Art+Tech
How Good Can the Focal Utopia Headphones Make Remarkable Recordings Sound?
May 2023
For most of my “Art+Tech” columns so far I’ve led with the music. More often than not, I’ve used the art to see how well a piece of technology can reproduce it.
Looking Back 50 Years with Wadada Leo Smith and the NAD C 3050 LE Integrated Amplifier
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.
April 2023
Composer Wayne Shorter died on March 2 this year, at the age of 89. Along with the release of a massive, career-capping biography of fellow saxophone giant Sonny Rollins, this is a landmark—the symbolic end of a jazz era studded with remarkable iconoclasts. Miles. Monk. Trane. Wayne. Sonny. We all know their unique sounds; hearing them in our heads as soon as those single names pass the lips.
Vintage Improvisation Meets Contemporary Elac Debut ConneX DCB41 Powered Speakers
March 2023
This is a story about creativity, power, and choice. It’s also about breaking from what’s expected and taking a risk in new territory.
For the Love of Sound: Kenny Barron and the RME ADI-2 DAC FS
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.
February 2023
When the user’s manual for a desktop DAC has 68 pages—68 pages of very small type—you know you’re not dealing with just another digital-to-analog converter. At $1299 (all prices in USD), RME’s ADI-2 DAC FS isn’t priced like most of its competitors, either. I slid it into the place normally filled by my $199 iFi Audio Zen DAC V2, between my iPad Pro and my Focal Alpha Evo 50 studio monitors.
Taking the Jazz Detective's Latest Releases to the Woods with the Helm Audio DB12 AAAMP Portable Headphone Amplifier
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.
January 2023
If there’s a psychiatrist out there who wants to delve into the connection between weather and music, I’d be happy to lie on your couch. Deep in my Canadian psyche is the need to hear extremely buoyant–yet-meditative instrumental jazz on late-autumn days. Pianist Keith Jarrett’s 1973 album Solo Concerts: Bremen / Lausanne is the ideal way to scratch that itch. That stems from the first time I saw Jarrett in concert: a crisp, fall night in 1975, which gave way to an exceptionally snowy morning. I woke to it with his music still in my head.
Exploring Indie Improv through the Zidoo Neo S 4K UHD Media Player
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.
October 2022
Most of us shift between multiple media sources as we move through our day.
As a creative resource for several marketing agencies, I’m immersed all day. I spend a lot of time developing video scripts, reviewing motion graphics and proposals for accompanying music, and editing presentations. The rest of the time, when I’m writing, I like to have a soundtrack to match the task and my mood. And then, there are all those music videos and bits and pieces of video from artists’ electronic media kits to keep track of, as well.
Re-experiencing Jimi Hendrix's Epic Debut through the Marantz Model 40n Integrated Amplifier
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.
September 2022
Jimi Hendrix turning 80. It’s unfathomable, of course. Would he be dipping into hip-hop? Playing his hits in casinos? To quote one of his later compositions: Who knows?
Dafnis Prieto's Expanded Horizons and the Totem Kin Play Tower Powered Speaker System
August 2022
Vintage hi-fi components may be having a moment, but design-conscious dwellers of contemporary homes likely prefer a sound source that matches the aesthetic of their Miele steam oven and Minotti seating system. If your chic downtown apartment is more sleek finishes than the period wood of my 130-year-old abode, the super-clean look of the Totem Kin Play Tower stereo speaker system ($2250 per system in US or Canadian dollars) will likely appeal to you. My review sample was in the company’s Satin Black finish, and with the grilles removed, the two 5″ soft-dome woofers on each speaker gleamed. Each speaker also has a 1″ soft-dome tweeter.
The iFi Audio Zen One Signature and Go Bar Open the Door to Charles Lloyd’s "Chapel"
Note: for the full suite of measurements on the iFi Audio Zen One Signature from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.
Note: for the full suite of measurements on the iFi Audio Go Bar from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.
July 2022
At 84, reed player Charles Lloyd has expressed himself in a wide variety of settings over his long career, and has always found an audience, whatever his role: Eric Dolphy’s replacement in Chico Hamilton’s popular band; the trendsetting leader of his own group in the ’60s, with youngsters Keith Jarrett and Jack DeJohnette; godfather of the Big Sur musical tribe, which included members of the Beach Boys; or as one of several saxophonists who have been viewed as the successor to John Coltrane. Coursing through everything he has done—and a large factor in how he has maintained his audience all these years—has been a sense of quiet spirituality.
Battling Anxiety with Arcade Fire and the Rotel A12MKII Integrated Amplifier-DAC
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.
June 2022
As much as I love listening to music, I love the stories associated with the creation of music even more. Whether it’s the heartbreaking irony of seminal jazz trumpeter Buddy Bolden suffering a mental collapse just before the dawn of sound recording or the unlikely second act of Tina Turner—it’s the humanity that gets you.
