The system: AMG Viella turntable with a 12JT turbo tonearm and Benz LP-S cartridge;…
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Last week at Seattle retailer Definitive Audio's 12th Music Matters, I got to watch one of Michael Fremer's legendary vinyl presentations. (If you have not witnessed Magic Mikey in action—he will be reprising his demo at AXPONA in April—it is truly a must-see!) In this video, Mikey demonstrates the difference between record pressings by playing three different pressings of Nina Simone's debut album Little Girl Blue: the 1958 original; a Pure Pleasure reissue; and the Analogue Productions reissue.
Thursday March 16, 6–8pm, Adirondack Audio & Video (340 East 57th Street, Suite 1D, New York, NY 10022) is hosting a launch event for two new Luxman products, the LX-380 integrated amp and D-380 CD player. Both the President of Luxman Japan, Terry Kawakami and the Vice President, Tatsuya Sueyoshi will attend the event. Hors d'oeuvres and wine will be served. Registration is not required but is welcomed by email here.
Thursday March 16, 7–9pm, HiFi Buys (3157 Peachtree Road, Atlanta, GA 30305) is holding a Music Matters event. Representatives from Audio Research, Audioquest, Ayre…
On March 13, May Belt of PWB Electronics announced via e-mail that Peter W. Belt, the company's founder and her husband of many years, passed away on February 17. He was 87.
Englishman Peter Belt came to attention in the mid-1980s, thanks mostly to a series of articles in HiFi Answers and other British audio magazines. He specialized in the design and manufacture of decidedly non-traditional audio accessories, the workings of which were regarded by many as anomalous. But May Belt steadfastly maintained that the products of the company she ran alongside her husband have less to do with…
The Metropolitan Opera: The Inaugural Season: Extraordinary Met Performances from 1966–67
Barber: Antony and Cleopatra (Price, Díaz, Thomas; Schippers). Britten: Peter Grimes (Vickers, Amara, Evans; Davis). Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor (Sutherland, Tucker, Colzani; Bonynge). Mozart: Die Zauberflöte (Raskin, Peters, Shirley, Uppman; Krips). Puccini: Madama Butterfly (Scotto, Casei, Shirley, Bottcher; Molinari-Pradelli); Turandot (Nilsson, Corelli, Freni, Giaiotti; Mehta). R. Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten (Rysanek, Ludwig, Dalis, King, Berry; Böhm). Verdi: Aida (Price, Bergonzi, Bumbry…
Barber: Antony and Cleopatra (Price, Díaz, Thomas; Schippers). Britten: Peter Grimes (Vickers, Amara, Evans; Davis). Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor (Sutherland, Tucker, Colzani; Bonynge). Mozart: Die Zauberflöte (Raskin, Peters, Shirley, Uppman; Krips). Puccini: Madama Butterfly (Scotto, Casei, Shirley, Bottcher; Molinari-Pradelli); Turandot (Nilsson, Corelli, Freni, Giaiotti; Mehta). R. Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten (Rysanek, Ludwig, Dalis, King, Berry; Böhm). Verdi: Aida (Price, Bergonzi, Bumbry…
Do you remember your very first record? I started with the Hollywood Argyles' "Alley Oop" in 1960, and played that silly 45 on repeat until my mother begged me to stop. My tastes quickly evolved, thanks to WWRL AM radio's steady diet of tunes by Jackie Wilson, Bobby Bland, Etta James, and Gary U.S. Bonds. It didn't take me long to gather a sizable collection of singles, but I switched to LPs with Meet the Beatles! in 1964, and since then the craving for new sounds has never let up.
Now it's 2017. I buy three to five albums a month, and download another eight to ten from Tidal to my iPhone…
Although I am now a veteran of 28 South by Southwest Music Conferences and have a long-time love affair with Austin, TX, I am not one of those who stands on 6th Street, deep in the melee, brows furrowed, and a snarl crossing my lips while I hiss about how Austin and SXSW have changed for the worst. Life goes on. Nothing stays the same. Welcome to the real world.
It's 11am on Tuesday morning and already the pints are being emptied at BD Riley's on 6th Street. Good friend and band wrangler extraordinaire Gretchen Barber is hawking CDs and talking up one of her bands, The Heart Collectors…
The recently-released Audirvana Plus 3 has become the first desktop music player for MacOS to include an integrated MQA Core decoder. To quote the press release, issued jointly by London-based MQA and Paris-based Audirvana, Audirvana's MQA Core decoder "enables the first origami 'unfold' and also authenticates the file using a blue or green light to confirm that the sound is identical to that of the source material."
In addition to optimizing sound quality and authenticating file provenance, Audirvana Plus 3 claims to include "a complete library management system with full metadata and…
Components listed here have been formally reviewed in Stereophile and have been found to be among the best available in each of four or five quality classes. Whether a component is listed in Class A or Class E, we highly recommend its purchase.
Each listing—in alphabetical order within classes—is followed by a brief description of the product's sonic characteristics and a code indicating the Stereophile Volume and Issue in which that product's report appeared. Thus the May 2016 issue is indicated as "Vol.39 No.5."
Some products listed have not yet been reported on; these are…
Sidebar: How to Use the Listings
The classes each cover a wide range of performance. Carefully read our descriptions here, the original reviews, and (heaven forbid) reviews in other magazines to put together a short list of components to choose from. Evaluate your room, your source material and front-end(s), your speakers, and your tastes. With luck, you may come up with a selection to audition at your favorite dealer(s). "Recommended Components" will not tell you what to buy any more than Consumer Reports would presume to tell you whom to marry!
Class A
Best attainable…
Turntables
Editor's Note: We strongly recommend those interested in LP playback visit our sister website, www.AnalogPlanet.com, which is edited by Michael Fremer.
A+
TechDAS Air Force One: $105,000 plus tonearm
"A visually stunning technological tour de force," the 174-lb Air Force One has a three-layer chassis of damped aluminum, a forge-processed stainless-steel platter, and a massive AC synchronous motor controlled by an outboard dual-50W amplifier. The platter uses an air bearing; LPs are held to the platter with vacuum suction. The review sample was equipped with…