search
Regarding the Centaur II 500's reproduction of low frequencies, even when the speaker had relatively limited extension—such as the Dynaudio Special Forty stand-mount I reviewed in September 2018—there was a surprisingly satisfying combination of weight and control. For example, when Jaco Pastorius drops down to a detuned low F and C at the start of "Overture—Cotton Avenue," from Joni Mitchell's Don Juan's Reckless Daughter (AIFF file, 24-bit/192kHz needle drop from LP, Asylum K63003), I didn't feel I was missing too much music with the Dynaudios. (And yes, I know—no one but a reviewer is…
Editors' Choice
Holoaudio May (Level 3) D/A processor
Back in the digital Dark Ages of the 1980s, R-2R "ladder" DACs acquired a bad reputation due to their poor linearity at low recorded levels. The advent of sigma-delta DAC chips in the early 1990s, which didn't suffer from this problem, seemed a godsend, though ladder-DAC lovers continued their advocacy on sound-quality grounds. I was a sigma-delta guy until I heard the ladder-DAC HoloAudio May (Level 3), which, with its combination of superb measured performance and sound quality that, as Herb Reichert wrote, "makes every…
Every product listed here has been reviewed in Stereophile. Everything on the list, regardless of rating, is genuinely recommendable.
Within each category, products are listed by class; within each class, they're in alphabetical order, followed by their price, a review synopsis, and a note indicating the issues in which the review, and any subsequent follow-up reports, appeared. "Vol.44 No.9" indicates our September 2021 issue, for example. "WWW" means the review is also posted online.
Stereophile's Recommended Components list is concerned mainly with products available in the US…
Every product listed here has been reviewed in Stereophile. Everything on the list, regardless of rating, is genuinely recommendable.
Within each category, products are listed by class; within each class, they're in alphabetical order, followed by their price, a review synopsis, and a note indicating the issues in which the review, and any subsequent follow-up reports, appeared. "Vol.45 No.6" indicates our June 2022 issue, for example. "WWW" means the review is also posted online.
Stereophile's Recommended Components list is concerned mainly with products available in the US…
In scouting the lay of the land for the last day of RMAF, my fellow expedition members told me I must hear the demo Nordost was presenting. Late on Sunday afternoon I finally caught up with the Nordost team in the Humboldt Peak room at the Denver Marriott. As at the Munich Show last May, Nordost chose RMAF to showcase their new Supreme Reference Range Odin 2 cabling.
Nordost really had their act together, offering a very interesting and convincing A/B demo in their room, and then referring listeners to their downstairs booth where irresistible show pricing was offered on the spot. Heck—…
See that huge line? It's a small indication of the huge, multi-national, multi-industry group of CES attendees whose numbers—170,000, if the former CEA (Consumer Electronics Association), now CTA (Consumer Technology Association) counts accurately—set new attendance records.
There's just one thing. That line was not at the Venetian Hotel, where all but a few of what CES dubs the "high-performance audio" exhibits were staged. Instead, it was at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Just about everyone you see had no idea that the High End of the audio industry was holding forth on floors 29,…
There's something happening here, and what it is is exactly clear. It's a revolution of sorts—a new paradigm for the High End. Despite pessimistic proclamations of the impending death of high-end audio, an unprecedented number of new high-end consumer shows have emerged in North America. Filling the gap left by the demise of Stereophile's Home Entertainment Show in 2007, these seven (!) shows—two new in 2011, two in expanded versions following successful launches in 2010—are reaching out to people of all ages, sexes, and format preferences (footnote 1).
The High End has been crying for…
A recent e-mail from a reader asked why we list the recordings and systems used by Stereophile writers in their reviews. I responded that we do so in order that readers can place our value judgments in context, and predict how those products might sound with different ancillaries and recordings when they audition the products reviewed at their local high-end audio retailer.
"What local retailer?" was this reader's response. The nearest audio retailer was 200 miles from where he lived, and even that retailer had a very limited selection of products to demonstrate.
The scarcity of…
Every music-loving audiophile has a unique story—a story of the first time he or she was grabbed, body and soul, by a first, usually low-budget listen to a 78, LP, CD, open-reel, cassette, or MP3—a story that continues today in that audiophile's quest for high-end bliss. For me, it was my desire to move closer to the voices of the singers I most loved.
It all began with operatic tenor Enrico Caruso (1873–1921). When I was 11, my father brought home a fancy three-LP set of Caruso reissues on RCA, complete with lavishly printed liner notes adorned with sepia-tone illustrations. When he put…
In the wrap-up of his coverage of the 2013 Salon Son & Image show in Montreal, which took place at the end of March, Robert Deutsch asked if there were too many audio shows. The Chicago AXPONA show was held two weeks before SSI, the second New York Audio Show followed less than three weeks later. In May, there was the humongous High End 2013, in Munich, followed two weeks later by the third T.H.E. Show Newport Beach, followed by: the Capital AudioFest, in Washington, DC (July 26–28); the fourth California Audio Show, in the Bay Area (August 8–11); the tenth Rocky Mountain Audio Fest (…