Technology
Stereophile
Landscape into music
It says something about the power of music that some individuals fading into dementia can still recognize the music they knew earlier in their lives. Not to denigrate new music, or music one hasn’t heard before, but our mental jukeboxes award top chart numbers to music that we have lived with over time. Those DJs making their playlists in our brain are the toughest of critics. They don’t care what anyone else might think, “Close to You” is staying in the rotation. Music and memory are linked.
4 min |
February 2021
Stereophile
Some great new reissues
For jazz fans, a new batch of releases in Blue Note’s Tone Poet series—vinyl reissues remastered with care and cut from the original analog tapes—is the reason for celebration.
4 min |
January 2021
Stereophile
PS Audio Stellar M1200
MONOBLOCK POWER AMPLIFIER
10+ min |
January 2021
Stereophile
McIntosh MAC7200
STEREO RECEIVER
10+ min |
January 2021
Stereophile
Marantz Model 30
INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER
10+ min |
January 2021
Stereophile
KEF LS50 Meta LOUDSPEAKER
LOUDSPEAKER
10+ min |
January 2021
Stereophile
Cambridge Audio CXA81
INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER
10+ min |
January 2021
Stereophile
BOWIE, CURATED
FIVE YEARS AFTER THE ICON’S PASSING, A FAN REVIEWS THE POSTHUMOUS RELEASES
10 min |
January 2021
Stereophile
Acora Acoustics SRB
LOUDSPEAKER
10+ min |
January 2021
Stereophile
Some truly affordable phono cartridges
Someone once asked me, “If I buy your $90,000, 25W amplifier, what will I get that I am not getting with my $2000, 200W amplifier?” My answer was simple: “Goosebumps, tears, and smirking.” Great, well-tuned audio systems, at all price levels, give their owners less of the annoying and distracting stuff and more of the exciting and engaging stuff. Great systems offer more opportunities for smirking pridefully while listening to great recordings.
10+ min |
January 2021
Stereophile
Scrubbing bubbles
THIS ISSUE: A new ultrasonic record-cleaning machine and a very pretty cartridge with a body made from Blue River Agate.
10+ min |
January 2021
Stereophile
Alta Audio Alyssa
At first look, our November 2020 review of the standmount loudspeaker ($5000/pair) from Alta Audio1 appeared to be a thorough vindication of the Stereophile method of reviewing, combining measurements with a subjective listening journal. John Atkinson’s measurements were generally fine, but he uncovered “strong discontinuities in the impedance traces at 174Hz and 291Hz [that] imply the presence of resonances.” They could only be internal airspace resonances, since he found the Alyssa’s cabinet to be admirably inert.
8 min |
December 2020
Stereophile
MBL NOBLE SERIES N31 CD PLAYER–D/A PROCESSOR
In Stereophile’s February 2018 issue,1 I reviewed the MBL Noble Line N31, a baroque-styled CD player and D/A processor from German manufacturer MBL.2
6 min |
December 2020
Stereophile
LOOKING BACK AT FLEETWOOD MAC
TWO REISSUES SHOW THAT THE BAND WAS GREAT BEFORE IT WAS FAMOUS.
9 min |
December 2020
Stereophile
Gryphon Essence Mono
POWER AMPLIFIER
10+ min |
December 2020
Stereophile
SAT's remarkable XD1 record-player system
Let’s begin by discussing what SAT’s XD1 Record Player System is not: It is not a Technics SP-10R in a sci-fi–inspired plinth—although the XD1’s engine does begin life as the SP-10R’s basic drive system, which is stripped down to a handful of essential components, reimagined, reengineered, and rebuilt to much higher mechanical standards.
10+ min |
December 2020
Stereophile
GOLDENEAR BRX
When I first started writing for Stereophile, John Atkinson brought me a speaker to review. The shipping box was really beat, and it had some other reviewer’s name on the UPS label. After a few days of trying to get it to sound good, I speculated that John and at least one other reviewer already knew this speaker did not sound good. Flummoxed, I wrote JA a simple email (he likes simple emails), “Is this a test?” He replied, “Everything is a test.”
9 min |
December 2020
Stereophile
Deja Lou
It’s déjà vu all over again in New York City. 1988: The bankrupt Fear City NYC of the 1970s had given way to the go-go ’80s, with many missing the fruits of the Wall Street boom. AIDS ravaged the city, unabated, and a rash of violence and crime fueled by the crack-cocaine epidemic made for a grim underbelly of urban blight and neglect.
7 min |
December 2020
Stereophile
CANADA: PETERBOROUGH, ONTARIO
I was shocked and greatly saddened by the news of the passing, at age 68, of Brian W. Russell, president and co-founder (along with his brother Chris) of Bryston Ltd. Established in 1973, Bryston’s first product was a power amplifier for the professional market.
1 min |
December 2020
Stereophile
The First Watt F8
I spent my childhood summers on the Reichert family farm near Turtle Lake, Wisconsin, where, inside the red 1880s barn, my uncle Harold played 78rpm records for his cows.
10+ min |
December 2020
Stereophile
Something's coming
So, what’s “this thing of ours”?
4 min |
December 2020
Stereophile
Rotel Michi P5
PREAMPLIFIER
10+ min |
November 2020
Stereophile
THE WIND CRIES MARTY
Composer Sasha Matson talks to veteran reedist Marty Krystall about film music, studio work, recording, and working with musicians from Serkin to Zappa.
10+ min |
November 2020
Stereophile
Marten Oscar Duo
LOUDSPEAKER
10+ min |
November 2020
Stereophile
Grandinote Shinai
INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER
10+ min |
November 2020
Stereophile
GRAMOPHONE DREAMS
Valley of the Sun
10+ min |
November 2020
Stereophile
Audio Research Reference 6SE - LINE PREAMPLIFIER
Line Preamplifier
10+ min |
November 2020
Stereophile
Alta Audio Alyssa LOUDSPEAKER
It was a “Wow!” audio moment I’ll never forget.
10+ min |
November 2020
Stereophile
A gift at war (for Veterans Day)
In March 2003, as news networks broadcast images of American tanks racing north toward Baghdad, my infantry platoon dug shallow foxholes in south-ern Iraq. We were part of a defensive perimeter guarding FARP Exxon, a helicopter refueling point for the Army’s 101st Airborne Division.
4 min |
November 2020
Stereophile
Musical Fidelity M8xi
INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER
10+ min |