Analog source: Linn Sondek LP12 turntable with Lingo power supply, Linn Ekos tonearm, Linn Arkiv B cartridge, Channel D Seta L phono preamplifier.
Digital sources: Roon Nucleus+ file server; Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP universal player; MBL N31 CD player/DAC; Ayre Acoustics QA-9 A/D converter; NetGear Nighthawk router.
Power amplifiers: Parasound Halo JC 1+ and Schiit Tyr monoblocks, Benchmark AHB2.
Loudspeakers: KEF LS50, Mission 770.
Cables: Digital: AudioQuest Vodka (Ethernet), AudioQuest Coffee (USB), DH Labs (1m, AES3). Interconnect:…
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone with an Earthworks microphone preamplifier to measure the MoFi SourcePoint 10's farfield frequency behavior and dispersion. I used an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield and in-room responses and Dayton Audio's DATS V2 system to measure the impedance magnitude and electrical phase angle.
MoFi specifies the SourcePoint 10's anechoic sensitivity as a high 91dB/2.83V/m. My estimate was within experimental error of that figure, at 90.3dB(B)/2.83V/m. The SourcePoint 10's impedance,…
Once each year, since 1991, we've asked our writers, both hi-fi and music, to name two of their favorite albums of all time—albums that are, to them, "to die for." It has long been one of our most popular features.
Originally a light-hearted conceit based on a phrase that was popular at the time (footnote 1), there never was a real implication that anyone would give up their life for this music. Yet, for many of us, it has always carried that baggage. So, while this has long been my favorite Stereophile feature, I've never cared for the name.
Immediately after I became Stereophile…
John Atkinson
Brahms: Piano Concerto No.1; Four Ballades & Piano Concerto No.2; Handel Variations
Royal Northern Sinfonia. Lars Vogt, piano, cond.
Ondine ODE 1330-2 & ODE 1346-2 (CDs; 24/48 FLAC, Qobuz). 2019 & 2020. Jochen Hubmacher, Reijo Kiilunen, Susann El Kassar, exec. prod.; Julian Schwenkner, Richard Halling (Concerto Nos.1 & 2), eng., Michael Morawietz (Ballades, Handel Variations), eng.
I first encountered German pianist Lars Vogt in the complete set of Brahms piano trios with violinist Christian Tetzlaff and cellist Tanja Tetzlaff (…
Tom Conrad
Ryan Truesdell: Lines of Color: Gil Evans Project Live at Jazz Standard
Orchestra with varied combinations of 25 musicians, Ryan Truesdell, cond.
Blue Note/ArtistShare ASBN 0133 (CD/download). 2015. Ryan Truesdell, Dave Rivello, prods.; James Farber, Tyler McDiarmid, Geoff Countryman, engs.
Over the last 10 years, Ryan Truesdell has devoted much of his life to keeping the music of a great composer/ arranger alive. His Gil Evans Project has made two albums that are indisputably records to die for. The first, Centennial, gets the most attention. But…
Andrey Henkin
Slayer: Reign In Blood
Def Jam Recordings GHS 24131 (LP). 1986. Rick Rubin, Slayer, prods.; Andy Wallace, eng.
Even the greatest artists need direction. Would The Beatles have reached their apex without George Martin? By 1986, Slayer was a good band, with some decent studio dates. But it took collaboration with another early-20-something in Rick Rubin, coming out of hip-hop for his first foray into heavy metal, to create something iconic. The 10 tracks and 27 minutes of Reign in Blood, written by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King, the genre's…
Ken Micallef
Various Artists: Kaleidoscope: New Spirits Known & Unknown
Soul Jazz Records SJR LP 455 (LP). 2020. Various producers and engineers.
Whereas the US jazz scene often seems to focus on tradition and to prioritize rhythm over melody, UK jazz has weaker ties to the past and seems freer to reinvent the genre. This three-LP set is the best UK-jazz overview I've heard, spanning sounds from trumpeter Matthew Halsall's surreal levitations and vocalist Yazmin Lacey's ethereal soul to Hector Plimmer's electronic pulsations and keyboardist Joe Armon-Jones's…
Robert Schryer
Dean Wareham: I Have Nothing To Say To The Mayor of L.A.
Dean Wareham, vocals, guitar, composer; Roger Brogan, drums; Jason Quever, guitar, organ, cello, drums; Britta Phillips, bass, vocals, keyboards.
Double Feature CDDBL0018 (CD). 2021. Jason Quever, prod.; Scott Hull, eng.
Dean Wareham, a New Zealand native turned NYC-based American, co-founded indie pop bands Galaxie 500 and Luna. Wareham has delivered a gem of indie folk with this, his third solo release. There's something about the mood in this recording that I find incandescent and…
Register to win a Dire Straits Money For Nothing Vinyl LP (Total value $37.49 ea) we are giving away.
About the prize:
On June 17, Rhino will reissue Money For Nothing, the first Dire Straits greatest hits collection (featuring songs from the band's first five albums), which was originally released in October 1988. Newly remastered by Bob Ludwig, Money For Nothing will be made available in digital and double vinyl formats in early 2023.
Fully remastered by Bob Ludwig, and cut by Bernie Grundman, the Money For Nothing double vinyl reissue includes "Telegraph Road (Live…
Everyone knows I'm a lucky guy. I was born in Chicago in nineteen-hundred and forty-nine, and as far as I can tell, that was the perfect year to be born. I missed the war, plague, and Depression horrors of the first half of the 20th century, and I witnessed the art, music, and cinema inventions of the second half. Best of all, I was in the right city at the right time, walking down the right streets with the right people, to experience America's new electrified blues—as it was being born on the sidewalks in front of me. At least that's how it seemed looking through my WWII aviator glasses.…