You may not have heard of this company, but one of my favorite local dealers, Ovation Audio, has brought in a lot of this gear from Norwegian company Electrocompaniet. I’ve had a chance to hear both their high end Classic Line and their lower priced Prelude line. I came away impressed by both the sound quality and value!

The Classic Line absolutely competes with products from SimAudio, Martin Logan, and Macintosh, but at more affordable prices. Their Prelude line gives you most of that at even lower price points.

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For those looking to simplify their audio systems, we have this new item from Bel Canto Design. The c5i is an integrated amplifier with built in DAC. This includes 2 SPDIF, 2 TOSLINK and 1 USB input, plus a Line In and Phono MM Input.

Price should be under $2000US and here is what Bel Canto has to say about it…

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It has been ever such a long time since there was an Audio Video show here in Toronto. At one time we had a show that moved back and forth from Toronto to Vancouver and that lasted at least 6 years, but just could not make it work.

There was even a time when the T.H.E. show gave Toronto a try, but economy was much better back then. Of course we still have the Montreal Salon Son & Image, the best audio show in North America.

So, the guys and gals that bring us the Montreal show are giving Toronto a try for 2011! Keep an eye on their web page for updates!

http://www.taveshow.com/index.html

The dates will be September 30th to October 2nd, 2011.

Let’s support them as much as we can!

It has been about 1 month since I received the PureAudio Lotus DAC1 and during that time I have listened to and/or run it for at least 200 hours. If it needs more break in time, I couldn’t tell and while the sound did even out a little over that time, its basic character stayed pretty much the same.

The Lotus DAC1 measures out at 13Wx10Dx3H which makes it bigger then expected, but its capacious backside allows for excellent spacing between connectors. Around back you will find 5 inputs comprising USB, Coaxial, AES/EBU, Toslink, and I2S with two chunky, widely spaced output connectors. To sweeten the deal, the power supply is built in and you can use your own power cables on the IEC socket. As a special bonus, this product is made in Taiwan, for those that think there are just too many products coming from China.

Enough of the physical, now for something more meta-physical!

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If you read the first post you will understand that I bought the TC Electronics Konnekt 8 to use as a Firewire to S/PDIF converter for my Mac Mini.

There is better sound quality to be had from a proper S/PDIF output, especially compared to te Mac Mini’s Toslink optical connection, which is located at the bottom of the line output jack.

The Konnekt 8 specs at 24bit/192KHz and it does every sampling rate from 44.1KHz to 192KHz. I figured I would be fine for an future high rez music that would come into my possession.

Looks like I was sort of wrong. The Konnekt 8 does do 24Bit/192KHz, but those numbers are internal only! The S/PDIF jack will only do 44.1KHz, 48KHz, 88.2KHz and 96KHz.

Oh well, still not enough Hi-Rez music, but eventually will need to try something else!

You may have seen this DAC on eBay and it has all the right specs for modern music server usage. I’ve placed an order and am expecting shipment in due course.

It will go head to head with my old 16bit Aragon D2A MarkII with its all analog output stage based around transistors. Yes, the PureAudio DAC uses opamps, BUT it is a modern DAC design, and with 24bit music, it may indeed be a winner.

Stay Tuned for the review!

While the walk from the Sheraton to the Hilton was short, it felt much like an arctic expedition with wind chills at minus ten degrees celcius. In 2009 it was rain, but at least it wasn’t this cold. The walk was a stark contrast to all the warm musical goodness that awaited us at the new Salon venue. Even in the first rooms, we could tell this years show would indeed sound superior. These new rooms gave exhibitors a real chance to showcase their wares. So lets get to the details!

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It’s that time again as the chill in the air clears and the sun shines oh so brightly. It’s time for the Montreal Hi-Fi expo or the Salon Son & Image as the new names says. I miss the shows that used to come to Toronto, but at least Montreal is easier and cheaper then trying to get to Vegas for the CES and T.H.E Shows. The bonus, as always with Montreal, is all the great food!

Located just across the street from the Central Train Station, the Montréal Hilton Bonaventure is a new venue for the show, and it promises much better rooms and easier access to the exhibits. Penthouse style guest suites are layed out all on the same level, so no elevators, or getting lost. This hotel should make for better sound and hopefully more chairs for listening sessions.

There will be photo’s and posts after the show! So come on back!

So I bought me an Audio Technical AT150MLX cartridge (in Tokyo) and installed it on my Systemdek IIX, and for the first time I could hear what everyone was talking about. Even though I kept reading that vinyl can/does sound the same/better then CD play back, I had heard no such thing from my own record player using the Ortofon OM5 cartridge. With the new cartridge, the difference/similarities to my digital front end is very obvious, and in some ways the vinyl wins! So here I am looking to add more upgrade to my Systemdek IIX and the cable was a good place to start.

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I believe the most important part of an audio system is the source. As they say, you can’t fix down stream what’s broken upstream. My Aragon D2A MKII is great, but I it is over 15 years old, and that’s why I went to compare it to the Bryston BDA-1.

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