Purist Audio Design, Dominus Diamond PC, Impresa Silver, Tri Planar tone...

16視聽展: VooDoo Cable Bruce Richardson專訪 (feverSound.com)

Chat with and Look at Puritan Audio Laboratories HiFi Mains Products @ H...

Townshend Audios new Allegri plus Preamp

The sensational Townshend Allegri Passive Pre-Amp Review at Hi Fi Pig:

Townshend Allegri Plus Review

Available at Mackenzie Hi Fi:

Townshend Allegri Plus

This pre- amp betters the MK1 version by quite a margin. Supremely musical, effortless drive, dynamics and control. Spot on!

We use one ourselves with Ming Da Potente MD150 Mono-Block tube amps. What more can one say! The best.

Ming Da MD150 Potente Mono Block Amps - Hi Fi World review.

Building a Digital Music Database - Purist Audio Design Cables

Building a Digital Library of Your Music, Upcoming Shows, and Out Favorite Luminists! View this email in your browser Building a Digital Library Crafting a digital library is an ordeal, though a worthwhile one. I don't just mean choosing the right file format. I also mean the time, and dedication to getting it right. That dedication to getting it "just right" is the difference in a fan versus an audiophile. In this case, it turned out the difference between an hour or two a week, to my wife wondering if I hadn't booked a vacation to Tahiti. I have been asked about this process since, and would like to share it with you. Naturally, everyone will have their own variation. You need to find what works for you. My journey begins with DbPowerAmp CD Ripper. DbPowerAmp has been around a long time, and they know what they are doing. Their program allows you to set up a few presets--things that the software will do automagically--to help streamline the process. For my own presets, I ask DbPowerAmp to set up a file format that I like (such as AIFF or WAV), and tell it in which directory that I want it to store the files. I also tell it what naming scheme I want. For example, I tend to name my files with "Album - Album Artist - Title." Finally, I set the bit depth and sample rate. I will describe some of these settings in detail, below, as well as why I chose them. Things like a naming scheme are very personal, so I will not touch on those. When I ask DbPowerAmp to set the title, the program will attempt to find the title through an online database. Usually, this works. However, and especially for obscure pieces, these databases may not have that information. Filling in the information is no big deal, for one file. However, for audiophiles, we not only have a lot of files, we want the album art also, and we want it in high resolution. Wanting quality album art can mean one of several approaches, if the online databases fail you. First, it can mean scanning the art. To do this, you will need access to a scanner. You will want to scan at 300 dpi, and have some decent scanning software such as Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop, and so on. Alternatively, you might try searching some online sources. I have found places such as albumart.org, discogs.com, and allmusic.com to be useful. Finding the proper album art was one of the more intensive processes, because I wanted to get it right. It should not only sound good, but when the server or my music software displayed the album, it should look good, as well. File format can be controversial, as attested to by the number of thoughtfully-written articles on the matter. In my own experience, I have found that working between both Windows and Mac really only leaves you three, practical choices when it comes to audio formats. The first is WAV. WAV is generally an uncompressed format (though it can contain compressed audio, it is rarely used for that), and capable of moving between both Windows and Mac. However, most WAV formats do not save metadata. Metadata for example, stores your album art. FLAC is the second option, but will not work everywhere on a Mac (such as with iTunes). In addition, some are concerned with its compression. The third option is AIFF, or Apple Uncomressed. It plays under both Windows and Mac with the right software, and stores metadata. For this reason, I lean towards AIFF, and JRiver Media Center for my playback. Of course, none of this touches on the numerous tweaks and fixes that you'll want to make along the way. Perhaps the file name isn't quite right, or the album art that the program found for you isn't the latest edition. My advice to any audiophile then, is to plan to set aside some time--and let your spouse know that no, you did not book a vacation to Tahiti. You're just being an audiophile! - Jim, CEO of Purist Audio Design Hear for Yourself: Upcoming Shows We invented the System Enhancer, back in 1993. Experience the difference at Rocky Mountain Audio Fest! What: Rocky Mountain Audio Fest When: October 7-9 Where: Room 922 ! Our Favorite Luminists We named the Luminist Edition over an often-overlooked art movement. The Luminists wanted to express nature's inner light. They did so through their landscapes, and attention to the finest detail. It is said you could not even see their brush strikes, so focused were they on light's natural beauty. Like the Luminists, we want you to experience music's natural beauty, without noticing the brush strokes. Here are a few of our favorite artists from that era, that we'd like to share with you. John Kensett's Sunset Over Lake George John Kensett's "Sunset Over Lake George" Frederich Church's Syria by the Sea Frederich Church's "Syria by the Sea" Albert Bierstadt's Among the Sierra Nevada Albert Bierstadt's "Among the Sierra Nevada"

VooDoo Powercords charm Neil Gader at Absolute sound Magazine

Absolute Sound Magazine - 

Equipment Report by Neil Gader - Sept 15th, 2014 – Issue #245
Voodoo Cable Electra and Black Diamond Powercords

The Voodoo Cable Electra (6ft-) and Black Diamond (6ft-) occupy the midpoint in an extensive line of power cords. Black Diamond is recommended for solid-state and tube power amps, whereas Electra is suggested for source components and preamps. Voodoo reports that the primary difference between the two is tonal balance and harmonic resolution. It states that “while the Black Diamond offers a clean ‘dead neutral’ tonal balance, the Electra offers higher harmonic resolution that reveals subtle musical detail and micro-dynamics.”
The winding of Black Diamond (6ft-) is an #8 AWG concentric lay of twelve discrete conductors made of solid-core silver, solid-core copper, and stranded silver-plated copper, all hand-threaded and wound in Teflon dielectric. Electra’s winding is similar to the Black Diamond, but with the addition of hand-wound copper and silver Litz conductors in a heavier-gauge Teflon dielectric for lower noise and increased harmonic resolution. Both power cords are shielded with heavy-gauge copper braid and terminated with rhodium-plated tellurium-copper IEC and AC connectors. All the conductive materials and components have been treated in Voodoo’s Cold Fusion cryogenic system—both vapor and deep-immersion cryogenic processes, depending on the part or alloy to be treated. The process is said to structurally align and fuse the molecular bonds of the conductive alloys for significantly less resistance, leading to improved performance.
The Voodoo combo conveys a more midrangy character, with good extension at the frequency extremes, a drier top but with an emphasis on the wider acoustic environment of the venue rather than specific and isolated images. To my ear this is often the way real music sounds. Certainly image definition and focus is very good, just not overly individuated—a trait I noted during the Ricki Lee Jones’ track “I’ll Be Seeing You” where the clarinet, classical guitar, and acoustic bass seemed bathed in a warmer, more diffuse ambient atmosphere. In the case of orchestral music, the musicians assume positions on stage but don’t so much stand apart from the orchestra as become fully integrated within it and the ambient space that surrounds the performers.
Low-level detailing and transient textures were very persuasive. So much so that during the “Nublado” track the Voodoo tandem captured the low-level cymbal cues without smearing the finely grained metallic timbre of the instrument. Plus the delicate bell cues that ring forth at the four-minute mark were startlingly clean and sustained. During Holly Cole’s cover of “I Can See Clearly” the Voodoo pair reproduced the punch and rhythmic pace of the opening bass vamp with assurance, and Cole’s torchy delivery had all the texture and come-hither nuance I’ve come to expect from this track.
In soundstaging, these cords reproduced the lush ambient space and immersive qualities of the Rutter Requiem although, again, they didn’t quite illuminate individual choristers quite as clearly as the $2800 reference power cord. As an aside, and in light of its strong performance driving the Parasound JC 3+ phono stage, I found the Electra the more musically open and revealing power cord of the two that Voodoo supplied.
Conclusion: Balanced and immersive big-buck performance for half the price of the Big Boys.