Herb Reichert

The main joy of returning to audio and writing for Stereophile is the pure fanboy excitement of meeting the folk-heroes of high-end and getting to talk them. In one great-sounding room I got to meet three at once: Wendell Diller of Magnepan (one of the nicest humans in the audio schema) as well as Bill Conrad and Lew Johnson of Conrad-Johnson.

Those who’ve read my reviews will already know how much musical pleasure my vintage Creek 4330 integrated amp has given me. On the first day of CES I got to relax and listen to the legendary Mike Creek show and tell about the Evolution 50CD ($1695) which is really a high-end DAC with a built in transport.

It's been 12 years since I attended a CES in Sin City. The porn stars are gone, but the tube amps and turntables are still here. They are trending the same virtual realities as Pono, the new drones, and cars that drive themselves. The temperature back in New York is heading for the teens but in the lobby of the Venetian, I saw a 3-year old working a smart phone like an aging carny works a 3-card Monte on Beale Street—she was wearing some fancy pink headphones and a matching pink Beatles tee shirt. (Did I mention it was 67°F in front of the Venetian today, the lobby of which is pictured above?)

• 1947: General Electric introduces a variable-reluctance phono cartridge with a 0.3mil sapphire stylus and 11mV output.

• 1948: Brook Electronics Inc. (Elizabeth, New Jersey) introduces the 12A audio amplifier and 12A3 preamplifier, beginning the era of high-fidelity audio separates.

Since hi-fi's postwar beginnings, hundreds of high-quality audio inventions for the home have thrilled and satisfied music lovers worldwide. But inevitably, no more than a few score companies, and maybe a dozen or so engineer-designers, have defined audio's most creative and enduring achievements.

It was spring. I was planting kale and cabbage, wearing bib overalls, and listening to Pigboy Crabshaw (aka Elvin Bishop) on my iPhone. My girlfriend, "bb," came out, and just stood there laughing. "What's this? American Gigolo: The Alabama Years?"

Now, please, don't start worrying about your newest Stereophile reviewer. I've owned my share of Julie London and Jennifer Warnes records, but these days I'm more into Hazel Dickens and Maybelle Carter. It's summertime, fish are jumpin', and that dirt-road American music is getting me high.

I have been reading and reading—all about the new Sony loudspeakers. John Atkinson rave-reviewed the Sony SS-AR2 (October 2012) and the SS-NA2ESs (September 2013)! Have I ever heard them? No. Well, finally on the last RMAF day I got to sit up close in a dem hosted by Sony's Motoyuki "Yuki" Sugiura (above) and see if I, too, thought the Sony SS-AR2s ($20,000/pair) were as neutral, lively, well-balanced, detailed, and transparent as JA said. Hmmmmm?

Sometimes now, when I am walking room to room wearing my Stereophile badge, I feel a lot like "Babe in BoyToy Land"—that felt especially true in the DEQX room. I am listening to a pair of Magnepan MG1.7 loudspeakers powered by a Plinius amp (I am friendly and experienced with both of those products and can imagine what they should sound like together in a normal room), together with JL subs below 160Hz. But wait, what I am really experiencing is the result of the DEQX PreMate+ and HDP-5's digital "witches' brew" of loudspeaker/room calibrations and corrections. DEQX's latest preamp/speaker calibration technology linearizes the speaker and system in-room frequency response. And yes, this technology can and did provide the satisfying effects that flat in-room frequency response always provides. Namely, more wholeness, continuity, and increased naturalness of tone.