<I>Stereophile</I>'s John Atkinson teams up with world-renowned recording engineer Tony Faulkner to create a landmark Mozart recording that has just been released simultaneously on hybrid SACD/CD, and LP. In <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/musicrecordings/804k622">Project K622</A>, JA recounts the entire process, noting, "The upbeat is the most magic moment in classical music making."
Pay $350,000 for an amplifier?!?!! Michael Fremer takes a deep breath and plugs in the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/704wavac">Wavac SH-833 monoblock power amplifier</A> in order to hear for himself what he might get if he traded in his house. "When tmh's Jim Ricketts asked me if I wanted to review this eight-box assemblage," says MF, "the first thing I did was laugh at the ludicrousness of the situation. Then I said, 'Why the hell not?'"
XM on a roll: Recent marketing efforts appear to be paying off for XM Satellite Radio. On July 2, the satellite radio startup announced that it had exceeded the 2.1-million subscriber mark during the second quarter. More than 418,000 new subscribers signed up during that period—over twice the number recruited in the same quarter last year. XM-compatible products are appearing at an ever-increasing number of retail outlets, leading some observers to believe that the company may have a fighting chance in the long run.
Would a piece of Krell electronics be the crowning jewel on your equipment rack?
We begin with a January 1993 article from Robert Harley called <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/reference/193jitter">The Jitter Game</A>. RH explains, "Clock jitter is a serious and underestimated source of sonic degradation in digital audio. Only recently has jitter begun to get the attention it deserves, both by high-end designers and audio academics."
Will surround sound rejuvenate the music industry? That's the position many record label execs took when adding the capability to DVD-Audio and SACD years ago. But while they wait for the high-rez formats to catch on, <A HREF="http://www.srslabs.com">SRS Labs</A> has decided to add multichannel audio to the conventional compact disc.
Brian Damkroger listens long and hard to the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/digitalsourcereviews/604primare">Primare D30.2 CD player</A> noting, "Primare is reluctant to provide much technical detail about their designs, preferring to let their products do the talking." So after a little chatting, BD files his report.
TrueSound Lounge: Headphone giant <A HREF="www.sennheiserusa.com">Sennheiser</A> has opened an online music destination, the Sennheiser <A HREF="http://www.truesoundlounge.com">"TrueSound
Lounge</A>", providing web-surfers an entertaining selection of new music from
company-supported emerging artists like Sugarcult and Jody Whitesides. The site also provides "fun, quick-witted web-video shorts from top commercial filmmakers and producers, fruits of the Sennheiser Invitational Film Project," and "concise info on Sennheiser's unequalled selection of personal listening products," according to a recent announcement.
In his review of the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/loudspeakerreviews/604velodyne">Velodyne Digital Drive DD-18 powered subwoofer</A>, Larry Greenhill comments, "When I've tested other 'breakthrough' subwoofers, I've been disappointed. All the convenient fine-tuning in the world won't matter if I end up with the same nasty old room modes and woofer bloat." But as LG discovers, the DD-18 is indeed different.
"No company has done more to vigorously fly the audio <I>tricolor</I> as has Focal-JMlab," declares Paul Bolin, who visits the Focal factory and then reviews the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/loudspeakerreviews/604focal">Focal-JMlab Nova Utopia Be loudspeaker</A>. PB adds, "One thing about the Utopia line has not changed: the exquisite level of finish." But what about the sound?