The Berlin Philharmonic last recorded direct to disc 70 years ago—right before commercial recordings were made on magnetic tape. To get the backstory of how and why the orchestra is producing this lavish, limited-edition boxed set, I…
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In November 2016, the Berlin Philharmonic made a stunning record-release announcement: a boxed set of all four Brahms symphonies, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, on six LPs, recorded and mastered direct to disc in September 2014. The release would be limited to 1833 sets—a quantity chosen in honor of the year of the composer's birth—at a price of 499 per set.
Fremer: Who first proposed the idea of recording direct to disc for vinyl release?
Maninger: The idea came, in a way . . . I mean, you have these [cutting lathes] that exist—which I didn't know they still are functional, some of them. Then I heard from our recording studios that do all of the production for Digital Concert Hall that the Emil Berliner Studios were like 80 meters from the Berliner Philharmonie.
Then we discovered . . . you know, you drink a glass of wine and you discuss certain scenarios: Has [direct-to-disc recording] ever been done for orchestras? Has it ever…
Photos by Eduardo Pavez Goye.
Bassist Ron Carter, world-renowned musician and most-recorded jazz bassist of all time, said in an interview for Stereophile's Musicians as Audiophiles that he sees himself not just as a bassist but also as a scientist, forever striving to understand and perfect the sound of his recordings. Chile-born saxophonist Melissa Aldana, a stunningly expressive jazz musician, shows similar dedication to her art, studiously investigating the century-long history of the genre.
Aldana started saxophone lessons at age 6 under the tutelage of her father, Marcos…
Micallef: Your playing does sound like whispering. So intimate. And it has become more so over the last few albums.
Aldana: I've put a lot of thought into how to have a huge sound but not play loudly. Have a big sound that goes through everything without being loud. How can I have a huge sound but not play loudly? Have a huge sound, or a very big sound, very fat sound, but without having to be loud. The idea of having a good sound, for me, is how the sound goes around everything. I'm aware of how dynamics can create a certain forward motion. If I play softer, if I play louder, if I play…
Stars live in the evening
But the very young need the sun, uh-huh.
Pretty baby, you look so heavenly,
A neo-nebular from under the sun.
I was forming, some say I had my chance
The boys were falling like an avalanche.
But the very young need the sun, uh-huh.
Pretty baby, you look so heavenly,
A neo-nebular from under the sun.
I was forming, some say I had my chance
The boys were falling like an avalanche.
When I discovered Blondie's breakthrough album, Parallel Lines, those lines filled my teenage mind with jealous fantasies. Whoever the object of Deborah Harry's desire was—I knew it was probably Chris Stein, her bandmate and romantic partner—was too lucky to walk the earth. Possibly, Stein wrote the lines for her, and she willingly sung them to him. In a…
Phono Accessories
AcousTech The Big Record Brush: $36.95
With grounding wire: $52.99
This large-handled brush has soft bristles of both natural hairs and conductive synthetic fibers, and makes dusting LPs nearly foolproof. The 5.5"-wide bristle area easily spans the width of any LP's grooved area. Version with ground wire ($52.99) does "a pretty effective job of dissipating static electricity," Mikey said. (Vol.31 No.9)
Acoustical Systems Arche 5D headshell, Regular: $695
Acoustical Systems Arche 5D headshell, Lite: $795
Acoustical Systems Arche 5D headshell,…
Disc & File 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+
Antipodes K50: $17,500
The made-in-New Zealand K50 works with Roon as both server and player, Roon as a server with Squeezelite or HQ Player as the player, or Squeeze as a server and Squeezelite as the player. It offers Ethernet, USB, I2S, AES3, and S/PDIF outputs, though the manufacturer doesn't recommend using USB. JVS found that the Squeeze server and Squeezelite apps were not as user-friendly as Roon, but using them to…
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.
A+
Benchmark Media Systems DAC3 HGC: $2199 ★
Benchmark's DAC3 HGC—the last three letters designate this as the audiophile version, with a…
Complete Audio Systems
A
Devialet Phantom I 108 dB: $3200 each (available in 2 finishes) ★
In a setting as idyllic as it was ideal, at least in a commercial sense—the samples were auditioned in an apartment on the rue des Ursulines in Paris, the city of their manufacture—Devialet's top-of-the-line Phantom powered speaker whetted JCA's appetite, and on returning home to his superior-sounding NYC apartment he requested review loaners. There, auditioned with Devialet's Tree stands ($375 each), Dialog dedicated router ($329), and Remote remote volume control ($149), a stereo…
Music Surround Components
A+
exaSound s88: $7599
See "Digital Processors."
A
exaSound Sigma Streamer: $750
To those who already own an exaSound DAC, the exaSound Sigma Streamer offers an affordable and tidy alternative to the company's PlayPoint digital-source components. The simple Sigma, which streams via wired or wireless LAN, is a Roon-ready endpoint, can function as an HQPlayer network audio adapter, and is compatible with UPnP, OpenHome, and AirPlay protocols. It supports PCM to 32/384, DSD to DSD256, and MQA (full unfold). KR found the Sigma to be "…