Apple AirPods Pro 3: First Impressions

Hegel H150 Integrated Amplifier Officially Announced

Sonus faber Announces Amati Supreme Speaker

FiiO M27 Headphone DAC Amplifier Released

Audio Advice Acquires The Sound Room

LATEST ADDITIONS

Stephen Mejias

Music, Live and Otherwise, at the Monkeyhaus

Stephen Mejias Jun 17, 2011

On Thursday, June 16, Zentripetal Duo performed live at DeVore Fidelity's Monkeyhaus.

It’s not unusual to enjoy great music at DeVore Fidelity’s Monkeyhaus, but that music usually comes from LPs, loudspeakers, and tube amplifiers. Last night was a different story: While we did listen to music on the hi-fi, we were also treated to the special, comforting sounds of live, unamplified music. Zentripetal Duo (violinist Lynn Bechtold and cellist Jennifer DeVore) played three pieces&#151Gene Pritsker’s C17H21NO4 (the molecular formula for a drug popular among hipsters, baby boomers, and Wall Street tycoons), Astor Piazzolla’s "Violetas Populares," and Dan Cooper’s Design Duo.

Stephen Mejias

Video: “Regresa” by Helado Negro

Stephen Mejias Jun 17, 2011

The video for Helado Negro's "Regresa" is like a snapshot of my awesome life: Taxidermy, dancing, making out, and Spanish vocals. The only things missing are meatloaf and Brussels sprouts.

Headphone Reviews InnerFidelity

The Beyerdynamic DJX-1

Tyll Hertsens Jun 16, 2011

This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

I was rummaging around amongst HeadRoom's demo cans the other day, and stumbled upon a Beyerdynamic DJX-1.

"Hmm..." I sez to myself, "I don't remember ever seeing these before. I wonder what they sound like."

Once home, I pulled them out of the box and had a listen ... wow, these aren't bad at all. I wonder why I've never heard them before?

Solid State Preamp Reviews

Ayre K-5xe^MP line preamplifier

John Atkinson Jun 15, 2011

I asked for a sample of the K-5xe so I could do a Follow-Up to Sam's review, but other review commitments kept getting in the way. When I finally spent some time with it (S/N 10J002), I found the sound a little on the robust, forward side, which made system matching problematic. Then, as I was about to spill some ink on the K-5xe, I got an e-mail from Charlie Hansen letting me know that the development of the QB-9 USB DAC had led them to rethink the K-5xe's design, and that Ayre would be sending a sample of what would be called the K-5xe^MP. After a longer delay than I had anticipated, the K-5xe^MP, priced at $3500, arrived for review.

Media Server Reviews

Bryston BDP-1 digital audio player

Larry Greenhill Jun 15, 2011

James Tanner, VP of marketing at Bryston Ltd., was frustrated. He'd borrowed a Music Vault 4000 music server to play high-resolution digital music files at Bryston's exhibit at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show. Most of the time, the server delivered some of the best sound at that event. The rest of the time, there were dropouts and crashes. Tanner later experienced similar dropouts and crashes when he streamed hi-rez digital files over his home network to a Bryston BDA-1 digital-to-analog converter (see my review in the February 2010 issue).

I found a more relaxed Tanner at the 2010 CES. This time, he'd borrowed an Auraliti L-1000 digital file server ($3000 at www.auraliti.com), a box with no front-panel controls, no display, no hard drive, no fans, and no CD drive. Instead of a Windows operating system, the L-1000 ran a stripped-down version of the Linux open-source operating system. Its simplicity of design solved the reliability problems Tanner had encountered the year before.

Then and there, Tanner decided to ask Auraliti to help Bryston create a simple digital music file player. The result is the BDP-1.

Headphone Reviews InnerFidelity

AKG Quincy Jones Q701

Tyll Hertsens Jun 13, 2011

This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

According to a February 2011 NPD Group study, celebrity endorsements are extremely/very important to nearly 30 percent of consumers when deciding what headphones to buy. Moreover, there was a 75% increase in sales of headphones over $100 from 2009 to 2010 ... in a bad economy, no less. Headphones are a hopping commodity.

So sure, why not nab a big name like Quincy Jones and extend the life into an aging, but still very good headphone.

News

AudioQuest Headquarters Tour

Michael Lavorgna Jun 12, 2011

The Southern California headquarters of cable manufacturer AudioQuest, which includes their offices, a listening room, conference rooms, a very very large warehouse, assembly rooms, a graphic design room, a few kitchens and various and sundry other more mundane but just as important places, is within a few-minutes’ drive from T.H.E. Show at Newport Beach. Shane Buettner, AudioQuest's Director of Education who you will most likely recognize as the former Editor-In-Chief of Home Theater magazine, Joe Harley VP of AudioQuest (Joe Harley is also a recording engineer/producer responsible for among others the Blue Note 45rpm reissues from Music Matters and he's a musician), and Andrew Kissinger, Regional Sales Manager, gave a group of A/V journalists, including Tom Norton, Senior Editor and Video Technical Editor of Home Theater magazine, the full tour.

My comments on the tour/AudioQuest facility can be summed up by saying that this is one of the most organized, clean, neat and tidy places I've ever seen. And it's not the kind of organized, clean, neat and tidy you can fake for a tour. From the huge warehouse to the tiniest Ziplock baggy, everything had its place and label. Impressive.

Fred Kaplan

2011 Jazz Journalists Association Awards

Fred Kaplan Jun 12, 2011

The Jazz Journalists Association held its annual awards party at the City Winery in New York City Saturday afternoon, June 10. Here is a partial list of the winners, followed in parentheses by the musicians I voted for. The awards covered the period from April 15, 2010 to April 15, 2011. (The full list of finalists and winners can be found here and here.

RECORDING OF THE YEAR:
Winner: Joe Lovano's Us Five, Bird Songs (Blue Note). My Pick: Jason Moran, Ten (Blue Note). Lovano's Charlie Parker tribute is a good album, but Moran's is a masterpiece, the career highlight of the most impressive, versatile jazz musician of his age.

Stephen Mejias

Vinyl Flat: An Affordable Record Flattener?

Stephen Mejias Jun 10, 2011

Do you own any warped records? I do, unfortunately. It’s always a major disappointment to find that a promising new record is warped. You could take it back to the store, of course, but who’s got time for that? Most often, I wind up keeping those sad, warped records, but I rarely play them. No fun, no fun.

I’ve often wondered about the Furutech Disc Flattener, but $2000 is a lot of money to spend on what is, essentially, an accessory.

So, I’m anxious to learn more about the new Vinyl Flat Record Flattener ($129.95). From the website:

Stephen Mejias

Now on Newsstands: Stereophile, Vol.34 No.7

Stephen Mejias Jun 10, 2011

The July 2011 issue of Stereophile is now on newsstands. A quick look at the cover should tell you a lot about what the issue has to offer: New speakers from Sony, Thiel, Rethm, Audience, and Harbeth; integrated amplifiers from NAD, Micromega, and JoLida; digital file players from Decibel, Pure Music, and Amarra; a state-of-the-art preamplifier from Ypsilon; a new set of Robert Johnson 45rpm discs.

In order to put together an interesting and competitive issue, John Atkinson strives to create a magazine that he would want to read. Taking a look at this issue’s cover, I feel fairly certain that were I to come across it on some newsstand, I would pick it up, flip through its 140 pages, take it over to the cash register, plop down the $6.99, take the lovely thing home with me, and devour it.

You?