Digital sources: Custom Intel/Win11 and Mac mini M4 music servers running JRiver Media Center v35 and Roon 2, Merging Devices Hapi II DAC. QNAP TVS-873 NAS. Oppo Digital UDP-103 universal disc player. Marantz AV8802A pre/pro.
Power amplifiers: Three Benchmark AHB2.
Loudspeakers: Three KEF Blade 2 Meta (L/C/R) with IsoAcoustics GAIA II NEO feet. KEF LS60W (SL/SR). Two KEF K92 and one SVS SB-2000 Pro subwoofers.
Cables: Digital interconnects: Mogami Gold AES TD DB25-XLR0 snake, AudioQuest Carbon HDMI. Analog interconnects: Mogami Gold AES TD DB25-…
search
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
The Long List
The musical bounty of 1975 necessitated hard choices. The 15 above were judged most essential. But there are certainly more that merit consideration. What follows is a list of well-deserved contenders from the same year that some would also deem classic, depending on their taste.
Steely Dan: Katy Lied; Little Feat: The Last Record Album; Led Zeppelin: Physical Graffiti; Bob Dylan and The Band: The Basement Tapes; Donald Byrd: Places and Spaces; Archie Shepp: There's Trumpet in My Soul; Louis Jordan: The Best of Louis Jordan; Tom Waits: Nighthawks at the…
Victor Kung of VK Music in Canada offers Japanese-made tube amplifier kits that cater to DIY enthusiasts. The amps that VK Music distributes are also available fully assembled—but where’s the fun in that?
At the Florida International Audio Expo, Kung showcased his gear with a VPI turntable and Stenheim speakers. In Chicago, he exhibited solo, but his static display still stood out. VK Music’s products at AXPONA included the Elekit TU-8800 monoblocks (kit $2750/pair, assembled $4500/pair).
Also shown were components from Sunvalley, another Japanese manufacturer VK Music…
At barely 19 years old, Lucca Chesky continues to shake up the hi-fi world. Dubbed "The Fresh Prince of Hi-Fi" by Stereophile’s Rogier van Bakel, Chesky is a student at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University. That hasn’t blunted his hi-fi flame.
Following the success of his LC1 loudspeaker, Chesky’s has launched LC2 Reference Monitor ($997/ea.), which resembles the LC1 but expands its dimensions and onboard components. Each LC2 employs one "dual-chamber, aperiodic low-distortion” tweeter, one "high-definition cast-basket bass/midrange driver," and "dual inertially balanced,…
Frank Sinatra: In the Wee Small Hours
Capitol Records/Blue Note W581 (LP). 2025. Voyle Gilmore, Joe Harley, prods.; John Palladino, Kevin Gray, engs.
Performance *****
Sonics *****
Capitol Records/Blue Note W581 (LP). 2025. Voyle Gilmore, Joe Harley, prods.; John Palladino, Kevin Gray, engs.
Performance *****
Sonics *****
Francis Albert Sinatra's milestone album In the Wee Small Hours was recorded and released in 1955 by Capitol Records. Now, in 2025, this never-out-of-print record has been remastered by Blue Note Records as part of their Tone Poet audiophile vinyl series. November 14 marks the 70th anniversary of the album's release on 12" LP.
The new Tone Poet vinyl edition is produced by Joe Harley and was…
Dedicated readers know that lately in this space I've been on something of an analog kick. Two months ago, in the October issue, I wrote about refurbishing and modding my old McIntosh FM tuner. Last month's column was on the much-discussed but little-understood topic of the skating force on a phono cartridge stylus.
This month, I am writing about what could be the ultimate analog topic circa 2025: A prominent vinyl-only record club is going totally offline. Is it a marketing gimmick? Sure it is, but read on.
I am a former Vinyl Me, Please (VMP) member. In the spring, my membership…
Stereophile's Product of the Year Awards were first published in 1992 (footnote 1). I decided at that time that, in contrast to other publications' awards schemes, we would keep the number of categories to a minimum. That way, we would avoid what the late Art Dudley once described as the "every child in the class gets a prize" syndrome. This decision led to some interesting contests. In Loudspeakers, for example, high-value minimonitors would compete with cost-no-object floorstanders. In Analog Products, turntables would compete with tonearms, phono cartridges, and phono preamplifiers. And in…
Alma Music and Audio of San Diego, California, and Sterling, Virginia, showed two well-appointed systems at CAF including several US debuts.
In room 849, the US debut was the Luphonic H2 turntable ($4995), which was running a Hana ML cartridge ($1200). The Hana was helped by an SPL Phonos phono stage ($2500). On the digital source side was an XACT S1 EVO music server ($18,500).
Further downstream were an SPL Director Mk2 preamp with DAC ($4700) and an SPL Performer s900 stereo amplifier ($5500), the s900 powered another US debut, the gorgeous Basel Acoustics Concept…
Mark Sossa of Well Pleased AV always puts together solid, good-sounding rooms, often featuring Merason DACs and Qln loudspeakers. At this show Sossa's system, fortified by Alma Music & Audio, reached new levels of transparency, quiet, and soundstaging, wowing and entrancing me.
Sossa presented the US debuts of the Merason DAC2 ($12,500) and Qln Prestige 3 G2 loudspeakers ($12,500/pair). Also in the system was an XACT S1 EVO Music Server ($18,600), an Audio Hungary Qualiton 300B Integrated Amplifier ($11,000), and a GigaWatt PC-4 power conditioner ($16,000). Cables from Kubala-Sosna…
The preshow buzz was palpable. Is Altec Lansing really back? With a new planar loudspeaker?
The "equipment list from source to ear" did exactly that, laying out the system in detail: Infigo Audio IS-1 Octacore Cryogen ($7000) and Altec Lansing Simbolo ($7000) streamers; an Infigo Audio Method 4 DAC ($35,000); an Infigo Audio Method 7 preamplifier ($20,000); and Infigo Audio Method 3 monoblock amps ($55,000/pair). Those amplifiers drove the new Altec Lansing speakers, called Ribbonacci Reference ($89,000/pair). These were assisted by two Altec Lansing Ripole Subwoofers with 1000W DSP…