Technology
Stereophile
J.Sikora Standard Max Supreme, KV9 Max Zirconium
In his review of the J.Sikora Initial turntable, Stereophile's resident artist/sage Herb Reichert wrote, \"Extended bathing, lighting candles, making tea, and preparing food are ritual work forms that prepare my senses to accept both pleasure and illumination.\"
10 min |
April 2025
Stereophile
The Voxativ Hagen2 Monitor loudspeaker
I think I just found the perfect Herb speaker. It uses a hand-crafted 5\" wide-range driver with a cone made from Japanese calligraphy paper. It rolls off around 50Hz at the bottom and 30kHz at the top. It has no crossover. Its cabinet is made of MDF that responds loudly when I tap it with my fingernails. Inside is what its designer calls a “short horn,” which appears to harmlessly disperse back-cone energy while adding energy below the driver’s cutoff frequency. Mainly, though, it’s a perfect Herb speaker because it is naturally phase coherent. And sparkplug fast. And completely unmuffled.
10+ min |
April 2025
Stereophile
The Beatles in Mono according to Kevin
It's almost too easy to make Dave Dexter Jr. the villain in the story of the Beatles' fumbled introduction to America.
10+ min |
March 2025
Stereophile
Stromtank S-4000 ProPower MK-II XT
COMPUTER-CONTROLLED BATTERY POWER SOURCE
9 min |
March 2025
Stereophile
Aurorasound HFSA-01
INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER
10 min |
March 2025
Stereophile
Transforming the music
One of my favorite things about this pastime is the modesty of its aims.
10+ min |
March 2025
Stereophile
Lou Donaldson
Years ago, at one of the milestone NYC anniversary parties for Blue Note Records, a piercing voice burst out above the clinking glasses and chattering tongues, loudly declaiming (quoted here with several profanities omitted), \"Blue Note never gave me a dime!\"
3 min |
March 2025
Stereophile
EMM Labs DA2i
Among the many reasons to be grateful for audio shows,' one stands out: They allow me to set reasonable expectations of what components and whole audio systems can or cannot achieve. They have helped me set standards.
10+ min |
March 2025
Stereophile
POLICED
THAT'S PRETTY ODIOUS,\" ANDY SUMMERS SAYS TO ME. \"AN ODIOUS COMPARISON.\" HIS BLUEISH EYES DARKEN. ROUGHLY AN HOUR INTO OUR 90-MINUTE FACE-TO-FACE INTERVIEW, I'D ASKED IF IT BOTHERS HIM THAT IN TERMS OF REACH AND STAYING POWER, HIS SOLO OEUVRE WILL NEVER MATCH HIS WORK WITH THE POLICE.
10+ min |
March 2025
Stereophile
Focal Diva Utopia
WIRELESS STREAMING ACTIVE LOUDSPEAKER SYSTEM
10+ min |
March 2025
Stereophile
An ultrasonic bargain
The first album I ever bought with my own money-cash earned mowing neighbors' lawns-was a British plum-label pressing of Led Zeppelin II.
10+ min |
March 2025
Stereophile
MoFi Electronics Source Point 888
A recent high point in my career as a reviewer was writing about the MoFi Electronics SourcePoint 10 standmount loudspeaker for the February 2023 issue of Stereophile.'
8 min |
March 2025
Stereophile
Michael Des Barres and the Art of Aural Obsession
Listening to music inspires us to take action. Upon hearing an I.E.-Instant Earworm-we must then determine the best way we can go about listening to it again (and again) at our convenience.
3 min |
February 2025
Stereophile
PLANET OF SOUND
BLACK FRANCIS ON HARNESSING THAT MAGIC PIXIES DUST
10+ min |
February 2025
Stereophile
T+A R 2500 R STREAMING RECEIVER PHONO MODULE
In my review of the T+A R 2500 R receiver (August 2024 issue), I covered many of its features and took as deep a dive as time and column inches allowed.
8 min |
February 2025
Stereophile
Audia Flight FLS10
The dogma of separates has long reigned supreme among audiophiles: If you're serious about sound quality, you're supposed to need a dedicated preamp and power amp.
10+ min |
February 2025
Stereophile
Totem Acoustic Element Fire V2
Totem Acoustic was founded in 1987, in Montreal, Canada, by a former high school math teacher named Vince Bruzzese. The company's first product, the Model 1 loudspeaker,' impressed me so much I bought a pair.
10 min |
February 2025
Stereophile
MoFi Electronics MasterDeck
Get two mouthy jazz drummers in a room and watch the sparks fly. Talented turntable designer Allen Perkins, the brain behind Spiral Groove,2 Immedia's RPM turntables,³ and various SOTA models, is first and foremost a jazz drummer.
10 min |
February 2025
Stereophile
Soulution 727
AImost 14 years have passed since a review of a Soulution product appeared in the pages of Stereophile.\"
9 min |
February 2025
Stereophile
The Spin Doctor checks out the Kuzma Safir 9, a superarm from Slovenia.
The British audio scene from the late 1970s through the mid-1980s was pretty strange. Audio as a hobby was a big deal, with widespread appeal to a much younger crowd than today. Audiophiles were guided by a flurry of what my friends called \"hi-fi pornos,\" audio magazines that filled the racks at the newsagents.
10+ min |
February 2025
Stereophile
Alex goes to Japan
Arriving in Japan from the United States is like being turned upside down. This condition lasts for much of the first week. When I visited in November, the time difference between Tokyo and New York was 14 hours. \"The floating world\" is a term for the pleasure-addled urban culture of Edo-period Japan, but it's also an apt description for the twilit and not-entirely-unpleasant weirdness of first arriving in Tokyo. Everything seems slightly unreal.
10+ min |
February 2025
Stereophile
Wilson Audio Specialties The WATT/Puppy
Since the original WATT/Puppy concept kicked off in the late 1980s,' there has been a 40-year evolution leading to the latest version reviewed here.
6 min |
February 2025
Stereophile
INSTANTLY ICONIC
AUDIO SALON HOST/ENTREPRENEUR/SYSTEM AND FASHION DESIGNER DEVON TURNBULL'S RECORD-BREAKING ART OF NOISE SHOWING AT SAN FRANCISCO MOMA.
10+ min |
January 2025
Stereophile
Buckeye PURIFI EIGENTAKT 1ET9040BA1
Back in 2016,' I documented the rise of class-D amps using the early Tripath technology. Used in the Bel Canto eVo 200.2, TriPath cracked open the door to the High End but was never admitted due to a dim and opaque treble.
10 min |
January 2025
Stereophile
Moon 891
No less than eight boxes, powered by six after-market power cables, comprise my current reference front-end.'
10+ min |
January 2025
Stereophile
Clearaudio Signature
The Clearaudio allowed each mix, each sonic artifact, to reveal its unique character.
10+ min |
January 2025
Stereophile
Gryphon Audio Designs Diablo 333
What's in a name? Denmark-based Gryphon Audio Designs laid down a marker when company founder Flemming Rasmussen chose that name in 1985. Browsing through the current Stereophile Recommended Components list, I only found one other manufacturer that utilizes an animal moniker.
6 min |
January 2025
Stereophile
The Rega Naia Turntable. Add Lightness.
To watch as Rega very slowly expands its turntable offerings upmarket requires the patience of a Thomas Pynchon addict waiting for each new tome from the notoriously slow-working and reclusive author.
10+ min |
January 2025
Stereophile
Phono Preamplifier Seduction
Give me the seduction, give me the pleasure,\" Ron Sutherland was nearly shouting into the phone. \"I want to turn off the analytical mind and just enjoy myself!\"
10+ min |
January 2025
Stereophile
Record Player Revelations
Like romance or car racing, the act of playing records is tactile by design. Like drifting through curves or making out, spinning vinyl is a learned skill that requires users to touch everything with practiced assurance.
10+ min |