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Reference 800 DVD/CD player: Internal ATAPI/IDE DVD drive. Sampling rates: 32-96kHz, up to 24-bit resolution. DSP-based processing for up/downsampling, error correction, resolution enhancement, gain control (with 72-bit resolution). Configuration as tested: 5 RCA, 2 TosLink, tape monitor digital I/O (ID16); component, composite, and S-video video I/O (VE00); coax and XLR analog outputs with 24/96 D/A conversion (OA20), 2 AES/ EBU & 2 RCA digital outputs (OA20), DVD-Video region decoder (DV10), RS-232 controller (DV00), RS-232 & comm links (C000).
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Allnic T-1500 300B: $6900 ★
Made in South Korea and imported by Hammertone Audio, the 12.5Wpc T-1500 boasts exquisite industrial design: polycarbonate chimneys showcase, protect, and ventilate the tubes, while attractively molded handles make for easy lifting. It uses two PCL86 driver tubes, two choke-regulated 300Bs with user-adjustable fixed bias, and output transformers wound around a nickel-permalloy core. Though it lacked bottom-end extension, the T-1500 delivered harmonic richness, excellent transparency, and natural tonal…

Stereophile's Products of 2004
Joint Products of the Year:
Aerial Acoustics Model 20T loudspeaker (review)
Focal-JMlab Nova Utopia Be loudspeaker (review)
Linn Unidisk 1.1 universal disc player (review)
Joint Budget Components:
Magnepan CC3 center & MGMC1 surround loudspeaker system (review)
Spendor S5e loudspeaker (review)
Joint Loudspeakers: Aerial Acoustics Model 20T (review)
Focal-JMlab Nova Utopia Be (review)
Amplification Component: McIntosh MC501 monoblock power amplifier (review)
Digital Source: Linn…

"The crying rain like a trumpet sang
And asked for no applause."—Bob Dylan, "Lay Down Your Weary Tune"

I remember as a toddler sitting in the kitchen on a highchair, watching my mother smoke a cigarette, apply red lipstick, and tune a turquoise table radio from one news station to another. Between the strange, nattering voices, the radio emitted a sharp hissing sound. That's my first memory of human voices coming from a little box.

I did not understand how the voices got into the box. But I saw a wire that went…

Jeff Buckley: Mystery White Boy: Live '95-'96

Jeff Buckley (vocals, guitar), Michael Tighe (guitar), Mick Grondahl (bass), Matt Johnson (drums)
Columbia 4979722 (CD, 16/44.1 FLAC, Qobuz/Tidal). 2000. Mary Guibert, Michael Tighe, prods.

I was late to Jeff Buckley's music, not becoming aware of his enormous talent as a songwriter/guitarist/singer until long after his premature death in 1997. His album Grace was one of my 2007 Records to Die For, and soon after that I bought Mystery White Boy: Live '95-'96 . It took me a while to warm up to…

1. We're using the aptX codec, which is 16-bit.
2. On the receiver side, we upsample everything to 24/96 and lower the noise floor using the same AKM4396 DAC chip as in our D1 and D3.
3. Our receiver has an extended range, which projects at least 100 feet and covers 1–3 rooms.
4.…

Sometimes, a successful recording is not about the material, the studio, the producer, or even the players involved. Sometimes, it's about a shared feeling that grows among the players and conjures a groove. Grooves can be hard to find, especially among accomplished players recording together…

New England Hi-Fi was founded as the New England Music Company by Derek R. Burt (footnote 1), in 1965—on the early side of hi-fi's heyday. Back then, the store carried the 1965 KLH line and other pioneering products, with a self-…