Ariel Bitran

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NewsAriel Bitran
Gralbum: Re-Thinking the Concept Album
Ariel Bitran  |  Apr 23, 2014  | 
Many music lovers share a moment in common. On a cloudy evening, you put on a record. Hopefully, it was Rush’s Hemispheres. Most likely, it was Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. The LP sleeve rested in your lap. The receiver’s meters bobbed gently, and the lights were dimmed just enough so your eyes could transfix on the junction of prism and light that refracts into a rainbow wrapped in black. As those guitars and synthesizers roared, the artwork and its melding with the music allowed you to transcend conceptual planes by uniting abstract visuals with word, rhythm, and melody. For just a moment, the world wasn’t so bland.

The Gralbum Collective are trying to recapture this enlightening experience with the Gralbum, or graphic album, a packaged release of image, word, and song for iPad and iPhone.

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NewsAriel Bitran
The Ultimate Headphone Guide: Now Available for Purchase via The Internet!
Ariel Bitran  |  Jan 02, 2014  | 
The Ultimate Headphone Guide is now available for purchase in our online store. Over five hundred headphones and headphone amps are listed alongside big, beautiful pictures and essential specifications. Click here for more details!
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InterviewsAriel Bitran
Meet Mat Weisfeld, President of VPI Industries
Ariel Bitran  |  Dec 19, 2013  | 
Earlier this month, our all-analog coverage counterpart AnalogPlanet announced the release of the Nomad, a brand new entry-level turntable from American hi-fi manufacturer VPI Industries. For $995, The VPI Industries Nomad turntable includes a built-in phono preamplifier, unbalanced output, a set of Grado Labs iGrado around-the-neck headphones, headphone output, and an Ortofon 2M Red cartridge. This instant listening package was the brainchild of Mat Weisfeld, son of company founder Harry Weisfeld. Mat Weisfeld is now the President of VPI Industries. I had the opportunity to visit the factory and ask Weisfeld a few questions just before the official announcement of the Nomad.
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Ariel Bitran
The New Old Face of Spendor
Ariel Bitran  |  Nov 27, 2013  | 
Jay Rein of Bluebird Music, the North American distributor for Spendor loudspeakers, has a cool, new idea. Collaborating with designers at Spendor, Rein developed retro-inspired grill for speakers in their Classic line up as well as for the Spendor S3/5R2. Rein visited In Living Stereo in NYC last week for an evening of music and brie to show off the grills.
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Ariel Bitran
The Everything is New Project
Ariel Bitran  |  Nov 25, 2013  | 
The Light of Love Children's Home in Tuni, Andhra Pradesh, India is a refuge for orphaned children—children of parents with HIV, parents who committed suicide, or who were murdered for their property, amongst other calamities. In The Everything is New Project, Scotland-based arts collective Transgressive North and charity organization Scottish Love in Action have developed three albums of music around recordings of these children as the Light of Love Children's Choir.
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Ariel Bitran
The Simpsons Welcome You to MusicVille
Ariel Bitran  |  Nov 25, 2013  | 
In this recent couch gag, the creators of The Simpsons transform their characters into a world of anthropomorphic instruments. Not a detail was missed in creating this music wonderland with piano-toothed dogs, slide-armed Simpsons, and traffic lights shaped like notes on the staff. Mr. Burns threatens tyranny through censorship of all music forms except classical, but the Simpson family and friends soon figure out the music within them cannot be contained.
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NewsAriel Bitran
Winamp Is No More
Ariel Bitran  |  Nov 21, 2013  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  | 
Starting December 20, 2013, Winamp will no longer be available for download. A warning was posted on the Winamp website yesterday. Winamp served an instrumental role in the proliferation of downloaded music giving music fans an easy way to play music on their computer.
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Ariel Bitran
CAD MH510 Over-Ear Headphones
Ariel Bitran  |  Nov 14, 2013  | 
This is Carter B. of Austin, Texas, one of the winners of our CAD MH510 over-ear headphone sweepstakes. After I sent Carter and our second winner, Jesus C. of Plainsboro, New Jersey, their prizes, I realized the Stereophile office had one extra set of these headphones. Hmm…

I was in the market for some monitoring headphones, and CAD traditionally makes microphones for recording. Could the CAD MH510 ($159.00) be the headphone I was looking for?

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Ariel Bitran
Released Today: Vaadat Charigim's The World is Well Lost
Ariel Bitran  |  Nov 12, 2013  | 
Tel Aviv’s Vaadat Charigim debut album The World is Well Lost is understated. Simple guitar strums emerge from a low-lying cloud of noise. Drums are pushed to the background while singer/guitarist Juval Haring’s steady stream of baritone strides then tumbles. His syllables topple across the band’s constant pulse. Haring sounds tired, but the never-ending push of The World is Well Lost won’t let him give up.
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Ariel Bitran
Listen to the Sounds
Ariel Bitran  |  Sep 23, 2013  | 
On Sunday, I took a walk through Inwood Hill Park—the last existing glimpse to the natural wonder that Manhattan once was. Tulip trees and red-backed salamanders populate these woods. Along the paved trail, a playful soul chalked in instructions for hikers:

"Listen to the sounds."

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Ariel Bitran
AB Analyzes His System
Ariel Bitran  |  Aug 26, 2013  | 
It was hot—the kind of hot where the second you get out of the shower, you start sweating. My ceiling fan could’ve provided relief, but the repeated clink of its pull-chain added an offbeat to the music. My goal was to analyze my system’s current strengths and weaknesses and define my “reference sound”. The fan had to go. It was time to listen.
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Ariel Bitran
CE Week: Headphones Galore, A DAC, A Small Hi-Fi, and Avoiding Bluetooth
Ariel Bitran  |  Jul 03, 2013  | 
A billboard from a wireless speaker company that will not be covered.

Before leaving for CE Week, a trade event showcasing a general representation of the consumer electronics market, JA cautioned, “I’m worried you may not find many things applicable to our readers.” I love a challenge.

Within these table-lined alleys littered with business cards and quesadillas, I aimed to uncover as much two-channel audio as possible. This would include headphones. This would also include an attempt to avoid Bluetooth, as Bluetooth is lossy and has been an unreliable connection for long-term listening in my experiences so far. Would this general representation of the consumer electronics market have products an audiophile could enjoy?

Yes.

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Ariel Bitran
Reporting from Pepcom: Weird Headphones, Too Much Bluetooth, and Something Completely Different
Ariel Bitran  |  Jun 24, 2013  | 
Pepcom is an event organizer that brings together a smattering of technology companies, members of the press, and various forms of the grilled chicken sandwich. Here are the products from the world of audio and its extended fingers that intrigued and appalled.
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Ariel Bitran
Goodbye to Jewel Cases
Ariel Bitran  |  Jun 19, 2013  | 
I threw away all of the original jewel cases to my CDs. The CDs themselves are in a Case Logic CD Binder. Before throwing the cases away, I adored each title’s artwork and reminisced on each album’s place in my personal history.

It was hard to say goodbye, but the cases were taking up too much space.

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Ariel Bitran
Maserati and B&W Pimp Each Other's Rides
Ariel Bitran  |  Jun 18, 2013  | 
Photo by Bowers & Wilkins

On Thursday, June 13th, British hi-fi mainstay Bowers & Wilkins and Italian luxury car manufacturer Maserati brought their Seven Notes World Tour to the Industria Superstudio in New York City’s Meatpacking District. The event presented the B&W-designed in-car audio system, the new B&W 805 Maserati Edition loudspeaker, and a performance from Howie B.

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