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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…
SACD, DVD-A, & CD Players & Transports & Media Players
Editor's Note: SACD and DVD-A player ratings are based on how they sound with their respective hi-rez media, not CD.
A+
Aurender N10: $7999 with 4TB storage
Designed in California and manufactured in South Korea, Aurender's N10 is a computer running a modified version of the open-source Linux operating system, and is dedicated to retrieving audio files from an external NAS drive, or a drive plugged into one of its USB ports, or its internal storage, and sending the data to its Class 2 USB output port or…
Digital Processors
Editor's Note: The sound of any particular CD transport/digital processor combination will be dependent on the datalink used-see "Bits is Bits?" by Christopher Dunn and Malcolm Omar Hawksford, Stereophile, March 1996, Vol. 19 No.3 (WWW). Unless mentioned, processors are limited to 32/44.1/48kHz sample rates. To be included in Class A+, a digital processor must be capable of handling DSD or 24/96 LPCM data.
We strongly recommend those interested in using a computer as a true high-end digital audio source visit our sister website www.AudioStream.com, which is…
Music Surround-Sound Components (other than speakers and disc players)
Music Surround Components
A+
exaSound e38 Mk.II (balanced): $3999–$4300
The e38 was introduced in 2017 as the third-generation version of exaSound's multichannel DAC, preceded by the e18 and the e28. In 2019, exaSound introduced the e38 MkII, which replaced the ESS ES9028PRO chip of the original e38 with ESS's new ES9038PRO DAC, said to have four times as many internal paralleled DAC channels. There are also redesigned reference voltage sources and master clock power circuits as well as redesigned…