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Budget Component Reviews Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

NEAT Acoustics Iota Alpha loudspeaker

Ken Micallef Feb 02, 2017

Reviewers of high-fidelity gear are a trend-sniffing, topology-bandying bunch. When four of our kin gathered last November over lunch, during the 2016 New York Audio Show, the high-end chatter flew fast and furious. "Did you hear those mother-rocking big horns on the seventh floor?" "Nah, man, the Bruno Putzeys speakers on nine were best in show." "What about those li'l Lowthers on eight? Great sweet spot, but small as peanuts."

CD Player/Transport Reviews

EAR Acute Classic CD player

Art Dudley Feb 02, 2017

In Stereophile's January 2016 issue, I began a series of reviews of $10,000 CD players and transport-DAC combinations: an informal and serial survey, the goal of which was to gather, over time, the likeliest candidates for one's Last CD Player Ever. My choice of $10,000 as the target price was more or less arbitrary, although, in retrospect, that's about what I've invested in my go-to combination of turntable, tonearm, and pickup headso, who knows? Maybe my subconscious was acting out.

Headphone Reviews InnerFidelity

Bowers & Wilkins P7 Wireless Bluetooth Over-Ear Headphones

Tyll Hertsens Feb 02, 2017

This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

Oh boy, I love it when a headphone ticks all the boxes and doesn't have a fatal flaw shiv strapped to its ankle ready to strike at an inopportune moment. Yep, the Bowers & Wilkins P7 Wireless is a dandy daily driver for all your mobile headphone needs.

Features Headphone Reviews

Of Headphones to Come

Tyll Hertsens Jan 31, 2017

Some 100 engineers and scientists from around the globe assembled for the Audio Engineering Society's 2016 International Conference on Headphone Technology, in Aalborg, Denmark.

I figured it was coming, but it wasn't until just after I'd returned from the Audio Engineering Society's 2016 International Conference on Headphone Technologyheld last August in Aalborg, Denmarkand was writing up my report and summary on the event for InnerFidelity.com (footnote 1) that I knew for sure: Headphones are about to change . . . a lot.

Budget Component Reviews Gramophone Dreams Turntable Reviews

Gramophone Dreams #14: Rega Planar 3

Herb Reichert Jan 31, 2017

UK, 1976: Upon its release, Rega Research's original Planar 3 turntable became the poor man's Linn Sondek LP12. It opened a gateway of affordability to the exotic world of high-quality British record players. Forty years later, the new Planar 3 turntable and its "light and rigid" engineering aesthetic, as conceived by Rega founder Roy Gandy, still occupy an admirably working-class, pro-music position in an audio world increasingly populated by gold-plated tonearms and quarter-ton turntables.

Interviews Jana Dagdagan

MBL's Juergen Reis talks Digital with John Atkinson

Jana Dagdagan Jan 30, 2017

Last week, we posted a video on AudioStream of a conversation between Juergen Reis (MBL's Chief Designer), Michael Lavorgna (AudioStream), and John Atkinson, which we filmed during CES 2017. During that same session, we also filmed a conversation between JA and Juergen that focuses more specifically on MBL's new N31 DAC, which JA will be reviewing in a future issue of Stereophile.

In this video, Juergen and JA discuss digital filters, aliasing, Nyquist ringing, USB inputs, inter-sample "overs," and many of the other arcane issues involved in DAC design.

Headphone Reviews InnerFidelity

MrSpeakers Introduces AEON Over-Ear Sealed Headphone

Tyll Hertsens Jan 30, 2017

This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

Yesssssss!

I've kvetched quite a bit about the need for some killer headphones in the $500-$1000 price range. Seems like headphone makers just jumped by that price category in an ever more intense race to the top...of your willingness to break your wallet. Looks like we're going to get some relief from MrSpeakers.

Jason Victor Serinus

A Gorgeous Debut from the Sibelius Piano Trio

Jason Victor Serinus Jan 27, 2017

With their matching wide, distinctly un-stylish yellow ties and dark blue suits, the men of the Sibelius Piano Trio hardly look like world-class musicians. But once you hear their two-CD set from Yarlung Records, best appreciated via stereo and multi-channel DSD downloads from NativeDSD.com, you'll understand why their debut recording of trios by Sibelius and contemporary composers deserves a place in your collection.

Music and Recording Features Records To Die For

Records to Die For 2017

Stereophile Staff Jan 26, 2017

Never in the history of our venerable "Records To Die For" feature has the word Die come to mean as much as it has in the past year. Merle Haggard, Phife Dawg, Rudy Van Gelder, Maurice White, Glenn Frey, Otis Clay, Blowfly, Bob Cranshaw, George Martin, Steve Young, Chips Moman, Lonnie Mack, Prince, Leonard Cohen, Sharon Jones, Leon Russell, Ralph Stanley, David Bowieall died in the past year. So to drive away any evil spirits that may be hovering over this year's R2D4 extravaganza, we may need to think of this 2017 installment more as "Records to Live For."

News

Phono Cartridge Event in Phoenix Saturday

Stereophile Staff Jan 26, 2017

Saturday January 28, 16pm, Esoteric Audio (111 West Monroe Street, Suite 100, Phoenix, AZ 85003) is presenting the first public showing of the DS Audio DS 002 Optical Phono Cartridge System. This is a lower-priced version of the DS Audio Master1 that Michael Fremer reviewed for Stereophile in September 2015.