We are proud to announce that Audiocubics has appointed French Vintage Hifi as their first distributor!
You can buy from our store at the same price as directly from Audiocubics and by doing so, you will support our efforts and help us get this site to the next level. We told you so!A while back, we share with you the project that Neil Young had to design a Super iPod that would store and play hi-res definition audio files. It is now almost a reality as you can now preorder a unit via Neil's Kirkstarter campaign. I am reflagging below an article from Audiogon for your information. This is BIG news, as it fits with Sony and others trying to set up a new standard for Blu-Ray Audio only disc which would support this resolution. I have personally bought a few of these discs and they are a delight on my OPPO player. Now, I could travel with them if I wished! Enjoy with no moderation! 03.12.14 UPDATE: Well, that was fast. Neil Young’s Pono startup, which wants to build a high-resolution digital music player by the same name, shot past its $800,000 funding goal on day one of its Kickstarter campaign. Pono launched a Kickstarter campaign to finance the production of its player Tuesday morning, and at 10pm, it already had raised more than $925,000. (via Gigaom)
NEIL YOUNG LAUNCHES KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN FOR PONOMUSICWE ARE NOW LIVE ON KICKSTARTER!DIRECT LINK to Kickstarter campaign: http://kck.st/1g5xVf3 Long-Awaited Product Features Full Ecosystem, Major Label Agreements, and Access to Studio Masters To Deliver Transformative Listening Experience March 11, 2014 – (Santa Monica, CA.) – PonoMusic, a revolutionary movement conceived and founded by Neil Young with a mission to restore the soul of music, announced today that it is officially moving out of the R&D phase and is “open for business” with the launch of its Kickstarter campaign for the PonoPlayer. The Kickstarter campaign features testimonials from some of the most notable musicians, including Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John and Norah Jones, discussing their experience with the PonoPlayer. Read more at http://hub.audiogon.com/blog/2014/03/11/neil-young-pono-kickstarter/#oQAHUl00q8qBstU2.99 Not that long ago, I upgraded my ageing NAD 7140 receiver to a new NAD preamp/amp C326BEE to drive my Bryston 3B. One of the reaso for the upgrade was that I was looking forward to a remote control of the volume of my preamp. If Audiocubics had been around then, I may very well have been tempted to buy this piece of gear rather than a new NAD. I don't regret it though, as it is a very transparent preamp/remote combo! But here comes the Audiocubics R-Cube and look at what it does for a mere 295USD: "The R-Cube system is a showpiece stereo remote volume control with superb audio characteristics and a sophisticated minimalist look. Appearance is just as important as performance in excellent audio gear and brushed or machined aluminium and exotic rich hardwoods enhance the R-cubes aesthetic. The cube shape satisfies the performance design goal of minimum possible total signal path and catches the eye with it's geometric simplicity. Each R-Cube is hand crafted out of brushed aluminium, with machine-turned aluminium buttons and a single 192 colour LED light indicating volume level. Select exotic hardwoods with a lustrous oiled finish and matching machine-turned aluminium buttons are used on the handheld remote to give it visual and tactile appeal. The R-cube is constructed with gold/teflon RCA jacks, silver/teflon wiring, triple eutectic solder and a minimum possible signal path in order to maintain maximum signal integrity throughout. The Audiocubics R-cube system is a simple and elegant remote stereo volume control that is as much art as it is high performance audio gear." I really love that simple statement! The specs are impressive and the looks! That's "hawt" as hell! I might buy one just for that alone... And look at the different finishes for the remote itself, like cocobolo or purpleheart on top of anodised "aluminium" and black acrylic or the very vintage walnut! I am also thinking about using this Audiocubics between my OPPO and the Bryston 3B for a very minimalist setup, bypassing the NAD altogether. I think that would be very cool!
Ideas for future products could be to add switching between two sources: I would connect the OPPO on one and the output of my NAD phono stage to the other - and a headphone amp! Au boulot Curt! Elipson recognised as "The most Influential Speaker of All Times" in INNER, a Finnish Hifi blog30/1/2014 Thanks to my loyal follower Terry C from South Korea, I have discovered a new blog from Finland, called INNER-AUDIO, run by Kari Nevalainen, a weel-rounded man who lives currently in Finland, but had extensive stays in Geneva and Hong-Kong, two good places to learn about high-end/esoteric hifi!! You can learn more about him here: http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/kari/kari.html , which means he also writes for 6moons.
He listens to Ocelia type speakers using French Phy full range drivers, another good reference in my view. This blog has already about 30+ articles on Vintage gear, including this one on Elipson, with a BIG claim about the influence of Joseph Leon's contraptions on the rest of us mere cloners of a speaker designer! If you are a long term reader of this space, you will know that I totally agree with that claim, and I am almost certain that these speakers are still to be bettered for their OVERALL performance and respect of the music. My first encounter with Elipson in the very early 70s started my journey on hifi excellence and speaker design and they are still my inspiration today almost half a century later. Time and phase alignment, cabinet resonances and size, are still the principles that guides me in any new design. My sister and I bought a 1219 Dual turntable, but we could not afford the rest of the catalogue, so that's when I built my first speakers - full range 17cm from Audax in a DIY enclosure filled up with an old bedcover Mum gave me, valve amplifier kit bought from Cibot Radio, and DIY transistor preamp. The temperature in my room was always a few degrees more than the rest of the house as a result: cosy to listen to the Beatles WHITE album! My sister has since acquired a Dual CT-1440 tuner BRAUN was another brand also on my radar at the time, although I couldn't afford it then, and has probably gone too iconic today to be affordable now. As proof, this CSV-1000 found at Hifi Vintage Christian Grados in Paris is for sale for 1200 euros! It has been said that Braun aesthetics were an big inspiration for John Ive, the chief designer at Apple, and yes I am a fan, as we are a complete Apple household from a 27" iMac - the one I am using right now, to a number of Macbook Air, iPhones and iPads...we are completely addicted!
And I just received my numbered - 530 - copy today!It is a beautiful book and I did what we all do, look at the pictures first and read a few articles, before digging deeper into the thick of it!
Only Focal made it to the book in terms of French manufacturers, with a very good interview of Jacques Mahul. Cabasse is briefly mentioned in the "Oddities and Wonders" section! No trace of Elipson or Charlin, brands that were never exported to the USA and obviously of no or little interest to our American colleagues... The book focuses mainly on famous American and British brands and is well structured, with many timelines and good stories, some unknown to me, like the fact that Lansing committed suicide over the threat of bankruptcy! Beautiful photos and archival documents are smartly presented in a dynamic and clean format. I have started reading a few interviews of some of the still alive and famous designers and can't wait to go through all of them! I will keep you posted on any other anecdote or piece of trivia that I will find interesting over the coming weeks. Edison Cylinder player found in an antique shop in Carmel, CAI once went into debt to acquire one of these beautiful machines and wish I didn't sell it in the early 80s. At the time, it was still possible to rock up (!) to some concerts, set up a pair of mikes and start recording. Try that today and you will probably thrown out or end up in jail for the night! There is obviously no better medium that a first or second copy of live or studio recorded material. Proof, if you needed one, is that there a new proliferation of re-releases of master tapes onto Blu-Ray or DVD-A or as 96/24 0r even better, 192/24 digital files, or new pressings of 180g vinyls. The reason is that it is a very good way to get back to the source of the original recording with minimum alterations, and in some cases, with the proper digital processing, an increase of quality on the original, as noise is reduced and various artefacts removed. For the real aficionado, with some deep pockets preferably, the ultimate treat is to acquire a copy on these master on tape and to play them back on refurbished/upgraded original equipment from the era. So, as our festive season gift, I thought I would assemble for you a collection of photos of tape recorders gleaned from the web or from my personal collection of photos taken on shows. Both the CES and the RMAF we had a good collection of stands using tapes and tape recorders as their primary source! A sign of the times? I let you be the judge of this... On a technical side, it is to be noted that most machines were limited to 15kHz bandwidth until the 70s, and we have to credit the Japanese manufacturers to push the boundaries with semi pro machines claiming a bandwidth exceeding 25kHz. Analog tape is also quite forgiving for accepting peak levels without generating too much distortion, then improving dynamic range in the process if managed smarly. Furthermore, the disc cutter had a certain tolerance in pushing the levels into the red just enough to gain a few dBs of dynamic range, without compromising the spacing between adjacent grooves. Kit Lambert, the producer of The Who, was famous for instructing Brian Carroll to "keep the needles in the red" on the VU-meters! From the US of AFrom EuropeFrom JapanAnd from France...It is certainly more expensive than my humble OPPO player, and you need to add the Nausicaa DAC and base to do the same things. It will set you back around 100k$, but promises you to be the best, albeit the most expensive, CD player on the Planet. It will certainly qualify as top vintage gear in thirty years time! I have not had a chance to listen to this newest version, but did listen to the previous incarnation at the Paris Hifi Show and then more privately at Point Musiques. And it did sound fine to me... Besides whether or not it sounds better than an OPPO or any other high-end player for that matter, you have to recognise Dominique Giner's resilience and perfectionism, as he has been at it since 1987, right at the onset of CDs becoming mainstream. What fascinates me is that he is using some of the same principles as high-end turntables manufacturers, like Clearaudio, or to stay French, Pierre Riffault. All are trying to prevent vibrations to corrupt the fragile signal that is engraved in metallised plastic or vinyl which we entrust to keep a record of our musical endeavours. all rely on mass and precision mechanical engineering to transform an analog signal into music. I hear you say to yourself "but CD is digital". Well, not really... You see, once the laser picks up the "ones" and "zeros" from the disc, it then transmits an analog signal to the DAC, and the job of the DAC is to accurately transform this signal into a digital word of 16 bits at 44.1KHz sampling rate, or in this particular case, at an upsampled 96KHz. The quality of this original analog signal is linked to the stability of the disc in regard to the laser beam which reads it. The quality of the conversion relies on a very low level of noise in the electronics of the DAC AND a very stable, jitter-free clock. Hence why companies like Antelope use a rubidium clock to drive their DACs and ADCs. I encourage you to read this article here that will demystify a few generally badly understood facts about CDs. And we wrongly assume that this has been taken care of properly during the mastering process of the CD. Nobody ever talks about that though...Hence the reaso why I mention Antelope, as their products are used as ADCs in all good recording and mastering studios around the World. I even know one here in Melbourne... It is ONE reason why a copy of a CD might sound different from the original, by the way... I will leave the last word toJohn Bamford and Paul Miller of Hifi News, who just reviewed the whole system:
"As much works of sculpture as high-end audio components, the Kalista transport and Nausicaa DAC sound as striking as they look. The combo delivers a richly textured and sumptuous sound, with fabulous three dimensionality when playing fine recordings". As Ivor Tiefenbrun would say "garbage in, garbage out"..., so you might have to throw away a few CDs if you can afford this beautiful machine... |
AuthorBorn in France, well travelled, relocated to Sydney in 1997. Archives
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