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Other than for archiving and iPod use, is there any good reason to digitize vinyl playback? Pure Vinyl's Rob Robinson thinks so. His software offers RIAA and dozens of digital-domain equalization curves that he claims are inherently superior to any analog-domain filtering. Once recorded "flat," the high-resolution files can be conveniently played back using any curve (even, sometimes, the correct one!).

Yes, there are almost daily program updates, and viruses, corruption, program crashes, and hard-drive failures can wipe out your entire music collection…

As if that wasn't enough stability, consider that the company's first commercial product, the Sondek LP12 turntable, has continued through many iterations to the present day. It is so well known in hi-fi that people simply call it…

Digital playback is simpler than vinyl if your goal is to play music from a single source, like a streaming service. However, most audiophiles have local sources, too, often more than one (local files, NAS, ...) and often more…

In 1938, American composer Roy Harris wrote a composition he called American Symphony, for trombonist Tommy Dorsey and his band. Jim Pugh, also a trombonist, made it his business to locate the work. He found it, or part of it, at the Library of Congress, and recorded two movements at a 1995 session engineered by longtime friend Jim Anderson. An all-star group of New…

To say that these two musicians are at the top of the current jazz world is an understatement. In the important jazz critics' polls, Ambrose Akinmusire is consistently No.1 trumpet and Mary Halvorson is No.1 guitar. Their first album together is a singular, challenging listening experience. The first track, "Prelude in the Ash," is…

Earlier this year, I wrote two articles on record cleaning, in particular the ultrasonic kind (footnote 1). Some of the ideas I expressed were good and correct, like the choice of surfactant (Tergitol 15-S-9). Others, like the amount of Tergitol to use, were less well-considered. I put too…

Margaret Glaspy is a Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter with a spare style and skill on acoustic guitar. I'd never heard of her before discovering this remarkable album on Qobuz.

I say "discovering," but it didn't require a deep dive; this was one of a small handful of albums Qobuz chose to feature with its August 7 releases. If the other streaming services feature it as prominently, it…

The Sharp Notes is owned by Evan Toth. It carries new and pre-owned vinyl as well as CDs, a curated selection of books, a few T-shirts, and a small selection of audio equipment: a couple of turntables from Audio-Technica, including the Bluetooth-equipped AT-LP70XBT (the…

Mack Avenue/Two Lions is a small, specialized imprint that puts out previously unreleased recordings from the Oscar Peterson estate. The label's most ambitious project to date is World Tour, available in six-LP and four-CD sets containing over four hours of music. The title is metaphorical. The collection draws upon…

Fig.27 Jitter Spectrum, Bitwise System Zero processing 1kHz sinewave at 0dBFS (linear frequency scale, 0dB = 226.8ns).…