Mark Fleischmann

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Ears On
Going Walkabout with a Walkman
Mark Fleischmann  |  Aug 05, 2016  |  1 comments
My job is to write audio equipment reviews and news briefs for our magazine. My hobby is to write this blog. Writing for a print medium means writing tight because there's only so much space to go around. That means routinely eliminating material. The temptation I face most often is to lard hardware reviews with music criticism. I'm a lapsed music critic and like to blur the boundary between tech criticism and music criticism as long as it doesn't disserve the tech-oriented reader. Recently I faced a similar temptation when reviewing a Sony Walkman and earbuds. It required a trip out of the office. Some impressions of the trip ended up on the cutting room floor. They weren't strictly necessary for the review, but they haunted me. I'll blog them here instead.

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Bookshelf Speaker Reviews
Quad Z1 Loudspeaker Review
Mark Fleischmann  |  Aug 02, 2016  |  1 comments

Performance
Build Quality
Value
PRICE $1,999 pr

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Ribbon tweeter for wide horizontal dispersion
Kevlar cone woofer with dual-chambered loading
Multi-layered, curved cabinet
Minus
Limited bass, typical of compact monitors

THE VERDICT
The Quad Z1 monitor uses a beautifully voiced ribbon tweeter to achieve improved room coverage versus a conventional dome tweeter.

Everything you think you know about Quad comes with a curve ball. Some might associate the name with quadraphonic sound, but in fact it originally stood for Quality Unit Amplifier Domestic. That name implies a mission involving amps, and Quad does make ’em—but as any longtime audiophile can tell you, the brand is best known for its large flatpanel electrostatic loudspeakers. Some of those graying audiophiles remember Quad as a British manufacturer, but it has been under the competent and enlightened ownership of Bernard and Michael Chang of Taiwan and their International Audio Group for more than a decade.

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Audio Video News
Charter Consolidates Cable
Mark Fleischmann  |  Aug 02, 2016  |  0 comments
A recent wave of cable-company consolidations is inexorably bringing the market under the dominion of ever fewer players. The latest mega-deal is the absorption of Time Warner Cable into Charter Communications in a $65.5 billion deal, which followed lengthy review by the FCC.
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Audio Video News
Samsung 837 Aims to Dazzle
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jul 21, 2016  |  0 comments
Nestled in the heart of the trendy Meatpacking District, Samsung 837 is Manhattan’s latest destination. It is not, however, a store...
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Portable Player Reviews
Questyle QP1R Music Player Review
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jul 19, 2016  |  0 comments

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $899

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Three gain settings
Heavy build and discrete components
Clickwheel nostalgia
Minus
No touchscreen or apps
No input for DAC use
No Bluetooth

THE VERDICT
Although short on some bells and whistles, the Questyle QP1R is a dedicated music player that offers four-figure sound and build quality at a three-figure price.

If you had chucked me into a time machine a decade ago, freed me today, then handed me the Questyle QP1R, naturally I’d mistake it for an iPod on steroids. With that clickwheel, it’s got to be an iPod, right? You’d have to explain to me that what Questyle calls the steering wheel isn’t identical to Apple’s clickwheel; here, the functions are divided differently among the wheel, its big central button, and the four vibrating touch-sensitive buttons around it.

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Audio Video News
Onkyo, Pioneer AVRs Do Tidal
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jul 13, 2016  |  0 comments
Tidal music streaming and FireConnect wireless multi-room connectivity are coming to AV receivers from Onkyo and Pioneer...
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Audio Video News
Sound & Vision Tech Tidbits July
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jul 07, 2016  |  0 comments
Facebook’s Virtual Reality technology uses dynamic streaming to offer multiple resolutions. It musters the highest quality in the center and lower quality in your peripheral vision...

Ultra HDTVs Occupied 40 percent of U.S. retail shelf space in late 2015, according to Quixel Research—although picture-improving HDR and other technologies are still developing. Shelf share of 1080p TVs dropped to 46 percent, from 71 percent 18 months before...

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Ears On
Loving LPs Is Easy, Storing Them Hard
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jul 01, 2016  |  4 comments
When it comes to my music library, sometimes I'm like a little kid. Buy now, think about the consequences later. My apartment was already groaning under the load of LPs, CDs, other media, and gear a year or two back when I suddenly went on an accelerated vinyl-collecting binge. When my workday was over, I'd sit in my armchair with a tablet, making one Ebay buy after another. On weekends I was off to Academy Records on West 18th Street in Manhattan to look for classical treasures (because classical vinyl is still cheap and cheap is what it's all about). Vinyl started overflowing from the shelves to the floor. Those LP-size BD/DVD-A/CD box sets made matters worse. Soon, and not for the first time in my life, I was in the throes of a full-blown LP storage crisis.

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Audio Video News
GigaMonster Looms Over ISPs
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jun 28, 2016  |  0 comments
Look out, cable ISPs. You’ve got another competitor to worry about in addition to Google Fiber: GigaMonster.
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Audio Video News
DirecTV to Stream—Free!
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jun 21, 2016  |  1 comments
AT&T-owned DirecTV is launching its own video streaming service. It will use both home and mobile broadband networks to reach smart TVs, tablets, phones, PCs, and streaming devices. Unlike DirecTV satellite service, it won’t require an annual contract, set-top box, or dish installation.
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