Description: D/A processor. Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz, ±0.5dB. THD: ±0.004% at 2V output. IMD: ±0.01 at 2V output. S/N ratio: !w100dB. Channel separation: !w80dB. Induced jitter: ±80 picoseconds. Digital filtering: 8x-oversampling. Conversion: hybrid 1-bit/multi-bit DAC. Analog section: Fully discrete, DC-coupled. Inputs: two coaxial (RCA jacks), one optical (Toslink jack), "clock" input (see text), AT&T ST-type optical optional. Outputs: unbalanced on RCA jacks.
Dimensions: 19.5" W by 1.75" H by 9" D. Weight: 10 lb, shipping.
Price: $799 (1992…
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Sidebar 4: Specifications
I once told Stereophile publisher Larry Archibald it might be worth, say, a 10% loss in sound quality with CD not to have to jump up and turn over the damned record. Sometimes a CD saves you from popping up twice—Mahler's Fifth or Bruckner's Seventh on a single disc instead of three LP sides—or three times—Mozart's Magic Flute on three CDs instead of 6 LP sides. That might be worth a 15% sacrifice.
I don't know that you will need to lose even 10%. Unless, of course, you have a turntable like a Versa Dynamics 2.0 or a Goldmund Reference.
Now, if only the cost of CDs would come…
One aspect of the 582's performance was truly outstanding: its ability to track. The 582 played through track 35 of Disc 2 of the Pierre Verany test disc set—these tracks simulate dropouts. Anything beyond track 27 is beyond "standard values but inside the theoretical [sic] correction capabilities of CD players." The 582 even played track 36 without glitching too much. There are only 38 basic tracks. Moreover, the 582 played four out of five damaged discs in my collection, including two discs no other player has been able to flawlessly track.
If only the sound quality had been a bit (…
Paul wasn't talking about the Yamaha, and it would be unfair to single out this excellent machine for special criticism when the same comment might be made about many, if not most, other CD players. But I did find this sense of something "going on," and I can't help but wonder whether or not it has something to do with bit-shifting. It especially makes me nervous when Yamaha talks about the bit-shifting scheme operating like a dynamic noise reducer. Noise reduction is probably one reason why I so passionately hate cassettes—it takes away from the certainty and the solidity of the music.…
In Alfred Hitchcock's great film Vertigo, filmed in San Francisco in 1957, the protagonist, Scottie, played by James Stewart, becomes obsessed with Madeleine, played by Kim Novak. Scottie, a retired detective, suffers from a disabling case of acrophobia, which becomes a critical if tenuous plot point.
Bernard Herrmann's brilliant score depicts both the passion of the lovers and the powerful, destructive effects of Scottie's infatuation, which grows as he tails Madeleine around San Francisco; in time it veers into something darker and domineering, with even an allusion to necrophilia:…
Yup, you're in a strange position, all right. You're in love with a girl who is no more.—Haruki Murakami
The quote above, from Haruki Murakami's novel Kafka on the Shore, is addressed to Kafka, a 15-year-old boy who has fallen in love with the teenage ghost of an older woman. The woman is still alive, but ever since the death of her lover many years before, she has existed separate from her spirit. Falling in love with ghosts is something I've done often, starting at about Kafka's age. Early ghost-loves included Sugarcubes-era Björk and a young Sheena Easton (on the cover of her first…
The era of streaming in CD-quality and hi-rez music has arrived at one of the world’s major subscription streaming services, complete with a free 90-day trial.
Amazon Music has introduced a CD-quality (confusingly called “HD” by Amazon)-plus-hi-rez (which Amazon calls “Ultra HD” so as (not) to confuse the masses) music tier at $14.99/month ($12.99 for Prime members). That price undercuts Tidal and Qobuz the two subscription streaming services most popular among audiophiles: Tidal charges $19.99/month for the tier that includes MQA, and Qobuz costs $24.99 for its Studio tier, the cheapest…
Products listed here have been formally reviewed in Stereophile, and we have determined them to be among the finest available in each of four or five quality classes. Whether a component is listed in Class A or Class D (or E), we consider it to be a genuinely recommendable product.
Each listing, in alphabetical order within classes, is followed by a brief description of its performance characteristics and a note indicating the issue of Stereophile in which its review, and in some cases its Follow-Up reports, have appeared—ie, "Vol.41 No.6" indicates our June 2018 issue. And so forth.…
Sidebar: How to Use the Listings
The classes each cover a wide range of performance. Carefully read our descriptions here, the original reviews, and (heaven forbid) reviews in other magazines to put together a short list of components to choose from. Evaluate your room, your source material and front-end(s), your speakers, and your tastes. With luck, you may come up with a selection to audition at your favorite dealer(s). "Recommended Components" will not tell you what to buy any more than Consumer Reports would presume to tell you whom to marry!
Class A
Best attainable sound…
Turntables
A+
VPI Classic Direct turntable: $30,000 including tonearm ★
A brand-new, US-made direct-drive turntable—in the 21st Century? Believe it. For VPI's Classic Direct, designer Harry Weisfeld selected a $4000 (his cost) Thin Gap motor, servo-controlled by a custom-designed active-feedback loop, which he combined with an 18-lb platter machined from a single billet of aluminum. The platter and drive system (combined weight: 27 lb) are snugged into an aluminum-and-MDF plinth measuring 23.5" wide by 17.5" deep. To this, Weisfeld has mated a version of his tried-and-true JMW…