Stereophile Staff

Register to win a copy of Murray Head's Nigel Lived 2-Disc 45 RPM Set from Intervention Records (retail value $38) we are giving away.

According to the company:

"Murray Head's Nigel Lived is a groundbreaking classic and one of the boldest, most daring and inventive albums of all time. Recorded by the great recording engineer Phill Brown, Nigel Lived is from the golden era of all-analog recording, a sonic and musical masterpiece that every music lover and audiophile simply must have."

[This Sweepstakes is now closed.]

Components listed here have been formally reviewed in Stereophile and have been found to be among the best available in each of four or five quality classes. Whether a component is listed in Class A or Class E, we highly recommend its purchase.

Each listing-in alphabetical order within classes-is followed by a brief description of the product's sonic characteristics and a code indicating the Stereophile Volume and Issue in which that product's report appeared. Thus the May 2017 issue is indicated as "Vol.40 No.5."

Hitting mailboxes, newsstands, and tablets today, the 204-page October Stereophile, offers 36 pages of audio equipment reports and the revised and updated "Recommended Components" listing. Featured on the cover is VPI's Prime Scout record player, reviewed by Art Dudley, who also offers auditions of speakers from Burwell and Wharfedale. Herb Reichert reviews the AMG Giro turntable, John Atkinson report on his time with KEF's Reference 5 loudspeaker, Robert Deutsch lives with PS Audio's Memory Player, and there are reviews of amplifiers from Dan D'Agostino, Rega, and Linear Tube Audio.

Featuring Mytek's MQA-equipped Manhattan II D/A preamplifier-headphone amplifier on its cover, our new issue—132 pages of awesome—is jam-packed with good stuff. There are reviews of Ayre's QX-5 Twenty "digital hub," Kii's ground-breaking, DSP-optimized active speaker, amplifiers from Bel Canto and Octave, and preamplifiers from Shindo and Sutherland. Jim Austin interviews Pass Labs' onlie begetter, veteran engineer Nelson Pass. Robert Baird surveys audiophile-quality reissues of horror-film soundtracks. Mikey Fremer visits revitalized SME in the UK. And kicking it all off, Art Dudley condemns CD player manufacturers who neglect their customers in the long term.

With Quad's reworking of Peter Walker's "Wonder," the full-range ESL-2912 electrostatic, featured on its cover. Inside you'll find John Atkinson on Rockport's Avior II loudspeaker; Herb Reichert on an affordable amplifier from Emotiva and cost-no-object headphones from Abyss; Art Dudley on a Bryston's CD player; Michael Fremer on Brinkmann's MQA-capable Nyquist DAC and Ortofon's Windfeld Ti cartridge; and Jim Austin on PS Audio's ultimate monoblock.

Thursday evening, June 22, 5–9pm, F1 Audio (311 E Dundee Road, Palatine, IL 60074) is holding an event featuring Evolution series loudspeakers and electronics from TAD Labs and Isotek power conditioners. Attendees will also be able to audition rare, out-of-print Mobile Fidelity albums and test pressings from MoFi's UltraDisc One-Step series and take a test drive in the new Porsche 718 Boxster S and Macan Turbo, courtesy of The Porsche Exchange of Highland Park.

Zesto's Téssara tube phono preamplifier takes pride of place on the July Stereophile's cover, to accompany Mikey Fremer's review inside. Add to that Jason Victor Serinus on the expensive Audionet Max monoblocks from Germany, John Atkinson on an affordable DAC from Arcam, Larry Greenhill on the awesome No.536 monoblock from the revitalized Mark Levinson company, Art Dudley on the Lamm L.21 preamplifier and the Serbian Soulines Kubrick DCX turntable, and Herb Reichert on turntables from Analogueworks and Palmer, and you'll see why we think this issue is rad! (JA's daughter says "Don't say that, Daddy.")