As a lover of live music, I have attended literally hundreds of concerts by artists whom I enjoy and respect. The vast majority of these performances would fall under the very broad heading of ‘Americana’ music. In recent years, however, I have discovered that the live music experience is compromised by a number of factors, rude audiences and exorbitant ticket prices being two of the main culprits. The frequent consequence is that as often as not, I find myself anxiously waiting for the show to end so I can go home and actually enjoy the music. This is not to say that listening to music on my home system is the same as being there; it’s not. What I am suggesting is that in its own right, music played via the Paris 250 offers a different but equally rewarding experience. This is due to the fact that the Paris 250 provides a listening dynamic so convincing that almost no effort is required for me to believe that I am enjoying music that is happening in the here (i.e. my listening room) and now. Add candlelight and a bottle of good wine, and we have created the perfect ambiance for an intimate performance. To reinforce the fact that I may not be alone in arriving at this conclusion, it’s useful to know that just within the last several weeks, following a listening session, two guests in our home have stated that they would prefer the experience of listening to music played on the Paris 250 to a live show in a concert hall. It is important to understand here that these observations were unsolicited. The only opinion(s) I was seeking had to do with my friends’ thoughts about the music we were playing, not the equipment!

             Before we proceed any further, please allow me this disclaimer: Neither by vocation nor avocation am I an audio reviewer. The only change to my system since my earlier review is the upgrade to the Paris 250. All other related components - Exposure 2010S2 Integrated Amplifier, Fritz Carbon 7 Speakers, Twisted Pair Designs Ascent Series interconnects, Blue Jeans speaker cable - remain exactly as they were a year ago. All were purchased on my very limited retired school teacher’s budget, and it’s quite unlikely that any will be replaced in the foreseeable future. The fact that I have the upgraded Paris 250 in my system is first and foremost a testimonial to Oracle’s first-rate customer service, but also a happy consequence of the fact that I live only about an hour from the Oracle base of operations in Sherbrooke, Quebec. The one visible indication of the upgrade is a new faceplate on which the small icons for manual operation (Play, Stop, Skip, etc.) have been re-created with a clearer and easier-to-read white on black contrast. So how does the performance of the Paris 250 improve with the upgrade? Well, on more than one occasion, I’ve read declarations to the effect that “the music lives in the midrange.” If my experience with the Paris 250 is any indicator, I would not be inclined to disagree. Though I never would have noticed it before the upgrade, I now realize that the sound in the midrange was, by comparison and for lack of a better term - slightly thinner. With the upgrade, it is even more fully realized. The blending of instruments and vocals is even more precise than in the Paris 250’s initial incarnation, further conveying the impression that the musicians are present in the listening room. What we have here is not a “wall of sound” dynamic. Rather, immersion is the word that comes to mind. The music is unrestrained. Arriving in layers, it inhabits the acoustic space and surrounds the listener. The organic texture of acoustic instruments and the human voice is perfectly rendered. At no time have I ever heard components creating this impression to the degree that my own system conveys with the Paris 250 as its centerpiece.

              For 25 years, my go-to reference for evaluating new components for my system has been Famous Blue Raincoat, Jennifer Warnes’ wonderful collection of songs by Leonard Cohen. To succumb to the presumption that this is merely a selection of “covers” - a term I dislike intensely - would be to fall far short of the truth. As a close friend of Leonard Cohen and a backup singer in his band, Ms. Warnes lived with these songs for many years. Consequently, she is widely recognized as an extraordinary interpreter of Leonard Cohen’s work, and on this superb recording, she makes each of the nine songs (or thirteen on the recent Porch Light re-issue) uniquely her own. No song in the set demonstrates this better than the sublime “Joan of Arc,” a nearly eight-minute masterpiece throughout which she and ‘Lenny’ himself engage in a dialogue between the song’s heroine and the fire which is about to consume her. The experience of hearing this tour de force via the Paris 250 conveys the compelling impression that the singers, their accompanists, and the “Angel Choir” supporting them have taken on a virtually palpable presence.

             From my point of view, one of the more important offerings of the last year or so is Live at the Academy of Music 1971, the The Band’s wonderful upgraded release of the Rock of Ages Concerts. This is a recording that I have cherished since it first became available on vinyl as Rock of Ages in 1972. When I played this new recording on the pre-upgraded version of the Paris 250, I was thrilled with the improvement in the sound. Clearly, this was as good as it could get. Well, think again! As great a job as the Paris did right out of the box, I was unprepared for the degree of change I was hearing with the upgrade. The definition of both vocals and instruments must be heard to be believed. “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” provides a perfect example. The subtle but powerful contribution of Richard Manuel’s amazing falsetto in the refrain emerges with pristine clarity. Chills!

               Let me conclude with this simple (albeit lengthy) question: With all factors considered, would I rather be sitting in a concert venue for a performance by one of my favorite artists or relaxing in my listening room with a recording by that same artist playing on my Oracle Paris 250- based audio system? Without hesitation, the answer is that I would choose the music in my listening room every time. In essence, the introduction of the Oracle Paris 250 as a primary source component in my audio system compensates completely for whatever void the prohibitive concert ticket prices have created. In my experience, no other component allows recordings to fully realize their potential as recordings to the degree that the Paris 250 has achieved. The Oracle Paris 250 really is that good.

Jim Laclair

June 2015