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"Art+Tech"
Where music meets equipment

Art+Tech

Latest

HiFiMan Susvara Headphones

Details
Feature Reviews

HiFiMan Susvara headphones measurements can be found by clicking this link.

July 2017

Reviewers' ChoiceTrying to judge the HiFiMan Susvara headphones on the basis of only their performance and design is as hopeless as trying not to think of an elephant. Once you see the Susvaras’ $6000 USD price tag, there’s no way to banish from your mind this question: “How can a set of headphones be worth so much?”

Read more …

Were Thomas Barefoot's Speakers Used to Record the Music You're Listening To?

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Feature Articles & Reviews

July 2017

A couple of years ago, I was working on a story about Roon and its use as a database tool for recording studios. As I talked with one engineer, he mentioned that studio monitor speakers -- especially those made by Barefoot Sound -- had achieved such a high level of quality that musicians and engineers could now hear the functional equivalent of a straight wire with gain from recording studio to control room. Pro-audio magazines and websites were passing along a lot of similar buzz about Barefoot monitors, especially from musicians, many of whom requested -- even demanded -- having Barefoot monitors in the control rooms of the studios they worked in. Over the last decade, Barefoot’s monitors grew in reputation until one model, the MicroMain27 Gen2 ($10,495/pair), became the recording industry’s de facto standard.

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Steve Coleman's Natal Eclipse: "Morphogenesis"

Details
CD music

July 2017

Pi 69
Format: CD

Musical Performance
*****

Sound Quality
****

Overall Enjoyment
*****

Alto saxophonists Ornette and Steve Coleman share more than their instrument of choice and surnames; the younger Coleman was the first major bandleader since his namesake to make music that moved mind and body in equal measure.

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"Rumble Fish"

Details
Blu-ray movies

June 2017

A Much Better Film Than I Thought in 1983

The Criterion Collection 869
Format: Blu-ray

Overall Enjoyment
****

Picture Quality
*****

Sound Quality
****

Extras
****

Director Francis Ford Coppola has usually alternated his big blockbuster movies, such as The Godfather (1972), with more personal, insightful, lower-budget offerings such as The Conversation (1974). After Apocalypse Now (1979) and before The Cotton Club (1984), he directed two small films based on novels by S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders and Rumble Fish (both 1983). Sharing many cast members, the films are quite different. The Outsiders is a color, stylized-by-Hollywood effort; Rumble Fish is more personal, moody, and was shot mostly in black-and-white.

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Does Love of Physical Media Have Anything to Do With Love of Music?

Details
Pulse!

June 2017

I’ve just reached a milestone: the first time in my life I can recall passing an independent record store without going in. I did give the shop -- in downtown Ljubljana, Slovenia -- a good once-over. But faced with the prospect of missing one of Ljubljana’s other attractions because of the 30 to 60 minutes I’d spend browsing the store’s racks, all to acquire more records that I wouldn’t be able to play except in my listening room, I kept moving.

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Music Everywhere: G-Project G-Boom Bluetooth Speaker

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Music Everywhere

June 2017

After reviewing the mammoth EcoBoulder speaker from Grace Digital last month, I was a little reluctant to return to the smaller, bass-shy Bluetooth models that are the norm. Strolling Walmart, I spotted G-Project’s G-Boom, which has been around a while and gotten a few top ratings. Another incentive was that I’d covered G-Project’s G-Go waterproof speaker four years ago and found it rather good. I took the plunge.

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Libratone Q Adapt On-Ear Headphones

Details
Feature Reviews

Libratone Q Adapt On-Ear headphones measurements can be found by clicking this link.

June 2017

My acquaintances in the headphone business often blame the mediocre performance of most noise-canceling (NC) headphones on Bose, which I’m told holds patents on most of the best technologies and techniques. But as digital signal processing (DSP) chips keep shrinking and getting more powerful, we’re starting to see some headphones that approach the awesome noise-canceling powers of the Bose QC25s and QC35s while providing better sound quality, more features, and alternative form factors. Libratone’s Q Adapt on-ear headphones ($249 USD) are one of this new NC generation.

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Endless Field: "Endless Field"

Details
Download music

June 2017

Biophilia BREP0007
Format: 16-bit/44.1kHz WAV download

Musical Performance
****

Sound Quality
*****

Overall Enjoyment
****

In June 2009, I was speaking backstage at a jazz festival with trumpeter Dave Douglas about how musicians were addressing the changing nature of the music industry. At the time, he was four years into running his own distribution company -- Greenleaf Music -- and was still experimenting with new ways to reach audience members.

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"Blow-Up"

Details
Blu-ray movies

May 2017

Antonioni’s Homage to Photography and an Iconic Era

The Criterion Collection 865
Format: Blu-ray

Overall Enjoyment
****

Picture Quality
****1/2

Sound Quality
***1/2

Extras
****

How interesting that one of the most iconic movies representing London’s Swinging ’60s should be filmed by an Italian. Michelangelo Antonioni (1912-2007) was already famous for having directed his trilogy L’Avventura (1960), La Notte (1961), and L’Eclisse (1962) when producer Carlo Ponti signed him to direct three films in English. These turned out to be Blow-Up (1966), Zabriskie Point (1970), and The Passenger (1975). Zabriskie Point failed on almost every count, and The Passenger was a critical if not a commercial success -- of the three, Blow-Up was the cinematic masterpiece.

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What Does Samsung's Purchase of Harman Portend?

Details
Pulse!

May 2017

Last November, Samsung announced it had purchased Harman International, parent company of AKG, Infinity, JBL, Mark Levinson, Revel, and other audio brands. Most observers speculated that Samsung made the move to get into the automotive electronics business, where Harman is a powerhouse. But a recent report from A/V industry insider website Strata-gee.com speculates that much of Samsung’s motivation springs from the desire to use Harman’s audio technology to improve its smartphones.

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Music Everywhere: Grace Digital EcoXGear EcoBoulder Bluetooth Outdoor Speaker

Details
Music Everywhere

May 2017

When the Grace EcoBoulder arrived, I was afraid it was broken -- its single carton (no double boxing) had been greatly damaged in shipping. But inside, sturdy pieces of Styrofoam top and bottom still held the EcoBoulder in position, safe and unharmed. When I’d removed these, I stared in admiration.

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Brainwavz B200 Earphones

Details
Feature Reviews

Brainwavz B200 earphones measurements can be found by clicking this link.

May 2017

Reviewers should beware the influence of manufacturers’ marketing copy, but we’re human and fallible. So a press release promising that a new set of earphones is “tuned to produce a balanced and accurate sound signature, with little to no coloring in the sound” still piques my interest, even when I know manufacturers’ statements aren’t reliable indicators of their products’ performance. But the Brainwavz B200s ($199 USD) have a couple of things going for them that lend credence to the company’s claims.

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Santana: "Lotus"

Details
SACD music

May 2017

Sony Music / Audio Fidelity AFZ2 247
Format: SACD (2)

Musical Performance
****

Sound Quality
*****

Overall Enjoyment
****

Released only in Japan as a three-LP set in 1974, as an import Lotus became a popular staple on campus FM radio stations -- for its exclusivity, its superior quadraphonic CBS SQ matrix sound, and its long, jazz-based jams. It was Santana’s equivalent to the Allman Brothers Band’s At Fillmore East and the Grateful Dead’s Europe ’72. Recorded live in Osaka on July 3 and 4, 1973, Lotus included extended versions of compositions from Santana’s four studio albums to that point, as well as numbers that would appear on Welcome, the 1973 album that would announce firmly that the band was now more jazz- than rock-oriented.

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1More Quad Driver Earphones

Details
Feature Reviews

1More Quad Driver earphones measurements can be found by clicking this link.

April 2017

Reviewers' ChoiceHeadphone enthusiasts were surprised last year by the debut of the 1More brand. First, they were shocked by the low prices: 1More offered its Triple Driver hybrid balanced/dynamic earphones for just $99.99 USD, one-third the price most companies charge for such a product. Then they were surprised to find that the Triple Drivers included a generous suite of extras: six sizes of eartips in silicone and three in foam, plus a very nice and practical travel case. And they were stunned to hear how good the Triple Drivers sounded -- far better than all but a few earphones costing less than $200.

Read more …

  1. "The Lair of the White Worm"
  2. Can Headphone Measurements Get Better?
  3. Music Everywhere: Koss BT539ik Bluetooth Headphones
  4. Bowers & Wilkins P9 Signature Headphones
  5. Oppo Digital's UDP-203 4K Ultra -- They're On Top Again
  6. Valerie June: "The Order of Time"
  7. Audeze iSine10 Earphones
  8. "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown"
  9. Science, Belief, and Audio
  10. Music Everywhere: JBL Charge 3 Bluetooth Speaker
  11. Blue Ella Headphones
  12. Delbert McClinton & Self-Made Men: "Prick of the Litter"
  13. Axiom Audio AxiomAir N3 Wi-Fi Loudspeaker
  14. "Redes"
  15. The Five Best New Headphones and Earphones from CES 2017

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