LATEST ADDITIONS

Budget Component ReviewsStand Loudspeaker Reviews
Totem Acoustic Skylight loudspeaker
Robert Schryer  |  May 21, 2020  |  115 comments
Reviewing a new loudspeaker from Totem feels like destiny—as if a formative moment 30 years ago has come full circle. That's because the first genuine audiophile speaker I ever owned was Totem's now-iconic Model 1, a product whose arrival altered many audiophiles' expectations of how much great—and wide-range—sound a small speaker can deliver. It's still being made today, at least in spirit.
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Revinylization
Revinylization #6: Acoustic Sounds Bach & Vivaldi Reissues
Art Dudley  |  May 20, 2020  |  8 comments
I'm not in perfect agreement with my colleagues and friends who believe that RCA's Living Stereo LPs from the late 1950s and '60s are the best-sounding commercial classical recordings ever made. To me, the Decca SXL catalog outshines them sonically, in addition to showcasing the talents of an even greater roster of artists. But that's not to say I'm immune to their charms.

The RCA catalog contains some real gems.

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Integrated Amp Reviews
Aavik Acoustics U-380 integrated amplifier
Jason Victor Serinus  |  May 19, 2020  |  112 comments
Finally—a way to get a handle on the sound of Aavik Acoustics electronics. I'd heard the Danish-made components many times at shows, but always in the context of Ansuz Acoustics cables and Børresen Acoustics loudspeakers. As much as the threesome was inevitable—all three companies are owned by Michael Børresen, Lars Kristensen, and a third shareholder—there was no way to determine the unique sound of each component in the mix.
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News
RMAF Nixes 2020
Jason Victor Serinus  |  May 19, 2020  |  14 comments
Denver’s Rocky Mountain Audio Fest (RMAF) has canceled its 2020 show.
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Digital Processor ReviewsHi-Rez Disc Player/Transport ReviewsMedia Server Reviews
T+A MP 3100 HV SACD player/streaming DAC
Jim Austin  |  May 15, 2020  |  28 comments
At the 2019 AXPONA, I took part in one of my first official meetings, as editor of Stereophile, with members of the manufacturing community: the German company T+A. They were presenting in the room of Texas dealer Lone Star Audio, which was owned by the late Jim Hench. They had a corner hallway to themselves: two rooms and, at the time when I arrived, a hallway table brimming with coffee and pastries. Fortuitous timing.
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News
No Show for T.H.E. Show
Jason Victor Serinus  |  May 14, 2020  |  8 comments
The Home Entertainment Show—aka T.H.E. Show—which was originally scheduled for June 12–14 in the Long Beach Hilton, has canceled for 2020. According to a May 13 announcement, T.H.E. Show team of President Maurice Jung and Director of Marketing Emiko Carlin had hoped to postpone the event until December 2020. Not happening.
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Solid State Power Amp Reviews
Bel Canto e1X power amplifier
Tom Gibbs  |  May 14, 2020  |  27 comments
I own and enjoy loudspeakers from seemingly opposite ends of the audiophile spectrum: I'm a huge fan of minimally efficient yet otherwise overachieving flat-panel designs, such as my Magnepan LRS speakers. Yet I'm just as smitten with another, equally outside-the-norm alternative: high-sensitivity full-range loudspeakers, such as my Zu Omens—especially when driven by tube electronics. It's an ongoing yin and yang that keeps my home system in a constant state of flux: Alternating between loudspeakers that use such different technologies, while maintaining relatively optimal positioning for each, is a bit daunting.
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Recording of the Month
Recording of June 2020: Ešenvalds: Translations
Jason Victor Serinus  |  May 13, 2020  |  24 comments
Eriks Ešenvalds: Translations
Portland State Chamber Choir, Ethan Sperry, cond.
Naxos 8.574124 (CD, auditioned as 24/96 WAV). 2020. Erick Lichte, prod.; John Atkinson, Doug Tourtelot, engs.
Performance *****
Sonics ****½

I'll admit to a conflict of interest in choosing as Recording of the Month a work co-engineered by our very own John Atkinson. We—I, who nominated the piece, and Editor Jim Austin, who ultimately chose the winner—have both worked with John for years. And I'd never deny it was moving to sit next to him during his recent visit to Port Townsend following the release party for this new album, Translations, watching him shed tears as we listened together to the heavenly voices of the Portland State Chamber Choir singing "In paradisum" (2012), which Latvian composer Eriks Ešenvalds dedicated to his grandmother, who died the morning of the premiere.

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As We See It
DisConcerted
Jim Austin  |  May 12, 2020  |  44 comments
On Sunday, March 22, at 8pm, the state of New York shut down, governor's orders. Here in the Big City, most stores are closed—even Starbucks, or at least the ones near me. In my neighborhood, up on Broadway, a grocery store is open, and a drugstore, a hardware store, and a couple of bodegas. Some bars and restaurants are open for takeout only, some advertising COCKTAILS TO GO in big black letters painted on bedsheets—New Orleans comes to NYC. (Meanwhile, New Orleans itself, also a coronavirus hotspot, apparently is desolate, the bars closed, a hard thing to picture.)
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HistoricalInterviews
John Atkinson: a Career in Audio
John Atkinson  |  May 11, 2020  |  29 comments
At the end of April, Adrian Low, the proprietor of Toronto retailer Audio Excellence, asked if he could interview me. "I've been interviewing audio luminaries for some time," Adrian wrote, "partly because I am so interested in how they started, their experiences, and also to share these with fellow audio enthusiasts."

We connected with Skype and, in the two videos embedded below, Adrian and I, along with Jan and Vilip from Audio Excellence, talk about many things connected with my 52 years as an audiophile, my 43 years in audio magazine publishing, and my 33 years at the editorial helm of Stereophile.

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