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Down in the weeds, evaluating the many needles
And now we move into a nerdy region of phonography: comparing styli and cantilevers. Leaving out the wide-groove conical option, a Vessel buyer has eight options for playing LPs. One thing that sets the Vessel system apart is that you can get the same stylus with different cantilevers or the same cantilever with different styli. In contrast, Ortofon's 2M Black LVB 250 has the same Shibata stylus as the regular 2M Black, with a boron cantilever instead of aluminum. The rest of the 2M line and all of the Audio-Technica VM95 cantilevers are…

Triple albums are the embodiment of self-indulgence. Rarely do they justify their length. Yet with Twilight Override, Jeff Tweedy, the creative force behind Wilco since 1994, has scored an unlikely triumph: A triple album that doesn't just hang together but is truly a craggy masterpiece of sorts.

Fans of Tweedy's gift for alternately imagistic or direct wordplay and his seemingly…

Nicole Glover plays in major bands like Artemis and Christian McBride's Ursa Major. She is an outstanding talent of the new jazz generation. Drummer Kenny Washington has called her "the best tenor saxophonist to come along in a long, long time."

Memories, Dreams, Reflections is a 21st century example of an…

Description: Moving magnet phono cartridge system with multiple stylus and cantilever options. Specifications for A3SS version, Shibata stylus on aluminum cantilever. Frequency range: 20Hz–30kHz. Output voltage @ 1kHz: 2.5mV. Channel balance @ 1kHz: <1.0dB. Channel separation @ 1kHz: 23dB. Dynamic compliance (100Hz): 10 × 10–6cm/dyne. Tracking ability at 2.0gm: 70µm. Stylus tip radius: 4.064 × 71.12µm. Recommended tracking force: 2.0gm. Internal impedance @ 1kHz: 670 ohms. Internal inductance: 270mH. Recommended load resistance: 47k ohms. Recommended load…

Owned by longtime industry figure Angie Lisi, American Sound of Canada has, since its founding in 1990, been a purveyor of some of the finest audio gear in the biz.

According to the written invitation, the event's main purpose was to celebrate the launch of a new showroom. But when I spoke with Angie ahead of my visit, she explained, in her…

I do not believe in chance or coincidence. Instead, I put my faith in the divine nature of Luck.

When I talk about standing on the right corner at the right time wearing the right hat when the limo pulls up, I am explaining one of the ways I prepare to experience the providential. When the doors to my mind are open, adventure always enters.

Last week, a black sedan pulled up by the curb in front of my building. I recognized the driver, Richard Cirulnick, because an old audio-world buddy named Al Rhodes introduced me to him at the New York Audio…

Streaming is revolutionary, but there's one aspect that bugs me. Whenever new content…

A common theme in this space in Stereophile is the need to reach new audiences and generate broader interest in the hi-fi hobby. At a time when traditional hi-fi buyers are becoming scarcer—as older generations pass on—the need becomes more critical to the industry's survival.

Recently, two industry stalwarts—who both happen to be named Walter—have come together to form "an audio distribution and marketing superpower," their first press release said. The Walters are bringing their skills and experience together…

Pur ti miro presents a certifiably off-the-beaten-track crosscultural instrumental exploration that may strike some audiophiles as a bit weird, at least at first. Yet once you transcend tried-and-true expectations and allow what you hear to (in words immortalized by Grace Slick) "feed your head," you will likely find the timbral contrasts, colors, and expressive power…

There's a scene in the 2002 movie The Pianist in which Adrien Brody's character, the Polish-Jewish pianist Władysław Szpilman, is hiding in the ruins of a Warsaw villa. The Nazi officer who discovers him asks what he did before the war. "I was a pianist," Szpilman stammers. The German points to a battered grand piano and orders him to play something. Szpilman hesitates, sits, lifts his trembling hands, and begins Chopin's Ballade No.1 in G minor.

He plays because it's what's left; not to beg, not to resist, but to hold onto the one thing that still…