LATEST ADDITIONS

Solid State Power Amp Reviews
Rotel Michi S5 power amplifier
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jul 01, 2022  |  11 comments
Like an immense night bird aloft in the gold'n sky.
I should like to sail off towards islands of flow'rs
While list'ning to the perverse sea singing
In its old and bewitching rhythm.

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.

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Revinylization
Revinylization #31: Rush's Moving Pictures at 40
Tom Fine  |  Jun 30, 2022  |  2 comments
Certain albums stand as monuments because of the influence they had on contemporary and future musicians despite having little commercial success. The Velvet Underground & Nico comes to mind. So do the early Ramones albums. And then there are albums that had just as much influence but were megahits—a much rarer thing.
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Turntable Reviews
Clearaudio Reference Jubilee record player
Ken Micallef  |  Jun 29, 2022  |  5 comments
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 less-is-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.
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Gramophone DreamsHeadphone Reviews
Gramophone Dreams #62: Dan Clark Audio Stealth & Warwick Acoustics Bravura headphones
Herb Reichert  |  Jun 28, 2022  |  4 comments
I am an artist by trade. Saws and brushes and cameras are some of the tools I use. The aesthetic quality of the things I make is determined not by my skill with tools but by the dynamic relationships I establish among space, color, tone, and shape.

Of those elements, shapes are the most important because they are the first thing a viewer notices and the chief vehicles for transmitting sentiment and artistic intent. Stylized shapes, like those in popular art, may induce superficial responses in the viewer. Taut, Euclidian shapes suggest their author is of a higher mind; the Parthenon and Pantheon exemplify this type of shape making.

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Integrated Amp Reviews
Technics SU-G700M2 integrated amplifier
Ken Micallef  |  Jun 24, 2022  |  6 comments
When I reviewed Technics's SU-R1000 integrated amplifier for the December 2021 issue, I found its performance beyond my expectations. It practically 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.
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Recording of the Month
Recording of July 2022: Growing Up
Anne E. Johnson  |  Jun 23, 2022  |  14 comments
The Linda Lindas: Growing Up
Epitaph (16/44.1 stream, Qobuz). 2022. Produced, engineered, and mixed by Carlos de la Garza.
Performance *****
Sonics ****½

When your uncle is an award-winning producer and engineer, a band formed by you and your cousins has a higher-than-average shot at going somewhere. But even that family advantage can't explain the immediate success of the Los Angeles–based Linda Lindas; they've earned their accolades through talent, hard work, and ingenuity. Their first album, Growing Up, offers proof of their worth and the promise of a stellar musical future.

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News
John Quick Moves to Dynaudio
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jun 22, 2022  |  3 comments

After a dozen years as General Manager of dCS Americas, well known industry veteran John Quick has joined Dynaudio North America with the title Vice-President for Sales & Marketing, Americas. Quick will work alongside Michael Manousselis, Dynaudio N.A.'s president, to develop and refine Dynaudio's sales channels, marketing efforts, and brand awareness across its home and professional audio offerings in the US, Canada, and Central and South America.

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Phono Preamp Reviews
Lejonklou Entity phono preamplifier
Alex Halberstadt  |  Jun 22, 2022  |  11 comments
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 Siddhãrtha Gautama—known 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.
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Analog CornerTonearm ReviewsTurntable Reviews
Analog Corner #323: J.Sikora Reference turntable and KV12 VTA tonearm
Michael Fremer  |  Jun 21, 2022  |  6 comments
Lublin, Poland, is about 130 miles from Lviv, Ukraine, a town that has been in the news lately. That's about the same distance as Hershey, Pennsylvania, is from my desk in northern New Jersey, where I'm writing this. They are close. Russian missiles struck Lviv on March 18, 2022, and as I write these words Lviv is preparing for more intense bombardment.
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Digital Processor ReviewsPhono Preamp ReviewsSolid State Preamp Reviews
Three Recent FollowUp Reviews
John Atkinson  |  Jun 20, 2022  |  0 comments
Three high-performance products were subjected to second opinions and/or measurements in recent issues: Channel D's Lino C 3.3 phono preamplifier, Mola Mola's Tambaqui D/A processor, and Pass Labs' XP-32 line preamplifier.
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