Magico and Linn need little introduction to audio aficionado. Both brands are formidable forces in the audio industry, and products from both these companies were being demoed in the Audio by Mark Jones room.
Those products were the Magico S3 Mkll speakers (62,000/pr), whose frequency range is rated as 24 Hz – 50 kHz, and a Linn LP12 Klimax turntable ($28,900, with arm) fitted with a Lyra Etna SL Lambda MC cartridge (15,000). Partnered with them were a 100Wpc CH Precision I1 integrated amplifier/DAC (starting at $52,000) equipped with the optional current sensing phono stage ($6000), cabling by Nordost ($various), and an equipment rack and platforms by Solidsteel ($various).
The first song I heard was the first track on the B-side of an LP edition of Lee Morgan’s classic album The Sidewinder. On a wrong system, an old Blue Note recording can sound either dull or weak in the bass because of the cuts engineer Rudy Van Gelder applied to high and low frequency extremes to emphasise the midband. Not this time. Along with sounding full, sweet, and detailed, “Candy” delivered a solid low-end foundation. Next track was again on vinyl—Nina Simone’s “Little Girl Blue”, where Simone’s voice is accompanied only by her piano. Both her vocals and piano notes sounded natural, fleshed out, tonally rich, and emotionally engaging.
As an audiophile and a voracious listener of all kinds of music, Jonson believes that the experience of being immersed in music is often something spiritual. Born and raised in Korea, he cut his teeth on western music mostly through the music of the 80s and the 90s. As of today, names that make his heart beat a little faster include Vladimir Horowitz, John Coltrane, Youn-Sun Nah, Francis Poulenc, Leonard Bernstein, Tannoy, and Magnepan. Jonson also runs a podcast and a YouTube channel about language learning, called SpongeMind.
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