The August 2009 issue of
Stereophile is now on newsstands. See that spiffy-looking integrated amplifier/USB DAC thingamajig on the cover? That's the Peachtree Nova. When I was at
Stereo Exchange a couple of months ago, Novas were just flying off the shelves. Old guys were digging them, young guys were digging them, and girls were digging them, too. Everyone wanted one. Can't blame 'em, really. The Nova offers a lot in a tidy, attractive package. Look at that styling, all retro-modern Eames with its high profile and its real-wood veneer wrapping round those perfect curves!
I had asked our graphic designer, Natalie Baca, if she could dress up the
Stereophile logo in a similar sort of wood grain. She gave it a shot, but said it didn't look so hot, so she went with the wood grain for the border instead. It's subtle, but it's there, and I think it looks pretty cool. Does it make you want to buy more copies of
Stereophile? I hope so.
If the cover doesn't do it for you, the contents will. John Marks opens this issue with his "Commonsense System Strategies." First, he defines the problem:
If only we could know in advance what we would end up happy with, we'd save a lot of the money we spend getting there.
I say this all the time in regards to relationships. I just want to know who'll be sitting beside me when I'm too old and tired to do anything but sit. I want to put an end to desire and confusion and anxiety and everything else. But that sort of thinking kinda takes the fun out of living, doesn't it? Anyhow, JM goes on to sort of, maybe, possibly suggest that it makes little sense upgrading our systems slowly and continuously, climbing price points like climbing the long staircase at the York Street Station in Brooklyn:
If the truth of the matter is that, because of where, how, and to what music you listen, the step-by-step process is just a long, painful way of eventually getting to a $20,000 pair of loudspeakers, you're losing all around.
Is that sort of like saying I should just marry
Chan Marshall right now? If so, I think John's got a point. Apparently, however, some people disagree. Strongly. We've already received letters. Thanks a lot, JM.
Also in this issue, Sam Tellig gets back to his cheapskate roots and auditions a $250 pair of loudspeakers from Mordaunt-Short and the $599 Music Hall dac25.2. Fun stuff! Meanwhile, Mikey Fremer falls in love with the Ypsilon VPS-100 phono preamplifier, which only costs $27,700. Hey, that's almost $16,000 less than the TruLife Audio Reikon.
In "Listening," Art Dudley gets pissed off at his old Naim NACA5 speaker cables and has a fling with some RadioShack zipcord. John Marks strikes again in "Fifth Element," this time with his review of the aforementioned convenient, flexible Peachtree Nova. For good measure, JM also throws in a pouty photo of Jane Monheit.
Why not?
Robert Baird talks with Christian McBride about the bassist's new album,
Kind of Brown. Yeah. Shockingly, McBride tells us that, when naming the album, it never occurred to him that people would relate it to the Miles Davis masterpiece,
Kind of Blue. Wasn't there anyone close to him who could've, um, said something. Like, yo, Christian, did you ever happen to hear that old album by that trumpet player? Jeez.
The guys bring us reviews of the T+A Music Player and Power Plant (Jon Iverson, webmonkey); the four-box, crazy-expensive and mad-complicated dCS Scarlatti playback system (Mikey again); the little overachiever, Spendor's new SA1 loudspeaker (John Atkinson, wouldn't you know?); the Swiss-made darTZeel CTH-8550 integrated amplifier, complete with burgundy chassis, gold faceplate, and Pleasure control ("More, please!" says Wes); the
Auditorium 23 Hommage T1 step-up transformer and DB Systems DBP-6MC resistive loading kit (Artie, of course); the Pass Labs XA30.5 and
Aleph 3 power amplifiers (young hotshot, Erick "Cantus" Lichte); and all of this with lots and lots of comparisons to other interesting gear.
A few of my favorite bits throughout:
You know that most other hi-fi writers won't recommend a speaker that shares its name with a tacky cruise-ship line. At $250/pair, the Carnival 2 can't be serious, and neither can you—or I. Let's not tell anyone.
—
Sam Tellig
And remember: Anyone who tries to bully you into buying either a greater or lesser cable than you think you need is a bigger fool than you'll ever be.
—
Art Dudley
Have you ever dated a girl and then, six months into the relationship, met her superhot younger sister?
—
Erick Lichte
In record reviews, we have discussions on Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse's controversial
Dark Night of the Soul; Jenny Lin's outstanding,
new Shostakovich; former Pedro the Lion frontman David Bazan's
Curse Your Branches; Van Morrison's
Astral Weeks: Live at the Hollywood Bowl; Joel Harrison's
Urban Myths; Red Holloway's
Go Red Go!; and Charles Tolliver's
Emperor March.
Sheesh! That's a lot of stuff, and, hopefully, there's a little something for everyone. And, of course, there's also all the usual (and some very unusual and fiery) comments from manufacturers, and letters from readers. Thank goodness for them.
