<i>Stereophile</i>'s founder, <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/historical/66/index.html">J. Gordon Holt</a>, who passed away in July, was also a recording engineer. Here we see one of his projects, a rare 1958 LP of British-born American folk singer, Richard Dyer-Bennet, the "twentieth-century minstrel."
Designed to be used onstage by musicians monitoring their sound and mix, in-ear monitors (IEMs) such as the new Westone 3 are great in situations where you want to hear nothing but the music. They're small and portable, and their high efficiency and easy impedance load mean they work well with portable players. IEMs are better than electronic-feedback, noise-reducing, closed circumaural phones at blocking out airplane engine noise and annoying neighbors who want to chat. They're also more compact, sound better, and don't require batteries.
I got early into personal stereos. I lost my driving license for a while in the mid-1970s—something about a stop sign and "failure to observe"—so I used to take the train to a regular bass-playing gig I had in Brighton, on England's south coast. Not only did I conclude that any audio magazine worth its cover price had to have enough meat in it to last the two-hour journey and back again, I also built myself an op-amp–based, battery-powered amplifier to drive a pair of RadioShack headphones. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and my only source was a mono cassette recorder. Inside-the-head mono is as mono desperately does, so once I got my license back, it was back to the car and stereo FM radio. It wasn't until a) I moved to New York City to become a strap-hanging commuter and b) bought a 2003-vintage 30GB iPod (which I still use) that music on the move again began to play a major role in my listening.
Phiaton is the brand name used by the South Korean Cresyn Company. Wes Phillips reviewed Phiaton's conventional closed-back <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/headphones/phiaton_moderna_ms_400_headphones… MS 400 headphones</A> in January 2009 and was as impressed by the sound quality as he was by their appearance. The PS 200 ($249), the only in-ear headphone sold by Phiaton, also has a striking appearance: the black rear face, which is all someone sitting next to you in the subway will see, resembles the turbine blades of a fan-jet engine. There are two balanced-armature drive-units, with a passive crossover network.
Innovation can often come from unexpected places, but "thinking different" can also engender ridicule. Is audio's "lunatic fringe" good or bad for the hobby?
Show me a music writer who has no guilty pleasures and I’ll show you someone you don’t need to waste time reading. Anyone with passion for music, which is what drives you to try to put what you hear into words, has a brain studded with funny little weaknesses. Many is the music writer who has a Bobby Sherman record stashed somewhere. I have a friend, a blues nut extraordinaire, who one dark night admitted to me under the influence of single malt that he “had a few Beatles albums” hidden away under his bed like girly magazines. And then of course there’s always the issue of hipness overload. No one can be cutting edge all the time. There are times when you just want to hear Hall & Oates or Karen Carpenter’s dusky tones and you don’t care who knows. I like Grizzly Bear fine for example, but sometimes you just gotta give in, shed that uber skin and dive headlong into some accessible–as–hell Whiz.
Let's just say I had a little bit too much fun at last night's CD release party. Let's just say beer, tequila, and rum. Let's just say hot girls in summer dresses making out on the cushioned booth. Yeah, let's just say that. At one point, I turned away from the stage to see that the front room had been transformed into <a href=" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQJexFOxolI">The Tequila Scene</a> from Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. It was like a dream, I tell you, and it may have been the most wonderful thing I've ever witnessed in my life.
We have just received the sad news that loudspeaker designer Jim Thiel has passed away. Following is the text of the official announcement:
Looking for <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/news/attention_screen_cd_release_party/">a good time tonight</a>? Meet us after work at <a href="http://www.ottosshrunkenhead.com/">Otto's Shrunken Head</a> to celebrate the release of <a href="http://stereophile.com/musicrecordings/ilive_at_ottosi_a_new_stereophil… Screen's new CD</a>.