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"These songs may not be manifestos or solutions, but I know they shed light on the meaning of our contemporary disillusionment." So says singer-songwriter Natalie Mering about her latest album under the name Weyes Blood (pronounced like "wise," a tribute to a novel by Flannery O'Connor).

And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow, her fifth album, is the second part of a planned trilogy. Its 2019 predecessor,…

It's often said that you can never go home again. Places change, and you won't be the same person you were when you left. The Art Ensemble of Chicago's 1972 album Live at Mandel Hall documented their return home after a two-year stay in Paris, during which the quartet gained a drummer and honed its sound into something completely…

Isabelle Faust makes a fine impression in the Dvořák concerto. She answers the orchestra's opening phrases with firm-bowed flourishes, impeccably tuned, both in the "little notes" and when sailing in alt. Without sacrificing polish, she makes the second theme feel shaggy and untamed. The curlicued cadenzas on the lead…

Description: Remote-controlled, network-connected, class-D D/A integrated amplifier with Dirac Live LE Room Correction, tone controls, and front-panel meters. Analog inputs: 3 pair RCA (line, MM phono, power amplifier direct). Digital inputs: 1 TosLink, 1 coaxial S/PDIF, 1 HDMI, USB Type A, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Two-way Qualcomm aptX HD Bluetooth. Supported formats: MP3, AAC, WMA, OGG, WMA-L, ALAC, OPUS, MQA, DSD, FLAC, WAV, AIFF. Supported sample rates: up to 192kHz, bit depths 16–24. Supported cloud services: Amazon Music, Deezer, IDAGIO, Napster, Neil Young…

Digital sources: Roon Nucleus+ file server with HDPlex linear power supply; iPad mini 2 running BluOS app; Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP disc player, Z-Systems RDP-1; MBL N31 CD player-DAC; NetGear Nighthawk router.
Integrated amplifier: NAD M10.
Power amplifiers: Parasound Halo JC 1+ monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: KEF LS50.
Headphones: Audeze LCD-X, Sennheiser HD-650.
Cables: Digital: AudioQuest Vodka (Ethernet), DH Labs (AES3), generic plastic TosLink optical (15'). Interconnect: Canare (3m unbalanced). Speaker: AudioQuest 10' Robin Hood. AC:…

I measured the C 3050 LE using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system. As the NAD is a class-D design, I didn't precondition the amplifier by driving a 1kHz tone at one-third power into 8 ohms. Nevertheless, before doing any testing, I ran it for an hour at a moderate power level to ensure that it was fully warmed up. At the end of that time, the temperature of the black grille on the top panel was 92.1°F/33.4°C. Because class-D amplifiers emit relatively high levels of ultrasonic noise that would drive my analyzer's input into slew-rate limiting, all the measurements…

In the highly polarizedworld of high-end audio, there are nearly as many approaches as there are manufacturers. Despite what some may want you to believe, there isn't one approach that is inherently correct; the best approach, rather, depends on what specifically the designer aims to achieve.

At Mojo Audio, we seek to provide the most transparent window possible to the music on the recording as opposed to a measurably more accurate or universally pleasing interpretation. Every circuit, component, and module we use is painstakingly chosen from…

More than a decade later, today's audio market is well populated with luxury phono preamps costing $30,000 and up. That this fact drives the…