8 HigH-End SyStEmS from $1700! www.theabsolutesound.com D ECE MB er 2009 2009 • i ss Tech BreakThrough: NaD’s radical Digital amplifier ue 198 Blu-ray Shocker: oppo’s $499 universal Player STockiNg STufferS: The 50 Best audio gifts www.theabsolutesound.com editor-in-chief Robert Harley Contents executive editor Jonathan Valin 92 Oppo BDp-83 Blu-ray 6 Letters acquisitions manager Disc player and associate editor Neil Gader The Oppo plays it all—CD, SACD, 10 from the editor founder; chairman, editorial advisory board Harry Pearson DVD-A, and Blu-ray—and plays it well, for music editor Mark Lehman $499! Chris Martens on a great component. 14 future TAS creative director Torquil Dewar 96 PMC DB1i Loudspeaker 18 Industry news art director Shelley Lai Neil Gader reports on a tiny monitor with a huge sound. 38 next-gen Digital senior writers Steven Stone on why everything matters in Anthony H. Cordesman, Wayne Garcia, Robert E. Greene, Chris Martens, Tom Martin, 100 Rega elicit Integrated computer audio. Dick Olsher, Andrew Quint, Amplifier Paul Seydor, Alan Taffel Britain’s Rega goes upscale with this new 44 first Listen integrated, says Wayne Garcia. Tom Martin listens to the $395k Magico reviewers and Ultimate II loudspeaker. contributing writers 104 Lamm LL2.1 Duck Baker, Soren Baker, Greg Cahill, Andy Downing, Jim Hannon, preamplifier 152 manufacturer Jacob Heilbrunn, Sue Kraft, Our tube maven Dick Olsher auditions Comments Ted Libbey, David McGee, Bill Milkowski, an affordable new preamp from the Derk Richardson, Don Saltzman, Steven Stone, Jeff Wilson company known for its ultra-exotic muSIC designs. 156 The Beatles Remastered avguide.com The Beatles are back on polycarbonate— editor Chris Martens 108 Simaudio moon i3.3 in both stereo and mono. Neil Gader has Integrated Amplifier the inside scoop on the Fab Four now, at nextscreen, llc, inc. and moon CD3.3 CD last, in good-sounding digital. chairman and ceo Thomas B. Martin, Jr. player vp/group publisher Jim Hannon The integrated amplifier is one of high-end 158 Rock advertising reps Cheryl Smith audio’s strongest product categories, and New discs from old-timers Levon Helm (512) 891-7775 Marvin Lewis there’s no better example than Simaudio’s and Willie Nelson, old-time songs from MTM Sales i3.3. Neil Gader has the details, along with Ricky Skaggs, and an album of Mark (718) 225-8803 an evaluation of the matching CD player. Mulcahy covers. Plus the Pixies on MoFi vinyl. Jennifer Martin, Wrights Reprints 110 Sennheiser hD800 (877) 652-5295,: (281) 419-5725, [email protected] Subscriptions, renewals, changes of address: headphones 160 Classical (888)732-1625 (U.S.), or (386)246-0144 (outside U.S.), or write The Absolute Sound, Is the HD800 the best Sennheiser ever? 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Recent recordings by Henry Threadgill, Jan Contact IPD, 27500 Riverview Center Blvd., Suite 400, Bonita Springs, Florida 34134, (239) 949-4450 Garbarek, and Masada, along with vintage publishing matters: contact Jim Hannon at the address below 136 The Cutting edge reissues from Art Pepper and the dynamic or e-mail [email protected] nAD m2 Direct Digital Amplifier duo of Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins. Publications Mail Agreement 40600599 Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to Robert Harley considers a radical new Station A / P.O. Box 54 / Windsor, ON N9A 6J5 [email protected] concept in amplification and system 167 Top Ten NextScreen, LLC. architecture—from budget-minded NAD, Breaking up is hard to do—but who can 4544 S. Lamar, Bldg. G-300 Austin, Texas 78745 no less! resist singing about it? David McGee offers (512) 892-8682 fax: (512) 891-0375 [email protected] his favorite “breakup albums” from the 146 HP’s Workshop past six decades. ©2009 NextScreen, LLC., Issue 198 December 2009. The Absolute Sound (ISSN HP recounts the history of McIntosh and #0097-1138) is published 10 times per year in the months of Jan, Feb, Mar, combined issues in Apr/May & Jun/Jul, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov, and Dec, $29.90 per year for U.S. previews the C2300 preamp and MC2301 168 Back page residents, NextScreen, LLC., 4544 S. Lamar, Bldg G300, Austin, Texas 78745. Periodical Postage paid at Austin, Texas, and additional mailing offices. Canadian publication power amplifier. James Tanner of Bryston talks with Neil mail account #1551566 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Absolute Sound, Subscription Services, P.O. Box 629, Mt. Morris, IL 61054. Printed in the USA. Gader. 4 December 2009 The Absolute Sound nAD m2 Direct Digital Amplifier Inventing the Future of Audio Robert harley he term “digital” is often erroneously applied to amplifiers frequency from 32kHz to 192kHz. Analog signals fed to the M2’s with Class D (switching) output stages, but in the case analog-input jacks are converted to digital. Tof NAD’s new M2 Direct Digital Amplifier that word is Once you’ve connected an analog or digital source to the M2 appropriate. In fact, the M2 represents a major rethinking of audio- (such as a CD transport or music server) and loudspeakers via system architecture, directly converting standard-resolution or the output binding posts, the M2 functions just like a traditional high-res digital bitstreams into signals that can drive loudspeakers. integrated amplifier. You select the source from the front panel Functionally, the M2 is an “integrated amplifier” that replaces a and control the volume with the large front-panel knob or from the DAC, preamplifier, and power amplifier. The M2 eliminates from remote control. The front-panel display shows the input sampling a traditional signal path all the electronics of a DAC as well as the frequency and volume setting. active analog gain stages of a preamplifier and power amplifier. It Purists will note that the M2 requires that analog signals, such as does this by converting the PCM signal from a digital source directly a phonostage output, be converted to PCM digital. Similarly, those into a pulse-width modulation (PWM) signal that turns the M2’s who enjoy SACD will be loath to convert their SACD player’s output transistors on and off. That’s it—no digital filter, no DACs, analog output to PCM, and then back to analog in the M2. no multiple stages of analog amplification, no interconnects, no The M2 offers a number of features not found on a traditional jacks, no analog volume control, no preamp. The conversion from integrated amplifier. Pushing the MENU button allows you to the digital domain to the analog domain occurs as a by-product of select the sampling frequency of the analog-to-digital converter the switching output stage and its analog filter. This is as direct a (for analog input signals) as well as engage an upsampling feature signal path as one could envision. (See sidebars for the technical that converts, for example, 44.1kHz to 96kHz. Analog signals are details.) digitized at up to 192kHz/24-bit. You can also attenuate the level NAD’s M2 is a significant departure for the company that of the analog inputs by up to 9dB. A “Speaker Compensation” made its reputation building simple and affordable electronics. adjustment is a five-position adjustment that “allows fine tuning For starters, the M2 costs $5999, a new price level for a NAD of the top octave to match the speaker impedance.” An absolute- “integrated amplifier.” Second, the M2 is NAD’s first amplifier to polarity switch rounds out the menu-accessible features. A rear- use a switching output stage. The company had previously rejected panel switch engages NAD’s “Soft Clipping” feature, which the technology in favor of linear amplifiers because switching limits the output to prevent audible distortion if the amplifier output stages just didn’t sound good. But the M2’s output stage is is overdriven. An RS232 port allows external control via a PC significantly different from any other currently offered (see sidebar). or control system such as Crestron or AMX. The full-function Third, NAD believes that the M2’s technology could eventually remote control selects between sources, adjusts the volume, dims become the basis for nearly all of its amplification products. In the display, and can also control a NAD CD or DVD player. fact, NAD suggested that the M2 was not designed to capitalize The M2 doesn’t seem like a switching amplifier in operation; on Class D’s functional advantages, but rather to establish a new it is heavier than most Class D amps and although it runs cooler benchmark of performance in amplification, no matter what the than a traditional Class AB amplifier of comparable output power, technology. it produces more heat than any other Class D amplifier I’ve had Let’s look at the M2 Direct Digital Amplifier in operation.