LATEST ADDITIONS

Michael Trei  |  Mar 19, 2024  |  0 comments
Over the last 50 years, I must have installed well over 1000 phono cartridges, but I still remember the very first one: a Goldring G850 I put into the family Garrard Autoslim turntable when I was 11 years old. In 1973, the G850 was the least expensive moving magnet cartridge Goldring made. The change from the flipover-stylus ceramic cartridge that came with the Garrard wasn't an attempt to satisfy a youthful audiophile itch but, rather, a result of my first encounter with a system compatibility problem.

A few months earlier, I had convinced my nonaudiophile dad to upgrade the family stereo. We went from our ancient Monacor SMX-50 tube receiver to a pretty weird but less ancient Sony all-in-one cassette system called the TC-133CS. I failed to understand that the new Sony's magnetic phono input was incompatible with our old ceramic cartridge. Once I figured that out, I tried to convince my dad that what we really needed was a Shure M75ED. After all, that cartridge came from the same company that made the legendary V-15 Type III, widely regarded as the best cartridge in the world at the time. My dad, however, had different plans. Guided by his home-product purchasing bible, Consumer Reports, he decided we should go instead with the less-costly Goldring.

Mark Henninger  |  Mar 15, 2024  |  6 comments
An audio show is born: the inaugural Southwest Audio Fest (SWAF), taking place on March 15-17 in Dallas, Texas, at the Hilton Anatole hotel.
Stereophile Staff  |  Mar 15, 2024  |  3 comments
Every product listed here has been reviewed in Stereophile. Everything on the list, regardless of rating, is genuinely recommendable. Within each category, products are listed by class; within each class, they're in alphabetical order, followed by their price, a review synopsis, and a note indicating the issues in which the review, and any subsequent follow-up reports, appeared.
Kalman Rubinson  |  Mar 14, 2024  |  4 comments
One thing that interested me about the StormAudio ISP Evo is that, despite its obvious hi-fi function, it's more like a computer than a typical "prepro." While it does offer a few "legacy" analog inputs, it is for the most part all-digital, input to output, including network connections on both ends. Consequently, it is less likely to leave sonic fingerprints on the music than devices that convert digital to/from analog or modulate their signals with active amplification or attenuation. It is notable that, despite its audio function, the Storm completely lacks traditional audio specifications—distortion, dynamic range, and so on.

Yes, that aspect of the product was appealing, but the real trigger for me was that when I began this review, the StormAudio ISP Evo was the only consumer device to fully incorporate the latest version of Dirac Live Active Room Treatment (ART).

Stephen Francis Vasta  |  Mar 13, 2024  |  0 comments
Wagner: Famous Opera Scenes
Nikolai Lugansky (piano)
Harmonia Mundi HMM 902393 (CD). Nicolas Bartholomée, prod.; Bartholomée, Ambroise Helmlinger, engs.
Performance ****
Sonics *****

Concert arrangements of operatic themes for piano, like Liszt's famous concert paraphrases, obviously provide an opportunity to display one's virtuosic keyboard technique. As Denis Morrier's program note for Harmonia Mundi indicates, however, transcriptions of Wagner served a second important purpose: spreading awareness of the composer's operas when they only played in a limited number of venues. There was no Spotify or Idagio back then!

Jim Austin  |  Mar 12, 2024  |  16 comments
Recently, I found myself in an email conversation with two colleagues on the nature of reproduced audio. How should we think about it? The conversation was provoked by a "hybrid" (live and online) presentation of the Pacific Northwest section of the Audio Engineering Society called "What Does 'Accurate' Even Mean?" The presenter was James D. "JJ" Johnston, a distinguished researcher in the field of perceptual audio coding and a co-inventor of MP3.

Among many other honors, Johnston was selected to present the Richard Heyser Memorial Lecture at the 2012 AES convention—an honor shared by our own John Atkinson, who had given that lecture the previous year and was one of the participants in this email conversation. The other was Tom Fine—so, it was me and two sound engineers.

Robert Baird, Thomas Conrad  |  Mar 07, 2024  |  0 comments
Rufus Reid: It's the Nights I Like; Frank Sinatra: Sinatra Platinum; Bill Anschell: Improbable Solutions; Nitai Hershkovits: Call on the Old Wise.
Robert Baird, Ray Chelstowski  |  Mar 07, 2024  |  1 comments
John Prine: John Prine; Bob Dylan: The Complete Budokan 1978; Jimi Hendrix Experience: Jimi Hendrix Experience: Hollywood Bowl August 18, 1967; The Johnny Winter Story (The GRT/Janus Recordings).
Jason Victor Serinus, Stephen Francis Vasta  |  Mar 07, 2024  |  5 comments
Stravinsky: Pulcinella Suite & Manuel De Falla: El retablo de maese Pedro; Harpsichord Concerto; Pierre Génisson: Mozart 1791; Tellefsen: Piano Concerti 1–2 & Kalkbrenner: Grande Marche interrompue par un orage et Suivie d'une Polonaise; Mahler: Symphony 8 (Symphony of a Thousand).
Mike Mettler  |  Mar 06, 2024  |  14 comments
Photo By Adam Taylor

Steven Wilson loves changing the minds of spatial audio skeptics. He's the go-to Dolby Atmos and 5.1 mixmaster for many heritage artists, new-wave bands, and alternative acts. Best known for leading the post-prog collective Porcupine Tree, releasing a score of genre-stretching solo albums, and serving as a key creative contributor to such experimental groups as No-Man and Blackfield, Wilson's approach is simple: bring them into his studio and let the music do the talking.

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