Technology
Stereophile
Fremer sings standards
Whenever I do turntable setup seminars, I complain to the participants about the lack of cartridge-pin diameter and clip-opening standards. Anyone who does their own setup has experienced it: The connection is too tight or too loose.
10+ min |
August 2022
Stereophile
Stromtank S 1000 - COMPUTER-CONTROLLED BATTERY POWER SOURCE
The Kingdom of Audiophiledom rests on a paradox. Inanimate audio systems and rooms aim to deliver music that animates our senses and touches our souls. The inherently lifeless exists to bring music to life.
9 min |
July 2022
Stereophile
Rotel Michi S5 POWER AMPLIFIER
It took some time to figure out why, in the middle of auditioning Rotel’s Michi S5 stereo power amplifier ($7499.99) with the room-shaking opening of Richard Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra, Ravel’s far subtler and perfumed setting of Tristan Klingsor’s lyrics from Shéhérazade came to mind. And then the pathway opened: As mundane a task as reviewing a component may be—listen to this, listen to that, compare to your reference, take copious notes, ponder, and proceed—we music lovers perpetually long for more. We want to be seduced by music and soar aloft on its wonder. We want to transcend routine, rise above the commonplace, and experience the beauty that can rise amidst the ashes. We want to fly.
10+ min |
July 2022
Stereophile
Clearaudio Reference Jubilee RECORD PLAYER
There’s an enduring debate among the turntable-tech intelligentsia between opposing theories of turntable design. Some designers, notably Roy Gandy of Rega, follow a lessis-more approach, building stiff, lightweight turntables that release energy rather quickly. Others, such as Franc Kuzma, whose Kuzma Ltd. manufactures my reference Kuzma Stabi R turntable and Kuzma 4Point tonearm, believe in heavy mass-loading to dampen vibrations, including transparency-miring resonances. Though analog sages and savants have argued for decades, the question remains: Should turntables be light or heavy? Should you liberate or dampen internal energy to achieve perfect analog sound forever?
10+ min |
July 2022
Stereophile
Technics SU-G700M2 Grand Class INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER
When I reviewed Technics’s SU-R1000 integrated amplifier for the December 2021 issue, I found its performance beyond my expectations. It practi-cally rewrote the ritual of listening to music on my home hi-fi. With its wealth of technological advancements, significant user options, and clear, three-dimensional sound, it cast a large sonic shadow over the other integrated amplifiers in my possession.
10+ min |
July 2022
Stereophile
RABBIT HOLES
New rock music as an odd musical niche
4 min |
July 2022
Stereophile
Lejonklou Entity PHONO PREAMPLIFIER
Sometime around 483 BCE, in Kushinagar, the capital of the Malla Republic in what today is the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, an aristocrat named Siddhartha Gautamaknown better to us as the Buddha, or the Awakened One-passed away. For 45 years, he had wandered the North Indian River Plain teaching a method of overcoming ignorance, craving, and the cycle of death and rebirth to a growing community of followers. As he lay dying, the 80-year-old teacher was surrounded by disciples, many of them crying. Gautama was by no account a sentimental man, and several times he told the monks to cut it out.
10+ min |
July 2022
Stereophile
LYLE LOVETT
Music among great players can be a conversation
10+ min |
July 2022
Stereophile
Gryphon Audio Designs Commander LINE PREAMPLIFIER
Are well-heeled audiophiles ready for a knob-free future? Gryphon Audio Designs thinks so. In contrast to Gryphon's volume knob-dominated Pandora preamplifier, the Danish company's new Commander offers nothing on its bold front panel to grab or turn.
10+ min |
July 2022
Stereophile
GRAMOPHONE DREAMS
Dream incubation
10+ min |
July 2022
Stereophile
ANALOG CORNER
The J.Sikora Reference turntable and KV12 VTA tonearm
10+ min |
July 2022
Stereophile
Bluesound Powernode
Streaming integrated amplifier
10+ min |
June 2022
Stereophile
Melco N50
DIGITAL MUSIC LIBRARY
10+ min |
June 2022
Stereophile
PrimaLuna EVO 400
INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER
10+ min |
June 2022
Stereophile
Meitner MA3
INTEGRATED D/A PROCESSOR
10+ min |
June 2022
Stereophile
The Art of Cable
GRAMOPHONE DREAMS
10+ min |
June 2022
Stereophile
Chario Aviator Amelia
LOUDSPEAKER
10+ min |
June 2022
Stereophile
JansZen Valentina P8
LOUDSPEAKER
10+ min |
June 2022
Stereophile
Linn Klimax LP12
RECORD-PLAYING SYSTEM
10+ min |
June 2022
Stereophile
Revinylization
Round Trip: Ornette Coleman’s Blue Note sides
4 min |
March 2022
Stereophile
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.
10+ min |
March 2022
Stereophile
Analog Corner
Paradox’s remarkable Phono 70 Signature MC phono preamplifier
10+ min |
March 2022
Stereophile
GRAMOPHONE DREAMS
Stax, EAR, and Bob’s Devices
10+ min |
March 2022
Stereophile
SINGING TO THE SOUL
THE MAGIC OF ART SONG ON RECORD
10+ min |
March 2022
Stereophile
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.
10+ min |
March 2022
Stereophile
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.
10+ min |
March 2022
Stereophile
“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.
10+ min |
February 2022
Stereophile
Book Review
The Secret History of Washington, DC, R&B
4 min |
January 2022
Stereophile
Forget about the sound of the recording.
MY BACK PAGES
5 min |
February 2022
Stereophile
Monitor Audio Silver 500 7G
LOUDSPEAKER
10+ min |