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Records to Die For 2017 Page 5

Paul Messenger

The Incredible String Band: The 5000 Spirits or The Layers of the Onion
Elektra EKS 5287 (UK LP). 1967. Joe Boyd, prod.; John Wood, eng. AAA. TT: 50:10

All latter-day hippies ought to have a copy of this splendid album, which features psychedelic cover art by The Fool and brilliant recording quality, thanks to the excellent taste of producer Joe Boyd. Clive Palmer had left for India, and now on this, the ISB's second album, the duo of Robin Williamson and Mike Heron took center stage in songwriting, singing, and the playing of sitars, gimbris…

Records to Die For 2017 Page 6

Robert Schryer

John Fogerty: Revival
Fantasy FCD-30001 (CD). 2007. John Fogerty, prod.; Robert Ludwig, Kevin Dean, Dave Colvin, engs. DDD.? TT: 40:41

This album's title works as both a nod to Creedence Clearwater Revival's legacy and to truth in advertising. Revival was a return to form for John Fogerty—to the sort of catchy, barroom-friendly tunes he became famous for but could no longer write. Add to its musical themes equal parts nostalgia and political outrage, and you've got a country-rock album to revitalize the troops. Revival reflects a comfortable…

A Gorgeous Debut from the Sibelius Piano Trio

With their matching wide, distinctly un-stylish yellow ties and dark blue suits, the men of the Sibelius Piano Trio hardly look like world-class musicians. But once you hear their two-CD set from Yarlung Records, best appreciated via stereo and multi-channel DSD downloads from NativeDSD.com—click here and here—you'll understand why their debut recording of trios by Sibelius and contemporary composers deserves a place in your collection.

I've actually heard the trio's pianist, Juho Pohjonen (b. 1981), perform live twice, at Music@Menlo in Northern California. While I wish I could convince…

MBL's Juergen Reis talks Digital with John Atkinson

Last week, we posted a video on AudioStream of a conversation between Juergen Reis (MBL's Chief Designer), Michael Lavorgna (AudioStream), and John Atkinson, which we filmed during CES 2017. During that same session, we also filmed a conversation between JA and Juergen that focuses more specifically on MBL's new N31 DAC, which JA will be reviewing in a future issue of Stereophile.

In this video, Juergen and JA discuss digital filters, aliasing, Nyquist ringing, USB inputs, inter-sample "overs," and many of the other arcane issues involved in DAC design.

Editor's Note:…

Gramophone Dreams #14: Rega Planar 3

UK, 1976: Upon its release, Rega Research's original Planar 3 turntable became the poor man's Linn Sondek LP12. It opened a gateway of affordability to the exotic world of high-quality British record players. Forty years later, the new Planar 3 turntable and its "light and rigid" engineering aesthetic, as conceived by Rega founder Roy Gandy, still occupy an admirably working-class, pro-music position in an audio world increasingly populated by gold-plated tonearms and quarter-ton turntables.

Before Rega, the Linn Sondk LP12 was conspicuously rhythmic and musical in a way no other record…

Gramophone Dreams #14: Rega Planar 3 Page 2

I know that Rega turntables have been positively reviewed around the globe. I've enjoyed every system I've heard that has included one, and I've recommended Regas to countless music-loving, non-audiophile friends. But I've always wondered—what is the source of that "pacey," boogie-down Rega sound? Is it the AC motor? Is it simply that Rega platters tend to rotate a bit too fast, as some have found? Is it the player's lightness and rigidity, as Rega claims? Or something else? Curious, I decided that my review of the Planar 3 would be an investigation into what makes a Rega sound like a Rega…

Of Headphones to Come

Some 100 engineers and scientists from around the globe assembled for the Audio Engineering Society's 2016 International Conference on Headphone Technology, in Aalborg, Denmark.

I figured it was coming, but it wasn't until just after I'd returned from the Audio Engineering Society's 2016 International Conference on Headphone Technology—held last August in Aalborg, Denmark—and was writing up my report and summary on the event for InnerFidelity.com (footnote 1) that I knew for sure: Headphones are about to change . . . a lot.

I'd like to take you on a little ride into the future of…

Of Headphones to Come Page 2

The problem is that virtual audio via headphones remains very difficult to achieve. The things that make today different from the past are the facts that researchers now understand the challenges fairly well, and that current DSP technologies have the computing power to do the job. The remaining task is to dig into all the bits and pieces of the problem, efficiently come up with practical solutions, then figure out how to get it all to work together. That last bit may be the hardest, because there are a lot of variables in this equation:

Individual HRTFs must be generated for each…

EAR Acute Classic CD player

In Stereophile's January 2016 issue, I began a series of reviews of $10,000 CD players and transport-DAC combinations: an informal and serial survey, the goal of which was to gather, over time, the likeliest candidates for one's Last CD Player Ever. My choice of $10,000 as the target price was more or less arbitrary, although, in retrospect, that's about what I've invested in my go-to combination of turntable, tonearm, and pickup head—so, who knows? Maybe my subconscious was acting out.

Although the review that follows won't be the last of the survey, this seemed a good time for a recap…

EAR Acute Classic CD player Page 2

My only gripe regarding ergonomics is that, with the EAR's disc drawer open, its Open/Close button is difficult to see and to access. Thankfully, as with every other CD player of my experience, applying pressure to the drawer's front edge had the same result as pressing Close. So I did that.

Listening, CD player
One of the first discs I played through the EAR was a recording of Mahler's Symphony 1 that I've raved about more than once in these pages: the one by Dimitri Mitropoulos and the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, recorded in 1940 (Sony Classical Masterworks Heritage MHK 62342…