2nd Edition
Pass Laboratories XA60.8 monoblock power amplifier
John Atkinson, too, is a hard man, at least when it comes to audio gear. When, in January 2014, he reviewed the Pass Laboratories XA60.5 monoblock amplifier, he concluded, "It is the best-sounding amplifier I have ever used." High praise.
Day 2 at the NYAS: a Binaural Video Report
Here's our second (of three) video show reports from the New York Audio Show that took place earlier this month at Manhattan's Park Lane Hotel.
Heed Audio Quasar phono preamplifier
As a kid growing up in Milford, Michigan, my big brother always had the classiest clothes, latest records, and sharpest gear. He danced in Cuban-heeled leather boots, I climbed trees in lace-up Keds. He spun Rolling Stones vinyl on a fabric-wrapped Zenith portable with detachable speakers, I blasted the Beatles from a tinny transistor radio.
Audeze LCDi4 in-ear headphones
Headphone listening has always been an important part of my audiophile life. In recent years I've been using at home Audeze's large, open-back, circumaural LCD-X headphones, which I bought after reviewing them for the March 2014 issue; and a pair of small Ultimate Ears 18 Pro in-ear monitors, which provide much better isolation on my subway commute to Stereophile's offices in Manhattan.
Listening #180: Swissonor TA10 tonearm
The Swissonor TA10, a contemporary tonearm designed for the Thorens TD 124 turntable (1959-1970), challenged me to set aside some of the things I thought I knew about phonography. On at least one of those counts, it succeeded.
Stereophile's Products of 2017
The mice in the walls call summer to close while nets come down and leaves turn dead red, but by the time you see this there'll be holiday music in the air . . . and some generous soul might, just might, sneak a few looks through this issue of Stereophile to see what gifts to buy before the tree goes up and presents are opened--and all will be nice!
Outlaw Audio RR2160 stereo receiver
For audiophiles of a certain age, the mere mention of NAD Electronics' original 3020 integrated amplifier (1980, designed by Erik Edvardsen), or Adcom's GFA-555 stereo power amplifier (1985, designed by Nelson Pass), conjures up happy memories of audio's last Golden Age--an idyllic time when working stiffs could luxuriate in the same audio arcadia as bankers and brokers.
Day 1 at the NYAS: a Binaural Video Report
In this video, we join Stereophile writer Herb Reichert (above right) as he explores the 2017 New York Audio Show that took place last weekend at the Park Lane Hotel--this is the first of three videos covering the show.
Why I Can't Stop Being an Audiophile
"Why can't you stop being an audiophile?" The question took me off-guard. It didn't come from one of the usual suspects, but from Louis, a sharp dressed, goateed, middle-aged man who was known, among his audio repair shop's clientele, for not only his virtuosity as a classical solo violinist, but his expertise--some would say his preternatural ability--in setting up turntables to sound their very best.
1st Edition
Capital Audiofest Show Report!
Stereophile's Art Dudley and Herb Reichert report their impressions from the Hilton Hotel Twinbrook in Rockville, MD. Big speakers! Little speakers! Weird speakers! More!!
Reviewer Profile Video: Tyll Hertsens
In this video, we visit Tyll Hertsens, Editor of Stereophile's sister site InnerFidelity.com, in Bozeman, Montana. Tyll is a connoisseur of headphones and portable audio products, and is somewhat of a YouTube sensation within the headphone community.
Jackie Shane on LP
There's a strain of music collector that lives for the obscure, the out-of-print, the never-heard- of-it before. Many are deejays--professional or only-in-their-minds. Whatever their status, they are the most dedicated crate diggers, content to spend hours laboriously going through boxes of 7 inch 45s, looking for their holy grail.
Margules Audio U280-SC Black power amplifier
The setting of the Prelude to our opera, The Margules Saga, is the California Audio Show, in August 2012. There, on first hearing Margules Audio's tube electronics, I wrote in my notebook, "great inner vitality, warm but with a welcome and appropriate bite."
Naim CD5 XS CD player
By no means could I undertake a survey of candidates for Your Last Perfectionist-Quality CD player--so far, my ongoing series of reviews has focused on models from Audio Note, Bryston, EAR, Luxman, and Metronome--without including Naim Audio.
Bill Evans, The Riverside Recordings at 45rpm
For all the stir over newly excavated tapes by Bill Evans (and the stir is justified), the heart of his discography--the stuff for which he's most celebrated now and will likely be for eons to come--beats in the albums he recorded on the Riverside label from 1956-62.
Music in the Round #87: Oppo UDP-205
For some months now, I've lived mostly without music. To survive the dust and grit of the renovation of our Manhattan apartment, all electronics had to be covered with heavy plastic, the speakers encapsulated in large green lawn bags, and the listening room partitioned off with a temporary wall.
Benchmark DAC3 HGC D/A preamplifier-headphone amplifier
Much has been written about the divide in high-end audio between subjectivists, who trust their ears, and objectivists, who believe that anything not scientifically proven is fake news. I respect both sides and am skeptical of both extremes, and I like to think that's how most audiophiles feel.
Rogue Audio RH-5 preamplifier-headphone amplifier
Every day in my bunker, I use one of a few high-quality headphone amplifiers to double as a line-level preamplifier-controller and operate as the quality-assurance reference for my ongoing audio experiments. I must choose this component carefully, because it determines the upper limit of my system's ability to reveal any subtle differences among components under review.
Reviewer Video Profile: Jason Victor Serinus
Following this year's Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, I trekked northwest to Port Townsend, Washington to observe Stereophile's one-and-only Jason Victor Serinus in his natural habitat.
Source Stereophile
