Stereophile Staff

High-end retailer Esoteric Audio (111 West Monroe Street, Suite 100, Phoenix) has been a fixture on the Arizona audiophile scene for more than 30 years, since it was founded in 1982 by Gary and Pam Hjerpe. Gary and Pam have handed over the reins of Esoteric to a new owner, Andrew Papanikolas, who is holding a Grand Opening Event on Saturday, February 27, from 1–7pm. "Experience hors d'oeuvres, international wine and craft beer tastings, and a return to music the way it was meant to be enjoyed: in the company of friends," says Andrew.

What's your favorite record? It's a simple enough question, but one that dedicated music consumers never tire of asking each other. And so, every year, we ask the distinguished writing staff of this magazine to choose a pair of favorites and tell us a little of what seems so compelling about them. Oddly enough, most writers never choose the same record twice—though one did choose the soundtrack album for Casper three years running! Music in any recorded format is fair game, the only restriction being that it must still be available, if only in the deep, dark recesses of the Internet. Of course, favorites come and go in minds and hearts—speaking of dark recesses—but these are Stereophile's takes on the essential music of the moment. Enjoy!—Robert Baird

Metronome’s CD8 S, which adds digital inputs to the French company’s well-regarded CD player, graces our March issue’s cover. As is often the case these days, we loved the sound but hated the measured performance—madness indeed! Melco’s affordable server and Merging’s expensive network-connected NADAC multichannel D/A processor get our nod of approval, as do class-D amplifiers from Theta, NAD, and Spec, while Herb Reichert finds much to enjoy with Simaudio’s Moon Neo 340i integrated amp. And on the music side of things, Robert Baird praises Acoustic Sounds’ new stereo releases of classic Beach Boys albums and John Atkinson reacts to a recent report that classical music recordings will soon disappear. That would be madness!

High-End retailer AudioVisionSF (1628 California Street, San Francisco, CA 94109) is having what it calls a "Big Free Event!!" Thursday February, 7:30–9:30pm, featuring the Devialet Limited Edition Reference LE900 Original d'Atelier 900Wpc Integrated Amp/DAC/Phonostage. Only 100 of the LE900 were produced worldwide, and the amplifier features a new 900W D-amp, class-A evolution circuit with updated transistors, a new filter board, and an enhanced power supply, The event will also feature YG Acoustics loudspeakers, Clearaudio turntables, and Nordost cables.

An open letter from myself and AudioQuest to the community—to everyone who cherishes the truth, regardless of their opinions about audio and digital cables, regardless of their opinions about AudioQuest.

"The Record Player Reborn" declare the new issue's cover, referring to reviews of LP players from Oracle, Acoustic Signature, and VPI. But digital isn't forgotten, with John Atkinson raving about about Chord's new $599 portable DAC, Larry Greenhill upgrading his Bryston BDP-2 file player with a new soundboard, and Digital Audio Review's John Darkø kicking off the issue with a guest editorial on the boom in personal listening in Japan. And topping it all off is our annual "Records to Die For" listing: 56 albums every audiophile should have in their collection.

Saturday, December 19, from noon –7pm, Sandy Gross, president of GoldenEar Technology, will be at Manhattan high-end audio retailer Stereo Exchange (627 Broadway, New York) demonstrating GoldenEar loudspeakers, including the Triton One, Stereophile's Joint Loudspeaker of 2015, as well as the new SuperSub XXL. Sandy will also be there to answer all your questions, and to talk about the speakers, the design process and his 40+ years in the audio industry.