Get Stereophile along with 7,500 + other magazines &amp; newspapers

CH Precision D1.5 SACD/CD/MQA-CD Player/Transport

There’s a school of thought that maintains that among all hi-fi components, the D/A converter is easiest to perfect or come close to perfecting. Just make sure that every sample is converted accurately, that there’s little rolloff in the audioband, that aliased images are suppressed almost completely, and that background noise is extremely low, and you have a top-quality D/A processor. Use of a high-quality DAC chip is assumed.

Analog Corner

Paradox’s remarkable Phono 70 Signature MC phono preamplifier

GRAMOPHONE DREAMS

Stax, EAR, and Bob’s Devices

SINGING TO THE SOUL

THE MAGIC OF ART SONG ON RECORD

MayFly Audio Systems MF-201A LOUDSPEAKER

If you’ve ever read Homer’s Iliad, you probably remember the Cata-log of Ships at the beginning. It’s an exhaustive record of the contingents the Achean army deployed against Troy, naming the commanders, their hometowns, the number of ships in each contingent, and more. Not to put too fine a point on it, it’s a snoozefest. It makes you dread what’s next. But of course, if you come to this point only to abandon the Iliad in frustration, you’ll miss the fabulous war epic that follows, chockablock with action, drama, and romance.

Gold Note PH-1000 PHONO PREAMPLIFIER

Gold Note’s $11,999 PH-1000 is by a con-siderable margin the most sophisticated, most configurable phono preamplifier that any audio manufacturer has ever produced, at least that I know of. Remarkably, considering all that flexibility and sophistication, using and adjusting the PH-1000 is straightforward.

“Music Was Mine to Experience.”

For all its ghastliness and heartbreak, the COVID-19 pandemic has been good to Keb’ Mo’. When the virus hit the US, it forced the cancelation of a string of his concerts. “I was getting a little burned out on touring,” he confesses.

February 2022

Book Review

The Secret History of Washington, DC, R&B

4 mins read

January 2022

Forget about the sound of the recording.

MY BACK PAGES

5 mins read