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

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Gossip&News Feedback The iPad and Us Looking for buzz? The iPad had it, and still does. Newspapers and tech Web sites, all summer, ran articles about t he g row i ng market for pads…note the plural. This may have changed since we went to press, but the word “pad” should not have been pluralized, because all of them but Apple’s were vaporware. Our attention was grabbed from the first for a reason that should be obvious: Apple’s slick new device promised to be the savior of embattled print publications. Reading a newspaper or magazine on a computer, it turns out, is awkward. But on a thin slate you can hold in your hand… Not only did we order one, but we signed up with Apple as registered iOS developers. The goal…well, you can probably figure it out. We need hard ly explain why there’s been a delay in our plans: Gerard’s health problems (now a thing of the past) threw a spanner into the works. However we did have time to get a good look at what a publication looks like on an iPad. In a word, stunning. There are several ways to view a magazine on the iPad, and we’ve tried them all. a) In PDF form. We are long-time subscribers to the excellent Scientific American, which distributes its electronic edition in that form. Several iPad apps allow you to view them, including Apple’s own iBooks, and (our choice) the free GoodReader. Being able to manipulate the pages with your fingers is a lot like 80 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine handling the printed issue, except that you can also use two fingers to zoom in and out. Do it in public, and prepare to get lots of attention. The down side, if it is one, is that these programs will not allow digital right management, also known as copy protection. Yes, we know, we’ve been plenty critical of the music and film industry for trying to prevent copying of their works, even for purposes that fall under the category of fair dealing/fair use. How dangerous is it for a publication to take a chance that 100% (not 99.9%) of its subscribers will play fair? b) Through the Zinio magazine service. Zinio has been around for some years, and indeed we considered signing up with them before finally choosing MagZee. The delivery system is slick, though the software is not bugfree, and is not as polished as GoodReader. It ’s c lo s e e nough, though. We looked around to see who else was on Zinio, and we noted a surprising fact: some publishers are all but giving away their publications. We signed up for a dozen copies of Car&Driver for only $8, with no surcharge for international “delivery,” beyond currency exchange (Zinio is in the US). c) Through proprietary software. A number of publications, from The New York Times to Sports Illustrated, offer free apps for the iPad, through which you can buy the actual magazine. Since there’s no obvious way to export it and therefore share it, it has de facto copy protection. As we write this we’ve made no final decision, but we’re aware that these methods of distribution are by no means mutually exclusive. We could develop our own app, and be on Zinio, and even remain on MagZee (for readers without an iPad). Our free (but incomplete) PDF edition can already be transferred to an iPad app such as GoodReader, but we can make the distribution even more frictionless with a free app. Is the iPad the future for the print media? It well may be. We really enjoy reading other people’s publications on it. We would like ours on it too.
Industry News Dan d’Agostino is back Perhaps you recognize the name: Dan D’Agostino and his then wife Rondi launched Krell back in 1980. The philosophy: there’s no such thing as too much amplifier power. Of course Krell gear never did come cheap, and the D’Agostinos sold Krell last year. Or at least that’s Dan’s spin. In fact he took on an equity firm, KP Partners, as a minority investor, and the buzz we get is that he made a mistake that has been made by countless other high end companies before Krell. The new partner had a minority of the company stock, but a majority of voting stock. A little before last Christmas the locks were changed, and the D’Agostinos (including son Bret) were escorted to the door. They’re suing, but what part of “voting control” don’t they understand? Why a free version? KEF uses its demo tech Go through our report on CES 2010 in Vegas (in this issue), and you’ll see what can only be called a rave for an enigmatic loudspeaker called the Blade Concept. The venerable British speaker maker has used its suite at the Hilton for expensive speaker demos before. The previous year it had shown off the Muon, an aluminum sculpture that made people think of the evil T1000 cop from Terminator 2. And it subsequently sold a number of them, despite a price deep into six digits. Would it do the same with the Blade Concept, a magnificent carbon fibre speaker that wowed us (and other reviewers too)? No, the word “concept” indicated that this speaker was not destined for production, but was a “mule” for new technology, just like those impractical concept cars you see at auto shows. And now the technology has migrated south…south in price we mean. For years now, we have been publishing, on our Web site, a free PDF version of our magazine. The reason is simple. We know you’re looking for information, and that is almost certainly why you’ve come to visit our site. And that’s why But Dan isn’t planning to retire any The Q300 bookshelf speaker, shown we give away what some competitors consider to be a startlingly large time soon. He’s set up a new company, here, uses a single coaxial Q driver, much amount of information…for free. with the self-effacing name of Dan like those that have been used by KEF We would give it all away for free, if we could still stay in business. D’Agostino Inc., and his first product for what seems like centuries, but this Recent figures indicate that each issue is getting downloaded as many is the Momentum amplifier you see time using technology developed for the as 100,000 times, and that figure keeps growing. here. It’s got high power (300 watts per Blade, which also used Uni-Q drivers. Yes, we know, if we had a nickel for each download… channel), but you would expect no less There’s a smaller Q100 too. We have Truth is, we’re in the business of helping you enjoy music at home from the founder of Krell. It has 28 no prices on either of them, but the “Q” under the best possible conditions. And movies too. We’ll do what we need output transistors, and that’s not paint series was never KEF’s top of the line. to do in order to get the information to you. on the side heat sinks. They’re made Which left us to speculate on what Of course, we also want you to read our published editions too. We of copper, for superior heat dispersion. the Blade Concept would cost if it were hope that, having read this far, you’ll want to read on. The price is listed as $42,000 a to go into a short production run, say 500 pair. Yes, a pair — the Momentum is a pairs. Would it cost $300,000? Perhaps monoblock. as much as a half million? Just one thing, Dan. People like There could still be a market for Mark Levinson, Nelson Pass and Steve them. True, we all tend to have dark McCormack could tell you how danger- suspicions about people who can afford ous it is to give a company your own such products. Are they the ones who name. Now that you’ve done it, don’t go threw families into the street and then talking to any more equity firms. got government bailouts? Eek! ADVERTISERS Allnic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 ASW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Audiophileboutique.com . . . . Cover 2 Audiophile Store . . . . . . . . . . 55-62 Audio Zendo . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 3 BIS Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Blue Circle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Charisma Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Cyrus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 ETI (Eichmann) . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Europroducts International . . . 13, 17 Hammertone Audio . . . . . . . . . . 14 Liberty Trading . . . . . . . . . Cover 4 MagZee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Moon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Mutine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 3 Radio St-Hubert . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Roksan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 4 Simaudio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Target . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Tri-Cell Enterprises . . . . . . . . . . 33 UHF Back Issues . . . . . . . . . . . 39 UHF Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Van den Hul . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 2 Well Tempered . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 81 Gossip&News Gossip&News Feedback
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No. 89 CAN $6.49 / US $7.69 RETURN
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Issue No. 89 Cover story: Two of th
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I HATE DOG EARS! (SORRY FIDO) We’
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I’m looking forward to the Simaud
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started talking to me and I was sta
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I’m using a Cardas Lightning cabl
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Leslie, it’s painful to realize t
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music from a computer via Ethernet
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school or community centre, perhaps
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ut the tone of the warning seems wr
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I remember when Israel Blume of Coi
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I may have mentioned that there is
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Thiel was back at CES, exhibiting a
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Touring the Salon there many turnta
Page 29 and 30: Below left: the Vivid B-1, designed
Page 31 and 32: tunately so, because computer softw
Page 33 and 34: The new ASW Genius 110 One of the i
Page 35 and 36: tisi. An hendreet nonsenim dit, ver
Page 37 and 38: scene, such as a video game page. T
Page 39 and 40: THE ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION: Issues
Page 41 and 42: Adding it to a CD player There are
Page 43 and 44: output of our Macbook Pro to the 30
Page 45 and 46: a quality switch with an array of f
Page 47 and 48: Leema Elements Phono Preamp Yes, wh
Page 49 and 50: Your System Belongs on the Wall Tar
Page 51 and 52: The t wo woofers and the midrange d
Page 53 and 54: Ut nisl erciduis at. Ectem dolobore
Page 55 and 56: INTERCONNECTS ATLAS NAVIGATOR Oxyge
Page 57 and 58: UHF14 POWER BAR Most power bars kno
Page 59 and 60: ed pepper to its music. Felix Hell
Page 61 and 62: Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante (XRCD)
Page 63 and 64: Gentlemen, I, Rachmaninoff, have ju
Page 65 and 66: painful scenes at home, and after a
Page 67 and 68: It is worth noting that although th
Page 69 and 70: announcement of impending marriage
Page 71 and 72: lending moment to arrive sooner tha
Page 73 and 74: that would have called for a retake
Page 75 and 76: any woman who is not married to som
Page 77 and 78: All You Can Watch for $8 It was Net
Page 79: The Magic Without 3D What’s domin
Page 83 and 84: Why do UHF readers start reading th
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