LATEST ADDITIONS

In Gramophone Dreams #88, I described the sound of TEAC's VRDS-701T CD transport as "dense and precise in a way I had never previously heard from digital." I went on to explain, "by 'dense,' I mean there was a tangible corporeality effected by seemingly infinite quantities of small, tightly packed molecules of musical information."

What I noticed most during the review period was the extraordinary volume of data the 701T was vacuuming off those pits and lands and turning into music. As I have gotten to know it better, what I've noticed most is how the 701T sorts and delivers all that data in a manner that makes every DAC I pair it with sound more corporal and dynamic.

As I wrote that review, I wondered how the 701T would perform partnered with its matching UD-701N converter/streamer/preamplifier and how the TEAC flagship DAC's sound character would compare to flagship DACs from HoloAudio, Denafrips, and dCS.

Mat and Harry Weisfeld presented two dedicated rock ‘em, sock ‘em systems at last month's CAF2024 show. The first room marked the debut of the new VPI Forever Series Model One turntable, which is currently in house at Chez Micallef under review.

Closing his review of the AirTight ATM-1S amplifier in the November 2014 Stereophile, Art Dudley wrote, "The AirTight ATM-1S is right up there with the best I've heard: the artisanal, the small, the artistically sensitive, the colorful and characterful, the smart. The AirTight is as serious an EL34 amplifier as I've heard, offering texture, color, poise, musical drive, and rightness, all in good proportion to one another. It also looks nice and represents at least decent if not outrageously good value for the money."

Art's ATM-1S was a step in a long succession of tube amplifiers produced by AirTight since its 1986 founding. First came the original ATM-1; AirTight has also produced the ATM-2 (which used KT88 tubes), the ATM-4 (6L6GCs), the 1S that Art reviewed (EL34s; the S stood for "special"), the ATM-2 Plus, and now the ATM-1 2024 Edition ($14,975).

Even if audio isn’t your thing, I always advise everyone within earshot to visit Jeffrey Catalano’s hi-fi rooms, the world over. ‘Cause more than a smart-witted audiophile, Jeffrey is a seasoned musician and experienced listener, his vinyl collection spreading to the many thousands. This man has serious taste in music, an influencer, you might say, of the highest degree.

I think of Audio-Technica as the maker of some of the best high-value cartridges out there. From the ubiquitous AT3600L, which can be had for a little more than a Big Mac meal at McDonald's, to the popular OC9 moving coil series, A-T's cartridges have long been easy-to-recommend options that deliver great sound mounted on just about any turntable.

But occasionally, Audio-Technica likes to show off its technological chops by launching a cartridge that breaks new ground. Last year, they celebrated their 60th anniversary by stunning everyone with the AT-MC2022, which uses an outrageous integrated stylus and cantilever fashioned from a single piece of lab-grown diamond. In 2016, they flexed their capabilities with the AT-ART1000, which completely reconfigured how the elements of a moving coil cartridge are arranged, with spectacular results.

Now, eight years after the AT-ART1000 was launched, A-T has introduced the AT-ART1000x, which incorporates several small but important improvements.

MC Audiotech's Mark Conti, ever the gentleman, even when confronted by a rabid reporter, unveiled a system of such sweet tone and dynamic might that it soothed my inner beast. At

Gramophone Dreams’ columnist Herb Reichert has written glowing amplifier reviews of Elekit of Fukuoka, Japan, and Sun Valley, of Nagoya, Japan, both distributed by Victor Kung’s VK Music.

At CAF2024 Victor showcased many amplifiers at his CAF booth, most boasting fat tubes and open circuit boards, the kind of which activates my reviewer’s twitch.