Rockport Speakers - 2021 Price Increase..Rockport
Technologies has just announced that there will be a price
increase on their speakers as of January 1, 2021.
The Beatles - Abbey Road Remix Listening Session
- Saturday, September 28, 2019 from 3-6pm.
You are invited to come in and join us for
a listening session on a high end audio system to the new 2019
remix of Abbey Road. We've already listened to some of the
tracks and it is quite a revelation how good the original tracks
actually sound. For instance this is immediately evident on the
second track "Something" where the voice quality is far
superior. As there is limited seating please RSVP by calling us
at 781-893-9000 or emailing us at info@chinaggs.cn

Nagra HD Tour Event here Saturday November 2, 2019.
If you are interested in attending the
Nagra Seminar here at the store please RSVP by calling during
store hours or via
. Nagra will be
presenting the HD DAC X, HD Preamp, & HD Mono Amp.

We are
hiring! If you are interested in joining our team
click here.
As of June 2019 our brand new phone system has just been
installed and configured in order to serve you better.
Gryphon Seminar here Saturday July 27, 2019.
If you are interested in attending the
Gryphon Seminar here at the store please RSVP by calling during
store hours or via
. Gryphon will be
presenting the Legato Legacy phono stage, Pandora preamp, and
Mephisto power amp along with the Diablo 120 and Diablo 300
integrated amps. Due to the number of RSVP's there will be a
seating at 3pm as well as a second seating at 5pm.

Innuos Statement music server arriving soon.
We will have this in the store soon! If you are interested in learning more about this please call us at 781-893-9000 and ask for Alan Goodwin.

Our new website
will be published in early 2020! It is
hard to believe that our website first went live back in early
1998. To put that into perspective we first published our site less than 6 months
after Google itself first started with their search engine. Now 20 years later our new website will go live later this
year. Stay tuned...
MQA
upgrade for Berkeley Alpha DAC Reference Series 1 or 2.
Berkeley Audio Design has announced the
MQA upgrade for the Reference DAC. This is a software update
that is easily installable. Please call us at 781-893-9000 for details.
dCS announces the
Vivaldi 2.0 and upgrade. We now
have the Vivaldi 2.0 on display. In addition there is a 2.0
upgrade for the original Vivaldi available. Please call for details.
See our
revised and expanded
Library
section
Naim Statement system.
We had the Naim Statement
system here for the North American premiere. It was great to
have it here in the store in order to really put it through its
paces! If you are interested in a system at this level please
give us a call about setting up a special listening session.

Yet Another Best of Boston Award!
Boston Magazine has
honored us yet again with the Best of Boston 2014 in
the High End Audio category!
This is the third
category in which we have been so awarded. As we have also been
awarded Best of Boston in the categories of
Best Home
Theater as well as Best Audio-Visual Equipment.
TiVo Mega 24TB DVR announced.

The TiVo Mega DVT has 24 terabytes of recording space which
translates to 26,000 hours of SDTV or 4000 hours of HDTV. Along
with the massive storage, the whole home capable TiVo Mega
offers an all-in-one approach to live, recorded, on-demand,
streaming services and web-based TV. It features six
tuners that can record a multitude of content simultaneously and
support for the TiVo Mini for a comprehensive whole-home
solution. Users can stream live TV or recordings to their
smartphones and tablets and even download programming to enjoy
for offline playback. If
you would like one installed in your home please let us know.
Magico "M Project" Speaker.
A few years back Magico
announced a new speaker called the M Project. It was
designed for the person who wished to have a top
level performing speaker but who didn't want to have something
as large and heavy as the Q7 Mk2. While most people in the market
for
an ultra high end speaker actually prefer a larger speaker for
the reason of bass performance in the lowest register,
there have been a number of music lovers worldwide that have
requested something more moderate in size and weight—and
this was Magico's answer!
Only 50 pairs were
manufactured and we were fortunate to have ordered and sold five
pairs, in other terms 10% of the supply for the entire world—far
more than any other dealer. If you are potentially interested in
a used pair we would
recommend that you call us sooner rather than later! For more
info click
here.

Kaleidescape Store.
This is the new Movie & TV Series
download site for those
who have a Kaleidescape movie server. Already there are well
over 10,000's
of titles available in either 4K UHD, HD Blu-Ray or SD DVD quality—including
classics such as Gone With the Wind, Citizen Kane, and
Casablanca—with many more forthcoming. But what makes these
offerings stand out is that they are true bit-for-bit copies of
the discs without any further compression. And sometimes the
files are actually superior to the disc itself. This means for
example
that the image or audio quality of a UHD or 1080p Blu-Ray is not compromised in any
way. For more information click
.
Or if you are interested in obtaining a
movie server so that you too can enjoy these
downloads please give us a call.

Pure Audio Blu-Ray.
This is a new audio-only disc
format that, while it
was
in the planning stage for years, has
finally been released. Titles from major artists in classical,
jazz, and popular genres have already been announced and some
are already
available. Labels releasing titles in this format include
(,
, Verve), Sony,
Warner, Gimell, Tacet, Naxos, Crystal, Camerata, 2L, Sono
Luminus, etc. Note that Universal, Sony, and Warner are the
Big
Three Labels in terms of market share. It will be interesting to
see how many titles get released over the next few years as
compared to high resolution file downloads which are also
available.
A Pure Audio Blu-Ray
disc can be played in any Blu-Ray player, the analog output of
which can be hooked up to any preamp. Or to output to an
outboard DAC or surround processor an HDMI input
is necessary in order to hear the uncompressed LPCM soundtrack. In addition there can also be surround options contained on a disk. So, like the SACD and
DVD-Audio formats which came before, here is another disc format
which will provide an alternative for listening to high
resolution music. Typical stereo PCM sampling/bit rates for a
Pure Audio disc are 96/24 or 192/24. The nice thing about
this format is that you can use it without having a Blu-Ray
player hooked up to a video screen by using the color-coding on
the disc packaging and the four color buttons which are on every
Blu-ray player remote control.
ProStudioMasters - High Resolution Download Site.
Covering a variety of
genres including rock/pop, jazz, and classical,
offers high resolution downloads, including
those of major artists, from a variety of labels. Available in
the US & Canada, they offer sampling/bit rates at 88.2, 96,
176.4 & 192/24 in both FLAC & AIFF formats—as well as some DSD
DFF 2822.4kHz 1bit files. In addition they offer very high
quality cover art. To see for yourself just click on the cover
art below to view a larger version. (And if necessary then click
on the larger one to expand it.) It would be nice if all sites were as
conscientious about providing high quality cover art. If you
have a properly calibrated high quality monitor then these
images will speak for themselves.
New dCS Section on our Website.

You might be
interested to know that we just added a new section with lots of
information on the full line of
dCS digital components. It
encompasses a full complement of Owner's Manuals along with
photos of all the current models. Manuals
for past models are included as well.
In addition our
Library page has been
expanded and the various articles in it, such as the ones
related to music servers, have been updated. Plus our
and
Rockport pages have been updated so as to reflect their new model introductions.
CEA Announces Expanded Support of High-Resolution Audio!

The Consumer
Electronics Association (CEA) has made a major announcement—that they are now offering expanded support for and promotion of
high-resolution audio (HRA). "Music labels are expanding their
HRA catalogues online with tens of thousands of HRA albums
already available for download across every music genre. Every
major music label has expressed support for HRA, including Sony
Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music
Group, in addition to leading independent labels. HRA digital
music stores are already online, with more being added each
day." Read the
in its entirety.
This development is a
major milestone towards the goal of having high resolution files
available of all of the great albums by all of the major artists
that are under contract to the Big Three music labels, i.e.
Universal, Sony, and Warner. In addition having smaller labels
also participating will mean that many more artist's music will
be available as high-resolution audio files too!
A Golden Age of CD Box Sets.
It seems as if we are
living in a Golden Age of CD Box Sets. Whether your interest is
Rock, Jazz, or Classical there are some sets, either large and
small, to suit most everyone's taste. And each month more are
being released.

Back in 2009 of course
The Beatles made headline news with both their
and
CD box sets of all of their classic albums. Then they
went even further by releasing their 24 bit
containing all of their albums in the lossless
FLAC format.
In addition there was
the
box set, so there was a format for most everyone. In
fact we have a vinyl box set in stock and if you are interested
give us a call.
Obviously a classic in the truest sense of the word.
In terms of Jazz of
course there are many box sets available. One example released
in 2012 was:
which is an 8 CD box set.
This was remastered with the
Pacific Microsonics A-D
which is acknowledged by many cognescenti as the finest sounding
Analog-Digital Converter ever made. Hence it isn't so surprising
to find that the sound quality of this release is surprisingly
good! To see a sampling of some more Jazz Box Sets see our
Library.
With regard to Classical
music there has been an avalanche of large box sets which have
been released. In fact there was an
from The New York Times on this very theme. Examples
of some popular ones are:
In addition over the past few years comprehensive box sets of
other renowned artists such as
Heifetz and
Horowitz have been released. If you are interested in seeing
some of what else is available we have compiled a larger listing
of some box sets in our
Library. After all it's all about the music.
And of course if you
want to hear how great all of this wonderful music can really
sound we have a wide range of CD Players from rather modest right on
up to the truly high end Spectral
. Or if you would like to listen from a music
server driving a high end DAC such as a
,
Berkeley, or
we have those too. Just give us a call and we'll let you hear
some sublime sounding music played through one of our fine
digital or analog front ends.
Acoustic Sounds - Super HiRez Downloads.

Acoustic
Sounds has high resolution downloads in FLAC
and ALAC lossless formats at up to 192 /24
sampling rate /bit depth—as well as
files in the DSD format. In addition, since
Acoustic Sounds licensed many of the commercial label titles,
accessed the master tapes, and exercised complete control of the
mastering process—at least with those titles, it should not
experience HDTracks' "start up" issue of getting pre-mastered
files that were on occasion not true high resolution files, but
rather "up sampled" from CD resolution files or from actual CDs.
Although as
of late 2013 their Super HiRez catalog of high resolution files is not as
large as that of
, they will definitely be expanding their offerings
going forward. You can see their
current catalog
. A few of their stellar classic titles
include:
- Ella Fitzgerald -
Sings The Harold Arlen Songbook
- Stan Getz & Joao
Gilberto - Getz and Gilberto
- John Coltrane - A
Love Supreme
ClassicsOnline announces FLAC files.
At present Classics Online is slowly rolling out
. At first they will only be available as CD
quality 44.1kHz /16 bit files. However they have also announced
that they intend to add high resolution files as well.
Sony Announces Support for High Resolution Music Files.

Sony Electronics has publicly declared a renewed interest in
supporting high resolution audio files. You can see the now logo
here just to the right. Their new tagline for this is: "Get
closer to the original master sound".
To this end they recently introduced a line of high-resolution
compatible hardware. Plus they now have websites
and
to explain high resolution audio in simple terms. This
new initiative includes a commitment to making high resolution
audio "a more convenient, compelling, and cost-effective
listening experience for digital music enthusiasts everywhere.
To support this, select Sony products will come preinstalled
with high-resolution tracks from Universal Music Group, Warner
Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment."
This is a very
important development in the area of high resolution music files
as Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Sony Music
Entertainment are the Big Three music labels. As these three
combined comprise about 70% of music sales worldwide and 85% of
US music sales.
For those who are
technically-inclined you will be interested to know that Sony is
touting the following high resolution file types with sampling
and bit depths up to the following maximums:
DSD: DSF; DFF —
2.8 & 5.6MHz /1bit
PCM: WAV; AIFF; FLAC; ALAC —
up to 192KHz /24bit
MIT "Show Demo" Cables For Sale.

If you've
always wanted a pair of high end MIT cables but felt you
couldn't afford them we have some great news! We have obtained a
small stock of some of the latest and greatest MIT cables from a recent
trade show where they were only used for less than a week. These
cables are in excellent condition and come with a full warranty.
At present we have
speaker cables,
interconnect cables, and
digital cables. You can see
our pre-owned and demo cables and components in our
Used listing.
In addition, if you
don't see a particular model that you are seeking you are
welcome to contact us and inquire about it as we may have access
to a few more cables that aren't presently listed. We also will
have some more show demo cables coming in soon from the January
2014 CES Show. Either way, if you're interested please call us and
ask about the very attractive "show demo" pricing.
See our
new
and
Music
and Formats
sections—including sources for the new high-resolution audio
files!
Remastered Beatles Box Set on Vinyl Premiere.
On December 4, 2012 we
will be hosting a special event from 6-8pm for the release of
The Beatles Album Box Set on Vinyl. This set has been remastered,
and after being delayed for several years in production, is
finally seeing the light of day! Join us for this premiere event
featuring some of The Beatles classic cuts which will be
introduced by a special guest from EMI.
We also expect to also
have some vinyl box sets here for sale—and if you are interested
in a box set for yourself please give us a call at 781-893-900
so we can reserve one in your name.

Amazon unveils new "Never Before On DVD" store.

If you're
looking for an obscure video or movie, Amazon now has the new
store. Using their "CreateSpace DVD on
Demand" service, many titles including some relatively obscure ones
are available now with more forthcoming.
Onkyo To Offer US Music Download Service.
In November
2012 Onkyo Entertainment Technology Corp will start offering
both stereo and surround (5.1) lossless and uncompressed music
files at up to 192/24 here in the U.S. File formats available
will include WAV, FLAC, and DSD, and MQA. As of April 2012, the service's
catalog stood at about 60,000 songs, with 1500 of them featuring
more than 96kHz/24-bit quality. Though at this time the link is
only in Japanese, for info here is a link:
(English) or
(Japanese).
Don Was becomes President of Blue Note Records.

As of January 2012 Don Was is now president of Blue Note Records.
The big news is that he has initiated a partnership between Blue Note and HDtracks.com, which specializes in high resolution digital
downloads.
Blue Note is known for
recordings of classic jazz artists such as: John Coltrane,
Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Bud Powell, Fats Navarro, Horace
Silver, Art Blakey, Sonny Clark, Herbie Hancock, Hank Mobley,
Sonny Rollins, Lee Morgan, Kenny Dorham, Andrew Hill, and
Ornette Coleman.
Don Was, the Grammy
Award-winning producer, has a clear recollection of his first
encounter with Blue Note Records. He was a teenager, listening
to the car radio in his hometown, Detroit, when he heard the
title track of a 1966 album by Joe Henderson. “I heard this
saxophone playing, and it was riveting,” he said recently. “I
didn’t know anything about jazz. But this thing jumped out and
grabbed me. It was ‘Mode for Joe.’ ”
Describing the process of high-definition remastering, he
reflected on the philosophical question of the original
intentions of musicians in the studio. “I asked for the tapes
for ‘Mode for Joe,’ ” he said, referring to the album from his
teenage epiphany. “We went into a mastering room and listened to
them. And I got really choked up, because it sounds different.
No one has ever heard the tapes in their unmastered form.”
The above two
paragraphs are an excerpt
from a New York Times
.
Apple iPad with Retina Display as a Remote Control.
If you've been
here to the store you know that we have been using the iPad as
either a primary or secondary wireless remote control interface
to control some of our music systems and music servers. After
receiving and setting up the new third generation iPad which
has the high resolution "retina" screen we can report that the latest
versions of the apps that we installed all seem to be working
fine. 2014 UPDATE: All of the subsequent iPads through to the
iPad Air 2 work fine too.
Finally Apple TV is 1080p.

After years of
being behind the industry in terms of full-HD resolution, Apple
will now be able to provide content for HDTVs in their natural
resolution. Apple's 1080p content will be limited to a 8Mb/s
bitrate—which is better than Vudu's 1080p offering at 4.5Mb/s
and in-line with Netflix's offering at 8Mb/s. Of course none of
those are any match for a Blu-ray disc which sports a 36Mb/s
bitrate and thus provides significantly higher picture quality.
[Note that specs
change as technology moves forward but as of when this was
written these were the specs being reported.]
Another Best of Boston Award

Boston magazine has
honored us with the Best of Boston 2011 in
the Home Theater category! If you are interested in having a
theater installed in your home, ranging anywhere from something
modest all the way up to the state-of-the-art, you are welcome
to call us at 781-893-9000 to find out what we can do for you.
Craig Kallman, CEO of Atlantic Records: Two Interviews.
Craig Kallman
has been the subject of two interesting interviews in
&
.
It turns out that it is
not just business for him—as he owns a collection of 500,000
vinyl albums and over 75,000 CD's. And he has a high end audio
system, which includes
Spectral electronics coupled with MIT
cables, to play them on. An excerpt from the Songwriter Universe
interview follows:
Kallman: I love vinyl
albums. When CDs first came out, I was horrified how they
sounded versus vinyl. So I wanted to discover all new music on
vinyl instead of CD. I've tried to get almost every important
album made on vinyl, so I can enjoy the music as the artist
intended it to be heard. In my childhood years, I would make
lists of every album in many genres, from Miles Davis to Fela
Kuti to Parliament/Funkadelic; I would scour the earth for their
entire discographies. I did that in every genre -- jazz, folk,
blues, rock, reggae, etc.
DK: Where do you store this massive album collection?
Kallman: I've got about 12 or 13 rooms at a warehouse where
Sotheby's and Christie's store a lot of art. And next to my
apartment, I've built a recording studio which has a listening
room, and I've put about 25,000 of my favorite albums there that
I kind of rotate. It's fun for the Atlantic artists to come to
the house and hang out in the listening room, where they check
out the collection.
We were featured on the Chronicle TV program!

Airing on July 27th at
7:30pm, we were featured on Chronicle HD which is the on-air
news magazine covering New England. The broadcast was on WCVB (Channel 5) which is the Boston area
ABC affiliate.
To see the clip on their website click
. (Note our segment starts around the 4 minute
mark.) Alternatively for the Chronicle website
click
.
Warner
Music Group releases High Resolution files.
Downloads of high resolution files of some major artists from Warner
Records are now available on
. Initially these are available at either 96kHz and/or
192kHz sampling rates and are 24 bit. In addition they expect to be adding to
their roster of high resolution files on a regular basis.
Even bigger news is
that on May 12, 2011, Atlantic Records CEO Craig Kallman stated
that Warner would make a formal announcement about releasing
high resolution files in January at the 2012 CES. And further
that Warner's commitment to high resolution files would be
"active and aggressive".
This could be a really amazing as Warner (a Big Three Label
along with Universal and Sony) owns the following
labels: Asylum, Atlantic, Cordless, East West, Elektra,
Nonesuch, Reprise, Rhino, Roadrunner, Rykodisc, Sire, Warner
Bros., Warner Music Nashville, and Word.
UPDATE: Plus in 2013
they bought Parlophone as well as EMI Classics which is being
rebadged as Warner Classics.
In addition, once a major label like Warner Records (who along
with Universal and Sony comprise the Big Three Labels) starts
releasing a significant number of high resolution files of the
most popular albums from high profile artists, the other major
labels could well follow suit.
Rolling
Stones high resolution files.
has announced downloads for Rolling Stones albums
in two 24 bit formats: 176.4 and 88.2 kHz sampling rates. Album
titles include Beggar's Banquet & Let It Bleed. Given
a choice of course we would always recommend the higher sampling
rate as long as it is native and not merely upsampled. These
albums are from the remastered DSD transfers done by top
mastering engineer Bob Ludwig.

Rumor:
Apple to offer high resolution files?
In an
on CNN it states that Apple is in talks with some
record companies about the possibility of offering higher
resolution 24 bit files as downloads. If this ever becomes true
it would be a real gamer changer.
The
Beatles 24 bit files.
You can now get "The Beatles USB" which contains 44.1kHz 24 bit
FLAC files. This is the best digital format that you can hear the Beatles
in at
this point. More info
.

Theta
Casablanca III HD & HD upgrade is now available.
Theta has finally released their
HDMI 1.4 version of the Casablanca surround sound processor. In
addition owners of earlier versions of the Casablanca have the
opportunity to upgrade if they have a Casablanca III—or
a factory-sponsored trade-in program if they have a Casablanca I
or II. For details please call us at 781-893-9000.
Absolute
Sound article: "Audio's Renaissance Man"
In the February 2011 issue
starting on page 12 is an article about Keith Johnson. If you
don't know who he is you should read this article. And if
you do know who he is then you will definitely want to
read this article! For some more info on him click
here.
Dynaudio Excite X-12
“Budget Component of the Year”.
Stereophile Magazine has announced that this speaker has earned
the Budget Component of the Year award. One of the most
challenging things can be to find a pair of speakers that offers
good fidelity yet is still quite affordable. At $1200 per pair
for most finishes, this speaker certainly is a tremendous
bargain.

Classical Music FLAC Downloads.

  
has announced that they will soon start making downloads
available on their website.
already has a substantial portion of
their catalog
available in FLAC. These top classical labels are all owned by
Universal Music Group. Finally the major
labels are starting to issue the great artists in a format
more suited to music servers without any lossy
compression!
The Absolute Sound Magazine.
In the March 2010 issue, on
page
74, the PC-based silent music server that we designed is featured
yet again.
The last two sentences read: "When you play 176.4
kHz/24-bit Reference Recordings HRX files through a Berkeley
Alpha DAC, the sound is nothing short of spectacular. Robert
Harley (editor-in-chief) bought the review sample (to use as a
source for his main system that he uses for doing reviews)."
If you would like to hear one for yourself we of course have it
here on display.
Apple iPad For Remote Control.
If you are using either JRiver Media Center or Media Monkey software on a music server and you
wish to have wireless wifi remote control—the iPad, just like the
iPhone and iPod Touch, can be used as a remote control.
For JRiver we recommend
JRemote which you can find in the Apple App Store. This is what
we are presently using here in our demo rooms.
For Media Monkey there
are two iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch apps available from Melloware:
and . MonkeyTunes which is one that we have used here in the
store and it connects to the iPad using the Apple app
(or higher) at full iPad screen resolution. Also
starting with version 2.0 there is "retina display" support for
the current iPod Touch & iPhone in the Remote app.

In addition the
app turns the iPad into a customizable
user interface for a Crestron controlled home theater or whole
house system. And the
app can be used for an iPhone or iPod
Touch. Note that to use these apps you need Crestron programming
to make them function.
Others manufacturers
including Naim and Netstreams have announced apps
that allow you to use the iPad,
as well as the iPhone and iPod Touch, as a wireless remote
controller. More info is available
here.
Of course anytime you
are using wireless there can be wireless reception problems.
Wired is always the safest approach—and we
suggest that you consider having a wired panel in addition to
your wireless controller as a belt and suspenders approach.
Regardless, if you are going to utilize a Wi-Fi network we
suggest upgrading your network design and components to ensure
that your network is more robust. For information regarding
superior performing wireless networks click
here.
Rolling Stone Magazine.
"Universal Announces Plan to Lower CD Prices to $10 or Less".
Their reasoning is that by lowering their pricing to $6-10 for
new releases that this will stimulate more CD sales. The
"Velocity" program will be instituted Q2 2010 and the article is
. In case you don't know Universal is the largest record
company in the world, so this is an important development.
Vinyl Sales Are Up.
According to Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks music sales, in
both 2006 and 2007 new vinyl sales increased about 14 percent.
2008 saw another increase with approx. 1.9 million records sold.
And 2009 saw the highest number of record sales since 1991 with
sales increasing to 2.5 million.
The Absolute Sound Magazine. We received another
mention
in the December 2009 issue. The article is a
review of the new NAD M2 by Robert Harley (the Editor) in which
he again mentions utilizing the music server that he bought from
us last
year as his source for playing
High Resolution files in
evaluating the M2. For more
on the M2 click here.
For more on the silent music server that Robert Harley is
utilizing here is a
link.
Linn Announcement: No More CD Players.
In November
2009 Linn announced that they were ceasing the production of CD
players. Henceforth they will concentrate on their digital file
players which perform D-A (digital to analog) conversion for
High Resolution files, CD quality files,
and lower quality files like mp3, etc. They will also
continue to manufacture turntables. For more click
,
, or
.
Home Theater Magazine Features a Room Designed by Us
. 
An article about a room that
we designed and for which we provided the acoustic treatment was featured in the Design section of
the May 2009 issue. What you can't see in the above photo
is that the door on the far wall opens into a second smaller room
wherein the Spectral-based high end audio system is housed in a
rack. In addition that same room contains a nice library of albums
and CD's on custom-sized
shelves. The article spans pages
41-45. The closing sentence reads, "The
best part of all for the homeowner is when life gets hectic and
he needs time to relax and slow down, he escapes inside the
enchanting sounds of Monteverdi, Bartok, or Mahler, in the music
room of his dreams."
If you'd like a beautiful room
designed and acoustically treated you're welcome to call us to discuss your
project.
Ultra Audio.
We were given very high praise
from Ultra Audio in
a March 1, 2009 feature article entitled
"Goodwin's High End — A Wonderland". Here is a brief excerpt, "...the acoustic nature of the
listening room was simply extraordinary. As far as I’m
concerned, this facility is the place to audition
high-end audio gear."
To read the article in its entirety
please click
.
Boston Home Magazine: Best of Boston
Home 2009
In the Winter 2009 issue we were named as
the winner in the Audio-Visual Equipment category. See
page 73 for the full write-up on us! Also on their website they
have a mini-review of us
.
The Absolute Sound magazine.
See
the February 2009 issue of The Absolute Sound for an in-depth
Spectral system review plus an extensive interview with chief
engineer Keith Johnson and company President Rick Fryer. For those of you that don't know, we are the oldest Spectral
dealer in the US, having recently celebrated the 25th
anniversary of our long partnership with them. For many
years now
Spectral has been our most popular line—as not only can it
deliver
world class sound quality, but it is also in our view the best
value in high end audio componentry available today.
The
Absolute Sound magazine.
For quite a while we have assiduously been working behind the
scenes to promote the idea of computer/music server-based high
resolution audio files. And lately the world has started to take
notice. In the January 2009 issue there is a review of the
new HRx files from Reference Recordings which were played on a
silent music server co-designed by Goodwin's High End—along with another
review of the Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC. We have
been selling Reference Recordings in their various formats for
many years, and the new
HRx files at 176.4/24 are the best
format ever! In addition we have been a dealer for the
Berkeley
Alpha DAC from the day it was introduced. (It was
actually beta tested here in the summer of 2007 before it was
officially released
in early 2008.)
If you
read the review you will see that Robert Harley, the editor of
The Absolute Sound, was rather impressed with the sound quality
from the music server
that we designed, especially when playing
High
Resolution files! So much so that after he completed the
review, rather than return the music server that we had loaned
to him for those reviews, he said that he wanted to purchase it
for himself. The stated reason being that he didn't wish to do
future component reviews without it as it was the best source he
had ever heard!
You're invited to call for more detailed information about
this exciting new development. And if you're in the area please stop by and hear it for
yourself, as hearing is believing.
Design New England Magazine.

The July/August 2008 issue has a four page article which details
a very high end custom acoustical room treatment which was
designed and installed by us. In addition we installed a
high end stereo/home theater system with Crestron control for
the system—as well as for the Imagecrafters lighting system
with energy efficient and very quiet LED lighting which we also
provided. See the link
and then click "Pages" and see pages 48-51. Here are some more photos of this custom room:
Home Theater installation.
Here are some snapshots of a home theater installation that we
completed in 2008. This theater is equipped
with a Runco 1080P 3-chip DLP projector situated in a separate
projection room featuring a projection port of special
cinema-grade optical glass of which you can see some details of in
Photos 2&3:
HT-1
HT-2
HT-3
HT-4
Time Magazine. An article
entitled "Vinyl Gets Its Groove Back" on the resurgence of vinyl
is
. The good news is that record sales are up! And that
the number of new titles, as well as remastered classics from
yesteryear, has been increasing!
F orbes Magazine.
Once again we were acknowledged as being a leader in our field. I guess if
you've been passionately involved with high end audio for over
30 years, always striving to take things to a higher level, it
helps!
The
December 24, 2007 issue features an article on high end music
servers based upon another extensive
interview with Alan Goodwin and a listening session here.
Again we are prominently featured—plus they spelled our name
correctly multiple times! You can see a link
or a pdf of the
article
.
Status Magazine. The
Fall 2007 issue features a rather extensive article based upon a
few hours of their reporter interviewing us about various
aspects of putting together a really high end home theater. The
four page article which is entitled "Best Seat in the House" quotes
us extensively and starts on page 90. It features top products
from Magico, Runco, Theta, Kaleidescape, Crestron, etc.
Forbes Magazine.
A decade ago a reporter
from Forbes magazine spent several
hours interviewing us and listening to three different turntable
setups here. An article published in the June 4, 2007 issue
(starting on page 64), talks about high end turntables and
Goodwin's High End is prominently featured throughout. In
it we are recognized as "one of the nation's foremost retailers
of top-end audio gear". Although of course we have enjoyed
an excellent and longstanding reputation in audiophile circles,
it is always gratifying for us to be so acknowledged in the
general press! Here is a
.
The Absolute Sound
magazine.
In an
article in the
March 2006 issue, the Magico Ultimate speakers were featured in
a custom acoustic room that we designed and installed in a client's home in
San Francisco. The article spans pages 82-91 and you can see
pictures of the Ultimates installed in our custom acoustic room.
Here is a photo:
Magico Ultimate III in our custom acoustic room
A Unique Opportunity.
At the request of one of our clients, in January 2007 we made special arrangements to bring in some
new and highly touted top-end
speakers for audition. So along with our usual array
of fine loudspeakers including the Wilson X-2, we gathered
together the Magico
Model 6, the Rockport
Altair, and the Verity
Lohengrin II here in the store. At that time this was the only place in the US that this array
could be heard all in one room—and no one has done it
since either! If you'd like to arrange your own listening
session to our current crop of top-end speakers you're invited to call
us for an
appointment.
New England Home Magazine.

For the December 2006
issue, Alan Goodwin was interviewed
rather extensively on his thoughts regarding music for the home. In the article he was
quoted a number of times on a variety of aspects in his field of
expertise, specifically on quality residential audio systems and
room acoustics.
Architectural Digest. One
of the systems we installed in Boston was photographed for an
article in the November 2006 issue.
The living room system of this fabulous Back Bay condo
features a Spectral Reference system driving X-2's—and the
Family Room utilizes another separate Spectral Reference system. In addition, among other things, this home also features a home
theater, a roof deck system, and a video screen behind a mirror
in the guest bathroom—all controlled by a Crestron system with
customized programming.

Here are some more snapshots:
Main Room ,
Main Rack
This Old House on PBS.
We
are very pleased to have been selected as the audio,
video, and automation specialist for the This
Old House project in Cambridge, MA.

The contemporary home features an extensive audio
system with speakers in most rooms and high-end Dynaudio
Confidence C2 speakers in the living room. Behind the
speakers, stealthy CinemaTech Acoustic Room Systems
fabric walls tame the lively acoustics.
Between the
speakers a trick Auton lift lowers a portion of a
wooden wall (right; click picture to enlarge)
into the basement (!) to reveal a glorious
61" Runco plasma. A REL Studio subwoofer will supply
"ample" bass. Here are 3 photos showing
how the plasma is automatically hidden by a motorized
portion of the wall when not being watched:
Living Room front wall open ,
wall half-closed ,
wall fully closed

In the reading nook, Crestron controlled background music is
available at the touch of a key.
In the master bedroom, a 43" Runco plasma rises from
a custom cabinet. With 8 color touchpanels, 22 keypads,
4 video cameras, 8 Crestron-controlled thermostats,
nearly 80 Crestron-controlled lighting loads, 3 miles of
audio, video, and control wiring, and a huge 10kVA
Equi=Tech balanced power conditioner, this is the most
extensive and comprehensive automation package ever
installed in a This Old House project. It even has a
superb turntable for you vinyl lovers: Clearaudio
Ambient with an Audio Research PH5 phono section!

The three episodes
premiered in January and February 2006 on PBS as well as on the
Create channel.
Also here is a link to the ASC
website that explains how the walls were built with
.
Inside This Old House. Early in 2004, a This Old House
camera crew visited our showroom. Show host Kevin O'Connor
chatted with us about video display devices and room
acoustics, including Goodwin's High End's
own acoustic baffle system.

We enjoyed the experience and found the cast, crew, and
director a pleasure to work with. It was fascinating to see how
unscripted, improvised educational programming is shot and
produced. Watch for re-runs on !
2004 - Ning An classical piano CD released. In
July 2003,
Alan Goodwin recorded
playing Haydn,
Mendelssohn, Berg, and Rachmaninoff at Jordan Hall in Boston.
Here is a
with a bit more info.
Please note: though the link
indicates the recording was done at 96kHz—it is actually a 24
bit recording done at 176.4kHz. The reason this is important is
that 176.4kHz decimates perfectly to 44.1 kHz which is the
sampling rate used for the CD release—and that is important for
sound quality reasons. Simply put, 176.4 kHz divided by 4
exactly equals 44.1 kHz which is perfect decimation.
An
HDCD CD of this recording session is now available—and if you
would like to obtain a CD of this performance just give us a
call.
Even More! To see even more of
what has been written about us please click
here.
Zoethecus Demo |
We have one remaining demonstration Zoethecus rack available.
Please call for details and
pricing. |
|
|
Our New Website - Premiering Soon. Presently we are hard at work redesigning our website which
first went live at the beginning of 1998. (That was less than
half a year after Google went online—so
we were online relatively early!) It is hard to believe that our website is
two decades old already―certainly
it is time for revamp! Over the past few months we've been
working on updating and expanding the content on our current
website. Expect to see our revised
site with a fresh new look and even more expanded content go live in
late 2018!
Tip:
In the meantime
our present website (which you're now on) is best viewed at a screen/window
width of about 1200 pixels. If your screen resolution is
wider you could simply reduce the width of your browser
window in which you view our present site—and that way the
pages will format better. The reason for this is that
because our site was designed long ago before widescreen
monitors were available. Rest assured that our new site will format
the pages better in the various modern browsers and screen
resolutions that are in use today!
Tip #2:
If you would like
to change the size of the text and graphics on our site, and you
are using Windows and FireFox 3.5 (or later) or Internet
Explorer 8 (or later), just hold down the Control key and rotate
the scroll wheel on your mouse to change the size. (This may
well work on other browsers and versions also—and it will work
not just on our website but on other sites too.) If you are
using a Mac, hold the
key and press the "+" key. For info on other browsers and
versions click
.
|
 |
Spectral DMC-30SV
Series 2 line preamplifier.
We now have the
DMC-30SV Series 2 on display for your listening pleasure. Having listened to it
extensively, we can say with great
assurance that this is an amazingly good sounding preamp!
Clearly Spectral have outdone themselves. Once you
hear it for yourself you will understand why we are so
very impressed.
Spectral
DMA-500SV Reference Mono Power Amp.
We now have on demo the new flagship Spectral Audio 500-class
mono amp which pairs beautifully with their new DMC-30SV Series
2 preamp. You are invited to call us at 781-893-9000 for more details.

Linn Karousel main bearing upgrade for LP-12 turntable.
Linn's new Karousel precision-engineered single-point bearing,
offers smoother rotation and greater stability for even better
sound. It is now available for your LP12 and you're welcome to
call us if you'd like your turntable upgraded. There are other
LP12 upgrades available as well.

Berkeley Alpha DAC Reference Series
3 DAC.
We now have this new Berkeley top of the
line DAC on display for your listening pleasure. We think that
you will like it as much as we do.

Innuos Zenith Mk3 music server. With an Innuos music server you have the choice of running
either the Roon or the Innuos interface. Available in either silver
or black, the Zenith Mk3 also allows for CD ripping and library
management. We have this now and you're welcome to come in and
try it out for yourself..

dCS
Bartok DAC - built-in Headphone Amp
optional. This
new DAC is here and offers excellent value for such a high end
DAC. Plus it is
available with or without an optional built-in headphone
amplifier.

Magico M2
loudspeaker.
This new speaker is here and sounds great! If you are looking
for a wonderful sounding speaker but don't have room for a large
speaker you should definitely check this out.
 
Spectral
DMA-300SV power amp.
This is now on demo. You are welcome to come in and hear what
this new stereo amp from Spectral can do to enhance your level
of music enjoyment. Using trickle-down technology from the
highly revered DMA-500AR mono amp, the DMC-300SV is the
finest stereo power ever from Spectral. Paired with the DMC-30SV
preamp this makes for a compelling music listening experience in
a relatively compact package.

Audio Desk
Systeme Vinyl Cleaner PRO - New 2019 Version.
We now have in stock the newly improved 2019 version of this
record cleaner! The AudioDesk Vinyl Cleaning Machine is a fully
automated device for thoroughly cleaning both environmental and
production contaminates from LP’s using both ultrasonic and
mechanical cleaning cycles. Not only does this eliminate most
surface noise, but it also reveals new layers of additional
detail in the recording, and extends the life of the phono
cartridge. The 2019 PRO features an upgraded ceramic pump and
motor as well as enhanced electronic controls, quieter drying
fans, high-performance Black Wipers, and numerous other
upgrades.

Innuos Zen Mk3
Music Server.
With an Innuos music server you have the choice of running
either the Innuos interface or Roon. Available in either silver
or black, the Zen also allows for CD ripping and library
management. We have this now and you're welcome to come in and
try it out for yourself!.

Gryphon Diablo
300.
We have this beautiful integrated amp here in the store for you
to audition. And we think you will find that it sounds as good as it looks.

Kaleidescape
4K UHD HDR movie servers: Strato S & Strato C movie players;
Terra movie server.
Come in and see what
the Kaleidescape Strato S can do to enhance your movie viewing
experience! The Strato S is available with
either 6TB or 12TB of
internal storage. Alternatively there is the Strato C which is a diskless version designed to be
used with the Terra movie server. What is
especially appealing is that the amazing hand-curated-for-each-title interface
allows for instant movie watching. No longer do you have to sit
through 10 minutes or more of previews, warnings, or repetitive
ads for Blu-ray technology which is common when watching from a
disc! And no longer do you have to put up with inferior picture
and audio quality when streaming, not to mention other streaming
problems such as screen freezing and pixelization.
Movie Server content
is downloadable from the
which
features bit-for-bit 4K UHD HDR, Blu-ray-quality HD, and DVD-quality
SD downloads for Kaleidescape Movie Servers. The Store content
includes movies, TV shows, and some wonderful music concerts. Bit-for-bit means
that there has been no further lossy compression and that the picture and
sound quality are identical or even sometimes better than the discs themselves. The
Kaleidescape Store features titles from all the major
studios:
Disney, Warner, Sony, NBCUniversal, 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate,
Pixar, Marvel, Paramount, MGM, BBC, PBS, and many more.
Also if you ever want more storage you can quadruple the storage
in 2 different ways: Network multiple Stratos S units with each other which
is nice if you have multiple TV's in your home. Or use the Kaleidescape Terra which is a centralized movie file server
offering up to 40TB storage. More info
.
In addition if you wish you can take
advantage of the Kaleidescape Factory Download Service for Movie
Store Collections. Kaleidescape now makes it easy to select
curated movie collections from the movie store and have them
downloaded at the factory to a new Strato S movie player or
Terra movie server. Choose from a number of popular collections
at the time of sale, and Kaleidescape will download movies that
are in the purchased collections to the new Kaleidescape system. Alternatively you can order a
Factory Download Service for a custom collection (up to 100
movies).
HiFi Man Shangri
La Jr System Electrostatic Headphones & Amp.
We just got both of these into the store for demo. You're
welcome to come in and hear them for yourself.

MrSpeakers Voce
Electrostatic Headphones.
We just received these for demo. Bring in your favorite music
and you will hear how good these are.

Basis
AJ Conti Transcendence turntable with Superarm 12.5.
We are indeed fortunate to be living in the Golden Age of
analog. And nothing epitomizes this more than the
Transcendence with the Superarm 12.5 playing your treasured
records! This is available in a number of different
configurations such as single arm, dual arm, etc. For example the reason
that some people choose a dual arm setup is to have one
dedicated arm for a stereo cartridge and the other for a mono
cartridge. Plus you can use either the Supearm 9 and/or the Superarm
12.5 in various configurations up to a maximum of four tonearms
on a turntable.

Now that we have have it set up for demonstration in the
store and have listened to it, we have to say that this is an
amazing sounding turntable! Rather than just being another
really good sounding turntable/tonearm combo, this is something
very special. It is much more reminiscent of listening to a
recording as opposed to listening to a record--and that
distinction is really the highest level of praise possible of an
analog front end.You are cordially invited to bring in your favorite vinyl and hear
it for yourself. Prepare to be utterly amazed!!!
For additional information please click
and
here.
Then if you would like discuss these matters in greater detail
you are welcome to call
781-893-9000 ext.14 and ask to speak with Alan Goodwin—as there
are solid technical reasons why in certain respects this
combination
is at the leading edge of turntable and tonearm design.
Audio Research REF 6 Tube Line Preamp.
We now have the REF 6 on demo. When you hear this you will know
why it is so popular!
. Please call for more details.

MrSpeakers
Aeon.
These are here and have immediately proven to be quite popular.
Woo Audio WA8
Eclipse.
We recently got in this battery-operated headphone amplifier &
DAC.
. Please call for more details.
MrSpeakers
Ether Flow & Ether C Flow headphones.
We now have these two headphones from Mr. Speakers on display.
The difference between the two models is that the Ether C Flow
is the closed-back version. You are welcome to bring in some of
your favorite music and give them an audition.
&
Magico M3.
We have these on demo now and you are invited to come and hear how these modestly sized speakers can
bring your favorite music to life! We have to say that they
certainly sound as beautiful as they look.

Basis Inspiration turntable upgraded with Super Platter and
Superarm 9 tonearm.
There is a new platter
available for the Basis Inspiration
turntable--and this platter is really amazing! If you would like
to get an incredible level of fidelity from your records this
platter is a must. The Inspiration with the Super Platter is
available in a complete package
which includes the Superarm 9 tonearm with VTA Micrometer, Synchro-Wave
Power Supply, Cable Isolation System, Vacuum record hold-down
system, and Microthin belt.
In addition existing
Inspiration turntables with the original platter/main bearing
can be upgraded to the Super Platter. Next to the Superarm 9 it
is the most important sonic upgrade that can be done to an
existing Inspiration.
If you would like
additional information you are welcome to call and ask to speak with Alan
Goodwin.
.
.
.
Spectral
DMC-30SC Stereo Preamp.
This preamp represents an excellent
value in the realm of high end preamplifiers. Further this is the
logical mate to the DMA-240 power amp. You are welcome to
bring in your favorite music and audition this for yourself. We
think you will be quite impressed.

Spectral
DMA-250 Series 3 Stereo Power Amp.
We are pleased to be featuring this new amp from Spectral. We
think you will find this to be a tremendous value in the realm
of sophisticated high end amplifiers.

Simaudio Moon
Neo 430HA / 430HAD Headphone Amplifier.
We now have the 430HA headphone amp on display. In addition we
have the 430HAD which is the same headphone amp plus the
optional built-in DSD/PCM DAC. We think you will be surprised at
how good these sound with a good pair of headphones!
&

Wywires Red &
Platinum headphone cable.
If you come in you can try out the Red and the Platinum versus
the other headphone cables that we have. Or bring in your own
and compare to your heart's content.

Woo Audio WA5
Headphone Amp.
We now have these on demo.

Woo Audio WA7
Fireflies 2nd Gen Duo Headphone Amp & DAC.
We now have this on display.

Abyss AB-1266
Headphones.
If you are a serious headphone listener then you owe it to
yourself to give these a listen. We think you will be very
impressed indeed.

Magico S3 Mk2.
We have these speakers on demo. And in our estimation these
represent an excellent value in the high end speaker realm.

Audio Physic Cardeas 30 Jubilee Limited Edition
This beautiful pair of
speakers is available in either Black Ebony High Gloss or
Rosewood High Gloss veneers. Only 30 pairs of this limited
edition will be offered. You are welcome to come in to see and
hear them for yourself. We think you will really like what
you hear.
Magico S5 Mk2
With the new S5 Mk2
Magico has gotten it right. Good bass extension, not too big,
more sophisticated drivers--all of which adds up to a pretty
compelling speaker. Please come in and listen for yourself.
Spectral
SDR-4000SV CD Player.
We are pleased to announce that the new Spectral SDR-4000SV is
now here. You are welcome to bring in a few of your favorite
CD's and take a listen. We think you'll be quite impressed!

Magico S1 Mk2.
With the new S1 Mk2
Magico has taken another step forward in terms of sophistication
of design. You are welcome to come in and audition it for
yourself.
ATC Speakers Have Arrived.
Come in and hear what
the proverbial truckload of recording professionals already
know—that ATC monitors possess surprisingly good clarity and
phase coherence which enables the listener to experience a true
musically engaging performance. The bass out of these modestly
sized cabinets will impress—as will the relatively modest price
tag for such a high level of performance. We now have the SCM7,
SCM11, and SCM19 on display. If you would like a speaker that is
superbly built, but does not take up a lot of space, we have
what you are looking for.
Aurender W20 Music Server.

We just received the
latest version of the Aurender W20 and will be doing some
listening evaluations to it to see if it indeed lives up to our
admittedly high expectations. The W20
includes a high quality USB output as well as incorporates some
other upgrades and changes from the previous Aurender models. Specifically of interest to some DAC
owners, (such as certain dCS models such as the Vivaldi—as well as
both
the Pacific Microsonics Model One & Model Two), the W20
provides dual-wire AES-EBU output. Info here. Stay tuned...
Aurender N100h
music server.
We now have this on demo.

Rockport Cygnus.
We just received a pair of these fine looking speakers for demo
and they sound great. You really owe it to yourself to come in
and hear them.

Chord Mojo
headphone amp/DAC.
We now have the Chord Mojo headphone amp/DAC, for smartphone or
PC/Mac, on demo.
Hegel HD-30 DAC.
We now have this on demo.
dCS Rossini.
We have the first Rossini DAC on display in the country!
Magico S7.
The new S7 speakers has just arrived. For detailed info read the
.

Rogue Audio.
We now have this tube line on display here at the store
including the following models: Sphinx, Cronus Magnum II, RP-5,
Stereo 100. And shortly we'll have the Ares phono too!
Baetis Reference
Music Server. We now have the updated version of this
which is even better sounding than the original—as the AES-EBU,
SPDIF, USB outputs have all been sonically improved. For more info see
.

Kaleidescape
Alto movie server.
We have just received
the new Kaleidescape Alto. Priced at $2495 with 4TB or $3295
with 6TB of storage, it is a Blu-ray/DVD player combined with a movie server.
What is really cool is that whether you are playing a disc or a
download, the amazing hand-curated-for-each-title interface
allows for instant movie watching. No longer do you have to sit
through 10 minutes or more of previews, warnings, or repetitive
ads for Blu-ray technology.

Movie Server content
is downloadable from the
which
features bit-for-bit Blu-ray and DVD quality downloads for
Kaleidescape Movie Servers. Bit-for-bit means
that there has been no further lossy compression and that the picture and
sound quality are identical to the discs themselves. The
Kaleidescape Store Features titles from major studios
such as:
Disney, Warner, Sony, NBCUniversal, 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate,
Paramount,
Pixar, Marvel and many more.
Also if you ever want more storage you can quadruple the storage
in 2 different ways: Network up to 4 Altos to each other which
is nice if you have multiple TV's in your home. Or use the
Kaleidescape Terra which is a centralized movie file server
offering up to 40TB storage.
MIT Articulation Console.
We just received these newly released ultra-high end speaker
cables and are currently in the process of breaking them in.
Already they have proven to be an extra-ordinary listening
experience.
Baetis
Revolution III music server. We now have the
new Revolution III music server on demonstration. Click for
.
PSB Imagine T-3. We now have the
PSB Imagine T-3 speaker here for you to audition. Clearly a great value
in speakers. Click for
.
Naim NDS with
the 555 PS Power Supply. We recently received this music server
for evaluation.
For info see
and
. Stay tuned...

Audeze Planar
Magnetic Headphones. These headphones have really
started to catch on! Stop in and hear why for yourself. More
.

Chord Hugo
Mobile DAC/Headphone Amp. We have had this for a
little while and already it has started to really catch on. This
offers quite a bit of capability at a very reasonable price for
what you get which is precisely why it has become so popular!
More
.
.jpg)
More New Arrivals.
Lots of exciting things are happening in the store this Fall!
New arrivals include:
;
digital sources, integrated amps, preamps, and
power amps;
loudspeakers;
preamplifier;
integrated amplifier. A nice mix of some more affordable
high end audio components now here for your auditioning
pleasure! In addition we have some new StyleLine as well as some
SL-Matrix cables in from MIT to audition.

BlueSound.

We now have the new
wireless music system here in the store for demo. It is similar in concept to the
system
which we have been installing for a few years now.
Though one significant advantage of the BlueSound is that it
will play high resolution files which are now readily available.
With it you can have it in one room or many. And of course you
are welcome to come in to see and hear it for yourself.
JL Audio E-Sub.

We now have this new
subwoofer on demo. This looks like it represents a very good
value in the world of quality subwoofers.
Rockport Atria 2 loudspeaker.
The Atria 2 is designed
much along the same lines as it's bigger brother the Avior 2. They
have all of the latest technological thinking from Rockport
including: carbon-fiber-sandwich midrange and woofer, beryllium
tweeter, and constrained-layer-damped enclosure. The main difference
between this speaker and the Avior 2 is that the
Atria 2 uses a single 9” woofer per cabinet, whereas the Avior
2utilizes twin woofers which allows the Atria 2's cabinet volume to be
about half that of the Avior 2's.

dCS Vivaldi 2.0.
dCS was kind enough to bring us the full Vivaldi stack right
after the January 2013 CES. After spending some time evaluating it here in the store we
can now report that this is by far the best sounding digital componentry ever from dCS.
UPDATE: We now have the
newly updated Vivaldi 2.0 here in the store.

The new
top-of-the-line digital Vivaldi stack from dCS consists of four
component chassis:
- Vivaldi
CD/SACD Transport
- Vivaldi
D-A Converter
- Vivaldi
Upsampler
- Vivaldi
Master Clock
They can be used either
singly or in conjunction with some or all of the
total component stack. In addition, like other dCS DAC's, you
can use a transport as a source and/or a music server.
And with the DAC you
can play both files types: PCM files (transferred
from your CD library or
High Resolution downloads) and
SACD/DSD files!
For additional
information on the Vivaldi click
HERE. In addition there are the
Technical Highlights as well as more photos:
#1,
#2,
#3,
#4.
Rockport Avior 2 speakers. We
finally have them here in the store and we can tell you that
they have lived up to their promise. Bring in your favorite
music and experience them for yourself.

Constellation Audio.
We now have the Constellation Audio Virgo II preamp and the
Centaur stereo power on display for you to audition.

Dynaudio Xeo 3 & Xeo 5 wireless powered speakers.
The
(shown below) and
are shipping—and we now have a pair of the Dynaudio
Xeo 3 here in the store if you are curious to see what a good
wireless audiophile grade speaker sounds like. At this point we have also
installed several pairs of both models in customer's homes and
they have performed well in the field too.

Silent Computer Music Server.

We have revamped the
way that we suggest configuring a computer to act as a "silent" music
server. For more information click
here.
Hegel.
We have just got in some Hegel electronics including DAC's,
integrated amps, preamps and amps. Shown here is the H20.

Plus click here
to see what else is coming sooner—or later!
Naim SuperUniti.
The SuperUniti is an integrated wireless UPnP™ network stream
player, USB audio player, iPod and iPhone dock, internet radio,
DAB radio, FM radio, ten input digital and analogue
preamplifier, digital to analogue converter, and stereo 80 Watt
power amplifier which offers a surprisingly high level of
performance. You're welcome to come in and experience all that
it has to offer for yourself.

Berkeley Alpha USB.
We now have the Berkeley Audio Design
Alpha USB here. This is their new
outboard audiophile quality USB to AES-EBU converter/reclocker.
It has been designed so that you can use your laptop
or desktop computer as a
music server while still keeping the jitter (digital timing
errors) extremely low—as well as isolating your outboard
DAC from
computer-generated electrical noise. It will output a digital signal via either AES-EBU
(digital XLR) or SP-DIF which will then go into your external DAC (digital-to-analog
converter). You can use any brand of DAC—including of course the
Berkeley Reference Series 3 DAC
if you so choose. For more info
along with a link to photos of the front and back panels on the Alpha USB
click here.

MIT Oracle MA-X Digital Proline cable.
We now have this AES-EBU
digital XLR-XLR cable here for your listening pleasure.

WyWires LITESPD Digital USB cable.
Now on demo.

MartinLogan CLX.
The MartinLogan CLX is
here and if you've never heard a 2-way full range electrostatic
speaker here is your opportunity. Not only are they very
transparent they are visually stunning as well. Available in a
variety of finishes to complement any decor, we think you'll be
as impressed with the design as you are with the sound. For more
information here is a
.
NAD M2.
The M2 has arrived and we have started to audition it. Not only is the M2 very interesting on paper in
terms of its approach, but
it is also aiming to be a high value product as it is a D-A,
preamp, and power amp all-in-one. It will play all sampling
rates including
High
Resolution files up to 192kHz / 24 bit.
A lot of interest has been
generated because of the reviews that have recently come out—and we
now have the M2 on demo. If
you are interested in hearing it for yourself please give us a
call. In the meantime here is a
white
paper so you can learn more—or see the December 2009
Absolute Sound article.
Wisdom Sage speakers. The new Wisdom
Sage speakers are now setup and have been broken in.
These are designed to be
high performance in-wall or on-wall speakers and have a lot of
adjustability so they can be tuned to different room
environments. We have 3 different models on display in one of
our home
theaters so you can both see and hear them for yourself.

Nagra VPS Phono Preamp..This phono preamp has
immediately become popular because
it is so good sounding without being super expensive. This Nagra
is of course one of their
high end vacuum tube units. You
can see the inside of the VPS
here. Stop by so you can
see and hear it for yourself!
VPS
info

Wolf Cinema DCX-500i. After a
tremendous amount of research wherein we looked in-depth at all
of the contenders, we have selected this as our reference video
projector for our top high end home theater showroom. The
picture quality from the best Blu-ray discs or Kaleidescape
movie files with this projector
and our reference Stewart screen is really quite incredible. Seeing is believing, and you're invited to see for yourself. Here is some more
info.

Silent Music Servers. If you would
like to be able to play the new high resolution files that
everyone is so excited about, exemplified by the stunning
HRx files from Reference Recordings, you need a music server
that is properly designed in order to do so. You can now get
a computer-based completely silent music server just like the
one that we are using here for demo. These computers are unlike anything you have ever seen, or in
this case, heard. That is because they are built utilizing
a special heatpipe-equipped
chassis and use Solid State Drives which make them completely
silent. No fan noise and no hard-drive spinning or clicking—no moving
parts at all. That
way they don't
have to be hidden away in a separate room but can be right next
to your D-A converter. Along with your collection of
High
Resolution files, your entire CD library can be ported as well
so all of your digital music can be played from this server. Click
HERE for more details.

Performance Acoustics Labs. Modular Acoustic Room Treatment for the discerning music
or home theater
lover.

Your room can sound great and look beautiful too!

With a nice selection of attractive acoustic room treatment
modules in different finishes available, a PAL room can be
tailored to both your acoustic and aesthetic sensibilities. One
of the outstanding benefits of this approach is the ability to
fine tune the bass characteristics of the room acoustically in
situ.
Here are
photo1 ,
photo2 ,
&
photo4 so you can see what
a room treated this way looks
like.
for more info. Then
for
more details.
Naim Nait 5i-2. Introducing the Naim Series 5
components — including the acclaimed Nait 5i-2 which was
recently honored in TAS. Robert Harley states, “What makes the
5i-2 so special is the amplifier’s ability to engage the
listener musically.” We wholeheartedly agree with this quote as
well as, “If there is a better value in high end audio than the Naim Nait 5i-2, I have yet to discover it”. What more can you
ask for?

JL
Audio subwoofers. We have both the
Fathom F113 and
Fathom F212s
here on demo.

Harmonic Resolution Systems. Both their MXR
and their SXR equipment racks with their requisite shelves
now grace our reference room. The folks at HRS have brought
their wealth of knowledge gathered throughout years of work
in the commercial and government aerospace industries. They
offer products ranging from damping plates to isolation
shelves and full racks. Out of all the ones that we have
seen or tested over the past 30+ years, these are now our
favorites.

Linn Sondek LP12 SE Transcription
Turntable. Since the 1973 introduction of the
original Sondek LP12, Linn’s goal has been to deliver us
from the evils of bad sound. With a triumvirate of
just-released upgrades, a new level of performance
obliterates former perceived limitations of this decades old
design. The new Trampolin base, the Keel
subchassis/armboard and the Ekos SE tonearm seem to be the
exact upgrades this ‘table wanted.

Crestron TPS-6X touchscreen is the latest from
Crestron and they definitely have a winner here! Whether you
wish to control a home theater or a whole house system, it
can handle it all.
DeVore Fidelity has been quietly developing some
very musical loudspeakers, culminating in the well-received
Silverback Reference.
We now have a total of four models
from them available for demo. Please come by for a listen
and see why so many are acclaiming them as being such good
values in the vast sea of speakerdom. After you hear them
for yourself we think you will understand why.

From time to time components for evaluation
arrive from manufacturers that are of possible interest. After
we have spent some time with them then we will know if they are
right for our store or not. What follows are of some of the
components that we have gotten in for evaluation:
VAC. We
are just starting our listening evaluation of the VAC Sigma
160iSE integrated amp, the Phi 200 power amp, and the Signature
MkIIa preamp. Stay tuned...

Datasat RS20i
surround sound processor. We recently received this
surround sound processor
for evaluation.
For info see
. Stay tuned...

Jadis DA-88s
integrated amp. We recently received this integrated
amp
for evaluation.
For info see
. Stay tuned...

Aria Music
Server. We have just received the this new music
server for evaluation and will be carefully listening to it in
terms of sound quality. In addition we will looking into the
user interface, etc.
.

ReQuest Audio of Switzerland - The Beast.
We just received this new high end music server for evaluation.
From both a hardware and a software viewpoint The Beast is
clearly a very sophisticated component. More info coming soon...

SOtM Music Server.
The new SOtM sMS-1000 Music Server has
just arrived.

Aurender S10 Music Server.

The Aurender S10 music
server is here. For more info here
is a .
Also see the
Aurender S10 Owner's Manual.
Olive 04HD & 06HD Music Servers..

We have the 04HD and
the 06HD Olive music servers here in the store. For more info here is a .
MSB has arrived!
We have their
latest digital stack consisting of the Universal Media
Transport, the Signature Platinum DAC IV, and the Diamond Power
Base. As well as the M-202 Mono Block Class A power amps here in
the store for you to audition. .
Zesto Andros PS-1 phono stage.
We just received this new phono stage!

Aerial Acoustics 7T.

The 7T is here and we
are starting to break them in and give them a listen. At 89db
efficiency we have found them quite easy to drive. Available
both in wood finishes as well as a gloss black, this floorstander
will look nice in a variety of rooms.
Of course as with any speaker, we urge you
to listen for yourself! And to that end you are invited to bring
in your favorite music and audition them. Ultimately of course
the choice of speakers are up to your personal preference!
Info &
Large Photo
Over the next year or
two look for some new advanced music servers which
can be linked to vast storage
capacity for huge libraries of music coupled with outboard D-A
converters that can play everything in your music collection
including high resolution audio
files!
More specific product
announcements follow below:
Rockport Cygnus. UPDATE: We have received our demo
pair of Cygnus!
We
were recently up at the Rockport factory and heard the brand new Cygnus.
We were quite impressed and think you will be too!
What follows is the press
release from Rockport:
The main cabinet construction is similar to the Avior in that it
uses multiple layer, constrained-mode damped MDF panel
construction with comprehensive internal bracing to both stiffen
the enclosure and break up structure-born and acoustic resonant
modes. The Cygnus also
features our new Aluminum/MDF hybrid construction, whose baffle
is machined from two 3/4" thick, aircraft grade aluminum plates
that sandwich a viscoelastic polymer, forming a 1 1/2" thick,
constrained-mode damped composite sub-baffle. This aluminum
sub-baffle assembly is in turn bolted and bonded onto the
enclosure's 3 inch thick MDF inner baffle. All of the drive
units are mounted to the aluminum sub-baffle assembly, which
results in a lower noise floor, as well as greater dynamic
expression and resolution from the drive units themselves.
The bass system utilizes (2) custom designed and built Rockport
Technologies 10" carbon fiber/sandwich composite woofers per
channel in an enclosure with an internal volume approximately
50% larger than that of the Avior. Each woofer has a newly
designed, 3" diameter motor system (the Avior and Atria's
woofers use a 2" motor system) with even greater headroom and
power handling capability than that of the Avior. Since the
woofers share the same design and construction principles as our
Avior and Atria woofer, they also exhibit the same ultra-low
distortion figures (-60 dB!), and incredibly high thermal and
mechanical headroom. With 50% greater surface area than the
Avior's twin woofers, the extension, ease, and resolution of the Cygnus'
bass registers is world class, especially given the enclosure's
modest proportion.
The Cygnus uses
the same beryllium tweeter as found in the Altair, Avior, and
Atria, although it is now mounted into a custom, machined
aluminum waveguide. This shallow waveguide (not to be confused
with horn loading) improves the acoustic impedance match of the
tweeter at the low end of its range (1800 Hz-4000 Hz) which
again allows for lower distortion and greater dynamic expression
from the tweeter itself, as well as improved dispersion
characteristics at the midrange/tweeter crossover point.
Numerous prototype waveguides were modeled and manufactured
using the stereolithography process until the optimum waveguide
profile was achieved. The final waveguide is precision
diamond-machined and then anodized, rendering a beautiful 3-D
luster, and providing an ideal mounting surface for the tweeter
itself.
The Cygnus embodies
all of the attributes that the Atria and Avior are known for,
yet brings each of these elements to a higher performance level,
yielding a loudspeaker that I believe will transport you back to
the original recorded event.

Berkeley Audio Design - Alpha DAC Reference Series 2.
UPDATE: We
received our new Alpha DAC Reference Series 2 in 2016!
The press release follows:
Berkeley Audio Design is extremely
pleased to announce the availability of the new Alpha DAC
Reference Series.
The Alpha DAC Reference Series embodies
everything we know about digital to analogue conversion taken to
an unprecedented level – a level that requires new design
concepts & new components at the edge of what is possible. The
result is an immediacy and presence of music reproduction that
is simply real.
We literally designed the Reference
Series before is was possible to built it. Almost three years in
development, the Alpha DAC Reference Series uses components
designed to our specifications that were not commercially
available. Several suppliers were not able to meet our
requirements which delayed the release of the Reference Series
by more than one year. But those obstacles were overcome and now
the Alpha DAC Reference Series is a reality.
The presence
& sonic reality of the Reference Series is the result of digital
to analogue conversion at a new level of accuracy made possible
by tremendous electrical & mechanical noise isolation coupled
with extreme time domain stability. Ceramic circuit board
materials are used in all critical areas and the enclosure is
carefully engineered to minimize electrical noise while
maximizing mechanical stability. The Reference Series weighs
over 40 pounds and the entire enclosure is precision machined
from a a solid billet of 6061 – T aluminum alloy.
A new
high output, all metal IR remote control with direct input
source selection is provided with the Reference Series.
Careful consideration was given to providing the highest
possible reproduction of DSD files by the Alpha DAC Reference
Series. 99% of modern DAC’s, including the Alpha Reference
Series use mult-bit D/A converters because they provide better
performance than 1-bit converters – even those who advertise
“native” DSD compatibility. So, at some point, the 1-bit DSD
stream must be converted to multi-bit for all of those DAC’s.
We could, like many other manufacturers, convert 1-bit DSD
to multi-bit within the Alpha DAC Reference Series and show
“DSD” in the front panel display. That would be the easiest
approach from a marketing perspective. But that would also mean
increasing the amount of processing in the DAC during playback
which would degrade audio quality, and audio quality is the
reason the Alpha Reference Series exists.
Fortunately,
virtually all reproduction of DSD files using external DAC’s
occurs with a computer based music server as the source. If the
1-bit DSD to multi-bit conversion is done first in the computer
it can be performed with extremely high precision and superior
filtering that preserves all of the content of the DSD file.
Computer DSD to multi-bit conversion can be at least as good as
that performed in a DAC and without adding processing noise near
or in the D/A converter chip. Another advantage of computer
based DSD to PCM conversion is that if higher performance DSD
versions such as DSD 4x appear in the future they can easily be
supported with a software upgrade.
For all of those
reasons, DSD capability for the Alpha DAC Reference Series is
provided by an included state of the art software application
that provides either real time conversion of DSD 1x and DSD 2x
to 176.4 kHz 24 bit PCM during playback or conversion to 176.4
kHz 24 bit AIFF or WAV files. The software application is
included in the price of the Alpha DAC Reference Series and is
compatible with either Windows OS or Mac OS based music servers.
The Alpha DAC Reference Series supports 32 kHz to 192 kHz
24-bit PCM through four input; Balanced AES, Coaxial SPDIF 1,
Coaxial SPDIF 2 and Toslink Optical. Independent, single-ended
and true balanced analog outputs are provided. Dimensions are
17.5 inches wide X 12.5 inches deep X 3.5 inches high.

Linn Majik DSM.

The Majik DSM is an all-in-one
component comprising a music file streamer, DAC & stereo
integrated amp with a 90 watt per channel Chakra amp section. In
addition it contains a phono input. While the phono input comes
stock as a moving magnet, there is a moving coil option
available. This is a very flexible piece what with 15 inputs
including 4 HDMI. Though please note that for the HDMI inputs,
as there is no on-board decoding of Dolby Digital or DTS
soundtracks, the output of the video source will need to be set
to LPCM. Very shortly we will have this on demo so you can see
and hear it for yourself.
&
The Linn Kinsky is the app
that controls the Linn digital streaming components. You can
find info
. A screenshot of the interface is shown below:

Theta Casablanca IVa.

The Casablanca IVa
surround sound processor has been released!
Aurender W20 Music Server.

We just received
this—for more see above at the top of this page! Also check out the
specs below:
Technical Description
- 6TB hard drive storage - (Note: actual formatted storage
space may be about 10% less) & 240GB SSD solid state buffer
section
- Music is transferred to, automatically cached, and then
played from the Solid State Drive (SSD) which has no moving parts.
An SSD is
used to avoid mechanical noise, vibrations, electromagnetic interference, and
latency found in hard disk drives. The use of solid-state
drives also means significantly lower access times. During
playback, selections are automatically cached using
proprietary technology from the hard disk to the Solid State
Drive. The hard disk then falls asleep and the music is
played back using only the solid state drive. This design
eliminates problems with sonic and electromagnetic noise
from spinning hard disk drives.
- Hard drives are switched off when playing music
- Battery-powered audio section to eliminate AC jitter
- Two banks of lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries
that alternate charging cycles and require zero user
intervention. This eliminates the need for filters and
isolates the audio circuits from ground noise coming from
the electrical mains.
- A third bank of LiFePO4 batteries act as an
un-interruptible power supply. In case of any sudden
electrical power failures, the Aurender W20 will power down
and turn off safely without any damage.
- Single and Dual-Wire AES/EBU output
- Word clock input - (Note: It is important that the word
clock of the music server be slaved to that of the DAC—so
that it rather than the music server can be the master word
clock. The reason is that this allows the DAC, which by
definition is doing the actual digital to analog conversion,
to operate at the lowest level of jitter thus ensuring
superior sound quality.
- RS232 communication link that can control the sample
rate of external word clocks (such as the dCS Vivaldi Clock,
etc.)
- Display can switched off entirely
- OCXO (oven-controlled) oscillators, which are known to
be vastly
more accurate and stable than ordinary crystal oscillators
used in computers and most soundcards. That combined with a FPGA-based
Phase-Locked Loop system thus ensures virtually jitter-free
performance
- Silent fanless design which thus eliminates vibrations,
unwanted electromagnetic fields and noise emanating from the
fan
- AMOLED displays
- Customized Linux OS for best audio performance
- Up to 24-bit and 192 kHz sampling rates
- Digital outputs (Coaxial, 2x AES/EBU, BNC and Optical)
plus a dedicated asynchronous high quality USB audio port
- Power is provided by both switching mode and linear
power supplies. The switching mode power supply is isolated
from critical components using thick aluminum walls and the
linear power supply is used for sensitive critical
components. Thick aluminum is also used to isolate physical
and electromagnetic noise from CPU's and hard disk drives
- Designed be connected to a wireless router in order for
the iPad to function as a wireless master control
Remote Control via free iPad application from the Apple App Store:
- Intuitive search function for fast easy selection
- Make and edit playlists with just a touch of a
finger
- All details of song, album, playlist and queue are
viewable on a large iPad display. The current app includes support for
the "retina"
resolution. However as of early 2013 the software app does
not yet make full use of the high resolution
- Automatic or custom categorization of songs
- CD album front and back covers can be stored and
displayed along with music selection
- Web search function to search for information on
selected artist or song is not yet implemented as of early
2013 as it has been deemed as a lower priority but this is
planned for the future
- Zoom-in function
Magico Ultimate 3 speaker system. As of October 2013
we expect that the first production run of the new Ultimate 3 will
be completed by the end of this year. This is supposed to be a
substantial update from the original Ultimate and we simply can't wait
to hear it!

This is a massive
speaker standing almost 8' tall. And as you can see its
sculptural effect alone is simply stunning! Will it someday be
on display at the Museum of Modern Art? Indeed it certainly
deserves to be! For more info click
here.
Verity Monsalvat speaker system. This
new flagship speaker system from Verity is in the works.
Click for info -
Photo #1 -
Photo #2 -
Photo #3

Spectral Reference Standard Phono Preamp. About 8 years ago we
had a brief look at an early R&D prototype of a Spectral phono
section. (When we saw it, it was in the trunk of
Keith Johnson's
car, so obviously we didn't hear it at that time! We
hope to see a new product released based upon all of this
extensive R&D sometime in 2017—and hopefully it will be
officially announced at the January CES Show.
Of course there is no
definite timetable for the release of a particular product from
Spectral as we've learned from our three decades-long experience of
working with them. They keep working on products in R&D until
they are satisfied that they've done as well as they can. And
that can mean many iterations of design at the R&D stage—which
can take any number of years!
NOTE: This would be an
outboard phono section in a separate chassis which would, in
terms of hook-up, be between the output of a turntable and the
input of a preamp line section (like the Spectral DMC-30SV). For those that are curious about how big it was, the
prototype that we saw was in a chassis that was similar in size
to the DMC-30SV. Stay tuned for details.
Spectral SDR-5000 D-A converter. At the January 2009
CES
show Spectral showed a prototype of their forthcoming SDR-5000
D-A converter. We expect that it will do all of the following
sampling rates: 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, & 192kHz at bit rates
from 16 to 24. Although no shipping date has been announced,
we're hoping to see it in production sooner rather than
later—and at this point our best guess (and this is only a
guess!) is that the earliest that we could see it would be
sometime in 2017.
Hopefully it will be announced at the 2017 or 2018 CES, but we will see
if that actually transpires or not! All we really know though is that Spectral is still working on the design—plus they
are waiting
for some highly specialized custom parts to be made which have very long lead
times. However no matter how long it
takes, it promises to be worth waiting for! Check this space for
more details as they are announced.
|