"The band always wore its heart on its sleeve, very democratic. It was not a lead singer with a band. It was not two guys who controlled the band. [Drummer] Bill Berry was huge. And we had to figure out how to anchor everything around [Mike] Mills's more melodic and contrapuntal kind of bass playing," Dixon…
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Over the past 40 years, R.E.M.'s 1983 full-length debut, Murmur, has come to seem ever more timeless. "There's something very special about that record that you can't put into words exactly," mused Don Dixon, who coproduced Murmur and its follow-up, Reckoning, in a recent interview.
Ola Björling speaks with Silent Pound's Audrius Balciunas at High End Vienna 2026 about the company's Bloom speakers, as well as what their plans are for a potential new speaker coming in the fall, in a video interview that's now posted on our official YouTube channel.
Ola's review of the Bloom speakers is coming soon to Stereophile.
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Hard rock in the 1970s was mostly a game for dudes. Although Janis Joplin and Grace Slick had broken through in the 1960s with major rock hits, Coven lead singer Jinx Dawson had gained some notoriety, and Fanny (one of the first all-female rock bands) had some success, the rock charts were male dominated.
That's not surprising, given the aggressive, testosterone-driven nature of the music. But there were plenty of female rock fans, and what teenage male doesn't appreciate a pretty woman belting out a solid rocker? The stage was set for women to kick open the door and make some chart-…
Last year, I reported on Stax's glamorous new SR-007S electrostatic earspeakers ($2390) in conjunction with the Stax SRM-700S driver amplifier. This report was extra fun because I was just finishing up a long romantic affair with a loaner pair of vintage Stax SR-Omegas about which, in his 1995 Stereophile review, Tom Norton declared: "If you want the truth, however—at least as honestly as I've heard it in any headphones—you want the Stax SR-Omegas." I declared the new version to be the most gloriously lifelike transducer since the Quad 57 and Stax's own F81 floorspeakers.
My taste in…
A lot of us are vulnerable to marketing and hype, especially when we are young and impressionable. As a young kid, I was convinced that Sea Monkeys for a dollar from the back of a comic book would bring me a bowlful of happiness, until my Uncle Jim convinced me that not all was what it seemed.
Uncle Jim was my dad's lifelong best friend, the closest thing to an Ernest Hemingway type I ever knew (footnote 1). Jim flew helicopters for the US Navy in Antarctica and had double the flying hours of any other pilot on that continent. He was the pilot during two fatal accidents caused by engine…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured a different sample of the PREi from that auditioned by Jason Victor Serinus; mine had the serial number PRO37. I used my Audio Precision SYS2722 system to perform a complete set of tests using both the PREi's balanced and unbalanced inputs and outputs.
The PREi preserved absolute polarity (ie, was noninverting) with all the inputs and outputs. (The preamplifier's balanced XLR jacks are wired with pin 2 hot, the AES convention.) The volume control operated in accurate 0.5dB steps, and with this control set to the maximum of "+6dB," the gain was 5.…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital sources: dCS Varèse six-piece music system with CD/SACD transport; Innuos Nazaré Music Server and PhoenixNET network switch; Small Green Computer Sonore opticalModule Deluxe (2); Broadcom/Avago AFBR-5718PZ 1GB SX-SFP, Gen 5 Fiber Optic modules (2); Nordost QSource linear power supply (2); Sonore Audiophile Linear Power Supply; Synology 5-bay 1019+ NAS with Ferrum Hypsos linear/switching hybrid power supply; ASUS AX6000 and RT-AX88U Pro mesh routers and Netgear Nighthawk modem; Apple 2023 iPad Pro and 2025 MacBook Air.
Power amplifiers: Dan D'…
In Part 2 of a two-part interview series, Ola Björling speaks with Guido Tent of Grimm Audio at High End Vienna 2026 about his company's PA1 monoblock power amplifier in a video interview that's now posted on our official YouTube channel.
For Part 1 of this interview series (which features Eelco Grimm), go here.
For more on Grimm Audio, see Eelco Grimm's interview with Rogier van Bakel.
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In Part 1 of a two-part interview series, Ola Björling speaks with Eelco Grimm of Grimm Audio at High End Vienna 2026 about his company's upcoming LS2 loudspeakers in a video interview that's now posted on our official YouTube channel.
For Part 2 of this interview series (which features Guido Tent), go here.
For more with Eelco Grimm, see his interview with Rogier van Bakel.
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Ola Björling speaks with Kenzo Horiuchi of Boulder at High End Vienna 2026 about his company's new 800 series amplifiers, which include the 808 phono preamplifier and 851 monoblock power amplifier, in a video interview that's now posted on our official YouTube channel.
For more on Boulder, see Jason Victor Serinus's review of the Boulder 1151 monoblock power amplifier.
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