National pride is the damnedest thing. When I was growing up in the Netherlands, schoolchildren were taught that the inventor of the printing press was a Dutchman named Laurens Janszoon Coster. Germany’s Johannes Gutenberg was waved away as an also-ran, if he was mentioned at all.
Since then, the Dutch have claimed other engineering and technology triumphs that aren’t quite so dicey. Take the world of audio. Dutch innovators at Philips gave us the audio cassette (for which I beg your forgiveness). Two decades later, they and their Sony colleagues upped the game with the Compact Disc—and randomly decided on the diameter of the center hole by making it exactly the size of the pre-Euro Dutch dime. A Dutchman came up with Bluetooth. Top high-end brands like Mola Mola and Hypex hail from the Netherlands.1
So does PrimaLuna. For almost 20 years, the company has built a solid reputation making high-quality tube gear—that still offers remarkable value, even after the price of its cheapest products rose from $1095 in 2003 to $2795.
I own the PrimaLuna DiaLogue Premium HP power amplifier. It’s superb. So I didn’t need much convincing when Stereophile Editor Jim Austin tasked me with reviewing the company’s top-of-the-line integrated tube amplifier, the EVO 400. After it spent almost three months in my system, I can safely say that in contrast to the story about Mr. Coster and the printing press, there’s nothing hyped or sus about the praise this product has received.
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AURAL ROBERT
Another \"outlaw\" country artist
Nina Simone: Wild Is the Wind
By all accounts, Eunice Kathleen Waymon, aka Nina Simone, who passed in 2003, was a troubled person and a brilliant artist. Why she was not more acclaimed during her lifetime is a question several recent film projects have tried to answer. Did her fierce stand on civil rights lose her fans?
Vintage hi-fi, old and new
Many audiophiles and serious music lovers are passionate about vintage. Vintage has become a popular \"way in\" to the hobby, especially popular among younger folks.
Tekton Moab Be
LOUDSPEAKER
ARCAM Radia A25
INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER
Wharfedale Heritage Series 90th Anniversary Dovedale
LOUDSPEAKER
Technics Grand Class SL-1200/1210GR2
RECORD PLAYER
Thrax Audio Siren
Based in Bulgaria, European audio company Thrax has been active since 2009.
EMM Labs MTRS
STEREO POWER AMPLIFIER
SPIN DOCTOR
Alternative phono cartridge technologies and the DS Audio DS-W3 optical cartridge system