LATEST ADDITIONS

CD Player/Transport Reviews Integrated Amp Reviews

AVM Evolution C9 CD receiver

Art Dudley Feb 06, 2013

In a perfect world, all a serious record lover would need to enjoy music at home would be a single source component, one or two loudspeakers, and one good integrated amplifier. Speaker wire would be given by the dealer, free of charge, to any shopper who spent x number of dollars on new gear. Cable risers would come in cereal boxes.

Art Dudley Listening Tonearm Reviews

Listening #122

Art Dudley Feb 06, 2013

Sad though they may be, Flat Earthers endure in getting two things right: In any music-playback system, the source is of primary importance; and in a music system in which LPs are the preferred medium, the pickup arm is of less importance than the motor unitbut of greater importance than just about everything else.

Ariel Bitran

FujiFilm Develops Ultra-Thin Electroacoustic Film

Ariel Bitran Feb 06, 2013

Woah.

Solid State Power Amp Reviews Audacious Audio

Dan D'Agostino Momentum monoblock power amplifier

Michael Fremer Feb 04, 2013

What better way to celebrate the expiration of a noncompetition clause than to debut a product that has no competition? That's what Dan D'Agostino appears to have done with his Momentum monoblock amplifier ($55,000/pair)his first new product since leaving Krell, the company he cofounded more than 30 years ago.

Miscellaneous

BSG qøl Signal Completion Stage

John Atkinson Feb 04, 2013

I walked into BSG's room at the Newport Beach Show in June 2012 unsure of what I was going to hear. I was well aware of this new company's qøl Signal Completion Stage ($3995), but didn't know if it was a genuine step forward in audio reproduction, or just another example of the hokum found on the fringes of our hobby. I took my listening seat, and BSG's CEO Larry Kay, cofounder and erstwhile publisher of Fi magazine, performed A/B comparisons with the qøl's processing in and out of circuit.

Headphone Reviews InnerFidelity

Focal Spirit One

Tyll Hertsens Feb 02, 2013

This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

The bad news is that there's been a bit of a manufacturing glitch with Focal's introduction of their first headphone: The Spirit One. The good news is they've stepped up to the plate and fixed it, and the cans perform quite nicely.

Wanna hear the whole story?

News Ariel Bitran

Sony Ends Production on all MiniDisc Players

Ariel Bitran Feb 01, 2013

Today, Sony announced an end to production on all MiniDisc players. In a few years, MiniDisc production will cease as well. I know what you're asking yourself: "They still make those things?". But the MiniDisc was cool, if slightly deficient, and like many extinct formats, to some music lovers, it meant a lot.

Sweepstakes

Audience aR2p Adept Response Power Conditioner Sweepstakes

Jon Iverson Feb 01, 2013

"The Audience Adept Response aR2p power conditioner is designed to elevate the performance of your audio system and provide superior power protection. It’s ideal for single-component applications like monoblock amplifiers, receivers, video projectors and video displays and plugs directly into a power outlet with no separate power cord required. The aR2p is hand-built with premium-quality high-current components throughout."

[This Sweepstakes is now closed.]

News Ariel Bitran

Innovative Audio Presents the Lamm LP1 Signature Phono Preamp

Ariel Bitran Jan 31, 2013

Vladmir Lamm flips the record. The LP1 is on the top of the shelf to his left.

On Wednesday January 29th, 2013, Innovative Audio Video Showrooms hosted the NYC premier of the Lamm LP1 Signature phono preamplifier ($32,790).

As We See It

Music? Or Sound?

Jason Victor Serinus Jan 30, 2013

The demo seemed simple enough. A distributor proposed a session for the Bay Area Audiophile Society (BAAS) that would pit his relatively low-cost speaker cable against an ultra-expensive competing model named for a Norse god. We would listen to the music first with the high-priced spread, then with his cable, then discuss the differences. As far as the distributor was concerned, everyone would hear that the Nordic Emperor had no clothes.