EQUIPMENT REVIEWS
Yamaha A-S700 Integrated Amplifier
Yamaha’s engineers have excelled themselves with the design of the A-S700 amplifier, which very obviously derives from the EISA-Award-winning A-S2000. Midrange sound is crystal-clear, beautifully transparent and there’s a lovely ‘ease of listening’…
Mordaunt-Short Aviano 1 Loudspeakers
The custom bass/midrange driver used in this new bookshelf from Mordaunt-Short is packed with so much technology that it makes many of the drivers in two-ways from other manufacturers look like they’re cheap Chinese junk!
Sony MDR-NC300D Noise Cancelling Earphones
These new in-ear phones are the first in the world to use digital noise cancelling circuitry, and also the first in the world to use a digital amplifier. The result is the best (and the least aurally intrusive) noise-cancellation of any earphones Greg Borrowman has ever reviewed.
Manley Laboratories Stingray iTube Integrated Amplifier
This retro-styled pure valve integrated is firmly planted in the ‘audiophile’ camp—but with a difference, because it also caters to a new generation of future enthusiasts by way of an in-built iPod dock.
Tri TRV-CD4SE Vacuum Tube CD Player
The Tri has a very definite ‘sonic signature’ that sets it apart from most other CD players. Thomas Singh found it enormously appealing, with a gloriously rich midrange and euphonic treble.
FEATURES
Audio News
So much has been happening since the start of the year that we’ve had to expand our Audio News section just to fit it all in! If it’s a happening thang, you’ll read about it here…
Equipment PREVIEW
Wilson Speakers has a new Australian distributor, and that distributor is releasing a new model for Wilson, the Sasha WATT/Puppy.
Consumer Electronics Show
CES, held annually in Las Vegas, is the world’s largest electronics show, and also the world’s largest audio show, where hi-fi manufacturers show their latest and greatest models.
Shop Talk
Sydney Hi-Fi Castle Hill has hi-fi brands you won’t see anywhere else in Australia, and models from well-known brands that no-one else has either. And thanks to the store’s new location, it’s closer than ever before. Back Stage Adidas has named a shoe after him, Sony and the China Merchant Bank use him as a brand ambassador, and 30 million children are practising hard in an effort to emulate his achievements.
Editor’s Lead-In
Booked in for some serious surgery? You should check whether your surgeons will have a music system in the operating theatre and if so, what they’ll be listening to, because recent research shows it could make a difference to your post-operative prognosis!
Classic Corner
Martha Argerich and Nelson Freire are without a doubt the strongest piano duo in the world at present, and arguably one of the finest continuing duos ever, so their latest CD, recorded live at the Salzburg Festival will be a mandatory purchase for everyone who loves Rachmaninov, Schubert or Ravel!
Rock On
Ringo announced that he wasn’t replying to fan mail in order to allow him to concentrate on his new album. This issue, Jez Ford reviews said album and concludes that precious little of the time he saved has been invested in the recording studio, with songs that are so uniformly weak that the album’s brevity (38 minutes) is a blessing.
Super Fidelity
In ‘The Virtual Haydn’ Tom Beghin recorded Haydn’s keyboard music on seven instruments appropriate to each work, in nine different equally appropriate spaces. The unique twist is that he used a new technique, known as ‘virtual acoustics’, to superimpose the room acoustic on the sound of the seven different instruments.
Jazz Track
This month John Shand reviews an eclectic line-up that includes Run Ra, The Translators, Jacam Manricks, Gato Barbieri (before he sold his soul), Mark Ginsburg and Chris Abrahams, Mike Majkowski and James Waples (as Roil).
Blu-ray Sound
Steve Dawson evaluates two Blu-ray discs featuring two of the greatest bands of all time—Led Zeppelin and Spinal Tap (yes, we know, but why spoil it for everyone who doesn’t?).
ESOTERICA SECTION
Sound Travels
John Vandyke discovers an audiophile who owns Sugden amplifiers that weren’t made by J.E. Sugden & Co and only listens to classic ‘audiophile’ CDs when auditioning new components. He says there’s a big difference between ‘high-impact’ audio and ‘high-end’ sound…
Manley Labs Stingray iTube Amp
This retro-styled pure valve integrated is firmly planted in the ‘audiophile’ camp—but with a difference, because it also caters to a new generation of future enthusiasts by way of an in-built iPod dock
Interview
Neville Thiele’s and Richard Small’s famous Thiele-Small (TS) parameters have been used to build better loudspeakers for more than 40 years. In this issue Richard Small considers how far speaker design has come since the 70s.
|