Taking part will be: Jim White of Aesthetix,…
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High-end retailer Esoteric Audio (111 West Monroe Street, Suite 100, Phoenix) has been a fixture on the Arizona audiophile scene for more than 30 years, since it was founded in 1982 by Gary and Pam Hjerpe. Gary and Pam have handed over the reins of Esoteric to a new owner, Andrew Papanikolas, who is holding a Grand Opening Event on Saturday, February 27, from
1–7pm. "Experience hors d'oeuvres, international wine and craft beer tastings, and a return to music the way it was meant to be enjoyed: in the company of friends," says Andrew.
The Beach Boys Today!
Analogue Productions AAPP064 (LP). TT: 27:35
Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)
Analogue Productions AAPP065 (LP).
TT: 27:44
Both: 1965/2016. Brian Wilson, orig. prod.; Chuck Britz, orig. eng.; Mark Linett, Alan Boyd, stereo mixes; Kevin Gray, mastering. ADA.
Performance *****
Sonics *****
Analogue Productions AAPP064 (LP). TT: 27:35
Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)
Analogue Productions AAPP065 (LP).
TT: 27:44
Both: 1965/2016. Brian Wilson, orig. prod.; Chuck Britz, orig. eng.; Mark Linett, Alan Boyd, stereo mixes; Kevin Gray, mastering. ADA.
Performance *****
Sonics *****
It's a classic case of addition by subtraction. On December 23, 1964, on a flight from Houston to Los Angeles, Brian Wilson had a panic attack—or, perhaps, a full-fledged nervous breakdown. Two more such episodes followed in quick succession, and Brian…
One of the benefits of belonging to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a subscription to their monthly magazine, IEEE Spectrum. Superbly written and edited, this journal keeps me up to date on emerging technology, and entertains me with things like reprints, on the final page, of vintage advertisements. Their January 2016 issue, for example, featured an ad from December 1920, promoting the Victor Talking Machine Company's Victrola: "By all means get a Victrola this Christmas, but be sure it is a Victrola and not some other instrument made in imitation. $25 to $…
GoldenEar's president and chief designer, Sandy Gross (above) will be appearing at Electronics Expo (491 US 46 West, Wayne, New Jersey) on Saturday February 27, from 1pm–5pm. Sandy will be demonstrating new GoldenEar products, including the Triton Two+ and Triton Three+ tower speakers and the SuperSub XXL, as well as GoldenEar's flagship Triton One.
Sandy will also be available to answer and discuss audiophiles' questions, whether regarding GoldenEar loudspeakers, or any other far-ranging topics of interest to attendees. Food and refreshments will be served.
All band photos copyright Capitol Photo Archives
Although there was a fall chill in the air, the front windows were open, and the sounds of perhaps the greatest Beach Boys ballad of all wafted into the Massachusetts night.
Perched on the edge of the couch, dear friend and Stereophile contributing music editor David Sokol—former editor-in-chief of New Country and Disney magazines, a man who's written about music for over 40 years and has yet to lose his passion for the stuff—was waxing poetic and weeping, ever so slightly, as the room filled with the intricate mix of voices that…
Linett says he can't remember if he used true mono versions to build the stereo mixes on Today! or, instead, a process known as digital extraction from his 1990 remastering. "Those techniques are getting pretty scary, in terms of, if you massage them, what you can get out of it. If we did the digital extraction, it was because either we didn't have the tapes, like on 'Good Vibrations,' or overdubs were done on the dubdown, like 'Help Me, Ronda.' By the time you get to Summer Days it gets even more problematic, because now he was still cutting his tracks in three-track and then bouncing it…
I don't listen to music when I write, even when I write about listening to music: When there's music playing, it almost always gets my full attention—and I'm no good at multitasking. (And if I'm around music that's awful and I'm powerless to stop it, I have to leave the premises.) A rare exception is when I listen to CDs while proofreading, because proofreading is fairly brainless stuff—and as playback formats go, the Compact Disc isn't the most musically compelling.
In recent years, that last observation has been challenged a very few times, most notably by CD-playing source components…
But boy oh boy, did that ever change. After those first 45 minutes, I heard distinct increases in both texture and scale. Color saturation, too, went up a notch. Then, maybe 90 minutes after installing the CD8 S, I heard a change so drastic, and virtually in front of my ears, that I laughed out loud: The sound got huge—huge, I say!—and both texture and color went up a few more notches. With regard to the latter characteristics, I wasn't yet in Audio Note territory—and I was still far from good vinyl territory—but I was reasonably well satisfied.
Encouraged by such good performance with…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Single-box CD player with digital inputs. Analog outputs: 1 pair single-ended (RCA), 1 pair balanced (XLR). Digital inputs: 1 USB (Type B), 1 S/PDIF (RCA). Input resolution, USB: up to 32-bit/384kHz. Input resolution, S/PDIF: up to 24-bit/192kHz. Digital input impedance, S/PDIF: 75 ohms. Output voltage, single-ended and balanced: 2.5V RMS. Output impedance, single-ended: 75 ohms. Output impedance, balanced: 600 ohms. Frequency response: 10Hz–50kHz, ±0.1dB. . Signal/noise: >95dB.
Dimensions: 17.6" (450mm) W by 4.5" (115mm) H by 17" (435mm) D…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Garrard 301, Thorens TD 124 turntables; Abis SA-1.2, EMT 997 tonearms; EMT OFD 25 & OFD 15 & TSD 15 pickup heads; Denon DL-103, Miyajima Premium BE Mono II cartridges.
Digital Sources: Halide Designs DAC HD USB D/A converter; Apple iMac G5 computer running Audirvana Plus 1.5.12; Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player.
Preamplification: Hommage T2 step-up transformer, Shindo Laboratory Aurieges Equalizer Amplifier phono preamplifier & Masseto preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: Shindo Laboratory Corton-Charlemagne monoblocks.
…