News

Michael Fremer heard that the Alesis MasterLink ML-9600 Hard Disk/CD-R Recorder "can sound better than all but the absolute top-drawer analog," and, of course, had to investigate. Mikey 'splains why audiophiles should take note of a machine generally used as a mastering tool by the recording industry.

"I must admit, right from the outset, that I find reviewing electronic components harder than reviewing loudspeakers; the faults are less immediately obvious," says JA as he is about to take on the Mark Levinson No.26 preamplifier and No.20 monoblock power amplifier. JA reveals what, if any, faults he was able to detect after months of intense listening back in the late '80s.

Sam Tellig enthused about the Musical Fidelity A3²⁴ a couple of months back, so JA wanted to do a little testing to see what the fuss was all about. His results are published in the current, July 2002, issue of Stereophile and also right here on our website.

From the June 2002 issue, Jonathan Scull does the Conrad-Johnson ART Series 2 follow-up to Wes Phillips' original review of the ART preamplifier back in 1998. As J-10 remarks, "I'd always wanted to listen to C-J's ART (for Anniversary Reference Triode) preamplifier, and got my chance recently, when Lew Johnson and Tor Sivertsen showed up at our door with one."

Finally, the current installment in our "Recording of the Month" series for the online archives: Recording of March 1998, The Mavericks: Trampoline. Robert Baird tells the tale of "a band from South Florida who wore cowboy garb and had a singer of Cuban ancestry who sounded a lot like Roy Orbison."