The TBM Sounds! UltraHD 32-bit Mastering on CD

When I visited Terry Combs of Sound Mind Audio last year, we started talking about the Japanese record label Three Blind Mice. TBM made a series of recordings throughout the '70s, mostly jazz, and the sound quality is simply some of the best I've ever heard. Some of their microphone arrangements were a bit unorthodox to be sure, and there's always that grouchy backlash concerning Japanese jazz musicians and how they're all technique and no soul. But there's no disputing the fact that the TBM recordings are breathtakingly realistic and quiet. I still think "Midnight Sugar" from the Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio is the best-sounding piece of music I own.

When I told Terry I owned several of the Cisco LP reissues of the TBM on vinyl, his eyes widened as if I just told him I'd found Atlantis, and it was just a few miles off the Texas coast near Port Aransas. I knew they were fairly rare, which is why I scooped up about a half-dozen titles from Elusive Disc close to a decade ago. I paid $40 a piece for them, which seemed like a lot back them. Now they're probably going for ten times that. I feel blessed, but not as I blessed as if I'd bought some of those discounted UHQRs back at Tower Records in 1979--something that still haunts me to this day.

Fast forward to this year's AXPONA NYC show, held in late June, and I needed some CDs to play in our Unison/Opera/Cardas/HRS room. I ran over to the May Audio Marketing room and asked Nabil for something good. I was handed the First Impression Music (FIM) UltraHD 32-bit CD version of The TBM Sounds!, which is basically the sampler from Three Blind Mice. I didn't need to be told twice, especially when I saw that "Midnight Sugar" was the opening cut, so I grabbed it and ran back to the room. (For the record, I ran back to May a couple more times--they had some excellent stuff for sale!)

Now that my new sound room is set up with the Unison/Opera gear (with a greatly improved digital playback system), and I'm back in the habit of listening to music. Even digital music. Even hi-rez digital music. Even hi-rez digital music even though I have the kick-ass LP version. After comparing the cuts from the FIM CD to my various LPs, I have to say that (drum roll please)...the LPs are still better. But not by much!

In fact, I'll go as far as to say that if I didn't already own the LP versions, this sampler would still qualify as one of the best-sounding pieces of music I own. There are subtle differences between the CD and LP version of "Midnight Sugar" such as the feeling that the instruments take up a greater space on the analog version, and that there is more physical interaction with the musicians and their instruments (something I've been paying a lot of attention to lately, thanks to a more resolving system). I'm also hearing more tape hiss on the digital version. But dammit--the FIM CD is still absolutely astonishing in its ability to convey the feel of live, unamplified music.

As a plus, there are a few fun tracks on the sample that I've never heard before. Mari Nakamoto sings a version of "Georgia On My Mind" that is so infused with Southern sultriness and longing that it's tough to imagine someone named Nakamoto is singing it. (I hope that doesn't sound too politically incorrect.) The Shoji Yokouchi Trio's jazzy version of "Greensleeves" is amazingly fragile and elegant. Even the Yamamoto Trio's version of "The Way We Were" avoids all the expected schmaltz and delivers a passionate performance that will make you think you're hearing this hoary ol' chestnut for the first time.

In other words, this is the ideal sampler for audiophiles who really want to show off the resolution of their system, or audio distributors who arrive at their very first trade show and forget to bring music along. It cost me $30--a price I hate to pay for little silver discs--but it's more than worth it.

mbl at AXPONA NYC

Although I've heard mbl demonstrations at audio shows going back at least a decade--their multi-channel presentation back at the 2002 CES was the first time I heard more than two channels sound realistic--this time was able to really sit down in the sweet spot and hear what this amazing German system could do.

You see, mbl rooms are usually packed at trade shows, and it's difficult to get a good seat. As you can see in the picture above, there was a line going down the hallway to get into the mbl room at AXPONA NYC; it was the only exhibitor that needed to hire crowd control.

Fortunately, Jeremy Bryan of mbl North America made room for me on Saturday and played a few choice cuts. First of all, this is the first time I've ever seen the mbl gear in white, and I have to admit that it was a stunning choice. One of the subjects discussed at the show was the emergence of white as a new popular color for hi-fi ("White is the new black," in other words), and if it's done right it's something that absolutely exudes opulence and prestige. mbl definitely did it right.

As for the music, Jeremy stuck to rock at my request. If I have to nitpick about mbl, it's that their rooms at audio shows often resemble raves in terms of volume levels. Once I sat in the driver's seat, however, I changed my mind. mbl's sound is characterized by almost unlimited size, dynamics and effortlessness. In other words, if you want to ROCK, there may be no better avenue to travel than mbl.

After a few songs I was impressed almost beyond words. Jeremy approached me and asked me if I wanted to hear Pink Floyd's "Money." I had to think about it for a second--I'm a big Floyd fan but at first it seemed like too obvious of a choice. But I shrugged my shoulders and said sure. All I can say is at the moment David Gilmour switched guitars in the solo, I literally got goosebumps. Tons of 'em. I can't remember the last time I felt goosebumps--maybe it was those Infinity IRS Betas I heard back in 1986--but there you go. Chills down the spines, the whole nine yards. I walked out of the room, my last of the show, with a big smile on my face. Thanks, Jeremy!

Linkwitz Lab at AXPONA NYC

I've listened to the Orion-4s from Siegfrid Linkwitz on a few occasions now, and I have to admit I'm growing fond of these speakers. These are among the rare high-end products that are embraced by more objectivist audio people (the polar opposite of audiophiles, in other words) since they measure beautifully and feature a lot of solid engineering. In fact, one engineer friend of mine who hates the high end bought the Orions in kit form and absolutely loves them.

The Orions are medium-sized active floorstanders with an open baffle for the top half of the speaker and a front woofer that sits in an open lower section and fires upward. This recipe creates an open, airy sound that creates a huge soundstage. Driven by Bryston amplification and using a Marantz SACD player as a source, the Orions sounded natural and expansive and utterly disappeared like few other speakers their size. The Orions are not cheap (they start at $14,750 which includes the active crossover analog signal processor) but they do offer a sound that competes with much more expensive designs.

Unison Research, Opera Loudspeakers and Cardas Audio at AXPONA NYC

Unison Research and Opera Loudspeakers, both made by the same Italian family just outside of Venice, have returned to the North American market after a two-year hiatus. AXPONA attendees were very enthusiastic about this announcement since many of them own the gear and love it. I've always enjoyed the hybrid Unico integrated amplifiers and came close to pulling the trigger on buying the original model--the only thing that stopped me was that I couldn't find a dealer nearby.

Unison and opera are now being distributed in Canada by Vince Scalzitti of Tri-Cell and by my good friend Colleen Cardas, who has just started CCI in order to be the US distributor. Here's a pic of Colleen and Bartolomeo Nasta of Unison/Opera in the CCI/Tri-Cell room.

Here's a look at the beautiful system they brought to AXPONA. The top component is the beautiful S6 integrated, which has 30 watts per channel of pure class A and is single-ended (parallel). Below that is the Unico Nuovo integrated, and at the bottom is the CDE CD player (which also has tubes--four of them!). The rack was from HRS and I was told it retails for $15,000, which is more than all the Unison components it shelved.

This gorgeous speaker is the Opera Grand Callas, and it sports four 5" magnesium cone woofers and no less than five tweeters--two on the front and three in the back. This unique arrangement gives a normally lush and warm speaker a lot of extension in the treble, making it sound very balanced overall. In other words, the Grand Callas were warm and romantic without sounding rolled off. I really loved their sound.

These are the original Opera Callas loudspeakers, the same ones that got a rave review from Sam Tellig a few years ago. You'll note that even though they're the bookshelf version of the Grand Callas, they still contain five tweeters each. When compared side by side, the smaller Callas sounded very similar to their larger sibling, with just a little less weight. Bartolomeo Nasta told me that in smaller rooms, he actually prefers the sound of the Callas to the Grand Callas.

This is the innards of the Unico Primo integrated, which is the direct descendant of the original Unico. Even though this is Unison's entry-level product (it will sell for around $2200), the layout and the parts quality is exceptional. It even has a nice thick faceplate.

Best of all, thanks to Colleen and Bartolomeo I'm going to get the whole system in for review. From the time I spent with it yesterday, I know I'm going to enjoy their visit.

Finally...show reports from AXPONA NYC!

I promised to start my show reports for AXPONA NYC yesterday, but it was such a whirlwind day that I didn't get a chance to sit down and write it all down. To put it succinctly, AXPONA NYC is busy, busy, busy. New York audiophiles are truly a breed apart--they are knowledgeable in their inimitable in-your-face way--and they showed up in droves for the first day. Most of the rooms were literally packed with people, and some exhibitors found themselves acting as traffic cops and attempting to control the flow of the crowds. This is my first audio trade show in NYC, and I've never seen anything like it...even at CES.

On the first day I heard a lot of great sound, and almost nothing weird, strange or overly-exotic. Compared to the AXPONA show in Atlanta two months ago, I'd say that the exhibitors were much more serious about their gear and really tried to assemble state-of-the-art systems. Again, this may have something to do with the high expectations of an informed NYC crowd.

Here at AXPONA NYC!

The grimy windows, the police sirens in the distance...it must be New York.

I'm actually excited to be here, and the Affinia Hotel is a great venue. I had about two hours of sleep before I caught the 6:20 out of Austin, and by 11am EST I was taking the Amtrak out of Newark to Penn Station. It's been a surreal day so far, and the nap didn't help, but I'll start my AXPONA NYC reports tomorrow.

AXPONA New York This Week!

Well, I'm off this week to another AXPONA show, this one in New York City. I haven't been in New York since the mid '90s, so I'll be excited to see all of the positive changes I've heard about.

In conjunction with CEA, Home Theater and Stereophile, the AXPONA NYC show takes place June 24-25 at the Affinia Hotel, located at 7th Avenue and 31st right across from Penn Station. Of course I'll be reporting right from the show, and hopefully I'll get some nice scoops.

After I'm done at AXPONA, I'm going to visit Jeff Joseph of Joseph Audio at his factory in Long Island. His amazing Perspective speaker is being readied for launch, and I'm hoping to get another listen.

Tickets for AXPONA are $25 per day, and the hours are 1-8 pm on Friday and 9am-5pm on Saturday. You can find out more from the AXPONA NYC website at http://www.axponanyc.com/.