Panasonic DVD-L10 Portable DVD Player

This product caused a lot of buzz at WCES in January, and the first production samples appeared in late April, with production following in May. They are selling so fast, even at the price, that it seems everyone but yours truly is surprised. I'm surprised at something else, which I'll reveal presently.

The DVD-L10 has a 16:9 CD screen that measures 5 1/4" diagonally, and is 5"W x 2 9/16"H. It's a double clam-shell design, with the screen section flipping up first, and then the DVD/CD lid. Power switch, headphone jack, and volume control are on the left side, while S-video and mini-jack A/V in s and outs, and an optical digital out are on the rear. The transport controls are right up front on a sloping panel, and flank the LED array, while the cursor control array, Menu and Title buttons are at the left front corner on top. The DVD-L10 comes with a remote control, special adaptor cable for the unusual optical out jack, battery pack, charger, and AC power supply.

Actually, I was surprised at a couple of things, the first being the resolution of the small screen when I saw it in Vegas, and this turned into wonder when I got the review sample home and started running movies through it. I've started using the Video Essentials DVD produced by ISF guru Joe Kane for evaluating DVD players and other video equipment. Using the test patterns, I could see resolution of about 350 lines on the DVD-L10's own screen, which is quite amazing, especially when I directly compared it to my Sony Watchman, with its 4" 4:3 LCD screen. The L10 was also much brighter, as well as clearer, able to be watched in full daylight or room illumination. On our 51" monitor, the picture was not quite as sharp as some recently reviewed players, coming somewhere between 400 and 420 lines. On the Sneel & Wilcox "follow-the-bouncing- ball" test pattern, this player produced an excellent result, with very little colour moire, and good resolution on patterns up to 4.43 mHz. Its colour bar and grey-scale accuracy were remarkably good, as was colour temperature, which closely matched in hue, saturation and overall balance, our ISF calibrated Pioneer SD-5193K rear projection monitor. Surprise was turning to amazement. This isn't just a cute little TV/DVD player, it's a tool, a portable evaluation device of great accuracy. Joel Silver of ISF tells me that Joe Kane has already bought one of these, and I can understand why.

With all this detail and colour accuracy, the picture doesn't even look like what we know as an LCD grid, there being no pixelization whatsoever, with just the slightest shimmer on pans and some other motion shots. It's an amazingly detailed and lifelike picture for one so small. And, as well as recognizing anamorphic DVDs automatically, it also has a top-and-bottom crop mode that lets 4:3 pictures fill the screen that increases overall image size with pan & scan pictures and off-air TV (from my Watchman's tuner).

I'll come back to the video performance, but now to the second surprise. Some may recall the sound and fury in the U.S. audio press over a Radio Shack portable CD player a couple of years back. Well, all that was nothing compared to what's going to happen with this device when audiophiles start to hear it. The DVD-L10 contains in its compact chassis one of the new 96- kHz/24-Bit DACs that have been impressing those listening to CDs on their full-sized DVD players, such as the DVD-A310. Well, it's the same chipset here, and the same sound, and it's at least as spectacular as the picture!

I spent a whole afternoon listening and comparing this player (out of its mini-jack line outputs) with my Pioneer PDR- 05/Meridian 518/Monarchy M-33 reference digital playback system, using a pair of synchronized T&R CD's music selections. Now, I know all this music well, since I recorded most of it, and damned if this little silver thing didn't sound as good, or even better than the megabuck system! I had carefully level-matched the two using the 518 to set levels on the reference system, and as I continued to listen, the only differences I could hear seemed sometimes to favour the system in the lower frequencies, but the Panasonic in the upper octaves in terms of smoothness and detail; at midrange frequencies both seemed to have identical focus and depth of image. I later listened to a number of favourite CDs, this process continuing over several days before I returned the sample to Panasonic.

Now, I've had some pretty expensive CD players and outboard DACs wither sonically in these circumstances, so what I was hearing from the DVD-L10 was pretty special. I would rank it easily with CD players and DACs at its price point, even forgetting that it is a superb DVD player and small-screen monitor. You never would have imagined that a $2000 portable anything would turn out to be a high end audio bargain...and a high end video one to boot!

But let's get back into the realm of scientific inquiry. As with other DVD players reviewed in this issue, I subjected the L10 to the tests we normally do on CD players. With the Verany calibrated dropouts, the L10 surprised me again by playing cleanly, without a single burp through track 36 (2.5mm); it paused at the beggining of 37 (3mm) for about 10 seconds, and then proceeded to play through it with only a few ticks audible. However, it would not access 38 (4mm). I can't remember a CD player that could correct errors of this size; perhaps there's a circuit that allows it to interpolate with so simple a signal, a pure 400 Hz tone. The player also sailed through the narrow gauge dropouts, which is as it should be with a single laser assembly reading both the smaller DVD and CD pits. It also paused before playing through 43 (2.5mm). In the double dropouts, its performance was equally spectacular, with play through 49 (2 x 2.4mm) again, after a pause at the beginning.

On the Canadian CD CHECK disc the Panasonic was clean through level 2, with light ticking on 3 and more severe noise added with tracks 4 and 5. Here the signal is a combined 200 and 20 kHz signal with large dropouts printed on the CD's playing surface, these larger with each level.

In our random error test, with a variety of dropouts created by judicious magic marker and scratches, the L10 had a lot of trouble, unable to play more than 8 seconds before locking up; I have had a number of players go through that played flawlessly right through this 2-minute-plus track. In the see-through CD it also had a problem or two, though ticking was minimal on track 2, and absent on 3, with a little bit of muting in addition to the noise on the first two.

With results as anomalous as this it's harder to generalize than with normal CD players. Clearly, the DVD-L10 handles simpler program material like tones much better than music, and definitely doesn't like discs with lots of errors, or with an incompletely silvered surface (and I've been noticing that no DVD yet encountered in the 40 or so I've bought is at all translucent, whether it be single or double layer; obviously double-sided discs will not be seen through, having 2 aluminizing processes in their manufacture). Why a player that will track through calibrated test-disc dropouts as big as 2.5mm will not handle such problems on music discs is an interesting question that I can't answer. However, I noticed no dropout problems in any of our music discs in extensive listening tests.

The DVD-L10 was probably the most innovative and interesting portable audio/video product of 1998, and definitely the perfect personal entertainment travel companion. A little too personal, however, is the single headphone output; and once you've heard the sound of the tiny and tinny built-in speakers, you won't want to listen to them again. But, those quibbles aside, this is a marvellous toy.

POSCRIPT: Now that I've owned this player through the introduction of DVD Audio discs from Chesky and Classic recordings in 1999, I can add that it is an excellent player of these discs, though it has shown the occasional disinclination to play some of them, as well as dirty video DVDs. I've discovered the necessity of keeping the inner area around the centre hole especially free of fingerprints, becuse if the player doesn't read the TOC correctly it will not play the disc at all.

But when it plays an audio DVD, it does so with astonishing fidelity and resolution, better sound than I've heard from any CD players. There's simply more there to hear. Even as an audio player alone, the DVD-L10 is turning out to have been quite the bargain.

http://www.audio-ideas.com/reviews/digital-sources/pana-dvdl10.html

Rega Planet CD Player

This could be the CD player Clark Kent would have used had there been CDs in the world of Metropolis. The Planet (Daily or otherwise) is Rega's first crack at playing the silver discs, and brings designer Roy Gandi's unique approach to it. It's a top loader, reminiscent of a Philips portable I once owned, the weighted magnetic clamp contained in the hinged lid so that it automatically seats properly (not always the case with the manual clamp on the Micromega Data) and rotates freely, its top spinning above the clear window in the lid.

The objective in producing the Planet was to make a CD player that would sound as close to the best analog sources as possible. To this end, Rega worked with Burr-Brown for three years to develop a DAC chip "designed with analog in mind", according to the company brochure. Sony produced a "unique analog post conversion filter" for the Planet, to complete the attempt to make an "un-digital" CD player. Both of these out-sourced parts are used only in the Planet.

Its styling is very individual, matching their other electronic products' black slim cases with ribbed tops on the right side. I'm not particularly fond of this dark and prickly look, but it does (quite literally) have Rega written all over it. The remote control is quite nicely set up ergonomically, the Play button green, Skip yellow, and the rest dark grey, with direct numeric selection and track programming possible.

In our tracking tests, the Planet proved to be something of a world beater, though this was not immediately evident in the Verany disc calibrated dropout tests. It tracked the single dropouts cleanly through 31 (1mm), didn't like the narrow gauge ones at all, locking up on the first, track 40 (1mm), and managed only to 46 (2 x .5mm) of the double dropouts. It seems that somewhere just below 1mm is the limit of the error correction/interpolation system.

However, that did not stop the Planet from sailing through all tracks of our wedge test of increasing block error over 5 tracks, and similarly playing our random error track without even a blip right through. If memory serves me right, no other player has ever done this, most failing to get past the 2-minute mark. The Arcam Alpha 8 was also perfect in the wedge, but jumped around in the random errors.

In the partially transparent CD, the Planet showed similar performance to all the players assessed for this issue, ticking loudly on tracks 1 and 2, but playing 3 and 4 easily. Based on these rsults, I'd expect this player to have exceptional ability to read even dirty or damaged discs without error, the unique top-loading transport design working very well. Discs with manufacturing flaws in the aluminizing process might not fare quite so well, but this Rega is right in there with the rest in this respect.

Sonically, the Planet was impressive for its price, just a little more detailed and rhythmically lively than the Arcam Alpha 8, but with bass that was less solid and authoritative than the more expensive TEAC VRDS-25. It seemed to have a slightly greater harmonic richness than the Alpha 8, which could, I suppose, be taken for a more analog sound character.

Its soundstage was a little forward of some of the other players, but freer of midrange grain than the Arcam, though lacking the listen-into quality of that of the Micromega Data/Dialog, and to a lesser degree, of the TEAC.

This is a very good player at its price point with its own unique look and style, and a sound that is closer to the best analog than most costing under $3000. In this respect, Rega has clearly met its design goals in producing the Planet.

http://www.audio-ideas.com/reviews/digital-sources/rega-planet.htmlv

Bryston BP-25 DA Stereo Preamplifier

Occupational hazards are minor and few when it comes to reviewing audio equipment. Perhaps one of the most common occurs when a product under review is updated by the manufacturer during the review process. This scenario played out before I could finish with Bryston's BP-25 DA preamplifier, the fully loaded version of the venerable BP-20 series with its own built-in digital to analog converter. The newest and just released iteration of the BP-20 series is the BP-26, which Bryston's James Tanner assures me, differs significantly from the BP-25 only in terms of power supply. Moreover, the BP-25's DAC section, he says, hasn't changed at all. The price, however, has risen to $3195 US for the BP-26 plus another grand for the DAC for a total of $4195 US.

As much as I would have loved to spend some time with a BP-26 DA for comparison, the review of the BP-25 had to be finished regardless. I had already taken too long to get it finished! Luckily the BP-26 is an evolution of the BP-25 rather than a replacement, and, judging by every other new Bryston model we've reviewed, no doubt an improvement. With this company it's the engineering department that dictates new model releases, not the marketing department. As such I think it's relatively safe to assume that a BP-26 will sound very much like a BP-25, and very likely better. Existing BP-25 owners can apparently use the new power supply with their preamps, a $1200 US upgrade.

The BP-25 DA is a full-featured, high-end, purist preamplifier, if such a thing can be said. Versatile? Very. But there's nothing extraneous or gimmicky about it. In a preamp for a serious two channel system it's hard to ask for much more than what this one offers: Two coaxial digital inputs (switched by a toggle on the front panel), six RCA analog inputs, a pair of balanced inputs, balanced and unbalanced outputs, a tape loop, headphone jack, a rotary balance control, polarity inversion, and a chunky, machined aluminum remote control. The styling is simple, classic Bryston and available in silver or black. The power supply is an outboard unit connected by an umbilical DIN cable. You can get a phono stage built in too, but to do so you'll have to forgo the DAC option.

Let's talk about that DAC for a minute, a $1300 ($1000 US) option. The converter chip is a Crystal CS43122, a hybrid multi-bit delta-sigma device. "Before the digital data reaches the delta-sigma modulator, it is run though an 8x over-sampling process and digital interpolation filter." The DAC is also an up-sampling design. A Bryston product memo continues on the subject: "So in the BP25 DA, if a 44.1 kHz signal is present: we up-sample to 96 kHz (with the Sample Rate Converter) and then the DAC will internally 8x over-sample that signal." You're not limited to 44.1 kHz, mind you. The BP-25 DA will accept incoming sample rates between 16 and 108 kHz and bit depths up to 24.

Upsampling and oversampling are nothing new, the sonic benefits of these processes by now quite well documented (see my review of the Perpetual Techonolgies D to D and D to A converters in the Fall 01 issue). However, the BP-25 DA goes one better by taking advantage of building its DAC right into the preamp. "The most critical part of the DAC circuit in the BP20/25 Preamplifiers and B60 DA Integrated Amplifiers," the memo goes on to explain, "is that the output from the D to A is directly connected to a pair of Bryston proprietary Class A Discreet Operational Amplifiers rather than the typical IC chips employed in most other products. This makes a huge difference in resolution and dynamic headroom performance." Also making a difference is that each component of the DAC (input receiver, sample rate converter andDAC) has an independently regulated segment of the power supply (the analog and digital sections of the power supply are also strictly segregated for maximum signal purity).

This DAC is no quick and dirty add on to a regular BP-25. It's a carefully integrated, meticulously engineered component in its own right, isolated on its own independent circuit board no less. It may seem a like pricey option on an already pretty expensive piece of gear, but the cost is more than in line with competitive outboard DACs, and, as you'll read below, the sound makes it a stunning value. Having the DAC built right in also takes one interconnect cable out of the equation, further increasing the chances of a sonic improvement in your system.

The rest of the preamp embodies what you'd expect from Bryston: simple, carefully thought out (the balance control, for instance has a finer range of adjustment close to center), meticulously hand-built, and generally bulletproof. The remote is especially robust, being machined out of a solid block of aluminum. Well thrown it could very likely pass right through one my plaster walls and continue hurtling into the next room. Thankfully I was never inclined to attempt this, nor did I risk toe fracture by dropping the thing on my foot. The remote may be minimalist, featuring only volume, mute and absolute phase adjustment, but you'll be hard pressed to break the thing. Should you encounter any kind of operational mishap with the preamp or the remote, keep in mind there's always the now legendary twenty year Bryston warrantee to back you up.

When audio equipment gets out of the way

I had the pleasure of listening to the BP-25 DA for a rather extended period of time, and in two different listening rooms no less. Part of the reason the review period was so extended was that I was in the process of buying a house, and then (uggh) moving into it. Hence, the two different listening rooms. The other part of the reason was that I didn't want to send it back! The sound was addictive. The BP-25 DA sounds just like a preamp should, which is like no preamp at all. It gets out of the way better than any I've heard, delivering musical, natural, squeaky clean and just plain effortless sound. My listening notes are peppered with words like "clarity", "coherence", and "resolution".

When evaluating the Roku Soundbridge network music player (review elsewhere in this issue) the BP-25 was the perfect partner, providing quick and easy digital input switching between it and my CD player for comparisons. With products like the Roku becoming more and more common, multiple digital inputs are going to become de-rigeur in modern preamps and DACs, as they already have in receivers and surround processors. The Bryston was also transparent enough to hear everything the Roku was capable of, one of the major points of the review in the first place. Listening to Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot through the digital out of the Roku and, simultaneously, though that of my Rotel RCD-951 CD player, the Bryston revealed details I had never heard on the record before, a recording I thought I was pretty familiar with. What was even more impressive was the subtle shading, nuance, and inflection I could hear; the minute differences in presence, attack, and decay that make music sound alive and real. Spooky real. Here's a direct quote from the notes I made at that time: "Smooth, smooth, smooth and hyper detailed with phenomenal rhythm and pace. Highly involving." In a word? Musical.

Naturally I made some comparisons with my reference outboard DAC, a Musical Fidelity A3 24. The MF is also an up-sampling DAC, selectable to 96 or 192 kHz, and also uses a Delta Sigma chipset with 8x over-sampling. It also costs roughly what the DAC option on the BP-25 DA costs so it made for a pretty fair comparison. I liked the MF enough to buy it a few years back and have been enjoying great sound from it ever since. I was very interested to see how Bryston's internal DAC would stack up.

Differences between closely matched DACs can be vanishingly slight, but in this case, and perhaps this is where the BP-25 DA's direct op-amp connections pay off, they were quite audible. Ry Cooder's Mambo Sinuendo, for instance, sounded distinctly more natural and three-dimensional via the Bryston's internal DAC. Transients seemed to "pop" out of the background with a little more alacrity too. By comparison the Musical Fidelity, albeit burdened somewhat by a run of interconnect cable (Ultralink Ultima, by the way) to the preamp, sounded a little duller and more diffuse and lacked the superfine detail of the internal DAC. The presentation also lacked some of the spaciousness and air that the Bryston conveyed so readily. The sense of effortlessness and speed wasn't quite the same either, the sound "jumping" out of the speakers to a greater extent with the BP-25 DA.

This sense of speed and what perhaps is best described as general vigor carried through the comparisons with my reference preamp, the Musical Fidelity A3CR. With the Bryston there never seemed to be anything held back, almost the audio equivalent of doubling the diameter of water feed pipes in your house: more gush, and a much better shower. I'm not talking about a simple question of more volume. That's easy for any line level preamp to accomplish. It was as if the sound was under greater pressure, coming at me quicker, fuller and firmer than before. With the BP-25 DA the sound was more alive and more dynamically exciting than with the Musical Fidelity preamp. At the same time it could be intimate and super-detailed while never straying from grain-free smoothness.

Midrange neutrality was as good as I've heard from any preamp, as the eerily palpable image of Beck (from Sea Change) and other vocalists appearing between my speakers attested. The sound was startlingly open, intimate and direct. Where the Musical Fidelity preamp sounded slightly veiled but pleasantly lush, the BP-25 DA was as crisp and clean as freshly bleached sheets. Again the dynamic performance of the Bryston instilled a feeling of the music being completely uninhibited and unrestrained.

While its internal DAC connection to op-amps seemed to be giving it a leg up in the digital department, the BP-25 retained its exemplary character traits whenever I switched to vinyl as a source. The gap between it and the Musical Fidelity narrowed a bit, but it was made abundantly clear that I was hearing the differences between a very good preamp and a truly great one. Music through the Bryston just sounded more natural and alive.

It's hard to imagine that the new BP-26 could sound much better, but it's certainly likely. If you're looking for a state of the art preamp, with a state of the art DAC built right in, you need to spend some time at a Bryston dealer soon. I was sorry to see the BP-25 DA go back to the factory. Had I not just sunk all my disposable income, and a good chunk of income I have yet to earn, into the aforementioned house, I would have bought one myself. It's not cheap, but I suspect you'd have to spend far more to do any better.

http://www.audio-ideas.com/reviews/preamps/bryston_BP-25-da-2.html

Aurum Acoustics Integris CDP CD Player and Linestage

I don’t think I ever expected to get my hands on a piece of audio equipment as fine as this. In fact, there aren’t many as good as this. When it comes to the cost of an audio component (or anything else, for that matter) I want only value for money. But that is not as easy as it sounds and, one must be cautious, a bargain isn’t necessarily value for money. There are many fine CD players that are priced lower than the Integris CDP and there are several that cost multi thousands. The CDP, though, is more than a state of the art CD player. It is also a line preamp. You can pay many thousands for a standalone preamplifier. So, in the rarefied world of High End Audio, I define the CDP as value for money. The rest is simply pure delight.

The Component: it is a single box containing a player for 16 bit, or red book, Compact Discs and a line stage pre-amplifier. It has five buffered analogue inputs, five digital inputs and three outputs, one analog, and two PCM digital. Switching among them is simple and noiseless. The transport is a silky smooth Philips 2M top-loader. Disc stability is assured with the use of a magnetic puck. Resampling is achieved with a Quantum digital processing module from Switzerland’s Anagram Technologies. This very sophisticated device is at the heart of the matter, and outputs a 24bit/192kHz signal.

The result achieved in the recovery of information from the common two channel CD is just astounding, as accurate and more detailed than any competing format. This is not the player if you are attracted to surround sound for music playback. This is not the player if you plan to line your walls with SACDs. This IS the player if you have a collection of Compact Discs and want to enjoy them more than you ever imagined.

The Integris CDP is a sterling example of the many advantages that, with care and good design, can be realized by putting things in one box. Having indulged in several years of outboard DACs and jitter boxes (remember Audio Alchemy?), I came to that conclusion long ago.

It’s not worth the inconvenience or the money spent on additional interconnects and power supplies and cords. The shorter and less cluttered the signal path the better. Having the preamp included is more than icing on the cake. It is accurate and very, very quiet. Having it coupled with the CD player in the one unit is the essence of flexibility and convenience. With the multiplicity of inputs and outputs it will accommodate all your stuff.

For example, LP playback from a phono section through an Integris line input works beautifully. Sound is wide-ranging and dynamic and the noise floor is considerably reduced. Should a phono section become available for the CDP you would see me first in line.

One of the Integris CDP’s lasting virtues is that, with its modular design, it can be upgraded or have additional features added as they become available in the years to come. A more detailed description of the CDP can be found on Aurum’s web site.

The main functions of the Integris are controlled from the buttons on the machine itself. The supplied, quite remarkable, Harmony remote does everything, including adjusting absolute phase. It is programmed by downloading information from your computer.

The Set-Up: Easy, take it out of the box, make the connections and play. For best results you should use an isolation platform or accessory cones to support it. One of the most interesting things about the CDP is the way it reveals the differences between associated equipment and accessories. When it comes to connections, I had the chance to do some experimenting and I ended up with the Cardas Golden Reference power cord and Cardas Neutral Reference interconnects. I would like to try the more upscale Golden Reference ICs. If experimenting with interconnects and power cords appeals, then a competent dealer will (or certainly should) let you experiment from the stock of loaners until you have what you like. More than ever I realize when it comes to cables etc., there is no right answer but, BUT, you will hear differences.

My System: I am running the CDP directly into a pair of bridged Bryston 3BST amplifiers. My Brystons are connected to Wattgate wall outlets with WireWorld Electra III power cords. My speakers are the lovely PSB Stratus Gold i and the Speaker cable is Kimber Select 3033.

The Sound: Well, what do you expect when you drive a Lamborghini? You expect something that is beyond the ordinary and very special. So it is with the Integris CDP. The conventional wisdom with top-flight equipment is to say it neither adds nor subtracts. That is nonsensical when it comes to CD reproduction with the CDP. It simply does things to the bits that are magical. It transforms. I have had time to listen to a wide variety of material and everything sounds right. The sound stage is wide and deep, maintaining its proper dimensions all the way back. The imaging is rock solid, the trumpets stay in the trumpet section no matter how loudly they play or the tympani stay way in the back regardless of the amount of air they excite. The CDP’s ability to resolve the quiet stuff, low level information, which is where much of the sound experience gets its life, is one of its most remarkable features, and the music emerges from such quietness that it appears, unbounded, from its own unique world.

One of the jazz recordings I like, and like to listen to for system evaluation is John Scofield and Joe Lovano's Blue Note recording What We Do. With the CDP the sound is focused and beautifully staged. Bill Stewart’s drumming is hyperactive and he uses the whole kit. His cymbals sound sharp and steely or delicately filigreed. Snare and tom toms resonate or explode. They are all properly in place behind Scofield, who is slightly left and Levano's tenor, which is slightly right of centre. Scofield can get so many colours from his guitar. Changes take place in the flash of a second. Mind you, as much as I like it, this is not a perfect or purist recording and the CDP reveals all. For purist I go to AM’s The Bellingham Sessions, featuring Chuck Israels. Oh, boy, pure as the driven snow. It’s all there. You hear everything. Image stability is crucial when listening, especially to string quartets. Again, the CDP locates each player believably and at the same time they play together in their given space. You sense the musicians reacting to each other.

At the other end of the scale, the Integris conveys the thrilling power of a full symphony orchestra. Herbert Blomstedt’s San Francisco discs of the symphonies of Carl Neilson on Decca/London are a wonder. Recorded in Davies Hall in the late 80s, their power is, well, thrilling. In the 4th and 5th noble, great music is dressed in compelling sound. You can hear mallets strike, drums resonate and sounds bounce off the walls, and that’s just the percussion.

I could go on, for example, the Mahler 3rd Symphony in the early 60s recording by Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic in the Sony 20bit reissue but let me say, overall, the frequency response is more even than I’ve ever heard it in my room. Bass is solid, clean and full of life. (I had to get used to the loss of mid-bass distortion). The midrange and high end deliver space, air, transparency and detail, detail, detail. All this with a sense of freedom that is continually engaging, helping you discover or rediscover no matter how familiar the recordings.

The Bottom Line: My time with the Integris CDP began with a quest to find a CD player that would satisfy me as much as the experience of listening to LPs. This component does that and much more (including making the LPs sound better). You will be surprised how many beautifully recorded CDs you have in your collection. Just yesterday I dug out a Hyperion disc from 1988 (Tony Faulkner, engineer) of music by John Stanley. I have always admired it but this time I couldn’t believe my ears. New digital recordings are stunning and historic reissues sound remarkably good upsampled.

Finally, everything I hear with the Integris CDP happens in the context of a complete lack of dreaded digital edge. You thought CDs automatically came with digital sound; not so, and the CDP proves it in a very elegant way. Obviously this is a very special, very high-end piece of business.

May I describe it as invaluable?

http://www.audio-ideas.com/reviews/digital-sources/aurum-cdp.html

Sonos Digital Music System

In his fascinating book Capturing Sound, How Technology has Changed Music author Mark Katz describes what he calls "Phonograph Effects". A Phonograph Effect, in short, is a manifestation of how recording technology has changed music. The roughly three minute playing time of a 78 rpm record, for instance, had a profound influence on the structure of early pop and jazz music. To most audiophiles the proposition that recording (and in our case playback) technology influences how music is not only consumed but produced will not likely come as any great revelation. Katz's analysis of phonograph effects, however, from the rapid evolution of vibrato in turn of the century classical music, right through his examination of the turntable as a musical instrument in hip-hop and DJ culture, is consistently insightful and absorbing.

As the book's early chapters explain, the introduction of the phonograph represented a seismic shift in the way people consumed music. Hearing an orchestra perform a symphony for instance, what was once a special privilege of an elite class, filtered down to the masses; something that was ephemeral (a live performance) became repeatable, reproducible and aggressively commoditized; record players gradually replaced pianos in the parlours of homes all over the world; in short order recordings became by far the dominant means by which people consumed music.

If the 20th century was about recorded music's dominance, the 21st will be characterized by its ubiquity. From the vantage point of 2006 it's hard to believe that a little over one hundred years ago music couldn't exist unless you were making it yourself, or in the physical presence of someone who was. And then it was gone, never to be heard the same way again (with the possible exception of the player piano). Today, between portable players, car audio, and the garbage we're assaulted with in public spaces (ie shops, airports etc), let alone the home stereo, music is nearly inescapable.

Now that we've entered the era of file-based recordings and commercial music has been divorced from necessity of a physical carrier, a whole new range of Phonograph Effects (now perhaps better described as Ipod Effects) is emerging; another topic Katz covers in the latter chapters of his book. With CD sales waning, the notion of the album, which itself only rose to prominence with the LP, is rapidly being eroded by the resurgence of singles, now downloaded (legally and illegally) from the internet rather than stamped into 45s. Loading singles into playlists is, for many, creating a far more randomized listening experience, where rather than hearing a collection of songs released at the same time by the same artist ordered in a particular way for maximum impact, we're sampling one song at a time without always knowing what's coming next. Get enough tracks in a playlist and it's very much like having your own personal radio station, minus the advertising and (usually) inane chatter. This, as you would expect for technology still in its infancy, is just the beginning. The big changes are still to come.

Catching up with this new reality is putting the major record companies through rather unsightly public dry-heaves of panic and convulsions of misguided litigation. Hardware companies, however, are starting to figure it out. Clearly Apple has done a little more than just figure it out and pretty much owns the portable music player market, not to mention the legitimate online music business (over one billion song downloads and counting). But things at home are a little more complicated. We have yet to see a file-based music player for home systems that can rival the Ipod in terms of cutting-edge design and user-friendliness and, in so doing, mount a significant assault on entrenched CD/DVD players. That is until now.

http://www.audio-ideas.com/reviews/digital-sources/sonos.html

Hooking Up Your Stereo to Your PC or Laptop

If you're turning a computer into a music machine, why not just do the obvious: Hook it up to the stereo? If you want to make audiotapes of your MP3s (or even streaming audio concerts) for your car's tape deck, this is probably a good idea. Also, if your band wants to convert a demo tape into MP3 format for posting on the Web, you can reverse the hookup - that is, run the sound out from your stereo into the microphone jack of your computer.

If you just want to listen to music you find on the Web, you may find it easier to just invest in some high-end computer speakers. A basic computer can do the essential functions of your stereo:

• Play compact discs.

• Play high-quality sound through high-end computer speakers.

Stereo speakers are not magnetized in the same way as computer speakers. If you place your stereo speakers too close to your computer, they could damage your hard drive. Play it safe and keep at least a few feet of space between the two. Or, better yet, shell out some cash for a good set of computer speakers with a subwoofer.

The main reason most people seem to want to connect the two beasts is to crank their MP3s out of their stereo system. Just run the right-sized wires between the right places to turn your computer into a mighty combination MP3/audio CD player.

To connect your computer to your home stereo, follow these steps:

1. Turn down the volume on your stereo and sound card.

If you can't find your sound card's volume adjustment - which is either somewhere on the back of the card or through its software program - simply turn off your computer (after saving and closing any open files, of course).

2. Find the correct cable.

You need a shielded Y-adapter cable. This cable has a stereo 1/8-inch plug on one end and two RCA phono plugs on the other end. You can find the cable at Radio Shack. Other electronics stores and some computer stores carry the cord as well.

The package of a stereo Y-adapter cable often refers to it as "a male stereo 1/8-inch plug to two male RCA plugs."

The best sound card manufacturers throw the cord in for free; others make you head to Radio Shack. If your computer and stereo aren't very close together, pick up a 12-foot stereo cable. A 20-foot stereo cable provides even more room. If your computer and stereo are more than 20 feet away, ask the Radio Shack salesperson how to buy the right cable and plugs to make your own extension cable.

3. Plug the 1/8-inch stereo plug into your sound card's speaker jack.

Hopefully your sound card has all its jacks labeled so that you know which hole does what. If it doesn't, you have to open the sound card's manual. Then run the extension cord between your computer and your stereo system.

If you have carpet, push the cord into the crack between the carpet and the edge of the wall. Use the right tool for the job: A spoon handle works well. No carpet? One alternative is to buy a rug, but whatever you do, don't leave the cord laying across the floor.

4. Plug the cable's two RCA phono plugs into the stereo's Aux Input or Tape Input jacks.

Check the back of your stereo for some unused input jacks; you should see several pairs of stubby little metal heads. Use the Aux Input or the Tape Input jacks - whichever ones aren't being used.

One jack of the pair is probably red or labeled "Right" - push the cord's red plug into that jack. The other jack is probably black, white, or green - this jack is for your other plug, no matter what color it is.

Don't plug your sound card's output into your home stereo's Phono Input jack. Your stereo doesn't expect such a strong signal from that jack.

5. Turn on the stereo, and switch it to Aux Input or Tape Input.

Turn the stereo's input select switch to the jack that you've used, either Tape Input or Aux Input.

6. Play an MP3 file on the sound card, and adjust the volume.

Gradually turn up the volume on your stereo and sound card. If everything is hooked up right, the sound should start filling the room.

If the sound doesn't start filling the room, make sure that the stereo is turned to Aux Input or Tape Input - or whatever input jack you plugged the sound card into. If the stereo isn't turned to the correct input switch, your sound card won't come through.

http://tech.yahoo.com/gd/hooking-up-your-stereo-to-your-pc-or-laptop/153082;_ylt=An7grElJDzUXonxdPG7ie9QSLpA5

iPod Tips for FolksToo Busy for iPods

Despite the fact that I was one of the first people I know to have an iPod, my iPod and I have always had a troubled relationship. It's simply a matter of time. I don't really have time to put into making the relationship work.

As a matter of fact the happiest times in our relationship was when my youngest son was still at home. I bought him his own iPod on the condition that he give me a bit of space for me and my music.

It was a great solution. He had time to act as my surrogate, filling my iPod for me; I got to listen to my music and even some of his. If you have kids at home it's a strategy I'd strongly recommend.

iPod After the Kids Are Gone

When he went off to college even King Solomon couldn't figure out how to split our megabytes, so, like any good gadget-loving parent, I gave him the older iPod and bought a new one for myself.

Left on my own, I found out how many mistakes I could make on a device that by now the entire world thought was the most elegant user interface ever invented.

The biggest lesson learned: Don't rip your CDs if you're not connected to iTunes

Ripping a CD involves playing the CD in your computer's CD player and transferring its contents to your computer and then over to your iPod.

I have a pile of old CDs that I love and on weekends we have a 2 hour car ride up to our house in upstate NY. Since I'm always looking for life's efficiencies, I figured ripping my CDs to the computer as we drove North was a great move.

Wrong. The ipod gets its information about what the songs you're ripping from a little code that the iTunes database understands. If you're not connected to iTunes while you're ripping your CD you'll get a song called Track 01 rather than Times They Are a Changin' . Things like the name of the album, artist and song transferred. I burned disk after disk and all that my iPod could tell me about the song was "Track 01 " Track O2.

The Solution:

If you've made this mistake you can fix it. You can connect to the Internet and can replace the Track # information with the real CD information-song name, artist and so on. Go to the Advanced menu and after selecting the offending songs simply choose Get CD Track Names. iTunes will retrieve the names of your selected songs and apply them automatically, even if the CD is no longer in your computer.

http://tech.yahoo.com/blog/raskin/72;_ylt=AoJ6vpKFVIhoWJjyd1Hsp1ASLpA5