Latest Additions

Audiophile Essentials Packages Now Available
News, Stephen Mejias
Stephen Mejias • May 10, 2013 • 0 comments
Stereophile celebrated 50 years of continuous publication in November 2012 and released its milestone 400th issue in May. The magazine remains committed to providing all audiophiles—young, old, enthusiastic newbies, and grumpy veterans alike—the tools necessary to get the very best from their systems and music libraries. To that end, we’ve bundled our hot-selling Recommended Components Collector’s Edition and our invaluable test discs into two neat and affordable Audiophile Essentials packages.
Continue Reading »
Skullcandy Navigator Headphones Sweepstakes
Sweepstakes
Stereophile Staff • May 10, 2013 • 71 comments
Register to win a set of Skullcandy Navigator Headphones (MSRP $99.95) we are giving away.

According to the company:

The Navigator is the next generation of a highly sophisticated concept from Skullcandy. The original designed on-ear headphones allow for next level listening with an optimized sound package. The construction is lightweight in design and engineered to deliver extremely smooth frequencies through tightly controlled bass, natural vocals and precision highs. The Navigator features a unified headband and hinge construction offering increased durability with the ability to collapse for convenient stashability.

[This Sweepstakes is now closed.]

Continue Reading »
ProAc Studio 100 loudspeaker
Stand Loudspeaker Reviews
Corey Greenberg • May 10, 2013 • Published: Oct 01, 1994 • 2 comments
Of all the speakers I've heard through the years, the $3000 ProAc Response 2 (footnote 1) is definitely one of my all-time faves. One of the few high-end speakers at any price that sounds equally at home pumping out Prong as it does Puccini, the Response 2 blew me away with its incredible musicality and just plain "rightness." The Response 2 doesn't call strict attention to any one area of technical achievement, like so many Audiophile-Approved jobs, but just makes music so naturally and unforcedly that I hesitate, even considering its remarkable performance, to call it an "audiophile" loudspeaker. Yah, I dig the Response 2! So last year when ProAc introduced the Studio 100, a new affordable version of the Response 2, I got excited.
Continue Reading »
Sonus Faber Minuetto loudspeaker
Stand Loudspeaker Reviews
Corey Greenberg • May 10, 2013 • Published: Oct 01, 1994 • 2 comments
I know, I know—"NOT ANOTHER $%#$ SONUS $%#$# FABER REVIEW IN $%#$# Stereophile!!" In just the past two years or so alone we've spilled a pretty fat bottle of ink on this Italian speaker line: Martin Colloms reviewed the $12,500/pair Extrema (Vol.15 No.6) and $9000/pair Guarneri Homage (Vol.17 No.7); Jack English covered the $4500/pair Electa Amator (Vol.15 No.10); and Larry Greenhill wrote about the $1800/pair Minima FM2 (Vol.16 No.4). That's a lotta jizzatoni, so let me tell you right off the bat that when I called Italy a few months ago, speakers were the last thing on my mind.

I wanted shoes.

Continue Reading »
Willie Nile: the Bard on Bleecker
Interviews, Music and Recording Features
Robert Baird • May 09, 2013 • 0 comments
"You see that empty space?" says Willie Nile, motioning toward a lot between buildings on Bleecker Street, an impish Irish grin flickering across his face. "They haven't built anything there yet because Anna Wintour lives around the corner. And that red-brick house over there, the one with the white door? That's where Dylan lived. I used to see Bob around the neighborhood now and again."
Continue Reading »
Music in the Round #60
Hi-Rez Disc Player/Transport Reviews, Music in the Round
Kalman Rubinson • May 09, 2013 • 2 comments
Yes, more Oppos. First off, let's put aside the expected superiority of the D/A conversion and outputs of the BDP-105 ($1199) and state that the BDP-103 ($499) is itself no slouch in these departments. In two or many channels, the '103 was good enough to let me distinguish among various high-resolution media, and to provide me with satisfying enjoyment of music in even the best of systems.
Continue Reading »
Logitech|UE 4000 On-Ear Headphones
Ariel Bitran
Ariel Bitran • May 09, 2013 • 2 comments
I wear polo shirts daily. Polo shirts keep things simple. Seven-time French Grand Slam tennis champion René Lacoste invented the “tennis shirt” in 1929 as an alternative to the traditional player’s outfit of white button-down and tie. The easy-to-wear “tennis shirt” rapidly expanded as official garb for polo players, golfers, and Homer Simpsons of America. Like the polo, the Logitech|UE 4000 on-ear headphone ($99.99) is accommodating to all in both fit and acoustic profile.
Continue Reading »
Sony and dCS Shine at Music Lovers SF
News
Jason Victor Serinus • May 09, 2013 • 0 comments
Sony's Yuki Sugiura adjusts the controls in Music Lovers' Reference Room

"Sensational" is an adjective far overplayed in "fine audio" circles (to borrow a phrase that Bob Levi of T.H.E. Show Newport Beach has been using). But I know of no better word to describe the jaw-dropping sound of a dCS/Boulder/Sony set-up at a May 4 demo in the Theater 2 room of Music Lovers Audio, San Francisco. With the assistance of a full complement of Transparent Audio cabling, save for an all-important active USB cable from Synergistic Research, the MacBook Pro/Audirvana-source system, featuring the Sony SS-AR1 speakers that so impressed Kal Rubinson in July 2011 was nothing short of sensational.

For me, the demo began when John R. Quick of Tempo Sales, distributor of digital equipment from UK-based dCS (Data Conversion Systems, Ltd.), ran up to me upon my arrival. Enthusiastically greeting me and my two remarkably well-behaved terrier mixes, Daisy Mae Doven and Leo Gleesun, he declared, "Jason, I have great news for you."

"I can hardly keep hold of the leashes, John," I said, quivering with anticipation. "Tell me, please, before I lose my grip."

"The new Synergistic Research USB Active SE cable blows every other USB cable I've tried out of the water. You've got to hear this thing."

Continue Reading »
B&O Release H6 and H3 Headphones
Ariel Bitran
Ariel Bitran • May 08, 2013 • 2 comments
On Wednesday May 8th, 2013, B&O announced the release of the H6 over-ear headphone ($399) and H3 in-ear monitor ($249). Long known as a lifestyle brand that embraces both excellent sound and excellent design, B&O’s H6 and H3s promise no different.

Nicolaj Shabtai, Category Manager for B&O Play, explained the products’ three priorities: "outstanding sound, design for life & style, and quality materials."

Continue Reading »
Music Discovery: “Games Without Frontiers”
Stephen Mejias
Stephen Mejias • May 08, 2013 • 9 comments
In today’s previous entry, I mentioned that Standish/Carlyon’s Deleted Scenes reminded me of Peter Gabriel’s early solo work. Fans of FX’s outstanding TV series, “The Americans,” will have noted that the season’s finale made fine use of Gabriel’s hit single “Games Without Frontiers.” That is, if those fans were already familiar with the song. I was not.
Continue Reading »
Site Map / Direct Links
Loudspeakers Amplification Digital Sources Analog Sources Accessories Featured Music Columns Features Show Reports Show Reports Recommended
Components Blogs Latest News Community 		Shop Resources Subscriptions