2nd Edition
The January 2015 issue is here!
We kick off the New Year with the "Loudspeaker issue"-- there are seven models reviewed at all price levels, from Vienna Acoustics, Sjöfn, Monitor Audio, Wharfedale, DeVore Fidelity, Revel, and KEF, a review of an affordable subwoofer from SVS, and an interview with veteran speaker designer Michael Kelly of Aerial Acoustics.
Stereophile's Products of 2014
Once a year I am jarred to find in my inbox a message from John Atkinson with the curious subject line "POTY." I am scarcely old enough to be perturbed: Every 12 months, I have to be re-reminded that POTY stands for Product of the Year.
Cambridge Audio Azur 851D D/A processor
After spending the last year listening to domestically manufactured DAC-preamps costing $6000 and up, I was curious to hear how a product costing only a quarter of the bottom of that range might stack up.
PrimaLuna DiaLogue Premium HP integrated amplifier
Ever since I reviewed PrimaLuna's ProLogue Premium, for the June 2012 issue, it has been the model I would turn to when I wanted a moderately priced integrated amplifier to try with a new speaker.
Gramophone Dreams #2
Since hi-fi's postwar beginnings, hundreds of high-quality audio inventions for the home have thrilled and satisfied music lovers worldwide. But inevitably, no more than a few score companies, and maybe a dozen or so engineer-designers, have defined audio's most creative and enduring achievements.
The Best Jazz Albums of 2014
The audiophiles among you must be wondering how these albums sound. Well, I didn't select them on sonic criteria, but they won't disappoint by that standard: only a few rise to the status of ear candy, but none detract from the music.
Stayin' Humble on the Sonic Highway
Dave Grohl deserves respect if for no other reason that he’s gone from playing drums in Nirvana (i.e. staying with Kurt and Krist) to playing guitar and being the singer and loquacious front man of The Foo Fighters.
Promates: The World's First DXD Download Store
The world's first download site devoted exclusively to ultra hi-resolution DXD downloads, Promates Music Store, has launched from Copenhagen.
Music Hall Ikura LP player & Ortofon 2M Blue phono cartridge
The call I received from Music Hall's Leland Leard surprised me: "Hey, Bob, I think you'd be the perfect guy to review our new Ikura turntable!"
The Fifth Element #88
The Planets is the definitional crowd-pleasing orchestral warhorse--there are more than 40 recordings of it currently available in a dizzying array of over 90 couplings, sets, and formats. Add versions on synthesizer, pipe organ, brass ensemble, et al, and the total exceeds 100.
Brothers And Sisters
And so the first item to catch my eye was Mobile Fidelity's newly remastered LP pressing of Brothers and Sisters (1973) by The Allman Brothers Band. It also comes as an SACD if you prefer. This is the second time that MoFi, which is now owned by Music Direct, has reissued this album, the first being in 1994 (on CD) and 1995 (LP).
Listening #144
No doubt every model in the current Jaguar lineup is at least good, if not great. Their specs speak of high power, nimble handling, blinky acceleration, and no shortage of creature comforts.
1st Edition
Frank Kimbrough, Quartet
A few times, while watching the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra at New York City's Jazz Standard last week (and, by the way, they were as wondrous as ever), I reflected how central the pianist, Frank Kimbrough, is to her sound: his lush improv intros, the rich harmonies he infuses even in the most routine comping.
Ayre Acoustics KX-R Twenty line preamplifier
The experience left me doubting my ears. After I'd performed all the measurements of Ayre Acoustics' KX-R preamplifier ($18,500) to accompany Wes Phillips's review in our November 2008 issue, I spent a weekend listening to it. To my astonishment, the sound of my system with a Transporter D/A processor feeding the preamplifier was better than when the DAC fed the power amplifier directly.
Recording of December 2014: Love Power Peace: Live at the Olympia, Paris, 1971
n the one scene in the new James Brown biopic, Get On Up, that's actually about his music, JB, who began his career in music as a drummer, tells his horn section to "sound like a drum." It also shows him being dictatorial and harsh, traits that contributed to his losing several bands' worth of key musicians over the years.
Thinking Outside the Niche
With increasing frequency, many audiophiles and industry professionals have accepted that the quest for highest-quality sound quality is a luxury and esoteric pursuit that, by its very nature, can appeal to only a small niche market. According to this view, the masses--the 99%, if you will--are either satisfied with Pioneer, Bose, Samsung, Dr. Dre, and iPhone/Android/tablet sound; can't tell the difference between quality and dreck; or will never have the money or imagination to move beyond lowest-common-denominator sound.
Hear The Wind
Much as I love his music and respect the role he played in helping to create what became country rock, the belief that Gram Parsons is God has, like most religions, a number of holes. Yes, the ever expanding Parsons star–crossed mythology has it all: a wealthy dissolute southern upbringing, a semester at Harvard, rock star drug buddies like Keith Richards, the discovery of Emmylou Harris, and of course the fatal OD at Joshua Tree.
Stereophile's Products of 2014
The December issue is here and it features our annual "Products of the Year" (cutely referred to as "PotY" in-house). 67 products made it through to the final round of voting from the magazine's editors and reviewers--read Art Dudley's comments to find out who the winners are.
Harry Pearson, 1937–2014, a Personal Appreciation
I was shocked when I learned that my dear friend Harry Pearson had passed away, on November 4. Harry founded the subjective audio magazine The Absolute Sound and published his first issue in 1972. He was enamored of what J. Gordon Holt had done in creating the first American subjective audio magazine, Stereophile, a decade earlier, but Harry wanted to take the concept to another level.
Classic J. Gordon Holt: Credibility Gap
To audiophiles who are aware that their household line voltage changes under varying loads, and have observed the absolutely fantastic differences in the sound of their system when the next-door neighbor turns on Junior's night light, it may come as a surprise to learn that there are folks out there who think you're full of crap.
Classic J. Gordon Holt: Absolute Phase: Fact or Fallacy?
Natural sounds produce different waveshapes during their positive and negative phases, and playback-system polarity reversal often changes the reproduced sound. Does this mean our ears are phase-responsive, or is there something else here we've been overlooking?
Source Stereophile
