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When an icon drops her first album in six years, you sit up and take notice. Bonnie Raitt made her earliest record a half-century and more ago, in August 1971. She was 21 and could easily have been carded; the face on the cover of Bonnie Raitt—that first album—has yet to shed all its baby fat.

Eighteen albums followed, through 2016's Dig in Deep, before Raitt took time off to rest, take stock, then wait out the pandemic. In summer 2021, she put the call out to her longtime band, and work commenced on her 20th album. Like its predecessors, Just Like…

Scherman: Let's jump ahead to your commercial breakthrough. What was the impact of being sober on the making of the album?

Raitt: Well, it wasn't like I'd been hammered all the time. I didn't record my records drunk or anything. It was more like having a better lifestyle and more self-awareness. I mean, I'd been sober a couple of years. I was in a really good place physically and emotionally and mentally and was happy to have a record label that was excited about me.

Scherman: From the first time I heard this song,…

When Herb Reichert reviewed the Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC ($13,400) in his December 2021 Gramophone Dreams column, his praise for the Bruno Putzeys–designed processor was effusive. "Mola Mola's Tambaqui did not whisper—it declares loudly: 'See! The truth is more beautiful than you thought it would be!'" "The Tambaqui seemed to expose the core, or body, of recorded sound in a way that upped the intensity of my listening experience." "Transparency, detail, and purity were off the charts." "I heard—and saw—previously…

I recently replaced my two-box Pass Laboratories XP-22 with the three-box XP-32 from the same company. I had been quite happy with the XP-22, but when JA1 reviewed the XP-32 very favorably, I decided that the review sample should not leave New York City without a listen in my own system. Pass Laboratories was happy to let me hang onto it for a while.

As I already wrote, I've been happy with the XP-22. If you'd asked me to describe its deficiencies, I wouldn't have been able to answer. It's a transparent, very…

Every time I play a black disc, I am aware that I am participating in a rite that's been passed down through generations. This feels especially true now, as I use Linn's new, flagship Klimax LP12 record playing system. I've been using it now for several months.

…

When I asked Joe Rodger to break that price down, he sent me this:

• Sondek LP12 (mechanics only, dustcover and Karousel bearing…

Description: Linn Klimax LP12 two-speed (33.33 and 45rpm), belt-drive turntable with Karousel Bearing, sprung Keel subchassis, and separate Radikal power supply. Equipped as a package with the Linn Ekos SE tonearm, Ekstatik moving coil cartridge, and built-in Urika RIAA phono stage.
Dimensions: 17.4" (445mm) W × 5.5" (140mm) H × 14" (356mm) D (turntable); 13.8" (350mm) W × 2.3" (60mm) H × 13.9" (355mm) D (Radikal power supply).
Serial number of unit reviewed: 1546559. Manufactured in Scotland.
Price as tested: $30,120. Approximate number of US…

Analog sources: Dr. Feickert Analogue Blackbird turntable with Thomas Schick 10.5" tonearm, My Sonic Lab Ultra Eminent Ex moving coil cartridge, and Sutherland Engineering Little Loco phono stage.
Integrated amplifier: Linear Tube Audio Z10e.
Preamplifier: HoloAudio Serene.
Power amplifiers: Parasound Halo A 21+, Pass Labs XA25.
Loudspeakers: Falcon Acoustics LS3/5a (Gold Badge).
Headphones: Audeze CRBN, HiFiMan Susvara.
Cables: Interconnect: Auditorium 23, AudioQuest Mackenzie and Thunderbird, Black Cat Coppertone, Cardas Iridium…

But now ERC has put out a meticulous mono pressing of Giant Steps, John Coltrane's first auteur masterpiece, so it's a good time to step in and say something about the company in general and this album in particular.

Many eyeballs have popped about this label's eccentricities: its obsession with replicating the…

It's rare to find an album recorded with an audiophile process that's musically compelling. Barry Diament has struck the balance consistently on his Soundkeeper Recordings label. Diament, a former Atlantic Records mastering engineer, has honed his minimal-miked, hi-rez-digital recording technique over the last decade or so. This is his seventh release on the Soundkeeper label. It's a mellow country-bluegrass affair…