Jim Austin

Think Pieces

Living with the Lamms

Jim Austin Dec 06, 2016

Although I've never tried one, I think "lifestyle" audio systems are a bit of a joke. My in-laws' decade-old Bose Wave Radio sounds good for what it is, although its obvious flawsboomy, undefined lower mids masquerading as bass, a frustrating lack of sonic and musical resolution, etc.become grating fairly quickly. These days, there are far more accomplished and expensive lifestyle systems out there, but because I haven't tried them I won't comment on them, except to say that I'm not really interested.

NY Audio Show 2016

NYAS 2016: Day One with Jim Austin

Jim Austin Nov 06, 2016

The room was small, approximately square, with low ceilings, andlike all the rooms I visited at the showvery yellow

News

MQA and Warner: the Real Scoop

Jim Austin Oct 29, 2016

Photo: Jason Victor Serinus

Exactly what did Bob Stuart (above) say at that press event earlier this month at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest (RMAF)? StuartCEO of the company MQA, short for Master Quality Authenticatedmade an announcement about the Warner Music Group's (WMG's) transcoding of their catalog into MQA format, a project announced last May. But what exactly did he say?

Eager for answers, I arranged a conference call. Over the course of about half an hour, Stuart (with an occasional assist from Lisa Sullivan, MQA's Director of Marketing) answered all my questions and more.

Digital Processor Reviews

Mytek HiFi Brooklyn D/A processor–headphone amplifier

Jim Austin Oct 28, 2016

When I moved to New York City about a year ago, I was prepared to dislike Brooklyn. Judging it by its reputation as the apotheosis of cool, I envisioned the borough full of good-looking people engaged in pointless acts of mindless, stylish conformity, from man-buns to single-origin pour-over coffee. (Anyone up for adult kickball?) As I've written before, about Portland, Mainea hipster place much indebted to BrooklynI greatly prefer deeply committed idiosyncrasy to mindless conformity.

Interviews MQA

Spencer Chrislu: Master Quality Authenticated

Jim Austin Aug 16, 2016

Most people who have heard music recordings encoded with Master Quality Authenticated agree that it sounds really goood (footnote 1)but even they recognize that at least one major challenge remains: ensuring that listeners can actually get, in MQA format, the music they most love. I spoke with Spencer Chrislu, MQA's director of content services, about the company's efforts to meet this challenge.

Powerline Accessory Reviews

PS Audio PerfectWave P10 Power Plant AC Regenerator

Jim Austin Jun 21, 2016

Stereophile hasn't reviewed a PS Audio power regenerator since February 2009, when Robert Deutsch tried the company's then-flagship, the Power Plant Premier ($2195). But earlier this year, as I prepared to write my review of PS Audio's NuWave DSD DAC (published in the May 2016 issue), a perfect opportunity to revisit the line came about: I read, in the owner's manual for the PSA DAC, that "power conditioners and the quality of the AC power can make a significant difference in sound quality." Eager to help the NuWave DSD put its best foot forward, I asked PS Audio to assist me in dealing with my AC power, which is marginal here in crowded New York City. They sent me their PerfectWave P10 Power Plant AC Regenerator ($4999)and John Atkinson asked me to spill some ink on this most recent of the company's clean-power flagships.

Budget Component Reviews Digital Processor Reviews Headphone Reviews

Meridian Explorer2 D/A headphone amplifier

Jim Austin May 19, 2016

I was lying on a mattress on the floor of an empty apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Not as grim as it soundsit's a nice apartment, and the mattress was new, and had just been deliveredbut it was hot (no air-conditioning), and my family and my furniture were still in my condo up in Maine, and I was lonely. I needed some cheering up. Which is how I rationalized the decision to buy an Explorer², Meridian Audio's tiny, inexpensive ($299) digital-to-analog converter.

Digital Processor Reviews

PS Audio NuWave DSD D/A processor

Jim Austin Apr 28, 2016

Researchers at MIT recently discovered a "music channel" in the human brain. These neural pathways respond to all kinds of musicand only to music. "A listener may relish the sampled genre or revile it," Natalie Angier wrote in the New York Times. "No matter. When a musical passage is played, a distinct set of neurons tucked inside a furrow of a listener's auditory cortex will fire in response"

News

VTL/Wilson/Transparent at Innovative Audio: Selling “Happy”

Jim Austin Jan 25, 2016

Photo: Jim Austin

"'Happy' is our primary product," Elliot Fishkin, the proprietor of Innovative Audio, which is entering its 45th year of business, told visitors early Thursday evening, January 21. "We want you to be able to be connected to the music in profound ways." A small crowd was gathered in the lobby outside Innovative's newly renovated showrooms, in an expansive underground space on the east side of Manhattan, to hear amplifiers by VTL, cables by Transparent, and loudspeakers by Wilson Audio.

News

DeVore Launches Gibbon X Speaker at In Living Stereo

Jim Austin Dec 12, 2015

On Thursday December 3, In Living Stereo, the high-end audio store in Manhattan's East Village, hosted a party to celebrate the arrival of the Gibbon X, a new floorstanding, three-way loudspeaker from Brooklyn-based DeVore Fidelity.