Fresh From the Bench: NAD M10 Masters Series Streaming Amplifier

In this article, Stuart Yaniger reviews the M10 Masters Series Streaming Amplifier from NAD Electronics, a compact but powerful Class-D home audio amplifier and network streamer that surprises positively for multiple reasons. One of those is the integration of the latest Dirac Live room correction technology with Bass Control, which is also covered in detail in this review. The other is the number of versatile features that make it the only item needed for a modern music system, other than speakers. This article was originally published in audioXpress, August 2020.

I ordered this book, Getting the Most Out of Vaccum Tubes, from KCK Media Corp. while I was researching tube service life issues. It is an unusual book, not discussing what you can do with tubes, how to use them in circuits, operating parameter calculations, or that sort of thing. Instead, it is solely devoted to factors that decrease useful service life or cause catastrophic failures.

Gary Galo offers a detailed review of Sound Liaison, a small audiophile label based in The Netherlands, with a unique catalog of high-resolution recordings, building “a bridge (liaison) between the studio (engineer and musicians) and the people who love to listen to beautiful music using high quality audio equipment.” A very detailed and enjoyable review that will get you reaching for the label's music. This article was originally published in audioXpress, August 2020.

The Sennheiser AMBEO soundbar is a sophisticated multi-speaker integrated home cinema sound system, created in collaboration with Fraunhofer IIS to be one of the world’s best soundbars. It is a single all-in-one device that is able to generate a convincing immersive soundfield from home entertainment sources that are able to render object-based audio formats such as Dolby Atmos or MPEG-H, from movies, games, music, or TV content. And this is because the large size soundbar offers 13 high-end drivers, a frequency response down to 30 Hz, and even ships with a measurement microphone for room calibration. This article was originally published in audioXpress, June 2020.

For audio enthusiasts looking for a good read, showcasing some wonderful examples of hi-fi product design and craftsmanship, Mark Driedger suggests taking a look at Gideon Schwartz’s new large-format book. "Hi-Fi – The History of High End Audio Design" is an 8.5” × 11” hardcover “coffee table book,” featuring 272 heavy glossy pages of text and nicely produced photographs. This article was originally published in audioXpress, June 2020.

Our late and much esteemed author, Ron Tipton, shared a fascinating project on testing Class-T or Tripath power amplifiers on the pages of audioXpress. As he characterized, these "small, inexpensive, and power-efficient units," sounded good "but testing them is problematic." The article also discusses the story of Tripath Technology and speculates on the reasons why the Tripath ICs remained popular among the DIY audio community. This article was originally published in audioXpress, March 2014.

In this article, Richard Honeycutt reviews John Kane’s book, which examines how sound engineering pioneer Bill Hanley’s contributions in outdoor live sound helped create the entire music production industry. Through an extensive nine-year interview and archival process, Kane uncovered how Hanley and his company, Hanley Sound, impacted a developing festival and concert marketplace. This article was originally published in audioXpress, July 2020.

In the first part of this article, our exploration of bass shakers introduced us to haptic sensations, which add the dimension of structure-borne vibrational energy to audio reproduction. At a concert, we see the performers, hear the music, and feel the amphitheater resonate with the bass. For home theaters, this “tactile” component adds another dimension (sometimes referred to as 4-D) to reproduce the impact of explosions, engine sounds, and thunder through by use of vibration. In this article we will focus directly on those haptic components. This article was originally published in audioXpress, May 2014.

Get ready to shake! Our perception of live music and the auditory world in general includes not only airborne sound energy, but also structure-borne vibrational energy. This creative impact can be powerful, and as subtle as the anticipation created when Jurassic Park viewers first see the dinosaur’s footfall as waves in a puddle, feel the first tremor, and finally hear the thundering vibration. This article was originally published in audioXpress, April 2014.

Birgit Bartel-Kurz (Senior Engineer at Fraunhofer IIS) details the ongoing research at the Fraunhofer IIS institute on more immersive audio solutions for automotive applications. The article explores how to apply new audio processing algorithms in actual playback systems for cars, and how the Sonamic Panorama signal processing technology from Fraunhofer creates an immersive in-car sound experience from a simple stereo source. This article was originally published in audioXpress, June 2020.