E LECTRIFIED S TABILIZATION P LATFORM The Last Platform You’ll Ever Need
Music is art, art is music.
Brassai - Pont neuf
Front Inside Cover: Henri Cartier Bresson - Today’s Obsessions
Back Inside Cover: Imogen Cunningham
The Other Art
It is my belief that the artist and the musician are not only creatives, but they access heart and soul and experience, perhaps, in the selfsame ways. My own love for art and music are inseparable. And so art, music, and those things which facilitate the music shall share theses pages. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - SEND HERE
Imogene Cunningham
EDITOR’s CHAIR
Wphotography then is just that a black and white and sepia edition that is sourced from our various rotating art collections— issues—over the course of several years for your enjoyment.
This issue speaks, via two of its reviews, to those component— cables, wires, etc.—so critical to listening to music, in any form, that without them, in the vast majority of cases, there’d simply be no music, at all. Yet time and again they are given a great deal less attention than the various other components.
There would certainly be no two-channel music listening and no headphone system, excluding fully self-contained, wireless headphone systems and, perhaps, wireless two-channel systems(?). Yikes!
And I for one, know how critically important good cabling is from the wall—power cords—to one’s source(s)—digital cables, interconnects, turntable cables—from one’s source(s) to one’s amplification—interconnects—to one’s speakers.—speaker cables Again, no cables, wires, power cords, no music but in only the rarest of cases. How important then are cables?
That said, our bevy of reviews for the May 2025 issue of the AudioKeyREVIEWS! Magazine are sources which range from CD digital transports to streamers to turntables with a review on an assortment of tubes that have merged the old with the new and have come up with some, well, incredibly impressive offerings.
I hope that you enjoy this issue, the art, and the sepia tone shading that harken back to a Mid Century Modern aesthetic, my favorite.
Sincerely,
K.E. Heartsong Editor-in-Chief
THE CREW
Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
K. E. Heartsong
Managing Editor
Dr. Irina Kuzminsky
Senior Editor(s)
Andre Marc
Oliver Masciarotte
Senior Copy Editor
Kathe Lieber
Columnists
Dr Irina Kuzminsky
Rain Jordan
Kathe Lieber
Music Reviewers (Video/Written)
Dr. Irina Kuzminsky
Photographer
K. E. Heartsong
Graphic Design
Wabi Sabi Design Group
HermanMiller
Ansel Adams - Before the Golden Gate
HermanMiller
Andre Kertész - Walking
Minor White
Imogene Cunningham
By K.E. Heartsong
TRON AES/EBU DIGITAL
There are reviews, for all intents and purposes, that write themselves. This is to say that their impact is immediate, truly surprising, and outstanding. Three such products come immediately to mind—The Grimm Audio MU2 (pre, streamer, DAC), the STAX SR-X9000 (electrostatic headphones), and the Atma-Sphere MP-3 and S30 (preamplifier and amplifier). Each of these components broke through the existing high-fidelity ceiling soaring past like components with ease. And in the case of the Grimm Audio MU2 and the Atma-Sphere MP-3 and S30 combo doing so at a fraction of the cost of Top-of-theLine (TOTL) components not their equal.
From ‘Jump Street’ as we used to say or Zero+ or ‘instantaneously’ the Grimm Audio put on quite the show. As I had said in its review:
“Straight out of the box, just off a FedEx “freezer truck,” and still bearing the chill of a Minnesota winter, the Grimm Audio MU2 unfolded or stretched its digital/streaming muscles and put on a performance that to date has no peer.”
And that is still true. In like manner the Atma-Sphere MP-3 and S30 transcended stereo playback and brought to fore “performances” time and again. It was
breathtaking to sit and listen to what had been truly exceptional stereo playback, to then see it transformed to a performance by the Atma-Sphere combo. The STAX SRX9000 did the selfsame thing and, in my opinion, rose to become, well, the king-ofthe-hill with regard to headphones, all headphones, regardless of technology. Nothing I’ve heard, to date, comes close.
Well, there’s a new component in house, a wire/cable—the BlackCat TRON AES/ EBU—that has blazed the same trail in every respect and finds itself certainly head and shoulders above cables in its category— digital—at Casa Heartsong, no small trick given the lineup. But how good is the TRON AES/EBU?
Robert Doisneau
TRON AES/EBU DIGITAL
REFRAIN: Unlike most reviews, this review will be non-sequential, as it will start with how the equipment actually sounds and not the process of physically “undressing” it and/ or laying out its various accoutrement, specifications, etc. Think of this review then, as a non-linear movie—Memento, Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, etc—that, likewise, starts at the end and winds its way to the beginning.
THE SYSTEM - HEADPHONE REFERENCE
• Grimm Audio MU1 Streamer
• Baetis Audio Revolution X5 Streamer
• Silent Angel Bonn NX Network Switch
• Silent Angel Genesis GX Master Clock
• Bricasti Design M1SE DAC
• Aurorasound HEADA Headphone Amplifier
• Atma-Sphere GEM Headphone Amplifier
• Pass Labs HPA-1 Headphone Amplifier
• HIFIMAN SUSVARA Headphone
• MEZE Empyrean Headphone
• Audience Front Row Cables/Wires
• Black Cat TRØN Signature Digital Cable
• Kubala Sosna Emotion/Sensation— Cabling and Wires/Power Cords
• RSX Beyond Power Cables
• AntiCables Power Cables
• Audience Hidden Treasure CAT7 Ethernet cables
• TORUS RM20—Power Generation
THE SOUND & SUCH
Like the Grimm Audio MU2 I placed the Black CAT TRON AES/EBU in the system straight off the FedEx truck, cold, and with zero burn-in, between the Baetis Audio Revolution X5 and the Bricasti M1SE. I then sat for a curious listen.
Move over! This is what I thought, well within 2 minutes of listening to understand that the TRON AES/EBU was an incredible digital cable. The previous quite expensive and well-known digital cable, which the TRON AES/EBU had replaced, appeared to not to have been passing along the same digital bits and bytes. The distinction was stark, immediate, and profound. This was music and it was technically superb, engaging and musical to no end. It was resolving, open, and was incorporating the ambiance and the air, the weight and the extension, that somehow the previous cable had entirely overlooked. I know children who would have been able to gauge the difference from a single listen. They would have asked, no doubt, with squenched and frowning faces, “Why does that other cable sound like that?” It sounds like that because it’s trying desperately to do what the TRON AES/
fresh out of the FedEx cardboard box when I placed the TRON AES/EBU in system. That it could embarrass another well thought of cable so easily and quickly was shocking. However, once fully burned-in it was as if the the TRON AES/EBU sat a couple of quantum shelves higher, which is to say, not even in the same league despite cost equivalence or even those cables much more expensive. None of those other cables had left this impact. Everything improved as a sublime naturalness unfolded, while nuance and subtlety were captured and weaved together in a whole-cloth display of coherency, and ambiance like that of the Grimm Audio MU2 and the STAXX SRX9000. And the TRON AES/EBU's ability to move past stereo reproduction and on to a performance was in league with the AtmaSphere combo and this alone sets it apart not
breathed life and vitality, naturalness and musicality, while crossing and doting all the technical ‘t’s’ and ‘i’s’—soundstage, detail, transparency, resolution, etc.—like a highly skilled and deft writer. What more can one say?
CONCLUSION
As mentioned above, there are reviews that write themselves. This review of the BlackCat TRON AES/EBU digital cable is one of those reviews. So profound are its abilities and talents that the review simply flowed and I simply wrote that which the TRON AES/EBU was telling me to write via its voice. And a truly superb voice it is.
Suffice to say, that the brevity of this review, I don’t generally write short reviews, speaks to the profound and immediate ability of the BlackCat TRON AES/EBU digital cable.
do this?! I do not know. What I do know is that I purchased it immediately after I heard its burned-in voice and I’ve not looked back since.
The BlackCat TRON AES/EBU digital cable is an endgame cable, at least, for me. As I have not met its rival regardless of cost. And that finds it easily meeting the criteria of our highest award—the DIAMOND AWARD —for excellence. I do not know if you will be as shocked as I was, though I think the probability quite high. Bravo!
Note: Perhaps next as pictured above the Black Cat SPDIF Digital Cable.
P.O. Box 2653 Cumming, GA 30028 mayu@blackcatcable.com sales@blackcatcable.com AKRM
Minor White - Beyond Appearances
GRACE NOTES
By Kathe Lieber
Khatia Buniatishvili—Pianiste Extraordinaire
One of my father’s earliest and fondest memories was of sitting under the piano cross-legged as a small boy while his mother Olga, a concert pianist who graduated from the Kyiv Conservatory, played a nocturne by Chopin. He could feel the vibrations, and the love and reverence with which she played the piece. As he described that moment in his memoir, “I felt the music viscerally, and I fell in love.”
classical and contemporary artists, including Yo-Yo Ma on cello, vocalists Angélique Kidjo, Pretty Yende, Benjamin Bernheim, and Pharrell Williams—and pianist Khatia Buniatishvili, playing the Bach/Marcello Adagio. Her performance can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=sgaydl7162g
I had a similar reaction when Kermit Heartsong, our esteemed Editor in Chief, mentioned the Georgian-born French pianist Khatia Buniatishvili, and I heard her play for the first time. How was I not familiar with this marvel? Clearly there was a gaping hole in my musical knowledge. I went straight to Spotify and have listened to little else since then.
On December 7, 2024, millions watched around the world as Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris celebrated its grand reopening after the disastrous fire in 2019. The concert was phenomenal, featuring a who’s who of
(The complete ceremony can be seen on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=mA2qYaXISdw.) or on Stage+, but you’ll probably want to fast-forward through the lengthy scenes of politicians greeting each other.)
The pianist, who’s not yet 40, has an impressive musical track record. She was born in Batoumi, on the Black Sea in Georgia, in 1987. At the age of three, she began to study the piano with her mother, who would leave a new musical score on the piano every day. Her mother also managed to scavenge bits of cloth to make dresses for her daughters (perhaps the precursor to Khatia’s
GRACE NOTES
glittering concert gowns?). It was a musical household: Khatia’s sister, Gvantsa Buniatishvili, is also a pianist, and they enjoy performing four-handed. Khatia gave her first concert with the Tbilisi Chamber Orchestra when she was six, and was soon invited to give performances all over Europe, and in Russia, Israel, and the USA. At the age of 11, she went to Austria to study with Michel Sogny, known for his innovative (and sometimes controversial) piano methodology. However, she dislikes the term “prodigy.” She makes no attempt to emulate other contemporary performers (even her favourite pianist, Martha Argerich), and identifies most with composers of the 20th and earlier centuries. Listen carefully as she plays: you will hear echoes of Georgian folk-music. Her playing has been described as elegant and even melancholy (which she does not consider a pejorative term). She regards the piano as a “symbol of musical solitude” and believes that pianists need to “be psychologically strong and forget the hall.”
Buniatishvili won several highly regarded prizes while still in her teens and early twenties, notably a special prize at the Horowitz International Competition for Young Pianists in Kyiv in 2003 and a bronze medal at the 12th Arthur Rubinstein Piano Master Competition in 2008, where she was
named Best Performer of a Chopin piece and Audience Favorite. In 2016, she won the ECHO Klassik prize. She has given solo recitals and performed in chamber music concerts at the world’s top concert houses, including Wigmore Hall in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Musikverein in Vienna. She made her U.S. concert début at Carnegie Hall in 2008, playing Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto, and has performed with the Orchestre de Paris under Paavo Järvi, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Philharmonia Orchestra in London. Fluent in five languages, she is in great demand as a touring artist. She currently lives in Paris.
I could go on and on, but now it’s time to get down to some serious listening. As Shakespeare (almost) said, “The play(ing)’s the thing….”
Buniatishvili signed an exclusive contract with Sony Classical in 2011. She burst onto the recording scene with Chopin, her début album, the following year, and now has a grand total of 10 albums to her credit; the latest, Mozart Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 23, came out last year.
There are two distinct categories in the Buniatishvili discography: single-composer albums and recordings featuring pieces put together by the pianist, juxtaposed in ways you might never have thought of. To me, the second category is especially intriguing, as I try to figure out the connections between her chosen pieces.
On the Chopin album, she performs with the Orchestre de Paris under the EstonianAmerican conductor Paavo Järvi. To my ear, the most touching track on this recording is the Mazurka in A Minor Op. 17/4. Her second album, Franz Liszt, was recorded at the Meistersaal in Berlin. I was mesmerized by the Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, S 462/1 (after Bach, BWV 543).
After focusing on a single composer in her first two albums, the pianist took a different tack on her Motherland and Kaleidoscope albums in 2015 and 2016. Motherland is intensely personal, including pieces from her Georgian homeland, “When Almonds Blossomed” and the folk song “Va
Giorko Ma.” The contrast between the sprightly Slavonic Dance by Dvorak and Grieg’s wistful Homesickness is striking and memorable. Bach’s much-loved cantata “Sheep May Safely Grace” is a standout. She plays other pieces from the classical repertoire by Mendelssohn, Debussy and Tchaikovsky.
Kaleidoscope, says the pianist, evokes the tragic background behind the ever-changing colours of the music. It’s ”one person’s gaze at excerpts from reality at a very specific moment,” she writes. The album features idiosyncratic choices by the pianist, with works by Mussorgsky, Ravel and Stravinsky. Pictures at an Exhibition is one of my favourite works, and Buniatishvili fully exploits its dark beauty here. Three movements from Stravinsky’s ballet Petrushka sound fresh and charming, even with the tragic ending. This just might be my favourite of all her albums.
Liszt and Beethoven brings us Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major, S 125 and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 15. The Gramophone reviewer, though somewhat distracted by her hair(!), wrote: “Her keyboard address veers from imperious to chaste, from mischievous to demonic and from genial to ecstatic.” He could find no fault with her “awesome
Minor White
GRACE NOTES
technique,” but thought it could lead her
The pianist returned to single-composer albums with 2017’s Rachmaninoff, her second concert recording. The Second Piano Concerto (composed in 1901) is familiar to many music-lovers as “Full Moon and Empty Arms.” The Third (1909) is much longer and considered much more difficult. Rachmaninoff composed it to play on his first tour of the United States, and the original dedicatee, Josef Hoffman, claimed it was simply too difficult to play. Khatia rose to the challenge.
2019’s Schubert (ignore the album cover, in which the pianist appears to be doing an Ophelia imitation) includes the composer’s last Piano Sonata D 960, the four impromptus D 899, and his arrangement of “Standchen.”
In 2020, as millions of people found music a terrific consolation in lockdown, Buniatishvili released Labyrinth and Labyrinth: Ephemera. The artist describes the labyrinth as “our fate and creation; our impasse and deliverance; the polyphony of life, senses, reawakened dreams and the neglected present, unexpected and expected turnings of the said or unsaid…” Labyrinth is far-ranging, from film scores by Philip Glass and Ennio Morricone to concert works by Satie, Villa-Lobos, Scarlatti, Brahms, Bach,
Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Liszt—and john Cage’s notorious musical silence. Ephemera is a seven-track EP that includes such beloved works as Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Tchaikovsky’s Valse Sentimentale, and Bach’s Prelude in C Major, BWV 846. It feels much too short, which of course it is—a cue to hit the “play’ button again.
Her most recent album, Mozart Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 23, features two familiar but nonetheless thrilling late works of the composer, who died tragically young (I marvel at the fact that he composed both The Magic Flute and his Requiem during his final illness). The orchestra is the matchless Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. No. 20 is full of drama, joy and loss, with echoes of Don Giovanni. No. 23 is a conversation among the instruments, notably the piano of course, with an exquisite slow movement.
Full disclosure: Buniatishvili’s playing has attracted some mixed reviews. BBC Music Magazine called her “The fearless virtuoso,” but there have been less favourable evaluations, some quite harsh, in fact. As always, your ears will be the best judge. To mine, though obviously I have my favourites, her musicality shines through everything I’ve heard her play, I think my Nana Olga, and my father, would agree with that assessment.
AKRM
Minor White
ET3 DIGITAL TRANSPORT
By K.E. Heartsong
Over the course of my life I have owned some quite spectacular CD Players (CDPs) and DAC/ Transport combinations. One that comes to mind immediately is the Mark Levinson No. 39 CDP which was svelte, beautiful, with a hint of the Art Deco in its curved front facade. It was armor-car like in its weight and heft. And from its front face a thin, sculpted, metal drawer smoothly emerged, as if on silk rollers. I would come to discover when I traded up to the Mark Levinson DAC/Transport separates, that I still preferred the No. 39. Ten there was the Accustic Arts DAC/ Transport combo, whose designations I do not remember (no longer on the Accustic Arts website). But what I do remember of this Accustic Arts combo, even to this day, was that its tone/timbre, the texture, its image weight and palpability had eclipsed every CDP or DAC/Transport combination that had come before it. Tere were others that had excelled in many areas and were exceptionally musical—Audio Aero
Capitole, Meridian 508.24 CDP—and had long held my interest.
Recently or fairly recently, I had the opportunity to review two Top-of-the-Line (TOTL) CDPs—Accustic Arts Player II and the NEODIO Origine S2.What these two CDPs revealed immediately was that those who has spoken to the demise of the
CD Player had been, at best, premature and incredibly shortsighted (see turntable). Or had it been cynicism and profiteering in an attempt to flood the market with a “better than sliced bread” alternative—streaming?
Well, the Accustic Arts Player II and the NEODIO Origine S2 easily walked over streamer/DAC combinations far greater in collective cost, though not inexpensive themselves, and buried the gossip of the
Robert Doisneau
CD's demise as well as the very expensive streamer/DAC combos that had challenged them.
Since then, I have noticed a great many CDPs and Transports rising up across the high fidelity landscape the world over and though my collection of CD’s has whittled down to a precious few I have remained very curious and interested. The two TOTLs above proved easily better than all but a single streamer/DAC—Grimm Audio MU2 (at the pinnacle of digital reproduction). This review features what might be considered a mid-fi Digital Transport— Shanling ET3—merely by its price at $895. But would its technical and musical abilities also find it categorized as mid-fi?
REFRAIN: Unlike most reviews, this review will be non-sequential, as it will start with how the component actually sounds and not the process of physically “undressing” it and/or laying out its various parts, specifications, etc. Tink of this review, then, as a non-linear movie— Memento, Kill Bill, Arrival, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, etc.—that likewise starts at the end and winds its way to the beginning.
THE SYSTEM - HEADPHONE REFERENCE
• Grimm Audio MU1 Streamer
• Baetis Audio Revolution X5 Streamer
• Silent Angel Rhein Z1 Streamer
• Silent Angel Forester F2 Power Supply
• Silent Angel Bonn NX Network Switch
• Silent Angel Genesis GX Master Clock
• Bricasti Design M1SE DAC
• Border Patrol SE-i DAC
• Aurorasound HEADA Headphone
Amplifier
• Atma-Sphere GEM Headphone
Amplifier
• Pass Labs HPA-1 Headphone
Amplifier
• ABYSS AB1266 PHI TC Headphone
• HIFIMAN SUSVARA Headphone
• MEZE Empyrean Headphone
• Audience Front Row Cables/Wires
• Kubala Sosna Emotion/Sensation—
Cabling and Wires/Power Cords
• RSX Beyond Power Cables
• AntiCables Power Cables
• Black Cat TRØN Signature AES/EBU
Digital Cable
• Audience Hidden Treasure CAT7
Ethernet cables
• TORUS RM20—Power Generation
THE SYSTEM - REFERENCE TWO CHANNEL
• Grimm Audio MU2 Streamer/DAC/ Preamplifier
• Silent Angel Bonn Pro8 Network
Switch
• Air Tight ATC 5s Preamplifier
• Air Tight ATM 1E Amplifier
• Atma-Sphere MP-3 Preamplifier
• Atma-Sphere S-30 Stereo Amplifier
• Atma-Sphere Class D Monoblock
Amplifiers
• TRAFORMATIC RHAPSODY 300B
Single-Ended Integrated
• LYRIC Ti 100 Single-Ended Integrated
• Devore Audio Orangutan 0/96
• Fern & Roby Raven III Speakers
THE SOUND
When I received the Shanling ET3 Digital Transport from Adam Sohmer, I immediately got out my whittled down and rather pitiful collection of CDs, plugged the ET3 to the least expensive in-house DAC—Border Patrol SE-i—in the reference headphone system. I then began its burn-in with the CD (Reference Recording) that whirled away for days on end. I sat down close to two weeks later to begin the ET3 Digital Transport’s review. I took the ET3 off of repeat, and started the Eiji Oue Stravinsky CD this time for the purpose of
• Kubala-Sosna Realization Interconnects, Speaker Cables, Power cords
• Grimm Audio SQM Interconnects (XLR, RCA)
• Black Cat TRØN Signature AES/EBU Digital Cable
• RSX BEYOND, MAX Power-cords
• SEISMION Amplifier Stand (powered)
• TORUS AUDIO Power conditioner
One of the first things that I noticed was its solidity. Bass weight was taunt, well defined, and dynamic. In this respect, it had already bettered all of our less expensive streamers as coupled to the Border Patrol SE-i DAC as well as many past streamers that had been reviewed, some quite expensive. The soundstage was expansive—wide, deep, layered—and there was a wonderful openness and clarity that made the lesser streamers seem, well, closed-in. Tone/timbre and texture were very good and this gave instruments and performers a naturalness
ET3 DIGITAL TRANSPORT
and an ease that drew you into the performance. There was also a quiet, perhaps via direct, in-house (right there) connection that only the best streamers in-house surpassed.The Getz/Gilberto album (Verve
Positioning for each of the performers stood out as more three-dimensional than the lesser streamers.
And when the Border Patrol SE-i DAC was replaced with the Bricasti Design M1SE, beautifully. Now even while not bested, were in some respects being challenged by an $895 Digital Transport, as coupled to the same via the Shanling ET3 and M1SE took on more gravitas, weight, and bass depth, and was
i was beautiful, rich, detailed, and truly engaging. And one of my favorite reference albums for sorting out a given component in a review—Dave Brubeck’s Take Five (Columbia)—was handled beautifully by the ET3. Joe Morello’s drum kit was alive, its cymbals well resolved, distinct, with air and ambiance all about and naturally so. Paul Desmond’s sax was textured, rich and tone/ timbre were natural and engaging.
contrasts and even greater nuance. The soundstage via this combo expanded in, literally, every direction bringing greater ambiance and air and it was even more beautifully layered. There was no aspect that was not bettered by the inclusion of the Bricasti Design M1SE with the ET3.
Interestingly, when the ET3 was mated to the Grimm Audio MU2, there was an across the board improvement that challenged all
streamer/DAC combinations but did not better them. Using the MU2’s DAC the ET3 scaled to a level I would not have thought possible. Soundstaging—width, depth, layering, positioning—was improved to a degree that the other DACs could not match. And a couple of very expensive streamers, that were in-house for a while, but not reviewed, found themselves on the losing end of this comparison. But this was connected to the Grimm Audio MU2, a truly formidable streamer/DAC with, apparently, a formidable DAC as well. While logically no one would dare couple an $895 transport with an $18k streamer/DAC what the ET3 showed was that it would be a very inexpensive way to get the best out of one’s CDs on the cheap. Most very inexpensive CD transports would have long ago popped out, their limitations on full display for all to see as the quality and adeptness of the DACs improved. Regarding the Grimm Audio MU2 it is the most transparent component I have ever owned and it will show lessor components, cables, even power cords up quickly and easily. This was not the case with the Shanling ET3 Digital Transport, which scaled beautifully and with a deftness that was hard to believe.
FUNCTIONALITY
• Compact design as EC3 (just 25.5 x 18.8 cm)
• CNC Machined Metal body
• Developed as a pure digital transport
• CT7302CL Upsampling chip
• All-to-DSD or All-to-PCM Upsampling function
• I2S / Optical / Coaxial / AES EBU / USB Digital Outputs
• Philips SAA7824 CD Drive
• HD850 Laser
• Playback from USB Drive
• 2.4G/5G Wi-Fi with DLNA/Airplay support
• Bluetooth 5.0 input with LDAC, AAC and SBC support
• MQA CD Support
• Can act as NAS server with USB drives
• Based on Ingenic X2000 Platform
• Companion app
• Remote Control included
CONCLUSIONS
Te Shanling ET3 Digital Transport is surprisingly good and especially so for $895! And while it worked very well with the Border Patrol SE-i, it scaled beautifully with the best of the best DACs and did not, at all, embarrass itself. In fact, it shined with the Grimm Audio MU2 Streamer/ DAC and the combo and put some very expensive streamer/DAC combos on notice of their, well, less than stellar performance. Or, in other words, the combo fired them!
ET3 DIGITAL TRANSPORT
If you have a good smattering of CDs and you’d like to play them back or you want insurance when the ‘internet of all things’ takes a hiatus, brief or otherwise, you’ll want to give the Shanling ET3 Digital Transport a go. At its asking price of $895 it is, truly, a no brainer.
Without further ado, we happily award the Shanling ET3 Digital Transport our HIGH NINES award for a budget product that thinks and acts as if it is a true highfidelity component.
Pros: Scales beautifully, while playing music at every level and crossing and dotting the ’t’s and ‘i’s of high-fidelity playback. Inexpensive!
Cons: None
THE SPECIFICATIONS
Shanling ET3
• Power consumption: 15W
• Dimensions (W x D x H): 188 x 255 x 68mm
• Weight: approx. 2.5kg
• CD Drive: Philips SAA7824
• Disc compatibility: CD; CD-R; CDRW
• USB output: up to PCM 768kHz / 32bit, DSD 512
• I²S output: up to PCM 768kHz / 32bit, DSD 512
• Coaxial / optical / AES output: up to PCM 192 kHz / 32bit, DSD 64
• System: Ingenic X2000 platform, developed in-house
Ifirst heard guitarist Ben Misterka play about a year ago at Peter Baron’s Backyard Improv, a popular improvisational jazz production in the San Francisco Bay Area. At that time, I was unaware of how talented, prolific and wellregarded Misterka was in the local music community, in the U.S, and internationally. But immediately I knew that I was attracted to his tone and style. He was playing a Telecaster at the time. And I’ll tell you, his tone was resoundingly beautiful and distinctive. His versatility was off-the-charts, a fusion of musical styles, from funk, to jazz, to rock, to blues, to soulful R&B. After the performance, I knew I wanted to interview him and learn more about his music and his journey as an artist.
We scheduled the interview but the timing was off. He was touring. Ben Misterka is an in-demand touring guitarist, a session musician, a solo artist, and the bandleader of the jazz funk-fusion band, Collectivity. He tours around the country and world, playing in renowned music venues from arenas to popular festivals and clubs. He’s worked and played with music artists from across genres, hip-hop artist, Lyrics Born, R&B singer, Goapele, drummer, Tommy Igoe and keybassist, Kevin Wong, neo-soul artist, Erica Falls, saxophonist, Mindi Abair, jazz harmonicist, Fred Yonnet, jazz saxophonist, Alex Han, Nikki Glaspe, The Voice of China, Morris Hayes, Singer Tia Ray and many others. My point is “His cup runneth over”. And I am excited
Painting by Rossetti
Robert Doisneau
JOAN OF AUDIO & MUSIC
to say that a few weeks ago, Ben Misterka and I had our interview for AKR Magazine. It was a long time coming. But so worth the wait because timing is everything.
TONE
As a guitarist, Ben Misterka has a very distinctive tone and approach, as do many influential greats. One of the questions I asked him in our interview was “How did you develop your tone and how does gear play a role in shaping or defining your sound?” You can imagine, if you are a guitarist or music lover, how interesting and informative his answer could be. And it was. I highly recommend listening to the interview for the full low-down. But I will paraphrase a bit of his response. He said, “You know, they say that the tone is in your fingers? Well, it’s so true! Someone can have the same guitar and the same rig and it’s going to sound different.” In other words, no matter what guitar or gear is used, the quality of the tone or sound depends on the talent and skill of the player. So, the player’s ability has more impact on tone than the gear. But Ben Misterka also said, “a lot of tone comes from gear as well. It can give you a very different sound and that can be very exciting”. He talked about his various guitars, the Telecaster the Strat, the Hollowbody 335, and how his approach is different with each one. As well, he mentioned, “All the little individual things are also important; how hard you squeeze the notes, how you bend, how you hold the pick. All of these things can shape your tone”. It
was quite a spirited conversation. For me, it really clarified the skill and complexities involved in creating a distinctive and compelling tone. And it certainly deepened my appreciation for his musicianship.
VERSATILITY
Ben Misterka is an incredibly versatile musician. It’s almost a super-power. If you Just look at who he has played with and where his music journey has taken him, you will see the tell-tale signs of versatility. In our interview, he says, “as a hired gun you have to be able to do what the thing requires. Somebody will ask, can you do a country song with a Moroccan feel in B flat? I got you! Then boom you got the job. You make it cool. You put your own flavor on it”. So, it is not surprising that Ben Misterka’s influences come from a wide range of musical genres, rock, jazz, funk, blues, soul, hip-hop, gospel, classical. He is proficient in playing the piano, guitar, banjo, and bass guitar. Initially selftaught, Ben Misterka went on later to earn a BA in Jazz Performance. He also composes and writes his own music and has toured and played around the country and the world. He is the bandleader of the talented funk-fusion ensemble, Collectivity. which he writes the music for. And he is an in-demand touring guitarist for a plethora of renowned artists and musicians which span the spectrum of genres. He also spent 6 years living in Shanghai, China immersed in a vibrant international music scene. He told me that it was a life-changing experience for him. He
JOAN OF AUDIO & MUSIC
also plays with an array of different musicians from the greater SF Bay area in an allimprovisational jazz production called the Backyard Improv. Ben Misterka’s journey is a testament to his talent and musical versatility. His ability to navigate through a wildly diverse musical landscape will take him very far.
MUSIC AS A HEALING TOOL
During our interview, Ben Misterka told me that recently some things have happened in
his life that changed his perspective in very significant ways. He talked candidly with me about those changes and how they’ve inspired him to write songs from a place in himself that he has not written from before. I encourage you to listen to the audio interview for the clarity and nuance of the dialogue. It’s quite a deeply insightful conversation. He mentioned that his previous intention behind his writing for his band Collectivity was to uplift people and bring them together. So, he
wrote mostly fun, high-energy music that brought people together to dance and have fun”. But, he said, “it still makes you think”. Ben Misterka said, “now, I’m really trying to intentionally write in a way that is more emotional, and that is more true to a part of myself that I haven’t written from before, and that’s been really healing”. It has inspired him to work on a brand new solo album that is reflective of that significant shift. Ben Misterka goes on to share a powerful introspection “I’m really enjoying going through that introspective journey and using music as healing tool for myself, with the intention that the more I can be true to what I want to do, not in a selfish way, but as a vehicle and catalyst for having the potential to touch other people.” At the end of our interview, Ben Misterka played a sample of Tapai, a beautiful song from his new solo album, which will be released in May 2025. And he played a little something funky too. Take a listen!
A HIGHER LOVE
My interview with Ben Misterka is published on the following pages. It is one of my favorite interviews with a musician. His authenticity, tenacity and talent as an independent artist is pure inspiration. Especially now as he focuses more on his journey as a solo artist. The path of the independent musician is a labor of love.
(there is not a better idiom). The music industry is radically changing and the fate of independent musicians depend on musicians themselves. “We” have to keep at it, because as Steve Connor of the Sound Café so eloquently writes,” the true power of independent music lies not in its commercial success but its ability to connect with people on a deep, emotional level. Independent artists create music because they have something to say, something that cannot be silenced by the challenges they face”. In a culture that commodifies almost everything, the artist must be the antidote. We are going to need the high vibration of live music during these times. So let us gather together as a community of music lovers, artists and friends to listen to live music. Let it be our act of resilience in the face of an unenlightened dying paradigm and faith that we are conduits for a higher love.
AKRM
Ben Misterka
Conducted by Raine Jordan INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW: BEN MISTERKA
(This is a short, edited excerpt from a transcript of the full unscripted audio interview which is available for your listening pleasure on the previous page Ben plays a sample of a new song from his upcoming album at the end of the audio interview. So worth a listen!)
(Raine Jordan) I am super excited. I’ve been looking forward to this interview for probably about a year now, right?
(Ben Misterka) Oh I have been too!
(RJ) So I'll just do a quick introduction on how I know you, and what our connection is. So, I met Ben or I heard him play several times over the last year and a half at Peter Baron’s Backyard Improv which is an improvisational jazz concert series in the San Francisco Bay area. The first time I heard you play your guitar I was immediately attracted to your tone.
(BM) That makes me so happy
(RJ) Yeah, the tone of your guitar was incredibly distinctive and as you played, I loved not only how you played but the essence behind what you were playing. I felt like it was a sort of transformative vibe. If you know what I mean? And at that time, I was writing a series for a AKR magazine called “A Higher Love”. It was about musicians and creatives who had a higher or deeper intention behind their work or their music. So, I immediately wanted to interview you after hearing you play. So, I’m super excited to finally have the opportunity to interview
you. So, let’s rock & roll. I’ll start with the first question.
(BM) Right on all right that's really kind of you. Thank you so much.
(RJ) You are welcome. All right so this is a pretty common first question but I think it's probably everyone's curiosity as well, which is how did you start playing the guitar? When and how did that happen?
(BM) I started playing the guitar when I was about 12 years old, mainly just kind of with friends. There were a lot of guitars in my friend group. We were all into music from an early age. I started playing the Viola first. I guess I was in the 5th grade, so that was maybe 10 years old. So, that was my first instrument. In about the 8th grade or so I started playing the guitar. I found this guitar in my garage. It was my dad's old Fender. I remember taking it out and just kind of hitting the strings in a rhythmic way as it was laying flat. And I was like wow this is so cool. It was probably super out of tune and the strings were probably 20 years old. I'm surprised they didn't just break right there. But yeah, I started playing the guitar around then. I’d borrow a guitar from a friend for awhile and then I finally got one, a Fender Strat or a Squier. It happened pretty quickly after that first interaction with the guitar in the garage.
(RJ) Did you just start playing without lessons or were you self-taught?
INTERVIEW: BEN MISTERKA
(BM) Yeah, I was pretty much self-taught. I learned just from listening to records, that's how I learned originally, and from friends. There wasn't really an online guitar community at that time. So, from listening and teaching each other riffs. But I had summer where I was kind of forced to be in a different place. I had a lot of time to kill and I was an area where I didn’t know anyone. So, I got to spend that whole summer with really nothing to do but play the guitar. I didn’t like it at the time but I now realize that it was a really good moment in my life. It got me over that initial hump of learning to play. Later in life I went and studied formally at school. But I was self-taught for probably 10 years before that happened. Yeah, which I think is kind of good. I mean you are always going to be self-taught in some way.
(RJ) Yeah, I think it’s a direct experience. You need that, right, to find your way and form a relationship to your music?
(BM) Yeah, yeah very cool.
(RJ) What were some of the influences that shaped your desire to continue playing?
(BM) I was first learning stuff that was popular at that time; Nirvana, Green Day, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden. There was a lot of guitar in that music. Pearl Jam had really cool guitar parts that I was super focused on during that time, That 90’s era. And really learnable riffs. From there I got into Led Zepplin. That was the first band that I was just nuts about. I had the posters and everything. And, Pink Floyd, and then Jimi Hendrix. So, a lot of classic rock. And Jimi
Hendrix, most people would probably say this too, is probably my top. I always come back to that and I keep going back through his catalogue and keep learning new stuff and finding new things about Hendrix. So, yeah classic rock, especially late 60’s, early 70’s stuff, psychedelic stuff. And that led me to more “jammy” based stuff. Like the Grateful Dead for a little bit. During the same time, it kind of led me to improvisational jazz, and rock. I bit later I found Wes Montgomery and that opened up this whole new world that really spoke to me big time. I started really digging in and studying that. And then studying and playing a lot of jazz and then from there, fusion, and everything inbetween.
(RJ) Yeah, so the world of music is so large if you’re willing to kind of move past the genre boundaries, right? But it’s very cool that you have a classic rock foundation. I can definitely hear that in your music. And I also hear the fusion of jazz and funk,. It’s hard to pin down who you sound like. You know how we tend to do that. Because we are always trying to find what is familiar to us instead of just listening. When I listen to you play, you are extremely unique in your approach.
(BM) Yeah, yeah.
(RJ) So, how did you develop your tone? How did that come about? And what about your style of playing is related to the guitar you play and/or the gear you use? That whole Ben Misterka signature sound?
(BM) Oh wow, nerdy questions, my favorite.
(RJ) (Laughing) Sorry.
INTERVIEW: BEN MISTERKA
(BM) No really (lol) this is my favorite question. Okay cool, yeah. So, when it comes right down to it, they always say, that the tone is your fingers. Which is so true because somebody else can play your exact same guitar with your same “rig” and everything, and it sounds different. What happens to a lot of us is that you are wanna play somebody else’s guitar, you get somebody else’s rigger, you get like the Santana signature pedal, and then you’re like, “how come I don’t like Santana?”
Because it really does come from your fingers. But with that said, a lot of it comes from the gear too because that can completely change your sound. I went through so many different iterations. I play a Telecaster a lot of the time and I think that is what people recognize the most. But I have a lot of different guitars. I love playing the Strat, which is a very different setup of a guitar. And the 335 Hollow Body guitar, depending on the music I’m playing. I think people that have spent a lot of time as a hired gun, as well as an artist doing their own music, have to be able to be versatile to do the thing that is required. You know, somebody’s
like, can you do a country tune with a Moroccan feel in B flat. And you’re like, “I got you!” And then, boom, you got the work, and then you can make it cool, make it good, put your own flavor on that too. So, there is a lot of stuff, not to get too technical. But I do find that it makes a big difference and it’s really inspiring that you can create such a different sound. So different gear can be really inspiring and help you to play slightly different. But I am going to approach a Telecaster very differently than I would a Hollow Body 335 or a Strat. Even with a trem bar on it and a different pedal, a different amp will make you play differently, which I like to purposely lean into. Or you know, you might write a part in a song that is based around a certain sound that you find really interesting. Like if you found a really
interesting sound delay. That may inspire you to come up with something that’s composed for that sound and you may not have discovered that sound otherwise. So, I really like that aspect of it too. There was one more thing, but suddenly I forgot it (lol). I can talk about tone all day. I really have noticed that the very individual things about the way that you use your fingers, how hard you squeeze the note, and how you bend, and how you use the tremolo bar is a really big deal. How you hold the pick, all of that stuff can shape your tone. (this conversation about tone and gear continues a bit more in the full audio interview)
(RJ) Yeah, that’s amazing. Music has so much to offer, especially when you listen critically whether you are the artist or the listener. You can go deeply with it in so many ways and places.
(BM) Yeah exactly.
(RJ) So Ben, do you write and compose most of your own music?
(BM) I’ve been writing my whole life. Wow, I kind of learned to play the guitar by writing. It is one thing I consider really important since I was self-taught and I was listening to records, I would find chords that sounded cool, that use open strings and I’d just mess around with them. I would be like, “these two things sound cool together. I don’t know what it is but I like it.” So, I’ve always kind of wrote music. And even messing around the piano, I would just go find chords that sounded good together. I’d figure out sounds on the guitar that were the same as the piano. So,
composing has been a real big part of my life for a long time. Collectivity is a band that I have been leading for a while and I write most of the music for us. I take a very compositional approach, with all the different members of the band and instruments, including the horn section.
(RJ) That’s so good. I want to come hear your band Collectivity play live. I know you have a show coming next weekend at San Francisco Music City. I want to try and make it. I’ve listened to Collectivity online but not live. So, I want to do that. It is such a high-energy band, like super-dynamic.
(BM) Yes, we have a new single coming called “More Cushion” It will be out around April 17th. Collectivity music comes from a big funk and jazz influence, with horns, and a super funky big sound, high energy, like dance party music but it still makes you think.
(RJ) Yea, I don’t know but to me it has that deep house sound and depth. It’s a very dynamic band and sound.
(BM) Yeah, kind of. Right.
(RJ) You are also working in the studio on a new album?
(BM) Yea, we just did a session the other day at Skyline Studios in Oakland for my new record that is coming out soon. It’s going to be under Ben Misterka. It’s a little simpler music and band arrangement. It is coming more form the blues world and some of my original music that has influences from Zepplin and Hendrix, Pink Floyd, as we were talking about before. As well as some Wes
INTERVIEW: BEN MISTERKA
Montgomery in there and some Boogaloo, and Joe Jones, and all that stuff. And it’s written and composed more so on the guitar.
(RJ) I love it. I appreciate a more minimalistic approach too. I love the whole spectrum of what is possible in music, small music, big sounds, etc. I am looking forward to your
and innovative. When I saw it, I thought, what is he doing? It looked super exciting. It looked like you were deejaying and playing the guitar simultaneously. There was a very high energy crowd in front of you?
solo album because that is going to really just give everyone a good hit of your tone, and your capacity as an artist. I think you are an incredibly versatile player, as well as multifaceted and multi-dimensional. I can imagine how beautiful it’s going to be.
(BM) Nice. Thank you.
(RJ) Can you talk a little more about your music career right now as far as direction, and what you are doing with music right now. Where are you playing? And I saw something on social media that looked new
(BM) (Laughing) That has been a really fun project. Yea, mixing deejaying, and guitar as well as playing some keys, and some live looping. A mixture of a lot of different things that I love to do. It’s really fun because I have this setup where I can go between deejaying and live instruments pretty easily. Sometimes I’m just focusing on deejaying playing songs that I love and then I’ll go into a loop or mix into just playing the guitar. It’s improvisational and that’s been really fun. I have a tour with that up in Northern California in the middle of this month from April 17th-19th, going through Tahoe and playing at the KT Deck at Palisades, which is the main deck there. It should be really fun.
(Interview continues in the Full Audio Version on the previous page)
Ralph Gibson
Henri Cartier-Bresson - Brie, France
BLUESOUND NODE ICON STREAMER
By Oliver Masciarotte
BLUESOUND NODE ICON
modern streamer, comprehensive control is achieved via an app for common computing platforms. I used both the identical macOS and iOS versions.
audio rack’s location.
Around back, the ICON has balanced and unbalanced analog outputs. I relied on the balanced connections directly into my
Henri Cartier Bresson - Cat
BLUESOUND NODE ICON
Parasound JC 5 via Audio Art Cable
Statement e SC Cryo. A mono subwoofer out is also available, as is a AES3 unbalanced on RCA in case you want to send to an external DAC…more on that in a bit. If you’d like to use an ICON to spiff up your TV audio, an HDMI ARC smart output is included. For older TVs, an AES3 optical out is also present. As that particular interconnect method is the lowest of fidelity choices, I ignored it. Unbalanced analog outs are present in case you’d like to drive an existing legacy component. For the lo–fi members of your household, Apple AirPlay 2 and aptX Adaptive Bluetooth are right there, in da’ box. After plugging the ICON into mains power, I patched in the outputs to the amp, powered everything up and…was more than disappointed. The sound was closed, relatively harsh, and not at all what I expected. With a frown and a grunt, I powered down the amp, queued up an extra long Qobuz playlist and left it to cook. I came back to it in a week and things had improved dramatically. Restarting the playback, another weeks worth of burn–in brought it up to where I had initially hoped to have been. Now I could begin listening in earnest and comparing it to my reference, an equivalent rig consisting of a Mac mini running Amarra…
Pardon? Unless you are a DIY audiophile
with computer geek credentials, you may not know that, as a product class, streamers are actually small computers with a network adapter mated to a DAC. In the case of the ICON, all that is in the box along with a power supply and color display. Think about that… a pile of noisy tech; the always noisy computer and a PSU along with a display and network adapter, all cohabitating in the same enclosure with another sensitive digital device; the DAC. Streamers are not easy to design and execute well!
Although the ICON can handle “internet radio” I largely stuck with local files and Qobuz. One exception is Radio Paradise’s RP Global Mix, a tasteful stream of solid songs encoded in MQA†. As to local files, I could find no mention in the user manual of what file formats are supported, and that wasn’t the only aspect of the product that was sorely absent! Turns out uncompressed WAV and AIFF are good to go. For losslessly compressed files, FLAC and ALAC are recognized. Not surprisingly, MQA is also handled since Bluesound’s parent owns the format. In the case of MQA, those special color–coded dots some of you have come to expect appear, showing if the file (green dot) was encoded at the source and label/artist–approved, or (blue) the 24 bit file was simply confirmed and unfolded as valid MQA data. I even dug out one of my rare MQA files
that encodes super high Rez audio in a 44.1/24 wrapper. Dronning Fjellrose from
the ICON revealed the delicate temporal correction that MQA is capable of. The
Me from Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong’s 1956 performance to the MQA–encoded version. Sure enough, even though the MQA file also unfolds to 24/96,
unfortunate, as the ¼" unbalanced jacks are driven from a TXH AAA amplifier. AAA is proprietary tech using a main amplifier that furnishes the bulk of the power, with a
BLUESOUND NODE ICON
secondary, lower power correction amplifier that identifies and cancels distortion from the main amp. This allows it to provide good sound quality while achieving much higher efficiency and lower power consumption. The correction amplifier also reduces crossover distortion compared to traditional Class AB
what really did surprise me was Bluesound’s implementation once it was burned in. Here was an AAA amp I could respect; an
engaging, bottom–up sound with a touch of warmth. An almost British vibe; very nice! I wanted to try moving from local files on to streaming since, after all, the ICON is a streamer! After jumping around in my playlists, I landed on horn man Miguel Zenón’s Navegando (Las Estrellas Nos Guían) Música De Las Américas [Qobuz 96/24 Miel Music]. This tastefully produced Latin jazz piece has a lot going on, with Zenón’s quartet of pianist Luis Perdomo, bassist Hans Glawischnig, and drummer Henry Cole keeping it real while the notable ensemble Los Pleneros de La Cresta add their special plena Puerto Rican flare.
The ICON delivered a top–down, high fidelity rendition that could hold its own in its price class. As to my Mac mini running Amarra Luxe feeding my exaSound e22 Mk. II DAC…well, as you might expect, the far more expensive component rig dispatched
the lower cost appliance in terms of lustrous tone, and relaxed expression.
In order to remove as many variables as possible, I decided to send the AES3 unbalanced output from the ICON into my reference DAC. I chose two adjacent tracks in my public Qobuz playist, “omas_test.”
Starting with Estelle Revaz’s 11 Capricci for Cello: No. 6 in E Minor from J.M.C.
Dall’Abaco: 11 Capricci for Cello [Qobuz 96/24 Solo Musica 2024] with The first thing I noticed was a slight reduction in soundstage depth, along with a larger reduction in width. I also noticed a loss of detail. The high frequency synth decoration that appears around 24 seconds in on Brendan Perry’s The Devil and The Deep Blue Sea [Qobuz 44.1 Cooking Vinyl 2010] from Ark was less cutting, less sharp edged when sent from the ICON compared to Amarra. The bottom was also slightly floppier, less well defined. Frankly, this was to be expected. Amarra employs the same playback engine as the legendary soundBlade mastering DAW.
In addition to the overall sound, another aspect of the ICON I genuinely love is the proximity–aware control surface on the top. The touch controls “time out” and disappear after a user adjustable period of inactivity, leaving only a small, deep blue ring visible as a confirmation. If enabled; when you move your hand near the surface, the controls wake and become visible. The whole control panel
has three user–adjustable brightness levels as well. A small but thoughtful approach to less idiot lights competing for your attention. Other than the sad state of the user manual, the only major complaint I have with the ICON is the software, a Linux “fork” or derivative called BluOS. Compared to iOS and other audio Linux versions like Volumio, BluOS running on the ICON is buggy and sluggish. Annoyingly, the software does not conform to modern UI guidelines, with its dead ends and other peculiarities. I should know as, in my day job, I’m the UX or User eXperience guy at my high end audio software company! This may sound like first world whinging, which it is, but other streamers I have, like LinkPlay’s sensational WiiM product line, have managed to field a fast, easy to use OS running on a runt of a computer.
“Streamers” or audio components meant to deliver data delivered from streaming service providers have become a strong segment of the high fidelity market. Indeed, there are so many that the market has started to fragment; integrated amplifiers and converters with internet data as an input choice now compete with the rarer stripped–down “pure” streamer offering no other inputs. Along with the fragmentation, prices have now settled into what I think of as four basic levels. The lowest cost units, under $80, are pure versions meant to add streaming to
existing lower fidelity systems. Slightly more advanced versions have more features and/or more human–centric user interfaces. These more refined products will run you about $90 to $500. From there, prices for the upper middle tier range from over $500 to less than $2000. At this level, you can expect many more features, including the color front panel displays seen on some of the fancier examples from the next lower cost category, along with balanced outputs, support for very high sample rates, better quality circuitry and accompanying higher fidelity. Often, entry level amplifiers with streaming built in are also part of this price bracket.
Beyond $2000, the sky’s the limit when it comes to design measures that wring ultimate fidelity out of the system, along with blingy casework and highly optimized bespoke software inside. Within the NODE product range, the ICON sits one down from the top. Bluesound’s fanciest offering adds Compact Disc ripping, internal storage, along with a beefier internal computer capable of smooth multitasking. At $1149, Bluesound’s NODE ICON is situated comfortably in that affordable second tier, providing convenient, high fidelity in a visually seamless, stylish package.
THE
COMPANY Bluesound Pickering ON www.bluesound.com
NODE ICON — $1149 as tested, Dirac Live is additional
† — Radio Paradise streams MQA–encoded AIRIA audio on all four of its channels, Main Mix, Mellow, Rock and Global. High resolution, 24 bit masters are sourced when available and the stream carries more complete metadata, including cover art. In BluOS, the streams unfold to a perceptually lossless 44.1/16. According to Radio Paradise, “…this marks the first time an internet radio station will carry MQA-encoded content,” and is exclusive to BluOS.
AKRM
Brassai - Paris Exposition Universelle
Connect to t Performance
“ The Kubala-Sosna Emotion interconnects connected me to the music like no other interconnects I've heard, at anywhere near the price.
Robert H. Levi
Positive Feedback Online
”
“ ”
The Expressions present music without noticeable boundaries to a stage; sound stages don't erupt from a black background, but from an invisible and expanding one…
Larry Cox
Positive Feedback Online
Andre Kertész
TRANSROTOR BELLINI TURNTABLE
By Andre Marc
The world of high-end analog playback is filled with turntables that promise sonic nirvana, but few manage to deliver the combination of aesthetic appeal, engineering brilliance, and pure musicality that audiophiles and vinylists crave. Transrotor tables are known for producing a sound that is both precise and emotionally engaging. For those seeking a turntable that not only offers breathtaking sound reproduction but also serves as a focal point in any audiophile
with modern technology, It is not inexpensive by any stretch, but would be considered a bargain considering the current landscape of turntables that are touted to be state of the art. This review will explore the Bellini’s design, construction, technology, and performance, diving deep into what makes this turntable a top tier offering for vinyl loving audiophiles.
One of the first things that set the Transrotor Bellini apart is its aesthetic presence. Unlike many turntables that follow a standard wooden plinth design, the Bellini embraces a minimalist yet luxurious approach. The chassis is crafted from high quality acrylic glass, which not only gives it a sleek and modern look but also contributes to its resonance dampening capabilities. Supported by three massive columns made of polished aluminum, the turntable exudes an air of sophistication and stability.
setup, the Transrotor Bellini is an outstanding contender.
Designed and crafted by the German high-end audio brand Transrotor, the Bellini is a turntable that merges tradition
At the heart of the Bellini’s design is its 9 kg aluminum platter. This substantial component is engineered with an anti vibration plastic insert, which serves to minimize vibrations and unwanted gremlins. The result is a platter that provides
TRANSROTOR BELLINI
a stable and silent foundation for vinyl playback. The sheer weight of the platter also contributes to maintaining rotational stability, ensuring a consistent playback speed with minimal fluctuation.
The Bellini’s motor is another testament to Transrotor’s dedication to engineering excellence. A synchronous AC motor, it is
powered by Transrotor’s Konstant M1
Reference power supply. This external power supply unit plays a crucial role in maintaining a constant and precise speed, a vital aspect of any high-end turntable. The Konstant M1 Reference ensures that the motor remains unaffected by fluctuations in the main power supply, thereby reducing potential distortions and preserving the integrity of the audio signal.
One of the most notable technical features of the Bellini is its magnetically decoupled platter bearing, also known as
Transrotor Magnetic Drive (TMD). This technology isolates the platter from direct mechanical contact with the bearing, significantly reducing internal vibrations and mechanical noise. Traditional bearings often introduce minute amounts of friction and resonance, but the company claims TMD eliminates these issues, resulting in an exceptionally smooth and silent rotation. They say this innovation is a major contributor to the Bellini’s performance.
While the Bellini’s design and appearance is undoubtedly impressive, its functionality and user experience are equally noteworthy. The turntable is belt-driven, a choice preferred by many audiophiles for its ability to reduce motor induced sonic issues. It of course supports playback speeds of 33 1/3 and 45 RPM,
The Bellini, like all bespoke turntables, is not a plug-and-play and It requires careful setup and calibration to achieve its full potential. The table is sold without a tonearm or cartridge, as is the norm in ultra high performance analog. This is not an all in one solution, but it also allows audiophiles to customize their setup to match their preferences and budget.
The review sample of the Bellini, which sells for $6495, came pre outfitted with a Transrotor TRA Studio Tonearm, which sells
The Bellini required some assembly and set up, which took roughly two hours. The packaging is superb and the set up guide is clear and easy to follow. Everything one needs to get started is included As the tonearm was pre installed and calibrated, most of the set up time was to get the motor, belt, bearing, and cartridge ready to go. WIth some excellent guidance from Steve Huntley at AXISS Audio, were able to install the Accuphase cartridge correctly and move on to spinning the platters.
The rest of the system included Magnepan 3.7i speakers, an Audio Research VS-120 amplifier, a Rogue Audio RP-5 preamp, the recently reviewed Grimm Audio
Bryston power conditioners. We situated the Bellini as far away as we could from the power supply. It rested on our trusty Symposium Acoustics isolation shelf.
The true test of any high-end turntable lies in its musical performance, and it would be an understatement to say the Transrotor Bellini does not disappoint. From the moment the needle drops, it becomes evident that this is a turntable designed to reveal every subtle detail hidden within a record’s grooves. The soundstage is vast and immersive, offering a three dimensional listening experience that places instruments and vocals with pinpoint accuracy.
TRANSROTOR BELLINI
Stereo separation is otherworldly, with each instrument occupying a distinct space within the mix. The depth and width of the soundstage allow for an incredibly lifelike reproduction of good recordings, making the listener feel as though they are in sync with the musicians. Whether it’s an intimate jazz ensemble or a full orchestral performance, the Bellini delivers a presentation that is both natural and engaging.
One of the standout qualities of the Bellini is its bass response. The lower frequencies are deep and authoritative yet remain exceptionally controlled. Unlike some turntables that emphasize bass at the expense of clarity, the Bellini strikes a perfect balance, ensuring that bass lines are both impactful and articulate. This is particularly noticeable in complex recordings where multiple low frequency elements coexist, each note is welldefined with no overhang or sluggishness. The excellent Grimm P1 was also a contributing factor here.
The midrange is where the magic happens as the old saying goes,, and the Bellini excels in this department. Vocals are rendered with an astonishing level of detail
and texture, capturing every nuance of a singer’s performance. Acoustic instruments, such as guitars and pianos, sound organic and full bodied, with a natural decay that enhances realism.
No record was more an example of the above descriptors than Joan Baez’s overlooked 1970 album, One Day At A Time.
The title track, a stunner penned by Willie Nelson, is a beautiful mid tempo folk rock song delivered with stunning grace. Baez’s voice rings out like a clarion call and the superb accompaniment which includes pedal steel, acoustic guitars, bass and drums is
Robert Doisneau
elegant and distinct. The rest of the album features a mix of covers and originals, and these songs demanded repeated play with the Bellini, as new dimensions were constantly revealed.
High frequencies are equally impressive, offering clarity and extension without ever sounding harsh or fatiguing. Cymbals shimmer with a lifelike presence, and string instruments maintain a delicate balance between warmth and precision. The Bellini’s ability to retrieve micro details ensures that even the subtlest elements of a recording, such as the faintest breath of a vocalist or the resonance of a piano string, are fully realized.
Bellini makes these colors vibrant and even modern sounding.
The recently released 180g vinyl reissue of another under the radar album Multiple, by the great Joe Henderson, is a pure example of the Bellini’s ability to paint a coherent picture with complex music. The album, originally released in 1973, was cut from the original analog tape by Kevin Gray. Saxophonist Henderson joined by a top tier ensemble including Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette, Larry Willis, and James “Blood” Ulmer,t The album leans towards fusion and free jazz, and offers a kaleidoscope of musical colors.The
One of the records we enjoyed the most, and is one of the older ones in our collection, is a rare one to find, Especially For You, by Duane Eddy. The album is notable for a number of reasons. It was released in 1959, and produced by Lee Hazelwood. It was more than the usual collection of singles, and put Eddy’s twangy guitar front and center. The Bellini showcased the classic reverbs and early stereo production in ways we could not imagine. Classics like “Peter Gunn”, and “Trouble In Mind” were time capsules and lots of fun.
We can’t stress enough the synergy between the Bellini and the Accuphase AC-6 cartridge. Of course there are many other
carts that it could be paired with but this seems a match made in heaven. It features a boron cantilever and a titanium base, which Accuphase contributes to sonic accuracy. It probably should go without saying but to get the best from the Bellini, it should be situated for absolute minimum interference from other components, like the power supply. It should also be shielded from resonances and foot falls. It will also require a top shelf phono preamplifier.
CONCLUSION:
The Transrotor Bellini is more than just a turntable, it is a statement piece, both in terms of design and performance. It offers an unparalleled level of precision, revealing every detail of a record with exceptional clarity and realism. The combination of innovative technology, high-quality materials, and meticulous craftsmanship makes it one of the finest turntables available today.
That said, the Bellini is a significant investment that demands careful pairing with other high-end components. However, for those who are willing to make the commitment, the rewards are immense. This turntable delivers a truly immersive and emotional listening experience, reaffirming why vinyl remains the ultimate format for serious music lovers.
My experience with Audience goes a couple of decades back, when I was introduced to its Au24 cable loom, then as a consumer, and I thought these thin black wires were exceptional both technically and musically. They would soon become a mainstay for my system at the time, at least for a while, as the young or younger audiophile tends to have a penchant for change.
Fast forward to my review of the Audience FrontRow cable loom and it was yet another eye-opening experience as the FrontRow cable loom proved to be a truly
superb set of cables from USB digital to interconnect to power cords. As I had mentioned in their review:
“The Audience Front Row Cables pulled a very convincing electrostatic imitation on me in the sense that every scintilla of information —data, music—was beautifully revealed and noise was banished to some other distant, non-parallel dimension. Or, at least, it certainly seemed that way.”
The FrontRow cables had, indeed, reminded me of my experience with the electrostatic world of headphones, which
AUDIENCE FRONTROW RESERVE
must be experienced in one’s lifetime to understand soundstaging, ambiance, air, detail, and dynamics far above the other modes/types of high fidelity.
I would go on to say in that same review of the Audience FrontRow cables:
“There is not another cable, in my experience and to date, that has come close to delivering the kind of transparency, comprehensive resolution and excavation of detail of the AFRCs…”
Well, in my very first listen of the Audience FrontRow Reserve cables, after a rather long break-in, let me just say that what I’m hearing now is precedence setting in relation to the prior Audience cables and a good many very expensive cables that I have reviewed, listened to, and own. Is it the best cable that I have yet reviewed?
Brassai
By K. E. Heartsong
PSVANE
HORIZON SERIES
VACUUM TUBES
PSVANE VACUUM TUBES
Ihave had a long and happy history with numerous vacuum tube amplifiers, which have sported all manner of tubes from EL84s to EL34s to KT88s to 6SN7s to 6650s to 845s and beyond. Each of the tubes had in many ways its own distinct character or personality or voice and depending on what you wanted—warm, sweet, smooth or dynamic, highly resolving, transparent or powerful textured, etc.—it was just a matter of choosing the proper tube.
Interestingly, the manufacturers of one of the tube amps that I own suggested that I might want to swap out the 6SN7 tubes in its stereo amplifier. I was provided with the name of PSVANE, a relatively new manufacturer of tubes located in China. And as I searched their website, I found a number of other tubes that would work well in my integrated amplifier, that could accommodate a number of power tubes (EL34s, KT88, KT120s, KT150s, KT170s).
I decided at that point that it would be very interesting to see how the PSVANE vacuum tubes faired, as over the year I had experimented with a number of New Old Stock (NOS) tubes from various manufacturers, some of the tubes dating back 70 years(!) though often with mixed results.
I reached out to PSVANE and was immediately in contact with Thomas and
Melody, who would handle all of my questions and ship out the various tubes for review. Things moved rather smoothly and in a relatively short time I had several different tube pairs—6SL7s, 6SN7s, EL34s, KT88s— for review in my tubed amplifiers. How would the NOS and other modern vacuum
how the equipment actually sounds and not the process of physically “undressing” it and/ or laying out its various accoutrement, specifications, etc. Think of this review then, as a non-linear movie—Memento, Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Queen’s Gambit, In the Shadow of the Moon, etc.—that likewise starts at the end and winds its way to the beginning.
John Sexton
PSVANE VACUUM TUBES
THE SETUP
I used the various PSVANE Horizon tubes in two amplifiers—Atma-Sphere S-30 and the Lyric Audio Ti 100 Mk II. Though the Ti 100 Mk II was malfunctioning it still provided a good sense of the relative difference between the tubes. Suffice to say, the Lyric Audio Ti 100 Mk II will be retired after its use for this Thomas of PSVANE informed me that after 50 hours the tubes would be ready or sufficiently burned-in to begin their review. He was right as initially there was a veil covering their performance, though gravitas —weight and drive—and a good dollop of ambiance and air were already in play. However, after the 50 hours, it was all there both technically and musically for the various PSVANE Horizon tubes.
The various Horizon tubes were used with the amplification as listed below:
Atma-Sphere S-30
• Horizon Series 6SN7-AT
Lyric Audio Ti 100 Mk II
• Horizon Series 6SL7-AT
• Horizon Series KT88
• Horizon Series EL34-AT
THE SYSTEM - REFERENCE TWO CHANNEL
• Grimm Audio MU2 Streamer/DAC/ Preamplifier
• Silent Angel Bonn Pro8 Network Switch
• Air Tight ATC 5s Preamplifier
• Air Tight ATM 1E Amplifier
• Atma-Sphere MP-3 Preamplifier
• Atma-Sphere S-30 Stereo Amplifier
• LYRIC Ti 100 Single-Ended Integrated
• Devore Audio Orangutan 0/96
• Fern & Roby Raven III Speakers
• Kubala-Sosna Realization Interconnects, Speaker Cables, Power cords
• Grimm Audio SQM Interconnects (XLR, RCA)
• RSX BEYOND, MAX Power-cords
• SEISMION Amplifier Stand (powered)
• TORUS AUDIO Power conditioner
THE SOUND
ATMA-SPHERE S-30
After the Atma-Sphere MP-3 Preamplifier and S-30 Stereo Amplifier combos outstanding performance in the March 2025 review, I was curious to switch out its 6SN7 to see what if any impact the Horizon 6SN7-AT would have on the combo’s performance.
The six-6SN7 driver tubes in the AtmaSphere S-30 Stereo Amplifier seemingly New Old Stock (NOS) had worked with the 10 x 6AS7G power tubes to create what I called in its review “performances” as opposed to mere “stereo” playback and this was noticeable from the first track and every track, every album thereafter. In truth, it was, perhaps, the most stunning performance that I had ever experienced from an amplification combo.
When I placed the Horizon 6SN7 in the S-30 I was both curious and a little bit doubtful as to whether these tubes would improve on the sound of the superb and award-winning Atma-Sphere amplifier.
room presence, and texture. There was a richness and a warmth the previous AtmaSphere S-30 NOS 6SN7s tubes simply did not have. And this ‘beauty’, for lack of a better word, across the midrange was coupled with greater transparency, resolution, and detail which extended to both the treble+ and sub-bass regions.
Well, it didn’t take long after the Horizon 6SN7 tubes had been properly burned-in to understand just how good they were. They had, in fact, lifted every area of performance for the S-30 and thus the combo. Gravitas— weight, attack/drive—was immediately improved, as were midrange palpability, in-
thought to myself, “What was an outstanding and a DIAMOND AWARDwinning amplifier had been significantly bettered by a change of just four of the S-30’s six 6SN7 tubes!
To date, the PSVANE Horizon 6SN7ATs have found a permanent home in the Atma-Sphere S-30 Stereo Amplifier.
Note: The PSVANE Horizon 6SN7 are
PSVANE VACUUM TUBES
much larger than ordinary 6SN7 tubes, which only allowed for four of the Horizon tubes in the Atma-Sphere S-30.
LYRIC AUDIO TI 100 MK II
HORIZON 6SL7-AT & HORIZON KT88
In its fully-function heyday the Lyric Audio Ti 100 Mk II was truly an exceptional single-ended integrated amplifier. It had handily dismissed other integrated s upwards of twice its price and preamplifier and amplifier combo at prices higher still. It had been my reference integrated up until it started to malfunction.
When I had contacted PSVANE for a review of its tubes, the Ti 100 Mk II was on its way back from being ‘repaired’ at Lyric Audio Germany (see “Debacle with Lyric Audio). I had assumed all would be well again and the Ti 100 Mk II would prove exceptional in reviewing the Horizon 6SL7-AT, KT88, and its EL34-AT tubes. However, despite the fact that it had not been fixed, contrary to Lyric Audio’s opinion, I carried on with the reviews. Apparently, the sick Ti 100 Mk II was still able to do a good job in its analysis/review of the various tubes, while oddly “popping” loudly and chronically across the reviews. For the first substitution I went for broke. I replaced both the Ti 100 Mk II power tubes—KT170—and its
preamplification tubes— 6SL7-AT. I had in the past tried various NOS 6SL7 tubes and while some had improved a given aspect of bass or midrange or the treble (though treble
would be missing entirely or so truncated as to have erased much that had been in the treble region. And other NOS tubes simply did not have the transparency or the resolution and thus they provided a fraction of the detail that the standard tubes had provided.
I placed the Horizon 6SL7-AT and its KT88 in the Ti 100 Mk II and given my experience with the 6SN7s, I let them burnin for those 50 hours. When I came back, in short, the prior tubes had been surpassed on every level and in every way. This despite the
Henri Cartier Bresson
Imogen Cunningham - Fleur noir et blanc
PSVANE VACUUM TUBES
fact that the KT88 tubes were putting out nearly half the power—ten watts—that the prior tubes, the KT170, had been putting out. “Yikes,” I exclaimed. This was the proverbial beating which the stock KT170 and 6SN7 tubes had gotten from the PSVANE Horizon tubes, as if they had stolen something from them.
It was an experience not unlike the Atma-Sphere combo, earlier reviewed, in which the PSVANE tubes had breathed new life into the music. The technical aspects—soundstaging, resolution, transparency, detail, air, ambiance—were now levels above where they had been. And the musicality was truly superb. Tone/ Timbre and texture gave greater presence to performers and their instruments in ways that the prior tubes could not. Voices— Andy Bey, Joan Shelley, Shirley Horn, Sarah Jarosz—were more in-room palpable, textured, and engaging than they had ever been and beautifully so. These were old school meets new school tubes that had been synthesized—analyzed, detailed, built —to an exceptional standard. And they sang to me through the Ti 100 Mk II like I had never heard it before.
Interestingly, I did not move the volume knob, at all, on the Ti 100 Mk II, which remained at 9 O’clock, approximately a quarter of its overall bandwidth. The Grimm Audio MU2’s volume, relative to
the Ti 100 Mk II was pushed up maybe two dBs. This I did not expect. Are the tubes more powerful than they are rated? It would seem so.
HORIZON 6SL7-AT & HORIZON EL34
When I switched out the Horizon KT88 tubes and replaced them with the Horizon EL34 tubes, leaving the Horizon 6SL7 tubes where they belong—home—there was yet another revelation.
The Ti 100 Mk II’s instruction manual states that with EL34 tubes in place the power halves again down to five watts. Given my prior experience, I left the volume control at the same level on the Ti 100 Mk II and on the Grimm Audio MU2 as well. It was an experiment of sorts and I was curious to see the outcome. It was more of the same. I did not adjust the Ti 100 Mk II’s volume control at all, though I did adjust the MU2’s volume control, perhaps, upward 2 to 3 dBs.
Again, I let the EL34 tubes burn-in for a little over 50 hours. And when it came time to listen, the stock KT170 and 6SN7 tubes once again took the proverbial beating as if they had stolen something. The PSVANE Horizon EL34 tubes had reproduced, in toto, all the technical attributes of the Horizon KT88 tubes—incredible soundstaging— greater width, depth, layering, separation— and air, transparency, resolution, detail, etc. They went one further in musicality, richness,
PSVANE VACUUM TUBES
CONCLUSION
Anyone who knows anything about tubes knows that they come with their own personalities, abilities, voices, strengths, and weaknesses or, at least most, do. This was yet another review where I was not prepared for the outcome, which, in the end, was demonstratively better in every respect, when the PSVANE tubes had replaced the prior tubes. Suffice to say, there was no aspect technically or musically that was not improved by the various PSVANE Horizon tubes, as they proved, truly, superb. That being said, the outstanding performance of the PSVANE Horizon Series tubes reviewed—6SN7-ATs, 6SL7-
AKRM and palpability across the midrange, though they could not match the bass weight of the more powerful tubes! Now with the Horizon EL34’s it was as if I could not only hear the pursed lips of Shirley Horn, the rock-gravel, textured voice of Louis Armstrong, the angelic clarity of Sarah Jarosz, I also had a better sense of their in-room presence. This aspect of the Horizon EL34’s was, indeed, more than it had been with the KT88s. Where the Horizon KT88’s excelled was in their weight and power, perhaps, a wee bit more resolution, greater dynamics, and an expanded soundstage. Two sets of tubes had rendered two different hearings on the Ti 100 Mk II integrated. Bravo!
ATs, KT88s, and EL34-ATs—easily qualify for our award—GOLD KEYNOTE AWARD—for excellence. Bravo!
Pros: Outstanding in their ability to easily address all aspects of technical performance, while superbly reproducing music that is dynamic and engaging far above all its competitors during the review.
Cons: None.
COMPANY
PSVANE
• Horizon Series 6SL7-AT: $119.99/pair
• Horizon Series 6SN7-AT: $108.99/pair
• Horizon Series EL34-AT: $88.99/pair
• Horizon Series KT88: $145.99/pair
Room 602, Building H2, Phase II, Jiahai Industrial Park, Zhongqing Road, Shaping Street, Kaifu District, Changsha, Hunan, China 410201 service@psvane.com
Imogen Cunningham - Three Dancers, Mills College (1929)
MY DEBACLE WITH LYRIC AUDIO, GERMANY
By K.E. Heartsong
DEBACLE LYRIC AUDIO, GERMANY
Ireached out to Alfred Kainz of High-End Electronics on June 14, 2023 with an interest in reviewing the Lyric Audio Ti 100 Mk II, which he was distributing for Lyric Audio of Germany. A couple of days later Alfred agreed to the review and the Ti 100 MkII was sent off to me.
I received the Ti 100 MkII approximately a week and a half later and I eagerly began its review. The Lyric Audio Ti 100 Mk II is a single-ended integrated utilizing two KT170 tubes, which generate 20-watts/channel. It can, however, also utilize other tubes though the power generated varies. The tubes are the KT150 (20-w/ch), KT120 (18-w/ch), KT88/6550 (8-w/ch), and EL34/KT77 (8w/ch).
The review began exceptionally well and the Ti 100 Mk II was proving to be a superb integrated, easily beating other integrated amplifiers and preamp/amplifier combinations at double its price and greater. Suffice to say, it was headed for our top award —The Diamond Award.
Toward the end of the review, however, anomalies began to occur with regard to the Lyric Audio Ti 100 MkII. As I related to Alfred of High-End Electronics in a June 14, 2023 email (excerpt):
“There have, however, been a couple of issues as the review winds down. The first issue is what appears to be 'tube rush' when the amp is just powered on, as heard via the right Vivid Audio Kaya 45 speaker. It is infrequent, but it is there nonetheless. Secondly, in the past day the music is 'shorting out' for short periods of time. When I substituted another amplifier for the Lyric Ti100 all was well. Do you think that this represent[s] the current KT170 tubes? Is it possible to have another tube compliment in order to finish the review?”
I have often dismissed initial issues with high-end audio components, as I have often said, “This kind of thing happens.” And it does, regardless of the price of a given component or its relative quality, as the products are, in general, made by artisans, lovers of audio and things go wrong. Generally, a replacement component is dispatched or tubes, as I believed to be the problem with the Ti 100 MkII. Within a week, given the timing for the next magazine —July 1, 2023—I’d received the tubes and immediately began their burn-in.
The Lyric Audio Ti 100 Mk II review was placed in the July 2023 issue of the AudioKeyREVIEWS! Magazine having garnered rave reviews from me and having
Robert Doisneau
DEBACLE LYRIC AUDIO, GERMANY
won our Diamond Award for excellence. As I stated at the time:
“…The voice of the Ti 100 MkII proved incisive, transparent, detailed and wonderfully (otherworldly) musical. There were also times when I questioned not only its SET roots but its listed power ratings, as the dynamics, its control of speakers (even inefficient speakers —86dB)…went far beyond what it should have been able to do on paper.”
So good was the Lyric Audio Ti 100 Mk II that I made an offer to Alfred for it to become part of my reference system on June 26, 2023. Alfred agreed on June 27, 2023. He also agreed to send another pair of tubes. All was well or so I thought. In retrospect and experience, it was never the tubes.
Over the course of the next year after burning-in and reviewing other amplifiers and then bringing back the Lyric Audio Ti 100 Mk II to compare to these other amplifiers, I began to notice a malfunction in the system—there was a loud, chronic “popping” sound. I eventually narrowed it down to the Ti 100 MkII. Thinking that it was tubed based, I switched out its tubes with the second pair that Alfred had provided. The “popping” sound not only continued but, at times, it got louder! It was not the tubes.
One year and nearly one month later, I reached out directly to Lyric Audio’s Jurgen Kunze in an August 5, 2024 email.
“There is a 'popping' sound, however, when the Ti 100 Mk II is in the system. I'd, of course, like to know what the problem is and see about getting it repaired. Though it would be very difficult to be without it as I used it for reviews.”
Jurgen got back to me in an email the next day, August 6, 2024. In his response he asked the following:
“Regarding the "popping sound": Is it like a crackling noise? And is it just on one channel present?
If so, you could change the preamp-tube 6SL7 (the left one to right, and the right one to left).”
I followed Jurgen’s instructions and switched the 6SL7 pre-amp tubes but this did not affect the “popping” sound, it continued. And I had already switched out two sets of the KT170 power tubes but to no avail. It was not any of the tubes as was now determined.
I reached out again to Alfred of HighEnd Electronics, where I had gotten the Lyric Audio Ti 100 MkII to get his help and any suggestions he might have in getting the integrated fixed. I called Alfred on August 7, 2024 at 5:45pm. There was no answer, but I did not leave a message as I wanted to speak to Alfred.
I called back again on August 7, 2024 at 6:25pm and got no answer, but this time I left a message. I did not receive a return call from Alfred.
While I waited for a return call from Alfred I wrote my reviews for the September magazine and then designed the September issue. Still there was no call from Alfred, as the Ti 100 MkII continued to malfunction. I would never again receive a call or hear from Alfred of High-End Electronics.
In the interim, I reached out again to Jurgen at Lyric Audio via an email dated October 20, 2024, 7:44pm. I informed him that it was not the tubes. There was an immediate automated email which informed me Jurgen was not available.
The next day, October 21, 2024, 9:44 am, I received an email from Stefan Noll informing me that Jurgen was sick. He also asked if I had switched the tubes, which I had.
I followed up immediately with an email, October 21, 2024, 10:26 am, informing Stefan that it wasn’t the tubes as they had all been switched or replaced. I also asked if the Ti 100 MkII I had was defective.
Stefan’s next email, October 22, 2024, 7:47 am, asked the same question for the third time, while not addressing the defective issue:
“please check the Tubes as I wrote to you and tell me what happens. Te other way is to send it back to us and we check it. But before shipping the amp, we should be sure that there no defective tube.”
In my return email, October 22, 2024, 8:47 am, I assured Stefan that the tubes had been dealt with:
“The tubes have been checked and switched countless times now to make sure that it was not the tubes.
Has this type of thing happened before with the Ti 100 wherein it was not the tubes?”
In a subsequent email an hour or so later, Stefan gave me what has become the defacto answer for a good number of manufacturers, though not all, regarding issues with their products:
“Sorry, we didn’t had a problem like this before, so I don’t know what it could be. Maybe it is a bad soldering point at one of the Tube sockets.”
Is it also possible that most manufacturers, who give this excuse, are not aware of how easy it is to find out that, indeed, there have been problems, in some cases many, with their products?
It went back and forth for a time until Stefan decided that the Ti 100 MkII should be returned for repairs. He further suggested that I contact Alfred for guidance with shipping the integrated back. He too had come to the conclusion, by this time, that it was not the tubes (email: October 23, 2024, 3:20 am):
DEBACLE LYRIC AUDIO,
“I think there is nothing to replace, just resoldering an bad contact.”
I had copied Alfred in an October 23, 2024 email in response to Stefan regarding return shipment. I reached out to Alfred again in an email as the Ti 100 MkII was being prepared for shipment on October 29, 2024, 5:54 am, as seemed right. It was, after all, Alfred from whom I had purchased the Lyric Audio Ti 100 MkII integrated:
“I'm writing as the Ti 100 MkII is having some issues and I need to send it back to Lyric. I copied you on the correspondence but have not heard back.”
There was not a peep from Alfred at High-End Electronics evermore (cue crickets). And subsequently, Alfred had resigned as distributor for Lyric Audio. It does make one wonder if there were other problems with the Lyric Audio Ti 100 MkII. Gee, I hope that Alfred hasn’t fallen off the face of the world.
Well, long story short the Ti 100 Mk II was finally picked up on December 2nd, 2024 and it made the approximately 4,439 mile (7,143 kilometer) journey back to Schlüchtern, Hesse, Germany.
What I would discover after the shipment of the Lyric Audio Ti 100 MkII was that Stefan of Lyric Audio Germany, as the email trails shows, had vanishingly little experience with international shipping. As a result, it
would take nearly three weeks for the integrated to arrive in Schlüchtern, Hesse, Germany as it would arrive December 20, 2024. There it would stay for a month and a week being ‘repaired’.
Stefan informed me of the following in a January 4th, 2025 email:
“I checked the amplifier carefully and it was running here every day. I also checked the circuit element and the PCBs, but the amp works well. So I would say that there is something in your environment that causes the problem. A single ended class A amp is a little bit more sensitive about external EMC influences, because it can’t be compensated like in an AB or Push Pull-Amp.”
Somehow the Ti 100 MkII had gone from malfunctioning to possibly “just resoldering an bad contact” to “works well”. And the catcher, of course, was that it was something ‘in my environment’ that had caused it to malfunction?! Huh?!
So, in fact, what Stefan was saying is that outside of the hallowed space of Schlüchtern, Hesse, Germany one’s environment could be responsible for a Lyric Audio Ti 100 MkII malfunctioning? Why then should anyone purchase a Ti 100 MkII anywhere in the world but Schlüchtern, Hesse, Germany?!
I have heard a lot of excuses for a poorly functioning product over the course of my lifetime, but this has got to be the great great
grandmother of all such excuses. However, things went from the sublime to the ridiculous with Stefan and Lyric Audio.
When the Lyric Audio Ti 100 MkII returned on February 14, 2025 it was still malfunctioning, the “popping” sound had not at all gone away. Of course, with the malfunction not resolved and having to pay freight to Germany, I was very displeased. I wrote Stefan about this in a February 16, 2025 email:
“Stefan, the Lyric Ti 100 MkII still continues to emit that popping sound that I described before sending it to you for repair, so it has not been fixed despite your claim.”
Stefan insisted in a followup email that Ti 100 MkII had been fixed and then he doubled down on ‘you never know how environment can affect an amplifier’. He also asked for a ‘video conference’ to discover the problems of the Ti 100 MkII! After recovering from immediate onset paralysis, I thought to myself, “Was he serious”. After having had the integrated in-house for nearly six weeks, Stefan now wanted a video conference in order to fix the integrated!
At this point, and given Stefan’s environmental causality excuse, I sought a reimbursement, as the integrated would never be fixed, given my ‘different environment’ and his ‘video conference’ solution to fix it.
Back and forth we went, until finally a settlement was reached or, at least, I had
believed one to have been reached via Stefan’s February 19, 2025 email:
“talked with Alfred tonight and we decided to get everything well.
Our suggestion: We will pick up the Ti 100 Mk II and you will get a new one. If you agree, it would also be very nice if you would take back the bad rating.”
Great. But I had not left a bad rating. It did make me curious, however, as to who had left the bad rating for the Lyric Audio Ti 100 MkII. I had added an addendum, that should the new Ti 100 MkII malfunction, it should be returned to Schlüchtern, Hesse, Germany at Lyric Audio’s expense. The deal was done, I believed, as my acceptance of Stefan’s proposal with my caveat was sent off.
Then I got this, well, rather schizophrenic email on February 26, 2025:
“My offer for an exchange still stands. The device will be picked up and you will get a new one. The condition of the Ti 100 MK2 should be the same as I lastsawit the last time.
We can't take the device back, though; you have to agree that with the dealer where you bought the device. It doesn't matter whether the dealer still sells our products. We have no responsibility in this business relationship between you and High End Electronics and you don't have a purchase contract with us!”
DEBACLE LYRIC AUDIO, GERMANY
Huh? Yes, I did have a purchase contract with Lyric Audio via my purchase of the Lyric Audio Ti 100 MkII, as I imagined Alfred would have mentioned, if, in fact, he was still on the planet or in the same dimension. As I wrote in a follow up email February 26, 2025 5:41 pm:
“I am confused. On the one hand you assert that, "My offer for an exchange still stands. The device will be picked up and you will get a new one." This is very definitive. The Lyric Audio Ti 100 Mk II will be picked up and AKRMedia will get a new one.
Ten you state that "We can't take back the device, though: You will have to agree that with the dealer where you bought the device.
Based on your initial statement, an exchange and pickup have already been determined. Tis, as you can imagine, is very confusing.”
Then finally reason appeared to take hold at Lyric Audio via the following email a few hours later, February 26, 2025 2:45 am:
“We offer an exchange. We pick it up and you get a new one.”
A week passed and there had not been a peep from Stefan with regard to the deal, I believed we had struck—an exchange of Lyric Audio Ti 100 Mk II was complete.
On March 6, 2025, a little over a week later, I received an email from Thomas Deyerling at Lyric Audio. It stated:
“I am Tomas, Stefan's partner. Stefan is very busy and has asked me to take over further correspondence with you.
Sorry for our late reply, but I had to discuss your demands with Stefan and our lawyer, so we needed some time.
Exchanging the device with a silver one is generally possible.”
Thomas would then go on to ask for the Ti 100 MkII’s warranty and purchase invoice. This after the Ti 100 MkII’s 8,878 mile (14,286 kilometer) round-trip journey from Minnesota to Schlüchtern, Hesse, Germany ‘fixed’ under warranty!!
“A warranty claim can only be made in accordance with our terms and conditions. These can be found in the Ti 100MK2 user manual on pages 10 and 11 (You can find the extract below). I have also attached the operating instructions to this e-mail.
First, we need your purchase invoice for the Ti100MK2, showing the date of purchase to verify the warranty claim.”
Apparently the tag-team duo did not exchange information before the hand-slap for Thomas to enter the ring. For some reason I am reminded of the Three Stooges. I can’t imagine why.
At this point, after the inability to actually fix the Lyric Audio Ti 100 MkII, a truly bad faith negotiation, failure to realize that the Lyric Audio Ti 100 MkII was under warranty and still had a full year left of that warranty, I had simply had enough.
This is my experience, my ‘debacle’ with Lyric Audio of Germany and my subsequent desire to expose their rather troubling tactics, supreme lack of integrity, and bad faith dealing. The Lyric Audio Ti 100 Mk II for all intents and purposes I now consider an expensive boat anchor or doorstop or, with a pillow sat atop, a rather firm, though practically immovable ottoman.
I don’t write bad reviews on products and I won’t, as this is all very subjective. However, to experience this kind of duplicity and double-dealing from a manufacturer, in my opinion, should absolutely be exposed. And to fear a “bad review” but not the pen of an Editor-in-Chief after such bad faith and duplicity does not, at all, appear, well, sane.
Note: Well, I think given my experience that I also have the right to write bad reviews, as is fitting for the treatment received by Lyric Audio Germany and Lyric Audio Germany’s failure to fix my Ti 100 MkII and yet call it ‘fixed’.
AKRM
Henri Matisse - Interior with Goldfish
Imogene Cunningham
Welcome to AudioKeyREVIEWS Magazine’s Recommended Components, which will become part and parcel of each of our various issues. The purpose of this section is to acquaint the reader with products—speakers, DACs, amplifiers, preamplifiers, turntables, headphones, IEMs, streamers, portable audio, etc.—that we feel are quite exceptional and rise above their like brethren. There will be three categories —Budget, Mid-Tier, and Top-Of-The-Line. In our Budget Recommendations there will be products that compete far above their respective price point and are, generally, also built to reflect this.Our Mid-Tier Recommendations will encompass those products within arms reach, in terms of relative affordability, that present value and a challenge to the vanguard of their respective product niches. Finally, our TOTL Recommendations will be composed of those products that are at the cutting edge of technological advancement now happening across the world. The three categories of recommendations will rotate across the various issues of our magazine and there will also be a fluidity to the products within the various lists. Things change and especially now given our current technological epoch. The various lists, however, will be fixed on the AudioKeyReviews.com website.
Imogene Cunningham
COMPONENTS RECOMMENDED
AURORASOUND HEADA $2999: If you’re looking for an endgame headphone amplifier and even if your headphone amplifier is more expensive, try this one, you may be quite surprised. That said, the Aurorasound HEADA headphone amplifier is a top echelon component and an easy DIAMOND AWARD winner.
SILENT ANGEL RHEIN Z1 $2299: The Rhein Z1 and Forester F2 combo played far above the league that their combined price would indicate. For many, this $3,900 combo may well represent an endgame streamer/ power supply capable of exceptional fidelity with DACs from entry level to those on the cutting edge.
ABYSS AB1266 PHI TC $5999: I think that I’ve said it all. The Abyss AB1266 Phi TC is a phenomenal headphone. It brings an undying passion for musicality and a ferocity for transparency and clarity and detail retrieval, formerly the domain of the best electrostatic headphones. But this planar headphone speaks that language—electrostatic—fluently and well.
COMPONENTS RECOMMENDED
TORUS RM20 $3999: Can you say pristine, natural, open, and unhindered frequency response? Wide dynamic range? And there were oceans of detail, air, microdynamics, and ambience rendered by the Torus RM 20. It was not subtle. On the contrary, it was stunning.
RSX POWER8 $399: The RSX Power8 clearly holds to the dictum, “Do no Harm,” to the system in which it is being utilized. What it, in fact, offers is pure, clean power, a testament to the meticulous parts selection, research, and conscious minimalism all employed in its design. suffice to say, that it has no competitors at 3 to 4 times is cost.
GESHELLI LABS ERISH2 [E2] $219.99, JNOG2 [J2] $249.99: Disinterested in ostentation, Geshelli Labs believes in real world pricing with high fidelity performance. Their JNOG2 plus ERISH2 are a petite and potent bargain. With just enough character to put flesh on bone, the classy little twosome sets your music free without excessive color or dispensable features.
Robert Doisneau
MAGICAL SYNERGIES
MID TO HIGH-END
The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.2
For us a Magical Synergy represents two components or more, that together make music far above what either make separately. Generally, we’ve discovered Magical Synergies via reviews, where we mix and match a good number of components to determine how one of the components—the component under review— sounds.
And while there may be strengths and weaknesses between the various combinations, the Magical Synergy represents that combination which has very few if any weaknesses and a wealth of combined strengths.
In this respect, we’ve done the homework for the reader by evaluating numerous combinations to uncover the Magical Synergy, as many of you may not have the time, options, or financial wherewithal to make these determinations. And Magical Synergies are not always uncovered in our reviews and or our research, as they tend to be, well, rare.
A note on the various Magical Synergies that we uncover. We are music lovers first and foremost and not professionals who produce music or movies for a living and require different synergies, nor do measurements come into determination for us of what is a good Magical Synergy and what is not. No,
for this we determine by ear, heart, and soul, that which moves us, provides for that “vibrational” comfort food, and a rich and engaging musical experience. The experience should, of course, come with sufficient detail and resolution and fidelity to recreate venue and/or the experience of listening to live music, when appropriate. After a long and trying day in this topsy-turvy world, wouldn’t it be wonderful if some small measure of nirvana could be achieved through one’s music and the components that play it back?
In other words, our Magical Synergies do not render music that is dry, unengaging, subtractively neutral (see dry, boring, etc.), flat, or lacking in dynamics, when called for.
Please find for your review a number of Magical Synergies below.
1, 2 The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
MAGICAL SYNERGIES UNDER $12k
HIFIMAN SUSVARA UNVEILED/AURORASOUND HEADA
The absence of the window-shade grill in the Susvara Unveiled has led to decreased levels of distortion —reflection/refraction—that are easily heard and heartily enjoyed. It offers up music of pristine relative quality and in turn frees greater detail, ambient cues, micro-dynamics, transparency, and resolution not previously imagined. The result is more intimacy and immersiveness and naturalness to a far greater degree than even the Susvara. I had reckoned on improvement, but I did not imagine that making the original Susvara seem noisy in comparison was a possibility. It is. The Susvara Unveiled is a towering improvement over the Susvara. Further, the Susvara Unveiled is also easier to drive and thus able to work with, dance with a greater variety of headphone amplifiers.
The Aurorasound HEADA headphone amplifier is musical from ‘Square One’, ‘Jump Street’, ‘Scratch’, or, practically, as soon as you turn it on, though it gets worlds better thereafter. It is a beautifully, carefully designed endgame component to pass down. If you’re looking for an endgame headphone amplifier and even if your headphone amplifier is more expensive, try this one, you may be quite surprised. That said, the Aurorasound HEADA headphone amplifier is a top echelon component and an easy DIAMOND AWARD winner.
MAGICAL SYNERGIES UNDER $30k
LYRIC AUDIO TI 100 MKII & DEVORE FIDELITY O/96
There was immediate magic from the Ti 100 MkII, though this was purely from a musical perspective, which was immersive in the extreme. However, after about 100 hours the magic suffused to all aspects of the Lyric Ti 100 MkII’s performance. Tis was easily witnessed, as it followed an exceptional pair of 200 watt/channel, solid state monoblock amplifiers with dedicated preamplifier with relatively minor lessening in overall performance. Remarkable! Te Lyric Audio Ti 100 MkII is, of course, not one of those products as it has easily met our criteria for the DIAMOND AWARD, our highest award, which reflects on its excellence.
Te Orangutan O/96s had me planted on the sofa listening to tunes for many hours at a time and as happy as an officially protected turkey on Tanksgiving Eve. It was wonderful. Impeccable transparency, resolution detail? Check. Wide top-to-bottom frequency extension? Check. Beguiling tonal/timbral accuracy? Check. A staging envelope—front to back, right to left, deep, high—to die for? Check. Tis is a reviewer’s dream speaker, no doubt, and why so many reviewers have adopted the Orangutan O/96s. And while I don’t know the numbers, I feel as though there are too few audiophiles and music lovers who are familiar with these incredible speakers. To them I say, if you want a system whose voice you can radically change without replacing the speakers, then look no farther than the Orangutan O/96s.
MAGICAL SYNERGIES UNDER $10k
DAN CLARK STEALTH & HEADAMP CFA3
The Dan Clark STEALTH planardynamic headphone is a revelation. It exceeds its prescribed edict—to excel in planar magnetic duties—and goes on to become exceedingly familiar with, if not master of the edicts of the other headphone worlds and technologies. Again, there are very few headphones capable of doing this and fewer still with such compelling musicality. You and your music, regardless of genre, will be well served…Please note that to date, I have listened to a great many headphones, and these days it takes a great deal to move me.
Te HeadAmp CFA3 is a truly exceptional headphone amplifier and, dare I say, there are no other such headphone amplifiers that can compete at easily twice its price, if not far more. Its impressive 15-watts of power into 50ohms allow it to easily drive even the most cient headphone on the planet, with headroom to spare. In terms of its technical abilities, which are vast, it provides the depth of stage, the meticulous separation and layering of performers, across any given stage, the daunting transparency, resolution, and detail retrieval for which electrostatics are known. Couple this with superb tone/ timbre, musicality, and naturalness, and it easily becomes the anchor of a TOTL reference headphone system.
