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

Jason Victor Serinus

Sounds & Clouds: Like Everything and Nothing Else

Jason Victor Serinus Sep 24, 2017

How to describe music that is so personal, so deeply reflective and rooted in Buddhist contemplation that only listening to the music itself, without distraction, will suffice? Such is the conundrum that, hopefully, will lead you from this page to Channel Classics' hybrid SACD, Sounds & Clouds: Works by Hosokawa & Vivaldi.

Robert Baird

Life is Fine: Paul Kelly Goes Electric

Robert Baird Sep 23, 2017

An old hand from Down Under returns to rock . . .

Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

KEF Reference 5 loudspeaker

John Atkinson Sep 21, 2017

Of all the speakers I have most enjoyed in recent years, two were from British manufacturer KEF: the LS50 Anniversary Model ($1500/pair), which I reviewed in December 2012; and the Blade Two ($25,000/pair), which I reviewed in June 2015. Though these two speakers lie at opposite ends of the price scale, they have in common KEF's unique Uni-Q drive-unit, in which the tweeter is mounted on the front of the midrange unit's pole piece, so that the lower-frequency cone acts as a waveguide for the higher-frequency output.

Budget Component Reviews Integrated Amp Reviews

Rega Research Brio integrated amplifier

Ken Micallef Sep 21, 2017

"Looking back, my life's passions have mostly been sensual: food, females, fast cars, music, wine, sailing and skiing. My motivations, activities and work have stemmed from the need to fuel these passions rather than enjoyment of the process."

Who said this? John Atkinson? Art Dudley? Dr. Dre?

Headphone Reviews Jana Dagdagan

The Audeze LCDi4: Start to Finish

Jana Dagdagan Sep 21, 2017

In June, I visited headphone manufacturer Audeze's factory in Southern California (they've since moved) and capture an abridged version of the making of a pair of Audeze LCDi4 in-ear planar magnetic headphones ($2495). In the first part of this video, which is narrated by first Sankar Thiagasamudram, Audeze's founder and CEO, we begin with the making of the LCDi4, followed by the testing, burn-in, and packaging. This is followed by the unboxing and very first listening session, with John Atkinson, Stereophile's editor in chief.

Fred Kaplan

Bill Evans, Another Time: The Hilversum Concert

Fred Kaplan Sep 20, 2017

Resonance Records is emerging as the most vital jazz reissue house aroundor, rather, not "reissue," for the music they put out has never been issued before: the producer Zev Feldman (or someone who contacts him) has found it in an unexamined vault, back room, or collectors' cove. Resonance is now filling in some blanks from Evans' middle years, the 1960s, for which there's also a paucity of albums, or at least of very good ones. The best of the new stack is the latest, Another Time, recorded before a live audience in the studio of Netherlands Radio Union in Hilversum, outside Amsterdam, on June 22, 1968. Until this release, no one ever knew the tapes of this performance existed.

Turntable Reviews

VPI Prime Scout turntable

Art Dudley Sep 19, 2017

We got our wish. Phonograph ownership is once again depicted as commonplace, even hip, in popular films, TV shows, and ads for other products. Turntables and LP jackets show up in photos in Elle Decor and Vanity Fair. New LPs are sold in stores in nice neighborhoods, and in malls with Cinnabon franchises and J.Crew stores. A shockingly high percentage of new record releases in which normal people are interested, and a few in which they are not, are now available on vinyl. For the first time in decades, I receive occasional gifts of new LPspresumably because they're once again easy for nonenthusiasts to find and to buyand the very few CDs I've received in the past few years have been homemade.

Recording of the Month

Bonus Recording of October 2017: The Doors of Heaven

Robert Levine Sep 19, 2017

Eriks Eenvalds: The Doors of Heaven
The First Tears, Rivers of Light, A Drop in the Ocean, Passion and Resurrection
Dr. Ethan Sperry, Portland State Chamber Choir; various instrumentalists
Naxos 8.579008 (CD). 2017. Erick Lichte, prod.; John Atkinson, Doug Tourtelot, engs. DDD. TT: 58:52
Performance ****
Sonics *****

Latvian composer Eriks Eenvalds has been making quite a name for himself in choral music. He teeters gingerly between consonance and dissonance, and varies intimate whisperings, the strength of forcessometimes a solo soprano over the chorus; sometimes a solo vocal quartet; sometimes exquisite, silky smooth legato singing by the entire choruswith wise, spare use of instruments.

Jana Dagdagan

Reviewer Video Profile: Michael Fremer

Jana Dagdagan Sep 18, 2017

In this video, we visit Michael Fremer, Senior Contributing Editor to Stereophile, Editor of AnalogPlanet.com, and an unparalleled guru of all things analog.

Jason Victor Serinus

Maria Callas LIVE at Last

Jason Victor Serinus Sep 17, 2017

The most eagerly anticipated opera release of 2017, Warner's set of 20 remastered complete live opera performances and five filmed recitals by soprano Maria Callas (19231977), hit the real and virtual stands on September 15. Commemorating the 40th anniversary of the soprano's death, which occurred on September 16, the physical edition of Maria Callas LIVE: Remastered Live Recordings 19491964 includes a 200-page, multi-language booklet that frames introductions to each opera with numerous photographs of Callas both rare and frequently reproduced. Each of the 20 opera sets within the box also boasts a handsomely reproduced front photo, usually from the performance.