Rob Schryer wrote about the Benchmark DAC3 B in July 2026
In his review of the Benchmark DAC3 B ($1799 when last reviewed, $1899 in 2026) John Atkinson designated it an "audiophile bargain" and added it to Class A+ in Stereophile's Recommended Components list, where it remains today alongside its more extensively outfitted brother, the DAC3 HGC ($2299, when last reviewed, $2399 in 2026),which Jim Austin reviewed earlier, in 2017 (footnote 1).
The DAC part of these components—the B and the HGC—is exactly the same. What's different is the feature set: To borrow from John's…
As Jason Victor Serinus reported just ahead of High End Vienna 2026 earlier this month, some of the expectant exhibitors didn't get the rooms they wanted—or any rooms at all. To be fair, that's not unique to the main Vienna show, as there have often been satellite events adjacent to other big trade shows that endeavor to pick up spill-over exhibitors, and some of those satellite shows are also genuinely preferred by the brands that participate in them.
In Vienna, there were no fewer than three such auxiliary shows, the smallest of which—Xclusive High End Show Vienna 2026—is the…
The July issue is a milestone in Stereophile's history: It's the last issue in which John Atkinson will be performing the measurements for our equipment reviews (footnotes 1 & 2). As a start toward digesting this momentous event, I asked JA1 some questions.
Jim Austin: Over your 50 years as an editor in the hi-fi industry, you've left a big mark. But let's start by recounting your history. You started at Hi-Fi News & Record Review in 1976, working under John Crabbe, then becoming editor of that magazine in 1982.
John Atkinson: I was working as a professional musician when…
Hi-fi listening bars have expanded far beyond Tokyo, which was their Ground Zero. They can be found in cities from Miami to London, from Brooklyn to Berlin. Recently, in Birmingham, Alabama, Bart Stephens opened High Dive, a listening lounge and restaurant that does things a little differently.
High Dive is intended to be a social place, where people can connect as they listen to music, whether it's live or recorded. "We don't want people to come in and be observers of our show. We want them to be at the center of the experience," Stephens told me in a recent interview.
High Dive…
Paul McCartney: The Boys of Dungeon Lane
MPL/Capitol Records 578853 (LP). 2026. McCartney, Andrew Watt, prods. and engs.
Performance ****½
Sonics ****½
When it was announced that Sir Paul McCartney was about to release a nostalgic, autobiographical new album, named after a Liverpool street, outsize hopes sprang anew. The surviving half of the most influential songwriting duo in popular music ever was releasing his 18th solo album. What would The Boys of Dungeon Lane add to that rich story? At the very least, it was hoped, listeners might gain some insight into one of the world…
MonAcoustic, based in Daegu, Republic of Korea, is relatively new to the high-quality loudspeaker market. The company was established in 2020 by chief designer Jun Hyeog Seo and made its debut at the 2022 AXPONA. The company is taking a distinctively modular approach to its product lineup: The PlatiMon VC One MK2 is a two-way standmount ($9500/pair). It can be used independently or coupled with the PlatiMon VC Two ($12,100/pair), which adds two more "ways"—not just in the lows but also the highs (read on). Retailed as a four-way floorstanding stereo loudspeaker, the combination is priced at $…
I can't remember which audio show it was at, but I do recall the circumstances and impression. Shortly after Dynaudio USA introduced the Octave Audio brand to US audiophiles, I caught my first brief listen to Octave equipment in an acoustically handicapped exhibit room. The sound was so flat and uninvolving that I summarily assumed that Octave manufactured mediocre solid state equipment. With that gross error—Octave's founder/ designer/president Andreas Hofmann, 68, greatly favors the sound of tubes over transistors and has, since 1977 (footnote 1), embraced the design philosophy of tubes for…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
MonAcoustic's combination of the PlatiMon VC One MK2 and VC Two is the most complicated loudspeaker system that I have encountered in 37 years of measuring loudspeakers. As well as the VC One MK2, which can be used as a standalone two-way standmount, when it is used with the VC Two subwoofer/supertweeter module, the combinations can be used as a "3.5-way" system or a "four-way" system. The latter has four settings for what MonAcoustic calls the "Harmonic Tweeter" control.
I first performed a complete set of tests on one of the VC Ones, which was labeled "…
Dave Mason, the British guitarist/vocalist who passed away at 79 on April 19, conceded that some of his best-known songs fared better with other people's voices. "I may not be the best interpreter of certain songs of mine," he told me during a phone interview in 2018, during a break from his tour with Steve Cropper (footnote 1). "For example, I feel like Cocker's got the definitive version of 'Feelin' Alright?'"
"Cocker," of course, is Joe Cocker, and "Feelin' Alright?" is the Mason-penned classic first heard on Traffic's self-titled second LP on Island Records (ILPS 9081T), released in…
Lately, hi-fi's technical emphasis has shifted toward time, away from its longtime main focus on the frequency domain. I'm thinking the trend, which I consider a good thing, started years ago with growing awareness it might be better to accept some aliasing in order to avoid the phase distortion resulting from a "brick-wall" reconstruction filter. More recent examples include the approach to D/A conversion taken by CH Precision (footnote 1) and—dare I mention it?—the theory behind MQA (footnote 2). I also encountered the trend once on the analog side; I'm thinking of Haniwa, which makes phono…
