• pt.AUDIO’s Best Power Amplifiers | Buyers Guide Summer 2025
• Rhythm Central Records - Hoboken Pop Up Record Store
• PS Audio Octave Studios in Pure DSD256 - Jazz-classics - 1950s LP and Download
• Speaker isolation devices, do they WORK? - YouTube
• List your used Merrill Audio equipment for sale here

If this Newsletter was forwarded to you and you would like to receive it every month, please click HERE​

Element 110 Monoblocks
​
pt.AUDIO’s Best Power Amplifiers
​
Buyers Guide Summer 2025

Besides the reviewers choice award mentioned in last month's newsletter ;
the Element 110's are listed in pt.AUDIO’s Best Power Amplifiers | Buyers Guide Summer 2025.

A quote from the article:​
"Merrill Audio Element 110 ($14,000 pr USD)Merrill’s first GaN FET design knocks it out of the park–despite ample power, these monoblocks loved every speaker they were paired with, even high-efficiency designs. Exceptionally clean and fast, the 110s also deliver enough warmth to prove the adage that GaN FET makes class D sound like pure class A. “While the Merrills aren’t the kind of amps that consistently lull me to sleep due to that lushness I hold so dearly,” our reviewer decided, “they engage me with their their energy and their uncommon clarity.”
---Editor

RHYTHM CENTARL RECORDS
​
Pop up Store in Hoboken

​This is a collaboration with The Station which is a cannabis dispensary. Rhythm Central claims to have many first pressing.

• ​Vinyl + Vibes​
• The Station 86 River Street, Hoboken​
• Stop by The Station every Saturday to enjoy a record store experience filled with great vinyls + tunes by Rhythm Central Record

I have not been there yet. Merrill sent me the below photos. I wonder if he was there for the cannabis or the records? ---Editor

Jazz Classics - 1950s
​
Recorded in Pure DSD
​
at PS Audio's Octave Studio

By Alan Hyman, Editor​
I have bought a bunch of downloads from PS Audio but never one of their LPs. This time I purchased an LP and also a DSD128 download to compare. I was intrigued to find out how this pure DSD recording sounded in LP form.
​
​See below info copied from the PS Audio website in quotes:

"Recreated 1950s Classics​
Audiophiles seem to always be chasing after the best jazz recordings they can find and we don't often find them recorded in DSD256 through all vacuum tube Manley preamps with large capsule Neuman and Geffel condenser microphones. We decided to take matters into our own hands here at Octave Records and recreate some of the jazz classics that are well-known and well-loved across time. Jazz Classics: 1950s kicks off our mission of recording some of our favorite jazz compositions in high-quality DSD 256. Recorded at Octave Studios by Paul McGowan, this is his finest recording to date. Octave's collection of music captures some of the best of the 1950s.

Recording
​​
Jazz Classics: 1950s was recorded exclusively at Octave Studios in Pure DSD256 Production Credits: Louisa Amend- vocals Tom Amend - piano Seth Lewis - upright bass Braxton Kahn - drums Daryl Gott - alto saxophone Paul McGowan- recording and mix engineer, producer Jessica Carson - executive producer, producer, mix assistant Terri McGowan - assisting Gus Skinas - mastering engineer Tom Amend - arrangements & music director Emilie Druss - Art & digipak design Recorded and Mixed at Octave Studios, Boulder, CO.

Album Features

• One pressing Austrian gold-pressed dual-layer SACD
• Pure DSD + PROMastered CD layers
• Pure DSD recorded on the Pyramix DSD256 system
• DSD64, DSD128, DSD256, DSD Direct-Mastered 176.4kHz 24 bit, 88.2kHz 24 bit, 44.1kHz 24-bit PCM download
• CD layer of SACD playable on any CD player
• Mastering monitored through the PS Audio DirectStream DAC
• All tracks mixed on the PS Audio FR 30 reference loudspeaker in Octave Studios' Mixroom by Paul McGowan
• Limited edition one-pressing physical media

The Music

About

Tom Amend

With thoughtful arrangements by Octave artist, Tom Amend, and beautiful execution by some of Denver’s finest musicians in the jazz scene, Jazz Classics: 1950s takes us back in time to some of our favorite classic standards. Including tracks like You Go To My Head, made famous by Billie Holiday, the well-known Take 5 by Dave Brubeck Quartet, Ella Fitzgerald’s Sweetest Sounds and Lazy Bird by John Coltrane, this album breathes new life into old classics. Recorded in stunning DSD256, these recordings showcase clarity, space and soundstage that will shine on any good audiophile system."

Most of the files I have downloaded from PS Audio's Octave studio have been very good quality. I can now say the first Octave LP I've purchased sounds great as well!

Louisa Amend's vocals are especially captivating. She has such a beautiful voice that is produced so well as to sound like it is in the room. The rest of the group is outstanding too and brings you back to a simpler time with their musical prowess.

The LP comes out a head compared to the DSD128 download. But not by that much. There is more inflection in the vocals and the presentation has a larger soundstage and better depth. Still the DSD is enjoyable and is very good in those areas, just slightly less than the LP. My comments are in the context of listening to my own system. Could be different played on another.

You can't go wrong with either one. Buy my final answer is for the LP.

Editor's System:
Digital:​
Aurender N30SA streamer/server. Emm Labs DA V3 convertor. Synergistic Research (Ethernet Switch UEF with three Ethernet UEF filters, Galileo SX USB and Ethernet cables, SRX AES cable).
​Phono:​
Lyra Etna SL Lambda cartridge, VPI Avenger Basic TT with 12" 3D arm and Periphery Ring, VPI ADS speed controller, Merrill Audio Jens phono stage, Synergistic Research (Galileo SX phono cable, UEF Record Weight and UEF Platter Mat).
​Speakers, Amps, etc:​
Magico M6 speakers, Merrill Audio Element 118 amps, Constellation Virgo III preamp with optional DC filter, Synergistic Research (SRX & SRX XL cables, PowerCell 14 ac conditioner, Galileo SX Grounding Block).
​Room Acoustics:​
Real Traps Room Kit, Vicoustic Flat Panel VMT Absorbers, Synergistic Research (HFTs, Atmosphere Infinity and Black Box).
​Isolation:​
Synergistic Research Tranquility Bases powered by an LPS, MIG and SX footers. Various IsoAcoustic Footers, Arya Audio Labs RevOpod Footers under PowerCell 14, Three Merrill Audio Anjali Racks.

Speaker Isolation Devices,
​
do they WORK?

Very interesting video starring Mark Block on Steve Guttenberg's Audiophiliac YouTube channel. Informative and entertaining with some humor thrown in. I was there. ---Editor

Shortage of used Merrill Audio
equipment. List yours here.

All of our demo and used Merrill Audio equipment have been sold.
We have no inventory of used equipment.

Any reader that would like to list any Merrill Audio equipment can send me their contact info and or a link to an ad. I would be happy to list it here.

If you would like to comment on anything or subscribe in the
newsletter please email me at:
Alan@MerrillAudio.net
With your permission I will print your comments in a future edition.