Not only does the player have a volume control and digital inputs, allowing it to be used to get the best sound quality from other source components, like the$6000 MS750 music server Wes Phillips reviewed last January (shown here on the right of the…
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RMAF was my first chance to hear the new McIntosh MT10 turntable ($9500) that had starred in our 2008 CES blog. But after I had listened to vinyl on the McIntosh system for a while—and very good it sounded, too—Ron Cornelius drew my attention to the MCD500 SACD/CD player ($6500) at the top left of the stack shown in the photograph.
Luxman and Vivid distributor Philip O'Hanlon, of On A Higher Note, always has a great selection of music at Shows, and RMAF was no exception. With a system based on Vivid B1 stand-mounted speakers ($13,500/pair) driven by a Luxman 30Wpc class-A integrated amplifier via Synergistic Research cables, the sound of an open-reel dub of a Reference Recordings Malcolm Arnold orchestral piece was distinguished by an enormous, stable soundstage, and excellent dynamics, with superb resolution of low-level orchestral detail. But I just can't get used to the speaker's alien-pod appearance.
I admit it. I have found YG Acoustics' hyperbolic promotional material off-putting. But having recently listened to the Colorado company's 4-way Anat Reference Professional speaker system in Wes Phillips' system—he is reviewing it for our February 2009 issue—I made a point of seeking the speaker out for a longer audition at RMAF.
Tucked away at the end of a ground-floor corridor off the Marriott's atrium, where the large room had excellent isolation from other exhibits, the big Anats, driven by an FM Acoustics power amp, and Daniel Weiss's state-of-the-art digital combination of…
And how! Spinning the vinyl in the room shared by Musical Surroundings, Boulder, and Focal was the 770 lb Clearaudio Statement turntable with its integral stand. Omigawd! Magnetic bearings, a magnetically driven subplatter, an 80kg pendulum counterweight, an automatic horizontal leveling device including the tonearm platforms...
Could be. I saved my visit to the Audio Unlimited room almost for last on Sunday afternoon at RMAF. There was the pair of Focal Grande Utopia EMs that apparently had NY retailer Andy Singer dancing at their launch in France last spring. driven by a pair of Boulder 2050 monoblocks. Front-end was either Boulder's new 1021 disc player/music server or the Clearaudio Statement turntable. Cabling was all Tara Labs, including Mikey Fremer's reference The Zero interconnects. Musical Surroundings' Garth Leerer played me just two LPs for me to become awed by the 580 lb Focals: the Gary Karr…
As John Atkinson (right) and I were saying our goodbyes until the 2009 CES in Las Vegas, RMAF co-directors Al Stiefel and Marjorie Baumert were compiling attendance stats for this year's show. Although the fact that there were far more rooms this year, with exhibits spread over two hotels, left some exhibitors thinking that attendance was down, attendance was actually up just over 7%. Almost 3500 people attended this year's RMAF. The Sunday walk-ins were 407—almost 150 over last year.
RMAF welcomed folks from 47 states, Puerto Rico, and 21 other countries. According to Marjorie, "…
Audio shows are tough. As a member of the press and, more specifically, as a representative of Stereophile magazine, I feel an extreme amount of pressure to do as thorough a job as physically and mentally possible. (I should emphasize that I put this pressure on myself.) It would be outstanding if a single person could cover an entire show, spending quality time with manufacturers, dealers, and readers, while also actually having the opportunity to listen to the gear being presented. But no audio show is ideal—not even this year's Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, which was, by…
I live by the axiom, “So many records to listen to, so little time.” That’s not an excuse; just reality. And it has nothing to do with being a music writer. If you’re a voracious music fan, there’s no way, no matter how many records per day you slug through, that you can hear it all. If today, I started listening to just my Beethoven Symphony cycles, it would literally be months before I could come up for air.
So in the vein of, “I finally got to listen to…,” Brian Wilson’s That Lucky Old Sun is a fairly amazing little concept record. Wilson’s returned to his most fertile source of…
In the Stereophile forum, "ncdrawl" asked:
What titles do you have that you consider to be the best of the best, sound-wise?
It reminded me of how much I've enjoyed listening to the latest Ratatat album, LP3. As I say in my response, LP3 is not the typical audiophile reference disc—it's not exactly faithful to the real thing—but it is a ton of fun to listen to on the hi-fi. In fact, it's so much fun I think every hi-fi dealer should have the album cued up in their demo room. Sounds explode from the grooves, shoot out in every direction, paralyze and…
We're lucky. There's always an enormous amount of great live music to be enjoyed in New York City, but this week is especially crammed with sound. The CMJ Music Marathon is here. As I type, our very own Mikey Fremer is moderating a discussion titled "Hi Fidelity for the Future." Panelists include NYU professor Jim Anderson; David Chesky of Chesky Records and HDTracks.com; D&M Holdings' Jeffrey Cowan; and the Audiophiliac, Steve Guttenberg.
I hope Mikey is keeping those guys in check. They can be a pretty rowdy bunch, I hear.
I am joking. They're a bunch of…