Antonio Lysy At The Broad - Music from Argentina (2010) [DSD]

Please give two friends at International Rectifier a warm thank you. Mr. Vishwas Karve (Vice President for Strategy and Business Development) and Mr. Jun Honda (Director of Audio Systems Engineering) made this quartet of DSD albums possible in more ways than their generous financial sponsorship. Audiophiles may not recognize the name International Rectifier from equipment in their listening rooms but they probably do know the company from their high-tech stock portfolios. Audiophiles should appreciate the name International Rectifier, however, because much of the great music we hear flows through their circuitry. International Rectifier builds many components high-end audio manufacturers use in their products. Merging Technologies, for example, which builds the Hapi analog-to-digital converter we used in these albums, uses International Rectifier MOSFET amplifiers. In the “good old days,” a piece of equipment struggling to do the work of the Hapi would consume a great deal of electricity to run, and also generate a great deal of heat. This would require noisy fans or elaborate and very heavy designs for dissipating the heat.
4This International Rectifier quartet celebrates the tenth anniversary of the Class D Audio Applications Group which Jun Honda founded. Mr. Honda’s division at the company prides itself in designing and building high output amplifiers that deliver better and better audio quality using less and less electricity (and consequently generating less and less heat).The company is not willing to rest on its laurels. Vishwas mentioned Gallium Nitride (GaN), to me about a year ago. Gallium Nitride is a recent semiconductor material which outperforms today’s Silicon devices and is especially helpful for high power output devices. International Rectifier makes the first applications using Gallium Nitride. Music reproduction of the future may sound even better (and be even cooler and more energy efficient). As mentioned above, Jun and his team at International Rectifier do not make amplifiers or preamplifiers you will see in listening rooms. Using a culinary analogy, Jun joked with us that if the designers at the great amplifier manufacturers (like Merging Technologies in our case) are the five-star chefs, he views International Rectifier as one of the most important purveyors of organic meats and vegetables available. Jun and the company take great pride in the quality they make possible. Jun’s feeling about this progress is characteristically modest: “We are grateful to be a part of it,” he says.Please thank Jun in person next time you see him in the International Rectifier room at CES or at other audiophile electronics shows. Happy Tenth Anniversary!Bob