Kalman Rubinson

NAD C 298 power amplifier

Kalman Rubinson May 21, 2021

Power amplifiers should be boring. They have a single, well-defined function: Make the input signal large enough to run a loudspeaker so that it makes sound at levels suitable for listening to music. Generally, controls and features are few or none. Peter Walker of Quad famously defined the ideal amplifier as a "straight wire with gain." That's just one feature: gain.

Digital Processor Reviews

exaSound s88 multichannel D/A processor

Kalman Rubinson Apr 06, 2021

I have reported on exaSound DACs since the introduction of the e18 in 2013, but those reports were in my Music in the Round column. This is Stereophile's first full review of an exaSound product and the first time one has spent time on JA's test bench.

Media Server Reviews

exaSound Delta Music Server

Kalman Rubinson Apr 06, 2021

A digital front end comprises several elements: data storage, library management, program control, signal distribution, signal conditioning, and digital-to-analog conversion plus all the necessary interconnections. All this can be contained in a convenient single box, or it can be distributed.

Media Server Reviews

Volumio Primo music player/streamer

Kalman Rubinson Jan 29, 2021

Is this all there is to it? I had done some superficial investigations of Volumio online, after the Primo was suggested to me for review. I had learned that the Volumio player software is available for several hardware platforms including Windows, Mac, and Raspberry Pi, but I had not tried it before. I discovered Volumio's reputation as an efficient, Linux-based music player, installable with an SD card on minimal hardware and said to support virtually all music formats and resolutions including DSD and multichannel. But I had not experienced any of this for myself.

Digital Processor Reviews

Okto Research dac8 PRO D/A processor

Kalman Rubinson Nov 30, 2020

For a couple of years, I have been following Prague-based Okto Research. At first, Pavel Krasensky, the founder and hardware developer, offered audio design ideas and DIY modules that I found tantalizing. For example, there was a dandy-looking ESS 9038Pro Sabrebased output module and some appealing power supply modulesbut to use those, the buyer had to manage inputs and integration on their own.

Then, finally, last year, Krasensky released the dac8 PRO, an 8-channel D/A processor with USB input and output, 8 channels of AES/EBU input, and 8 channels of balanced (XLR) analog output as well as a headphone output.

Media Server Reviews

Pink Faun 2.16x music streamer

Kalman Rubinson Nov 27, 2020

My, how we've grown! The experience that convinced me of the inevitability of streaming was in 2010 with the tiny, tidy Logitech Squeezebox Touch that, despite being discontinued and disowned by its manufacturer, still has a cult-like following. Since then, we have seen an explosion of devices for file playback from local or nonlocal storage and web streams.

Integrated Amp Reviews Media Server Reviews

NAD Masters Series M33 streaming integrated amplifier

Kalman Rubinson Sep 28, 2020

On the cold and sunny morning of February 19, 2020, a dozen or so audio critics and writers gathered at Gilmore's Sound Advice on New York's far West Side to see some new NAD and DALI products that had been unveiled the prior month at CES. It was a friendly group, and we kibitzed over coffee before clustering in the arranged seats for presentations and auditions. I doubt any of us realized that it would be the last time for the foreseeable future that we would experience this familiar rite.

Subwoofer Reviews

JL Audio Fathom f110v2 powered subwoofer

Kalman Rubinson Jul 28, 2020

Some contentious issues will not be resolved in my lifetime: vinyl vs digital, tubes vs solid state, subjective vs objective, streaming vs physical media.

Also, subwoofers vs no subwoofers in a stereo music system.

Digital Processor Reviews

GeerFab Audio D.BOB digital breakout box

Kalman Rubinson Apr 27, 2020

This unique device is a solution to a problem that previously couldn't be solved.

There are, of course, any number of little boxes that can extract audio from the HDMI video bitstream; they began to appear on the market to fill a need for a way to route audio from a player's HDMI output In the recent past, you could buy a good-qualityeven audiophile-gradeuniversal player and listen to SACDs via its good-sounding analog outputs. But good-sounding universal players are becoming scarce.

Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

PMC fact.8 signature loudspeaker

Kalman Rubinson Apr 22, 2020

Back in the Dark Ages, loudspeaker design was commonly based on semi-enlightened experimentation, with new enclosure configurations appearing almost monthly in professional and consumer journals. One of those, published in Wireless World in October of 1965, was A.R. Bailey's transmission line, a long, selectively resistive, folded-and-sometimes-tapered tube that loaded the back of the (woofer) driver for low-bass reinforcement.