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

Sennheiser Drops HDB 630 Wireless Headphones

LATEST ADDITIONS

Recording of July 2014: Texas Hurricane

Robert Baird Jun 23, 2014

Stevie Ray Vaughan: Texas Hurricane
Epic/Legacy/Analogue Productions AAPB SRV33-BOX (6 LPs, 331?3rpm). 19831991/2014. John Hammond Sr., orig. exec. prod.; Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Hammond Jr., Richard Mullen, others, orig. prods.; Richard Mullen, James Geddes, Lincoln Clapp, others, orig. engs.; Chad Kassem, reissue exec. prod.; Ryan Smith, remastering. AAA. TT: 3:55:20
Performance *****
Sonics *****

He was the shining star the blues world had always dreamed of: the rare performer who could break through to the musical mainstream. Yet alas, he flashed across the musical heavens and was gone far too soon, dying in a helicopter crash in August 1990, at the age of 35. That Stevie Ray Vaughan's reign as blues-guitar hero was brief but incendiary is driven home yet again by this spectacular new boxed set from Epic/Legacy and Chad Kassem's Analogue Productions label.

News

Estelon's Major Statement: The Extreme Loudspeaker

Jason Victor Serinus Jun 22, 2014

Extreme, perhaps, in size6'10" when fully extendedand certainly in price ($260,000/pair US price), the Estelon Extreme loudspeaker has arrived at its exclusive US dealer, Audio High in Mountain View and Los Angeles, CA. The brainchild of Estonian designer Alfred Vassilkov, 56, who describes it as the culmination of 30 years of research, each loudspeaker, pictured above with Audio High's Michael Silver, weighs 551.16 lbs (250kg).

Robert Baird

Miranda Lambert

Robert Baird Jun 20, 2014

Yet there are country stars today that know and respect the history and yes…actually have taste.

Robert Baird

Laura Cantrell

Robert Baird Jun 20, 2014

There’s something huge to be said for longevity in the music business and staying true to your vision

Fred Kaplan

Keith Jarrett & Charlie Haden: Last Dance

Fred Kaplan Jun 19, 2014

Almost exactly four years ago, I posted a Blog that began like this: "Let's put the main point up front. The new duet album by Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden, Jasmine (on ECM), is a gorgeous piece of work: all standards, mainly ballads, nothing fancy (not overtly anyway), but such poignancy and quiet passion; it's a glimpse into the intimacy of the act of making art." A follow-up CD is out now, Last Dance...

Headphone Reviews InnerFidelity

Extraordinary DIY Electrostatic Headphones by Chinsettawong

Tyll Hertsens Jun 19, 2014

This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

Headphone hobbyists are an ongoing source of amazement. A couple of years ago I spent a year measuring DIY headphones and the work was often very cool indeed. But this...I don't even know what to say.

Welcome to a couple of spectacular DIY electrostatic headphone builds by Chinsettawong!

Audacious Audio CD Player/Transport Reviews

Cambridge Audio CD1 CD player

Martin Colloms Jun 18, 2014

Four years after its launch, the CD medium would appear to have come of age, at least in production terms. Annual player manufacture is now big business, and there is hardly a major audio brand without a CD machine to its nameeven such analog stalwarts as Audio-Technica and Shure have succumbed.

Budget Component Reviews Digital Processor Reviews

Audio Alchemy Digital Decoding Engine v1.0

Robert Harley, Sam Tellig Jun 18, 2014

No, the $399 price listed in the specification block isn't a misprint. And yes, the Audio Alchemy Digital Decoding Engine v1.0 is indeed a full-function outboard digital processor. And since this is the August issue, not April, you can stop worrying that this review is some kind of joke.

The $399 Digital Decoding Engine is for real.

Recommended Components

Recommended Components: the Stars

Larry Archibald Jun 17, 2014

Though it's Stereophile's most popular single feature, "Recommended Components" has many problems. The biggest is that you readers use itbut then, if I didn't want that, why would we publish it? More accurately, problems come from uncritical use, as if only products that "make" "Recommended Components" are worth buying. Alternatively, it's concluded that products which drop out have somehow been consigned to an outer darkness.

J. Gordon Holt Recording of the Month

Recording of December 1984: Beethoven: Symphony 9

J. Gordon Holt Jun 17, 2014

Beethoven: Symphony 9 in d, Op.125 ("Choral")
Berlin Staatskapelle and Rundfunkchor, Otmar Suitner, cond.; Dietrich Knothe, chorus master; Magdaléna Hajóssyová, soprano; Uta Priew, contralto; Eberhard Büchner, tenor; Manfred Schenk, bass.
Denon CD383C7-7021 (CD).

This is a positively stunning performance, abetted by one of the best-sounding orchestral recordings on CD to date.

I have long felt that the best reading of Beethoven's Ninth ever committed to records was an antique Columbia 78 set with the Vienna Philharmonic and Felix Weingartner (later released on an abominable-sounding LP: SL-165). I almost hate to day it, because the oldest idols die the hardest, but Suitner's is better! This is a monumental, consummately joyous Ninth that leaves the listener with a wonderful feeling of elation. If the orchestral playing is at times a little less than world-class and a couple of the soloists not quite up to star level, so what? This may well be the definitive Ninth on CD, both interpretively and sonically.