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Neil Gader’s Best Of RMAF 2009

Neil Gader’s Best Of RMAF 2009

Best Sound

The TAD Reference One loudspeaker in the Kimber/WBT demo room (with Bel Canto’s DAC3.5, the CD2 player transport, Virtual Battery Supply, Ref 500M monoblocks and all WBT terminated Kimber Kable) produced effortless orchestral weight, scale and dynamics that were remarkable in the huge space they were occupying. The only “bargain” $60K speaker I’ve ever heard.

Greatest Bargain

All the weird cylindrical Thingee products from Blue Circle Audio-from their USB DAC to headphone amp, phono stage and conditioners. All exquisitely ugly, all wonderfully cheap and great sounding.

Most Significant Product Intro

Significant because analog just never quits and apparently neither does Jim Fosgate. His Fozgometer Azimuth Range Meter ($250) uses operating principles derived from his surround processor logic steering circuits and reads channel separation and balance as well as signal direction. This year’s preferred pure analog stocking stuffer.

Greatest Technological Breakthrough

Bargain or breakthrough, only time will tell is the devilsound DAC digital audio cable v2.1, or Snowflake, where the entire soundcard circuitry was engineered to fit into a single USB to RCA cable. Driving the Vivid Audio Giya speakers in the Luxman/Synergistic room the sound had everyone fooled. Plug and play, cryogenically treated, pure silver RCAs terminated by Eichmann silver bullet plugs for just $399.

Most Important Trend

The year of the DAC attack. Internal or out-board, via USB or SPDIF or Firewire, the computer and other server-style and solid state devices are now an integral part of the high end toolbox.

Best Demo Music

Your demo music, whatever it is, is the best. Intimate familiarity with the material is the only way to really assess what a system is doing. One of the nicest things about RMAF is how welcome the exhibitors make attendees feel by inviting them to play their own faves.

Tags: ROCKY MOUNTAIN AUDIO FEST

Neil Gader

By Neil Gader

My love of music largely predates my enthusiasm for audio. I grew up Los Angeles in a house where music was constantly playing on the stereo (Altecs, if you’re interested). It ranged from my mom listening to hit Broadway musicals to my sister’s early Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Beatles, and Stones LPs, and dad’s constant companions, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. With the British Invasion, I immediately picked up a guitar and took piano lessons and have been playing ever since. Following graduation from UCLA I became a writing member of the Lehman Engel’s BMI Musical Theater Workshops in New York–working in advertising to pay the bills. I’ve co-written bunches of songs, some published, some recorded. In 1995 I co-produced an award-winning short fiction movie that did well on the international film-festival circuit. I was introduced to Harry Pearson in the early 70s by a mutual friend. At that time Harry was still working full-time for Long Island’s Newsday even as he was writing Issue 1 of TAS during his off hours. We struck up a decades-long friendship that ultimately turned into a writing gig that has proved both stimulating and rewarding. In terms of music reproduction, I find myself listening more than ever for the “little” things. Low-level resolving power, dynamic gradients, shadings, timbral color and contrasts. Listening to a lot of vocals and solo piano has always helped me recalibrate and nail down what I’m hearing. Tonal neutrality and presence are important to me but small deviations are not disqualifying. But I am quite sensitive to treble over-reach, and find dry, hyper-detailed systems intriguing but inauthentic compared with the concert-going experience. For me, true musicality conveys the cozy warmth of a room with a fireplace not the icy cold of an igloo. Currently I split my time between Santa Fe, New Mexico and Studio City, California with my wife Judi Dickerson, an acting, voice, and dialect coach, along with border collies Ivy and Alfie.

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