News

Featuring Mytek's MQA-equipped Manhattan II D/A preamplifier-headphone amplifier on its cover, our new issue—132 pages of awesome—is jam-packed with good stuff. There are reviews of Ayre's QX-5 Twenty "digital hub," Kii's ground-breaking, DSP-optimized active speaker, amplifiers from Bel Canto and Octave, and preamplifiers from Shindo and Sutherland. Jim Austin interviews Pass Labs' onlie begetter, veteran engineer Nelson Pass. Robert Baird surveys audiophile-quality reissues of horror-film soundtracks. Mikey Fremer visits revitalized SME in the UK. And kicking it all off, Art Dudley condemns CD player manufacturers who neglect their customers in the long term.

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.

Friday June 30, 4pm until late, Toronto dealer Angie's Audio Corner/American Sound of Canada (12261 Yonge Street, Richmond Hill, ON L4E 3M7, Canada) is holding its 5th Annual Party.

Thursday evening, June 22, 5–9pm, F1 Audio (311 E Dundee Road, Palatine, IL 60074) is holding an event featuring Evolution series loudspeakers and electronics from TAD Labs and Isotek power conditioners. Attendees will also be able to audition rare, out-of-print Mobile Fidelity albums and test pressings from MoFi's UltraDisc One-Step series and take a test drive in the new Porsche 718 Boxster S and Macan Turbo, courtesy of The Porsche Exchange of Highland Park.

Zesto's Téssara tube phono preamplifier takes pride of place on the July Stereophile's cover, to accompany Mikey Fremer's review inside. Add to that Jason Victor Serinus on the expensive Audionet Max monoblocks from Germany, John Atkinson on an affordable DAC from Arcam, Larry Greenhill on the awesome No.536 monoblock from the revitalized Mark Levinson company, Art Dudley on the Lamm L.21 preamplifier and the Serbian Soulines Kubrick DCX turntable, and Herb Reichert on turntables from Analogueworks and Palmer, and you'll see why we think this issue is rad! (JA's daughter says "Don't say that, Daddy.")

Don Garber, founder and sole proprietor of the influential electronics company Fi as well as a noted artist, passed away on June 4th, following a brief illness. He was 81.

Saturday June 10 at 3pm, Kyomi Audio (4454 W Berteau Avenue, Chicago, IL) is having a Jadis event while from 1–6pm, Esoteric Audio (111 W. Monroe Street, Suite 100, Phoenix, AZ 85003) is holding an event featuring the Moon by Simaudio 888 Mono power amplifiers, and a surprise from Grand Prix Audio.

Chord's extraordinary DAVE—"Digital [to] Analog Veritas [in] Extremis (Truth in Extreme)"—D/A processor takes pride of place on its cover, but the June Stereophile is packed full of good stuff. Art Dudley reports on Peachtree's "Made in America" nova300 integrated amplifier; Herb Reichert and Jim Austin live with high-performance preamplifiers from PrimaLuna and PS Audio; Kal Rubinson checks out a two-channel AV integrated amplifier from Arcam; Ken Micallef reviews a truly loud speaker, the horn-loaded Rival from Volti; and Robert Baird listens to great-sounding vinyl reissues of recordings of the legendary pianist Bill Evans.

In anticipation of this week's Munich High End, which takes place May 18–21, MQA has announced several breakthroughs. The first involves its hardware partners, who have expanded to include AudioQuest, CanEver Audio, dCS, Esoteric, IAG, Krell, Lumin, Mark Levinson, Moon by Simaudio, Pro-Ject Audio Systems, TEAC, and Wadax. These are in addition to its existing partners, who include Aurender, Bel Canto, Bluesound, Cary, NAD, Brinkmann, Meridian, MSB, Mytek, Onkyo, Pioneer and Technics. All of the latter are expected to demonstrate MQA at the Munich show, with yet others showing at the Los Angeles Audio Show June 2–4.

Saturday, May 13, starting at 1pm and running late into the evening, JS Audio (4919 St. Elmo Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814) is holding an Open House. Special guests will include Peter McGrath and Bill Peugh of Wilson Audio; John Quick and Trent Suggs of dCS; Bill McKiegan of Dan D'Agostino Master Audio Systems; Michael Taylor of Nordost; Michael Manousselis of Dynaudio North America; and a representative from Audio Research.