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EISA, or the Expert Imaging and Sound Association, is an organisation representing 58 of the most respected special interest publications and websites from 29 countries that cover Hi-Fi, Home Theater Video, Home Theater Audio, Photography, Mobile Devices, and In-Car Electronics. Every year EISA's Expert Group members, including editors from this publication, test a very wide range of new products from their field of expertise before comparing results and voting to decide on the cream of every product category.
Photo: John Atkinson
In the excellent My Back Pages essay that closes this issue, Londoner Phil Brett writes, "I bought my first albums in my teens for £2 then sold them off years later for 50p each."
Why did he sell his records? "[I]n those days, most vinyl had the thickness of a butterfly wing without the quality. As I grew older, I went through—ahem—several relationships hence several changes of residence. The hassle of carting boxes of records around grew wearisome; CDs were so much lighter, and often, they sounded better."
Phil predicted Stereophile readers would be…
Henry Threadgill Ensemble: The Other One
12-piece ensemble; Threadgill, conductor
Pi PI97 (CD, available as download). 2023. Liberty Ellman, prod.; Stephen Cooper, Eric Shekerjian, engs.
Performance ****½
Sonics ****½
12-piece ensemble; Threadgill, conductor
Pi PI97 (CD, available as download). 2023. Liberty Ellman, prod.; Stephen Cooper, Eric Shekerjian, engs.
Performance ****½
Sonics ****½
At 79, Pulitzer Prize winner and NEA Jazz Master Henry Threadgill is one of the last men standing among the founding fathers of the jazz avant-garde. Because his output of recordings is not voluminous, every new Threadgill release is an event. The Other One is more of an event than most because of its ambition (it is an album-length suite) and its scale: It…
When I got these new speakers for review, they were so new that, at the time I unpacked them, no official user manual was included or posted on the manufacturer's website, and the promised matching stands didn't exist. Yet, I have the abiding feeling that I am getting to the party long after it has started. The Mobile Fidelity SourcePoint 8 is the newer, smaller sibling of the SourcePoint 10 reviewed by John Atkinson in Stereophile's February 2023 issue, with a follow-up by Ken Micallef in June.
With so much ink already spilled, it seems wasteful of your time, the magazine's space, and my…
The SourcePoint 8 demonstrated remarkable bass for a small box with a bass driver of modest size. They did not reproduce much output below 50Hz, but above that frequency they proved capable of tight, powerful bass. I subjected them at high levels to my stress-test track: "Jazz Variants," from the O-Zone Percussion Group's La Bamba (Klavier KD 77017, CD rip). The result was thrilling in its dynamic range; the powerful bass pounded the room and my chest. The SourcePoint 8s (on their own, I emphasize—no subwoofers and no DSP) were satisfying because they did not break up or bottom out,…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way standmount loudspeaker. Drive units: 1.25" wide-roll soft-dome tweeter concentrically mounted in an 8" paper-cone mid/bass driver in dual-vented enclosure. Crossover frequency: 1.6kHz. Frequency range: 47Hz–30kHz. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms (6.4 ohms minimum). Sensitivity: 87dB (2.83V/1m). Recommended amplifier power: 30–150W.
Dimensions: 18" (456mm) H × 11.4" (290mm) W × 12.6" (320mm) D without grille. With grille, 13.2" (335mm) D. Weight: 27.9lb (12.7kg).
Finishes: Satin Walnut, Satin Black Ash (real wood veneers), painted Satin…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital sources: Oppo Digital UDP-103 universal disc player; Custom Intel/Win11 music server running JRiver Media Center v31 and Roon; exaSound s88 Mark II, and Okto DAC8 Pro D/A processors; QNAP TVS-873 network-attached storage device.
Preamplifiers: Coleman Audio 7.1SW for balanced source switching.
Power amplifiers: Benchmark AHB2, NAD C 298.
Loudspeakers: KEF Blade 2 Meta, Revel Performa3 F206; Bowers & Wilkins 705 S3; SVS SB-3000 subwoofer.
Cables: Analog interconnects: Benchmark Studio&Stage XLR– XLR, Kubala-Sosna Anticipation…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system with a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the MoFi SourcePoint 8's behavior in the farfield and an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield responses. I left the grille off for the acoustic measurements.
The SourcePoint 8's specified sensitivity is 87dB/2.83V/m; my B-weighted estimate was the same. The SourcePoint 8's nominal impedance is specified as 8 ohms, with a minimum value of 6.4 ohms. I measured the…
The first true high-end component I owned was an Audio Research SP-10. I reviewed this two-box, tubed preamplifier in the May 1984 issue of the English magazine Hi-Fi News & Record Review. "The SP-10 presented [recorded] information in a more coherent, less distorted manner than any preamp I've tried," I wrote in the review, concluding that "the SP-10 made me realize how many good records I owned." I purchased the SP-10 and brought the preamplifier with me when I moved to the US. Four decades later, I still have that SP-10. "Every now and again, when I want to be reminded of the magic it…
The midrange was now smooth- and natural-sounding. The imaging was precise on my late-1990s recordings of the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and the soundstage was reproduced with the appropriate depth. This was particularly the case with the KEFs, with which the Audio Research amplifier made a synergistic match. In "Decision Point" from Jerome Harris Quartet's Rendezvous (16/44.1 ALAC file, Stereophile STPH013-2, footnote 3), which I recorded in Chad Kassem's Blue Heaven Studio in Kansas, the pairing made palpable the delicate church acoustic around and behind Billy Drummond's drums…