Essayer OR - Gratuit

Doing it for themselves—and for us

Stereophile

|

November 2025

Women have undeniably become the most dynamic and vital creative force in music today. Without their good energies and ideas, music, which in the digital age has become more background than art, would be much less interesting and inspiring.

- BY ROBERT BAIRD

Doing it for themselves—and for us

Many and perhaps most of today’s popular-music superstars are women: Beyoncé, Adele, Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga, Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, and of course Taylor Swift. Beyond the headlines is a vast world of independent and assertive music creation. From the costumed, Black Sabbath-indebted metal stylings of Riley Pinkerton of Castle Rat through the UK jazz of Nubya Garcia and on to Molly Tuttle's bluegrass-pop and Kathleen Edwards's Americana, women are often the reason to listen to new music. Three new albums are representative of the spirit and originality women are now bringing to music on their own terms.

Madi Diaz is willing to open the door to her heart and invite strangers to stroll in. What they'll find there is a churning mix of fear, anger, defiance, self-knowledge, and evolution. Not shy about being incisive, Diaz crafts songs that are by turns haunting and beseeching, then immerses them in the messy guts of love and all its maddening complications.

Fatal Optimist is Diaz's sixth album and the last in what her latest artist bio calls the “Heartbreak Trilogy.” While its rawness, which often verges on obsession, can be startling, it can also be undeniably honest and powerful. In “Feel Something,” in which her eye for detail shines, she sings “I wanna be someone who doesn’t know your middle name.” Then she pushes her voice in the wishful choruses, “If you want me to make you feel something/If so how, if not why, if I can.”

PLUS D'HISTOIRES DE Stereophile

Stereophile

Stereophile

Doing it for themselves—and for us

Women have undeniably become the most dynamic and vital creative force in music today. Without their good energies and ideas, music, which in the digital age has become more background than art, would be much less interesting and inspiring.

time to read

3 mins

November 2025

Stereophile

Stereophile

15 FOR 50 1975 IN 15 RECORDS

WAS IT SOMETHING IN THE AIR, SOMETHING IN THE WATER? COSMICALLY INSPIRED BY THE STARS AND THE MOON? OR MAYBE THE DEVIL WAS FINALLY CLAIMING HIS OWN AS ROCK MUSIC IN ALL ITS VARIANTS WAS UNASSAILABLY ASCENDENT.

time to read

12 mins

November 2025

Stereophile

Stereophile

PrimaLuna EVO 300 Hybrid

These days, listeners the wide world over enjoy hearing their music recreated for them by equipment whose origins are international; trade isolationists might consider the example of PrimaLuna.

time to read

10 mins

October 2025

Stereophile

Stereophile

Bricasti Design M21

Those of us who review audio equipment, and even audiophiles who don't, often talk about our reference systems.

time to read

11 mins

October 2025

Stereophile

Stereophile

Pablo Records via Granz and Kassem

Way back in my ignorant youth I thought that Pablo Records, the label of jazz producer/promoter legend Norman Granz, was where jazz artists went to fade away, where they were put out to pasture.

time to read

3 mins

October 2025

Stereophile

Stereophile

Hi-fi for (very) small spaces

For the past few months, I've been getting ready to move. Those of you who've looked for an apartment in New York City know that it may be the single most dismal thing about living here.

time to read

12 mins

October 2025

Stereophile

RECOMMENDED RC2025 COMPONENTS

Every product listed here has been reviewed in Stereophile. Everything on the list, regardless of rating, is genuinely recommendable. Occasionally we get complaints from manufacturers who object to being included in, say, Class B. That's their error: Inclusion in Class B is a significant honor.

time to read

34 mins

October 2025

Stereophile

Stereophile

The Shanling ET3 CD transport

Costing just $899, Shanling's top-loading ET3 CD transport appears to have been designed by people who recognize the multitude of big and small fails (or lost opportunities) of previous CD transports. In use, the ET3 felt like a distillation of what I've always wanted in a transport: strong, solid, compact, cool-looking, and feels good to use. Everyone knows I like pro-audio cool with no froufrou. This Shanling deck looked so damn smart and felt so good to touch that it kept my mind repeating, \"Yep! That's how a CD transport should be built!\"

time to read

11 mins

October 2025

Stereophile

Stereophile

JOHN GIOLAS ASSUMES MARKETING LEADERSHIP AT CH PRECISION AND WATTSON AUDIO

Industry veteran John Giolas, global director of marketing for Swiss-based Wattson Audio since November 2024, has expanded his portfolio by also becoming global director of marketing for Wattson's parent company, CH Precision. The appointment, effective July 16, 2025, consolidates marketing strategy across both Swiss brands under Giolas's direction.

time to read

8 mins

October 2025

Stereophile

Stereophile

CH Precision C10

It takes audacity for a company that already builds one of the finest DACs on the planet, which is already expensive, to set out to build one that's so much better that it warrants an extra digit in the model number and a much higher price tag. But then CH Precision has never lacked audacity.

time to read

16 mins

October 2025

Listen

Translate

Share

-
+

Change font size