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With a piano/bass duo recording, it is natural to think the piano player will dominate the proceedings, even when the bassist is the leader. The temptation is even stronger when the pianist is one of the hottest young stars in jazz: Sullivan Fortner placed fourth on piano in the 2023 DownBeat Critics Poll, ahead of Brad Mehldau.

Here, such an assumption is wrong. Rufus Reid,…

Among many other honors, Johnston was selected to present the Richard Heyser Memorial Lecture at the 2012 AES convention—an honor shared by our…

Concert arrangements of operatic themes for piano, like Liszt's famous concert paraphrases, obviously provide an opportunity to display one's virtuosic keyboard technique. As Denis Morrier's program note for Harmonia Mundi indicates, however, transcriptions of Wagner served a second important purpose: spreading awareness of the composer's operas when they only played in a limited number of…

This is all standard procedure for Dirac Live and has been for a while. What's new is ART—Active Room Treatment (footnote 7). ART is the long-awaited fruition of Dirac Unison, which Dirac tantalized me with way back in 2011. It has been described as a "patented MIMO mixed-phase impulse response correction technology," which implements bass management with co-optimization of the subwoofer(s) using a single all-pass filter for the redirected bass with individual all-pass filters for the full-range channels, individually or in groups. In practice, ART utilizes the low-frequency output of…

Description: Network-connected, multichannel home theater preamp/processor. Post-processed outputs: Up to 32 channels, 48kHz. HDMI video inputs/outputs: 6/2. Audio inputs: 1 stereo XLR analog, 4 stereo RCA analog, 3 S/PDIF (RCA), 3 S/PDIF (Optical TosLink). Audio output: one S/PDIF (Optical TosLink) for Zone 2. Network Audio I/O: Ravenna/AES67 via 2 RJ45. 12V trigger I/O: 2/4.1 LAN (RJ45) connector for 100Mbps Ethernet network communications and two USB for USB microphone or for service. Voltage (AC): 100V–240V.
Dimensions: (with rack ears) 18.86" (479mm) W…

Digital sources: Oppo Digital UDP-103 universal disc player, Custom Intel/Win11 music server running JRiver Media Center v31 and Roon, Merging Hapi II, exaSound s88 Mark II, and Okto DAC8 Pro D/A processors. QNAP TVS-873 NAS.
Preamplifier: Coleman Audio 7.1SW for balanced DAC-to-amp switching.
Power amplifiers: Benchmark AHB2, NAD C 298.
Loudspeakers: KEF Blade 2 Meta (L/C/R) with IsoAcoustics Gaia II feet, Revel Performa3 f206 (SL/SR). 2 JL Audio e110 and 1 SVS SB-3000 subwoofers.
Cables: Digital cables: AudioQuest Coffee (USB). Analog…

Within each category, products are listed by class; within each class, they're in alphabetical order, followed by their price, a review synopsis, and a note indicating the issues in which the review, and any subsequent follow-up reports, appeared. "Vol.46 No.7" indicates our July 2023 issue, for example. "WWW" means the review is also posted online.

Stereophile's Recommended Components list is concerned mainly with products available in the US…

A+:

J.Sikora Reference: $47,000 w/o tonearm
This Polish company's top-of-the-line turntable is a nonsuspended, high-mass design, weighing 253lb. The dynamically and statically balanced platter alone weighs 40lb! Drive is with four square belts spun by four Papst DC motors. MF found that the plinth was immune to knuckle raps and motor start-up noises and wrote that the Reference was very quiet. He decided that this J.Sikora 'table had been superbly tuned to extract deep, well-controlled bass free of overhang or excess. The measured speed accuracy was impressive, as…

A+:

SAT CF1-09Ti: $105,600
SAT CF1-12Ti: $110,200
These two cost-no-object tonearms appear outwardly identical to the Swedish manufacturer's original CF1 arm. However, there is now a titanium tube running through the carbon-fiber armtube and the CF1's removable carbon-fiber headshell has been stiffened with a frame made from titanium. The 9" arm was auditioned, but the 12" arm should be just as good (but longer). Prices are when purchased separately; when the arms are purchased with the SAT XD-1 turntable (see "Turntables"), the prices are €50,000 ('9Ti) and €60,…