KEF Debuts New Finishes for Blade One Meta and Blade Two Meta

Sennheiser Drops HDB 630 Wireless Headphones

LATEST ADDITIONS

The Most Excellent Sennheiser Amperior and HD 25-1 II

Tyll Hertsens Mar 09, 2012

This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

The latest in a long, long line of HD 25 variants, Sennheiser puts new clothes on the Amperior with milled aluminum cups and a new cable. Is it just bluff and bluster, or are these new cans worth nearly double the price of the HD 25-1 II?

I'm thinking so.

Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

Aerial Acoustics Model 7T loudspeaker

Kalman Rubinson Mar 08, 2012

It's hard to believe that it's been 20 years since Michael Kelly formed Aerial Acoustics, introduced the Model 10T loudspeaker, and I wandered into his demo room at a New York audio show and was smitten. That speaker did everything right and seemed to do nothing wrong. Disc after disc was played as I imposed my impression on the listening chair (I recall there being only one). At the time, the 10T was only a bit out of my price range, so for many years it was what I aspired to have. Kelly and I repeated this little play over the years as his speaker line grew, and he always was patient as he explained what he intended for each model and how he had gone about meeting his goals.

Floor Loudspeaker Reviews Audacious Audio

Sonus Faber Amati Futura loudspeaker

John Atkinson Mar 08, 2012

The Amati Futura is the third Sonus Faber loudspeaker to be called an Amati. The first, named simply the Amati and priced at $20,000/pair, was reviewed for Stereophile by Michael Fremer in June 1999. I reviewed the second, the Amati Homage Anniversario ($27,500/pair), in May 2006.

Stephen Mejias

Nite Jewel: One Second of Love

Stephen Mejias Mar 08, 2012

The first time I heard “One Second of Love,” the title track from Nite Jewel’s new album (released earlier this week on Secretly Canadian), I didn’t think much of it. It was another pop song from another young, indie artist, recalling the late 1980s and early 1990s&#151enjoyable, but unimaginative.

I was crazy. My initial reaction was wrong: The more I listened, the more I enjoyed the song’s motoric drive, insistent, each cold verse followed by seductive chorus, its gentle harmonies contributed by fellow LA-based artist, Julia Holter, its insolent snarl and alluring coo. I can’t get the song out of my mind. I wake up with it, come back to it throughout the day.

Stephen Mejias

Julia Holter at Other Music

Stephen Mejias Mar 08, 2012

Last night, before heading over to Other Music for Julia Holter’s in-store performance, I stopped by In Living Stereo and had a nice conversation with sales manager Steve Cohen. I got to hear a few of Steve’s own recordings through a system made of Dynaudio loudspeakers and Rega electronics, including the new, slick-looking Apollo CD player ($1095). Though the recordings were made using simple keyboards and sent straight to 4-track, the richness of the music and balance of the system far overshadowed any sonic limitations. It sounded great.

I was also pleased to see that In Living Stereo now carries Wharfedale’s affordable overachiever, the Diamond 10.1 loudspeaker ($350/pair), and its considerably bigger brother, the 10.2. At just $100/pair more than the 10.1, the 10.2 at least looks like it can provide a much bigger, more solid and controlled sound.

Julia Holter hit my radar in November 2011, while I was preparing my year-end list of favorite recordings.

Stephen Mejias

Sophia Knapp: Into the Waves

Stephen Mejias Mar 08, 2012

It’s one of those things. I can still clearly remember the moment I first set eyes on Sophia Knapp. She was strolling through the back room of Maxwell’s in Hoboken, NJ, with a confidence, flair, and singularity that left no room for questions: She was in the band.

Digital Processor Reviews Media Server Reviews

Musical Fidelity M1 CLiC universal music controller

Jon Iverson Mar 08, 2012

The taxonomy of audio products used to be easy. An amp, a preamp, speakers, a disc player or twodone. Now that hard drives, streaming clouds, and computers have entered the scene, unless your world revolves around only an iPod or a disc player, you have choiceslots of choices.

Tube Power Amp Reviews Art Dudley Listening

Listening #111

Art Dudley Mar 08, 2012

Years ago, while editing Listener Magazine, I received a call from a record-company publicist with whom I was friendly: The drummer Ginger Baker, whose work I admire, was promoting a new release, and we were offered a 30-minute telephone interview with the artist. I jumped at the chance, but wound up leaving the article in the canpartly because it was so short, partly because its subject was so cranky. As with vacation trips to certain locales, second prize would likely have been 60 minutes with Ginger Baker.

Stephen Mejias

Music Matters: A Better Way.

Stephen Mejias Mar 05, 2012

During Definitive Audio's Music Matters 7, held Wednesday, February 29th, in Seattle, Linn's Steve Croft presented his company's Music Moments page, where people can share their fond musical memories.

In the conclusion to our CES show report, I wrote: “Hi-fi is about making music. CES is about making money.”

But maybe I was being naïve. Though I’d love to pretend otherwise, high-end audio is as much about commerce as it is about music. This fact is inescapable. Yet the focus on money was so great at CES that I left Las Vegas wondering whether there was some better way. Isn’t there a better, more appropriate way to showcase high-end audio, one that sets aside monetary matters and, at least for a short while, puts music matters first?

I left Seattle last week wondering if we had already found that better way.

Stephen Mejias

Neptune Music Co.

Stephen Mejias Mar 05, 2012

It was already way past dark and I could hardly make it out, but it was the first thing that really caught my eye upon arriving in Seattle for the Definitive Audio Music Matters event (report to come). Could it be possible that there was a record store right across the street from my hotel? I had seen the black and white sign&#151Records, CDs, and Tapes&#151but still, I couldn’t be sure. That sign could have announced a place that once was, a place once filled with treasures, long forgotten or dearly missed.

I decided to check it out as soon as I could. When I did, I was very happily surprised by what I discovered. Neptune Music wasn’t merely real: It was unbelievable.