At first glance, EAR's Acute Classic CD player ($6795) offers a great deal: USB input, 24-bit/192kHz Wolfson DAC, tubed gain stage, custom output transformers, and the pedigree of having been designed by Tim de Paravicini, one of audio engineering's true giants (literally as well as figuratively: he's exceedingly tall). All that plus casework that's as pretty as it is reasonably sized (17" wide by 3" high by 12" deep, and weighing less than 18 lbs), and a price that, while not cheerfully cheap, is not beyond the credit limits of mortal…
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At first glance the pairing of R. Stevie Moore (right), the Nashville born/New Jersey-residing DIY legend who over the past several decades has released literally hundreds of cassettes—and, to be fair, some records he actually worked on—and Jason Falkner (left), the always brilliant, sometimes cranky, LA pop auteur behind Three O'Clock, Jellyfish and The Grays (with Jon Brion), a couple of great solo records, and contributions to records by Beck, Aimee Mann, and AIR, seems fairly odd. But once you listen to Make It Be, these two triangular pegs actually fit into their own unique space that's…
Auralic's innovative and affordable streaming Altair D/A processor takes pride of place on the March Stereophile's cover, but loudspeakers dominate this issue's interior, with reviews of super stand-mounts from Aerial, Bowers & Wilkins, and Wharfedale and an intriguing, room-friendly tower from the Swedish Larsen company.
Multichannel maven Kal Rubinson reviews three-channel amplifiers from ATI and budget specialists Monoprice; vinyl champion Mikey Fremer auditions a new turntable from the designer of the superb Continuum LP player; Larry Greenhill cleans up his power with a tidy…
Prepare for one of those wild, hold-on-to-your-horses rides that will send minds and sound systems spinning (and horses bolting). Andrew Norman's award-winning, 47-minute orchestral work Play (2013), plays with musician and listener expectations simultaneously while proceeding on a course barely predictable from its opening salvos. Somewhat reflective of the worlds of rock and jazz, with a language all its own and ideas far more developed, dense, and unpredictable than all but the most experimental and far out excursions, Play's visceral and cerebral appeal reaches far beyond the confines of…
Jimmy Scott: I Go Back Home: A Story About Hoping and Dreaming
Eden River ERR-LP-01 (2 LPs). 2016. Ralf Kemper, prod., mix; Geoff Gillette, James Caruso, Sean O'Dwyer, Robert Kirkpatrick, engs.; Phil Ramone, mix prod.; Lawrence Manchester, Veith Semrau, mix. DDA? TT: 56:58
Performance ****
Sonics ****
Eden River ERR-LP-01 (2 LPs). 2016. Ralf Kemper, prod., mix; Geoff Gillette, James Caruso, Sean O'Dwyer, Robert Kirkpatrick, engs.; Phil Ramone, mix prod.; Lawrence Manchester, Veith Semrau, mix. DDA? TT: 56:58
Performance ****
Sonics ****
In 1992, just before Christmas, I sent out 24 copies of Jimmy Scott's newly released CD, All the Way, to friends, musical and otherwise. Most did not respond, but the eight or ten who did were on fire. "What is this?" "Who is this?" "How did I not know about this woman until now…
This year is not only one of fallout from the most divisive political campaigns of our time, but will also one of competing audio shows too close for comfort. Southern California will see dueling audio shows three months and 35 miles apart, and New York City and Washington, DC will host shows on consecutive weekends. While a proliferation of audio shows potentially presents plenty of opportunities for audiophiles to hear new gear, such conflicts ultimately limit which manufacturers can exhibit where, and can render some shows a poor value.
As a result of changing priorities and a revolt…
On February 16, Universal Music Group and MQA announced a multi-year agreement that will encode UMG's huge catalog of master recordings in MQA. In the language of the press release, the agreement promises "to make some of the world's most celebrated recordings available for the first time in Hi-Res Audio streaming." UMG's labels include ECM, Interscope, Geffen, A&M, Capitol, Island, Def Jam, Decca, Verve, Blue Note, Virgin, and EMI.
The announcement comes after the embrace of MQA by major label Warner, and the launch of the "Stream the Studio" campaign at CES 2017. Spearheaded by DEG…
Now that we've entered a world of post-disc audio (sorry, AnalogPlanet.com), audiophile streaming and file-playback products have appeared by the hundreds, and many companies are on their second, third, or even fourth-generation models.
The Chinese company Auralic Limited has been pushing bits around for seven years, releasing a half-dozen streaming and network devices. Their newest, the Altair, combines in a single package the functions of a DAC, streamer, and headphone amplifier with volume control, allowing it also to operate as an all-digital-system preamplifier. Just add power amp…
Another thing to watch out for is when you switch from the Stream input to a hardwired input such as Coax: The streaming function then stops, and it takes a few seconds to boot up again when you switch back to Stream. Here's the tricky part: the Stream input can be chosen only from the Altair's front panel or remote control, not from the app, which now has lost connection and, again, works only when Stream is engaged. Until I figured this out, the first few times I went to Stream after using the USB drive, the Lightning DS or Roon app would lose the Altair, and I'd restart the Altair to get…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: RoonReady wireless streaming D/A processor. Inputs: network-shared folder, USB drive, internal music storage (with optional 2.5" HDD or SSD installed), uPnP/DLNA media server, Tidal & Qobuz, Internet Radio, AirPlay, Bluetooth, Songcast. Digital inputs: 1 AES/EBU, 1 coaxial, 1 TosLink, 1 USB device to computer, 2 USB host for storage & DAC, 1 RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet, 1 802.11b/g/n/ac dual-band WiFi. Analog outputs: balanced (XLR, output impedance 10 ohms), single-ended (RCA, output impedance 50 ohms), 6.35mm headphone jack. File types supported…