New York dealer Accent on Music (175 E Main Street, Mount Kisco, NY 10549) is hosting a "Vinyl Adikt" event on Saturday April 25, starting at 11am. "Come along and celebrate the LP as we uncover the history behind the longest surviving music format and listen to great tracks on an iconic Sondek LP12 turntable," states the invitation and visitors are encouraged to bring along some of their favorite vinyl.
Katz's Corner: The Great Headphone Shootout - Part 3
Apr 23, 2015
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com
I've spent $4000 on the Stax 007 Mk2 and a custom-built KGSS amp, which can drive them as loudly and cleanly as you like. These are the most transparent reproducers I own, revealing details that are masked even on my fabulous loudspeaker system. That's what electrostatic transducers can do for you. I've always felt they have excellent and solid bass. So it was quite a shock to discover and admit that the cans which I have preferred for over forty years may have a victor: .......
Transparency is a trait we all value in a hi-fi rig, and it's a concept I've long thought I understood. A system that tosses up the illusion of a clear, spacious soundstage, on which you can hearalmost seeall of the singers and/or instruments, from side to side and, especially, from front to way, way back: that's the ticket. Still, although such transparency is a sign that you've entered the realm of fine sound, it's not an absolute requirement. Tonal accuracy, dynamic range, a certain thereness that conveys the emotional heft or delicacy of musicthose things come first. Without them, the most precisely delineated soundstage is like an architect's sketch of an oil painting.
At home, I have two different ways of listening to musicjust as I have two different ways of cooking and washing the car and making coffee and getting dressed to go out.
My first approach to listening is the one that takes the most time: It requires forethought and effort and, consciously or not, a certain amount of ritualyet those things are enjoyable in and of themselves, and the end results are often more than merely satisfying.