LATEST ADDITIONS

Richard Ashcroft: Lovin' You; Chris Stamey: Anything Is Possible; Pigeons Playing Ping Pong: Feed the Fire; Joseph Kamaru: Heavy Combination 1966–2007.

For a lot of bands, the second album is intimidating. There are numerous examples of sophomore slumps, which sometimes lead to a band's quick end. Talking Heads didn't just avoid a sophomore slump; they scored their first top-40 hit and put their career on solid, sky-is-the-limit footing.

After I reviewed NAD's Masters Series M10 streaming integrated amplifier in January 2020, I bought the review sample to use as my daily driver . . . In 2022, NAD replaced it with a revised version, the M10 V2 . . . I never tried the V2, but when NAD introduced the M10 V3 ($2999) in late 2024, I felt a follow-up review was appropriate.

"The term 'sales' is an anachronism. Today, it's about streaming and ancillary income."—Randall Grass, general manager at Shanachie Entertainment.

There's widespread consensus that Shohei Ohtani's performance in Game 4 of the 2025 National League Championship Series was the greatest in baseball history: at the plate, 3 for 3 with three home runs; on the mound, six innings with 10 strikeouts and only 2 hits allowed. That defines double threat. Almost seven decades earlier, jazz's original triple threat made his first record—Triple Threat—for the King label.

The all-in-one stereo component occupies the same territory as those Italian restaurants that also serve sushi and Texas barbecue. Every instinct says it's a dubious overreach: Few chefs master two or more distinct cuisines. But then you experience that rare eatery that somehow nails the California roll, the carbonara, and the brisket, and you realize that dismissing it on principle could mean missing something that's genuinely excellent.

Like many vinyl obsessives, I've amassed a considerable CD collection—a 10' × 15' wall of them, behind dark blue curtains in my listening room. It is almost as if I was concealing a dirty secret from purist analog snobs, including me.