
USB, SPEAKER & POWER CABLES
POWER DISTRIBUTOR
Professional and customer reviews
available at www.wywires.com
info@wywires.com
818.981.4706
Three Power Cord Upgrades

Dynamic Design, Voodoo Cable, and Audience
Neil Gader
hether power cords represent the

most important component in a
high-end system, or the least, or
even qualify as a component at all is an
argument for another day. Controversies
aside, power cords are a necessity and,
technically, the first piece of gear that the
system sees. For this article I listened to
mid/upper-priced power cords from three top
players in the field. All represent a serious
upgrade over stock cords and a significant
expenditure to boot. Each in its own way
suggests that when the AC flows freely and
cleanly, and aggressive isolation technology
is used to thwart EMI/RFI, the rest of the
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chain clearly benefits. Audience, Voodoo

Cable, and Dynamic Design each supplied
a pair of power cords. Dynamic Design and
Voodoo Cable provided products specified
for high power and source applications, while
Audience opted for identical power cords.
Let me state at the outset that there wasnt
an ounce of dead weight among these entrants.
Each presented a solid step up in resolution over
stock cords and in some areas were threats to
my reference power cords, like the Synergistic
Research Hologram A. Ultimately patterns
begin to emerge. The three contenders share a
fine resolution of dynamic gradients that adds
liveliness to the presentation; yet each accents
music in unique and subtle ways, not as an EQ

switch but by adding its own body English to
the presentation, particularly in the area of lowlevel integrity and focusthe micro-aspects
of music reproduction with an emphasis on
dimensional space and depth information, such
as the layering of string players in an orchestra
for example. The recordings I used ranged
from pop titles like Holly Coles Temptation to
Reference Recordings of the Rutter Requiem,
Elgars Enigma Variations, and VaughanWilliams The Wasps, MA Recordings Sera Una
Noche, especially the track Nublado, and the
vinyl ORG reissue of Ricki Lee Jones Pop Pop,
particularly the cut Ill be Seeing You."
Dynamic Design AE15 Lotus and Challenger

Dynamic Design AV is a Chicago-based cable
company that currently offers three levels
of power-cord products, the entry-level
Lotus series, mid-level Heritage series, and
the flagship Nebula series. Commemorating
its 15th Anniversary are the AE15 Lotus
Analog power cord for analog components
like amplifiers, and the Heritage Series AE15
Challenger Digital power cord for low-power
or source components. Dynamic Design uses a
variety of proprietary shielding technologies to
improve isolation from EMI/RFI, and maximize
conductivity. The Challenger, for example, uses
Multi Layer Insulation System (MLIS) and or
Unitized Multi Layer Shielding (UMLS) to lower
the noise floor, reduce cross talk, and increase
dynamics. Dynamic Designs Challenger also
includes a battery-powered shielding circuit to
reduce coupling capacitance and isolate system
noise from the system ground.
The Lotus and Challenger combo exhibited an
openness, a harmonic ease, and lack of tension
that effectively permitted them to disappear
from the soundspace as convincingly as the
reference. Their character is neutral-to-warm.
Without losing any speed or attack, solo piano
seemed to relax a bit and bloom harmonically.
Lotus and Challenger tended to round off the
more aggressive elements of string sound in
some recordings. During The Wasps overture,
they reproduced the brass section in all its airy
intensity from the transient bite emanating
from the mouthpiece of each trombone to
the golden bloom shimmering outward from
instruments bell. They captured textural
information that grounds images to the
stage with superior focus and without the
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EQUIPMENT review - Three Power Cord Upgrades

disadvantage of added etch or brittleness.
It doesnt take much to smudge the gently
brushed snare and the sax and bass lines
during Ill Be Seeing You, but the DD cords
mastered this challenge with ease. Ricki Lee
Jones vocal on this track had a slightly darker,
richer sound consistent with these cords easygoing, open treble. Similarly backgrounds were
church-mouse quiet, allowing rich, dense tonal
color to emerge from dark velvet silences.
The Nublado track from MA Recordings
conveyed layers of depth and dimension that
bordered on the holographic, providing plenty
of elbow room for discrete image elements to
breathelike the snap and trailing resonances
of the classical guitar, the buttery bandaleon,
and fast percussion stabs from the other
accompanists. The DD seemed to offer thicker,
heavier bass as well as a nice combination of
punch and refinementimpressive but slower
as well.
But Lotus and Challengers biggest calling
cards were the high levels of bloom and
reverberant information they conveyed.
During Holly Coles Train the slowly decaying
vibrations off the kettle drum that punctuate
the end of each verse really shifted the air.
There was a sense of drumhead movement and
reverberation not altogether present with other
cords. (Its a terrific reference trackespecially
on LPthat presents a potpourri of percussion
details and textures from the ring of a triangle
to sandpapery wood blocks, all convincingly
rendered with good vocal air and articulation.)
During the Rutter Requiem the DD system
conjured up a rich and inviting soundspace with
powerful low-frequency information. Its ability
to reproduce dimensional depth bordered

on the exceptional. And again, on this disc I
found its character skewing ever so slightly to
the darker, wetter side of the tonal spectrum.
You can hear it as the pedal points of the pipe
organ charge the space with reverberation.
Vocally there was a bit more definition between
the mezzo-soprano and the ambient environs
of the auditorium. The DD systems low-level
resolution allowed me to hear her rolled
r sound when she pronounced the word
requiem. Once again Lotus and Challenger
demonstrated a bolder, slightly more forward
sound that physicalizes images and sculpts
their boundaries.
Conclusion: Hints of warmth and superb bass
extension ably underscore the effortless bloom
and roomy soundstage performance of this
power cord.
Voodoo Cable Black Diamond and Electra
The Voodoo Cable Electra and Black Diamond
occupy the midpoint in an extensive line of
power cords. Black Diamond is recommended
for solid-state and tube power amps, whereas
Electra is suggested for source components
and preamps. Voodoo reports that the
primary difference between the two is tonal
balance and harmonic resolution. It states
that while the Black Diamond offers a clean
dead neutral tonal balance, the Electra offers
higher harmonic resolution that reveals subtle
musical detail and micro-dynamics.
The winding of Black Diamond is an #8 AWG
concentric lay of twelve discrete conductors
made of solid-core silver, solid-core copper,
and stranded silver-plated copper, all hand-
threaded and wound in Teflon dielectric.

Electras winding is similar to the Black
Diamond, but with the addition of hand-wound
copper and silver Litz conductors in a heaviergauge Teflon dielectric for lower noise and
increased harmonic resolution. Both power
cords are shielded with heavy-gauge copper
braid and terminated with rhodium-plated
tellurium-copper IEC and AC connectors. All
the conductive materials and components have
been treated in Voodoos Cold Fusion cryogenic
systemboth vapor and deep-immersion
cryogenic processes, depending on the part
or alloy to be treated. The process is said to
structurally align and fuse the molecular bonds
of the conductive alloys for significantly less
resistance, leading to improved performance.
The Voodoo combo conveys a more midrangy
character, with good extension at the frequency
extremes, a drier top but with an emphasis on
the wider acoustic environment of the venue
rather than specific and isolated images. To
my ear this is often the way real music sounds.
Certainly image definition and focus is very
good, just not overly individuateda trait I
noted during the Ricki Lee Jones track Ill
Be Seeing You where the clarinet, classical
guitar, and acoustic bass seemed bathed in
a warmer, more diffuse ambient atmosphere.
In the case of orchestral music, the musicians
assume positions on stage but dont so much
stand apart from the orchestra as become fully
integrated within it and the ambient space that
surrounds the performers.
Low-level detailing and transient textures
were very persuasive. So much so that during
the Nublado track the Voodoo tandem
captured the low-level cymbal cues without

smearing the finely grained metallic timbre
of the instrument. Plus the delicate bell cues
that ring forth at the four-minute mark were
startlingly clean and sustained. During Holly
Coles cover of I Can See Clearly the Voodoo
pair reproduced the punch and rhythmic pace
of the opening bass vamp with assurance, and
Coles torchy delivery had all the texture and
come-hither nuance Ive come to expect from
this track.
In soundstaging, these cords reproduced the
lush ambient space and immersive qualities
of the Rutter Requiem although, again, they
didnt quite illuminate individual choristers
quite as clearly as the reference. As an aside,
and in light of its strong performance driving
the Parasound JC 3+ phonostage (review this
issue), I found the Electra the more musically
open and revealing power cord of the two that
SPECS & PRICING

DYNAMIC DESIGN
VOODOOCABLE
CORP.
(510) 535-9464
(872) 216-0530
voodoocable.net
dynamicdesignav.com
Price: Black Diamond,
Price: AE15 Lotus Analog
$1100/6ft; Electra,
power cord, $1200/1.5m;
$1500/6ft
AE15 Challenger Digital

power cord, $3500/1.5m
AUDIENCE
(760) 471-0202
audience-av.com
Price: Au24 SE
powerChord, $2420/6ft
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EQUIPMENT review - Three Power Cord Upgrades

Voodoo supplied.
Conclusion: Balanced and immersive bigbuck performance for half the price of the Big
Boys.
Audience Au24 SE powerChord
The original Audience Au24 power cords
have been a part of my reference systems
for sometime now, but Audience recently
introduced an upgraded SE line that offers
improved rhodium-plated copper plugs and IEC
connectors, higher-quality metallurgy, lower
mass, and improved terminations. The Audience
SE is a low DC resistance, low-impedance
design that uses multi-strand conductors of
high-purity mono-crystal copper. Jacketing is
quite flexible, which will be welcome to anyone
who has wrestled with the implacably stiff
stuff. Note: Existing Audience Au24 cords are
upgradable to SE status for $275.
The signature of the Au24 is sophisticated
complex, controlled, detailed, with a neutralto-cool character. The Audience established
the widest, cleanest soundspace, broadening
the proscenium to the boundaries of the
loudspeakers and inflating the ambience of
immersive acoustic recordings like the Elgar
and the Rutter with flurries of soft air and topend extension. Most markedly, Au24 SE has a
light, delicate touch, an insiders touch, that
illuminates transient and low-level information
like few power cords Ive encountered. Music
seems to emerge from a quieter space and
exhibit wider dynamic contrasts. During the
intro to the Ricki Lee Jones, for example, the
Audience brought out the very articulate and
agile acoustic bass and the organic snap and
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string rattle from the classical guitar. But this

higher resolution came at the cost of some of
the bloom of the Dynamic Design.
The bandaleon theme during the Nublado
was the most specifically focused in
soundspace of all three contenders, though
the Audience also held tight to the reverberant
information from the menagerie of other
regional instruments. Layering and dynamic
contrasts and tonal-color rendering were
excellent. During the finale of The Wasps the
timbral and harmonic intricacies of the flute
line dancing around the accompanying harp
motif were riveting in their pastoral beauty and
articulation.
The Audiences portrayal of Rutters Lux
Aeterna track was impressive in the energy it
gathered from the large mens and womens
chorus and the weight of the pipe organ
expanding and contracting in the immense
acoustic space. The Audience made it a breeze
to picture the soaring height and scale of the
auditorium, and the diminished size of the
musicians within it. Its a terrifically balanced
power cord. Some cords, the Dynamic Design
for one, will nose it out in ultimate bass
extension, but not a cord surpasses its pitch
precision or its charms when it comes to
illuminating dimensional space.
Conclusion: Well balanced, and a knack for
detail spells reference-level sonics that reveal
the entire musical picture.
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Equipment reviews
Accessories
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Klaudio KD-CLNLP200 Ultrasonic Vinyl

Record Cleaner
Ne Plus Ultrasonic
Andre Jennings
ecord care has been part of the vinyl experience from

the dawn of the LP. Over the years the process has
evolved from a simple wipe of an anti-static cloth
or a squirt from a dust blower to an all-out-assault on
uncleanliness via record-cleaning machines equipped with
vacuum pumps, rotating platters, cleaning brushes, and
single-to-multistep fluid-dispensers.
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Recently, a few of the latest commercial units have

added a new wrinkle: the use of ultrasonic transducers to
scrub the record grooves the way printed circuit boards or
surgical instruments are cleaned after sterilizationthrough
cavitation in a cleaning bath. Cavitation bubbles are the
result of the high-frequency pressure waves generated by
ultrasonic transducers agitating the liquid inside cleaning
machines. Not only does the agitation produce these tiny
cavitation bubbles, but it also pushes them into the nooks
and crannies of the groove walls and valleys of our records.
The force exerted on the vinyl by this cavitation bubbleaction dislodges and removes dirt and debris that standard
cleaning brushes just cant reach.
In May 2013, Klaudio (based in Auburn, Washington)
introduced its own version of an ultrasonic record-cleaning
machine, the KD-CLN-LP200. What is unique about the
Klaudio unit is that it uses ultrasonic cleaning exclusively (no
brushes), is fully automated, and, perhaps most importantly,
requires no special cleaning fluids. The unit only needs
distilled water to work its magic.
The KD-CLN-LP200 Ultrasonic Vinyl Record cleaner
arrives wrapped in clear plastic, surrounded on all sides by
approximately two inches of dense, closed-cell-foam inserts
precisely cut to neatly fit into the triple-walled shipping box.
Included with the unit are a user manual, marketing/feature
brochure, treated fabric dust cover, rubber funnel (more on
this later), PVC drain hose, and AC power cable.
If you follow the user manual, setup is pretty
straightforward. After setting the unit on a level surface in its
final location, use the supplied funnel to slowly add 2.5 liters
(0.66 gallons) of distilled water through the fill port on the
top of the machine. (The use of the supplied funnel prevents
you from too rapidly filling the wash chamber and creating
an overflow condition that could potentially damage the
internal electronics. In other words, be cautious when filling
the reservoir with distilled water, and avoid the temptation to
use a larger funnel to fill the Klaudio more quickly, or you may
be asking for trouble.)
Once the unit has been filled so the water line is between
the Min and Max fill-level in the reservoir window on the front
panel, this part of the set-up process is done. The next step
is connecting the power cable and turning the unit on. After
that, all thats left to do is to select washing and drying times.
There are three controls on the Klaudio: a rotary switch for
wash time (which can be set from 15 minutes), a rotary switch
for dry time (24 minutes), and a toggle switch to select a
wash & dry or dry only cycle. Ease of use and operation
is where the KD-CLN-LP200 has the biggest advantage over
any other cleaning method Ive used in the past. The cleaning
cycle goes like this: Put the record in the top-loading slot;
the cleaning starts; in 39 minutes (depending on the wash
& dry settings) the green completed LED illuminates; and
you are done.
After spending some time with the Klaudio, Ive settled on
a 4-minute wash cycle for most of my new and used records,
with an occasional 12 minute rewash on a few newer LPs. A
2-minute drying time has worked for nearly all of the records
Ive cleaned so far. If the record needs more drying, set the
toggle switch to the dry only mode and reinsert the LP to
start an additional rotary-switch-selected dry cycle. (A nice
undocumented feature is that if a record requires additional
dry time and you notice this before removing the LP from the
unit, after the full wash & dry cycle is complete a simple
flick of the toggle switch to the dry only cycle will restart
the previously selected drying cycle without any need to
remove the record from the unit.)
What is going on inside the KD-CLN-LP200? Inserting a
record into the top loading slot triggers a lever switch; the
priming pump fills the stainless steel wash chamber while the
record is supportedhalf-submerged in the bath (below the
label area)on four internal rollers, three of which are beltdriven to rotate the record. When the wash chamber fills, the
priming pump continues to run, circulating water to maintain
the proper level, and the four 50-watt 40kHz ultrasonic
transducers (two horizontally placed per side) start the
cleaning cycle for the selected wash time. On my review
unit, the record appears to complete approximately seven
rotations every two minutes. The display panel shows current
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EQUIPMENT review - Klaudio KD-CLN-LP200

status and washing progress. (The amount
of record wetting during the unsubmerged
rotation of the cleaning process can vary from
barely damp to what I call juicy. This wetting
difference appears to be related to different
vinyl formulations. In no case has water made
its way on to the record label.)
Once the wash cycle is complete, the priming
pump stops, the water drains from the wash
chamber and the drying cycle begins. During the
drying cycle, two centrifugal-type, air-blower
fans dry the record surface while the display
panel shows drying progress. Once the dry cycle
is complete, the Klaudio beeps twice when the
completed LED illuminates and flashes green
until the record is removed.
The Klaudio accepts only full-sized records
in the range of 11.6512", according to the user
manual. Every one of my 12" LPs worked in the
unit, including a few warped ones, without any
problems. However, recognizing that there are
KD-CLN-LP200 users with a need to clean 7"
45-rpm and 10" 33/78-rpm records, Klaudio
has recently introduced two adapters that
allow these smaller records to be cleaned in the
Ultrasonic cleaner.
The four 50-watt ultrasonic transducers tend
to generate some heat that increases the bath
temperature during repeated cleaning cycles.
During my testing of up to 21 continuous 4-minute
wash-time cleaning cycles, the temperature of
the water bath in the wash chamber increased
slowly in a linear fashion with each consecutive
cleaning cycle, from a room temperature of 72
degrees to upwards of 100 degrees Fahrenheit
for the last record in the batch. I first took note
of this when I observed an LP going through
what I would call a yoga exerciseor flexing

during the heated wash cycle, only to return
to being perfectly flat during the dry cycle. It
should be noted that the record never stopped
rotating or got stuck or suffered any damage I
could discern. When I observed this occurrence,
I started measuring the record temperature as
it emerged from submersion during the wash
cycle. What I noticed was that as the water
temperature increased with continuous use, the
submerged surface of the record would follow
suit. This heated water created a temporary
thermal imbalance (via thermal expansion of
the submerged grooved area) between the
outside of the record and the inner label area,
which caused this temporary flexing of the vinyl.
This thermal exercise, in my estimation, may
increase the cleaning benefit since the record
temporarily flexes under the temperature
imbalance during ultrasonic cleaning, helping
the cavitation process with debris removal. In
short, if you see a record in the cleaner begin
this little yoga exercise, dont panic. Things
will return to normal during the dry cycle.
Besides its ease of use, the Klaudio cleans
records deep in the grooves better than any unit
Ive observed to date. Ive viewed the beforeand-after images of cleaning results under
400x magnification with my own records. This
has been with lightly dusty records and also
with used records that are pretty filthy. In both
cases, the resulting images showed groove
walls and valleys that were much cleaner than
before. Ive also tried putting some fresh oily
fingerprints on test records; they were also,
somewhat surprisingly given there is nothing
but distilled water in the unit, removed by the
ultrasonic cleaner.
Subjectively, Klaudio-cleaned record tend to
show across-the-board sonic improvements,
most notably in the perceived depth of recording
venues, the clarity of images and surrounding
areas, and more natural tone, density, and
texture on instruments. One example would
be Duke Ellingtons Jazz Party In Stereo. The
opening track on this record, Malletoba Spank,
is a horn and percussion festival of dynamic
delight. After I ultrasonically cleaned the disc,
the impact, tone, and decay of every percussion
instrument had greater clarity and less haze,
and the horn section went from a moderate wave
of occasionally aggressive sound to a full set of
instruments with greater resolution of individual
players than Id heard before. On this opening
track, the percussion instruments closely
followed by the horns are the stars of the show,
but whats interesting is that I could also more
clearly follow Jimmy Woodes bass rhythmically
plucking along, providing a solid foundation
in the center background. Additionally, Sam
Woodyards stick work on the cymbals was much
clearer after Klaudio ultrasonic cleaning, to the
point of having increased noticeably throughout
the entire performance, even though the drum
kit is deep in the background on the right side
of the stage. The Klaudio ultrasonic cleaning
took this particular track on the Classic Records
reissue from moderately enjoyable to clean,
clear, and very near to great sounding. On the
other end of the musical spectrum, large-scale
classical recordings gained an abundance of
depth and recording-venue expansion from
Klaudio ultrasonic cleaning. I want to point out
that this isnt the type of effect, similar to a
speaker positioning change, where the entire

soundstage takes a wholesale step backwards.
This ultrasonic cleaning keeps instruments
where they were, but allows the recording
venues full expanse and reverberant clarity to
be heard more clearly.
Value is always something of a personal
choice, but for me this unit has proven to be
an unflagging asset in the enjoyment of vinyl
playback. Of course, there are many factors to
consider when purchasing something like the
Klaudio ultrasonic unit. Some of you may have a
backlog of records numbering in the thousands
that are in need of a good cleaning. Others may
have come to the conclusion, long ago, that it
is highly unlikely they are going to perform
a multi-minute, multi-step cleaning exercise
for each side of their LPs. To them, let me
just say that as the quality of analog playback
continues to advance it may be that the level
of sonic engagement conveyed by Klaudios
ultrasonically-cleaned records will become
increasingly difficult to do without, even if you
hate the time spent washing and drying your
vinyl.
SPECS & PRICING

Type: Ultrasonic record
2840 W Valley Hwy N
cleaner
Auburn, WA 98001
Dimensions: 7.12" x
(253)249-7813
11.65" x 17.12"
klaudio.com
Weight: 45 lbs.
info@klaudio.com
Price: $3999
KLAUDIO
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AURALiC Gemini 2000

Headphone Dock
Lifestyle Meets Audiophile
Steven Stone
t used to be so simpleall you

needed was a turntable, preamp,
power amplifier, some zip cord, and
a pair of speakers and you had a stereo
system. But then came digital gear
and DACs, followed by computers and
music files, and finally all manner of
category-busting stuff that combines
multiple functions and capabilities. The
Auralic Gemini 2000 is one of the new
generation of components that includes
several functions normally handled by
separate components. It can serve as a
headphone stand, headphone amplifier,
multiple-input DAC, smartcard reader,
portable phone-charger, and Android
phone player, as well as a preamp to
drive your power amplifier. (Although,
this last function is not part of the
official features list.)
AURALiC, whose products are all the
brainchildren of Xuanquin Wang, has burst onto
the U.S. audio scene with its Vega DAC, Taurus
preamp, and Merek power amplifiers. The
Gemini 1000 and 2000 headphone docks are
a departure from previous offerings because
they were created to be lifestyle products
that appeal to younger, mobile, entry-level,
high-performance audio consumers. Thats
not to say that a grizzled old audiophile like
me couldnt find plenty of reasons to like the
Gemini 2000.
The Tech Tour
There is no way you can mistake the AURALiC
Gemini headphone dock for anything else.
It has a unique shape, courtesy of Klutz
Design (seriously). AURALiC adapted Klutz
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Designs original CANCANs headphone stand

to accommodate AURALiCs electronics; and
what electronics they are!
Shoehorned into a tight space is what
AURALiC describes as a cutting-edge
decoding computer that employs electronics
trickled down from AURALiCs Vega digitalaudio processor.
On AURALiCs Web site you will find an
excellent picture of the electronics inside the
base of the Gemini. Among the technological
features are switching and linear power
supplies that are regulated for the lowest noise
levels possible. The volume control is in the
analog domain, and instead of being labeled
volume, reads niceness. The Gemini 2000
has a discrete Class A (that means 75% of
its energy is generated as heat) balanced
headphone amplification circuit capable of
producing 2000mW with less than 0.001%
distortion at full power output. The most
important specification difference between the
$1199 Gemini 1000 and the $1995 Gemini 2000
is this balanced output. The Gemini 1000 uses
an unbalanced output circuit that doesnt have
as much power, but it still supports headphones
with 4-pin balanced XLR connections. Also the
Gemini 1000 has only a titanium-grey finish
option instead of chrome or gold.
The Gemini supports all current formats up
to 384/24 bit-rates including WAV, ALAC, AIFF,
DSD64, DSD128, and DXD via its three inputs
USB 2.0, Phone (USB A), and Audio (TosLink)
connections. The Gemini lacks one input that
some prospective users may have wanted
to see: S/PDIF. But according to AURALiCs
specifications, the TosLink input will support
up to 192/24 bit-rates.
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EQUIPMENT review - AURALiC Gemini 2000

Setup and Ergonomics
Installing the AURALiC Gemini in my computer
audio system was as simple as connecting
a USB cable between my computer and the
Gemini. With Macs you dont need to download
a dedicated driver, but with PCs you will need
to go to AURALiCs site to get the latest drivers
before hooking up the unit. Once connected,
my Mac recognized the Gemini immediately.
When I looked in the MIDI Control panel I saw
that it was capable of 384/24, as advertised.
All the controls are on the base of the Gemini.
It has two pushbuttons the first for on/off and
the second for choosing the input source. The
only other control on the Gemini is the rotary
volume adjustment. Small LEDs indicate the
overall volume level and the input source. The
base also has space on its backside for the three
input connections, an SD card slot, and power
connections. The included SD card reader is
only a card reader; by this I mean that it will
read SD cards only if the Gemini is connected
to a computer. The card reader does not turn
the Gemini into a stand-alone digital player
for music on SD cards. But when the Gemini is
connected to a computer any music files that
are on the SD card in the Geminis card reader
will be available for playback by your computers
music playback software.
Since the Geminis analog circuitry is based
around a Class A amplifier and has over fivehundred individual components situated on
a platform no larger than a human hand, it
generates a lot of heat during operation. The
Geminis base was designed to serve as its
primary heat sink. After a couple of hours
of operation the base can get quite hot.
And not only does the base get hot, but the
volume knob, which is metal, gets to the same
temperature as the base itself. I guarantee
you wont be spending much time fondling the
Geminis volume control after the first halfhour of operation.
To protect itself from excessive heat buildup
the Gemini has a protection circuit that turns
the unit off after more than ten minutes with
no signal. If you have an SD card in the SD slot
when the Gemini turns itself off, your Mac will
generate an error message, reminding you that
a USB device was disconnected incorrectly
without unmounting it first. You can, by holding
down both the volume and source controls
on start-up, disable this turn-off feature so
the Gemini will stay on after ten minutes of
inactivity. Another advantage of disabling
the auto turn-off is that when you disconnect
a 1/4" stereo headphone the Gemini will not
turn itself off. This does not happen when you
disconnect headphones from the balanced
4-pin XLR output.
One ergonomic difference between the
Gemini 1000 and Gemini 2000 is the way the
two units handle balanced and unbalanced
headphones. With the Gemini 1000 you can
have headphones connected to both the
single-ended 1/4" stereo and the 4-pin XLR
connections, and they will be simultaneously
active so you can drive two headphones at
once. With the Gemini 2000, when you plug
in a single-ended 1/4" stereo headphone the
4-pin XLR output is muted. This is due to the
Gemini 2000s balanced circuitry. Also, when
a balanced connection headphone is already
attached to the Gemini and you connect an
unbalanced pair, the headphones connected to

the 4-pin balanced connection will emit a fairly
loud click before going silent.
If your personal workflow involves heavy
use of smartcards you may be thinking that
the Geminis smartcard reader could see a lot
of use in your system. I must warn you that,
unless you have very slim fingers, removing the
card from the Gemini can be difficult. I ended
up keeping a pair of tweezers on my desk to
make the job do-able. Also the location of
the reader slot is not terribly convenientyou
may find that its far too easy to jostle or even
disconnect one of the other connections on
the back of the Gemini while trying to remove
a card.
I used the Gemini 2000 with a wide variety of
headphones, from the hyper-efficient Westone
ES-5 custom in-ear monitors to the leastefficient and most power-hungry headphones
in my stable, the Beyer Dynamic DT990 600ohm version and the Audeze LCD-2 Bamboos.
With the Westones the AURALiC did add a
slight amount of hiss to the background, but
it had more than enough juice to drive the DT990s and LCD-2s to well above my high-volume
comfort zone without any issues, even on my
own live recordings which typically have lower
volume than commercial releases.
As a headphone stand the Gemini does a fine
job. Its heavy enough that no matter how much
your headphones weigh it wont be top-heavy
when loaded down. The two chrome posts on
the opposite side of the balanced 4-pin XLR
connection were created so you can wrap
excess cable around them. Some cables, such
as the aftermarket Cardas Cable on a pair of
Audeze LCD-2, are a bit stiff to go around the

posts easily, but most cables excess lengths
coiled neatly around the posts.
Sound
The Auralic Gemini 2000 is a combination of
several devices, each of which has an effect
on its overall sound. But since these devicesa
USB converter, DAC, and headphone amplifier
must be used together, they can only be
evaluated as an integrated unit. Sure, you can
use the Gemini as a DAC/preamp if you invest in
some adapters and interconnect, and I did try
using it this way. But the Gemini was designed
principally to be a one-component solution for
SPECS & PRICING

Frequency response:
Supported digital
20Hz20kHz, +/- 0.1dB
formats: All PCM from
Dynamic range: 124dB
44.1kS/s to 384kS/s
Output power: Class A
in 32-bit, DSD64
2000mW maximum
(2.8224MHz) and
Audio inputs: One
DSD128 (5.6448MHz)
optical TosLink, one
Dimensions: 14cm x
USB host for Android
29cm x 14cm
device, one USB 2.0 in
Weight: 2.8 kg
asynchronous mode
Price: $1995
Data interface: One

SDXC card reader,
AURALIC NORTH
support up to 2TB
AMERICA INC.
Headphone outputs: One
12208 NE 104th Street
balanced 4-pin XLR, one
Vancouver, WA 98682
6.35mm stereo phone
(360) 326-8879
jack
auralic.com
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digital-source headphone listening, so that was the way I used it
a majority of the time.
Obviously the primary reason for using a dedicated device
such as the Gemini instead of the headphones output on your
computer is for better sound quality, and the Gemini certainly
delivered on that promise. Even with relatively easy-to-drive
headphones such as the Oppo PM-1, the Gemini 2000 produced
greater dynamic contrasts and a larger soundstage than any
of my Macs headphone outputs could. But the Gemini not only
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has a beefier and more music-friendly headphone amplifier, it

also has more sophisticated DAC and digital circuitry than what
youll find built into a general-purpose computer. The Sony
VAIO is the only off-the-shelf computer that supports DSD and
DXD playback via its internal sound card, so if you want to play
back DSD in native format, you are going to need some kind of
external USB DAC, such as the Gemini, to do it.
I used a variety of sources to evaluate the Gemini, including
streaming sources, Internet radio, CDs, and higher-resolution
music files up to and including 128x DSD and 192/24 WAV files.
In every case the Gemini had no issues decoding and playing
files, but it did generate a tick when I switched from DSD to WAV,
or AIFF files, when using the Audirvana Plus app.
With the highest resolution recordings in my library I was
impressed by the AURALiCs ability to render the music in such a
clear and unconfusing way. Some headphone DACs can generate
a rich harmonic palette, but at the expense of inner details
and added intermodulation distortion. The Gemini presented
music in a way that made it easy to listen deep into the mix,
but without any reduction of harmonic complexity. The highest
compliment I can pay to the Gemini is that it never produced
even the slightest hint of a pervasive subtractive or additive
personality in its overall sonic picture that detracted from a
recordings original fidelity.
Just like a conventional power amplifier, a headphone amplifier
is only half of an amplifier/speaker system. And just as with
loudspeakers, the combination of the two parts, speaker and
amplifier, should ideally form a synergistic whole. This synergy,
or lack of it, between amplifier and transducer form the basis
of much of the overall sonic personality of a system. And while
I was not able to assemble any combination of Gemini 2000
and headphones that sounded even remotely sub-par, some
headphones did prove to be especially good pairings with the
Gemini 2000.
Ive owned a pair of Grado RS-1 headphones ever since Joe
Grado sent me a pair over fifteen years ago. Ive gone through
three sets of foam ear-cups, and in all that time, listening to
more headphone amplifiers than I can remember, Ive never

heard them sound better than when connected to the Gemini
2000. I should mention that I was driving them in balanced
mode, thanks in large part to an adapter made by Drew Baird of
Moon Audio.
With many headphone amplifiers the Grado RS-1 can sound
midrange-centriclacking in bass drive and top-end air. Coupled
to the Gemini 2000 the RS-1s had some serious bass extension.
The Grados also had a larger and more precisely located
soundstage than Id heard before. I also noticed more upperfrequency extension and air around every instrument. If you are
a Grado guy or gal and want to hear your RS-1s at their best, you
really need to hear the Gemini/Grado combination.
The Audeze LCD-2 also proved to be an excellent combination
with the Gemini 2000. The soundstage was especially large
(which is something the LCD-2s usually do well) and within that
space the physical location and size of each instrument came
through with a level of specificity and detail that Ive rarely
experienced. To say the sound from the LCD-2/Gemini combo
was seductive is an understatement. Only the pressure on the
sides of my head from the LCD-2s rather forceful headband after
three-plus hours of listening made me take breaks; otherwise I
could remain tethered to this combo for days.
Most headphone mavens respect but dont actually enjoy
listening to AKG K-701 headphones. The expression dry as
a desert definitely applies to these rather matter-of-factsounding headphones when attached to most headphone
amplifiers. And while I cant tell you that the Gemini turned the
AKGs cold, dry personality into warm and inviting, the Gemini
did make the K-701s sound far more musical and involving than
other pairings Ive tried. The Gemini didnt warm up the K-701s
bass, but instead gave the midrange a more natural and less
hard and splitchy character. And while I wouldnt be so foolish
as to recommend getting the Gemini solely for the purpose of
driving a pair of K-701s, if you have a pair of K-701s that youve
never enjoyed much, the Gemini 2000 could change all that.
The Oppo PM-1 headphones were specifically engineered to
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be efficient and sufficiently sensitive that they
would not need to be coupled to a beefy highperformance headphone amplifier to sound
their best. But even the PM-1 headphones
garnered some additional fidelity and finesse
when attached to the Gemini 2000. The
soundstage was noticeably larger than what I
heard through my iPod touch, Macbook Pro, or
even the Astell&Kern AK100 (original version).
The Gemini also propelled the PM-1s stellar
imaging and low-level detail to a higher level
than Ive heard with any portable device, so far.
At the end of the review period I set up an
A/B test to compare the Gemini 2000s singleended output with that of the Resonessence
Labs Herus portable DAC/headphone amplifier
(one of my 2014 Golden Ear Award winners).
The signal from the single-ended headphone
outputs was connected to an adapter that
transformed the 1/4" stereo connection to a
pair of single-ended RCA female connectors.
Then a 1m length of cable connected the
adapter to an input on a Wyred 4 Sound mPre,
which was connected to a pair of Wyred4Sound
mAMPs driving Audience Clair Audient 1+1
speakers. After matching gain levels via a 1kHz
test tone from the AudioTest app I was ready
for some rapid/switch A/B comparisons.
After several hours of A/B comparisons I had
to conclude that in this setup the differences in
sound between the Gemini and the Herus were
so slight that I reliably heard an improvement
in image specificity and low-level detail through
the Gemini only when I used my own highresolution live recordings. With the commercial
releases the differences were not obvious
enough for me to tell which DAC was which. I
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suspect the differences between the two DACs

would be more pronounced if there hadnt
been additional adapters, an additional volume
control (on the mPRE), and the additional
meter length of cable in the system.
Conclusion
The question of whether a component is a
great value or not is often a case of personal
rather than universal financial considerations.
Obviously some readers will consider a $2000
DAC/headphone amplifier to be well beyond
the price range of what they personally
consider a high-value proposition. But for some
audiophiles the Gemini 2000s combination of
features, capabilities, and high performance
will be exactly what theyve been looking for,
at a price that is quite reasonable when you
consider the cost of a standalone premium
headphone amplifier, such as the Bryston
BHP-1, which when combined with a highperformance DSD-capable DAC can run well
above $2000.
Although AURALiC calls the Gemini 2000
a lifestyle product I think this does the
Gemini a disservice. Lifestyle implies that
features and ergonomics were put ahead of
sonics, and if my experience with the Gemini
2000 is any indication of its performance
capabilities, it didnt perform like any lifestyle
product Ive used in the past. No, the Gemini is
a high-performance, high-end DAC/headphone
amplifier that will be at home in even the most
sonically pristine computer-audio system,
which makes it the best lifestyle desktop
product Ive ever heard.
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Follow-Up: Audio Desk Systeme

Vinyl Cleaning Machine
Essential
Robert Harley
fter reading Jacob Heilbrunns

review of the Audio Desk Vinyl
Cleaning Machine in Issue
234 I had to try one for myself. I was
intrigued by the idea of cleaning LPs
with ultrasonic energy rather than with
conventional bristles and a vacuum. In
theory, ultrasonic cleaning can reach
into groove modulations that even the
finest bristle tips cant reach. Looking
at an LP groove under a powerful
microscope reveals an incredible world
of miniscule nooks and crannies. When
viewed this way, its easy to imagine
how record-cleaning bristles simply
dont have the resolution to reach
into these infinitesimally small grooves.
Its akin to trying to clean the wheels
on a car with a broom handle. Brushes
can remove most dust and large surface
contamination, but thats where their
utility ends.
And its in the smallest features of the groove
where fine detail is encoded. The grooves
shape creates the mechanical motion of the
stylus as the groove spins beneath it, and
then this motion is converted into an electrical
signal by the cartridges coils and magnets.
By the time this electrical signal reaches your
loudspeakers, it has been amplified by as much
as 200,000 times (0.2mV to 40V, for example).
Small effects at the groove level become large
effects at the loudspeakers voice coils.
The massive amplification of the cartridges
tiny output voltage is only part of the story of
why low-level information is important. The
more experience I gain in audio the more its
apparent that what separates a very goodsounding system from a spectacular-sounding
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one is the accurate preservation of the finest

details of timbre, microdynamics, and spatial
information. This is why vibration control,
for example, can render such a dramatic
improvement in an audio systemit reduces
smearing of low-level information.
In the Audio Desk, high-frequency sound
waves in the cleaning solution create cavitation
bubbles that exert a force on the contaminants,
dislodging them from the records grooves.
This force is able to reach the tiniest recesses.
Ultrasound cleaning is particularly effective on
jewelry and intricately detailed objects because
the cleaning action isnt reliant on a cleaning
brush or other device physically touching the
entire surface of the object to be cleaned.
In practice, the Vinyl Cleaner is very simple
to operate. After youve filled the tank with
just over a gallon of distilled water, add a small
bottle of solution (two bottles are included).
This isnt a cleaning agent or detergent; rather
it simply reduces the waters surface tension to
help the ultrasonic cleaning action. Then insert
the LP vertically into the slot and press the red
button. Youll hear a beep, signifying that the
Vinyl Cleaner is ready to start. The longer you
hold down the red button the more beeps youll
hear, with each beep signifying an additional
30 seconds of cleaning time for dirtier LPs.
The tank fills up with water, the LP starts
spinning partially submerged in the water, and
four microfiber brushes spin to remove the dirt
dislodged by the ultrasonic cleaning action.
At the end of the cleaning cycle the brushes
stop spinning, the tank drains, and a powerful
blower dries the LP as it slowly rotates. Both
sides are cleaned and dried simultaneously in
about five minutes. The German-made machine
is solidly made, and performed flawlessly.
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EQUIPMENT review - Audio Desk Systeme

I was beyond shocked when I
performed a before-and-after
test on the first LP I tried,
an original Pablo release of
88 Basie Street. The Audio
Desk didnt just make
the surfaces quieter
as
expected,
but
rendered a wholesale
increase in clarity, the
apparent separation of
instrumental images in
space, vividness, and
dimensionality.
The
opening piano line of
Contractors Blues had
greater tone color and a
richer texture, and I could
better hear the acoustic
around the instrument. Then as
the ensemble came in playing the
melody
in unison I heard a more convincing sense
of individual instruments. Before cleaning,
the instruments and the space around them
were slightly homogenized, a character
unrecognizable until it was removed. Each
of the solo instruments took on a greater
palpability both in the space it occupied, as well
as in timbre. Textures were denser and more
realistic. Midway in Joe Pass swinging solo the
drummer drives the rhythm even harder with
rim shots, which, after cleaning, had a greater
musical effect owing to the way the rim shots
stood out from the mix, the greater sense of
air around the sound, and the heightened
impression of depth and of the drummer sitting
directly behind Pass. The improvement was on
the level of a component upgrade.

I repeated these before-andafter comparisons on about
ten LPs, and then set to work
cleaning as many records as
I could before the Audio
Desk review sample
had to go back. I went
on a binge buying used
direct-to-discs through
eBay while I still had
the machine. And then I
came to the realization
that the Audio Desk was
indispensable,
despite
its considerable expense.
I worked out a timeshare arrangement with
two other writers on the staffwe
would buy the Audio Desk and each have it for
four months of the year. I suspect that if you
hear the Audio Desk's effects, you'll also find a
way to own one.
SPECS & PRICING

Dimensions: 13" x 10.7"
Ultrasystems Inc.
x 8"
127 Union Square
Weight: 12 lbs
New Hope, PA 18938
Cleaning time: Variable
(800) 724-3305
(five minutes minimum)
ultrasystem.com
Warranty: Two years

Price: $3995
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Critical Mass Systems

Sotto Voce Equipment Rack
Pretty and Smart
Alan Taffel
ometimes, if youre lucky, you

acquire a component or accessory
that is so good the thought
of replacing it never comes to mind.
You install it, have a listen, and say
to yourself: Well, thats that. For
me, this happened when I replaced
whatever racks I was using to support
my system (see, I cant even remember,
so thoroughly did I jettison them) with
a contraption from Goldmund. Back in
the day, when Goldmund was blazing
trails that others are still following, the
company made a rack system built from
state-of-the-art materials and with a
clever method of isolating shelves from
each other. Isolation of the equipment
from the shelves was handled by the
superb Goldmund Cones, which were an
integral part of the system. I put my
gear onto those racks, had a listen to
their effect, and I was done. The sound
had improved substantially in every way.
Since then, understandably, racks havent
been on my radar. Oh, sure, over the years I
have read the glowing TAS reviews of some
pretty fancy-shmancy racks, like the Critical
Mass Systems Maxxum. But they tempted
me not at all, given their $40k price tags and
my satisfaction with the Goldmunds. Truth
is, I probably would have lived happily with
those racks right into my twilight years if not
for their bte noir. You see, these things are
ugly. I mean seriously ugly. Massive blocks of
sharp-edged black iron form the frame, which
supports equally-square, equally-black slabs of
methacrylate shelves. On the style-ometer, the
Goldmund racks earn a solid zero.
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Why is this relevant, given that the racks

perform so well from a sonic perspective? Well,
I happen to believe that aesthetics contribute
mightily to the pleasure of this hobby. Topnotch audio components dont just sound
good; they look the part, oozing craft and
workmanship and, yes, style. Some are even
sexy (audio porn as my buddy Karl Schuster
calls them). In my view a rack should show off
these components to best effect, and also show
off the system as a whole within the room. This
is why, despite the eyesore-Goldmunds sound, I
have rankled at inhabiting it with the stream of
gorgeous components I am fortunate enough to
have flowing through my home. The equipment
not to mention the roomdeserved better.
So when Critical Mass came out with a brand
new entry-level rack, the Sotto Voce, the first
thing that intrigued me about it was not its
potential sonic benefits, which were purely
theoretical at that point, but rather its looks.
Other CMS racks lean toward a purposefully
industrial style (though not with the brutality of
the Goldmund stuff), but the Sotto Voce has a
much friendlier, warmer, and more inviting look.
This is because, while metal connections within
the frame are milled from billet aluminum, the
frame and shelves themselves are made of good
old-fashioned wood. Sapele African hardwood,
to be exact. Not high tech, to be sure, but
purposefully chosen and certainly appealing
to the eye. The rack also appealed to my value
detector. Unlike CMS ultra-pricey top models,
a four-tier SV system with shelves costs just
$4500 ($5500 if youd like it in black). Thats
right: the SV is one-tenth the price of the topline model.
I took delivery several months later. By the
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EQUIPMENT review - Critical Mass Systems Sotto Voce

time CMS affable and deeply-knowledgeable
Joe Lavrencik personally delivered two SV
racks, plus assorted accessories and options,
I had already seen them at many trade shows.
Still, experiencing the Sotto Voce in my own
room was something of a revelation. Replacing
the Goldmund racks with the CMS quite literally
transformed the look of my room. Rather than
being a blight, the new racks melded into the
dcor and showed off the components within to
great effect. I took stock. Looks: check. Value:
check. Ah, but would the SV rise to the sonic
standard of my long-time reference rack?
Before I delve into that, lets talk about the
component that doesnt sit on a shelf: the
speaker. CMS solution for SV (and other) buyers
is their Rize! footers ($225 each). To get a feel
for what they do, I first compared the sound
of my speakers with and without their normal
Goldmund Cone underpinnings. Using God
Bless the Child from the terrific OMG pressing
of Blood, Sweat and Tears, I could easily detect
that the Cones conferred more air to the brass,
nicely tightened the bass, brought some needed
control to the top, generated previously-missing
depth, and gave drums both more realism and
more visceral impact. Man do I love these Cones!
But if Im being honest, I must admit that they
also dulled the mids a tad, and rhythms werent
quite as razor-sharp either.
I then replaced the Goldmunds with a set
of three Rize! footers under each speaker. My
hope was that they would sound as good as
the Conesa tall order since nothing else ever
has. To my delight, the footers delivered all
the benefits of the Cones. If anything, drums,
and transients in general, became even more
visceral. Even better, the footers also nixed

the Cones drawbacks; tempos regained their
drive, and there was no dullness anywhere in
the sonic spectrum. Then there was the wholly
unexpected icing on the cake: The footers
removed some of what I can only describe
as random energy in the system. You dont
consciously hear this energy; but you can
definitely hear its absence. A layer of electronic
noise recedes, leaving a rare and blissful purity.
Somehow, the reduction of this stray energy
lets the ear-brain mechanism interpret what
it is hearing as music rather than sound.
That, in turn, means more realism co-joined
with more relaxation.
I have gone into detail about the effect of
footers in what is, after all, supposed to be a
rack-system review because it turns out that
the Sotto Voce has the exact same effect
on everything set upon it. Bass tightens,
transients gain more verve yet maintain better
control, rhythms sharpen, andperhaps most
significantlythat subliminal low-level noise
plummets. All this without any noticeable
sonic degradation, at least not compared to my
reference rack. I knew very quickly that I could
live happily with the Sotto Voce. Sound: check.
But wouldnt it also be nice if, unlike the Goldmund rack, the CMS wasnt a closed system?
Even the most content of us will revisit the upgrade situation in the wake of a lottery win, or
even just a hefty bonus check. Upgrades are especially appealing (and tempting) if they can be
done over time, at incremental cost, and in place.
As it turns out, while the stock SV will, I believe,
ably serve most audiophiles, it is only the beginning of what can be done with this system.
The first step in CMS multi-layered upgrade

plan is an inexpensive one that doesnt require
changing anything about the SV itself. Simply
insert a set of MXK-SV spikes ($225 for a set of
four) between a component and its shelf. I found
that the efficacy of this upgrade depends on the
component being spiked. When I slid the spikes
under the CH Precision D1 transport, there was a
loss of transparency, spatial focus, and dynamic
nuance. But then lets remember that one of the
things you get with the CHs $40k price tag is
an intricately conceived vibration-evacuation
system, of which the feet are an integral part.
The spikes bypass the D1s feet, thus completely
defeating CHs elaborate scheme. In this case,
its not surprising that the D1 preferred to be
right on the SVs shelf.
In contrast, and more typically I suspect,
the Esoteric K-01 transport/player/DAC virtually breathed a sigh of relief when set atop the
spikes. On its own feet, the K-01 had played the
ravishingly-recorded Title of This Song from
Becks recent Song Reader CD with typical lan.
But compared to the same track through the
D1 the Esoteric betrayed some spatial confusion, paler tonality, and a loss of clarity. With the
MXK-SVs in place, though, the K-01 was suddenly
doing a mighty close impression of a transport
costing twice as much. The difference was that
transformational. My conclusion is that for gear
that has not been as fanatically engineered for
mechanical grounding as CH iswhich is to say,
most gearthis $225 per component upgrade
will be worth every penny.
The next step up is to place our friends the
Rize! footers between components and SV
shelves. This will cost $775 for a set of three
($600 if you buy them with the SV). I found

it a rewarding upgrade. The difference is in
the purity factora measure of how much
random noise is being banished. The footers
do a better job at this than the spikes, so the
sound clarifies. Id say the footers get you
about half the way between the spikes and the
next step in the upgrade path.
For a more profoundand yet again more
expensiveupgrade, you can swap out stock
Sotto Voce shelves for one of CMS filters.
These are shaped and function like shelves, but
are mechanically far more complex. The filters
compatible with the SV rack are the very ones
that snuggle into CMS high-buck systems. I
tried swapping out an SV shelf for the entrylevel filter, the Black Sapphire Mk.2 ($995). I was
expecting this upgrade to be subtle, but, boy, was
I wrong. The filter is clearly more accomplished
at noise abatement, and the purity quotient
takes a sizable jump. Under some components,
like turntables, the improvement can be even
more dramatic. The filter allowed bass from
SPECS & PRICING

CRITICAL MASS SYSTEMS
Critical Mass Systems
69 Windsor Dr.
Oak Brook, IL 60523
Tel: (630) 640.3814
criticalmasssystems.com
Price: $4500 for a four-tier, four-shelf system
($5500 in black)
previous page
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EQUIPMENT review - Critical Mass Systems Sotto Voce

my table to really speak out, and there was a
good deal more timbral information and tonal
richness. These filters arent cheap (there are
two more models above the Black Sapphire
Mk.2), but they deliver the goods. Dont listen
to them if you arent prepared to buy them. To
be exposed to what they do is to be spoiled for
anything less.
The nice thing about the SV system is that if
funds do not permit making an upgrade right
away, it can always be done later. And when the
time comes, the process couldnt be simpler.
Even installing a filter is a breeze. Heck, there
arent even any screws involved; just lift off the
SV shelf and plop down a filter. Volbetter
sound. Also, there is no requirement to replace
all the shelves at once. Instead, you can upgrade
selectively, moving to spikes/footers/filters one
by one, starting with the components that will
benefit most. Mixing and matching shelves and
filters in the same SV rack is perfectly okay.
The only gap in the SV system, to my mind, is
the lack of a proper amplifier stand. Depending
on the size and quantity of your amps, they
may or may not fit in the SV rack. In my case,
with two swank but bulky, inhumanly-heavy
CH Precision A1s, there was no way they were
going on the rack. Amplifier stands to match the
SV would look cohesive, but CMS offers plenty
of sonically workable possibilities for outboard
amps. For starters, amps that would otherwise
be on the floor can be placed on Rize! footers.
Alternately, an SV shelf ($125) can sit atop a set
of MXK spikes, resulting in an apparition of the
shelf hovering just above the carpet or floor. The
shelf can also be set atop footers. The ultimate
option, sonically, is to use one of the amplifier
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stands CMS offers as part of their higher lines.

They wont match the rack, though.
I was able to test the latter scenario thanks to
Joe having provided a pair of QXK amp stands
($1995 each) with the mid-tier Black Platinum
Mk.2 filters ($1895 each). Compared to the
previous Goldmund amp stands, the QXK imparts
that same wonderful feeling of the electronics
getting out of the way, letting more music shine
through. They also make the amps more coherent,
with more air, more dynamics, and more bass, yet
with more control of spurious elements. The SV
shelves on spikes, however, are impressive as
well. They give up littlejust a smidgein the by
now familiar purity factor.
I realize that this has been a highly
deconstructive analysis, so its important to
sum up by saying that the Sotto Voce not only
looks good and is more than fairly priced; it
just plain works. My system has never sounded
better. The hallmark of the SV rack, in all of its
various permutations, is that it gets the crap
out of the sound, delivering a less electronic,
less hurried, less blurred presentation of the
music.
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Music
previous page
NEXT page
The Beatles in Mono

Worth the Wait
Neil Gader
he Beatles in Mono, the 14-LP

box set of the bands UK albums,
was released on September 9 and
completes a journey begun in 2009, the year
that the fully remastered Beatles catalog
was offered in the compact disc format in
both stereo and mono presentation boxes.
The refreshed, compressed, and in some
instances equalized CD collection, which was
derived from high-resolution digital masters,
took aim at the broader market but proved
to be a tantalizing teaser for audiophiles
wondering if Apple/UMG were considering
an LP reissue. As it happened, 2012 saw the
LP release of the complete UK set of The
Beatles stereo albums in 180-gram vinyl.
However, controversy ensued, as it often
does in audiophile circles. The vinyl reissues
were also cut from digital masters, not the
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original analog master tapes that audiophiles

had clamored for. Adding insult to injury, Apple
Records decided to go with the 44.1/24 cutting
masters rather than the higher resolution
192/24 archival files, a missed opportunity
in the minds of many, a fatal compromise for
others. Yet, as if to make amends Apple has
redeemed itself by cutting The Beatles in Mono
(TBIM) from the original analog master tapes.
And theyve employed a pure analog chain,
with no digital processing whatsoeveran
event characterized in its press materials as
an audiophile-minded undertaking.
Prior to the release of TBIM TAS music editor
Jeff Wilson described the methodology used
to bring the new vinyl to light (Issue 246). To
recap, engineer Sean Magee and mastering
supervisor Steve Berkowitz (Grammy recipients
both), working at Abbey Road Studios,
employed the same procedures used in the

1960s, right down to referring to the detailed
transfer notes made by the original cutting
engineers, notes that included gain and EQ and
balance settings. Further, the pair spent hours
comparing the master tapes with first pressings
of the 60s vintage mono records. Using a welltested Studer A80 machine with a true mono
playback head, the new vinyl was cut on a
1980s-era Neumann VMS80 lathe. According
to Sean Magee the goal was to produce the
original intention of the band while allowing
the advanced manufacturing procedures and LP
playback systems of today to take full advantage
of the analog tapes potential, unimpeded by the
cutting limitations and playback equipment of
that distant era.
Much is made of the importance of The
Beatles mono catalog, and for a very simple
reason: up until the late 1960s mono was
the format. It was how the band and most
everyone else listened to music. It was as
natural for them to mix and master in mono,
a familiar and popular format, as it would be
to avoid devoting valuable time to a relatively
obscure and unproven newcomer, stereo. It
also explains why the stereo masters were
mostly the work of producer George Martin
and why his engineers often produced them in
shorter sessions weeks after the fact. Today
the Beatles catalog is an admixture of formats
that differ materially from one another. While
the myriad of quirky differences has been well
documented for years, ultimately the monos
represent the truest intention of how The
Beatles wanted their songs to be heard.
The 14-LP box set includes the bands nine UK
albums (packaged in their original artwork and
liner notes), the American-compiled Magical

Mystery Tour, and the Mono Masters collection
of non-album tracks produced on 180-gram
vinyl from Optimal Media of Germany. The fliptop box, identical in construction to the stereo
box set of 2012, includes an original 108-page
hardbound book specific to the mono pressings
that includes loads of artwork, rare photos, and
further commentary and production notes by
Keith Howlett.
The overall sonics of these mono recordings,
especially as the band matured into its Help/
Rubber Soul/Revolver phase, are simply
superb right down to the pristinely quiet
surfaces. This was not the narrow tunnel of
clouded images and compressed sound that
many of us have been led to believe define the
mono listening experience, harkening back to
AM radio for some of us. For example, cueing
up thefastversion ofRevolution fromThe
Beatles Mono Masters, you hear more of a
throat-clearing blast, the guitar tracks roaring
to life with energy and specificity and seeming
to shake off the dust of decades.The tracks are
strongly focused, as youd expect with mono,
and the vocals are almost surgically positioned,
communicating the musical topography in far
greater detail dynamically, and with a more
colorful tonal palette. I repeatedly marveled
at how delicately the backing vocals rode so
smoothly on top of the lead vocal during Drive
My Car (Rubber Soul), and how, on an early
Ringo track like Honey Dont (Beatles for
Sale), the vocals retained a discrete quality
that most would exclaim was stereo territory,
not mono. The bands complex yet effortlessly
smooth harmonies and Georges touch on his
guitars volume pedal on Yes It Is (B-side of
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Ticket To Ride) is truly something to hear
on this vinyl set and makes the case for going
back to analog masters as well as anything Ive
heard here. Even the bands earliest albums,
recorded hastily (listen to the mike distortion
during Lennons performance of Money),
sound more present, dynamic, and remarkably
raw and intense.
Track to track, these recordings consistently
sound as if a veil has been lifted away, allowing
more light and contrast to illuminate the
songseven in comparison to the otherwise
very good CD mono remasters of 2009. The
discs, in contrast to these LPs, sound more
midrangy and forward, a bit darker overall, less
transparent, and comparatively flat in regard to
representing soundspace depth. For example,
Pauls high harmony backing track during If I
Fell (A Hard Days Night) is revealed in cleaner
detail on the vinyl right down to the warble in
his voice as it strains to hit the upper notes.
During And I Love Her, Georges classical
guitar solo is fuller, richer, and more authentic
to the sound of the nylon-stringed instrument,
and the woodblock percussion accompaniment
has greater timbre and clarity. In general
sibilances are crisper and resolve more
smoothly, and during the closing guitar vamp
you can now easily hear that its Pauls voice
humming along. The same cue on the CD puts a
digital edge on that moment.
One of the real surprises in these LPs is
the degree to which they capture more of
the inside information of Ringos drum timbre
and transient action, and also his percussion
accenting from the pop off the skin of a
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tambourine during Norwegian Wood, the

vivid cow bell center right during You Cant Do
That, or the clatter of castanets and tapping
of wood blocks during Martha My Dear.
Moving into the heart of the catalog,
Taxman (Revolver) relaxes the incessant
forwardness found on the CD reissue, allowing
the backing vocals some added depth. During
Good Day Sunshine theres a rush of energy
and vitality missing from the CD, which
comparatively sounds overcast and sodden.
Yellow Submarine is not as loud as the CD
but certainly more detailed with robust lowlevel information and vocal detail, particularly
Johns glib echoing of Ringos lines toward the
songs end. A real treat is Eleanor Rigby,
which truly soars with greater tonal expression
and dynamic transparency and string octet
detail, as if a dark cloud had been removed.
From Magical Mystery Tour, the sweet piccolo
trumpet solo in the middle of Penny Lane
is spotless, and the full-bodied bass response
during Baby, Youre A Rich Man is resonant
and extended to a degree that would have been
unheard of on a recording back in the day.
Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
remains the jewel in the crown. From the
eponymous opening theme to the final crashing
piano chord of A Day in the Life the mono LP
paints a more vivid and complete sonic picture.
Unlike the stereo LP, Pauls lead vocal isnt
ghettoized in the left speaker, the band jailed
in the right. During With A Little Help from
My Friends the timbre and tunefulness from
Ringos snare is restored; theres more dynamic
impact along with its ringing decay. Plus the
lead guitar melody of Lucy in the Sky with

Diamonds is more bell-like and prominent, the
vocals and vocal effects more finely focused.
Ringos distinctive percussion work is more
grandly featured in Fixing a Hole, and Shes
Leaving Home gives the listener more harp to
follow, with more of the tactile sensation of the
artists fingers plucking the strings.
By the time I got to Within You, Without
You, its just no comparison with either the
CD or the stereo vinyl reissues. The latter mix
shuttles the tabla off to the right channel, and
Georges lead vocal is dry and wiry. Also, the
closing chorus of voices isnt nearly as lively
as the mono. Of equal note, I found Pauls vocal
during When Im Sixty-Four much warmer as
compared to the thinner, whiter, right-panned
stereo version. One of the biggest poke-in-theeye differences arrives during the reprise to the
Sgt. Pepper theme. The limp vocal energy of
the stereo CD is replaced by a more aggressive
and satisfying lead linked with more intense
crowd noise. Pauls vocal riffing at the end is
restored to prominence while the orchestra
rising slowly to crescendo during A Day in the
Life is more textured and dynamically alive,
almost alarming in its intensity, unlike the more
pacified stereo mix.
The White Album was the last of The Beatles
albums to be mixed to both stereo and mono.
Both versions are equally listenable but the
differences still make me waver in favor of
the mono. A typical example would be Cry
Baby Cry, where Lennons vocal is placed a
bit more forward, the track itself shedding the
slightly shrouded character of the CD. Honey
Pie is portrayed with a broader and more

open soundstage and a heightened midrange
presence. Stunning gradations of texture
and timbre is the only way I can suitably
describe the heavier bloom of the drum fills
and the high harmonies near the end of Long,
Long, Long. And Yer Blues flat out rocks,
dynamically more explosive with the searing
guitar solo that just blazes. Mother Natures
Son trends toward more bloom and bass while
Everybodys Got Something to Hide Except Me
and My Monkey rumbles forth with more bass
information, extension, and resonant warmth.
The charming I Will possesses greater vocal
intimacy and a fuller, more articulate bass
voicingthat is, Paul literally singing the bass
part. And if you havent heard the sped-up
mono version (the stereo is normal speed) of
Dont Pass Me By youll have to admit that it
has an air of Alvin and the Chipmunks about it.
In comparison, the CDs often have tighter and
more controlled bass, but they cant match the
resonance and decay detail of these LPs.
The bottom line is that with few exceptions
The Beatles in Mono is a sonic triumph running
the gamut from gritty to gorgeous. And
considering that an original mint Parlophone
costs $200, $300, or more a pop, TBIM
represents an almost impossibly great value.
Now, thankfully, we can all rediscover what
was once the exclusive territory of a handful of
lucky collectors. I think the Beatles themselves
would certainly agree, A splendid time is
guaranteed for all.
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A Personal Discographic Companion to

Inside Llewyn Davis
Mark Lehman
he Coen Brothers 2000 comic film

O Brother, Where Art Thou? set in
rural Mississippi during the Great
Depression famously helped bring music
from the periodbluegrass, gospel, spirituals,
delta blues, country swingto widespread
attention. Interest in homegrown American
roots music has increased ever since, and
outstanding performers in old-timey styles
(like Ralph Stanley and Alison Krauss who
appeared in the movie) are more widely known
and admired.
The Coens are now set to reprise their
cinematic influence on popular music with a new
film. By the time you read this, Inside Llewyn
Davis, inspired by the early-60s folk revival, will
have shown in a theater near you. The lead
character draws on two of the prominent figures
of that culture-changing movement: Dave Van
Ronk and Bob Dylan. (Both are invoked in the
movies title, the Welsh origin of Llewyn
suggesting the latters appropriation of Dylan
Thomas given name, and Inside Llewyn Davis
echoing Van Ronks first name as well as the
title of his album Inside Dave Van Ronk.)
Van Ronks pungent memoir The Mayor of
MacDougal Street (co-written with Elijah Wald
but thoroughly saturated with Van Ronks
inimitable personality and voice), and Dylans
fascinating if sometimes spaced-out Chronicles
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Volume 1, are especially relevant sources for the

Coens film: both men are outsize characters,
and bothgreat talents themselvesalso
ardent admirers and appreciators of other
musicians, albeit sharply critical of the
hypocrisies and corruption engendered by the
hyper-commercialized and celebrity-ridden
promotion of the music business. No surprise
that each attracted (and cultivated) many
friends and acquaintances, indeed pretty much
everybody in the late 50s-early 60s folk scene
(centered though certainly not limited to New
York Citys Greenwich Village), from Odetta
and The Weavers and Joan Baez to Phil Ochs,
Ian and Sylvia, Reverend Gary Davis, John
Hurt, Tom Paxton, Joni Mitchell, Mary Travers
and Noel Stookey (who used his middle name
Paul as a member of Peter, Paul, and Mary),
Jim Kweskin, John Koerner, Mark Spoelstra,
and dozens more, some obscure who became
famous, some obscure who stayed obscure,
and some who were highly influential and
much loved by folkies but never got much
commercial airplay or financial success.
The soundtrack to Inside Llewyn Davis
(already released as of this writing) collects
vintage folksongs in new performances played
by the films actors, with the exception of two
songs, one each sung by Dylan and Van Ronk.
Though no doubt suitable for the movie, this
soundtrack isnt an especially good sampler

of early-60s folk music, and listening to it
brought to mind how much better many of
the actual early-60s recordings are. (The
recordings of those, at any rate, who sought
the unvarnished authenticity of what I, and
they, considered real folk music, not the slick,
prettified commercial imitations, even if often
the product of quite skilled musicians. Those
may have played big on the radio stations, but
when has that ever been evidence of genuine
musical worth?)
Many of the best performers and
their recordings from those halcyon
days are described in Van Ronks and
Dylans memoirs, and a good portion
of their music is preserved on records
I bought a half-century ago when they
were as fresh and new and packed
with discoveries as an unexplored
continent. Ive grown
up with these records,
listening to them
over and over, often
trying to untangle
the intricacies of
the guitar playing,
and they remain a
treasured part of
both my record
collection and my youth.

So, in honor of the cultural milieu evoked
by the Coens moviethe singers, the music,
the recordings, the zeitgeistI offer my
own personal discographic companion
to the early-60s folk revival: much-loved
records from palmier days that still delight
and surprise, albeit now burnished with
nostalgia. I make no attempt to be canonic or
comprehensive (nor would that be practical):
these are my personal favorites. They are
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certainly among the very best early-60s folk/
roots recordings, but just as certainly dont
come close to exhausting that category, nor
pretend to do so. Still, my choices are by no
means idiosyncratic. Though few were huge,
money-making hits (on the order of Peter,
Paul, and Marys first few albums), most were
well known and praised (if not indeed revered)
by folk music devotees of the period, and most
retain a following even today. All, of course,
originally came out on vinyl. Almost all have
been reissued on CD, and a fair portion also
have since been reissued on vinyl. Copies in
both formats (whether nominally in print or
not) are in most cases easily available from
on-line sources. Sonics are as youd expect all
over the map, though many of these records
(especially the better Vanguards and Elektras)
boast exceptionally good sound.
The Weavers and Pete Seeger
When I was a kid my parents idea of music was
Broadway musicals and the occasional tenincher of rumbas and mambos (for practicing
the dance steps). But one day my dad brought
home an anomaly: The Weavers at Carnegie
Hall. Recorded on Christmas Eve of 1955 (but
not released until 1957), this is the first folk
music I ever heard (and the only folk music
record among my favorites I didnt buy myself).
Though I didnt know anything about this then,
the Weavers were leftist activists whod been
around long enough to have been black-listed,
but now making a comeback just in time to
spark the beginning of what was going to
become the early-60s folk music revival. Their
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performances overflow with joyous verve and

vitality, especially the singingno one has ever
bettered them for vocal harmoniesand the
program is exhilarating in its inclusiveness and
variety, ranging through genres and around
the globe. They could be sweetly charming,
sonorous and uplifting, defiant and passionate,
earthy and impudentas effective in rousing
spirituals and plaintive love songs as in a hitparade take on a coal miners complaintwith
wonderful performances of Kisses Sweeter
Than Wine, Wimoweh (which reappeared
in 1961 on the pop charts as The Lion Sleeps
Tonight), Follow the Drinking Gourd, Venga
Jaleo, even Merle Travis Sixteen Tons.
More Weavers albums followed, in concert and
in the studio, but none Ive heard match the
energy and engagement the group sustained
on that magical Christmas Eve in Carnegie Hall.
By far the most famous Weaver was Pete
Seeger, of course. Son of musicologist Charles
Seeger and stepson of the distinguished
modernist composer Ruth Crawford Seeger,
Pete had a sterling musical as well as politically
leftist pedigree. A modest man (still living as
of this writing, aged 94) who cares deeply
about the welfare of the earth and its people,
Seegerfollowing Woody Guthrieimparted
these concerns in his original songs. (One
has the lovely chorus Well May the World Go
When Im Far Away.) Seeger is famous for
his protest and solidarity-affirming songs, but
not as well appreciated for his instrumental
excursions and more playful numbers as
heard on his less-known Folkways albums like
Nonesuch and Other Folk Tunes (with Frank
Hamilton) and Indian Summer (with his brother

Mike) and the delightful (ten-inch LP) GoofingOff Suite on which he plays the slow movement
of Beethovens Seventh Symphony on solo
banjo. (I listened to this before I discovered
classical music and for a while considered it
a slightly odd banjo piece until noticing that it
was actually an arrangement of a symphonic
movement.) Other gems on Goofing-Off are
Seegers banjo-plus-whistling version of Ode
to Joy from Beethovens Ninth (adapted for
the Coen Brothers film Raising Arizona), and
a dazzling solo banjo rendition of Blue Skies.
Sally My Dear (alternating unaccompanied
singing and melismatic tootling on a recorder)
and Empty Pocket Blues show how appealing
Seeger can be on lover-come-a-courting songs
(clear also from Kisses Sweeter Than Wine
on the Weavers first Carnegie disc).
Of course many other elder statesmen of
earlier folk music revivals were still performing
at the end of the 50s and after. One was Ewan
MacColl who sang, with his young consort
Peggy Seeger (Petes half-sister)among
hundreds of songs both traditional and original
he recordedThe Ballad of Springhill about
the 1958 Springhill mining disaster. His rustic
burr and commanding delivery blended with
Peggys forthright soprano to impart a tragic
grandeur to this grim recounting, strong
evidence that the Woody Guthrie tradition of
memorializing topical events in timeless songs
was still alive and well. Stark and riveting, the
couples performance was issued on one of the
early volumes in Vanguards superb Newport
Folk Festival series, a live-in-concert series
so packed with distinguished folk musicians

(including many I regret not having space to
include here) that anyone interested in the
early-60s folk revival will want to hear every
one of these records. (Peter, Paul, and Mary
later recorded Springhill, in one of their best
performances, on A Song Will Rise.) Another
marvelous ballad singer is mountain-born
Kentuckian Jean Ritchie, who specialized in
the old songs of the early Appalachian settlers
which she sang in a homespun, almost childlike
lilt. Her version of Come All Ye Fair and Tender
Ladies, on The Best of Jean Ritchie (Prestige),
has exquisite melodic nuances all her own.
Also preceding the early-60s revival,
Arkansas native Jimmie Driftwood took the
old fiddle tunes, some going back to pre-Civil
War days, and added his own lyrics, recording
them in the late 50s in Nashville (though he
too, like so many others, also appears on
Vanguards Newport Festival recordings).
The Wilderness Road from 1959 (on an RCA
Living Stereo with somewhat incongruous
added reverb and ancillary guitar licks by Chet
Atkins) is a goldmine of dandy items rendered
in Driftwoods leathery Arkansan drawl.
Highlights include Tennessee Stud, Song of
the Cowboys, Arkansas Traveler, The First
Covered Wagon, Peter Francisco, and The
Battle of New Orleans (which reached the top
of the 1959 Billboard chart in Johnny Hortons
recording).
Two Greenwich Villagers:
Van Ronk and Dylan
Dave Van Ronk (who died in 2002), like many
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other figures of the 60s folk revival (or The
Great Folk Scare as he called it with his
typical sardonic wit), is of the generation after
the Weavers. A brilliant acoustic guitarist,
powerful singer, outstanding songwriter and
arranger, marvelous storyteller, and generous,
charismatic personality (and bearlike corpus),
he soon became an archetypal figure on the
Village scene, influencing and mentoring many
younger musicians destined to become iconic
stars of the post-folk era, among them Bob
Dylan (who often slept on his couch in his early
days in the city). Van Ronk considered himself
more of a cabaret singer than a traditional
folksinger, and was comfortable performing
early jazz, jug band music, and other popular
musical styles as well as folk music. Anyone
interested in the history of American roots
music as it exploded into prominence in the
early 60s should read The Mayor of MacDougal
Street. Its a vivid and fascinating account of a
hardworking musicians life and times, packed
with astute commentary on the larger cultural
and political arena of those turbulent days.
The recording that brought Van Ronk muchdeserved fame beyond his Village stomping
grounds is Dave Van Ronk, Folksinger, issued
on Prestige in 1963. His gravelly but delicately
modulated voice (more indebted to Louis
Armstrong than to the genteel traditional
English ballad style that Joan Baez was
then making famous), rock-solid yet intricate
and harmonically adventurous finger-style
guitar playing, and ability to adopt so many
different kinds of songs to his own immediately
identifiable manner, are nowhere better heard
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than on this early recording, though he made

many more records over the following four
decades. The poignance and simplicity of
He Was a Friend of Mine, the sly dismissal
of an aging lover in Youve Been a Good Old
Wagon, the bluesy longing of Come Back
Baby, the relentlessly building ferocity of
Poor Lazarus lamenting the murder of a
runaway slave, the lonely plight of Motherless
Children, the drug addicts morose, befogged
passivity in Cocaine Bluesone after another,
these indelible performances have resonated
over the years as a testament to the depth of
expressive power and subtlety possible in the
folk music genre.
Folksinger remains perhaps the high-watermark of Van Ronks career, though there are
many other standouts, like his early rendition
of Joni Mitchells Both Sides Now (recorded
a few months before Judy Collins), and his
stunning arrangement of House of the Rising
Sun on Just Dave Van Ronk (which Bob Dylan
stole from Van Ronk to record on his debut
album, whence the Animals stole it for their
hit rock version). Other stellar performances
are Thatll Never Happen No More on
Vanguards Blues at Newport anthology, and
Sunday Street, a catchy-as-velcro Van Ronk
original, on the album of the same title, jauntily
reeling off the boastful imaginings of a lowlife
loser. Then theres Dave Van Ronks Ragtime
Jug Stompers (on Mercury stereo, no less),
featuring stellar run-throughs of Temptation
Rag, Sister Kate, Georgia Camp Meeting,
Everybody Loves My Baby, and lots more.
And did I mention Van Ronks incredible
rendition (with folk-style instruments) of Peter

and the Wolf?
Dylans first record came out in 1962,
establishing him as a droll, at times almost
Chaplinesque interpreter of the folk tradition,
but it was The Freewheelin Bob Dylan from a
year later that revealed him as an eloquent
writer of both protest songs (most famously
for Blowin in the Wind but more powerfully
in A Hard Rains A-Gonna Fall) and love
songs (Dont Think Twice, Its All Right
and Girl from the North Country). Still, as
celebrated as Dylans career has been since
then, Ive always felt that some of his most
complex, original, and affecting work, with
lyrics of astonishing sophistication and poetic
resonance, came out in the two albums (The
Times They Are A-Changin and Another Side
of Bob Dylan) released in 1964, and remains
underappreciated. Has any prophesy ever
been more enigmatically yet irresistibly
triumphant than When the Ship Comes
In, or any paean to sexual electricity more
believably yet amusingly exaggerated than
Spanish Harlem Incident? And then theres

North Country Blues, in which a miners wife
stoically tells the story of how her family is
destroyed by the rapacious logic of capitalist
exploitation. Transcending the sharplydrawn particularity of its circumstances,
North Country Blues becomes a universal
indictment of merciless greed and its victims:
the so-called wretched of the earth, used
and discarded by forces beyond their control
or understanding. Ineffably moving in Dylans
understated performance, this is one of his
greatest protest songs and indeed one
of the greatest of the genre ever written.
It wasnt until two decades later, in Blind
Willie McTell, his visionary evocation of the
pathology and the pathos of the South and its
baleful heritage of slavery, that Dylan matched
North Country Blues in his anger and
despair at power and greed, and corruptible
seed, and his encompassing awareness of the
misery it causes and has caused down through
the tormented centuries of human history.
Rediscovered Old-Timers
One of the main sources that Van Ronk and Bob
Dylan and most of the other participants in the
60s folk renaissance drew on for inspiration
in their own music was the
archival recordings (taken
from 78s made in the late
20s and early 30s) by the
old-time blues and country
folk singers. These voices
from the past were found on
Harry Smiths seminal six-LP
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1952 Anthology of American Music (folk, blues,
and country music recorded from 1927 to 1932)
and such single-LP releases as Columbias
1961 reissue of mid-30s recordings of Robert
Johnson, King of the Delta Blues Singers, the
reverberations from which are still felt today by
many a long-haired rock star. (A second volume
of Columbias Johnson reissues followed some
years later, graced by one of the best album
covers ever: an Art Deco-ish painting of Johnson
recording in an improvised hotel-room studio.)
Dozens of other fine reissues from decades-old
country and blues recordings (many of them
sub-genre anthologies) also began coming out
on LPs in RCAs Vintage Series (with records
like Early Rural String Bands, Smokey Mountain
Ballads, etc.) as well as on small labels like
Biograph, Origin of Jazz, and Old-Timey. A
whole world of music known only to collectors
of brittle old 78s suddenly became much more
widely available.
To almost everyones surprise, however, some
of those old folk and blues singers who recorded
in the 20s and 30s were still livingand happy
to resume their performing careers; soon their
early 78s were supplemented by spanking-new
long-playing vinyl. Among the first and best of
these rediscovered musicians was John Hurt,
whose inventive and distinctive guitar playing,
with its steady, bouncy rhythmic bass beneath
deftly syncopated tunes, and unforced, oldfashioned singing (of sometimes slyly risqu
lyrics) charmed everyone who heard him. Even
his bluesier numbers were resigned rather than
angry or sullen. A lovable man, unassuming,
soft-spoken, richly humorous, and gentle,
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Hurt appears on the cover of his first LP Folk

Songs and Blues (on Piedmont) with a broad
smile on his face. I remember the day in 1964
I first saw him on that cover and bought the
record, not knowing I was getting a treasure
that guitar players and musical storytellers to
this day still marvel at. Hurt was soon picked
up by Vanguard and made several more
records, every one of them memorable. His
best performancesIm Satisfied, Frankie
and Albert, Let the Mermaids Flirt With Me,
Farther Along, Trouble, Ive Had It All My
Days, My Creole Belleare the creations
of a unique and imperishable combination of
warmth, wisdom, serenity, and musical genius.
Skip
Jamesequally
original
but
temperamentally oppositespun out dark tales
of amorous treachery and retribution. Devil
Got My Woman is his signature song, and no
one has ever distilled a more brutally cynical
view of the war between the sexes: Woman
Im loving, stole her from my best friend, but
hell get lucky, steal her back again. James
falsetto singing and bluesy guitar playing
are sui generis, spooky-strange and to this
day marvels in a style often crowded with
clich. His piano playing is also astonishing
in its mix of ruggedness and sophistication.
Jagged and unpredictable, with downbeats
made stronger by their absences and phrases
both foreshortened and elongated, it makes
a brilliantly high-strung accompaniment to
such songs as If You Havent Any Hay, (with
chilling verses like Im caught in Louisiana
theyll hang me sure). Like Hurt, James
recorded in the 60s (at least briefly) for
Vanguard, but I prefer the reissues of his more

persuasive 78-era performances gathered
on his one-disc Complete Early Recordings
(Biograph LP and later Yazoo CD).
Another bluesman whod fallen out of sight
after recording 78s and returned to record
again in his old age is Sleepy John Estes,
who made several fine early-60s albums on
Delmark with a superb small backup group
on harmonica, piano, and string bass. The
Legend of Sleepy John Estes is a wonderful
example, with bouncy uptempo numbers like
Drop Down Mama and rending pain coming
through in Estes crying blues like I Been
Well Warned.
More influential was Reverend Gary Davis,
a fantastic guitar player with a powerfully
affecting voice who sounded something like
a rough-hewn Ray Charles (both men, as
it happened, were blind). Davis repertoire
included
ragtimey
instrumentals
and
salacious ditties, but he only played these
when sufficiently lubricated by alcohol. His
standard fare was gospel numberslike Hold
to Gods Unchanging Hand and Keep Your
Lamp Trimmed and Burningthat he shouted
out with a street preachers fervor and
authenticity. Davis also played harmonica with
a breathy syncopation unlike anything Ive
ever heard on the instrument. He could make
guitar, harmonica, even banjo into a kind of
vocalizing counterpart to his singingand vice
versa, too. Many of Gary Davis recordings
are on Prestige (some recorded by Rudy Van
Gelder), and all are stellar, though my favorite
is the Riverside disc Gospel Blues and Street
Songs he shared with another street singer,

the genial and comic Pink Anderson, whose I
Got Mine describes how a gambler grabs the
pot at a crap game broken up by the police.
Davis lived in New York City; other street
singers and bluesmen had moved (as part of the
great migration of southern Blacks to northern
cities) to Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia,
Boston, Washington, D.C., Cincinnati, and other
urban centers. Some fronted small bands with
added harmonica, string bass, sometimes
electric guitar, recording for labels like King,
Chess, Delmark, and Prestige. Anyone drawn
to blues will know splendid records by Muddy
Waters and Lightnin Hopkins and their many
contemporaries. Meanwhile more discoveries
were still being made among those whod
stayed in the sharecroppers fields and hadnt
been recorded until the 60s folk-revival was
well underway, one of the best being Mance
Lipscomb, whose brawny, rhythmically driving
Texas Songster, with foot-tapping standards
like Sugar Babe, Bout a Spoonful, and
Baby Please Dont Go meant to be danced
to in small rural juke joints, became the first
album recorded on the ever-adventurous
Arhoolie label. (Lipscomb was born in 1895 to a
former slave and a Choctaw Indian woman. His
given name is short for Emancipation. Cant
get much rootsier than that.)
More New Voices
The influence of these newly appreciated
old-timers on up-and-coming folk and blues
musicians was immense, and showed up on
a whole new crop of young country blues
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Music Feature
musicians who began recording in the early
60s: John Hammond, Jr. (son of the renown
producer for Columbia Records), Spider
John Koerner and Dave Snaker Ray, Geoff
Muldaur, Eric Von Schmidt, and others.
Listeners to Hammonds debut recording
(Vanguard) who hadnt looked at the cover
were startled to discover he was white, so
completely had he absorbed the braggadocio
and complaint of the old Mississippi Delta
bluesmen. Koerner and Ray, with Tony Glover
on harmonica on a couple of stellar Elektra
releases entitled Blues, Rags, and Hollers, were
more jumpy and revved-up. Their rendition of
Black Dog, a gamblers boast to his doubting
paramour, fueled by Rays plangent 12-string
and Koerners spiky 7-string, is irresistible.
Koerner and Ray also appear on Elektras
1964 anthology of young bluesmen entitled
The Blues Project along with Geoff Muldaur
(singing Ginger Man and Skip James
Devil Got My Woman in his uniquely silken,
insinuating voice), Mark Spoelstra, Von
Schmidt, and the ever-present Van Ronk,
among othersincluding Bob Dylan playing
guitar under the transparent pseudonym
Bob Landy. All the participants on this
anthology were white, a reminder, if any is
needed, that, as deeply dependent as they
were on the pioneering music of rural black
(and rural white) musicians, the younger
generation of bluesmen and folksingers were
mostly white and mostly lived in cities. Elektra
followed up shortly after with The String Band
Project featuring contemporary string bands
playing old favorites, notable for The Dry
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City Scat Bands twangy take on Jealous

and suitably scrappy Bald-Headed End of a
Broom cautioning would-be suitors about the
tribulations of hen-pecked husbands. (Both
Elektra Projects, I should add, are among the
very few records in my discography still not yet
reissued on CD.)
Of the other new jug bands formed early in
the 60s who took inspiration not only from
their predecessors on old 78s but also from
the many and more recent New Lost City
Ramblers Folkways LPs, the best, along
with Van Ronks Jug Stompers noted earlier
(which made only one record), was the Jim
Kweskin Jug Band, whose Jug Band Music
(Vanguard) demonstrated its huge advantage
over all competitors: on-stage erotic appeal.
Earthy sex-goddess Maria Muldaur vamping
up Im A Woman added a new dimension to
the term jug band (watching her perform it
in concert during my first year in college is a
fond memory), and the groups moony vocal
harmonies on Ukelele Lady were at once
campy and suggestive. Aptly so, I might add, as
the jug band genre has strong origins in rowdy

and racy minstrel show traditions.
Another newcomer to the folk scene was a
soulful-voiced young man named Perry Miller
who made his first recording, Soul of a City Boy,
released in 1964 on Capitol, under his nom de
plume Jesse Colin Young. This auspicious debut
was graced by swell renditions of several oldtimey mountain standards like Rye Whiskey,
Black-Eyed Susan, and Same Old Man,
along with some dandy original songs including
Four In the Morning. Though City Boy is just
a young man and his acoustic guitar, its stood
up pretty well against JCs later recordings
with the Youngbloods and remains a favorite
of mine and many other fans.
Like Dave Ray, Mark Spoelstra (1940-2007)
is strongly identified with his virtuoso 12-string
guitar playing. He was more of an in-thetradition (albeit quite versatile) folksinger than
a bluesman, however, as his first two Folkways
records, The Songs of Mark Spoelstra and At
the Club 47 (both from 1963) reveal. Old tunes
like Sugar Babe and Drowsy Sleeper and
Spoelstra originals like The Times Ive Had
and Willow Tree and Deep Blue Sea Blues
burble along nicely if fast, or glower quietly,
whether menacing or tender or forlorn, if
slow. For even more variety
Spoelstra threw in virtuoso
fingerpicking showpieces like
Buckdancers Choice and
Deadthumb Roll #1.
Gifted with an angelic voice
and a relaxed, natural dignity,
Joan Baez was almost instantly
recognized (indeed, beloved) as a star, one

of the first and brightest to shine in the folk
revival, quickly gaining national fame with her
(sonically as well as musically superlative)
1960 debut on Vanguard. (An even earlier
appearance on Round Harvard Square issued
in 1959 on Veritas, a local Boston LP that
she shared with several other singers, had
already displayed that unforgettable voice,
notably on What You Gonna Call That Pretty
Little Baby.) No one, before or since, could
sing ballads with Baez perfect marriage of
breathtaking purity and aching sadness, yet she
could slip easily into a humorous ditty or peal
out a defiant protest-song just as convincingly.
(She did a hilariously wicked Little Town Flirt
when I heard her in concert.) Silver Dagger,
East Virginia, Fennario, Once I Knew A
Pretty Girl, Jackaroethe list of immortal
performances from her early-60s recordings
goes on and on.
Joans younger sister Mimi found her
voice as a folksinger by teaming up with her
husband, writer/singer Richard Farina, on a pair
of early-60s Vanguards. The couple married in
1963, when Mimia striking beautywas 17.
A pal and fellow writer of Richards that hed
known from Cornell was best man: Thomas
Pynchon. (David Hadjus excellent Positively
4th Street details the rise to prominence
of both Baez sisters along with Dylan and
Farina, and offers an acute analysis of why
folk music became so attractive to artistic kids
turned off by Eisenhower-era conformity and
commercialism.)
The Farinas will forever be known for one
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Music Feature
supreme masterpiece: On the pairs second
Vanguard album, from 1965, they sang Richards
haunting, wistful lyrics (in beautiful harmony)
to an equally haunting 14th Century Sephardic
melody. They called this mating of ancient
tune and new words A Swallow Song, and it
will last as long as men and woman share their
wondering sorrow at this mortal life. It became
Farinas epitaph, for he died in a motorcycle
accident a year after the recording was made.
Another man-and-wife duo who also recorded
on Vanguard (again captured in exceptional
sonics) is Canadian-born Ian and Sylvia Tyson.
The rugged but plaintive austerity of their
blended voices (and the hardscrabble tales
their songs tell) give a special truthfulness to
their recordings, and the love expressed by a
girl waiting for her rodeo-riding lover to marry
her in Someday Soon (on 1964s Northern
Journey) is both so real and so fetching that
the ever-shrewd judge of musical potential
Judy Collins quickly smoothed off the rough
edges and turned it into another hit. She did
a good job with it, too, but Ian and Sylvias
original is the genuine article.
Eccentrics and Instrumentalists
Most early-60s folksingers were also, of course,
instrumental players, and almost all were
independent-minded individuals. The music
attracted countercultural types if not indeed
stubborn individualists. Still, some were more,
shall we say, unusual than others.
One such is Buffy St. Marie, a Canadianborn Cree Indian, who made her recorded
debut in 1964 on Its My Way (Vanguard), with
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performances as much dramatic enactments

as they were singing. In The Old Mans
Lament she impersonates an elderly husband
whining about his marriage to a young beauty
who favors the neighbors while hes left
rockin the cradle and its none of my own.
Her vocal inflection as she switches from the
storytellers pellucid tone to the old mans
descending wheeze is comically pitiful. More
subtle but equally effective tonal shifts
imply the tangled but mostly unspoken web
of tenderness and menace in the exchanges
between brother and sister in The Incest
Song, a medieval tale (based on an old ballad
called The Kings Daughter) of forbidden
love, betrayal, and doom. So flawless its
poetry, so rich in implication, so shimmering
in mysteryand so magnificently realized in
her performancethis song by itself ranks St.
Marie as one of the great 60s folksingers.
For the early-60s folk revival Wizards of Odd
Award I nominate the Holy Modal Rounders
Peter Stampfel and Steve Weberwhose first
two self-titled records (on Prestige) pretty
much reincarnated the old weird America
all by themselves. Pairing Webers squeaky,
tottering fiddle, bumpy banjo playing, and
squawky warble of a voice with Stampfels
off-kilter guitar and vocal lunacy, they
appropriated funny strange old songs and made
them funnier and stranger still, taking Give
the Fiddler a Dram, Same Old Man, Hot
Corn, Cold Corn, the bumptiously enthusiastic
Chevrolet Six, even the gospel number
Better Things For You, and refracting these
and many another traditional country song and
dances through a subversively cracked prism.

The subtexts of Hesitation Blues and Black
Eyed Suzie devolve into explicit lust, and
Born to Lose, a cautionary portrait of the
boozy world of riverboat gamblers and their
whores, veers off into an existential recognition
of a dazed, meaningless irreality. There are no
duds on those first two albums: every number
is endearingly and roundly Holymodalized.
Though of course many if not most good
folksingers were quite expert on their
instruments, from Robert Johnson and Blind
Blake to Gary Davis, Dave Van Ronk, and
Mark Spoelstra (among dozens more), only
occasionally did folk musicians specialize
as instrumentalists, especially considering
that they usually performed and recorded
as soloists. Early-60s exceptions already
mentioned are the instrumental-only albums
by Pete Seeger; Gary Davis also made at least
one nifty instrumental-only record.
A conspectus of notable early-60s folk
instrumental specialists might begin with
Stefan Grossman and Englishman Davy
Graham. More of an oddity was John Fahey,
who began his own label, Takoma Records, to
release his recordings, and quickly acquired
a cult following. Theres something runic
in his evocative finger-style wanderings,
curiously enhanced by the dim sonics of
his early recordings that made them sound
like missives from the distant past. Faheys
best pieces are seldom catchy or ragtimey
or showy, but instead tend to be serious and
unhurried, whether impressionist like Some
Summer Day or dark, as is The Downfall
of the Adelphi Rolling Grist Mill, a spooky

danse macabre with Faheys slashing guitar
under a soaring flute. Both these and more
of Faheys best work appear on his early-60s
album entitled, with Faheys characteristically
morbid flippancy, Death Chants, Breakdowns,
and Military Waltzes.
As multi-cultural and cosmopolitan as Fahey
was American and insular, Sandy Bulls wideranging explorations on guitar (electric as
well as acoustic), banjo, oud, and pretty much
anything else he could fret, often lengthy
improvisations with over-dubbed tracks on
several instruments, pushed his first two
Vanguard albums to the edge if not beyond
what might be termed folk music. But there
wasnt any other available category so thats
what it was filed under. His rendering of the
Triple Ballade of 14th-Century master
Guillaume de Machaut is a stunner, for many
listeners (as for me) a revelation of an utterly
new (though actually ancient) kind of music
that bypassed tonality and cadential structures
entirely, instead spinning out rhythmically
complex polyphony with harmonic clashes so
unexpected and alien they seemed hieroglyphs
from another world. From Medieval France
Bull zoomed to Brazil, with a gorgeous version
of Luiz Bonfas sensuous and luxuriously
atmospheric Manha de Carnival, thence to
a trippy improv on Chuck Berrys Memphis,
and on to one of his half-hour Asian-inspired
raga-like blends as he called them. Bull
not only anticipated much of the next halfcenturys world music, he invented some of
the best of it ever recorded.
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Top Ten New CD Releases of 2014
Music
Sonics
Arcade Fire: Reflektor. Merge.

While listening to Arcade Fires Reflektor the
first time I quickly flashed back to the Talking
Heads Remain in Light, and there was probably
some rationale behind that. Both albums
replaced a readily-identifiable sound with
something headier. More complex, layered, and
intricate than previous efforts, these records
relied upon studio tweaking plus expanded
personnel to help shape a sonic wonderland
and find a funkier groove. Remain in Light is
my favorite Talking Heads album, and likewise
Reflektor stands out for me amongst Arcade
Fire releases. The groups self-avowed artrock tendencies show up in full force, but at
the same time the band seems gutsier. Also,
theres less reliance on anthems that can
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induce monotony in less-committed listeners.

Lyrically theres a lot to soak in on Reflektor,
with songs about Eurydice, Joan of Arc, and
the afterlife testing your knowledge of things
mythological, historical, and theological. I
dont know what reflektor means here or
why Arcade Fire chooses to spell it that way.
But because Reflektor works so well for me on
a visceral levelRegin Chassagnes siren-like
vocals, the power-chord bombast of Normal
Person, and the seductive melody of You
Already Know are just a few examplesIm
already on board. Jeff Wilson
landscape (overtly on the quiet, dark thump

of Tell Heaven, more subtly elsewhere) but
sometimes she simply sounds lonesome, even a
bit confused, as in the beautiful, music box-like
(with celeste and strings) Night School. This
is a great songwriter at a new peak of intimacy
with her audience; appropriately, her producermulti-instrumentalist-husband John Leventhal
keeps the rootsy support (guitars, percussion,
selectively deployed strings, background
vocalists) understated but deeply empathetic
to the textsthe better to insure Roses liquid
voice pierces us where we live. David McGee
Further Listening: Tom Tom Club; Talking

Heads: Remain in Light
Further Listening: Rosanne Cash: Interiors

Music
Sonics
Rosanne Cash: The River & The Thread. Blue

Note.
In the five years since last we heard a batch
of original tunes from her, Rosanne Cash has
been a dutiful steward of her late fathers
legacy while turning to art both to grieve over
his passing and to assess the long shadow
he cast over her life and music. On The River
& The Thread shes probing aspects of her
southern heritage in a moving effort at selfdefinition (or re-definition). Memphis and
Mississippi figure prominently in the various
mise-en-scenes and many of the songs read
like allegories spun from an odyssey to the
far reaches of the heart with insecurities and
frailties laid bare. A pronounced, deep spiritual
yearning has planted roots in this unsettled
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in his element. Of course, the Roots, house
band for Jimmy Fallons Late Night, are used
to backing a wide range of artists. Together
and with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band on two
tracksthese artists reinterpret Costellos
past work, creating hybrids infused with added
bite. The postmodern Stick Out Your Tongue,
for example, is a mash-up of Hurry Down
Doomsday, from 1991s oft-maligned Mighty
Like a Rose, and the grim anti-fascist tome
Pills and Soap, from 1983s Punch the Clock.
The result is a brilliant set of soul, funk, jazz
ballads and hip-hop-infused pop. Best to get
is the deluxe edition, with three bonus tracks
including the surreal Beatle-esque psychedelia
of Can You Hear Me? Greg Cahill
Music
Sonics
Faur: Requiem. J.S. Bach: Partita in D

minor; Chorales. Tenebrae. LSO Chamber
Ensemble, Nigel Short. LSO Live (SACD).
years up to his own fanciful reimagining

enhanced by the brasss wild, circus-like
interludesof a legendary life in the vals
mexicano, El Corrido de Jesse James from
his 2011 album, Pull Up Some Dust and Sit
Down. Cooders guitar work is as authoritative,
impeccable, and economical as it is emotionally
resonant, and hes in solid, raspy-voiced form
throughout. In this revue-styled set, vocalists
Evans and Arnold McCuller, with an assist from
Rys searching, mournful guitar, steal the show
with a deep, gospel-drenched rendering of
Dark End of the Street. The raw, spacious,
live sonics make the experience on disc as
memorable for listeners as it surely was for the
enthusiastic audience. David McGee
Music
Further Listening: Ghost Brothers of

Darkland County; Elvis Costello: King of
America
Sonics
Faur: Requiem. J.S. Bach: Partita in D

minor; Chorales. Tenebrae. LSO Chamber
Ensemble, Nigel Short. LSO Live (SACD).
Elvis Costello and The Roots. Wise Up

Ghosts. Blue Note.
Ry Cooder & Corridos Famosos: Live in San

Francisco. Nonesuch.
Following a slump in the 90s, Elvis Costello

emerged with a string of strong if often
unorthodox albums that at times have left fans
cold (2003s underrated North, for instance).
Yet his more recent R&B-influenced projects
including his work with New Orleans great Allen
Toussaint and T-Bone Burnetthave reignited
the pop chameleons creative spark. This new,
even bolder project teams the Brit pop star with
Americas premier hip-hop band, the Roots. It
may seem an odd pairing, but Costello sounds
Returning to the Great American Music Hall,

scene of his 1977 triumph captured on record
in Show Time, Ry Cooder arrived with his
usual superb band (including son Joachim on
drums plus two notables from the 77 lineup,
Flaco Jiminez and soul vocalist Terry Evans)
supplemented by a muscular 10-piece Mexican
brass band. The tunestack is a homecoming as
well, drawing on songs ranging from his 1970
debut (a frisky Tex-Mex rendering of Woody
Guthries Do Re Mi) with stops through the
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Further Listening: Doug Sahm: Groovers

Paradise; RC: Showtime
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is alert, rhythmically pointed, and texturally
clarifying; the playing of the Royal Norwegian
Navy Band matches the level of the Eastman
Wind Ensemble of yore. The jewel box holds
audio-only Blu-Ray and SACD versions of the
original 24-bit, 352.8kHz DXD recording and,
with both formats, dynamic range and timbral
detail are exceptional. 2Ls multichannel
is characteristically immersive but all the
microphones were positioned in front of the
conductor. The rear channels dont output
direct sound, just more room ambience than
usual. The result: sonic heaven. Andrew Quint
coherent brass. The SACD is in References

Fresh! series, and thus not the work of the
venerable engineer Keith Johnson. It is, instead,
the work of the equally venerable Bostonbased Soundmirror, Inc., with a hand from the
PSOs own recordist, Howard Chambers. Five
DPA 4006s constituted the main microphone
array, which fed a Pyramix DSD workstation.
The result is a spacious yet detailed sonic
presentation that gels beautifully in stereo,
but especially in multichannel. Theres
nuance and power in equal proportions, with
exceptionally natural scaling and timbral
reproduction of both orchestral sections and
individual instruments. Andrew Quint
Music
Sonics
Dvork: Symphony 8. Pittsburgh SO, Honeck.

Reference (SACD).
Manfred Honecks recording of Dvor ks
Eighth Symphony is as satisfying as any I
know, including classic versions conducted
by Kertsz and Kubelk. This energetically
paced performance has a Brahmsian rigor but
doesnt slight the symphonys wonderfully
bucolic character. The disc is filled out with
the Symphonic Suite from Jenufa. With great
economy, the 23-minute work captures the
emotional trajectory of Janceks best-known
opera, communicating fully a sense of dread,
fear, shame, horror, andfinally, in the Suites
moving final sectionredemption through love.
The ensemble impresses with robustly unified
strings, refined woodwinds, and powerfully
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Further Listening: Strauss: Orchestral Works

(Honeck/SACD)
Further Listening: La Voie Triomphale (2L);

Circus Maximus (Naxos)
Music
Sonics
Symphonies of Wind Instruments. Royal

Norwegian Navy Band, Bergby. 2L (Blu-ray
and SACD).
The Oslo-based 2L label, the outfit that last year
gave us the sensational La Voie Triomphale, is
back with another program of symphonic wind
ensemble music. The results, musically and
sonically, are just as remarkable. This time, the
program includes four gems of the 20th century
concert band repertoireHindemiths Concert
Music for Wind Orchestra and his Symphony in
B flat, Schoenbergs Theme and Variations, and
Stravinskys succinct and pungent Symphonies
of Wind Instruments. The disc closes with a
more harmonically adventuresome but equally
idiomatic piece by Norwegian Rolf Wallin
titled Changes. Ingar Berghys conducting
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hatred from every pore. The Bulgarian soprano
Krassimira Stoyanova portrays a poised and
virtuousyet womanlyDesdemona: we can
understand why she matters so much to Otello.
The real star of the show is Muti, who attends
to every detail in Verdis most advanced score
with a profoundly expressive musicality. The
tumultuous scenes with chorus are fully under
control and the momentum towards the operas
tragic conclusion is unstoppable. The sound,
courtesy of veterans David Frost (producer)
and Richard King (engineer), is robust, with
ideal vocal/orchestral balances. And there are
some wonderful surround effects, as with the
placement of guitar and mandolin in Act 2. AQ
Music
Sonics
Further Listening: Verdi: Requiem (Muti/CSO

Resound)
Verdi: Otello. Chicago Symphony, Muti. CSO

Resound (2 SACDs).
Early Verdi is largely for the composers most
devoted admirers and you can be forgiven
if the celebrated middle period operas
Rigoletto, Il trovatore, La traviatastrike you
as too melodramatically calculated. But if you
dont like Otellowell, you dont like opera.
Riccardo Muti is surely the greatest living
proponent of the Italian operatic tradition
and he had a stellar international cast for the
concert performances that resulted in this
CSO Resound release. Singing the title role
with thrilling power is Latvian-born Aleksandrs
Antonenko, who convincingly represents
Otellos descent into murderous irrationality.
As Iago, Italian baritone Carlo Guelfi exudes
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Music
Sonics
Vijay Iyer: Mutations. ECM.

Before he moved from the San Francisco Bay
Area to New York City in 1998, Vijay Iyer had
become a key figure in the Asian-American jazz
movement, worked with influential saxophonist
Steve Coleman, earned a Ph.D. in the cognitive
science of music, and recorded the first two of
his 18 albums. But the upstate New York native,
born to immigrant Indian parents, was not yet
a household name in jazz. In the East Coast
limelight, however, Iyers career skyrocketed.
By 2004 he was named Up and Coming
Musician of the Year in the Jazz Journalists
Association Jazz Awards. Eight years later,
he won Jazz Artist of the Year, Pianist of the
Year, Jazz Album of the Year, Jazz Group of
the Year, and Rising Star Composer honors
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in DownBeats International Critics Poll. The

accolades, awards, and commissions reached
a crescendo in September 2013, when Iyer
received a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.
In January of this year, he joined the Faculty of
Arts and Sciences at Harvard University.
All thatplus collaborations with poet
Mike Ladd, trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith,
saxophonists Roscoe Mitchell, John Zorn,
Rudresh Mahanthappa, Steve Lehman, and
many others, as well as Iyers academic
and popular writings about improvisation,
mathematics, Thelonious Monk, Late Style in
Composers and Improvisers, and Embodied
Mind, Situated Cognition, and Expressive
Microtiming in African-American Musicmake
for a great story. But its practically humdrum
compared to the one Iyer tells on Mutations,
his mind-blowing debut for ECM. Of the
meticulously recorded albums thirteen tracks,
ten make up Mutations IX, a stunning suite
for piano, string quartet, and laptop, originally
commissioned and premiered by the string
quartet ETHEL in 2005. Joined by violinists
Miranda Cuckson and Michi Wiancko, violist
Kyle Armbrust, and cellist Kivie Cahn-Lipman,
Iyer plays acoustic piano and adds electronics
and sound-processing.
The hour-long journey begins with a
deceptively
mainstream-sounding,
gently
flowing, seven-and-a-half-minute piano solo that
displays Iyers command of the contemplative
thread in jazz history. Electronic textures
dull thumps and ghostly whirringaccompany
the pianos drift into the stratosphere on the
second piece. The strings enter on the next.
From track to track, Iyers compositional
strategies grow more varied and complex. The

string quartet is used alone and in settings
with computer-generated sounds and piano in
various combinations. At different points, the
players sustain ascending glissandos like the
slow takeoff of a big jet plane; they saw heavy,
striated slabs of chunky sound; they generate
tartly harmonized pulses around and between
abstract piano ruminations; and they negotiate
dynamics that range from breathlessly quiet
to robustly orchestral. The performances are
occasionally, but subtly, manipulated into eerie
echoes and drones. Gyrgy Ligeti might come
to mind in places. Or Philip Glass. Or ominous
film noir scenarios. A different portal beckons
your imagination at every turn. By the end
signaled by a thrilling, martial string climax,
followed by two lovely piano reveries, one with
electronics, one soloyoull likely find yourself
in an altered state, indelibly affected by a
multifaceted genius.
ECM has more Iyer projects in storea duo with
pianist Craig Taborn and works for small and
large ensembles. Meanwhile, Mutations will
likely hold steady as one of most significant
recordings of 2014. Derk Richardson
Further Listening: Vijay Iyer: Accelerando;

Fieldwork: Your Life Flashes
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Music
Sonics
Charlie HadenJim Hall. Impulse.

When Charlie Haden died on July 11, 2014, at age
76, the jazz world lost one of its most pivotal
acoustic bassists. The same, in relationship to
the electric guitar, should be said for Jim Hall,
who passed on December 10, 2013, at 83. Each
contributed to some of the greatest recordings
of modern jazz. Haden assisted the birth of
free jazz in the Ornette Coleman Quartet of
the late 1950s and early 60s; Hall was there
for the 1957 debut of the Jimmy Giuffre 3, the
1962 Sonny Rollins milestone The Bridge, and
the 1962 Undercurrents duo LP with pianist
Bill Evans. This meeting at the 1990 Montreal
International Jazz Festival reiterates that
Haden and Hall were masters of the duet.
Upon Hadens death, I surveyed a big sampling
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of his recordings from the past 55 years, from

1959s The Shape of Jazz to Come with Coleman
to this years duet release, Last Dance, from
2007 sessions with Keith Jarrett. No matter
whom he was playing withJohn Coltrane,
Carla Bley, Pat Metheny, Rickie Lee Jones,
Abbey Lincoln, his Liberation Music Orchestra,
his Quartet West, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, or
his gifted offspring (son Josh and triplet
daughters Rachel, Tanya, and Petra on 2008s
countrified Rambling Boy)Hadens bass lines
were unmistakable, a resonant, emotionally
pregnant pulse that coursed through any idiom
with the same stalwart equanimity. His may
have been the most identifiable voice on an
instrument that has been the vehicle of such
distinct personalities as Jimmy Blanton, Oscar
Pettiford, Charles Mingus, Scott LaFaro, Dave
Holland, and William Parker. Again, the same
goes for Hall, whose axe has been wielded
by such masters as Charlie Christian, Wes
Montgomery, Joe Pass, John McLaughlin, Larry
Coryell, Derek Bailey, and Bill Frisell (perhaps
Halls most explicit if oblique heir).
These eight songs, preserved in exquisite sonic
detailwarm and sculpted from top to bottom,
filling up huge but keenly defined aural space
are an unexpected bonanza for lovers of pure
melody, improvised harmony, and the radiant
sunset tones that these two men perfected on
their respective instruments. The repertoire
includes Thelonious Monks Bemsha Swing,
Hoagy Carmichaels and Johnny Mercers
Skylark, Body and Soul (the standard of
standards), Ornette Colemans Turnaround,
and originals from both Haden and Hall. Haden
was the deeper composer, and his pieces, First
Song and In the Moment, touch the poles of

spirituality (bordering on sentimentality) and
heady abstraction (pushing Hall into his freest
improvisations) that demarcated, but never
limited, the range of his playing. Halls two
pieces, Down from Antigua and Big Blues,
are earthier and more playful. On the first,
the guitarist paints the sky with harmonics
and then, as Haden answers him with low- and
high-register interpretations of the melody,
embarks on a voyage of syncopated, orchestral
strumming that picks up momentum and
creates surging waves upon which the bassist
occasionally bounces like a child jumping
on his bed. Glee surfaces here as if it cannot
help itself. Unrestrained joy may not be the
predominant mood of this set, but it is one of
the many signposts these two masters left us
on the path of making great music and realizing
the potential of human creativity. DR
Further Listening: Charlie Haden and Hank

Jones: Steal Away; Jim Hall and Bill Frisell:
Hemispheres
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classic Take the A Train, while Harper digs
into bar-walking mode on the earthy Blues to
Africa. Harper channels Ben Webster on his
majestic reading of Body And Soul, and the
two musical partners engage with equal parts
trust and daring on a telepathic extrapolation
of How High the Moon. Weston is at his most
buoyant and animated on Cleanhead Blues,
a tribute to the great saxophonist-vocalist
Eddie Cleanhead Vinson, and hes at his most
introspective on the starkly rubato Timbuktu.
This precious collection closes with more
powerful discourse between the two seasoned
vets on Westons African Lady. Bill Milkowski
Music
Sonics
Further Listening: RW: Earth Birth; BH:

Blueprints of Jazz,
Vol. 2
Randy Weston/Billy Harper: The Roots of

the Blues. Sunnyside.
Heres the short review on this remarkable
duets project: Two masters at play, profundity
ensues. Pianist Weston and tenor saxophonist
Harper have been colleagues since the early
70s. (Harper was a featured player on Westons
1973 large ensemble work, Tanjah, and also
on Westons acclaimed 1992 double-disc, The
Spirits of Our Ancestors.) Blues to Senegal
and Berkshire Blues, both imbued with
Westons churchy piano and Harpers bold,
highly expressive Texas tenor, are intimate
conversations between two old friends. Westons
Monkish tendencies come out on his Carnival
(title track of his 1974 album) and a herkyjerky reworking of the Ellington-Strayhorn
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posthumous release by Alice Coltrane in 1971,
but the recent rediscovery of original tapes
allows us to now hear all the material, in the
order originally recorded, for the first time.
This will no doubt appeal mainly to hard-core
fans; for most listeners the original release
will suffice. But the chance to hear every note,
complete with occasional breakdowns and a bit
of studio conversation, will delight the many
Coltrane devotees who know they will never
get enough. Duck Baker
takes of songs recorded during the Moondance

sessions but that failed to appear in any form
on the album. On Ive Been Working you can
feel the band feeding off Morrisons energy,
and theres a nice horn chart on I Shall Sing,
an Art Garfunkel single that Morrison never
previously released. With a single alternate
take of most album cuts plus three other
tracks, the two-CD set may appeal to the less
rabid fan. JW
Further Listening: Them: The Angry Young

Them; VM: Astral Weeks
Music
Sonics
Van Morrison: Moondance. Rhino.

The newly remastered Moondance comes in
three versions, the smallest a single CD of
the original album, the largest a five-CD set
that includes, along with a Blu-ray Disc of the
original album, a plethora of material recorded
during the sessions but unreleased until now.
Even Van Morrison devotees might find sifting
through fifty previously unissued tracks a bit
daunting; they may wonder if they really need
to hear eight takes of Caravan. Perhaps
they dont. Its worth mentioning, however,
that even in some of the early drafts of these
songs Morrison gives inspired performances.
It doesnt matter if he still has to shout out
instructions to his bandmateshes already
fired up, and so are they. Also, this set includes
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Further Listening: JC: One Down, One Up;

First Meditations
Music
Sonics
John Coltrane: Complete Sun Ship Session.

Mosaic (3-LP set).
John Coltrane assembled his classic quartet
with McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison
on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums by adding
and subtracting pieces in his working group
over a two-year period from 1960-62, and
then kept it intact for 3 years. The Sun Ship
session of August 1965 was among the last
and most far-reaching documents this quartet
left. The group had moved well beyond the
standards, blues, and modal tunes it began
with, as Coltrane pushed for an ever-freer
approach, and after A Love Supreme he began
thinking in terms of large pieces, of which the
individual tracks of a record were movements.
The original release of Sun Ship was edited for
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Monk at Newport. But should listeners spring
for the slightly better sound, especially when
later releases so often included bonus material
not included here, and the sound is not quite
up to the best vinyl stereo reissues? Put it
this way; this writer is happy to keep this set,
cutting loose some fancy recent reissues, and
not minding some duplications of other things,
which we all got used to years ago. But then
this writer didnt have to pay for the privilege.
Duck Baker
of War Information and a 78rpm recording of

Bob Dylan singing Guthries late 1940s publichealth warning VD City (backed by Guthries
own previously unreleased recording of The
Biggest Thing That Man Has Ever Done, an
ode to working men and women). Bill Nowlin
wrote the 60-page booklet (part of a 258-page
downloadable PDF), and the sets hardbound
portfolio is packed with previously unpublished
photos and many of Guthries own drawings.
The result is a complex portrait of a principled
folk-music icon who blazed a trail for the folk,
roots, and Americana movements. Greg Cahill
Further Listening: Miles Smiles (Speakers

Corner LP); ESP
(Impex LP)
Further Listening: ????

Music
Sonics
Music
Sonics
Woody Guthrie: American Radical

Patriot
Miles Davis: The Original Mono Recordings.

Legacy (9-CD set).
This lavish seven-disc box set gathers 85

songs plus conversations between singer/
songwriter Woody Guthrie and historian Alan
Lomax (appearing here for the first time in
their unedited form). Recorded in 1940 at the
Department of the Interior studios, these talks
find the then-youthful Guthrie, just 27, chatting
about life, music, and politics. Producer Nora
Guthrie, Woodys daughter and the keeper of his
legacy, has focused on her fathers relationship
with the U.S. government; a companion DVD
collects songs written while Woody worked
for the Bonneville Power Administration. In
addition to many of Guthries best-known songs
are World War II-era radio skits for the Office
One hesitates to encourage Columbias practice

of continually repackaging classic Miles Davis
records, since serious fans have already bought
the material long ago, in some cases many
times over. But theres no way around the fact
that these CDs sound about as good as CDs
ever do. The nine records here are those that
were originally issued in mono, and the notes do
a good job of explaining how the new transfers
were made from the originals, and give a good
overview of the rise to stardom that coincided
with the original releases. The titles involved are
all the studio recordings Miles made between
1957s Round Midnight and 1961s Someday My
Prince Will Come, plus one live record, Miles &
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playing on Bob Dylans Highway 61 Revisited
brought him to an even wider audience. This
boxed set covers all the basesexcerpts from
key Butterfield albums along with sessions
and live gigs with Dylan, Electric Flag, and
Al Kooper. But the real gems are the rarities:
early audition tapes for legendary producer
John Hammond, an instrumental take of Like
a Rolling Stone, a solo acoustic Im Glad Im
Jewish, and a Piedmont-style romp through
Darktown Strutters Ball. Bill Milkowski
yet their weighty and even mystical lyrics feel

right at home in a gospel setting. Suddenly
My Back Pages hints at spiritual rebirth
while The Mighty Quinn suggests a spiritual
allegory, and somehow even the more secular
Lay Lady Lay seems appropriate. Along with
adding a new perspective to Dylans lyrics, the
Brothers and Sisters also illuminate his gift for
creating timeless melodies. Released in 1969,
Dylans Gospel long remained under the radar;
Light in the Attic did right by bringing it to our
attention. JW
Further Listening: Michael Bloomfield: If You

Love These Blues; Super Session
Further Listening: Bob Dylan: Saved; Shot of

Love
Music
Sonics
Music
Sonics
The Brothers and Sisters: Dylans Gospel.

Light in the Attic (CD and LP).
Michael Bloomfield: From His Head to His

Heart to His Hands. Legacy.
Ever since he embarked upon a trilogy of

born-again albums that are often viewed as a
radical departure, Bob Dylan has insisted there
was always a spiritual thread to his lyrics. As
evidence, he might have cited Dylans Gospel,
an album that predated Slow Train Coming by
ten years and lent a gospel feel to his earlier
songs. Tellingly, Dylans tunes sound perfectly
natural when interpreted by a gospel choir,
even though, aside from I Shall Be Released,
the lyrics dont deal directly with spiritual
matters. When the Brothers and Sisters
interpret The Times They Are A Changing,
Chimes of Freedom, and All Along the
Watchtower, they may not seem like hymns,
This 3-CD set with DVD documentary is a fine

retrospective of the Chicago-born guitarist who
turned on a generation with his stinging B.B.
King-inspired licks in the service of the Paul
Butterfield Blues Band, Electric Flag, and Bob
Dylan. A child of privilege who had fast fingers
and brash Jewboy confidence, as he described
himself at age 15, Bloomfield immersed himself
in the blues scene on Chicagos South and
West Sides. Absorbing the music of Muddy
Waters, Buddy Guy, and others, Bloomfield
began sitting in with his idols as a teenager
and by 1965 joined the pioneering Butterfield
band which broke through the following year
with the hugely influential East-West, while his
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Music
Sonics
Johnny Winter: True to the Blues: The

Johnny Winter Story. Legacy (4 CDs).
Somehow the countless books, documentaries,
radio stations, and compilations that put
popular music under the microscope left holes
in the story. Its one thing to overlook musicians
who were ignored originally but warrant a
reappraisal. More curious are those artists
who had an impact initially but were neglected
later, like Johnny Winter. So let me just come
out and say it: once Johnny Winter started
recording albums and playing high-profile
gigs, word quickly spread that he was one of
the hottest players around. As a white blues
guitarist known for his stinging, lightning-fast
leads, he breathes the same rarified air as Mick
Taylor, Duane Allman, Eric Clapton, and Mike
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Bloomfield.
Hes also an expressive and at times
incendiary vocalist, a true blues shouter when
he wants to be. If, during the 1970s, his studio
efforts grew less consistent, enough strong
cuts appear to make the four-disc True to the
Blues: The Johnny Winter Story a welcome
compilationespecially because, after Winter
returned to his roots, he was back on his
game. And because the compilation includes a
healthy dose of live material (some previously
unissued) from places like the Fillmore East,
Woodstock, and the Atlanta International Pop
Festival, it also shows how Johnny Winter built
a reputation as a fireball in concert.
One Johnny Winter cut that belongs on every
compilation is Mean Town Blues from his
first album, The Progressive Blues Experiment.
This self-penned song is 4:28 minutes of harddriving blues rock that exemplifies what people
mean by down and out. Along with being a
classic Johnny Winter album, Second Winter
offers music fans an early audio lesson. The
decision to press a three-sided record so the
vinyl would be as loud as technically possible
taught many people that side length matters,
and the extra length also allowed Winter to cast
a wide musical spectrum, as the four anthology
cuts testify: Percy Mayfields Memory Pain,
Highway 61 Revisited, Little Richards Miss
Ann, and a JW original, Hustled Down in
Texas.
This anthology confirms that the bluesman
could also rock. Like Hendrix, in concert Winter
could slay with the most widely-covered
material (Johnny B. Goode and Jumping Jack
Flash, for examples). He also shines on Rock
and Roll Hoochie Koo and Still Alive and

Well by bandmate Rick Derringer. In concert
Derringer and Winter shared some chemistry
too, as evinced by Live Johnny Winter and the
lick-trading on a live Small Town Blues.
Like Clapton and McLaughlin, Winter is a
once-ferociously-loud guitarist who ultimately
turned down the volume, and like Clapton he
went back to his roots. When he pays tribute
to Jimmy Reed (Honest I Do) and J.B. Lenoir
(Mojo Boogie) you sense that hes back in the
drivers seat artistically. Clearly hes a blues
master, but hes equally impressive playing
the other types of music he grew up with in
Beaumont, Texas. In the end thats whats most
revelatory about this compilation. On all four
CDs the intangible been-there authenticity
with which he blends soul, R&B, early rock and
roll, and Zydeco with the blues reveals a rare
depth of artistry. True to the blues? Sureand
true to himself, too. Jeff Wilson
Further Listening: Johnny Winter: Guitar

Slinger; Third Degree
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Music
Sonics
Yes: The Studio Albums 1969-1987. Rhino (13

CDs).
Rhinos 13-CD compilation The Studio Albums
1969-1987 contains Yes first 12 studio albums
along with a generous supply of outtakes,
alternate versions, remixes, rough mixes, runthroughs, and singles. The bonus material
seems thoughtfully compiled; of particular
note is a full-length cover of Simon and
Garfunkels America that finds the British
prog-rockers in top form. Im also so fond of the
original rhythm section that I even enjoyed the
somewhat bumpy early stabs at Roundabout
and Siberian Khatru.
Even this Yes fan finds little to like in their
first two albums and believes their next LP, The
Yes Album, marked a quantum leap. Here the
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songwriting sharpened considerably, and Yes

now boasted a remarkably versatile guitarist
who excelled in a highly structured context.
Steve Howes lengthy solo on Yours Is No
Disgrace seems a strategy to show off the
new guy, and it succeeds. More transformative,
though, is his work in a supportive role (his
lad-playing* on Your Move, for instance).
During the middle section of Starship Trooper,
where Howe does some acoustic finger-picking
and sings along with Anderson and Squire, it
becomes clear that the band had traveled a
long way in the space of an album.
After Rick Wakeman joined Yes for their
fourth album, Fragile, much was made of his
gold cape, virtuosity, and classical training.
To this I would add this important attribute:
restraint. Originally Wakeman excelled at small
touches: the oscillating keyboard sounds over
Howes acoustic guitar during a quiet passage
in Roundabout, the jazzy piano interlude on
South Side of the Sky, the way his Mellotron
creeps in during Chris Squires bass solo
on Heart of the Sunrise. By leaving other
band members space and acting as more of
a colorist, Wakeman allowed an elite rhythm
section to become even better. Like Mitch
Mitchell, Ginger Baker, and Michael Shrieve, Bill
Bruford is a drummer whose affinity for jazz
influenced his approach to rock. He found a
perfect foil in Chris Squire, whose fluid, highfrequency sound took harmonic and melodic
bass-playing to new heights. Sonically Brufordera Yes albums are their own beast, the
squeaky-clean bass and drums nearly sharing
the foreground with instruments that had a
tendency to sound grainy, the grand themes
offset by a compact sound. I found the Rhino

remasters neither revelatory nor inferior (and
sometimes superior) to the standard US vinyl
pressings Ive heard, whichdue in part to a
worlds record worth of splicingnever won
awards for realism.
All the pistons were firing by their fifth
album, Close to the Edge. Everything about
Siberian KhatruHowes otherworldly steel
guitar, Andersons two-syllable vocal lines, a
passage where he sings staccato wordless
vocalssignals a band with an endless supply
of creativity. The piece de resistance, And
You and I, provides ample evidence that their
ambitionfor this was definitely a band that
aimed highhad paid off.
For the Close to the Edge tour drummer
Alan White replaced Bill Bruford at the last
minute, a situation that, considering the
musics complexity, was asking a lot. Yet
White sparked something new in the band,
galvanizing Yes in concert in a way that no
one could have predicted. One wonders, then,
why White was mostly relegated to little more
than a timekeeper for the next studio album,
Tales From Topographic Oceans. Ironically,
the record is dominated by its sharpest critic,
Rick Wakeman, whose Mellotron casts an
anesthetizing gloss over the music. I like parts
of Topographic Oceans, but I like Close to the
Edge betterand Fragile, and The Yes Album,
and Yessongs.
And Relayer. On this follow-up to the tootame Topographic Oceans two good things
happened: Alan White was let off his leash, and
Steve Howe broke out a Telecaster. Relayer
is the bands most aggressive album. Its also
their most bizarreuntil the closer, that is. Both

grounded and transcendent, To Be Over is a
sunny pop song that features what may well be
Steve Howes best solo to date.
With Going for the One Yes returned to a
simpler pop-oriented style. Sounds good in
theory, but the record often seems overworked,
self-conscious, and self-derivative. Turn of the
Century broke new ground, however, and on
the epic Awakening the thick, billowing sound
that seems incongruous with pop fare finds a
nice match.
Their next album, Tormato, was so
unimpressive its hard to deem its follow-up
Drama blasphemous. Replace two key members
with guys from a so-so New Wave band? Heck,
why not; what did Yes have to lose? In hindsight
the record comes off less as a strained attempt
at relevancy and more as an unforced return to
both the dark side of Yes (cf. South Side of the
Sky and Relayer) and a quirky pop sensibility.
Much of what follows is a band done in by a
timid streak. I heard about a Yes concert where
the band announced that because it was the
end of the tour they would only play what they
wanted. I wish they did that all the timeand
wonder, at this stage, what they would lose by
doing so. As Studio Albums makes clear, that
instinct once came quite naturally. JW
Further Listening: Moraz and Bruford: Music

for Piano and Drums; Jon and Vangelis: The
Friends of Mr. Cairo
*A lad is a plectrum-plucked chordophone from Spain. It belongs to the
cittern family of instruments and has six pairs of strings, and is traditionally
used in folk-song groups together with the guitar and the bandurria.
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songs that did. Vocally the 7" and 12" versions
of Pale Shelter that preceded the album lack
the urgency of the album cut, as is the case
with the recently re-recorded Change. As for
the original album, some Tears For Fears fans
praise the songwriting while finding the sound
too synthetic. Because drum machines tend to
make my skin crawl, I should be put off by that
as well. (Also, I generally dont gravitate toward
mopey lyrics or quintessentially eighties
music.) However, for me the strong songcraft
and inspired performances on The Hurting put
those issues to rest. JW
albums but also during the much later second

era, when recognition finally arrived but little
new material was recorded. No argument
there, but the issue of proportion arises, as
barely a third of the tracks are from the albums
that launched its legacy while more than half
are live tracks recorded after a long hiatus.
Like The Beatlesan acknowledged influence
Big Star was accomplished in the studio, and
while I envy everyone who saw either band live,
thats not what their legacies were built on.
This isnt to say, by the way, that Playlist isnt
good-to-great power pop throughout. Buy it for
the overview, then go back to the beginning.
Jeff Wilson
Further Listening: Tears For Fears: Songs

from the Big Chair
Music
Sonics
Music
Sonics
Sir Colin Davis: The Philips Years.

Decca (15-CD set)
Sir Colin Davis: The Philips Years.

Decca (15-CD set)
Tears For Fears: The Hurting. Universal (two

CDs).
Big Star: PlaylistThe Very Best of Big Star.

Legacy.
Sometimes an album is so consistent that

deluxe reissues seem especially intriguing.
Even though it was a debut album, Tears for
Fears The Hurting is just such a record. At the
heart of it is solid songwriting, a focused mood,
and a sound that fit the times. Due to those
attributes, a new 2-CD retrospective with a full
disc of B-sides and remixes would lead you to
expect some lost gems. There dont seem to
be any great discoveries, however. Here the
three B-sides of tunes that never appeared in
any form on the original record fall short of the
The cult band label incites expectations of

something remote or obscure, if not downright
off-putting to outsiders. Yet I suspect that if
you introduced the seemingly quintessential
cult band Big Star to listeners steeped in
70s rock theyd find its brand of power pop
as approachable as the musicians the group
begins to resemble (like The Raspberries,
Wings, George Harrison, and Badfinger). The
first compilation to represent all phases of the
band, Legacys new best-of assumes Big Star
was a vital force not only during its first three
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Further Listening: Big Star: #1 Record; Radio

City
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Top Ten New Vinyl Releases of 2014
Music
Sonics
James Brown: Love Power Peace. Sundazed

(3 LPs).
In 1971 James Brown recorded a concert at
the Olympia in Paris. He planned to release a
triple album of the event, and he got as far as
a test pressing before the project was shelved.
In 1992 a single CD of the show omitted some
cuts and scrambled the track order. Mastered
for the first time from the original mixdown
reels, the new vinyl release of Love Power
Peace duplicates the album James Brown
envisioned down to the mid-song side breaks
that make the listening experience unusually
choppy as well as his studio version of Who
Am I thats slipped in as if it were part of the
live performance. Odd choices initially, but
I applaud the decision to follow the original
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script, as finally a lost album has come fully to

life.
And considering the remarkable chemistry
of this band, thats no small thing. Here the
list of veteran James Brown sidemen includes
drummers John Jabo Starks and Clyde
Stubblefield, trombonist Fred Wesley, and longstanding right-hand man Bobby Byrd (who,
like Vicki Anderson, sings lead on a couple
cuts). Three essential new members were from
Cincinnati, home of King Records, where Brown
went from an unknown to an icon. Although
he was only 19, William Bootsy Collins was
already an innovator on the bass; both he and
his older brother, guitarist Phelps Catfish
Collins, were pivotal in shaping the new sound
of the group. A brilliant and innovative arranger,
David Matthews was an ideal collaborator as
James Browns music became more intricate,
complex, and mind-blowing.
An amazing lineupbut it was also shortlived and under-recorded. James Brown must
have thought something special was brewing if
he decided to release what would have been his
first-ever triple LP, and Id be hard-pressed to
disagree. By the end of the first side the band
is already crackling with an intensity that other
groups would struggle to match during their
encore. When Brown shouts encouragement
during Aint It Funky Now, you sense the
soloists being driven to new heights and feel
the electricity of a band thats completely in
synch. Although the sound isnt great, overall
it has the impact you would want from a live
album. The horns and strings seem submerged
while the vocals are sometimes too forward. On
the other hand, in spite of distant staging for
the instruments in general the drums and the

deep, dark, ominous bass lines come through
clearly, revealing the energy and intricacy of a
remarkable rhythm section.
On the high-energy material priority is given
to new songs, the older hits receiving quick
run-throughs or getting bundled into medleys.
For this superbly paced set, however, James
Brown is given all the time he needs to deliver
dramatic performances of ballads that evoke
early deep soul records on King, Federal, and
dozens of other great labels. These renditions
of Georgia on My Mind, Its a Mans Mans
Mans World, Try Me, Bewildered, and
Who Am Iall songs where James Brown
pours emotion into every linemake Love
Power Peace even more memorable. On the
last side of the record Super Bad, Get Up,
Get Into It, Get Involved, and Soul Power
return the energy level to its previous heights.
Jeff Wilson
Further Listening: James Brown: Sex

Machine; Gettin Down To It
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Music
Sonics
Live at the Happy Dog: Ensemble HD. S&W

(2 LPs).
Heres something I havent seen before: a classical
music concert recorded before a live audience
in a bar, specifically, Clevelands Happy Dogand
released as a two-LP set. On the program: eleven
pieces (or movements from them) that range from
Handel and Beethoven to Messiaen and Bolcom.
Amazingly, this cockamamie idea not only works,
it does more than that: it recreates a thrilling and
often brilliant concert (complete with audience
applause and a few spoken introductions) that
engages the listener more than I would have
thought possible, and does so without pandering
to its high-spirited (and no doubt boozed-up)
audience.
How is this possible? For one thing, the
performers who make up Ensemble HD (the letters
no doubt standing for Happy Dog though High
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Definition is also suggested), all members of the

Cleveland Orchestra, are flat-out superb. And
theyre obviously having a great time, too. The
ideal mix of finesse and verve these happy dogs
bring to the music is a joy, and its impossible to
ignore the excitement and sense of occasion that
radiates throughout this recording of confident,
bold, persuasively virtuosic one-time-only takes.
Add to that the recordings holographic detail and
transparency, tonal richness, realistic ambience,
and dynamic impact, and the only response is
to murmur, as the French say: Ah, to have been
there. Honestly its something of a miracle how
close Live at the Happy Dog comes to fulfilling
that impossible dream. (For details about the
recordings staging, miking, mastering, etc.,
see
http://ensemblehd.bandcamp.com/album/
ensemble-hd-live-at-the-happy-dog.)
Ensemble HD includes performers on flute,
oboe, violin, viola, cello, and piano, and all sorts
of combinations of these are used, whether to
play the works in their original instrumentation or
in arrangements, so theres lots of variety in the
timbres and textures on display. And despite the
rowdy setting, theres no dumbing-down on the
program. Just the opposite: it offers a splendid
mix of fine music, and the Happy Dogs patrons
respond to its many and various attractions with
the attention, enjoyment, and wonder that it
deserves.
The concert begins with the sprightly
Mozartean elegance of the two final movements of
Beethovens Serenade for Flute, Violin, and Viola,
showing Mr. B in one of his airy, pastoral moods.
Things quickly intensify with Astor Piazzollas Le
Grand Tango, for viola and piano, twelve minutes
of sultry Argentinian sighing and swaying that
builds slowly to an impassioned climax, the

dusky viola encircled by more and more fervent
musical embraces from the piano as it spins off
ever-increasing cataracts of notes. Piazzollas
music, charged with vernacular dance rhythms
and sexual electricity, works especially well here,
happier in the midst of an excited crowd than on a
sedate concert stage.
Curiously, the piece that comes next, Anton Weberns brief Movement for String Trio, three minutes of delicate pizzicatos and disjunct fragments
in unhurried, elaborate contrapuntal overlappings,
which would seem to be utterly out of place at
the Happy Dog, has a kind of hypnotic effect on
the audience. You can feel (and share) both the
players and audiences concentration on every
exquisitely-chosen note, every lapidary inflection
chiseled from silence. That this recondite music
should materialize in a bar, played with such technical aplomb and expressive shapelinessand hold
the crowd in its spellis astounding. But it does.
Much more follows. William Bolcoms piano rag,
Graceful Ghost, is a lovely, nostalgic homage to a
bygone era and genre; it comes right after Webern,
reminding us, however catchy its tunes, lilting its
rhythms, and sweetly tinted its Tiffany-shade
harmonies, that ragtime and twelve-tone music
are turn-of-the-century near-contemporaries
and that both, at their best, balance consummate
craftsmanship and carefully nuanced imagination.
One wrong note and the entire structure crumbles.
Brittens Phantasy (for oboe and string trio),
a pungent hybrid mating a perky march with
(as the title suggests) fantasy-like episodes, is
a very early work in this precocious composers
career (he was still a teenager when he wrote
it). Rhapsodic and improvisatory, Ravels Tzigane
is an old-fashioned bravura dazzler for rockstar violin and piano, with wild gypsy roulades
that build to an abruptly-truncated finale. Strong
contrast is offered by Debussys gorgeous Prelude
to the Afternoon of a Faun, the primary avatar of
dreamy, sensuous musical Impressionism, done
here in an aquamarine distillation for flute and
piano.
Worlds away in emotion and style, the final two
movements of Shostakovichs somber and bitterly
mocking Second Piano Triowritten in 1944, its
a memorial protest against the Holocausttakes
us to a much darker place, especially in the final
Dance of Death on brave but doomed Hebraic
melodies. Consolation after this heartbreaking
music comes in three concluding pieces: a seraphic cello-and-piano duo from Messiaens postapocalyptic Quartet for the End of Time; a stately
rendering of a Handel passacaglia for violin and
viola; and the gentle, otherworldly Spiegel Im
Spiegel (Mirror in Mirror) by Estonian composer
Arvo Prt, here rendered by flute, oboe, and piano.
Theres no barroom music on this ambitious
and wide-ranging program; indeed it would be
an impressive recital at Carnegie Hall or the
American Academy of Arts and Letters. I cant
help thinking that many of those in the Happy
Dogs audience came away surprised to discover
themselves being entranced by the energy, beauty,
and emotional power of music they might not
have ever really listened to beforeperhaps even,
for some, the beginning of a lifelong love affair.
Mark Lehman
Further Listening: Live at Lockenhaus

(Philips, ECM, LPs and CDs); Rubinstein:
Recital in Moscow (RCA)
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like Nobody, Jitterbug Waltz, and the jungle
jazz ditty, You Bring Out the Savage in Me,
and theres a loose, relaxed feel to much of
WomanChild, though things get tumultuous
during her self-penned title track, where the
music surges, pounding like waves. WomanChild
is one of several Mack Avenue recordings that,
along with CDs and downloads, is available on
two-LP 180-gram vinyl. Considering the deep
history of this music, that seems appropriate.
JW
Duke Ellingtons Mood Indigo and the Oscar

Levant and Edward Heyman chestnut, Blame
It on My Youth. Both performances put such
a fresh spin on these old favorites that youll
end up loving them even more. Sonically, too,
No Place to Fall is a treat. Recorded at Carriage
House Studios and engineered by Todd Burke
and Sheldon Gomberg, this intimate live-inthe-studio recording sounds as natural as
Kathleens voice. JW
Further Listening: Kathleen Grace: Sunrise;

Songbird
Further Listening: Valaida Snow: Vol. 1,

19351947
Music
Sonics
Music
Sonics
Cecle McLorin Salvant: WomanChild. Mack

Avenue (CD and LP).
Kathleen Grace: No Place to Fall. Monsoon

Records (CD and LP).
Two albums into her career Cecle McLorin

Salvant has emerged as a distinct talent. On
WomanChild the young vocalist seems equally
poised and confident singing standards, folk,
blues, originals, or early jazz songs recorded
by Bessie Smith and Valaida Snow. Salvant has
a deep voice, and when the situation warrants
she can unleash a mean vibrato that works
wonders on the old-timey numbers. In a variety
of small-group settings (piano trio mostly), she
and her band members even bring a fresh spin
to such well-known jazz standards as I Didnt
Know What Time It Was and What A Little
Moonlight Can Do or the folk perennial John
Henry. Shes marvelous on early jazz numbers
Shortly after Kathleen Grace established herself

as a jazz vocalist, country music started to lure
her away, and on her fourth album, No Place to
Fall, this stylistic turn fits her so well that there
isnt a weak cut on the album. The record kicks
off with a powerful reading of the title track,
a Townes Van Zandt composition thats a fine
vehicle for Graces soft, pure voice as well as
some sweet steel guitar by Greg Leisz. In spite
of stiff competition the three compositions
that follow stand up well against the elite cadre
of songwriters she draws from elsewhere,
Tom Waits and the Meatpuppets among them.
Further into the record she stretches the
canvas a bit, blending jazz and country on
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Thomas (granddaughter of fife legend Othar
Turner), and Lightnin Malcolm. Field recordings
of R.L. Burnside and Othar Turner also are
incorporated into these tracks. Sonically
this album wont suit everyones tasteits
electrifying lo-fi approach favors performance
over production. But World Boogie Is Coming
is a testament to the regions primitive folk
tradition, which spawned the Dickinson dynasty
and helped to fuel everything from the Allman
Brothers Southern rock to the 80s jangle-pop
revival. GC
The Accused Huntsman, Dukas Sorcerers

Apprentice, Arnolds Tam OShanter, and J.
Strauss Lucifer Polka. Mephisto & Co. may be
this series guiltiest pleasure yet, with halfspeed mastering by Paul Stubblebine using
custom Pass electronics, and discs plated and
pressed at QRP in Kansas. The sound? About
as good as it gets. Johnsons signature wide
yet natural dynamic range is fully evident,
as are rich, throaty brass, plush strings, and
deeply powerful percussion. And as befits a
true demo disc, theres depth and air aplenty.
Okay, Ill admit it: its also a whole lot of fun.
Wayne Garcia
Further Listening: R.L. Burnside: A Ass

Pocket of Whiskey; J.L. Dickinson: Im Just
Dead, Im Not Gone
Music
Sonics
Music
Sonics
North Mississippi AllStars: World Boogie Is

Coming. Songs of the South (CD and LP).
Mephisto & Co. Minnesota Orchestra, Oue.

Reference (two 200-gram 45rpm LPs).
After the 2009 death of legendary Memphis

producer and session player Jim Dickinson
(Big Star, the Replacements, Ry Cooder), his
sons Luther and Cody Dickinson gathered a
few friends for a tribute to their dad. These
roughly sculpted sessions tap a mlange of
idiosyncratic regional styles, including the raw
blues of the Mississippi hill country (revived
in the 1990s by the Fat Possum label), harddriving John Lee Hooker-style boogie, voodoolaced swamp rock, and even the fife-and-drum
idiom. The Dickinsons are joined by Robert
Plant (on harmonica), Duwayne and Garry
Burnside (sons of Fat Possum blues guitarist
R.L. Burnside), Alvin Youngblood Hart, Sharde
Reference Recordings is an audiophile enabler:

This storied label knows how to draw even
the most serious audiophile into a world
of deeply guilty pleasures. Exhibit A: RRs
ongoing Mastercuts series, which is bringing
some of Keith Johnsons recordings to LP for
the first time. In recent issues Ive reviewed
Respighis Pines of Rome, and a sampler of
bonbons called Exotic Dances from the Opera.
Both featured the same Minnesota team listed
above. Both offer good if not great music,
wonderfully performed, in spectacular sound.
Featuring Liszts Mephisto Waltz #1, SaintSens Danse Macabre, Mussorgskys Night on
Bald Mountain, Liadovs Baba Yaga, Francks
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Further Listening: Respighi: The Pines of

Rome (Minnesota, RR); Witches Brew (RCA)
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the outskirts of our metastasizing cities. What
makes his songs so memorable and moving is
the penetrating intelligence and unvarnished
truth of the people brought to life in Fulks lyrics: a suburbanite sadly admitting in Thats
Where Im From that he can neither forget nor
return to his poverty-blighted rural home; an
outsourced factory worker sourly reflecting
on his decline into the barely-surviving working poor in Where I Fell; and, most starkly,
Ill Trade You Money for Wine, a drunk whose
shiver-inducing cri de coeur fuses bleak existential dread with bitter ferocity as it builds to
a terrifying climax urged on by the furious wailing of Scheinmans fiddle. Mark Lehman
Music
Sonics
Further Listening: Pat Conte: Songs for

Fiddle and Banjo
miss it if youre not paying attention. Speed

Limit glorifies Dots driving (VERY fast,
according to Krakow), but its redux makes it
into art: Speed Limit 2 is hilariously muted
and nervous, like Dot slinking down in the seat
after passing a cop. The feedback, backwards
tape, and hard rock beat are just...nucking futs.
Then theres her glorious cover of the Skeeter
Davis hit End of the World complete with a
Beach Boys-esque a cappella break. Pure gold,
folks; pure gold. Stephen Estep
Further Listening: Florence Foster Jenkins:

The Glory (????) of the Human Voice
Music
Sonics
Robbie Fulks: Gone Away Backward.

Bloodshot (CD and LP).
Dot Wiggin Band: Ready! Get! Go!

Alternative Tentacles (CD and LP).
Sometimes country, sometimes honkytonk,

sometimes bluegrass, sometimes old-timey,
sometimes mountain-music lonely, Robbie Fulks Gone Away Backward is indeed
backward-looking, full of regrets and lost
chances; but it looks forward, too, mostly with
darkening fear and sorrow. With his twangy,
rueful voice and uncluttered accompaniment
from a crew of talented sidemen on guitar,
banjo, dobro, mandolin, and especially Jenny
Scheinmans high, lonesome fiddle with its
heartache keening and ragged drone, Fulks
channels the disillusioned, the rootless, the
downtrodden seeking anesthesia for their pain
who populate our decaying small towns and
How did I get myself into this? How do you

review the second coming of The Shaggs? Yep,
Dot Wiggin was one of the original Shaggs,
and Jesse Krakow, who organized a tribute
concert to them, got old lyrics from her, set
them to music, wrote the arrangements, then
cajoled her into singing again. It made my wife
leave the room. It made me want to lick the
stairs. And Im no stranger to the best in awful
music, now euphemistically called outsider
art. While theres a backdrop of maturity (it
has been 44 years since Philosophy of the
World, after all), theres still the innocence of
phrasing. The post-breakup picker-upper Boo
Hoo is so civil of a revenge song, you might
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Music
Sonics
Valentina Lisitsa Plays Liszt. Decca (LP and

CD).
Music
Sonics
Beethoven, Liszt, Thalberg, Schumann.

Valentina Lisitsa. Naxos.
Try this for a fairy tale: a Kiev-born child piano
prodigy wins a duo-piano competition with
her Russian fianc and they move to America
to launch their careers as duo-pianists.
Unsuccessful together or separately, he moves
into real estate while she supplements their
income by selling Sunbeam mixers on eBay.
Eventually she uses YouTube and other social
media to kick start a solo career, uploading
her DVD of the 24 Chopin Nocturnes, which
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skyrockets to number one on Amazon. Her

many videos soon get more than 60 million
hits and she acquires over a hundred thousand
YouTube subscribers. The couple mortgage
their house to finance an integral recording
of the complete Rachmaninoff for piano and
orchestra with the London Symphony (Norman
Lebrecht, no pushover, calls it the most
compelling . . . since Ashkenazys). Before long,
she has an international career, a contract with
Decca, and is in demand everywhere. Though
at 44 shes still got looks and body for the glam
shots and a personality with charm to burn, she
needs neither because shes actually gooda
bona-fide sensation, in fact, with technique
second to none and a lot to say.
Im talking about Valentina Lisitsa, who
once again defies convention by releasing
and all-Liszt recital on CD and vinyl but with a
difference: the vinyl originates in analog tape,
each piece presented unedited. But whether
edited or not, hers is always real caution-to-the
winds music-making of flawless technique and
great imagination. The Second Ballade and the
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12 bracket Liszts free
adaptations of melodies by Verdi, Schubert,
and Bach. As the end of the Rhapsody
demonstrates, theres a quality to her virtuosity
that smacks not of egotism but of the need to
push herself just because she can. Ive rarely
heard anyone make the keyboard explode with
the ferocity and power of this woman, yet never
does it sound like mere banging or showing
offinstead, as if shes testing the limits of self,
of instrument, and of the music. But its not
all about strength and loudness eithershes
capable of a poets intimacy with a real lyric

impulse, as the Ballade readily demonstrates.
The Naxos CD displays her intelligence for
programming, going from the Appassionata,
one of the Beethovens most forward-looking
pieces, through Schumanns Kinderszenen
and Thalbergs Rossini pastiche, concluding
with Liszts equally forward-looking Totentanz:
a journey from radical classicism to radical
romanticism. The Liszt is stupendous in every
sense of the word, the coda crushing in its sheer
force, while the Beethoven is made to sound
as if it were influenced by Liszt. A distortion?
Perhaps: but powerfully illuminating as only a
very gifted musician can manage.
Sonics on the Naxos are clean, clear, and
dynamic, nicely mixing detail and ambience,
those on the Decca big, warm, and reverberant,
with bass notable more for richness and
impressive scale than for definition. Heavy
vinyl, but surfaces not consistently quiet (an
expanded version of the same recital is on
Decca CD). There is no pianist whose next
recording I anticipate more eagerly than
Lisitsas. Paul Seydor
Further Listening: Valentina Lisitsa:

Rachmaninoff Concertos (Decca); Ives
sonatas, with Hilary Hahn (DG)
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articulated, as when Robbie Robertson slips
in one sweet lick after another on Pledging
My Time, Leopard Skin Pill-Box Hat, and
Obviously Five Believers. You hear this on
other vinyl pressings but in less detail; here Im
more conscious of his warm tone and intricate
phrasing. Im a fan anyway, for many reasons,
but this Mo-Fi has deepened my appreciation
of Robbie and for that matter the whole band,
including the guy behind the mike. So Im
putting the Mo-Fi on my A shelfright next to
my original pressing. JW
Bakersfield takes full advantage of that. The

high point has to be Together Again, where
Gill stretches and melts the vocal line perfectly,
and Franklin turns his better-than-average fills
into a Dali-esque solo. Two or even three lines
bend and flex, parting, wandering, rejoining,
and sinuously complementing each other.
The LP sounds great, and the Cracker Barrel
restaurant chain has put out a deluxe CD with
four extra songs they coaxed Gill and Franklin
back into the studio to do (crackerbarrel.com).
Steve Estep
Further Listening: Bob Dylan/The Band: The

Basement Tapes
Further Listening: Dwight Yoakam: Dwight

Sings Buck
Music
Music
Sonics
Vince Gill & Paul Franklin:

Bakersfield. MCA Nashville (CD and LP).
Vince Gill is a great traditional-country singer,
but an affinity for the songs of Merle Haggard
and Buck Owens wasnt a well-known aspect
of his musical personality, making this an
unexpected and refreshing surprise, a fine
album of some of the West Coasts best country
songs. Gill gives Owens and Haggard some
subtle nods with his singing, but his phrasing
is still 100% his own. Paul Franklins mastery of
the steel guitar improves the lyrically weaker
Holding Things Together and The Fightin
Side of Me, and Gill provides some outstanding
guitar work of his own. The phrasing of
country music has always left ample room for
instrumental commentary on the words, and
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Sonics
Bob Dylan: Blonde on Blonde. Mobile Fidelity

(Three 45rpm-LP box-set).
Ive known music fans bitten by the audiophile
bug who start collecting high-quality reissues
but then, convinced reassessments distort
by revealing too much, go original-only. Were
I to sing from that hymnal, Blonde on Blonde
might be my centerpiece. It is, after all, sacred
ground, and partly because, in the recording
studio, the baffles were removed to allow more
bleed-through for a more blended sound, it has
original analog vinyl written all over it. However,
I also love the Mobile Fidelity Blonde on Blonde.
Here the lines are less blurred, revealing more
clearly the chemistry and communication
of a band thats locked into Dylan and each
other. Individual contributions are also more
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Top Ten Vinyl Reissues of 2014
Music
Sonics
Led Zeppelin. Atlantic/Rhino (LP).

Music
Sonics
Led Zeppelin II. Atlantic/Rhino (LP).

Music
Sonics
Led Zeppelin III. Atlantic/Rhino (LP).

Like a lightning bolt hurled from on high by the
ancient rock godsthats how Led Zeppelins
eponymous 1969 debut arrived on the pop
scene. With its thunderous blues-based British
rock, a crunchy guitar tone that sounded like it
had been forged by Odin himself, a caterwauling
vocalist, a rumbling rhythm section, and studio
production that ranked among the eras best,
Led Zeppelin set a high standard in the recording
world. The success of the two follow-up albums
firmly established the bandguitarist Jimmy
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Page, vocalist Robert Plant, bassist John Paul

Jones, and drummer John Bonhamas the kings
of album rock. All three albums, out of print
domestically in the vinyl format for seven years,
were produced by Page.
Rhinos just-released expanded deluxe LP
editionsnewly remastered by engineer John
Davis, who also oversaw the bands 2007 digital
remasters, the 2007 Mothership compilation, and
the Celebration Day reunion concert soundtrack,
also released that yeardeliver beefed-up,
ready-for-Spotify sonics, alternate mixes, and
previously unreleased tracks. If youre in the
music business, every few years, you need to
reassess how your music is being heard, Page
said at a recent press conference, explaining that
the advent of digital downstreams and hi-def
audio necessitated revisiting the catalog. These
three initial releases are the first of nine expanded
editions that will be issued chronologically in a
series of installments over the next year.

Each of these double-LP versions offers the
original studio album on one disc and a second
disc of rarities. The expanded edition of Led
Zeppelin, one of the first to be released only in
stereo, has an additional eight concert tracks
recorded in 1969 at the Olympia Theatre in Paris
(performing songs from both the first and second
albums). Led Zeppelin II offers eight new rough
mixes and includes the previously unreleased
La La. Led Zeppelin III also has eight bonus
tracks, three of which are previously unreleased:
the instrumental Bathroom Sound (a rough
mix of Out on the Tiles), the oft-bootlegged
instrumental Jennings Farm Blues (an early,
electrified version of Bron-Y-Aur-Stomp), and
an acoustic-blues medley of The Key to the
Highway/Trouble in Mind).
Overall, these new recordings have a wideopen, lively soundstage. Sometimes thats
awesome, other times, not so much. For instance,
the B-3 organ in the introduction to Good Times,
Bad Times, from the 1969 debut, is stellar when
compared to an older pressing from the 94. But
theres a harshness on the highs when listening
to You Shook Me, from the same new album
perhaps just a limitation of the original source
material. In that latter case, the difference
between the old and new is stark: the older LP has
deep, full bass that while not as tightly focused
as the remaster, delivers a lot of bottom. To my
ears, the older album has the kind of warmth
many vinyl buyers find missing in digital formats.
That said, the digital version of this remaster
sounds great when streamed to my NAD stereo
with KEF LS50s via Airplay or when played on an
iPod on my car stereo.

Led Zeppelin II and III fare much better on vinyl.
In some cases, the sonic differences between the
2007 remasters and these new versions are quite
noticeable, especially in the amount of detail
in the acoustic instrumentation and the tighter
bass (a real plus on the bass-heavy mixes found
on Led Zeppelin II).
In addition to the double-LP treatment, fans
have a chance to hear these new remasters in
a variety of formats and packages: the Super
Deluxe Edition Box includes a remastered album
on CD in a vinyl replica sleeve; companion
audio in a new sleeve and on 180-gram vinyl; a
code to download hi-def 96kHz/24-bit audio; a
hardbound, 72-page book; a high-quality print
of the original album cover (the first 30,000 of
which will be numbered); and a replica of the
bands first Atlantic press release.
There also is a two-CD deluxe edition that
mirrors the deluxe LP edition; a single CD
version of the albums (Led Zeppelin III includes
the die-cut holes and illustrated wheel from the
original album sleeve); a single album version
on 180-gram vinyl; and digital downloads of the
remastered original studio recordings and the
bonus outtakes.
If you dont have Zep on vinyl, these remasters
are a definite bargainunless you can afford to
spring $200$300 for each title in the out-ofprint Classic Records catalog (on 200-gram
vinyl). If youre a completist, well, what are you
waiting for? Greg Cahill
Further Listening: Led Zeppelin: complete

recordings (Classic Records Quiex editions)
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Music
Sonics
Shaw may have been the perfect trumpeter.

Saxophonist Shafi Hadi (aka Curtis Porter) is
wonderful here, and pianist Bill Triglia exceeded
himself, as sidemen so often did with Mingus
over the years. Later reissues added many
alternate takes, and cleaned up an edit or two,
but while these are vital to Mingus specialists,
his vision is probably rendered in its clearest
form in the original version. Especially when it
is rendered on 180-gram vinyl as it is here, and
packaged with the original artwork, so daring
in its day, so incorrect in ours.Duck Baker
while Turning Point is a funny, childlike ditty.

Mastered by Bernie Grundman and pressed at
RTI, this 45rpm reissue is outstanding (though
I have no original for comparison). If not a wow
em type of audiophile recording, the sound
nevertheless has excellent clarity and balance,
exhibits a lovely purity of instrumental tones
and textures, and has a nice dynamic punch and
vibrancy. Simones voice is slightly highlighted,
and very well captured. By the way, the original
was a Dynagroove pressing. As Simone herself
once sang, nuff said! Wayne Garcia
Further Listening: Charles Mingus: East

Coasting; Oh, Yeah!
Further Listening: Nina Simone: Sings The

Blues; Four Women
Music
Sonics
Charles Mingus: Tijuana Moods. Speakers

Corner (LP).
Nina Simone: Silk & Soul. ORG (two 45rpm

LPs).
When Charles Mingus recorded Tijuana

Moods in July 1957 he was really hitting his
stride. The previous year saw the release of
Pithecanthropus Erectus and The Clown for
Atlantic, and by the end of 1957 he would
produce two more masterpieces for the
Bethlehem label.For some reason, RCA chose
not to release Tijuana Moods until 1962, at
which time the mercurial bassist declared it his
best record. Certainly it is among his greatest,
a musical impression of a border-town spree by
Mingus and drummer Danny Richmond, brought
to life by musicians who truly understood what
the composer wanted. Jimmy Knepper was the
perfect trombonist for this band, and Clarence
Released in 1967, Silk & Soul was Nina Simones

follow-up to her RCA debut, Nina Simone Sings
the Blues. As with most of this remarkable
musicians records, the mix of songs here is a
highly eclectic blend of blues, soul, and pop,
with a few civil rights-related themes Simone
was known for. One of these, the gospel-tinged
Love o Love, in which Simone accompanies
herself on piano, is arguably the albums
highlight. TAS readers will be interested to hear
Simones take on The Look of Love, a sultry
yet buoyant interpretation, while Cherish is
another beautifully rendered pop classic. Go
To Hell is a smoking R&B number that lost
its Grammy to Aretha Franklins Respect,
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Music
Sonics
Fleetwood Mac: 1969 to 1972. Rhino (4 LPs +

one 45rpm 7-inch disc).
For its first two albums Fleetwood Mac was
a straight blues band. Many records later,
after endless shifting of personnel, the Mac
transformed into a pop music juggernaut.
Critically and commercially these two phases
were high points for the band. The in-between
period has been less celebrated; instead of
judging the music on its own merits, we tend to
focus on how it planted the seeds for the future
Fleetwood Mac. Heres a chance to rectify that:
Rhinos new vinyl box set Fleetwood Mac: 1969
to 1972 contains the first four albums from the
bands middle period. It captures Fleetwood
Mac at its most restless, when musicians
drifted in and out of (and back into) the group so
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frequently that predicting what the next album

would sound likeor even the next songwas
pointless. In such a wide-open environment, of
course, it helps to have talent, and there was
no shortage of that. This period marks the end
of founding members Peter Green and Jeremy
Spencer and the beginning for Bob Welch and
Christine McVie. The one songwriting constant
on all four albums is Danny Kirwan.
On Then Play On founding member Peter
Green and Danny Kirwan run neck to neck
when it comes to creating mean, nasty blues
songs with sizzling guitar licks. Both musicians
benefit from Mick Fleetwoods versatile
percussion work: the tribal beat on Kirwans
Comin Your Way has a nice earthy feel, and
the tambourine on Greens Show Biz Blues
conjures up a church revival. If you like the raw,
primitive sound of early Black Keys, consider
Then Play On required listening. Listening to
Greens Closing My Eyes and Before the
Beginning and Kirwans Without You, its
also apparent that both artists were capable
of delivering haunting, heart-wrenching songs
with remarkable sensitivity. They may not have
been soulmates, but its uncanny how much
their musical sensibilities overlapped.
When Fleetwood Mac next entered the
studio, what once was a blues band became a
roots rock groupfor one album, that is. With
Kirwan and the re-enlisted Jeremy Spencer
up front, the Mac created a record that invites
comparisons to Moondog Matinee and Exile on
Main Street. Much of Kiln House is a playful nod
to early rockers like Buddy Holly and Elvis, but a
sweeter side emerges on Side B, with a dreamy
Kirwan instrumental (Earl Gray), Spencers
touching One Together, and a warm cover of

the Donnie Brooks single Mission Bell.
And then, for two records, a stable lineup
featuring three songwriters: Kirwan again,
along with newcomers Bob Welch and Christine
McVie. A mellow California-rock sound
emerged, and we tend to view these records
as laying the groundwork for Fleetwood Mac
and Rumours. I prefer Future Games and Bare
Trees, however. Though the Buckingham-NicksMcVie era boasts extremely well-crafted, ultracatchy pop songs with pristine engineering, the
Kirwan-Welch-McVie LPs also have no shortage
of hooks, and to me Future Games and Bare
Trees seem more engaging both musically and
sonically. The lacquers for the new Rhino box
set were cut at Bernie Grundman Mastering,
and these 140-gram platters sound cleaner
and more vivid than early American pressings
without losing their analog warmth. Jeff Wilson
Further Listening: Fleetwood Mac: Mystery

to Me; The Band: Moondog Matinee
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remastered by Bernie Grundman, this two-disc
45rpm ORG reissue must rank as one of Evans
finest-sounding dates. Expansive yet warmly
intimate, it has layers and layers of beautiful
instrumental tones and textures, from the
impressionistic palette of colors in Evans
brilliantly subtle playing, to the plucky lilt of
Chuck Israels bass, to the brush and stick
work of Larry Bunkers tasteful drumming. Its
like basking in the morning sun. Dynamics, too,
though naturally not especially wide, capture
the lovely interplay of this fine trio. Strongly
recommended. Wayne Garcia
Chris Bellman has delivered an outstanding

reissue of this pivotal LP that features the last
of Davis acoustic groups. Compared to my
original Columbia pressing, which sounds very
good, theres a greater sense of immediacy
check out Williams beautifully textured drum
intro to Agitation, followed by Davis muted
horn, given more subtle as well more explosive
dynamics, and a finer sense of instrumental
detail, body, and texture. On Iris, Shorter
steals the show, and Mood, with Miles at his
most rarified, inward, and lapidary, is like an
intimate conversation between close friends.
Wayne Garcia
Further Listening: BE (with Cannonball

Adderley): Know What I Mean?
Music
Sonics
Bill Evans Trio: Trio 65. ORG (two 45rpm

LPs).
By the mid-60s Bill Evans heroin addiction
was taking a toll on his music, which went
through a rocky, uneven period. But Trio 65
is a gem. With his working band of the time,
Chuck Israels, bass, and Larry Bunker, drums,
Evans took the occasion to re-record some of
his favorite tunes penned by others. Among
them, Round Midnight, Our Love is Here to
Stay, Come Rain, Come Shine, Israel, If
You Could See Me Now, and How My Heart
Sings. The results show a remarkable synergy
among these musicians, arguably the finest
Evans achieved since his famed 1961 Village
Vanguard dates, and the death of bassist Scott
LaFaro. Recorded by Rudy Van Gelder and
previous page
Music
Sonics
Further Listening: Herbie Hancock: Maiden

Voyage; Miles Davis: Miles Ahead
Miles Davis: E.S.P. Impex (LP).

When Miles Davis lured tenor saxophonist
Wayne Shorter from Art Blakeys band in late
1964 he created his second great quintet.
Shorter would become the bands most prolific
composer, and alongside pianist Herbie Hancock,
bassist Ron Carter, and Davison drums the
brilliant Tony Williamshere was a remarkable
compositional force: one showcased on 1965s,
modal-themed E.S.P. The opening title track
illustrates the records uneven sonicsinitially
a bit cool and lean, but nevertheless nimble and
with fine delineation. As Impexs note states,
the LP really takes off musically and sonically
on the second side, which boasts richer,
more cohesive sound. Employing an all-tube
mastering chain at Bernie Grundmans facility,
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Music
Sonics
Lula Reed: Blue and Moody. Sundazed (LP).

Music
Sonics
Albert King: The Big Blues. Sundazed (LP).

Theres never been another label like King
Records. Somehow the Cincinnati-based
record company achieved major-label status
at the same time that it embodied all the
capricousness of a small independent label for
reasons that had much to do with the caprices
of its founder and owner. Syd Nathan wont be
remembered for his passion for music; instead
we know him as a guy who liked to make a buck,
and his indifference to what style was recorded
as long as he deemed it market-worthy paved
the way for a wildly unpredictable discography.
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Ultimately all the styles we associate with

King were (in the deepest sense of the term)
folk music; whether it was soul, rhythm and
blues, funk, blues, country, or bluegrass, what
distinguished the music was a real quality
that listeners could sense in a heartbeat. Along
with the best-sellers, King and its subsidiaries
released a plethora of lesser-known 45s, 78s,
and LPs that are just as good. So the fact that
Sundazed has now released two lesser-known
gems on 180-gram vinyl mastered from the
original tapes and pressed at RTI is cause for
celebration. The Lula Reed album is the only
one she ever released. The Albert King is his
first LP and his only full-length King recording.
Both records are testaments to a time when
blues, R&B, rock and roll, jump blues, and
gospel all blended together to make timeless
music.
Lula Reeds 1958 Blue and Moody boasts a
classic R&B sound, strong arrangements, and
a voice so soulful you can understand why
Sonny Thompson chose Reed to front his band
after a competition where 50 singers vied for
the role. The album is a compilation of singles
that benefited from strong songwriting by
long-term King multi-taskers Sonny Thompson
and Henry Glover. Lula Reed proves herself
a master of slow, late-night, done-me-wrong
songs like My Poor Heart, Lets Call It a
Day, and Ill Drown in My Own Tears, a Sonny
Thompson number that later became a hit for
Ray Charles. Sly and sultry when she wanted
to be, Reed had some swagger in her (Sample
Men, Every Second) and some sauciness too
(Three Men, Last Night), and she wasnt
afraid to demand some R-E-S-P-E-C-T from the

opposite sex (Watch Dog, Bump on a Log).
If you think youve heard all the great R&B
singers and you havent heard Lula Reed, check
out Blue and Moody.
Albert Kings 1962 release The Big Blues
is a compilation of earlier recordings on King
and Bobbin. Already the pieces were all there:
mean guitar licks, a commanding voice, and
solid songwriting, as King penned most of the
album, including his major hit, Dont You Throw
Your Love on Me So Strong. Other highlights
include the clever Sonny Thompson number,
Had You Told It Like It Was (It Wouldnt Be Like
It Is), and the take-no-prisoners opener, Lets
Have a Natural Ball. In case you didnt get
enough guitar elsewhere, King ends each side
with uptempo instrumentals that include some
fiery sax. Both the King and Reed titles sold
modestly and originals now fetch a high price,
making these reissues on thick, quiet platters
especially welcome. Jeff Wilson
Further Listening: Freddy King: Goes Surfin;

Gives You a Bonanza of Instrumentals
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Gerry Mulligan pioneered this approach in the
early 1950s with Chet Baker, and returned to
it frequently throughout his career. Among
his most engaging frontline partners in this
endeavor was the lyrical altoist, Paul Desmond.
The aptly titled Two Of A Mind was the fourth
collaboration by the pair, and its terrific. Both
saxophonists are in fine form as soloists,
though someone seems to have forgotten to
remind Mulligan that he was not supposed to be
a hot player, and they really spur each other
on in the collectively improvised choruses that
highlight every track.Duck Baker
Heath as well as drummer Connie Kay. But this

record was the only collaboration with Tyner,
which is a shame because they work together
beautifully. The program is weighted towards
originals by band members, and only two
tracks exceed four minutes; plainly Limelight
was hoping for airplay. It didnt get much, but
certainly could have. This is a great jazz record
that could make an excellent introduction for
neophytes. DB
Further Listening: Milt Jackson & Wes

Montgomery: Bags Meets Wes; Milt Jackson
& John Coltrane: Bags Meets Trane
Further Listening: Desmond Blue; Gerry

Mulligan Quartet
Music
Sonics
Music
Sonics
Paul Desmond/Gerry Mulligan: Two Of A

Mind. Speakers Corner (LP).
Milt Jackson: In A New Setting. Speakers

Corner (LP).
Once bebop had established a beachhead for

modern jazz in jazz history, the next two waves
were divided between the hard boppers and
cool schoolers, the former being generally
considered the hard-swinging extroverts
and the latter the more cerebral introverts.
Generally the free jazz revolutionaries that
followed took their cues from the hard boppers,
but they did appropriate two important coolschool innovations: the jettisoning of a chordal
instrument in the rhythm section, and the use
of contrapuntal improvisation by two horns in
such a quartet. These go hand-in-hand, since
its the open sonic space that leaves room for
the horns to run loose. Baritone saxophonist
The last time In A New Setting was reissued,

in 1999 (on CD), reviewers lamented the
impossibility of reproducing the lavish design
of the gatefold LP cover and that the sound
had been compromised owing to deterioration
of the master tapes. I never found either of
those failings to be all that serious, but all
will welcome Speakers Corners restoration of
the record to its former glory. It would take a
careful comparison with an original pressing to
say whether its quite a perfect restoration, but
theres no doubt it sounds much better than the
CD. The new setting refers to the presence
of pianist McCoy Tyner; by 1964, Jackson had
a long shared history with tenorman Jimmy
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Top Ten Pop/Rock/Jazz High-Res Downloads of 2014

The Clash
The arc of the Clashs discography bears a
striking resemblance to that of another highly
experimental band: The Beatles. Consequently,
the Clashs first studio album serves much
the same role as, for example, The Beatles
Live at the BBC. Neither album is one youre
likely to play repeatedly, nor will either reveal
hidden depths over time. Rather, knowing
what we do now about what was to come, both
albums are primarily of historical interest.
The Clash showcases a raw, undeveloped band
whose final lineup was not yet set, and whose
ultimate potential is only hinted at. Far from
exploring new terrain, which was to become the
groups hallmark, The Clash rarely veers from
standard slash and burn punk: guitar-fueled
instrumentation, bitter sensibilities, and a brisk
4/4 tempo. There are flashes, albeit brief, of the
strong melodic talent that would later surface,
as well as of the groups facility with reggae.
I dont mean to diminish The Clashs
significance as a peek into a historically
significant bands formative period, just as I
would not belittle Live at the BBC. But in marking
the Clashs catalog being released in high-res,
we have the luxury of picking and choosing
which releases to buy in this new format. The
Clash doesnt really foreshadow what the band
would become. And while it succeeds as a punk
album, that genre in its purest formas it is
herenever delivered much in the way of longterm satisfaction. For these reasons, I wouldnt
recommend The Clash over other Clash albums
any more than Id recommend Live at the BBC
over pretty much any other Beatles album.
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The recording, at least as reflected in the

2000 digitally-remastered CD, is abysmal.
Instruments and vocals all sound like they are
emanating from a tin can; no highs, no lows, no
dynamics. I purposely used the singular form
of can in the previous sentence, because
most tracks have so little stereo separation
they might as well have been mixed in mono.
Overall the sound is as monochromatic as the
emotional range of these songs. Given this
baseline, its surprising how much better the
HDtracks download sounds. This will never be
anyones demo disc, but the download at least
banishes the tin can phenomenon. There
are hints of highs (but not lows), a side-toside soundstage (but not depth), and rhythms
are more convincing. Tonally, though, this is
still a threadbare recording and the 96/24
version cant fix that. Nonetheless, for Clash
completists, the download is definitely the
version to get.
Michael Jackson: Thriller. HDtracks (88/24,

176/24); SuperHiRez.com (96/24, DSD)
After being so mellowed out by listening to
a half dozen versions of Stan Getz that I felt
like a marshmallow, it was a delight to turn
to Michael Jacksons Thriller. It probably
goes without saying that the root recording
doesnt hold a candle to the Getz album.
Thriller is prototypical of the highly polished,
multi-tracked, predominantly electronic pop
recording. There is no reference of a right
sound here (well, unless youre Quincy Jones).
The original 1982 CD is surprisingly wan
tonally, with dynamics that are unsurprisingly
compressed. The effort is saved by the power

of the music, performance, and production
(although some passages are by now winceinducingly campy). Once again the collector
is confronted with many choices, even within
the lowly CD format. Besides the original, I also
had on hand the 2001 Special Edition, which
contains additional tracks and was remastered
by the estimable Bernie Grundman. Aside from
being louder and brighter than the CD, neither
of which are pluses, there is not much to say
about this version.
Both SHR and HDtracks have expanded the
digital collectors options with recent releases.
Interestingly, no two share the same resolution.
HDtracks has added a 176/24 version to
complement its standing 88/24 offering, while
SHR has just weighed in at 96/24 and DSD.
I cant say the HDtracks 88/24 version
does much for me. Its compression extends
beyond dynamics into spatiality, which feels
claustrophobic. Furthermore, this version
obscures plenty of Quincy Jones small, clever
musical details. The new 176/24 download is
far better. Here, the soundstage opens up and
the music has space to breathe. Dynamics have
more jump and theres a lot less digital edge.
The difference between the sound of Jacksons
vocals on these two versions is nothing short
of stark.
From the first note, its obvious that SHRs
96/24 release is mastered at a way higher level
than either HDtracks version. Goosed levels
are never a good sign, since they augur clipped
waveforms. Sure enough, on this version the
music just plods along, all life having been
squeezed out. Digititis is harsh enough to be

off-putting; rare for a 96/24 download.
The SHR DSD file thankfully restores volume
to sane levels and banishes the digititis.
Unfortunately, these benefits are undermined
by monodynamics and a rolled-off top end that,
once again, leads to cabin fever. The HDtracks
176/24 download smokes this oneand all
othersand is highly recommended.
Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto: Getz and

Gilberto. HDtracks (96/24, 192/24);
SuperHiRez.com (96/24, 192/24, DSD)
Most audiophiles already have some form of
this album on their shelfand for good reason.
Few recordings are capable of this level of
right there-ness. To prepare for the marathon
listening session before mewhat with all the
download versions suddenly popping up on
both SuperHiRez.com and HDtracksI revisited
the superb SACD. On this version, every
instrument, from the self-effacing string bass
to the front-and-center sax, and everything in
between, sounds natural and lifelike. Vocals
are no exception. The music, of course, is well
known, led by the unlikely mid-60s smash hit,
The Girl from Ipanema. I found the albums
relaxed vibe a soothing balm in todays troubled
world.
Compared to the SACD, the CD loses the
lovely lightness, and both instruments and
voices are noticeably more opaque. Overall,
despite the sax still sounding wonderfully
spitty, the CDs realism factor is significantly
lower than that of the SACDs. So how do these
new downloads compare?
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Lets start with the lowest resolution versions.
Both SHR and HDtracks offer 96/24 files. The
SHR version is a nice, clean, quiet transfer that
makes for a relaxed listen in a way the CD does
not. Vocals and instruments, especially the
acoustic guitar, once again sound convincingif
not quite as open (either spatially or tonally) as
the SACD. The 96/24 from HDtracks is far more
satisfying. It has a much wider soundstage than
the SHR version, and bass comes through more
clearly, too. While not quite as transparent
as the higher-res versions (see below), this
download is nonetheless a solid option.
Moving on up in terms of resolution, SHRs
192/24 file crosses an invisible threshold
hard to describe but, as they say, you know it
when you hear itinto the highly-sought realm
of sounding right there. Several elements
contribute to this effect. One is tighter bass,
which makes it more easily heard without overemphasis. Another is that edges that arent
supposed to be rough, but sometimes are
at lower resolutions, here receive a lustrous
polishing.
I expected HDtracks 192/24 download to
sound identical to the SHR version, and indeed
they are very close. However, I couldnt shake
the feeling that the HDtracks version had a
skosh more noise. I went back and forth several
times, and in the end I confirmed this impression. Ultimately, the SHRs quiet background
and unruffled edges gives it an advantage over
the HDtracks at this resolution, but just barely.
But wait, theres more! SHR also offers a
DSD download! I like this one the best. The DSD
version preserves the best of the SHR 192/24
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release, and adds a full dose of the openness I

had previously heard only in the SACD. So if you
have a DSD-capable DAC, this is the version to
get. Otherwise, you can scarcely go wrong with
the SHR 192/24.
Rickie Lee Jones: Traffic from Paradise. (DSD

and 176/24) SuperHiRez.com.
Rickie Lee Jones 1979 eponymous debut
album introduced the world to a quirky,
singular, and immense talent. That release had
enough melodic hooks and bebop rhythms to
reach number three on the pop charts and to
field a radio hit, the contagious Chuck E.s
in Love. But with each subsequent release
Jones moved further away from radio-ready
fare, and by the time she recorded Traffic from
Paradise in 1993, she clearly was working to
please only her core audience. Like much of
Jones output in that era, is an uneven affair.
But the album has many brilliant moments
from the incandescent A Strangers Car to
the uplifting Jolie Jolieand richly deserves

your attention.
Traffic has always been an excellent
recording. Indeed, listening to the CD layer of
the Analogue Productions hybrid CD/SACD
disc, you might well feel that no improvement
is possible. Jones voice is palpable, and
otherwise the sound is clear and true. However,
deeper listening reveals the vocal glare that
is nearly unavoidable on CD. The SuperHiRez
176/24 FLAC file handily dispenses with that
glare, but in every other respect fails to match
the AP discs CD layer. The FLAC version loses
some of the wonderful sense of life and intimacy
that imbues the AP CD. Thats a surprising
result, but here is an even more surprising
one: the DSD version is even more timid and
restrainedboth tonally and dynamicallythan
the FLAC. (At least that is the case through
both the CH Precision C1 DAC/Pre and the dCS
Scarlatti. Other DACs may favor DSD; that has
yet to be determined.)
So, does anything sound better than that
lowly CD layer? Why, yes: the very same discs
SACD layer. Take the CD layer, steady out the
beat, purify the voice, enrich the bass, add scads
more inner detail, and you have the SACD layer.
So, unfortunately, I cant recommend either
SuperHiRez download of this album. Instead,
youll have to plunk down the roughly $35 itll
cost you for the AP hybrid disc. Musically and
sonically, its worth every penny.
Dave Brubeck Quartet: Time Out.

SuperHiRez.com (DSD); HDtracks (176/24)
Heres a jazz classic thats also many an
audiophiles reference LP. The title track earns

its place on the list of all-time top demos
because it snags the listener with a startlingly
realistic drum entry, backs that up with a truesounding piano, thenboom!blows everyone
away with a right there saxophone.
And now we can have it as a DSD download!
Meanwhile, HDtracks offers the same album as
a 176/24 FLAC file. How do they compare? The
first thing to say is that the HDtracks version
sounds incredible. Brushed drums are so
tangible you feel like you could reach out and
touch the bristles. Brubecks piano is open, airy,
punchy, rich on the low notes and tangy on the
highsjust like a real piano. Bass is absolutely
tight and solid, yet obviously from a hollowbodied instrument. The sax is sooo breathy,
and dynamics are extraordinary. Clearly, this
version of Time Out is a delectable delight.
Then what of the new DSD version? Its
smoother sounding, and the bass is a tad
firmer. But the DSD is also far less visceral than
the 176/24 PCM due to restrained dynamics
and subdued high-end extension. Once again
I had on hand the AP CD/SACD and once
again the SACD proved distinctly better than
the DSD download. The SACD is more open
and transparent, yet maintains an analog-like
liquidity. Still, the SACD is no match for the
HDtracks 176/24 download, which you should
purchase immediately.
Theres no getting around the fact that this
is a disappointing outing for SuperHiRez.com.
Hopefully, this small sampling is either atypical
of its catalog or simply represents teething
pains. Well find out together.
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Kind of Blue in High-Res
Not for nothing is Miles Davis Kind of Blue
available in a torrent of formats, re-masters,
re-mixes, and re-releases. The album is that
rare recording treasured by jazz aficionados
and audiophiles alike. Those of us in the second
category (whether or not were also in the first)
have spent a lot of timeand buckson the
prowl for the very best version. Consequently,
most of us have multiple editions of Kind of
Blue. Looking under D on my own bookshelf,
I unearthed a Columbia/Legacy CD that uses
Sonys typically-excellent Super Bit Mastering,
a MasterSound gold disc that was also SBMmastered, plus yet another CD featuring
something called K2HD mastering. And that
was just in the digital section!
Given its musical and sonic stature, Kind of
Blue was bound to get the white-glove, highres treatment sooner or later. That inevitable
time has comein spades. Both HDtracks
and SuperHiRez.com have recently spawned
multiple Miles downloads. HDtracks alone
offers four versions: the expected 96/24 and
192/24 in FLAC, as well as monaural mixes of
each. Not to be outdone, SHR has released
its own 192/24 FLAC file, as well as the only
available DSD download. To find out how they
all sound, I imposed on both merchants, who
graciously granted me full reign over their Kind
of Blue collections.
As a first step in this undertaking, I wanted
to establish a baseline. So I started by listening
to my three CDs (an SACD exists but I didnt
have access to it). Up first was the K2HD disc,
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which I admit to having approached with some

skepticism. The liner notes promise that the
K2HD process resolves all problems short of
world peace, then concludes with this immortal
line: The process of K2HD mastering is the
same as the one of normal mastering. Holy
mixed messages, Batman! Anyway, after
having given it a listen I must say the K2HD
disc doesnt do much for me; it sounds coarse
and unrefined, and fails to capture the unhyped realism innate to this recording.
In contrast, the Sony/Legacy SBM disc serves
as a nice reminder of why we cherish Kind of
Blue. Here, the bass is fat, the piano round,
the trumpet spits, and the sax bites. All the
while imaging is pinpoint. Nor do I have major
qualms with this discs dynamics or timing; my
main complaint is that the horns can get out
of hand. Yet despite this versions many assets,
the MasterSound gold CD handily beats it with
a quieter background, tighter bass, and an
overalldare I say itanalog-like sense of ease.
Horns on this version are less strident, too,
further contributing to a more inviting listening
experience. I had my baseline, so it was on to
the download candy store.
Im happy to report that the HDtracks
96/24 download most closely resembles the
MasterSound disc. In particular, the horns
on this version never screech as they can on
the non-gold 44.1 releases. The download has
a distinct edge over the gold CD in rhythmic
drive, but the latter boasts clearer bass and is
both airier and a tad more dynamic. Overall, I
prefer the MasterSound. Fortunately, HDtracks
192/24 file is a significant improvement over
the 96/24 in air (though I would wish for even

more) and dynamics, while still preserving
the latters superior timing. The higher-res
download is also more tonally fleshed out than
any of my CDs. So you have to go to the 192/24
download to get something from HDtracks
that is uniformly superior to a well-done CD.
That said, I am not entirely happy with either
HDtracks version, since both seem (to different
degrees) a bit suffocated.
Lets set the HDtracks mono downloads
aside for the moment and proceed directly to
the SuperHiRez 192/24 FLAC. In my first and
very limited exposure to SHR, I hadnt heard
a release that bettered its equivalent from
HDtracks. But that was not the case here.
Bluntly put, the SHR 192/24 download of Kind
of Blue is simply awesome. Not only does it
deliver a heaping dollop of air, dynamics, and
drive, but the instruments cross an invisible
threshold; they simply sound right. Add to
that a liveliness that outshines every other
digital version Ive heard, and this download is
something worth getting excited about.
But SHR also offers a DSD version of Kind of
Blue. This file sounds rather different from any
of the PCM variants. Immediately noticeable
is the greater sense of space, while further
listening reveals that instruments have a
slightly lighter timbre. The piano, for example,
sounds more wood-y. In fact, the entire tonal
balance is shifted upwardnot by a lot, but
audibly. Certainly the DSD sounds wonderful,
but to my ears SHRs more sonorous and richer
PCM version is just right.
The rationale for HDtracks mono releases
puzzles me, as the original recording was to

three-track tape. I will say that compared to
its stereo counterparts, the mono editions
effectively doubled bass makes that instrument
more prominent. Otherwise, unless the hard
L/R panning of the stereo mix really bugs you, I
see no need to experiment with yet more ways
to play this album.
While some may be excited (rightly, in my
opinion) about the presence of Kind of Blue on
download sites, others are no doubt sick and
tired of buying new releases, or of the music
itself, or both. I feel you. However, the good
news is that out of the six new downloads
out there, I heartily recommend just one: the
SuperHiRez 192/24 FLAC. Its so good that it
will reignite your love affair with this landmark
album.
Paul McCartney: New. (96/24) HDtracks.com

The beauty and wonder of Paul McCartneys
just-released New is that it sounds fresh
and modern even as it evokes more than a
whiff of the Fab Four. The combination, let
me tell you, is thrilling. Its also surprising.
McCartneys recent releases have been hugely
disappointing, perhaps none more so than
2005s Chaos and Creation in the Backyard.
Expectations for that album ran high when, at
George Martins suggestion, McCartney hired
super-producer Nigel Godrich. Finally! fans
thought. Someone who can work with Macca
as an equal. Unfortunately, Godrich decided
to let Paul be Paulalways a big mistake.
McCartney needs a foila John Lennon, a
Denny Laneto spur his best work. Now that
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hes a solo artist, that role must fall to the
producer.
Fortunately, for New Sir Paul put himself
completely in the capable hands of four young,
capable producers. The result is the most
consistently rewarding McCartney outing
since his days with Wings. Indeed, New is the
first album since that era in which McCartney
doesnt seem to be trying to prove something;
instead, hes just having a blast making new
music in new ways. His playful enthusiasm and
renewed spirit of adventure are infectious.
Depending upon the producer at the helm,
tracks alternate between catchy, straightahead pop, such as the opening Save Us, and
equally catchy but more novel arrangements
like the subsequent Alligator. McCartneys
Beatles-like willingness to push boundaries
reaches its zenith on Appreciate. If his old
band were still working today, with modern
instruments and production techniques at their
disposal, one could easily imagine them coming
out with this song.
Another difference between New and
past solo releases is the quality of its lyrics.
Perhaps this is due to McCartneys recent
close encounter with the lyrical brilliance of
the standards repertoire, which he recorded
for last years wonderful Kisses on the Bottom.
Whatever the reason, the lyrics on New are
clever and crafted in a way we havent seen
from McCartney in a long time. Make no
mistakethis is still a mainstream pop record,
so dont expect deep reflections or complex
character studies. However, there are plenty of
sly surprises and not a silly love song in sight.
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Since New is brand new, Amazon is making

the CD available in conjunction with its AutoRip
service. For those not familiar with it, AutoRip
provides a free MP3 download with most new
(and many old) releases. If you opt in, the MP3
is automagically downloaded to your PC and
transferred to your iTunes library, whence it
winds up on your iPod or iPhone the next time
you sync. I wondered how this version would
compare to a ripped CD, and decided to make
New a test case.
As youd expect from an album recorded
by multiple hands at multiple studios, News
sound quality varies. On the CD, brash, upbeat
numbers like Save Us can get coarse and a
little shrill. Mid-tempo, mid-level tracks like
Alligator fare significantly better, though
they still suffer from the dynamic compression
that afflicts the entire record. Unsurprisingly,
the best sound comes from the simpler,
acoustic songs. A case in point is Early Days,
the first of McCartneys looking back efforts
that actually works. The songs emotional well
is deepened by a subtle, wizened cragginess
that seeps into Sir Pauls still-versatile voice.
That quality comes through beautifully, as do
the various acoustic stringed instruments. In
the midst of sometimes sonic mayhem, a demo
track.
The MP3 banishes concerns over shrill
highs or coarseness; the former are truncated
completely and there isnt enough resolution
to reveal the latter. While on the subject of
resolution, McCartney is famous for changing
his vocal tone from song to song, and on New
he carries on that tradition. Yet on the MP3
these not-so-subtle distinctions are all but lost.

Meanwhile, as already noted, the CD doesnt
have a lot of dynamic range; still, the MP3
manages to squash what undulations there are
into perfectly flat pavement.
As a result of all this, the MP3 version of
a track like Save Us is actually easier to
listen to than the CD. However, the CD, though
far from exemplary, still succeeds at having
verve whereas the MP3 just lays there. I had
hoped to report that AutoRip is a boon for the
serious-but-mobile audiophile, offering at least
acceptable sound quality at a fair price (zero).
Sorry to report that its sound is every bit as
bad as MP3s reputation would suggest. As
the saying goes, Sometimes when you fill a
vacuum, it still sucks. (Or as Mark Twain put it,
Free and worth every penny.)
The 96/24k download from HDtracks is
mastered at a lower overall level than the
CDalways a good sign. And indeed, on the
challenging tracks the hi-res version is a
little smoother and less harsh than the CD.
The other advantage of the hi-res download
is that McCartneys bass lines, as glorious as
ever, come through more prominently. That
said, be it noted that the hi-res forgiveness is
caused by a curtailment of high-end extension.
This also explains why the download doesnt
breathe as well as the CD, and why some
instruments are more cloaked. In sum, there
are tradeoffs involved in choosing between
these two formats on this release. I prefer the
CD, but then I always opt for more airiness. You
might differ. The most important thing is to buy
the album (except in MP3!).
Beck: Morning Phase. (96/24) HDtracks.com

Morning Phase finds Beck, the ever-restless
singer/songwriter/producer/instrumentalist, in
the same mellow, thoughtful mood he unveiled
on 2002s Sea Change. The songs unfold
at unhurried tempostheres not an upbeat
number in the batchforcing you yourself to
slow down and simply listen. The experience is
a stark contrast to current pop, which strives
so desperately to impress. Here, the music
doesnt try to grab youyou must approach it.
Doing so proves immensely satisfying. As is
typical of Beck albums, the first layer of reward
is aural. The man has an ear for arrangements,
and the production chops to realize his vision.
Morning Phases songs are unfailingly ravishing.
Though Beck is an electronics wiz, this
materials humility calls for an acoustic touch.
Thus, Beck anchors every track with either
an acoustic guitar or strings. He then crowns
the instrumental beauty with stunningly lush
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harmonies.
Which leads to the second layer of reward: the
words. Beck is an intelligent lyricist; he chooses
a subject, then finds unique ways to treat it.
The subject of Morning Phase can be summed
up in one word: parting. Parting from spent
relationships, from the past, or from present
circumstances. And what does all that parting
lead to? Becks prognosis isnt hopeful. Wave,
for example, ends with the word isolation
repeated like a mantra.
Yet, musically, none of these songs succumbs
to despair. Indeed, their sunny spirit imbues
the album with optimism. And thats the third
layer of reward: the music itself. Gorgeous
arrangements take a song only so far;
underneath, there must be something you
can carry with you. On first listening, all these
songs, with their unified theme and pace,
sound similar. But over time each reveals its
individuality. Eventually they all worm their
way inside youbut ever so gently.
Its always a treat when an album is released
simultaneously on CD and HDtracks, as was
Morning Phase. Thank you, Norm Chesky!
Both the disc and the 96/24 download are
what I would term pleasant recordings. They
have neither digital glare nor other noxious
elements, and are carefully mixed so you
can easily hear every musical layer. Yet the
recording isnt open or immediate enough to
fall into audiophile territory.
That said, the download has an extra pillow of
air and dynamic headroom that gives it a small
but distinct advantage over the CD. You wont
hear this on vocals, but its clearly audible
previous page
on the acoustic guitar. Since thats Morning

Phases bedrock instrument, and since you
dont already own any version of this album,
you should go for the download.
Norah Jones: Come Away With Me and Feels

Like Home. (96/24, 192/24) HDtracks.com
Between Jones first two releases, my
preference is for the second, Feels Like
Home. This highly satisfying album, featuring
wonderful songs and uniformly tasty
arrangements, is a reference-quality pop
recording. Neither vocals nor accompaniment
are pushed or processed; natural sound rules
the day. Put the plain old original CD in your
demo pileits well-nigh perfect save for the
usual CD-formats pinched dynamic transients.
The 96k download is likewise excellent,
though not necessarily better. It offers a tad
more dynamic headroom, but gives up as much
in bass fullness. The choice between these two
is one of personal preference. Meanwhile, the
unqualified best version is of this album is the
192k download, which has even more dynamic
freedom than at 96k, plus a truly beguiling
vocal purity. Indeed, this version crosses that
invisible, ephemeral boundary at which point
digital starts sounding believably analog. If
youre perfectly happy with the CD, I can hardly
blame you. But there is more realism available
from the master tape. To hear it, youll need to
go for the 192k download.
Unsurprisingly, Jones debut album sounds
very similar to its follow-up. Both were
recorded in the same studios by the same man,
Jay Newland. And, once again, the CD sets a
high bar against which to judge the downloads.

But this is where the format similarities end,
because the Come Away With Me downloads
are not the equal of the Feels Like Home highres files.
To begin with, the 96k version disappoints for
two reasons. One is that it superficially sounds
almost identical to the CDso whats the point?
Another is that with extended listening the
CD proves to be significantly more relaxed.
I suspect that some nefarious form of digital
noise has crept into the download. The 192k
version is much better in this respect, and is
also subtly more revealing than the CD (listen
to the string bass on Dont Know Why).
However, this version has a disconcerting
tendency to shout Jones vocal exclamation
points, which are many. So, in contrast to Feels
Like Home, the CD is Come Away With Mes
most rewarding format.
Joni Mitchell: The Hissing of Summer

Lawns. (96/24, 192/24) HDtracks.com
1975s Hissing of Summer Lawns, Joni Mitchells
follow-up to the masterful Court and Spark,
opens with the infectious pop-rocker In France
They Kiss on Main Street. But its a misleading
tease. Indeed, Hissing was not as immediately or
warmly embraced as its predecessor precisely
because it veered far from such confections
into the realms of jazz and the abstract. These
musical excursions would soon absorb Mitchell
completely. The opening track is misleading
lyrically as well. Far from its sunny, romantic
sentimentsKisses like bright flags hung on
holidaysthe remainder of the album delves
into the perils of suburban existence. About

the most romantic thing Mitchell can summon
in that context is a begrudging, Still, she stays
with a love of some kind.
Listening all these years later, its still the
tracks with one foot in the past and one in the
future that fare best. Tracks like Edith and the
Kingpin and the title cut succeed not through
musical experimentation but by combining
haunting melodies with dark lyrics and edgy
arrangements. They make the album worth
owning.
Unfortunately, the original CD doesnt do
the music any favors. Its sound is washed
out and monodynamic. Hissing features some
adventurous instrumentation, but on the CD it
all sounds pretty much the same. The 96/24
download is blessedly superior. Gone is the
CDs digital patina, replaced by a relaxed,
natural, and effortless sound. The download
also restores timbres, bass, and a modicum of
dynamics. Instruments that are supposed to
stand out, like a ride cymbal, finally do. So do
Max Bennetts inventive bass lines. HDtracks
also offers the album at 192/24. This version,
Ill grant you, is ever so slightly more open
than the 96/24 file. However, the bulk of the
improvements over the CD can be had at 96/24.
NEXT page
Top Ten Classical High-Res Downloads of 2014

Mozart: Clarinet Concerto. Kegelstatt Trio.
Martin Frst; Bremen Kammerphilharmonie.
Stenhammar: String Quartets 5 and 6.
Quartet in F minor. Stenhammar Quartet.
Wagner: Wesendonck-Lieder. Siegfried-Idyll.
Nina Stemme, Swedish Chamber Orchestra.
Casella: Symphony 3; Italia. BBC
Philharmonic, Noseda.
ALL: (96/24) eClassical.com
Robert von Bahr, who founded BIS in 1973, is
accustomed to separating himself from the
packhow else could an independent classical
record label have remained robustly successful
after 40 years? Buying music at von Bahrs
download site, eClassical.com, is like getting
a salad at the hospital cafeteria. The cashier
weighs it and you pay accordingly; eClassicals
downloads are priced by the minute. The quality
of eClassicals HD holdings is unmatched,
offering not only BIS but also many other
worthy labels, some available nowhere else.
Martin Frst is one of those musicians who
can do something quite difficultsay, play a
long melodic line softly and absolutely evenly
and make it sound like the easiest thing in the
world. And while its true Mozarts concerto
doesnt require a terribly advanced technique,
its a real test of a young artists musicianship
and Frst has that in spades. Frst eschews the
usual pairing of the K. 581 Clarinet Quintet and
programs instead the exquisite Kegelstatt Trio,
for clarinet, viola, and piano. Leif Ove Andsnes
takes on the keyboard duties. The recording
provides plenty of dynamic nuance without
spotlighting the solo instrument.
Wilhelm Stenhammar began his musical
previous page
life as an admirer of Wagner and Bruckner

but soon gravitated back to less overbearing
Scandinavian models. The F minor quartet
features a turbulent opening Allegro and a
songful Adagio, expressive in the manner
of Grieg; the third movement of No. 5 has a
Mendelssohnian effervescence The sonics
provide a satisfying representation of bow
grabbing string. Stenhammars music is often
contrapuntally elaborate and BISs clarifying
acoustic makes that aspect of the composers
art evident.
Nina Stemme is arguably the finest Isolde
of the moment and her performance of
Wesendonck-Lieder is stunning. Her soprano
is fresh, earthy, sexy, and possesses the kind
of laser beam precision associated with her
late fellow Scandinavians Kirsten Flagstad and
Birgit Nilsson. The remainder of the program,
available as well as a BIS SACD, fascinates
for notably scaled-back realizations of some
pretty large-scale musictwo versions of The
Flying Dutchman overture and the Prelude
to Die Meistersinger. Theres also a setting of
one of the Wesendonck songs for violin and
orchestra and an alluringly shaped rendition of
the Siegfried-Idyll. If the soundstage is a little
constricted, balances and ensemble blend are
unassailable.
Alfredo Casella was of the generation of
Italian composers who followed Puccinis,
but focused their efforts on instrumental
music rather than opera; the best known is
Respighi. Anyone who likes Pines of Rome will
go for Italia, and Casellas Third Symphony
amply demonstrates that the composer is
right at home working on a larger canvas. The

42-minute work has the structural rigor and
advanced tonality of other twentieth century
symphonic masters ranging from Hindemith
and Martinu to Bax and Hanson. The BBC
Philharmonic, under Gianandrea Noseda,
plays everything with authority. This Chandos
recording is typical of that companys efforts
in recent years; the sound isnt what youd call
immediate, but its certainly not swimmy,
manifesting a good balance of detail and hall
ambience.
A Walking Fire. Brooklyn Rider. (96/24)

HDtracks.com
Courtesy of HDtracks comes a recital of string
quartets from Brooklyn Rider, the latest hipster
chamber music group, who follow in the honored
tradition of Tashi, Kronos, and eighth blackbird.
A Walking Fire is thoroughly engrossing: two
superb contemporary works surround an
accomplished performance of Bartks Quartet
No. 2. Theres Culai by Ljova (aka Lev Zhurbin) a
celebrated Russian-born violinist and composer
whose music incorporates jazz, gypsy, and folk,
as well as classical elements. After the Bartk,
theres Three Miniatures for String Quartet
the final movement is A Walking Fireby
Colin Jacobsen, one of BRs violinists. Its more
genre-bending stuff, executed with flair and
technical perfection. The sound is airless and
dynamically compressed, in the manner of a
pop recording, but you wont mind a bit.
Guardian Angel. Rachel Podger. (DSD
multichannel) ChannelClassics.com
Youre thinking: Do I really want to spend

$34 on a DSD multichannel recording of a solo
violin playing baroque music? You bet you
do. If approaching reality is one of your goals
as an audiophileit shouldnt be your only
goal, of coursethis will be one of your closest
approaches yet. Jared Sacks recorded Rachel
Podger in a Haarlem church, the artist 20 feet
from an array of five microphones, two pointed
away from the player to provide the surround
channels for the 5.0 mix. Podgers Genoese
instrument illuminates the space, her sound
emanating from a fairly diffuse area in front
of the listening position. The soloists audible
breathing is much more specifically localized
than the musical soundan utterly believable
aural phenomenon. The program is sublime
and surprisingly varied. A Bach flute sonata is
fluently relaxed while two minor-key sonatas by
Tartini are more melancholic. Three rhapsodic
pieces by Nicola Matheis, a sonata by Johann
Georg Pisendel, the last of Bibers Mystery
Sonatas, and an upbeat gigue by Antonio
Montanari complete the 80-plus-minute recital.
Mozart: Cos fan tutte. Chamber Orchestra of

Europe, Nzet-Sguin. (96/24) HDtracks.com
When Yannick Nzet-Sguin, 38-year-old
music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra,
takes the stage with a bunch of opera singers,
the visual effect is pretty amusing. Opera
singers are large people and Nzet-Sguin is
a compactly muscular 55. Mezzo-soprano
Joyce DiDonato dubbed him Mighty Mouse,
but the label fits as much for the conductors
energizing performances as for his size. Cos fan
NEXT page

tuttes irresistible good spiritsa never-getsold slant on the Battle of the Sexestakes off
the moment Nzet-Sguin hits the Overtures
Allegro and never looks back. The conductor
effectively contrasts the feminine and the
masculine strains inherent in Mozarts music:
just listen to the musical change of gears from
Scene 1 to Scene 2 in the first act. YNS has a
terrific cast to work withMiah Persson, Angela
Brower, Mojca Erdmann, Rolando Villazn,
Adam Plachetka, and Alessandro Corbellibut
its their collaboration in the many ensemble
numbers that makes this Cos treasurable. The
brilliant, buoyant, nuanced sound matches the
performance perfectly.
Troubadour and the Nightingale. Isabel

Bayrakdarian. Manitoba Chamber Orchestra,
Manson. (88/24)
The Soviet Experience, Vol. 4. Pacifica
Quartet. (96/24)
BOTH: eclassical.com
The Armenian-Canadian soprano Isabel
Bayrakdarian possesses an exceptionally
flexible and alluring vocal instrument as well as
a remarkably wide-ranging rsum: shes sung
Mozart at the Metropolitan Opera and had a
hit song (Evenstar) in one of the Lord of the
Ring movies. The focus of this program with
the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, conducted
by Anne Manson, is the medieval-era female
troubadour. Bayrakdarian performs four songs
by the revered Armenian poet and composer
Sayat-Nova (1722-1795) and then proceeds to
Trobairitz Ysabella, a Woman from Prigord,
composed by Serouj Kradjian, the singers
previous page
husband. Kradjian explores the legend of this

earlier vocalizing Isabel in five movements
culminating in Duel with Elias Carrel,
Ysabellas only poem surviving from the 13th
century. The orchestration, which includes oud,
darabukka, and bouzouki, is highly evocative.
Seven Ravel songs complete the program.
The recording, from a Winnipeg cathedral,
manifests appealing warmth without any loss
in clarity.
The Soviet Experience, Vol. 4 completes the
Pacifica Quartets traversal of Shostakovichs
15 string quartets for Cedille Records. Each set
has included a work by one of Shostakovichs
comrades, in the this case Alfred Schnittke,
whose penchant for musical quotation is in
full flower with his Quartet No. 3. The Pacifica
plays Shostakovichs final three quartets,
music obsessed with death. These are dark and
brooding works, but also adventuresome ones:
by virtue of his fame and illness, the composer
recognized he was finally beyond the reach
of the Soviet regime. The performances are
competitive with the best and Cedilles recording
is engrossingly immediate.
Toccatas: Modern American Music for

Harpsichord. Jory Vinikour. (192/24)
Beatrice Rana: Fourteenth Van Cliburn
International Piano Competition Silver
Medalist. (48/24)
BOTH: HDtracks.com
A well-made harpsichord recording tests the
mettle of an audio system: speed, dynamic
range, and timbral resolving power are required
or youre left with tinkly mush. Released on the
Sono Luminus label, this very-well-recorded

program of nine American works written
between 1953 and 2012 fully exploits the
harpsichords potential for rhythmically-driven
dramasome would say, melodramawhen a
20th/21st century harmonic language is in play.
Listen to the first two selections, Mel Powells
Recitative and Toccata Percossa and Ostinato
from Set of Four by Henry Cowell and youll get
the idea. Compositions by Ned Rorem, Samuel
Adler, Robert Muczynski, Thomas Benjamin,
Robert Moevs, Stephen Blumberg, Patricia
Morehead, and Harold Meltzer continue in
this vein. Jory Vinikours blazing technique
certainly doesnt hurt matters.
The Van Cliburn Competition comes around
every four years, and Harmonia Mundi is
there to document the prize-winning recitals
for commercial release. Beatrice Rana, a
20-year-old Italian whos the daughter of two
professional pianists, won second place in
2013 and her ambitious Preliminary Phase
2 program is presented here. Schumanns
Variations on the Name Abeggpublished
as the composers Opus 1is at once yielding
and assertive, manifesting a fully mature
command of the musical idiom. Rana plays
Ravels fiendishly difficult Gaspard de la
Nuit so fluently that the opening movement,
Ondine, truly takes on an aqueous character.
Bartoks Out of Doors is suitably percussive
but not aggressively noisy. HM provides tonally
complex and dimensional piano sound.
Le Jardin de Monsieur Rameau. Les Arts

Florissants, Christie.
Schumann: Piano Sonata 2.

Papillons. Carnaval. Jon Nakamatsu.
Berg: Lyric Suite. Schoenberg: Transfigured
Night. Ensemble Resonanz, Queyras.
All: (96/24) eclassical.com
These three recent Harmonia Mundi releases
offered at 96/24 resolution are among the
many from that label available from eclassical.
com.
Every other year, Les Arts Florissants, the
early music ensemble founded by William
Christie in 1979, holds auditions for Le jardin
de voix, an academy for young singers with
an interest in Baroque repertoire. Following
two weeks of intense preparation with Christie
and the distinguished tenor Paul Agnew, the
30-and-under vocalists tour internationally.
The 2013 edition of Le jardin de voix recorded
this spirited and stunningly well-performed
programtwo CDs worthof music by JeanPhilippe Rameau and several of his French
baroque contemporaries. The six young singers
all have appealing voices and considerable
technical polishcheck out soprano Daniela
Skarkas lovely rendering of Quelle voix
suspend mes alarmes from Dauvergnes
nearly-forgotten opera Hercule mourantand
also, it would seem, mature dramatic skills, as
with mezzo-soprano Emilie Renards over-thetop performance of Grandvals nine-minute
comic cantata Rien du tout. The nonpareil
period instrument ensemble is beautifully
recorded, with plenty of 17th century SFX, like
sheet-metal thunder and a miniature wind
machine.
The core Romantic repertoire is right
NEXT page

in Jon Nakamatsus wheelhouse, and the
American pianist shines in a program of
three Schumann masterpieces. Nakamatsus
playing is expressive without ever becoming
overwrought. A formidable technique is placed
in the service of the music, rather than the
artists greater glory. Passagework in the G
Minor Sonata is light, even, and clear. The
soloists gift for producing a singing melodic
line on what is essentially a percussion
instrument is best heard with many of the
short pieces from Papillons and Carnaval; a
notable example is movement XVI of the latter,
Valse allemande. HMs piano sound is honest,
recorded at a reasonable distance to assure
that its Nakamatsu and not the engineers and
editors that make decisions about dynamic
range.
Both Alban Bergs Lyric Suite and Arnold
Schoenbergs Transfigured Night were originally
chamber works subsequently arranged by their
respective composers for string orchestra. In
the case of the Lyric Suite, Berg orchestrated
three of the six movements in 1928 and Theo
Verby scored the other three in 2006: Ensemble
Resonanz was the first French group to perform
the newly arranged material. The two works
stand on opposite sides of the divide between
tonality and atonality. Transfigured Night
demonstrates well how it must have seemed to
composers steeped in Wagner and Brahms that,
harmonically, there was nowhere else to go. The
highly programmatic Schoenberg work and the
12-tone Berg both get transparent and lucidly
structured readings from Queyras and the
chamber orchestra. The string sound is warm
previous page
and richly textured, with pizzicato dynamics and

sul ponticello techniques vividly reproduced.
The intense emotion of the Lyric Suiteits now
known that there was a secret narrative, namely
Bergs passion for the honorably married wife
of the writer Franz Werfeland the generous
spirit of the male protagonist portrayed in the
final movements of Transfigured Night come
through loud and clear.
Brahms/Debussy/Bartk/Satoh: Violin
Sonatas. David Abel and Julie Steinberg.
Music of Chopin. Hyperion Knight.
The Organ at Grace Cathedral. John
Fenstermaker.
Winds of War & Peace. National Symphonic
Winds, Graham.
ALL: Wilson Audiophile. (176/24) HDtracks.com
The occasion of the download release of the
David Abel/Julie Steinberg program gives me
one more chance to say it: Sonatas for Violin
and Piano, originally LP W-8722, is the bestsounding chamber music recording Ive ever
heard. By the time this recital was taped at Mills
College in Oakland, California, David Wilson
was fully experienced with the Ultramaster
tape recorder designed and built for him by
John Curl and captures the full dynamic and
frequency ranges of Abels 1719 Guarneri violin
and his accompanists Hamburg Steinway. The
recording has very little of the room in it: the
two musicians, perfectly scaled, are present
in your room with an uncanny palpability. The
performances are superb. The Brahms G Major
Sonata displays a perfect tension between
restraint and emotional outpouring. The
Debussy Sonata is more labile, while Bartks

Rumanian Dances have a touch of gypsy
abandon and Somei Satohs contemplative
Birds in Warped Time II is a welcome bonus for
which there wasnt room on the LP.
Wilson clearly relishes the challenge of
recording pipe organs and four of his 17
scheduled download releases feature The
King of Instruments. With The Organ at Grace
Cathedral San Francisco, its not the leasebreaking moments of the all-French recital that
impress most, but rather the quieter sections
of the program when John Fenstermaker, who
was the resident organist at Grace Cathedral
and knew its possibilities well, employed
magical registrations using a mere fraction
of the Aeolian-Skinners 123 ranks of pipes
to energize the space of the church with
exquisitely textured reed and flute sonorities.
The Chorale from Louis Viernes Symphony
II and the Adagio from Charles Marie Widors
Symphony IV are especially sublime.
Hyperion Knight was Wilsons gifted house
pianist. Hes better suited to the Beethoven,
Stravinsky, Mussorgsky, and Gershwin works
he recorded for the label, but his Chopin
programif less yielding and lyrical than
Ashkenazy, Argerich, Perahia, Kissin or, of
course, Rubinsteinis by no means negligible.
In Chopins Sonata No. 3, Ballade No. 4, and
Polonaise in F minor, Op. 44, Knight applies a
glittering technique, crystalline voicings, and
meticulous pedaling. The recording isnt at
quite the same exalted level as other Wilsons,
with a slight smearing in rapid passages and a
failure of the attack, body, and decay to join up
just so.
The Absolute Sounds Fund for Recording
Arts provided financial backing for Wilsons
two magnificent concert band recordings.
(Harry Pearson and then managing editor
Sallie Reynolds are credited for moral
support on the album jacket.) Remarkably,
two albums worth of music were recorded in a
single day in September of 1988 and the level
of execution and inspiration didnt flag much.
Winds of War and Peace features marches
and other military themed compositionstwo
examples are Samuel Barbers Commando
March and a ten-minute reworking of Richard
Rodgers music for the TV series Victory at
Seaplus a couple of Latin-themed pieces by
famed band composers Alfred Reed and Clifton
Williams. Theres exceptional specificity to the
placement of instrumental sections yet the
tutti band sonority is as richly blended as youd
experience it from a good seat in person.
Andrew Quint
My Favorite Dowland. Paul ODette, lute.

(96/24)
So Paulo Brass Quintet Play Brazilian
Works. (96/24)
BOTH: eClassical.com
Paul ODette, widely regarded as the worlds
finest lutenist, previously issued all of John
Dowlands solo works for the instrument on
a five-CD set for Harmonia Mundi in 1997.
The 23 selections here are new recordings
of the pieces the artist most enjoys playing
in concert. It is not an attempt to identify
Dowlands greatest works, states ODette in
NEXT page


his liner note, but instead represents a crosssection of his output from the most profound to
the most witty and unpretentious. There are
galliards and pavans, Mrs. Vauxs Gigge and
Mrs. Winters Jump. At the very center of the
program is Farewell, which ODette feels is the
composers supreme piece for solo lute, music
with an almost unbearable intensity of feeling.
Engineer Brad Michels sound is outstanding:
the attack, body, and decay of each note are
perfectly joined.
The six Brazilian composers respon-sible for
the music on the So Paulo Brass Quintets 2014
release for BIS all have produced immediately
appealing
material
employing
Brazilian
dance rhythms and jazz harmonies. Those
six composersFernando Morais, Alexandre
Brasolim, Raimundo Penaforte (three brief
pieces), Osvaldo Lacerda, Jos Alberto Kaplan,
and Edmundo Villani-Crteswont likely be
known to non-Brazilian listeners but, rest
assured, theyve got the medium down and the
entire program is must-have stuff for brass
aficionados. The group substitutes a bass
trombone for the usual tuba as the quintets
lowest voice and, as a result, the ensembles
sound is edgier and more incisive. The excellent
recording easily differentiates tenor from bass
trombone and you can tell when a trumpet
player switches to a smaller instrument.
Rimsky-Korsakov and Borodin: Orchestral

Music. London Symphony Orchestra &
Chorus, Antal Dorati. (DSD)
Chabrier and Roussel: Orchestral Music.
Detroit Symphony, Paul Paray. (DSD)
previous page
BOTH: SuperHiRez.com
Antal Dorati and Paul Paray were both
versatile, underrated conductors who were also
accomplished composers. Both were Europeans
successfully leading second-tier American
orchestras. And both had the good fortune to
be recorded by the legendary recording team
led by producer Wilma Cozart Fine for Mercury.
Dorati offers three Rimsky-Korsakov works,
an exuberant Capriccio espagnole, an ecstatic
Russian Easter Overture, plus a four-movement
suite extracted from Rimskys last opera, Le
Coq dOr. The profound influence of the third
on Stravinskys Firebird is very apparent. The
program is completed with Borodins Polovtsian
Dances, memorable mostly for the contribution
of one bellowing tenor.
Not surprisingly, Paray excelled in French
repertoire, and his program of short works
by Emmanuel Chabrier (Espaa, Suite
pastorale, Fte polonaise, Joyeuse marche,
Boure fantasque, plus music from the operas
Gwendoline and Le roi malgr lui) as well as
Albert Roussel (Suite in F) is performed with a
charming urbanityand just the right amount
of grit.
We now have three options when it comes to
high-resolution renderings of these Golden Age
analog recordings. In addition to these DSD files,
HDtracks has issued 88/24 and 176/24 FLAC
versions, and, of course, theres the SACD. On
careful comparison, to my ears the DSD versions
have a better-tamed top end, more convincing
scaling of solo instruments, and superior depth.
These differences arent enormous and if you
already have the HDtracks files, dont sweat it.
NEXT page
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buyer's GUIDE to

Cables, Power Products,

2 Guide to Cables, Power Products, Accessories, & Music

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FROM THE Editor

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4 Guide to Cables, Power Products, Accessories, & Music

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8 Guide to Cables, Power Products, Accessories, and Music

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EQUIPMENT review - WyWires Blue Series

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WyWires Silver Series Litespd USB

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Meridian 203 DAC; Dell Inspiron

terminated pair speaker cable

530 PC running Windows Vista,

Cardas Audio, Ltd

HD2 USB DAC; Thorens TD309

480 Eleventh Street, South East

Interconnect and Speaker

turntable; Dual CS 5000 turntable

Bandon, Oregon 97411

(78s Only); TP 92 tone arm;

$200 meter pair interconnect/$870

AudioTechnica AT-95B cartridge;

for three meter terminated pair

Feature: Beatles in Mono