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

Sennheiser Drops HDB 630 Wireless Headphones

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Stand Loudspeaker Reviews Budget Component Reviews

Definitive Technology StudioMonitor 55 loudspeaker

Robert J. Reina Nov 09, 2012

Recently, I thought about all the audio shows I've attended over the last 27 years, looking for any pattern that all of them might have shared. I came up with a handful of audio manufacturers that have earned at shows a reputation for getting, year after year, consistently good soundrooms in which I could reliably depend on being able to chill out and enjoy music in good, involving sound. Those companies include Audio Research, Music Hall (distributor of Creek and Epos), Vandersteen Audioand Definitive Technology. Since their founding, in 1990, Maryland-based DefTech has been a major presence at shows, displaying an increasingly wide range of high-value speakers for two-channel and surround-sound systems. But I'd never reviewed one of their models. I thought it was about time.

News Stephen Mejias

The British Invasion v.2: The Beatles Tour the US—on LP

Stephen Mejias Nov 09, 2012

Over at AnalogPlanet, Michael Fremer has kept us up to date on the highly anticipated remastered Beatles LPs. While the reemergence of the Beatles catalog on vinyl is exciting news for many music lovers, audiophiles are most curious about how these new editions will sound.

Get ready to find out.

Phono Cartridge Reviews Phono Accessory Reviews The Entry Level

The Entry Level #23

Stephen Mejias Nov 08, 2012

It was around 7pm on Tuesday evening when I bumped into Nicole and Ms. Little on Newark Avenue, in downtown Jersey City. The girls were on their way to Kristen's shop, Kanibal Home, for their weekly book-club meeting. (Or was it Writing Club? Knitting? Screen printing? Butterfly pinning? I can never keep track.) I was on my way home, not to read, write, or listen to music, but . . .

"Hi, honey," Ms. Little said. "Going home to play with your cartridge?"

I made a face, nodded, sighed. Sensing some sharp-witted remark forming in Nicole's filthy mind, I beat her to the punch: "Yup, that's what I call it."

Ariel Bitran

X-Men in High Fidelity #1: Obsolete

Ariel Bitran Nov 07, 2012

In X-Men in High Fidelity we are introduced to the Beast, an audiophile, and the uncanny X-Men who listen to his hi-fi and get involved in his crazy tweaks and projects. Here Beast gets a hold of Cyclops...

News

Chord's John Franks at Audio High

Stephen Mejias Nov 07, 2012

Thursday, November 8, 48pm: Audio High (165 Moffett Boulevard, Mountain View, CA) will host John Franks of Chord Electronics. Franks will introduce the latest edition to Chord’s Reference line, the DSX1000 network player. For more info, e-mail jez@audiohigh.com, call (650) 964-4000, or visit the Audio High website.

Fred Kaplan

Jazz Composers Collective at 20

Fred Kaplan Nov 07, 2012

Photo: Lourdes Delgado

All this week, the Jazz Standard in New York will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Jazz Composers Collective, the brainchild of five musicians who formed five distinct bands: the personnel would remain the same, but each player would lead his own band and compose all of its music. Both concepts were unusual at the time: the continuity of players and the insistence on original compositions. Back then, jazz musicians rotated in and out of bands, not the other way around; and the emphasis was on covering standards or blowing improvisations.

News Stephen Mejias

On Sale Now: The Recommended Component’s Collector’s Edition

Stephen Mejias Nov 06, 2012

After two full weeks away from the office&#151Hurricane Sandy followed us from Puerto Rico to New Jersey&#151it was especially nice to get back in here and be greeted by the Stereophile Recommended Components Collector’s Edition.

Isn’t it beautiful?

For me, every one of its 180 pages represents blinding pain and seemingly endless suffering. But, for you, dear reader, we hope the Recommended Components Collector’s Edition will represent nothing but pure pleasure and joy.

Ariel Bitran

Benefit for Palo Alto Library Returns to Audio High

Ariel Bitran Nov 06, 2012

The Palo Alto Main Library

Saturday, November 10, 11am–3pm: Audio High (165 Moffett Boulevard, Mountain View, CA) hosts another vinyl sale to benefit the Friends of Palo Alto Library. Last year’s sale generated more than $1700 to benefit the Palo Alto Library, a cultural pillar to Santa Clara County community.

Some LPs that will be hallmarked for this sale include a Zappa collection, an assortment of French pop and avant-garde LPs, and as the “usual selection of hard-to-find rock and jazz titles.” Musical Surroundings and Clearaudio representatives will be at the benefit to answer turntable related questions and showcase their products.

Budget Component Reviews Turntable Reviews

VPI Industries Traveler turntable

Stephen Mejias Nov 05, 2012

On May 21, 2008, five months after purchasing my very first turntable (a Rega Research P3-24), I decided that my obsession with LPs had grown to the extent that I could no longer function without a good record-cleaning machine. I'd done some research and found that the device best suited to my life and wallet was VPI's time-honored HW-16.5. I was certain, anxious, determined. But that morning, when I gave VPI a call, the line was busy. When I called again in the afternoon, the line was busy. When I called again in the evening, the line was busy.

Digital Processor Reviews Computer Audio Reviews

Ayre Acoustics QA-9 USB A/D converter

John Atkinson Nov 05, 2012

Since its founding in 1993, Colorado-based Ayre Acoustics has made its name with amplifiers and preamplifiers based on truly balanced, solid-state circuitry that didn't use the ubiquitous panacea of loop negative feedback to produce linear behavior. Their first digital product was the D-1x DVD player, reviewed for Stereophile by Paul Bolin in February 2003, which offered unusually good video performance. The D-1x was followed by the C-5xe and DX-5 universal players, respectively reviewed by Wes Phillips (July 2005) and Michael Fremer (December 2010). But the most intriguing digital product to come from Ayre was the QB-9 digital processor. Reviewed by WP in October 2009, the QB-9 has just one input, USB, and uses Gordon Rankin's proprietary Streamlength code to give asynchronous operation, which in theory offers the best jitter suppression. "The QB-9 isn't a computer peripheral," said Ayre's marketing manager at that time, Steve Silberman. "It makes computers real high-end music sources"a statement with which WP agreed.