2nd Edition
New Sensations
Here's what I've learned in my 35 years in the High End, first as a hi-fi salesman and then as a full-time reviewer and blogger: No hi-fi, no matter how expensive or exalted, will ever deliver the holy grail.
Recording of May 2014: The Imagined Savior . . .
WANTED: Jazz Hero. Must be willing and able to bring stunning new creative energies to a musical genre in danger of becoming stale and repetitive. Must be comfortable with a Marsalis level of celebrity. Saxophone or trumpet players preferred.
AXPONA Chicago Coverage Starts Friday
Jason Victor Serinus and Michael Fremer report live from the 2014 AXPONA (Audio Expo North America), April 25–27 in Chicago's Westin O'Hare. With 56 product introductions, this promises to the biggest and most comprehensive US consumer audio show east of Denver.
Record Store Day 2014
A month ago, flying to South By Southwest 2014, the numbers on paper were grim. According to the March 15, 2014 issue of Billboard the overall unit sales of music were down 12.2 percent year–to–date.
Book Review: Kansas City Lightning
A section of this biography, which documents the early life of the dazzling bebop saxophonist Charlie Parker, starts with a four-page meditation on "the truth and myth of railroads" in America.
Rotel RCD-955AX and RCD-965BX CD players
From the Corey Greenberg archives: On the mantel sat a stuffed Culo snake from Nuevo Laredo, with a red rubber tongue in freeze-frame flick. Above the bookcase hung the mounted head of a wild poi dog, killed in self-defense in Sri Lanka with only a Phillips-head screwdriver.
The 2014 Jazz Awards (and mine)
The Jazz Journalists’ Association announced its 2014 awards this week. I don’t think I’ve disagreed with so many of its picks.
Roger Waters in 5.1
On Saturday, April 12, John Atkinson and I fought our way through toll plazas, endless New Jersey traffic (is there any other kind?) and one really annoying traffic jam (but hey, it was only one!) to go to a listening session in McAlpin Hall.
Meridian's Spectacular Speaker Unveiling
Meridian Audio's co-founder Bob Stuart journeyed to Audio High in Mountain View, CA on April 8 for the US unveiling of Meridian's new Special Edition DSP Digital Active Loudspeaker.
Decca Sound: The Analogue Years
OK, this isn't jazz, but it's such a crazy bargain, I couldn't resist shouting it from my rooftop: Decca Sound, The Analogue Years 54 albums (and bits of several more) from the Decca label's heyday of classical recording (the mid-'50s to late-'70s), pressed in a boxed set of 50 CDs, selling for $129.
The Fifth Element #84
Were it my place to hand out awards for "The Most Forthright People in Audio," Michael Grace of Grace Design would be at the top of the list.
1st Edition
Parasound Halo P 5 2.1-channel D/A preamplifier
Asked how to make a guitar, the celebrated luthier Wayne Henderson offered a straight-up answer: "Just get a pile of really nice wood and a whittling knife. Then you just carve away everything that isn't a guitar."
Zesto Audio Leto line preamplifier
When Carolyn Counnas, co-founder of Zesto Audio, contacted editor John Atkinson to ask about getting the Leto, the company's tubed line stage preamplifier ($7500), reviewed in Stereophile, JA suggested that I do the job.
Listening #136
"For us, unlike other manufacturers, there are not degrees of clean. Our entry-level machine is as good as our top of our line when it comes to cleaning records; in between, it's just a matter of choices." Thus spoke Jonathan Monks.
The Entry Level #40
Today, the system sounds better than usual--in fact, amazing: warm, detailed, powerfully present, remarkably true. But how can this be? Isn't it more likely that my system, a well-considered but nevertheless inanimate, unfeeling collection of boxes and wires sounds today exactly as it did yesterday?
Kiko and that Lavender Moon
I can still see both their faces, the Los Lobos lovers and those who’d dismissed them as a roots rock band, albeit one with East Los Angelino Latino flavors, when the band’s masterpiece Kiko came out in 1992.
Three years ago, Ambrose Akinmusire, 28, burst upon the scene as the most promising young jazz trumpeter since Dave Douglas. His debut album, When the Heart Emerges Glistening (on the Blue Note label), was hailed (and not just by me) as one of the best of 2011.
Building a Better Hi-Fi Shop with a Little Help from Indiegogo
When high-end audio retailer AudioVision San Francisco got hit with an unexpected eviction notice, Antonio Long and Randy Johnson realized they had to either raise funds fast for a move or close up shop.
Live Report from SSI 2014
Robert Deutsch and Art Dudley file a comprehensive report from Salon Son & Image 2014 in Montreal!
2014 Recommended Components
Components listed here have been formally reviewed in Stereophile and have been found to be among the best available in each of four or five quality classes. Whether a component is listed in Class A or Class E, we highly recommend its purchase.
Source Stereophile
