This Just In
PS Audio Stellar Phono Preamplifier | Review
After arranging to review the PS Audio Stellar phono preamplifier, I realized that the first time and only time I’ve reviewed a PS Audio product was way back in 2008, when [...]
Analog
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By means of introduction to the Rega P10 turntable, let me start by saying that I work as a mastering engineer. For some time, I’ve wanted to upgrade my current turntable, a Rega P3, to address a few issues. While using the turntable to check test cuts (done by myself and others), I realized that the speed-accuracy on my P3 is not great (it runs fast). While wow and flutter is generally low enough so that it won’t interfere with my listening enjoyment, it isn’t good enough for me to [...] -
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Cables & Power
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It takes a brave soul to review high-end audio cables, it seems, even something as worthy as the Raven Audio Soniquil series. Many high-end audio publications no longer review cables—not because there aren’t obvious differences between cable brands, but because no one wants to deal with the fallout, the nasty comments from readers who say there are no differences, the instant challenges to controlled A/B comparisons since no reviewer has ever been able to pass that test–so they say. [...] -
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Components
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In the quirky (to put it kindly) universe of high-end audio, the epithet “Lifestyle Product” is a bit of a put-down — even for an amplifier as imposing as the Pass Labs INT-250. According to the high-end stereotype, a “lifestyle” product is one that combines luxurious, living-room friendly aesthetics and operational simplicity and convenience, but with suspect sound quality. A “lifestyle product” doesn’t sully your living room with graceless industrial [...] -
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Digital
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Before I discuss the McIntosh MCD600 SACD/CD player, I have to tell a story. Just a couple of weeks ago I overhead a conversation between two audiophiles who were discussing the continued role of compact discs in their lives. “I’m very tempted to get rid of my CD collection after I rip everything to a server,” Audiophile #1 said. Audiophile #2 responded, “You know that in a few years CDs will become the same niche market as LPs, and I’ll have to listen to you bitch endlessly about [...] -
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Headphones
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Nothing holds you hostage with the music like a big set of cans. You are isolated, alone, just you and the music. The music gets inside your head in more ways than one. A lifelike sound-stage isn’t usually something I usually associated with headphones, that is until I got myself into a fancy set of Audeze LCD-X headphones. Planar drivers can hold and shape the sound-stage in unprecedented ways. When I first had a run in with Acoustic Research (website) at Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, I laid [...] -
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Loudspeakers
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A date with Volti Several years ago, I received delivery of a pair of deliciously fun loudspeakers, the Volti Audio Rival. Since that happy day, the Rivals have been in heavy rotation in my primary audio system here at chez moi. That’s kind of an odd thing to say, come to think about it, and saying that I have a pair of massive loudspeakers “in rotation” implies that I have many such. Which is pretty much the case. Honestly, I’m not exactly sure how it happened, but it [...] -
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Music
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by Paul Ashby In 2011, Stars of the Lid founder Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie collaborated with Dustin O’Halloran for a project called A Winged Victory for the Sullen. Its debut album was released on the Kranky and Erased Tapes labels. The Undivided Five is A Winged Victory for the Sullen’s second studio album since its 2011 self-titled debut, if you don’t count Atomos, its remarkable 2014 score for the Wayne McGregor dance concept. Which I do. Because of stuff like this. It seems [...] -
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