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Around the last decade of the previous century, something significant happened in jazz. Suddenly, many of the best players were no longer Americans. Actually, it was not sudden. It was a gradual flowering that achieved critical mass and could no longer be overlooked.

One of the breakthrough players was Tomasz Stanko, of…

This issue of Stereophile hits newsstands days after the first consumer Show of the 2013 season, AXPONA in Chicago, has ended. The next four months see audio shows in Montreal, New…

Zach “The Attacker” Packer is the happy winner of our recent V-Moda M-80 on-ear headphone sweepstakes. Packer, a New York City denizen, strode into the Stereophile offices at 261 Madison on a misty Manhattan afternoon confused by our corporate décor and cubicles. He commented, “You guys sure don’t have a lot of audio gear here.” All he could see were a few boxes of Quarkie’s animal-shaped in-ears. Sorry for the letdown Zach, but we keep our super-secret million-dollar listening room hidden from the public eye. Actually, I don’t even know where it is.

We’re…

Saturday, May 4, 11am–4pm: The Gramophone (7913 104 Street NW, Edmonton, AB, Canada) will host an open house featuring Vivid Audio’s G3 Giya…

But it’s a 6-LP box set. The Transcendental Waterfall: Guitar Excursions, 1963–1967 collects John Fahey’s first six releases: Blind Joe Death, Death Chants, Breakdowns & Military Waltzes, The Dance of Death & Other Plantation Favorites, The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death, The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party & Other Excursions, and Days Have Gone By.

The set was released by 4 Men With Beards, on December 18, 2012, and it nagged at me every day thereafter&#151I kept thinking, “Should I buy it? Should I buy it? Should I…

Greek austerity ends at the factory door of Ypsilon Electronics. The luxury components designed and manufactured within are innovative, high-performance, visually elegant, and expensive. They're…

Description: Hybrid monoblock power amplifier. Tube complement: one Siemens C3g or Electro-Harmonix 6C45PiEH. Output power (before clipping): 200W into 8 ohms (23dBW), 380W into 4 ohms (22.8dBW), 500W into 2 ohms (21.0dB), with the first 60W in class-A. Inputs: unbalanced (RCA), balanced (XLR). Voltage gain: x30 (29.5dB). Input impedance: 47k ohms. Bandwidth: 11Hz–75kHz, –3dB. Output impedance: 0.4 ohm, 20Hz–20kHz (into 8 ohms). Frequency response: N/A. THD: N/A. Signal/noise: N/A.
Dimensions: 16.6" (425mm) W by 9" (230mm) H by 16.6" (425mm) D. Weight: 99…

Analog Sources: Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn, Cobra, Castellon turntable, tonearm, stand; TechDAS Air Force One turntable; Graham Engineering Phantom Supreme II, Kuzma 4Point tonearms; Lyra Atlas & Titan i, Ortofon Anna, Miyajima Labs Focus (mono), cartridges.
Digital Sources; MSB Platinum Diamond DAC IV & Platinum Data CD IV D/A converter & CD transport, Simaudio Moon Evolution 650D DAC–CD transport, BPT-modified Alesis Masterlink hard-disk recorder, Meridian Digital Media System music server, Pure Music playback software.
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Before performing any measurements, I ran one of the Ypsilon Aelius amplifiers (serial no.31) for an hour at one-third its specified maximum power of 67W into 8 ohms, thermally the worst case for an amplifier with a class-B output stage. At the end of that period, the heatsinks were moderately hot at 44.2°C (111.5°F), while the chassis was cooler at 40°C (103.9°F).

I then measured the amplifier, using Stereophile's loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 "As We See It"). I first performed a…