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Fatman iTube Vacuum Tube Amp for iPod

Updated Jun 2, 2007

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Description

Gawd, I hate my iPod. Not even noisy old speed-unstable 8-tracks stripped so much emotion from music as an iPod full of mp3 files does. Imagine dumping all the clean, full-bodied digital bits that were once on a CD, now stored on your iPod, into your washing machine. Fill with bleach, full-strength. Wash, rinse and spin. Shovel the now-sharp, brittle little buggers out of the tub and transfer to the dryer. An hour later, pour the abrasive heap back into your iPod. That's about what happens to music that passes through an mp3 mill and your 'Pod on the way to your ears. Where's the Tone; the Big-T TONE that puts the sound of live music in your head? Aw, it's been bleached out, trampled and scraped to the bone by lossy compression and wrung moistureless through the wringer of the itty bitty chip amp squeaking away just behind the headphone jack.

Well, here's how to get your sound halfway back to some semblance of expression -- a neat and tidy remote controlled iDock connected to 13 juicy watts of emissive vacuum state glory per channel! You'll use this just like a cheesy plastic case chip amp iDock, except it's gleaming polished steel, with the heft of real iron, and it spews a restored stream of full-bodied Tone. Wire this up to a pair of Zu Tones or Druids, or any other 95+db/w/m speakers to hear iPod tunes rehydrated. You won't go back to the usual white plastic dock box that blows. (via Bluebird Music)

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Audion Golden Dream 300B PSET Vacuum Tube Monoblock Power Amplifiers

Updated Nov 7, 2006

1st to recommend

Description

You can buy more powerful audio amplifiers. Quieter ones too. Even cheaper on both counts. But you cannot today exceed the sheer tonal richness and emotive density attainable from the Audion Golden Dream 300B SET amplifier (monoblock pair needed for stereo). If you have the combination of speaker efficiency, room size, and habits to live your audio life within 28 watts per channel, this is as far as you need to look for landmark multi-decade sound.

The equivalent of alt- or indie music in the audiophile realm is "SET," Single-Ended Triode amplification. SET is embraced and admired by what the Best Buy and Magnolia crowd thinks of as the lunatric fringe of hifi, for its beautiful, holistic, liquid tone, honest presentation, and achingly emotive fidelity to the original music. In an SET amp, there is no splitting of the positive and negative waveforms during amplification, as there is in the more common "Push-Pull" topology. The price of having one tube (or a pair in parallel) do all the work is inefficiency. On a per-dollar basis, you don't get much power in conventional terms, but you do get heat. But well-executed, an SET amp can deliver uniquely glorious sound.

The Golden Dream uses a pair of legendary 300B triode power tubes in each monoblock in a "PSET," Parallel Single-Ended Triode configuration, to coax 28 watts from a pair of tubes that normally will only deliver 7 watts each in SET mode alone. Audion also trimmed out the bass bloat all too typical of 300B SET amps, so you get the bass depth and linearity of a pentode below 100Hz, instead of euphonic harmonic distortion down low. Like its brother the Elite 845 amp, the Golden Dream is loaded with silver in the signal path and in the transformer secondary windings. Parts quality is uniformly high and components are hand-matched during assembly.

Even on speakers much less expensive than the $16,000/pr. cost of the Golden Dream, a pair of these amps plainly exhibit their unrivalled midrange magic of human tone. Nothing screams fraud like a reproduced human voice missing its expression and humanity. The Golden Dream seemingly reconstructs convincing tone from shards of fidelity left unmolested on your CDs and even tone-barren MP3s. Vinyl through these amps just plain kills.

The 845 tube Elite has a little more jaw-busting drive, while the Golden Dream bests it in refinement, grace and sheer emotive tone. As with its younger brother, the Golden Dream monoblocks include input level controls and the input sensitivity to be driven by a disc player directly. Still, the right preamp makes the sound whole. If you have the beans to pair these up with the Audion Quattro preamp, you'll be immersed in the deep-water music expression only reachable in the context of aurally holographic fidelity.

Short on Benjamins but want as much of the same sound as you can possibly afford? Check out Audion's more affordable 300B, KT88 and EL34 tube amps in their Silver Night, Golden Night and Sterling ranges. The title link goes to the US distributor, while the link below leads to Audion's UK international site. (via Audion)

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Audion Elite 845 3-box SET Vacuum Tube Stereo Power Amplifier

Updated Nov 7, 2006

1st to recommend

Description

The equivalent of alt- or indie music in the audiophile realm is "SET," Single-Ended Triode amplification. SET is embraced and admired by what the Best Buy and Magnolia crowd thinks of as the lunatric fringe of hifi, for its beautiful, holistic, liquid tone, honest presentation, and achingly emotive fidelity to the original music. In an SET amp, there is no splitting of the positive and negative waveforms during amplification, as there is in the more common "Push-Pull" topology. The price of having one tube (or a pair in parallel) do all the work is inefficiency. On a per-dollar basis, you don't get much power in conventional terms, but you do get heat. But well-executed, an SET amp can deliver uniquely glorious sound.

The trouble with most SET amps is deficient power. You need hyper-efficient speakers to get satisfying volume and dynamics from two to seven watts per channel. Zu speakers have the efficiency to make those watts go a long way, but not everyone has Zu. Nor a small room to limit the challenge of filling it with satisfying music. The answer is the Audion Elite, the best 845 tube amp going.

Built around the big, sexy, retro, illuminating, Fritz-Lang-meets-Tesla vibe of the fistful-of-glass 845 triode, the Audion Elite pumps out 24 honest watts per channel with enough drive to sound like 3 times that into real speaker loads, while keeping that heavenly triode tone intact. A simple 3-tube circuit per side, this 3-box stereo amp is inexpensive to own and maintain, thanks to robust build and good contemporary Chinese tubes that sound great in this circuit. The Audion Elite amplifier has a big-toned dynamic sound that's also refined, subtle and fresh.

The sonic, tonal and drive match with Zu speakers is sensationally synergistic, but in most rooms, this amp has the muscle to pump triode tone at satisfying level through any speaker with at least 88db/w/m efficiency. Unlike most euphonic triode amps with round sound that also seem a trifle slow, all of Audion's amps have their trademark transient speed, transperancy and definition, including the big-tube Elite.

Most digital disk players can drive the Elite inputs directly, and each channel has a level control so a single-source system can get by nicely without a preamp. Still, tone is even more truthful with a preamp, so if you have the eggs, mate the Audion Quattro preamp with the Elite power amp for an experience at the very top echelon of musicality in audio gear today. There are a ton of decent SET 845 tube amps around right now, thanks to an explosion of discerning music loving EEs in China, the US and Europe. Hard to go wrong with any of them, but this one is the best so far, making everything from Government Mule to Drive-By Truckers, to Tom Waits to Rosa Passos to Shostakovich sound convincing, penetrating and true. (via Audion)

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Audion Premier Quattro 2 and 4 Box Pre-Amp

Updated Nov 7, 2006

1st to recommend

Description

What's the best car? The best guitar? The best wine? The best loudspeaker? The best watch? In most categories, there is no "best," just contenders. In high-end audio preamps, however, this is the best, right now in 2006 and probably next year too: The Audion Quattro in 4 box or 2 box configuration. Preamps are troublesome components, having to accept a small magnitude and delicate signal and amplify its voltage so that same signal can inform the muscle needed from the power amp. Along the way, there are sockets, switches, volume and balance controls, and myriad solder connections to degrade that signal and, by extension, your sound. Then there's noise to be dodged, various amplifier input impedances to be mated to, and the circuit has to make as little imprint of its own on the sound as is possible in an imperfect world. At the end of the chain before hand-off to the power amp, the original signal must maintain its fidelity and meaty tone. All this is why many audiophiles are frequently heard declaring, "Preamps suck!"

Well, they don't. There are always a few good ones and while nothing outward about an Audion Quattro suggests why it is the best preamp, it nevertheless is.

From their first preamp well over a decade ago, Audion has consistently demonstrated special insight about preamp circuits. Using vacuum tubes, their circuits combine speedy transient response with seamless, fluid tone that preserves the emotion and expressiveness in any music you play. If you play vinyl, Audion phono sections have always excelled as well. The new generation Quattro delivers these qualities same as before, but just more so. Even driving other manufacturers' power amplifiers, the full-bodied holistic tonal fidelity of the Quattro preamp informs the performance of everything downstream from it.

Not the last word in convenience, the Audion Quattro is a multi-decade purchase with dual-mono construction, so yes you have separate switching and volume controls for each channel in a stereo system, but effort is low and the rotary volume switch makes channel-to-channel matching quick and repeatable. No, there isn't a remote control option either, at least not yet.

I've owned or heard every preamp worth mentioning in high-end audio for the past 40 years and owned several during that time. This preamp will place more tonal realism and impactful emotion in your system than any competing preamp you can buy.

If you look through my list here on ThisNext, you're probably getting the idea that an Audion + Zu soundchain is something you ought to be playing your music through. Americans can contact Ray of Sound at the link, to find a US retalier. Everyone else can find what they need at Audion's UK web site, below. (via Audion)

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Denon DL103 Moving Coil Phono Cartridge

Updated Sep 29, 2006

1st to recommend

Description

Probably the single-greatest value in high-end audio for 40 years running, the original Denon DL-103 moving coil phono cartridge was introduced in Japan as a broadcast standard when most people had black & white TV. I bought my first one, the currently defunct "D" version, in 1974 for $300. It sells for $229 retail today, which is amazing given that this is a painstakingly built product whose innards were nano-scale before nano was now. I still use the 103 in all my turntables today.

Moving coil cartridges generally combine low voltage output with superior resolution and musicality, but they require a step-up transformer or pre-preamp between the cartridge and the phono input on your preamp or receiver. Some phono preamps have moving coil inputs to handle the low level output of these cartridges. Check your gear to be sure. Fortunately, with the ubiquity of the Rega RB-300 tonearm and similar imitators on most turntables today, you can usually fearlessly mate the Denon DL103 to your rig. The stylus is conical, which is kind to your records and renders setup comparatively unfussy. Cantilever is aluminum. All the materials are ordinary to keep the price low, but design and execution are executed beyond the price class. In a world of 5-figures phono cartridges as delicate as angel's breath, this Denon puts you in the realm of fully dimensioned, tonally rich, satisfying high-end analog glory for a small fraction of the cartridges that can otherwise match or beat it. Its excellence is in the balance of traits that cannot in this world all be made perfect. In audio, this is one of the living legends. If you don't want to spring for a step-up device, try the cheaper, high-output Denon DL-160 instead. (via The Needle Doctor)

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Thorens - TD 2030 Turntable - Turntable

Updated Oct 1, 2006

1st to recommend

Description

Yup, vinyl still sounds best. I know, I know....what about the snap, crackle and pop? You know what? After over two decades of living with the quiet background of CDs along with the flat, hard, cold sound, a little analog noise isn't so bad. Not when it comes with the emotion, dimension, big-T Tone of analog molded into plastic. Kids who grew up slipping peanut-butter-fingered silver discs in the CD player are discovering this, so how about you? CD sales are declining, downloads aren't making up for the loss, but vinyl and turntable sales are.....GROWING!

Of course, 12 inches of vinyl won't fit in your CD player nor will its laser read them, so you're going to need a turntable. There are a lot of choices and many are quite good at multiple price levels. My turntables are vintage '70s battlewagons, but if I were buying today, this Thorens is one of the turntables I'd buy. It is a simple suspensionless design with emphasis on quality where it counts. The main bearing is ultra-quiet and maintenance-free. The plinth is anti-resonant, dual-slab acrylic sandwiching a thin poly membrane in transparent blue. The platter is 14 pounds of aluminum with anti-resonant backcoating, for good flywheel speed stability. Motive is belt-drive using a regulated AC-synchronous motor. You can buy the TD2030 with the versatile and industry-standard Rega RB300 tonearm or the SME M2. Order it with the Rega and add an aftermarket "Heavyweight" counterweight from Expressimo. Three compound cone feet limit energy transfer from surroundings and are adjustable for level.

Altogether, the plinth materials and design, the main bearing, and the quiet drive provide the right tonal fidelity from a spinning vinyl disc. And analog fans know that turntables are design statements too. This one kills. The plinth is clear head on, but edge-of-space blue from above. Everything is finished to a high lustre and nothing superfluous is present. Here's a hint. Put a Denon DL103 moving coil phono cartridge on it and get an appropriate phono preamp. That's all you need to know about getting into the insanely-priced big leagues of vinyl playback for Tequila money. While you're at it, order some records, too. (via Acoustic Sounds)

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Zu Audio Definition loudspeaker

Updated Jul 12, 2006

1st to recommend

Description

The most musical fidelity anyone has ever put into one square foot of floor space devoted to a loudspeaker. And they look great, elegant and pugnacious at the same time. The Zu Definition, like everything Zu produces, is a breakthrough. From 16 Hz subterranean bass to 25 kHz harmonics, this is the speaker that will convince you 2 channels are enough for home theater, and it really is possible to put a full orchestra or a single performer in your room without compromising either. Like all Zu speakers, there are no crossovers to choke dynamic life from the sound, thanks to Zu's proprietary full range driver (FRD) at the heart of the system, good for even response from 40 Hz - 12 kHz where 90% of tonal information originates. Deep bass is handled by a powered sub-bass array rolled in on a simple low-pass filter, and a supertweeter rolled in above the FRD fade point on a simple high-pass filter at 12 kHz handles harmonics to ultrasonics. Superefficient at 101 db/w/m yet absent of "shout" or the limited range of other efficient designs, the Definition thrives on triode tube amps, the new generation chip and digital amps, and yet has no fear of McIntosh heavy metal in the form of MC1201 monoblocks pushing over 1200 watts each. In a world of bafflingly foul-sounding "statement" speakers that cost six figures, will rip your ears off and jelly your brain, the Zu Definition is unfailingly relaxing, revealing, clean, musical, communicative and real, with sparky dynamics and energetic scale. For music or movies, you'll be in the realm of The Best for $9,000 pair, factory direct. Definitions could easily be your last loudspeakers, ever. The 3 dimensional soundstage will scale to your room, with excellent spatial projection, uncanny tonal accuracy, aural realism and such superb definition you will hear new details on every disc you own.

Zu says, "...there is no other loudspeaker able to provide the resolution, dynamic contrast or phase accuracy of the Definition. Its well balanced tone, distortion free dynamic range, perfect time-alignment--even in the low frequency range -- combine for the next state of playback art...." And they're right. This is a lasting value loudspeaker worth building a long-term system around.

Pair them with Vinnie Rossi's surprising Red Wine Audio pocket money chip amps or spring for a handcrafted tube amp built around the lighthouse-like 845, or throw a set-and-forget transistor amp, like a McIntosh or Lavardin, at them. 6 watts, 60 or 600, you'll have scalable, convincing music without the complications, cables and clutter of subwoofers nor huge boxes out of place in your room. 1' x 1' x 50" tall, you can get them in standard satin black or grey finishes, or pony up for an automotive finish. Mine are Maserati Blue Nettuno. Lots of details on the Zu Audio web site or just call them on the phone. Zu sells direct with a liberal 60 day money-back trial. Check out the reviews on the web, especially at 6moons.com, where as with the smaller Druid, Srajan gets it right. These speakers sound as he describes. Largely hand-made in Utah, USA. (via Six Moons)

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Gibson Custom Shop L-5 Wes Montgomery archtop guitar

Updated Jul 12, 2006

1st to recommend

Description

If you play guitar, or ever wanted to, sooner or later you're going to want to own a carved archtop jazzbox. You might play blues, or country, or rockabilly, fusion or even jazz on it, but you'll want that inimitable archtop mellow plus the full-bodied feel of draping your picking arm over sensual, resonant curves of the archy's lower bout. Wes Montgomery's expressive, quick, fleshy style was captured often by his special Gibson L-5 that was ordered without a bridge pickup. With only the neck pickup mounted close to the edge of the top in a relatively non-resonant area, the arched soundboard resonates freely for a warm, rich, amplified tone that also cuts through acoustically.

The neck is sufficiently slender to feel fast, but deep enough to feel meaty in your hand. The re-issued Gibson Wes has just enough inlay ornamentation to look special but is tasteful and restrained. You can get it natural, sunburst and even tobacco burst, but none of these are as graceful as the super-suave Wes in luscious Wine Red. This is a multi-generational instrument made in USA. (via Gibson Guitars)

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Zu Audio Druid loudspeaker

Updated Jul 12, 2006

1st to recommend

Description

HiFi the way it was meant to be and once was: able to project musical expression into your home. Zu's speaker designs are an unprecedented value in sheer fidelity and emotional projection. Largely hand-made in Utah, USA, the Zu Druid, its little brother Tone and big brother Definition all blend vintage research and lost knowledge with modern engineering, physics, materials and manufacturing to deliver the long-absent combination of tonal accuracy and crackling dynamic life to reproduced music. Druid is the value point in the Zu line. $2800/pair direct from the factory, and a little more if you want a special finish. You can drive Druids with 3 watts of super-romantic vacuum tube Zen triode power, or 300+ watts of rockin' heavyweight American iron. No customer has ever blown a Zu driver, at least not yet. Able to make a $300 receiver sing, Druids can fully reveal what can be good about a $30,000 amp. Druids are within reach for a starter hifi, and can earn their continuing role in your system if you upgrade everything else.

Each slender 50" tall column is only a foot wide and 6" deep. Druids take up no more floor space than a pair of small monitors on stands, yet look much more elegant while uncorking your sound. Spousal Acceptance Factor is high, and Druids can be used close to walls. You get a design statement and great value with no compromise to music expression and fidelity. Mine are gloss red and room-filling on 25 watts of tube triode power.

Check the review on 6moons.com. Srajan nails it. (via Six Moons)

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