This ain’t your grandma’s tea kettle. The KitchenAid Gooseneck Kettle is more like something 007 would use and right now, it’s more than 50% off as part of Best Buy’s Deal of the Day.
In addition to looking cool as heck, the stainless steel gooseneck kettle — perfect for tea or coffee — sits atop its own electric heat source and quickly heats to temperatures customizable in 1-degree increments, ranging from 140 to 212 Fahrenheit. The on-lid display shows you exactly how hot the water is for a perfect brew every time.
And maybe you’ve heard of pour-over coffee? It’s one of the best ways to get consistent and clean coffee, but requires a precision pour over the ground beans. This KitchenAid kettle with slim gooseneck spout is designed to give you just the control you need.
Right now, and for today only, the kettle is down to under $50 (it’s originally $100). By comparison, the same kettle sells for $100 on KitchenAid’s website and since Best Buy offers free shipping on the unit (or pick up at your local store), the price you see is the price you get.
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Amazon has also matched Best Buy’s one day sale price (plus free shipping) in case you’d prefer to order from Jeff Bezos’ outfit.
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Linear Tube Audio is an American high-end company that specializes in producing tube electronics designed by David Berning. That’s interesting because Berning has his own company, but the components it produces are a lot more expensive than LTA’s. Both companies offer designs that are radically different from traditional tube amplifiers, and don’t have the euphonic sound most people associate with tubes. Case in point: The LTA Z10 is a stereo tube integrated amp that produces incredibly clear sound with speakers or headphones.
The Z10 by the numbers
The Z10 has five analog-only inputs (four RCA, one XLR balanced), tape input and output jacks, two 6.3mm headphone jacks, an LED that’s easy to read from across the room and a linear power supply.
It’s a Class AB amplifier rated at 10 watts per channel with 8 ohm speakers, 12 watts for 4 ohm speakers. That might not sound like much, but we’re talking about quality not quantity of power here. The Z10 played loud enough for me.
The Berning’s tech is one of the reasons the Z10 sounds more transparent than any comparably priced tube amp in my experience. The design uses two 12AT7s, four 12AU7s and four EL-84 tubes. Where most tube-based power amplifiers use special transformers to couple the power tubes to the speaker outputs, the Z10 does not. Instead, the design features a zero hysteresis transformer-less technology patented by Berning. The result is an amp that runs much cooler than most tube designs, which leads to longer-than-average tube life expectancy.
The Linear Tube Audio Z10 rear panel
Linear Tube Audio
The Z10’s black aluminum chassis is designed and made by Fern & Roby in Richmond, Virginia; the electronics are hand crafted by LTA in Takoma Park, Maryland. The Z10 build quality and parts selection are exceptional and use expensive Belleson regulators, a remote controlled stepped attenuator (volume control) with Vishay Dale resistors, Mundorf capacitors, etc. It’s labor-intensive work: It takes two days to build and test each Z10.
The amplifier is sold direct by Linear Tube Audio for $4,900 with a two-year warranty and a 14-day home trial offer. It’s expensive, but when you consider the prices at Berning’s own company are a lot higher — they start at $33,000 for his Quadrature Z and run up to $80,000 for the Berning 845 Monoblock amplifiers — the $4,900 Z10 price is a little easier to swallow.
Uniquely, the amp came with an Apple TV Remote preprogramed for use with the Z10. The amp itself is 16 inches wide, 5.2 inches tall and 16 inches deep, and it weighs 18 pounds.
Tubes and the search for beauty
Over the course of my Z10 listening tests I switched between two sets of speakers, the low-sensitivity KEF LS50 and the high-sensitivity Klipsch Forte III speakers. I expected the Z10 would be a great match with the super easy-to-drive Forte III, and it was. The LS50 gobbles power so it wasn’t an obvious choice, but it also sounded terrific at low to moderately loud volume. I’ve always preferred listening to the LS50s close up, from six feet away, and when you’re not trying to fill an entire room with sound you don’t need a lot of watts.
The Z10 won’t click with buyers seeking a romantic tube sound, that’s not what this one is all about. There’s nothing vintage about the sound; to the contrary the Z10 is a high-resolution champ, big on transparency and presence.
New Orleans great Dr. John’s solo piano recordings packed a wallop, his large and small dynamics were faithfully reproduced by the Z10 over the Forte III speakers. The treble is brilliant, super clear, wonderfully transparent and never fatiguing. Then again, play an overly crisp recording like Miles Davis’ Water Babies and the Z10 won’t lessen the edge, it just lets it be.
Mac Quayle’s Mr. Robot Vol. 4 synth-heavy soundtrack gave the Forte III’s 12-inch woofers a serious workout. Bass depth and definition were well-ordered; but high-impact, room-shaking bass, not so much. There’s no muddiness down there of the sort I get from a lot of tube amps.
The Forte III are very high-sensitivity speakers, so sure, 10 watts per channel worked wonders and played loud, but what about speakers with much lower sensitivity? I popped on a set of KEF LS50s, and the delectable textures tearing through Yo La Tengo’s Electr-O-Pura album made me smile. The stereo soundstage was broad, with a good sense of three-dimensional body.
Sticking with the LS50s with Elliot Smith’s I Didn’t Understand it was the immediacy of the music that grabbed me. The sound was so full of life. I was very aware of Smith’s breaths as he sang, as if he was in the listening room with me.
Ten or 12 watts won’t cut it for buyers who want to party and there’s no way around that, even with high-sensitivity speakers. That said, the Z10 will click with a lot of audiophiles.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t make note of the Z10’s talents with headphones.The all-tube amp driving the speakers also drives headphones, only just reduced in power. The Z10 powers hungry high-end headphones like the Hifiman HE1000v2 and Abyss AB1266 with ease.
I also enjoyed the Z10 with the Massdrop/Sennheiser HD6XX and Beyerdynamic T1 headphones. The Z10 sounded a little more like a traditional tube amp on headphones, the velvety smoothness and wide-open spaciousness were addictive. Cymbals sizzled and crashed with dazzling realism.
The Linear Tube Audio Z10 is a very special amplifier, and one I won’t soon forget. It combines the allure of tubes with the precision of a solid-state amp. The only question is whether the Z10 is powerful enough for you. I’m not a believer in buying powerful amps based on the notion that they’re “loafing” when played at moderate volume. I much prefer using low-power/higher- quality amps for that purpose.
Noho Sound & Stereo has a younger vibe than the other high-end shops I’ve visited over the past few years. There’s an energy to the place, which stems from the owners Alex Roy, Ron Kain, Chris Petranis and their desire to attract a younger clientele.
Noho Sound is reaching them through social media, and they regularly host live music concerts for 50 to 100 people in the store, in a nearby loft space and at the World of McIntosh townhouse in New York City.
Noho also has a relationship with Groupmuse, a platform that brings classical chamber music concerts into people’s homes and businesses. Those Noho shows are attracting Julliard students, and the store also does jazz and rock concerts. There are also themed listening nights, with a wide range of recorded music.
By exposing people to great music right away, those potential customers are then encouraged to listen to these new favorite songs on Noho Sound’s systems. Hearing and feeling their music in a different, more meaningful way changes people. Not everyone of course, but some get it, and they come away knowing great sound changes the way they feel about music. That’s what brick and mortar audio stores offer that you can’t get online.
Noho Sound also seems to be attracting a lot more women, who in my experience often feel ignored at other high-end shops. That’s wonderful news right there.
NYC’s newest high-end audio shop caters to the youth movement
Noho Sound’s selection of high-end brands range from Audio Research, Aurender, DeVore Fidelity, Focal, McIntosh Labs, Musical Fidelity, Naim, Sonus Faber, Sonos, and U-Turn Audio to name a few. There’s lots of expensive gear, but complete system prices start around $1,300. Bottom line: Buying and owning an audio system should be fun, and that’s what Noho Sound is all about.
The store operates on an appointment-only basis.
Tech Culture: From film and television to social media and games, here’s your place for the lighter side of tech.
Batteries Not Included: The CNET team shares experiences that remind us why tech stuff is cool.
One of my audiophile pals tipped me off to the Little Labs Monotor, and I’m glad he did! Little Labs is a pro sound company, but there’s no reason why audiophiles wouldn’t find a lot to like about their Monotor headphone amp. It’s made in the US and lists for $600, but street price is $540, (£500, AU$899).
The Little Labs Monotor amp, with a set of Master & Dynamic MH40 headphones
Steve Guttenberg/CNET
The Monotor’s compact chassis houses two completely independent stereo amps, one for each pair of 6.3mm and 3.5mm headphone jacks, so you can play two headphones without forfeiting sound quality. Little Labs also claims you can run four headphones at a time with only a slight loss in sound quality. I tried playing four headphones and indeed, the sound was fine. I just wish the Monotor had separate volume controls for each headphone jack, but space on the front panel is very limited. The company is tight-lipped about the details of the amp’s circuitry, other than to say it’s a super-simple design. Its desktop-friendly size measures a scant 1.6 by 4.2 by 7.1 inches (40 by 106 by 180mm); the Monotor’s external power supply is no puny wall wart, it’s a 2.4-by-2.8-by-6 inch (63-by-72 -by-153mm) brick that looks like it means business.
This little amp doesn’t have a built-in digital converter, which I prefer because converter tech changes all the time. I used Schiit Bifrost Multibit and BorderPatrol converters with the Monotor.
The first headphone I grabbed to try with the Monotor was a Hifiman HE400S, which remains my choice for best-sounding full-size headphons and runs $300/£239/AU$439. The Monotor was an ideal match and brought out the best in the HE400S’ remarkable transparency, uninhibited dynamics, super-low distortion, clear treble and taut bass. With audiophile recordings like Austin Wintory’s “The Banner Saga,” I could hear super-quiet details in the mix. The Monotor may have been designed for the pro market, but it sounds like an audiophile headphone amp to me.
To check on the Monotor’s compatibility with high-impedance headphones, I plugged in my 300 ohm Sennheiser HD 580s. No problem — these 18-year-old ‘phones’ transparency and openness were truly exceptional. Jazzy hip hop band Too Many Zooz’ “Subway Gawds” album kicked butt, and the tenor sax’s growl made the hair on my arms stand up — it’s a great recording!
Since the Monotor also sports 3.5mm jacks, I plugged in a few in-ear headphones — namely, the Campfire Lyra II and Beyerdynamic Xelento. The little amp was noise-free, and trust me on this, a lot of otherwise respectable headphone amps have too much internal noise and hum to be suitable for use with in-ear headphones (which are much more sensitive/efficient) than full-size ‘phones. The Monotor had no problems, and if you’ve only played in-ear headphones with your smartphone you’ll be amazed by how much better they are with a great amp like the Monotor. In-ears’ bass power, definition, overall dynamics and treble air will all be much improved with the Monotor.
To finish up, I compared the Monotor with an Audeze Deckard headphone amp ($699,£599, AU$1,149). For these comparisons I used AudioQuest NightOwl headphones. The Deckard has a robust sound, with a warm midrange and controlled treble. Switching over to the Monotor lightened the tonal balance, and resolution improved. The music seemed livelier with country singer Alison Krauss’ new “Windy City” album via the Monotor. I liked the Deckard’s richer balance, but the Monotor seemed to liberate the music more.
While pro audio and high-end audio manufacturers aim for great sound, they sometimes seem at odds with each other. Not this time: the Little Labs Monotor will please the most discerning audiophiles, and I love that this amp has four headphone jacks. So if you have a lot of ‘phones, you can plug ’em in and swap between four of them to your heart’s content.
Last Friday I attended a press preview for the new Martin Logan Neolith electrostatic speaker at the Stereo Exchange store in New York City. It’s a statuesque beauty, standing 74.8 inches tall (190cm), and weighing an impressive 385 pounds (174kg), the Neolith is a force to be reckoned with! Decked out in brilliant Rosso Fuoco gloss red paint, with a large transparent electrostatic panel, the Neolith certainly looks like an exotic ultra-high-end speaker.
Listening to a pair of these beauties unleashing the full force of Igor Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” with the volume peaking at 107 decibels left no doubt about the speakers abilities. That’s really loud, but it didn’t feel that loud, probably because the Neoliths were merely cruising at that volume, so distortion remained low. I don’t usually like listening that loud, but the Neoliths were so easy on the ears I didn’t mind. Resolution is superb; if you crave maximum detail, the Neoliths deserve a serious audition. Big speakers like this do large scale music better and far more realistically than smaller speakers.
The Neoliths’s huge sound field projected forward into the room and well out to the sides of the speakers, so with my eyes closed I couldn’t tell where the sound was coming from. Soft-to-loud dynamics were tremendous, and the bass power from the Neoliths’ front 12-inch (30.4cm) carbon fiber woofer, and rear-mounted 15-inch (38.1cm) aluminum woofer were truly visceral in their impact. The two woofers handled frequencies from 250 Hertz down, frequencies from 250 Hz up to 22,000 Hz were generated by the Neolith’s curved 22×48-inch (122x56cm) electrostatic panel. That technology has been used in every Martin Logan electrostatic speaker since 1983, but the Neolith’s panel is the most advanced and largest ever produced by Martin Logan.
The entire, front and rear, surface of the massive electrostatic panel radiates sound. Which is part of the reason the panel produces lower distortion than cone and dome drivers. The Martin Logan website has a detailed explanation of how electrostatics work.
The proof is in the listening, and even a cursory audition of the Neolith reveals its extraordinary performance capabilities. The Neolith is a statement product, designed to advance the state of the art of sound reproduction; the US price is $80,000 per pair and production will commence early next year. Martin Logan speakers are available through dealers in the UK and Australia, and though the Neolith’s price has not yet been set for those regions, a direct conversion would be about £51,100 or AU$96,400. Additionally, Martin Logan offers a complete line of far more affordably-priced electrostatic and conventional speakers.
