John Atkinson

"Nothing is Real..."
As We See It
John Atkinson  |  Jan 04, 2005  |  First Published: Jan 05, 1996  |  0 comments
Watching the Beatles Anthology TV shows last Thanksgiving, I was struck by how good recorded sound quality was in the early to mid-1960s and how bad it had become by the era of Let It Be. Early Beatles recordings may have been primitive in terms of production, but their basic sound quality was excellent, with extended response at the frequency extremes and a natural, clean-sounding midrange. Late Beatles recordings lacked highs and dynamic range, and sounded grainy by comparison. This was partly because, by 1969–70, studios had replaced their simple tubed mixing consoles with the first generation of solid-state desks, and their old tubed two-track Studers and Ampexes with solid-state multitrack recorders. These featured track widths so narrow that only the massive use of Dolby-A noise reduction made it possible to produce recordings that had any dynamic range at all!
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Ultimate Ears UE-5c in-ear headphones
Budget Component ReviewsHeadphone Reviews
John Atkinson  |  Dec 26, 2004  |  0 comments
"You need to keep still."
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The 2004 Products of the Year
Products of the Year
John Atkinson, Stephen Mejias  |  Dec 12, 2004  |  0 comments
Stereophile's "Products of the Year," now in its 13th year, recognizes those rare components that prove capable of giving musical pleasure beyond the formal review period. These are the components that can be recommended with no ifs or buts, that will grace any system in which they are used.
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Watermarking & DVD Conspiracy Theories
As We See It
John Atkinson  |  Dec 05, 2004  |  First Published: Feb 05, 2000  |  0 comments
I've recently been rereading Mark Lane's and Donald Freed's 1970s screenplay cum novel, Executive Action, which develops the theory that John F. Kennedy was assassinated by a conspiracy between organized crime, expatriate Cuban Batistists, and Eisenhower's "military-industrial complex." Long predating Oliver Stone's JFK, the book is fascinating, convincing stuff, from authors who had done considerable research into what really happened in November 1963. But, like all conspiracy theories, it falls down on the hard rock of reality: the more people and organizations are involved in a conspiracy, the less likelihood there is of anything happening at all, let alone going according to plan.
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SACD & DVD-A: Launch Issues
As We See It
John Atkinson  |  Dec 05, 2004  |  First Published: Oct 05, 1999  |  0 comments
Someone once said that if you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door. Well, this month, we will see not one but two better mousetraps, in the form of Sony's and Philips' Super Audio CD and the DVD Forum's DVD-Audio. Both are intended to replace the humble CD, now in its seventeenth year; both offer higher-resolution digital audio; and both offer multiple channels. To accompany SACD, Sony's $5000 SCD-1 two-channel player is now on sale (and will be reviewed in the November Stereophile), while Panasonic has announced October sale dates for two DVD-A players, the $1000 Panasonic DVD-A7 and the $1200 Technics DVD-A10.
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DVD-Audio—Crippled by Copyright?
As We See It
John Atkinson  |  Dec 05, 2004  |  First Published: Feb 05, 1998  |  0 comments
"Do you have another DVD player?" asked Classic Records' Michael Hobson. As is usual in important demonstrations, Murphy's Law had struck with a vengeance. The prototype Muse DVD player Kevin Halverson had worked on most of the previous night was refusing to play the DVD Mike had placed in its tray.
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DVD: One Standard to Rule Over Them?
As We See It
John Atkinson  |  Dec 05, 2004  |  First Published: Dec 05, 1995  |  0 comments
As you can read in this month's "Industry Update" (pp.35 & 37), the two conglomerates who hitherto seemed driven to offer the world two competing standards for the forthcoming Digital Video Disc came to their senses. Instead of consumers being offered Toshiba/Warner/Matsushita's SD and Sony/Philips's MCD, there will be just one high-density 4.75" disc to take both video and audio data storage into the 21st century.
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Copy Rites: Stereophile and the Web
As We See It
John Atkinson  |  Nov 29, 2004  |  First Published: Sep 27, 1995  |  0 comments
"The idea that intellectual property in a Net-based economy can lose its value horrifies most owners and creators. They'd better get over it."—Esther Dyson, "Intellectual Value" Wired, July 1995, p.136
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Speed Limits & the Music Biz
As We See It
John Atkinson  |  Nov 08, 2004  |  First Published: Nov 01, 2004  |  0 comments
"Bugger!" A Pennsylvania state trooper had stepped out from behind the overpass on the Turnpike and was aiming his radar gun straight at me. I reflexively jammed on the anchors, which was a) pointless and b) downright dangerous, considering I was in the middle of a phalanx of cars and trucks all cruising 5-10mph over the speed limit. But what can you do?
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Echo Indigo IO CardBus soundcard
Budget Component ReviewsComputer Audio Reviews
John Atkinson  |  Nov 08, 2004  |  First Published: Nov 01, 2004  |  0 comments
The integration of computers into high-end audio is contentious. A reader poll last spring on our website indicated that a significant proportion of audiophiles—a quarter—is dead set against the idea, yet both Microsoft, with Windows Media Player 9, and Apple, with iTunes, seem convinced that the future of domestic music reproduction involves computers. To support that idea, both Apple- and Windows-based computers (the latter with Intel's about-to-be-launched HD Audio technology) are promoting hi-rez audio playback.
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