A Terrific Tube Preamplifier From Korea, And A - Ultra High Fidelity ...

For more than 30 years it hasn’t been
possible to go to an audio show anywhere
in North America without running
into Nizar Akhrass, best known by his
distinctive first name. The Syrian-born
accountant began his audio odyssey
with Smythe Sound before setting up
his own firm, May Audio Marketing, in
Longueuil, Quebec, the city where UHF
is located. He became the distributor of
Quad, and then a host of other products,
from WBT to Castle, including
hundreds of esoteric record labels from
around the world.
At every show, from Montreal to
Toronto to L.A., he would book one or
more large rooms for his products. He
and his wife Alice, who was very much
a part of May Audio, were familiar to
generations of audiophile show visitors.
Life was not a tranquil stream for
Nizar and Alice, however. In attempting
to expand by designing and putting
up a building, May Audio went to
court against an entrepreneur who had
skimped on materials and not followed
the plans. The legal imbroglio brought
May Audio to its knees. The bank, which
two years before had named Nizar entrepreneur
of the year, came in and changed
the locks.
The Akhrass family launched a new
company, Justice Audio (“If we can’t
get justice in the courts we’ll get it this
way,” said Nizar), based in Toronto, far
away from marauding bailiffs, with son
Nabil as president. In the meantime
Nizar himself expanded his American
corporation, also called May Audio
Marketing. The two elder Akhrasses
ran into serious health problems. It was
leukemia in Nizar’s case, but he was
treated successfully with a new method
of marrow transplant. Alice was not so
lucky. Two years ago she became serious
ill with cancer, and chemotherapy
greatly aggravated her diabetes. Nabil
sold Justice Audio so he could devote
himself to her, but the ink was barely
dry on the sale document when she died.
76 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
Gossip&News
Goodbye Nizar
Nabil (that’s him in the background of
the photo) started a new venture, Liberty
Trading, and is carrying on.
They were there jointly at the Montreal
Salon in late March, where Nizar
and Alice received a lifetime achievement
award (that’s Nizar holding it in
the photo). He seemed in glowing health,
enthusiastic as ever. During the show he
dined with UHF’s Gerard Rejskind and
Stereophile’s Art Dudley. He recalled old
times, and spoke about his philosophy:
he would never ask for a product line, and
word of mouth would bring manufacturers
to him.
Two weeks after the Salon, he suffered
a massive heart attack, and he died
a few hours later in hospital.
We grieve for this long-time client…
supplier…and friend. He leaves a huge
gap.
But Nabil began to work at May
Audio before the age of 16. He too is
best known by his first name, and he
has the same approach to customers as
his father. Word of mouth brings him
product lines. He has been well taught.
Rest in peace, Nizar. We shall always
miss you.
Another
Moon DAC
In this issue of UHF is a review
of Simaudio’s Moon 300D digital-toanalog
converter. You’ll see that we loved
it, enough that we bought one to replace
our aged Counterpoint DA-10A, and we
also added it to our Audiophile Store.
But the 300D costs $1600, and there are
lower-priced competitors.
Simaudio has been paying attention,
and by the time you read this it will have
its own “economy” DAC available, the
100D.
We put “economy” in quotes, because
many people will still find the price
higher than their budget will bear, at
$698. Still, we think the 300D is a bargain
considering its performance, which
is stellar. As we write this we have not
yet heard the 100D, but we have hopes.
The 100D uses the same chipset as its
big brother/sister, with the same resolutions:
24 bits (of course), and sampling
rates of 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4 and
192 kHz. It can even upsample to those
resolutions, and the front-panel LED’s
tell you what it’s doing.
Shortcuts? Well, sure. It has one
coaxial input instead of two, the analog
output is strictly unbalanced, and the
300D’s elaborate power supply has been
replaced by…yes, a wall wart.
As the computer occupies an increasingly
important role as a high fidelity
music source, the DAC will be seen
more and more as a mainstream audio
component. How good is the 100D?
We’re eager to find out.