And when they've read those, there are in-depth reviews of Ayre's Codex D/A headphone amplifier, Linear Tube Audio's MicroZOTL2.0 line stage/headphone amplifier, Marten's cost-no-object Coltrane 3…
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While Bowers & Wilkins' new 802 D3 Diamond loudspeaker, reviewed by Kalman Rubinson, takes pride of place on the cover of the June Stereophile, to judge from the many comments posted to our recent story on MQA, it will be Jim Austin's review of the MQA-capable Meridian Explorer2 on page 102 and John Atkinson's technical evaluation of MQA on page 108 that readers will turn to first.
The SAF (see here) gave this room an 8.5. Such a high rating wasn't just because he felt the equipment, including the sound treatment and the low racks, was attractive: He also felt the setup could comfortably fit into a living room without competing for living space, and that its sound was very easy to listen to. Note that the exhibitors in the room turned around the system by 180 degrees and built a dividing wall behind the speakers that incorporated sound-enhancing materials.
At the head of the system was the brand new Bergmann Galder air-bearing turntable (15,000): the only table in…
Jon Reichbach of Sonic Studio/Amarra displayed the latest Amarra sQ+ 2.3 inline DSP processor. The software can equalize music's entire range, if desired, before sending it along for playback. The new version includes multiple EQs (filter topologies) that, in Reichbach's words, "let you build some very complex EQ curves." There is also optional Dirac Live room-correction software and broadband noise reduction.
"In 1989, when we started Sonic Studio, Warner used this noise reduction software and it cost $125,000," he said. "It produced a disc that won an Academy Award for Technical…
I never cover shows with the intention of citing "Best Of." In fact, at Munich High End, any such designation needs qualification, because I missed far more rooms than I visited. But when any system inspires as much joy as this one—a Nagra/Kronos/Wilson combo that benefited from a helluva lot of strategically stacked RPG room treatment—I have no choice but to cheer: "My Best of Show."
First up on the platter: Dead Can Dance's "Yulunga," from 1993. The bass was solid, the top alive. The music sounded as spacious and as right as can be. Next, my CD transfer of soprano Beverly Sills singing…
The day after my husband was plied with hard liquor in a desperate attempt to get me all the way into the Tidal room, I returned. (Just in case anyone accepts my words as Biblical truth, I am joshing. When you're faced with writing four days' worth of show reports in four days, you've got to have a little fun once in a while.) Truth be told, I had already intended to return, my brief visit at show's end on Saturday having been truncated by the 6pm closing time.
Over the sound of music booming from the adjacent exhibit, I learned that the Tidal panels on the side walls of the room were…
Several news items this week crystallized, if only for a moment, a few truths about the ever evolving music business. Sadly, Other Music, perhaps the best place to buy new vinyl in Manhattan (though they had used Lps as well), will be closing on June 25. According to a NYT story, “Business has dropped by half since the store’s peak in 2000, when it did about $3.1 million in sales.” The key phrase in all of this is “in Manhattan,” a locale that also just made a hilarious most overrated list in the Daily News. Yes, the entire island was judged by New Yorkers to be “overrated.” If you’re a…
“Yeah, he’s really great,” so quoth the inestimable Michael Lavorgna, noise rock/art rock/out jazz music fan, editor of Audiostream.com and all around fine human being when talking about Sturgill Simpson’s latest record, A Sailor’s Guide to Earth. “I just love that cover of `In Bloom.’” I could feel my head nodding in both directions at once: Yes, that I too love it, and No, in disbelief that Michael was so hooked. A mutual admission that we both pre-ordered the blue vinyl online brought big smiles and more enthusing.
Rarely has a third record had more built-in pressure surrounding it…
Thank goodness the handsome new Pathos gear came with English-language literature, because my sketchy operatic Italian and that of the SAF was of no help in this room. (Assassino and muori, two favorite words of Tosca, somehow seemed inappropriate). In fact, I'm now discovering that no matter how long I spent trying to communicate, the model names I managed to scribble down were wrong.
Making their debut were several products in the Pathos InPol (Inseguitore Pompa Lineare—literally, Linear Pump Follower) line. These are "fully balanced Class A devices using a single solid-state component…
Contrast this view, taken by Peter McGrath as we headed to dinner at show's end, with that of the mobbed staircase at the opening bell. Only the person visible on the ground level carrying two boxes gives indication of the bustle of activity throughout the MOC as exhibitors, who collectively displayed 95% of all high-end brands worldwide, were busy packing, sorting, and shipping enough valuable gear to leave many a trust-fund manager and venture capitalist in tears.
It was another scene in the hallways of the Atriums, where an earlier attempt to connect with McGrath for dinner ran…
The philosophy promoted by many mainstream stereo magazines (and thus often the belief of the general public) is that one should spend a minimum amount of one's hi-fi budget on electronics and front ends, and a maximum amount on loudspeakers. Since all electronics sound alike and it's the loudspeaker that really produces the sound, the highest overall performance is obtained by putting expensive loudspeakers at the end of a chain of inexpensive electronics. Cables? Don't waste your money.
During this review of three inexpensive speakers in this issue—the other were the Tannoy E11 and the…