BAASnotes.com – Bay Area Audiophile Society

More on the Beethoven Sonata Series

Sumiko to Hold Open House in Berkeley

See the flyer below for details of Sumiko’s Open House (9/15/2010):

Aaudio Demonstrates High-Value Audiophile Gear

Following the awesome California Audio Show, Brian Ackerman of distributor Aaudio Imports agreed to “export” his fine wares to Jason’s Oakland castle.

The result: lots of good listening and good learning for dozens of members.

The gear on hand included:

- Aaron no.22 preamp  -  $3,900 retail

- Aaron no.3 amp  -  $3,950 retail

- Lindemann 825 cd player  -  $12,000 retail

- Stage III Cables – $Various

- Weizhi PRS-6 Power Distributor – $3,200 retail

I found it quite interesting to hear Jason’s system powered by quality solid state amplification.

We also got to taste the Stein Harmonizers and the luscious Wavelength USB Converter.

Thanks, Brian & Jason – we enjoyed it!

Bob

My Impressions of the California Audio Show

Overall

• Smashing success
• Advanced audio awareness in Bay Area
• Well-organized; friendly environment

My Favorite Rooms

• TONIAN – Nothing better for small-scale music, and can stretch to bigger things
• EFICION – “Classic” high-end formula: great drivers, inert cab, and smart design (new F250 is great)
• MAGICO/KINGSOUND – My fav Magico (V-2) sung; Kings needed bigger room and amps
• GRADIENT – Innovation in loudspeakers lives…rejoice!
• SONIST/deHavilland – Tapes! Tubes! Good economics!
• TERESONIC – BAAS member MZ has broken the code on Lowthers (Step 1 Horns, Step 2 SET,…)
• Trenner & Friedl – Amazing sound from small things
• BLUE COAST – Live music, neat tech, and smart (nice) people who just want to deliver fidelity in music. Whats not to love?

Disclaimer: I own Tonian and eFicion speakers.

Best Bargain

The $4000 system by GRANT FIDELITY. Yes, it’s Chinese. So what?

Conclusion

I had a great time. I have also lined up six new events to round out the year.

Many thanks and congratulations to Constantine Soo and Dagogo for a temendous debut!

Interested in more?

For the most complete coverage on the web, check out Jason’s Stereophile blog.

How about you?

About 120 BAAS members attended. If you were one of them, what did you think of the show?

Just comment and let us know…

by Bob Walters

Silverman to Return to Beethoven Sonatas

Audio High will bring pianist Robert Silverman back to the Bay Area, this time for an eight-concert series of the entire cycle of Beethoven piano sonatas (32 in all).

These events will be open to the public and all proceeds will benefit the Elf Foundation. Dates are Sept 9th & 16th and Nov 11th & 18th, 2010; Feb 3rd & 10th and Apr 7th & 14th, 2011.

Audio High will be recording and producing a CD set of all 32 sonatas with Mr. Silverman that will also contribute to the Elf Foundation’s Rooms of Magic program. The recordings will also likely be offered in a high-resolution format. (Yah!)

BAAS was treated to Silverman’s masterful playing in a private session last year.

More information will be available at www.audiohigh.org (note the .org).

Win Analog Event this Saturday

To “tune up” our auditioning muscles for the Cal Audio Show, we have a great event coming up on Saturday, July 17th at Win Analog in Milpitas (at 355 Fairview Way).

What we’ll see and hear:

Blue Coast “BAAS Session III” Coming June 26th!

Matt & Jenna at Blue Coast BAAS Event II

Great news: BAAS members and their guests have been invited to another “insider” recording session at Blue Coast Records.

The recording artists include Jane Selkye and Chris Kee (think “Blue Coast Collection”). Yeah!

In addition to the recording session itself, two other special events will be featured:

Invitations are being sent today.

Bob

Lotus Group “Granada” and SMc Audio “VRE-1″ Impress Audio Group

BAAS members ventured up to lovely Marin County for a day of music played on a truly ‘reference-quality’ system.

Hosted in the lab of Sausalito Audio, we were treated to a stunning example of open-baffle speaker design and engineering. For most members, this was an introduction to this unique speaker architecture. The use of a custom DSP-based crossover/EQ device was also a first for BAAS. The words that I heard from members re the Granada’s included “accurate,” “articulate,” and “balanced.”

Of course, significant credit for the sound must go to the SMc VRE-1 preamplifier. A signature piece from SMc, this solid state design was found by members to be crisp, dynamic, and color-free.

But as good as the music and equipment was, an equal highlight was the chance for BAAS members to interact with the system’s designers:

• Joe Cohen – CEO of importer/distributor Lotus Group, Joe set the vision for the Granada speakers – from the uber-high-end Feastrex drivers to the provocative open baffle form factor.

• Steve McCormack – CEO of SMc and designer of the VRE-1, the fruits of Steve’s skills have enhanced amplification in many a listening room. We expect power amps and a phono amp from SMc in the future.

• Manny LaCarrubba – CEO of Sausalito Audio and chief architect of the Granada. Many audiophiles will recognize Manny as the design talent behind several highly successful Bang & Olafsen audio products.

On behalf of BAAS – Thanks, guys, for some great listening!

Bob

Jaton Debuts REAL ‘DIY’ Speaker at BAAS Event

Last Saturday, high-end manufacturer Jaton hosted Bay Area Audiophile Society members at their Fremont facility.

The highlight for most was the very-cool REAL DIY (some would say ‘kit’) loudspeaker. A relatively petite floorstander, the vented boxes produced big, full-range sound in an acoustically-challenged room.

The highlight for three members might have been the substantial door prizes – three speaker systems.

The lunch was great too.

Thanks, Jaton!

Music@Menlo to Kick Off 2010 Summer Festival

If you love chamber music, let me recommend a local festival put on by Music@Menlo in – where else – Atherton (near Menlo Park!). This Merc article provides a nice preview.

Great music, performed well. And sometimes much better than “well.”

If you don’t believe me, try a couple of their well-produced CD’s (available on the web site).

Good listening!

Lang Lang Plays iPad at SF Davies Hall

Virtuoso pianist Lang Lang stunned SF’s Davies by whipping out an iPad and playing “Flight of the Bumblebees.” Video here.

The software powering the performance was Magic Piano from Smule.

I wish I had been there…makes me want an iPad too!

Bob

California Audio Show (CAS) Exhibitors List

The list is up – and it’s growing.

I think the show is already at critical mass – and worthy of a visit.

July 30 – August 1 in Emeryville.

Bob

Spiral Groove Turntable Impresses Digital Audiophile(s)

BAAS membership reflects the current trends of audiophiles worldwide. As such, the majority (including myself) listen to digital these days. So it was interesting to see how our first “analog event” in several years would be received.

About 30 BAAS members gathered at Jason Victor Serinus’ home yesterday to listen to the latest in analog source technology, delivered by Allen Perkins of local manufacturer Spiral Groove (SG).

The system featured the following gear from SG:

• Spiral Groove SG 2 Turntable ($15,000)
• Spiral Groove SG Tonearm ($6,000)
• Lyra Cartridge ($6,000)
• Lehmann Audio Decade phono section ($2,400)
• Spiral Groove preamplifier (projected $15,000)

An impressive array, to be sure!

I am quite familiar with Jason’s system and listening environment, at least for digital sources. Here are my impression of yesterday’s sights and sounds:

• The SG gear is beautiful to look at, and even better to listen to. Furthermore, it’s practical. For example, it can be set up by one person in 30 minutes (!). Simple elegance.
• All told, I listened to the system for five hours. I heard fewer than a dozen tics or pops. This is a new record for me <g>. Especially notable: not a single record was treated in any way during the event. No rituals – just load & play. (Sorta like a CD…) [One member told me that the sound was clean because only vintage older "virgin" vinyl was used.]
• Allen’s description of the engineering design choices that guided him made a lot of sense to me.
• The sound in the second session was a bit tighter than the first. (This is not unusual. I think it’s caused simply by the gear being more fully warmed up.)
• Nordost Odin cables are the real deal. At one point we substituted the preamp’s power cable with a Odin. Wow.
• For the first time in a very long while, I was thinking “…maybe I do need a turntable…”

We also conducted several listening tests on digital sources. These allowed us to compare several digital exemplars to state-of-the-art analog. I’ll say here that two things were apparent:

• Analog rocks. There’s a reason why so many audiophiles are driven to turntables (see this article from today’s NYT). – they can sound great!
• PS Audio’s(PSA’s) new “Perfect Wave” stack combines outstanding ease-of-use with media flexibility and great sonics. That’s a tough combo to beat! Very nice kit, especially for audiophiles wishing to get into high-resolution without going to a computer. (Digital sources that I consider “reference quality” generally have price tags beginning at 2X the PSA tariff.)
• I preferred the sound of the Wavelength Wavelink USB audio interface to that of the the transport (many members agreed). I don’t think it yet matches the best in firewire converters, but it sounded quite detailed and transparent to me (especially on hires material).

Note that Jason’s description of the event – and activities leading up to it – can be found on the Home secrets Blog.

Digital Audio Sources Compared; Playback Designs Shines

Last Saturday, BAAS members were treated to state-of-the-art digital courtesy of local vendor Playback Designs.

Indeed, one of the distinct highlights of the event was hearing from Playback founder and chief designer, Andreas Koch, who is an icon in digital audio innovation.

The Playback MPS-5 made sweet music, regardless of digital source – and we tried several.

In fact, we auditioned:

• A $4 12′ TOSLINK cable;
• A $1000 USB-to-SPDIF converter;
• A $1400 FIREWIRE-to-SPDIF converter; and
• The built-in drive on the MPS-5 (both on CD and SACD)

in formats:

• 24/176 PCM
• 24/96 PCM
• 16/44 PCM
• SACD; and
• CD

OK, so which sounded best?

Well, I would say that HIRES PCM (176/96) and SACD topped members’ preference lists. As to sources, Firewire and SACD were generally the winners, but lowly CD did surprisingly well on some material – the latter perhaps a tribute to the abilities of the MPS-5 on that media.

BAAS would like to thank Andreas Koch and Jonathan Tinn, the co-founders of Playback Designs for making this possible. Well done!

by Bob Walters

Fall Event for Vinyl Lovers

THE RECORD MAN, 1322 El Camino Real, Redwood City, Ca 94063

Web site.

PS Audio CEO comes to the Bay Area Bringing Digital

Most audiophiles are familiar with the PS Audio brand, especially given the company’s pioneering efforts in cables and power treatment.

But last Saturday Paul McGowan, leader of PS Audio, shared with us a broader vision – to bring the same performance and value to all elements of the audio chain. He further explained that another key element of the PS Audio strategy is to bring “music-server performance” (e.g., ability to play hi res material) to audio enthusiasts not wishing to connect a computer to their sound system.

And with that strategy in mind, we sat down to a very compelling listening session featuring the ‘PerfectWave’ transport and DAC wherein we learned:

• The sonic differences between 16/44 and 24/176
• The degradation that a sample-rate-converter (SRC) often brings; and
• A comparison of modern reconstruction (‘anti-aliasing’) filters, including the now-popular  ’apodising’ filters

The PerfectWave pair paired perfectly with Audio High’s reference Chord/KEF stack to produce vivid and powerful sonic images – and another great event.

BAAS thanks Paul, PS Audio, Michael Silver, and Audio High. Great job!

Great Classical This Weekend!

Looking for something cool to do this Sunday (9/13/09)?

Click here for tickets to what promises to be a great event.

Yet Another Stunning ‘Blue Coast Session’

Check out the recordings from this great session here. More on Jenna here, and Matt here.

text by Ori

pics by Bob Bergner

What’s always puzzling in a recording session is whether it will produce decent music or truly great music. Ordinary does not count.It takes two to tango and in this case what a great dance it was. Matt and Jenna have known each other in the past, but busy schedules and geographical barriers kept them away for five years or so.

There comes the third person to this party. Cookie Marenco needs no introduction in the BAAS circles and probably by now in the greater audiophile community as well. As it turned out, Cookie knows Matt and Jenna and convinced them to collaborate on this project. Cookie is to the artists what Matt is to Lyle and Ricky Lee-Jones. She plays the subtle role of an enabler, with her musical insight and magical artistry on the mixing console. These are not “filler words” to liven up the review and we will touch on her studio wizardry later.

› Continue reading

On Lyle Lovett and Matt Rollings…

I didn’t even imagine I’m a Lyle Lovett fan until I visited another audiophile friend and he played a few tracks from “Joshua Judges Ruth”. The one track that stood out was “North Dakota”. I was so much taken by it that Curt insisted I have the CD. I thank him for that ever since…

What grabs your attention in this track is the superb orchestration, which creates a somewhat “misty” atmosphere, in a striking contrast to the pristine clarity of this exemplary  track. I loved the vocal harmony of the male-female duet and the melancholic mood throughout the piece. I never really paid much attention to the piano, but now that I think of it… I should have…

When I heard that Matt Rollings played with Lyle Lovett, I had to go back and check. After all, I was about to attend a live session featuring Matt!

Sure enough, he’s the guy on “the track.” I knew the piano plays a big role in setting the overall tempo and pace. The piano probably contributes more to the overall lasting impression of the song than any other instrument, including the fabulous vocals, yet after many years I play this song I clearly focus on the vocals and less on the piano. Which brings me to the moral of this prologue/story…

Some things are great not because they stand out in the front row and declare themselves “I’m here!!!” Some things are great because they hold back and just play the team role by letting the other instruments or vocalist do their share in complete harmony. For a musician, that’s the greatest sign of maturity as an artist.

by Ori

Late Entry: Steve Hoffman Wows the Bay Area

Sorry for the delay in posting…I’ve been very busy at work and at home (building my first pair of speakers).To say that the event was a success perhaps undermines it. Quite simply, it was great – the music, the SH “war stories,” the system, and the venue all came together.Perhaps one of our members sums it up best:

Today was an absolutely breathtaking once-in-a-lifetime (well, until Steve comes back) experience. Some of the best sound and music I’ve heard in 29 years as an audiophile! John Lennon came to life in that room, as did Peggy Lee, James Taylor, etc… I actually got a little choked up by the raw emotion that superb system and recordings conveyed. I told Steve that and he said “Good, I like to make audiophiles cry!”Thank you for putting this together for us. I’ll never forget it.             - Alón Sagee

What more can I say?Just one thing: for a great listening experience with great people, visit Audio High in Mountain View. You’ll enjoy it, for sure!Thanks much – Steve and Audio High.

by Bob Walters