Vivid Audio Introduces Giya Cu Loudspeakers

KEF Debuts New Finishes for Blade One Meta and Blade Two Meta

Sennheiser Drops HDB 630 Wireless Headphones

Sponsored: Radiant Acoustics Clarity 6.2 | Technology Introduction

PSB BP7 Subwoofer Unveiled

Apple AirPods Pro 3: First Impressions

LATEST ADDITIONS

News

AudioQuest Warns of Counterfeit DragonFly^®s

Jason Victor Serinus Oct 22, 2016

Friday, October 21, Irvine, CA-based high-end audio manufacturer AudioQuest issued a warning about what appears to be low-priced, inferior-sounding counterfeits of its discontinued AudioQuest DragonFly v1.2. The matter was brought to AudioQuest's attention by a consumer who saw a thread on Reddit about a product that resembled the discontinued DragonFly 1.2's proprietary technical features. The real DragonFly is pictured above right with the subject of the Reddit thread on the left.

Robert Baird

A Go Go

Robert Baird Oct 21, 2016

If there ever was a sure-enough soul man, it was the Big O.

Recording of the Month

Recording of November 2016: Martha Argerich Early Recordings

Robert Levine Oct 20, 2016

Martha Argerich: Early Recordings
Beethoven: Piano Sonata 7 in D, Op.10 No.3. Mozart: Piano Sonata 18 in D, K.576. Prokofiev: Toccata, Op.11; Piano Sonatas 3 in a, Op.29 & 7 in B-flat, Op.83. Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit, Sonatine.
Martha Argerich, piano
Deutsche Grammophon 479 5978 (2 mono CDs). 2016. No prod. or eng. credits given. ADD. TT: 2:10:50
Performance *****
Sonics ***½

There is no dearth of recordings by the great Argentine pianist Martha Argerichover 150 are listed in her discographyand here, in honor of her 75th birthday, are two more discs, comprising previously unreleased material. Argerich has been playing publicly since she was eight years old; in 1957, she won the Busoni and Geneva competitions and continued to concertize, but it was not until she won the Chopin Competition, in Warsaw, in 1965 that she began to become a household name (in pianist-loving households). There is a rumor that she has never given a bad concert or made a poor or uninteresting recording; this new set does nothing to contradict it.

CD Player/Transport Reviews

Sony CDP-X77ES CD player

Thomas J. Norton Oct 20, 2016

With Sony's latest flagship single-box player ($1700), we find yet another variant on 1-bit D/A technologyHigh Density Linear Converter, or HDLC. At the heart of this Pulse Length Modulation (footnote 1) D/A technique is Sony's CXD-2552 Pulse D/A converter (two per channel in complementary mode in the CDP-X77ES). This complex LSI chip incorporates a third-order noise shaper, the PLM converter, and a digital sync circuit receiving its input from the system clock.

News

Dealer Events Friday and Saturday

Stereophile Staff Oct 20, 2016

California dealers The Audio Salon in Santa Monica and Sunny Components in Covina, Delaware's Overture Audio Video in Wilmington, and Canada's Advance Electronics in Winnipeg and Atlas Audio Video Unlimited in Victoria are all presenting special events this weekend.

As We See It

Steve Guttenberg's 116th Dream

Steve Guttenberg Oct 19, 2016

I'm at Dan D'Agostino's house listening to his triamped Apogee full-range ribbon speakers. It's 1985. His listening room is immense, easily 30' by 45', and we're rocking out to Led Zeppelin and Bonzo Dog Band records. The sound is light-years better than anything I've hearddynamic as hell, beyond vivid, and the soundstage has infinite depthand Dan's obviously loving that I'm blown away by his system. We get to talking. He has three pairs of Krell KMA-160 monoblocks and Reference KRS preamps for me. Thanks, I say, but how can I get them home? No problemDan has a van.

Historical J. Gordon Holt

Test Your Hi-FiQ

J. Gordon Holt Oct 19, 2016

How do you rate as an audio expert? Test yourself on these 25 questions.

All of the following are multiple-choice questions, dealing with things that every audio hobbyist should know, either before or after completing the test. Most of them are easy, but take your time in answering and don't jump to conclusions. Some of the questions are quite tricky, and wrong answers will be subtracted from your final score, so read them and the possible answers carefully before committing yourself. Don't guess if you aren't fairly sure.

News

WIlson Alexx Debut in Manhattan Wednesday

Stereophile Staff Oct 18, 2016

Wednesday 19 October, 6:009:00 pm, Manhattan dealer Innovative Audio (Architects & Designers Building 150 East 58th, Street Level, New York City), is hosting Wilson Audio's Peter McGrath, who will be presenting the new Alexx loudspeaker. Refreshments will be provided. RSVP by phone to (212) 634-4444 or via email.

Jana Dagdagan RMAF 2016

Reflections of an RMAF First Timer

Jana Dagdagan Oct 17, 2016

Photo: John Atkinson

The 2016 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest has come and gone, and here I find myself, back in the quiet comfort of Brooklyn.

Back with a glass of red wine in my hand, a table full of hot Indian takeout, and a dreamy Chet Baker serenading me through my modest system: a Technics SL 1200 Mk. II turntable with an Audio Technica AT440MLa cartridge (on a Technics headshell), a Fisher 800-C stereo receiver, and a pair of Rogers LS3/5a monitors sitting atop Skylan Speaker Stands.

What more is there to life?

. . . Or so I had thought . . .

News

Being There & the Summer of Love

Robert Deutsch Oct 17, 2016

Peter Wolter, owner of a hi-fi shop in the town of Orangeville, Ontarioabout an hour's drive from Torontoin another life worked in marketing for a major pharmaceutical company. This marketing experience undoubtedly informs Wolter's approach to audio retailing . . . he recently presented a vinyl playback evening, celebrating (a little early) the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Summer of Love, and, coincidentally, the renaming of his store. (The pieces of strudel in the picture came from Peter Wolter's family's bakery. And, yes, they were as delicious as they look.)