Vivid Audio Introduces Giya Cu Loudspeakers

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

Sennheiser Drops HDB 630 Wireless Headphones

Sponsored: Radiant Acoustics Clarity 6.2 | Technology Introduction

PSB BP7 Subwoofer Unveiled

Apple AirPods Pro 3: First Impressions

LATEST ADDITIONS

CD Player/Transport Reviews

NuForce CDP-8 CD player

Wes Phillips Nov 21, 2010

"So, what are you reviewing these days?" my friend Mark e-mailed me recently.

"A CD player," I said.

"They're still making those?"

Yesand better than ever, for the most part. But I understood Mark's confusion. When a "Vote!" question on the Stereophile website asked readers what digital source components they used, a surprising number responded that they did not, or hadn't bought a dedicated player in years. Topping the list were computers and universal players.

Fred Kaplan

Dave Douglas' Spark of Being

Fred Kaplan Nov 18, 2010

Those who follow this space know of my enthusiasm for the music of trumpeter Dave Douglas: his plangent tone, his spine-tingling way with minor-chord intervals, his knack for evoking joy, melancholy, romance, and a host of other emotions—sometimes all at once—without dipping so much as a toe into sentimentalism.

Stephen Mejias

Rega’s RP-1 Performance Pack Upgrade

Stephen Mejias Nov 18, 2010

With the news that Rega had replaced their esteemed P1 record player with the $445 RP-1, many wondered what would come of the company’s P2 player. Wedged between the new RP-1 and the P3-24, the $545 P2 seemed like an unnecessary step in an otherwise logical product line.

Stephen Mejias

Monkeyhaus: Ottawa (Ohio!)

Stephen Mejias Nov 18, 2010

The system: An Integra disc player, Pro-Ject Debut III turntable, Cambridge Audio Azur 540A integrated amplifier, and Bellari VP129 phono preamp.

I didn’t even know there was an Ottawa in Ohio. But there is. Turns out to be a village in the northwest section of the state, about 155 miles west of Cleveland. The Mayor is Kenneth A. Maag, and in 2009, the village celebrated its 175th anniversary. Can you believe that? The Village of Ottawa has a population of 4,367, and among them are at least two music lovers.

Stephen Mejias

Record Store of the Week

Stephen Mejias Nov 17, 2010

Other Music is at 15 East 4th Street, Manhattan. Photo: Light In The Attic

New York City’s Other Music is Light In The Attic’s “Record Store of the Week.” Check out the interview with OM’s co-owner, Josh Madell.

Stephen Mejias

Grinderman Bring Evil to the Best Buy Theater

Stephen Mejias Nov 17, 2010

I hope you’ve had an opportunity to listen to our October 2010 “Recording of the Month,” the evil and often hilarious Grinderman 2. On Sunday, I got to see the band play at the Best Buy Theater in Times Square. (The strangeness of seeing Grinderman perform at a place called “Best Buy Theater” is surpassed, albeit slightly, by the fact that the show took place on a Sunday, the Day of Our Lord.)

Stephen Mejias

The Retro-Futuristic World of High-End Audio

Stephen Mejias Nov 16, 2010

The Peachtree Audio MusicBox

In “Old-School Hi-Fi in Search of the New New Thing,” Hal Espen visits the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest and ponders the inherent dilemma of hi-fi.

How can a decidedly old-fashioned hobby move forward in an increasingly newfangled world?

Outside the listening rooms, the story of this year's Rocky Mountain Audio Fest traced the mood-swings and anxieties that buoy and beset the retro-futuristic world of high-end audio.

Stephen Mejias

Loaded with Delicacy and Detail: The Fi 46 Monoblock

Stephen Mejias Nov 16, 2010

<i>Don Garber's Fi 46 monoblocks, in "test mule" form.</i>

Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

Focal Chorus 826W 30th Anniversary Edition loudspeaker

Robert Deutsch Nov 15, 2010

Does spending more money on audio equipment get you better sound? Some audiophiles assume that anything that costs more must be betterand that if it's relatively inexpensive, then it can't be any good. Others hold the opposite view: expensive components can't possibly be worth their prices, and those who manufacture themand audio journalists who report on themmust be charlatans.

Fred Kaplan

Henry Threadgill, old and (perpetually) new

Fred Kaplan Nov 15, 2010

Henry Threadgill should be better known than he is. A topnotch musician on alto sax and flute, one of the more innovative composers in jazz, a veteran of the Chicago avant-garde and a revivalist of ragtime improvisational styles (the two are not so contradictory, as he was the first to demonstrate), Threadgill started out on small labels, briefly landed contracts at RCA Novus and Columbia during their brief flirtations with experimentalists (in the late ‘80s and mid ‘90s, respectively), then went back to the indies—all the while retaining, even advancing, his spirit of adventure and his restless but disciplined innovation.