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发表于 2010-5-12 23:16:34
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觉得What Hi-Fi不靠谱，那看看英国最老牌的古典音乐权威杂志Gramophone《留声机》对SR125的评论如何？
In years gone by, pickup cartridges were bought in large numbers as the whole world seemed keen to upgrade their record players with new pickups — or at least replacement styli. Europe's indigenous cartridge brands were joined by successful American imports mainly produced by hi-fl pioneers like Sidney Shure, Walter Stanton and Joe Grado. This pickup trade has shrunk considerably as the compact disc has largely superseded the LP.
However Goldring, while still manufacturing their own designs, took over the UK distribution of Grado Signature and Laboratory cartridges in February this year and in addition handle the company's Prestige range of five headphones as well. The relatively inexpensive SR-60 model (£89.95), reviewed by Geoffrey Horn in our June issue, has had a significant commercial success both here and in the USA in spite of, or perhaps partly because of, its being the cheapest in the range. The SR-125 model (L149.95) reviewed here is the middle-priced version and possesses a number of refinements.
Between you and me, my first thought when I examined these Grado headphones was how oldfashioned they looked. There has been no attempt to mould the plastics earpiece into tasteful shapes for cosmetic or comfortable wear reasons, but their ability to combine lightness with extreme rigidity and internal damping where needed has been put to good use. What we have are plain circular earpieces measuring only 55mm (2.2 in) across on to which are fitted removable black spongy earpads 78mm in diameter. The design is therefore supra-aural as the pads rest against the outer ear. The stirrup which holds the earpiece is again unadorned and allows a fair amount of tilting in the vertical plane. A straight pushthrough rod connects each stirrup to the headband so that the earpiece assemblies can rotate to any angle and be pushed away from the headband to accommodate any head size. The headband itself consists of a springy metal strip covered with black leathery material. This again harks back to very early headphone designs, as does the quite thick and stiff two-metre long connecting cable. This uses standard copper conductors, divides at a V-junction to feed the separate earpieces and is terminated in a gold-plated 6.3mm stereo jack plug.
There is nothing old-fashioned about the dynamic (moving-coil) transducer design. The 38mm diaphragm is made of low mass, transparent polymer, de-stressed to improve linearity of response. It has been formed in such a way, with a domed centre and corrugations at the outer rim, to reduce undesirable resonance modes. Mass and suspension compliance have been chosen for accurate placement of the main resonance to provide the target 20Hz-20kHz bandwidth free of low-frequency break-up. Bass response is enhanced by the provision of a rel atively large vented chamber, though the system is effectively open-back. The voice-coil uses high conductivity UHPLC (ultrahigh purity, long crystal) copper wire and is suspended in the field of a compact circular neodymium magnet giving high efficiency and control. After assembly the earpieces are pair matched to ensure optimum stereo imaging.
Performance
It so happened that I began my listening with a recently arrived CD of Daniel Barenboim conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in Bruckner's Eighth Symphony (Teldec CD 4509-94567-2). This is a live recording made in the orchestra's own Philharmonic Hall last year and I was delighted to hear an uncommonly natural spread of orchestral sound, courtesy of the SR-125s open-air design, so much more pleasing than the close in-head effect that headphone listening too often presents.
Of course switching between headphones and properly spaced loudspeakers (Quad ESL-63s) revealed the superiority of the lat ter from this soundstage point of view. Another plus point for these Grado headphones, however, was the fine tonal spread and balance not too far removed from that of the Quads themselves. Treble was lively without being chromium plated or tizzy, and bass seemed sufficiently extended to supply a solid foundation and realistic feeling of depth.
I could also hear occasionally something which I suspect was inaudible to the Philharmonic audience: Barenboim humming along with the music. I suppose this is a price we have to pay when the microphones unfortunately pick up an unwanted sound — perhaps a chair creaking or pages turning — and the special intimacy of headphone listening makes it more prominent. I did find that these headphones, though not at all designed to be particularly clever at excluding outside sounds, drew me into the musicmaking. Analytical listening was helped by the well-defined locations of individual instruments and voices. Centre soloists did tend to be somewhat in-head and not set back as in the loudspeaker situation, but only to a degree that I found perfectly acceptable.
One of my favourite CDs for checking this question of front-toback perspectives features Emma Kirkby beautifully recorded at a natural concert distance singing Mozart with the Academy of Ancient Music conducted by Christopher Hogwood (L'OiseauLyre CD 411 832-20H, 2/85). What was intended to be `a quick listen; turned into playing through the whole disc. I also found solo piano or guitar recordings very hard to switch off.
If headphones can be as musically satisfying as this, they must be pretty good. Though they weigh only about 150 grams, the SR-125's phones are not the most comfortable for protracted sessions, but their sound quality fully justifies that moderately high price. Take one of your favourite CDs along to your local dealer and see if you agree.
作者John Borwick，是英国一位颇有名气的Hi-Fi评论员，也是《留声机》杂志的音响主笔。 |
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发表于 2010-5-12 19:17:27
