2nd Edition
Schiit Audio Ragnarok integrated amplifier
This is a story about vulgar words and what is likely one of the most innovative and exciting, yet self-consciously idiosyncratic, audio components of the 21st century: Schiit Audio's Ragnarok integrated amplifier ($1699).
PS Audio NuWave DSD D/A processor
Researchers at MIT recently discovered a "music channel" in the human brain. These neural pathways respond to all kinds of music--and only to music. "A listener may relish the sampled genre or revile it," Natalie Angier wrote in the New York Times.
Luxman EQ-500 phono preamplifier
I still remember how difficult it was for me to transition from mass-market to high-end audio. The former, for all its flaws, gave me things to do: switches to flip, buttons to push, knobs to turn, meters to watch.
Book Review: Lonely Avenue: The Unlikely Life & Times of Doc Pomus
Many people, after seeing him repeatedly at Manhattan's Forrest Hotel in the early 1960s, might have described the lyricist and songwriter Doc Pomus as the narrator of a Damon Runyon short story depicts himself: as someone "who is just around."
A Lady Audiophile Walks Into a Bar
A lady walks into an audiophile bar. She sees four men. They all turn to look at her. All the first audiophile sees is some lady in a bar. He thinks nothing more. Can't be bothered. Let's face it--how often do you even see a lady audiophile?
Vandersteen Model Seven Mk.II loudspeaker & M7-HPA monoblock power amplifier
I vividly remember a conversation with Richard Vandersteen at the turn of the century, when he predicted that the only audio companies that would flourish in the 21st century would be those that made products offering greater performance than the customer expected for their prices.
Wilson Audio Specialties Sabrina loudspeaker
I first encountered the work of Dave Wilson in the late 1970s. He was then a recording engineer responsible for some great-sounding records, including pianist Mark P. Wetch's Ragtime Razzmatazz (LP, Wilson Audio W-808), which quickly became one of my favorite system-demo records.
The Fallacy of Accuracy
I was in a strange mood last January when I posted this on Facebook: "Do speaker designers strive for accuracy, or for a 'sound' they think potential buyers want?" I doubted that any designer with two working ears would even attempt to design speakers that merely measured well--there must be at least some subjectivity in their process.
1st Edition
The Chicago AXPONA Starts Friday
111 seems to be the magic number for AXPONA 2016, aka Audio Expo of North America. Taking place April 15-17 in the Westin O'Hare in Rosemont, IL (near Chicago's O'Hare airport), AXPONA promises 111 exhibit rooms, including 29 larger meeting spaces which sometimes house multiple systems.
From the J. Gordon Holt Archives: Upward and (Hopefully) Onward
As we say on those little notes scrawled on Christmas cards, much has happened since last you heard from us. Among other things, we have reached an earth-shaking decision: we're going to have to raise our subscription rates.
From the Archives: Focal Aria 5 loudspeaker kit
You don't have to be a seasoned speaker builder to recognize the Focal name. For years they've offered the home constructor a full assortment of quality drivers and kits. The kits were designed in-house--mostly by Focal in France--and, according to Focal, they represent fully engineered and tested systems.
A Sonic Spectacular from Utah
Prediction: The visionary new music, system-testing percussion, and virtual rainbow of colors that distinguish Dawn to Dust, the latest hybrid SACD in Reference Recordings' Fresh! series, guarantee that it will become a hit among music-loving audiophiles who dare play tracks beyond 3 minutes in length.
Bonnie Raitt's Inexorable Rhythm
In conversation with Bonnie Raitt these days, one word continually jumps out: groove. She's speaking of her music, of course, but the blues singer and guitarist--her gifts as commanding as ever on her latest, Dig In Deep--has also survived some family struggles in the past decade that nearly forced her out of her personal groove.
From the J. Gordon Holt Archives: Nowhere to Go?
Our mail, in recent months, has brought a number of comments (some of them printed in this issue) from professional audio men who decry the fact that developments in the audio field seem to have come to a screeching halt.
Listening #160
In November of 1990, my wife and I traveled to the UK for our honeymoon, much of which was spent in Scotland. But we also spent a few days in London, and it was during that time that I discovered, in the Bloomsbury district, one of the finest classical-music record stores in the world: a two-story shop on New Oxford Street called Caruso & Company.
Elac Debut B6 loudspeaker
The first I heard about Elac's new Debut line of speakers was from two 12-year-olds at T.H.E. Show Newport Beach 2015. "Elac's room is making the best sound at the show," they said. Elac? I thought. I have an Elac Miracord 40A turntable. Hmmmm...
Source Stereophile
