search
The reemergence of Technics on the world audio scene is, I believe, the biggest audio news of 2015–2016. I reviewed their SB-C700 stand mounted monitor speakers in the January 2016 issue and they already feel like my 2016 nomination for Stereophile's Product of the Year; but obviously it is still way early. Nevertheless, Technics is back with two lines of stylish excellent sounding equipment: a Reference R1 Class Series which will be described by my associate Jason Victor Serinus; a Premium Class System that can be purchased with the SB-C700 speakers I reviewed, an integrated amp that I loved…
John Atkinson has asked me to share my impressions of MQA. Currently, the only retail outlet in the United States able to demonstrate Meridian's MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) encoding/decoding system is Audio High in Mountain View, CA. Auditioned, during a return visit to the Bay Area, on the very same pair of Meridian DSP8000SE loudspeakers that I reported on last April, MQA impressed anew with each track.
Since Audio High had sent Meridian specific recordings of varying resolutions that it wished encoded, I mostly confined my auditioning to those tracks. Yevgeny (Eugene) Konnikov…
Photos by Jason Victor Serinus
Octave Audio of Karlsbad, Germany, a longtime manufacturer of tube electronics, presented the North American debut of its new Octave Jubilee Class A mono amplifier ($85,000/pair; go here for more info) at Definitive Audio in Bellevue, Washington, (across the lake from Seattle) on January 29. The first stop in a three-city US tour by Andreas Hofmann, company president and designer, and John Quick, VP Sales & Marketing for Octave’s US distributor, Dynaudio North America, the multi-day event included two back-to-back sessions followed by open houses. Days…
Recently, my good friend Bryan invited himself over for a "critical listening session" at my place. This was out of character. Typically our listening sessions are not of the "critical" variety. They take place late at night after several cocktails, neat bourbon in hand. Volume knobs are torqued. The choice of recorded material tends toward early Lynyrd Skynyrd (Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd), that one Hank Williams Jr. album that doesn't suck (The Almeria Club Recordings), and one of two Def Leppard albums (Pyromania or (Hysteria). A certain Jerry Jeff Walker album (Viva Terlingua) was…
Photo: John Atkinson
Location, location, location . . . and, from Richard Beers and Bob Levi, a generous helping of brilliant organizing acumen. That winning combination means that, in just its third year, T.H.E. Show Newport Beach has already laid claim to the title of the top consumer “fine audio” show in the U.S.
What exactly being No.1 means is another question entirely. While T.H.E. Show Newport Beach may have been spread over multiple floors in two adjacent hotels, as was T.H.E. Show Las Vegas of old, and offered, in addition to almost 140 exhibit rooms and an invaluable…
Jason Victor Serinus wrote about the DAC502 in October 2020 (Vol.43 No.10):
"Good morning Jason," began the email from Technical Editor John Atkinson. "I have just reviewed the $9850 Weiss DAC502 for the August issue of Stereophile. I thought this D/A processor sounded superb, ... and I wish I had been able to compare it with the dCS Rossini. "Would you therefore be willing to follow up my review with that comparison? [Editor-in-Chief] Jim is cool with that idea, and I can have the Weiss shipped to you. It has balanced outputs and a high-resolution volume control, so would be compatible…
Eric Whitacre: The Sacred Veil
Los Angeles Master Chorale, Eric Whitacre
Signum SIGCD630 (CD), 2020. Elaine Martone, prod.; Fred Vogler, rec. eng.
Performance *****
Sonics *****
Los Angeles Master Chorale, Eric Whitacre
Signum SIGCD630 (CD), 2020. Elaine Martone, prod.; Fred Vogler, rec. eng.
Performance *****
Sonics *****
The Sacred Veil is a commissioned piece but also a labor of love. The cantata sets poems by Whitacre's friend, Charles Anthony Silvestri, who was coming to terms with the premature death of his wife, Julie. The score also sets three of Julie's writings and two of the composer's own poems.
Whitacre's "modern Romantic" idiom takes in agreeable dissonances for expressive effect. His vocal…
Jason Victor Serinus auditioned the Michi P5 in September 2022 (Vol.45 No.9):
When Rotel shipped the Michi S5 stereo amplifier to me for review (footnote 1), they sent along a sample of its companion stereo preamplifier, the P5 ($4299.99, serial number 255-9501002), so that I could experience a complete Michi pairing. After a brief listen to that Michi combo, I decided to pair the S5 with my familiar reference for that review, the two-piece D'Agostino Momentum HD preamplifier ($42,500) and write a separate follow-up to Ken Micallef's November 2020 review of the P5.
Whereas Ken's…
Alexander Melnikov: Fantasie: 7 Composers, 7 Keyboards
Alexander Melnikov, keyboards
Harmonia Mundi 902702 (24/96 WAV). 2023. Martin Sauer, prod.; Benedikt Schröder, eng.
Performance *****
Sonics ****½
Alexander Melnikov, keyboards
Harmonia Mundi 902702 (24/96 WAV). 2023. Martin Sauer, prod.; Benedikt Schröder, eng.
Performance *****
Sonics ****½
On the face of it, Alexander Melnikov's Fantasie: 7 Composers, 7 Keyboards is an audiophile's dream. A follow-up to keyboard genius Melnikov's marvelous 2018 Harmonia Mundi recital, Four Pieces, Four Pianos, it presents the keyboard fantasies of seven great composers, from Johann Sebastian Bach to Alfred Schnittke, on seven very different-sounding historic instruments. Each…
How am I to convince music lovers that this CD is markedly different from Attention Screen's first two live CDs?
The question kept running through my head as I marveled at the breadth and maturity of Attention Screen's remarkable improvisations during a pre-concert sound check in the Piano Salon of Yamaha Artist Services, Inc. (YASI), at 689 Fifth Avenue, in the heart of Manhattan.
Attention Screen impressed even more at the public concert the following night, April 24, 2010. As the band members engaged in one improvisational miracle after another, fearlessly exploring new…