To demonstrate that last point at the 2009 Munich High End Show, Leif Johannsen, the MC A90…
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Ortofon's limited-edition MC A90 was the first phono cartridge made with selective laser melting (SLM). Using this technique, metallic powder is fused to build up, layer by layer, a specific shape. SLM allows the creation of complex constructions impossible to fabricate from a block of wood or metal using traditional machining techniques. What's more, it makes possible, in the individual layering, a precise control of variations in density that can result in a highly self-damped internal structure.
Elvis Presley: Sunset Boulevard
RCA/Legacy 19802905512 (5 CDs). 2025. Ernst Mikael Jørgensen, prod.; Matt Ross-Spang, Vic Anesini, engs.
Performance ****
Sonics **½ ****
RCA/Legacy 19802905512 (5 CDs). 2025. Ernst Mikael Jørgensen, prod.; Matt Ross-Spang, Vic Anesini, engs.
Performance ****
Sonics **½ ****
While Ozzy Osbourne's longevity despite a heroic effort at self-destruction was a near miracle, the audible proof of rockstar immortality lies in the seemingly endless trail of posthumous releases of long-dead stars like Jimi Hendrix and Elvis Presley. A barrel that may be nearing its bottom, the Presley RCA archives continue to be explored by the longtime, indefatigable Presley reissue producer Ernst Mikael…
Dave Pietro: Satori
Pietro, alto saxophone; five others
East 15th E15R (CD). Pietro, prod.; Tyler McDiarmid, eng.
Performance ****
Sonics ****½
Pietro, alto saxophone; five others
East 15th E15R (CD). Pietro, prod.; Tyler McDiarmid, eng.
Performance ****
Sonics ****½
Dave Pietro is one of those dead-on reliable artists who are part of the bedrock on which the current jazz art form is built. His arsenal of reed instruments has been essential to the greatest jazz orchestras of our time, including those of Maria Schneider and Ryan Truesdell. He has now made 11 albums as a leader. For the last three, he has stayed loyal to the same core group of world-class collaborators. They include keyboardist…
Brahms: Piano Concerto 2; Three Intermezzi
Francesco Piemontesi, piano; Gewandhausorchester/Manfred Honeck
Pentatone PTC5187461 (CD). 2025. Johannes Kammann, prod. and eng.
Performance ****½
Sonics ****
Francesco Piemontesi, piano; Gewandhausorchester/Manfred Honeck
Pentatone PTC5187461 (CD). 2025. Johannes Kammann, prod. and eng.
Performance ****½
Sonics ****
The opening horn solo steps straightforwardly; the plaintive answering wind chorale picks up. The forte piano scales, brilliant and peremptory, propel the theme into a precipitate but firmly grounded tutti, setting things in motion. But it's a feint: Piemontesi and Honeck bring out the composer's lyrical, autumnal side. It's the quieter passages that linger in the mind's…
In 1979, I was the road drummer for Boston singer-songwriter Andy Pratt, a local celebrity known both for his musical talent—showcased on his 1973 Columbia album Andy Pratt—and for being the great-grandson of Charles Pratt of Pratt Institute and Standard Oil fame. I was part of the touring band for Pratt's Motives album, performing regional hits like "That's When Miracles Occur," a standout track from his 1976 breakthrough, Resolution. Rolling Stone's Stephen Holden considered Resolution revolutionary: "By reviving the dream of rock as an art and then reinventing it, Pratt has forever changed…
Capital Audiofest 2025 opened with a familiar face but an unfamiliar scale. Founded and still owned by Gary Gill, CAF has called the Hilton in Rockville, Maryland, home since 2015; it's the show's third venue. Fifteen years in, after a COVID interruption and steady, year-over-year expansion, Capital Audiofest is now one of the key stops on the US hi-fi show circuit. This year it is as big as ever, consuming the Hilton and spilling over into the hotel across the street. I dropped by on day one to take a look and shoot some videos plus photos.
The night before the show, Stereophile'…
It may look relatively quiet in the lobby of the Radisson Blu Sobieski, one of the three official sites of the Audio Video Warsaw show. But once the 27th edition of three-day show officially opens on Friday, October 24, at noon, the Radisson's lobby will be so packed that show registrants will snake through it, past soon-to-be-packed restaurants, and out the front door.
Soon to be packed hotel restaurants.
Show organizer Adam Mokrzycki, who puts on the show with his wife, Gabriela Mokrzycka and a wonderful team of younger people, believes that Audio Video Warsaw is the…
It was a cold March-in-Brooklyn morning. Clouds had been shedding wintery mix since daybreak. By 9am, birds were flash-mobbing my window, demanding suet. But I was frozen—unable to pull my mind loose from the grave flowings of American composer Ned Rorem's Book of Hours, as performed by Les Connivences Sonores on the album Musikalische Perlen (24/48 FLAC, Ars Produktion/Qobuz). The sounds in my room were sensuous and mesmerizing, and I needed to float in their mysterious energy as long as I could.
I was listening through the most compelling sound system I had assembled since I started…
My first response, upon being offered for review the new Burmester 232 Classic Line modular class-AB dual-mono integrated amplifier ($25,000), was apprehension—but not because of the product itself, and certainly not because of the Burmester brand.
I had already been won over by the pair of Burmester 218 Top Line stereo power amplifiers ($50,000/each) I reviewed in the October 2024 issue. I wrote in my conclusion: "Their sound is so natural and complete that amidst the miracle of music, analytical thoughts inevitably cede to satisfaction, smiles, and wonder. ... Their sound ... was world-…
The review unit arrived complete with optional DAC/streamer module—and the phono module I could not evaluate. As a Roon Ready device that offers multiple connection and playback options, including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth file playback, I tested it multiple ways:
As a pure integrated, with the vastly more expensive Innuos Nazaré server-streamer, the five-piece dCS Varèse music system doing the conversion (footnote 3). This setup enabled me to compare the same music at the same resolution sourced from the Nazaré's internal SSD and Qobuz.
As a pure integrated amplifier using…