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Audeze LCD-X headphones ($1699; reviewed by John Atkinson, March 2014, Vol.37 No.3 Review)

Once we've dispensed with source components, amplification components, and loudspeakers, virtually anything else that gets put into—or under, or onto—our music systems can qualify as an accessory. Thus, one supposes that a few readers will be let down that the voting for our 2014 Accessory of the Year reflected a conservative turn of mind, with nary a quantum-field generator, plastic demagnetizer, or capacitor ointment in sight. Indeed, fully three of our seven…

NAD D 3020 integrated amplifier ($499; reviewed by Stephen Mejias, November & December 2013, Vol.36 Nos.11 & 12 Review)

Here's the least surprising surprise of this year's balloting: NAD's D 3020 integrated amplifier coasted to an easy win for Budget Component of 2014. Hell, even I saw that coming.

The D 3020, designed to commemorate NAD's 40th anniversary, was named in honor of the company's classic 3020 integrated amp of the 1970s and onward. Both products were designed by the estimable Bjørn Erik Edvardsen, but this time he…

Vivid Audio Giya G3 loudspeaker

Some years, we see a number of products that take first place in more than one category. This year, there's only one, and it's also our joint Loudspeaker of the Year: the Vivid Audio Giya G3. The G3 did more than merely earn JA's respect: it gave him immense enjoyment, and effectively doubled the field of contenders for the coveted title of John Atkinson's Retirement Loudspeaker (the other being the jointly anointed Wilson Alexia).

Notes on the vote: The results of this contest are especially interesting…

ATC Loudspeaker Technology SCM19 loudspeaker ($4299/pair)
"In addition to the musical and technical virtues of a competently executed sealed-box design, ATC's SCM19 two-way monitor (reviewed in June 2014, Vol.37 No.6) is big enough to make a major sonic impact in most listening rooms of reasonable size, and small enough not to trip over its own feet. Low distortion, zero fatigue, great looks, fair price. WNTL?"—John Marks

Audeze LCD-X headphones ($1699), VPI Industries Classic Direct turntable ($30,000), DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/93…

Steve Guttenberg kicks off the issue by explaining why he prefers recorded music to live concerts, while A-list mastering engineer Bob Katz explains why Steve 's analysis of the sound of modern recordings in his November 2014 "As We See It" was misguided, if not…

Smoke Sessions released nine CDs and one…

Shuggie, born Johnny Veliotes, is of course, the guitar virtuoso son of the great R&B bandleader Johnny Otis,…

In almost 40 years of attending audio press events, only rarely have I come away feeling that I was present at the birth of a new world. In March 1979, I visited the Philips Research Center in Eindhoven, Holland and heard a prototype of what was to be later called the Compact Disc. In the summer of 1982, I visited Ron Genereux and Bob Berkovitz at Acoustic Research's lab near Boston and heard a very early example of the application of DSP to the…

Since Audio High had sent Meridian specific recordings of varying resolutions that it wished encoded, I mostly confined my auditioning to those tracks. Yevgeny (Eugene) Konnikov…

I know, that's a sacrilege—as a lifelong music lover, I'm supposed to relish the live event, with all of the energy and connection between musicians and audience that can happen only when they're all breathing the same air. That may be true for you, but not for me. I've harbored the guilt for years: When I take the plunge and attend a concert, I rarely enjoy the experience enough to justify the effort and expense.

My sense of guilt is magnified when the music is great…