Audio Skies Michael Vamos - YG Acoustics, JMF Audio, Ideon at Capital Audiofest 2025

The Listening Room and Fidelity Imports - Diptyque DP-160 Mk.2 at Capital Audiofest 2025

Fidelity Imports Audia Flight and Perlisten System

Fidelity Imports Wilson Benesch and Audia Flight System at Capital Audiofest 2025

J Sikora Aspire, Innuos Stream 3, Aurender N50, Gryphon Antileon Revelation, Command Performance AV

Bella Sound Kalalau Preamplifier: Interview with Mike Vice

BorderPatrol Zola DAC – Gary Dews at Capital Audiofest 2025

Audio Note UK TT3 Reference Turntable Debut at Capital Audiofest 2025

Kevin Hayes of VAC at Capital Audiofest 2025

2WA Group debuts Aequo Ensium at Capital Audiofest 2025

Capital Audiofest 2025 lobby marketplace walk through day one

Lucca Chesky Introduces the LC2 Loudspeaker at Capital Audiofest 2025

Capital Audiofest 2025 Gary Gill interview

LATEST ADDITIONS

Interviews Music and Recording Features

Wayne Shorter: How the Future Would Be

Ken Micallef Dec 11, 2018

Wayne Shorter is 85. His mind moves at warp speed, a million miles from Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, who rescued him from Newark, New Jerseyor the Miles Davis's second great quintet, for which the saxophonist wrote the compositions that would establish his genius. Shorter's constellation of classic Blue Note recordings from 196467Night Dreamer, JuJu, The All Seeing Eye, ETC, The Soothsayer, Adam's Apple, Speak No Evil, Schizophreniais now but a dim cluster of stars in his ever-expanding musical galaxy.

Recording of the Month

Bonus Recording of December 2018: La Fenice

Richard Lehnert Dec 11, 2018

Keith Jarrett: La Fenice
Keith Jarrett, piano
ECM 2601/02 (2 CDs). 2018. Keith Jarrett, prod.; Martin Pearson, eng.; Christoph Stickel, Manfred Eicher, mastering, exec. prod. DDD. TT: 97:47
Performance *****
Sonics *****

This July 2006 concert, performed in Venice's Gran Teatro La Fenice, is Keith Jarrett's seventh recording of the shorter solo-piano improvisations he's explored since the early 2000s, after chronic fatigue syndrome robbed him of the stamina needed to improvise for unbroken stretches of nearly an hour. Despite their many high points, none of its six predecessorsTokyo Solo, Radiance, Carnegie Hall, Testament, Rio, Creationmatched the cumulative power and depth of his best long-form improvisations: Köln, Sun Bear, Bregenz München, Paris. This one does.

News

January Already?

Stereophile Staff Dec 10, 2018

Yes, the January 2019 issue of Stereophile is hitting newsstands, mailboxes, and tablets this week. And to celebrate the 25th anniversary of our going from a digest-sized publication to a full-sized one, we have recreated the cover of the January 1994 issue, the "musicality vs accuracy" debate as strong today as it was a quarter-century ago. The 25th anniversary edition of the same Cary tube amplifier is featured on the cover and in this issue's review section, but instead of the solid-state Krell we had on the 1994 cover, we have the solid-state Cambridge Edge A integrated amplifier which is also reviewed in this issue.

Jason Victor Serinus

Aequa & H e (a) r

Jason Victor Serinus Dec 09, 2018

First came the press release, from San Francisco Symphony, announcing:

Esa-Pekka Salonen is the Music Director Designate of SFS, to replace Michael Tilson Thomas when he voluntarily steps down after the summer of 2020.

EPS will lead SFS in a program on January 1820 that includes the SFS premiere of Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir's Metacosmos, Richard Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra, and Sibelius's Four Legends from the Kalevala.

These led me to explore Thorvaldsdottir's music in two recent hi-rez releases from Sono Luminus: Aequa: International Contemporary Ensemble Performs Anna Thorvaldsdottir (DSL-92224), and Nordic Affect: H e (a) r (DSL-92227).

Art Dudley Listening Phono Cartridge Reviews

Listening #192: Koetsu, Ortofon, EMT

Art Dudley Dec 06, 2018

Although my house is now home to a borrowed pair of DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/93 loudspeakersa loan I gratefully accepted early this year, when my 1966 Altec Flamencos proved a bit too large for my new listening roomit's a matter of pride that I own almost everything else in my playback system, cables included. So it's with no small discomfort that I acknowledge having nearly $30,000 worth of borrowed phono cartridges scattered around my living and dining rooms. (The former is where I listen to them, and the latterthe sunniest room in the houseis where I install them.)

CD Player/Transport Reviews Solid State Preamp Reviews

ATC CDA2 Mk2 CD player-preamplifier

Ken Micallef Dec 06, 2018

In the early 1990s, the Compact Disc was all the rage, and vinyl records were being executed en masse. Thirty years later, and oh, how our tables have turned. Mint first pressings of tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley's 1957 album Hank Mobley (Blue Note BLP 1568), which once could be had for $40, now bring upward of $8000. Each. Vinyl continues to enjoy a global resurgence of popularity, while CD sales have plummeted to all-time lows.

What happened? Apparently, yesterday's pops and ticks are today's "warmth," Record Store Day exclusives, and skyrocketing vinyl values. All things old . . .

News

Dealer Events in Virginia Thursday & Florida Saturday

Stereophile Staff Dec 05, 2018

Thursday, December 6, 48 pm, Command Performance (115 Park Avenue, Ste 2, Falls Church, VA 22046) will be hosting a Naim Audio "500 Event." Saturday, December 8, 125pmm, Audible Images (1610 Pineapple Avenue, Melbourne, FL 32935) are holding their annual "Music Appreciation Event."

News

Dealer Event in Chicago Saturday

Stereophile Staff Dec 04, 2018

On Saturday, December 8, from 2:00pm to 4:00pm, Gryphon Audio Designs' new Zena preamplifier will be demonstrated at Kyomi Audio, 4454 West Berteau Avenue, Chicago, IL 60641. The demonstrations will be conducted by Philip O'Hanlon of Gryphon's US Distributor, On A Higher Note, and by Kyomi Audio's George Vatchnadze, a noted concert pianist and recording artist.

Budget Component Reviews Stand Loudspeaker Reviews

Wharfedale Diamond 11.2 loudspeaker

John Atkinson Dec 04, 2018

With reviews of Wilson's Alexia 2 loudspeaker ($57,900/pair) in the July issue, Constellation's Centaur 500 amplifier ($55,000) in the October issue, and Tidal's Akira loudspeaker ($215,000/pair) in the November issue, my system's been inhaling some rarefied air the past few months. Accordingly, I felt I should live with some components priced within the reach of real-world audiophiles. As it happened, I was finishing up my review of the Constellation amplifier when MoFi Distribution's Lionel Goodfield e-mailed me, asking if I'd like to review the new Diamond 11.2 loudspeaker from the venerable British brand Wharfedale.

Features Think Pieces

Snake Oil: A Short History

Jim Austin Dec 04, 2018

If there's one thing audiophiles agree on, it's that snake oil is badeven if they can't agree about what snake oil actually is.

In audio, snake oil means fake science or fake technologyanything that's claimed to improve the sound of a system but that looks like an obvious rip-off. For some people, expensive speaker cables and interconnects are snake oil. A few objectivists consider AC power treatments snake oil: most modern audio components, after all, can correct for AC line-voltage flaws and reject "ripple" in a power supply's output. A handful of hard-core objectivists maintain that every new digital technology since the advent of the Compact Disc is snake oil.