LATEST ADDITIONS

Robert Baird

Arthur Alexander, Lonely Just Like Me

Robert Baird Jul 15, 2017

One of my favorite South by Southwest moments over the 28 years I have attended was the early-1990s performance of Arthur Alexander who was literally sobbing before his set was done. In 1993, after many years out of the music game, Alexander, with the help of a lot of talented friends, made Lonely Just Like Me for Elektra Records, a swansong he never thought possible. Convinced he'd been forgotten, his triumphant performance in Austin just after the record was released, in front of a wildly enthusiastic crowd, moved him to tears. A few weeks later he was gone.

Jana Dagdagan

Reviewer Video Profile: Art Dudley

Jana Dagdagan Jul 14, 2017

In this video, we visit Stereophile's Deputy Editor, Art Dudley, in his home in Cherry Valley, NY.

Who is Art Dudley? A devout Listener, a friend to all bunniesand some humansJohn Atkinson's right-hand man, and an invaluable voice, not just within Stereophile, but within the industry as a whole.

Fred Kaplan

Steve Coleman, Morphogenesis

Fred Kaplan Jul 14, 2017

Steve Coleman, 61, is one of the most creative alto saxophonists, conceptualists, composers, and bandleadersand certainly the most influential of all those identitiesin jazz today. His latest album, Morphogenesis (on the Pi Recordings label), doesn't quite equal his last twohis breakthrough, Functional Arrhythmia (2013), or his masterpiece, Synovial Joints (2015)but it's a rouser by any measure: on close listening, a heady sweat-drencher.

As We See It

Enough with the Hobby Already

Jason Victor Serinus Jul 13, 2017

For the longest time, I've found the label "hobby" inadequate to describe the audiophile goal of better sound reproduction. Yes, for some, the mechanics of the High End have become an end in themselvesa way to tinker and tweak, build and rebuild in classic hobby fashion. But for many others, specifically earbud listeners, folks with whole-house systems, and those who'd rather push a button on a remote and sit back or dance rather than roll tubes or tinker, the descriptor hobby falls woefully short.

Recording of the Month

Recording of August 2017: Rachmaninoff Piano Works

Robert Levine Jul 13, 2017

Rachmaninoff: Piano Sonata 2, Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Six Moments Musicaux
Evelina Vorontsova, piano
STH Quality Classics CD1416092 (CD). 2017. Paul Steverink, Boudwijn Zwart, prods.; Jaco van Houselt, eng. DDD. TT: 74:42
Performance ****½
Sonics *****

This is Russian-Dutch pianist Evelina Vorontsova's second recording; the first was in 2002. Born in 1972, she took fourth prize in the Rachmaninoff Competition at 18, and second prize at the International Franz Liszt Piano Competition two years later; in 2006, she won second prize in the International Piano and Orchestra Competition in Cantù, Italy (at which there was no first prize awarded). Judging from this CD and its very challenging program, she is a remarkable talent; one wonders why she is not more famous and signed to a major label.

Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

Quad ESL-2912 loudspeaker

Robert Deutsch Jul 11, 2017

If Stereophile gave an award for Loudspeaker We've Most Frequently Reviewed, the hands-down winner would have to be the Quad ESL. The list of past and present Stereophile contributors who've written about the ESL's various incarnations includes John Atkinson, Martin Colloms, Anthony H. Cordesman, Art Dudley, Larry Greenhill, J. Gordon Holt, Ken Kessler, Dick Olsher, Herb Reichert, William Sommerwerck, Steven Stone, and Sam Tellig. The ESL-63 was John Atkinson's personal "Editor's Choice" in 1992, and the ESL-989, a successor to the ESL-63, was Stereophile's 2003 Loudspeaker of the Year and Product of the Year.

Features

Book Review: The New Analog

Stephen Mejias Jul 11, 2017

The New Analog: Listening and Reconnecting in a Digital World, by Damon Krukowski. The New Press, 2017. Hardcover, 240 pp., $24.95. Also available as an e-book.

Defining noise is tricky business.

In high-end audio, noise is often defined as the enemyof music, beauty, truth. Engineers and enthusiasts alike spend significant amounts of time, energy, and money attempting to minimize or control noise so that it has the least possible impact on the source signal: music. In this wayif we are intelligent, careful, and fortunatewe can extract from our stereos cleaner, clearer, more naturally beautiful sound for listening experiences that are enriching, emotionally compelling, and, above all, fun. On the other hand, when noise is allowed to excessively modulate the signal, music can sound relatively abrasive, more mechanical, and, ultimately, less engaging.

Jana Dagdagan

Blackie Pagano: Audio Artisan

Jana Dagdagan Jul 10, 2017

In this video I profile New York-based tube electronics technician Blackie Pagano, who fixes and upgrades "anything that makes or passes music and utilizes vacuum tubes." I first learned of Blackie when looking for a repairman to take my Fisher 800-C to. JA, Herb, and everyone I asked saidwithout hesitation"You have to take it to Blackie. He's the best for the job."

News

It's the August Issue!

Stereophile Staff Jul 10, 2017

With Quad's reworking of Peter Walker's "Wonder," the full-range ESL-2912 electrostatic, featured on its cover. Inside you'll find John Atkinson on Rockport's Avior II loudspeaker; Herb Reichert on an affordable amplifier from Emotiva and cost-no-object headphones from Abyss; Art Dudley on a Bryston's CD player; Michael Fremer on Brinkmann's MQA-capable Nyquist DAC and Ortofon's Windfeld Ti cartridge; and Jim Austin on PS Audio's ultimate monoblock.

Jason Victor Serinus

A New Mahler Cycle from Vänskä and Minneapolis

Jason Victor Serinus Jul 09, 2017

Conductor Osmo Vänskä, whose Minnesota Orchestra has previously distinguished itself in multiple recordings of Sibelius and Beethoven, is now turning to the symphonies of Gustav Mahler. Newly arrived is his hybrid SACD, for BIS, of Mahler's Symphony 5. The first issue in a projected series that will next offer Mahler's Sixth and Second Symphonies at dates unspecified, it may not win over those whose allegiance adamantly rests with Bernstein, Chailly, Rattle, Abbado, Tilson-Thomas, Fischer, and/or other distinguished Mahler interpreters. Nonetheless, the strength of the recording's first movement alone, and its hi-rez provenance as DSD derived from 24/96 file, make its epic journey from darkness to light essential listening.