LATEST ADDITIONS

The Delightful Onkyo ES-FC300 and ES-HF300

Tyll Hertsens Sep 29, 2013

This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

Just another "big audio company joins the ranks of headphone makers" or something a bit more special? It's hard to get my hopes up with so many first stabs at making headphones resulting in mediocre introductions. Maybe I should just lower my expectations a bit.

No! The new Onkyo cans are quite a surprise!

Stephen Mejias

Jenny Hval covers Paul Simon's "The Cool, Cool River," tours North America

Stephen Mejias Sep 27, 2013

Photo by Karl Edwin Scullin.

Released back in May, Jenny Hval's Innocence is Kinky, endures as one of my favorite records of 2013. I've played it countless times, and, in a few days, when Hval takes the stage at NYC's Mercury Lounge, I'll finally have the chance to see and hear the songs performed live.

Integrated Amp Reviews

Croft Acoustics Phono Integrated integrated amplifier

Art Dudley, Stephen Mejias Sep 27, 2013

The name sounds perfect. It fits neatly next to those of Messrs. Leak, Sugden, Walker, Grant, Lumley, and others of Britain's most rightly revered amplifier builders. In fact, when their distributor called and asked if I'd like to review the latest amplifier from Croft Acoustics, I accepted without actually knowing who they are, simply because they sounded like someone I was supposed to knowsomeone who's been around for 60 years or so, shellacking bell wire in an old mill with a thatched roof.

Media Server Reviews

Marantz Reference NA-11S1 Network Audio Player/DAC

John Atkinson Sep 26, 2013

In March, to celebrate Marantz's 60th anniversary, the company launched the subject of this review, the Reference NA-11S1 network player ($3499), which Ken Ishiwata described to me as "a new start, a new era" for Marantz. Michael Fremer attended the European press conference announcing the NA-11S1, and I subsequently talked to Ishiwata via Skype.

As We See It

The Pursuit of Audio Excellence

Henry Rollins Sep 25, 2013

At the time of my August 2011 "As We See It," I was using a Wilson-McIntosh system. That system is still with me and still gets quite a bit of use. Its location, however, has changed. In its place is a system that I can't see switching out or needing to replace: Wilson Alexandria XLF speakers with VTL Siegfried Series II Reference monoblock power amps, TL-7.5 Series III Reference preamplifier, and TP-6.5 Signature phono stage. It might take a small army of people to move it, but beyond that, I think I'm good to go.

Recording of the Month

Recording of October 2013: Selected Signs III–VIII

Robert Baird Sep 25, 2013

The most indelicate, if not gory, term in all of music is the ever-popular "bleeding chunks." The bane of classical audiences cursed with lazy pops conductors, bleeding chunks are movements of worksor even parts of movementsstrung together in that abomination known as a medley. The effect can be, I guess, soothing to those who, for example, know only a little about Mozart. But for anyone well versed in their Wolfy, these programs are jarring, and can produce involuntarily grinding of those cavity-prone back molars.

News

The Annual High End Prague hi-fi show

Stephen Mejias Sep 24, 2013

SaturdaySunday, October 56, 10am6pm: The annual High End Prague hi-fi show will be held at the Corinthia Towers Hotel. The admission price per day is about $5 US and includes automatic entry into a "hi-fi lottery," with a chance to win Monitor Audio loudspeakers, Focal and Grado headphones, IsoTek electronics, and more. A percentage of the money earned from High End Prague goes to the Czech UNICEF. For a complete exhibitor list and more info, visit www.high-end-praha.cz.

Ariel Bitran

Listen to the Sounds

Ariel Bitran Sep 23, 2013

On Sunday, I took a walk through Inwood Hill Parkthe last existing glimpse to the natural wonder that Manhattan once was. Tulip trees and red-backed salamanders populate these woods. Along the paved trail, a playful soul chalked in instructions for hikers:

"Listen to the sounds."

Think Pieces

We Don't Get No Respect

Bill Leebens Sep 20, 2013

There are all sorts of ways of having fun, and just as many ways of spending money. Most of the time, spending money is necessary to have fun; whether it's going to a movie, having dinner out, scrapbooking, playing video games, whatevernothin's free.

J. Gordon Holt Miscellaneous

Sony DTC-2000ES DAT recorder

J. Gordon Holt Sep 20, 2013

Introduced nearly eight years ago as the first recordable digital format for consumers, DAT both failed to appeal to its target market and was blocked from formally entering the USA for four years by the RIAA, who feared for the copyright of its members' recordings. However, the DAT medium was enthusiastically snapped up by professionals and semiprofessionals, who found its combination of reliability, CD-compatible signal format, and editing ease ideal for mastering. Sony currently offers a small range of consumer models, from the diminutive Walkman-sized TCD-D-7 DATMan to four-head cassette-decksized machines for the so-called "prosumer": amateur recordists who make pin money taping local concerts. The DTC-2000ES is Sony's latest entry (footnote 1).