News

Friday March 8 at 6pm, Audio Element (117 E. Union St, Pasadena, CA 91103) is presenting the next in their 2019 Monthly Music Series—Ae LIVE! Friday and Saturday, March 8, 4–7pm, and March 9, 11am–4pm, Command Performance AV (115 Park Avenue, Suite 2, Falls Church, VA 22046) will host two Luxman events with special guest Jeff Sigmund, president of Luxman America. Friday March 8 and Saturday March 9, Musical Artisans (8335 N. Keeler Avenue, Skokie, IL 60076) will host their annual Winter Open House Event on to celebrate the return of CH Precision and introduction of Rockport Technologies to Chicago.

Today, Stereophile announces its first major Editorial changes in decades, with an expansion of the Editorial team and a change in leadership.

Since 1986, through many generations of corporate ownership, John Atkinson (right, above) has been the Editor and bedrock of the magazine. After nearly 33¹/₃ years, JA has decided to relinquish daily responsibility for producing the magazine and as of April 1 will take on a new (and newly established) position: Technical Editor. Stepping into his shoes as Editor will be long-time Stereophile contributor Jim Austin (left above).

Jim Austin appointed Stereophile Editor as John Atkinson transitions to new role as Technical Editor

NEW YORK, NY— AVTech Media Americas announces key editorial changes at its premier hi-fi title, Stereophile. John Atkinson, Stereophile's Editor and guiding light for 33 years, will step down from this position following the publication of the June (coverdate) issue, while Jim Austin will formally assume the mantle of Stereophile's Editor from the July issue. John will remain a key member of the Stereophile team in his capacity as Technical Editor, contributing reviews and in-depth lab tests.

Friday, February 22, from 5pm, Alma Music and Audio (7847 Convoy Ct. #101, San Diego, CA 92111) will host Wilson Audio's Peter McGrath for the introduction of the new Sasha DAW loudspeaker. We're told it will be a fun night of music, celebrating Wilson's ambitious recreation of the seminal WATT/Puppy loudspeaker, as well as the man who started it all, the late David A. Wilson. The system will also showcase Audio Research's Reference 160M and MSB's Reference DAC.

Qobuz, the French subscription hi-rez streaming and download service, finally launches in the US today, right before the start of CanJam NYC. Qobuz not only offers more than 40 million tracks, over two million of which are said to be hi-rez, but also includes liner notes for many albums. The service has also secured partnerships that enable it to position Qobuz as the "official" streaming service of CanJam and other US high-end audio shows.

Friday, February 1, 2–5pm, and Saturday, February 2, 1–5pm, Big Kids Toys AV (1413 Garland Drive, Greensboro, NC 27408) is holding listening sessions. Products being showcased will include Luxman's L-505uXii integrated amplifier and new PD-151 turntable, as well as loudspeakers from Triangle, including the Magellan Cello, and the Esprit Australe EZ and Esprit Titus EZ.

Roon, one of the major brands of audiophile-quality high-resolution music playback software, has just released its v.1.6 upgrade. Roon 1.6 finally includes a portal for hi-rez streaming Qobuz, whose US launch is rumored for sometime next month. In addition to pairing Roon's rich metadata with the entire Qobuz and Tidal catalogs, the upgrade also offers major new features.