News

GoldenEar's Sandy Gross to Appear at Electronics Expo, NJ Saturday

Stereophile Staff Feb 24, 2016 First Published: Feb 24, 2016

GoldenEar's president and chief designer, Sandy Gross (above) will be appearing at Electronics Expo (491 US 46 West, Wayne, New Jersey) on Saturday February 27, from 1pm5pm. Sandy will be demonstrating new GoldenEar products, including the Triton Two+ and Triton Three+ tower speakers and the SuperSub XXL, as well as GoldenEar's flagship Triton One.

News

Esoteric Audio's Grand Opening in Arizona, Saturday

Stereophile Staff Feb 23, 2016 First Published: Feb 23, 2016

High-end retailer Esoteric Audio (111 West Monroe Street, Suite 100, Phoenix) has been a fixture on the Arizona audiophile scene for more than 30 years, since it was founded in 1982 by Gary and Pam Hjerpe. Gary and Pam have handed over the reins of Esoteric to a new owner, Andrew Papanikolas, who is holding a Grand Opening Event on Saturday, February 27, from 17pm. "Experience hors d'oeuvres, international wine and craft beer tastings, and a return to music the way it was meant to be enjoyed: in the company of friends," says Andrew.

News

A Classical Bonanza at the 2016 Grammys

Jason Victor Serinus Feb 17, 2016 First Published: Feb 17, 2016

The musical and technical excellence of the 2016 Grammy Award winners makes this a great year for audiophiles. Not only are 28 of the albums / compositions that won awards in multiple categories available for download from HDTracks, virtually all in hi-rez (from 44.1/24 to 192/24), but just as many if not more are available for streaming and download in hi-rez and/or full CD quality from both ClassicsOnlineHD and Tidal.

News

March Madness

Stereophile Staff Feb 13, 2016 First Published: Feb 13, 2016

Metronome’s CD8 S, which adds digital inputs to the French company’s well-regarded CD player, graces our March issue’s cover. As is often the case these days, we loved the sound but hated the measured performancemadness indeed! Melco’s affordable server and Merging’s expensive network-connected NADAC multichannel D/A processor get our nod of approval, as do class-D amplifiers from Theta, NAD, and Spec, while Herb Reichert finds much to enjoy with Simaudio’s Moon Neo 340i integrated amp. And on the music side of things, Robert Baird praises Acoustic Sounds’ new stereo releases of classic Beach Boys albums and John Atkinson reacts to a recent report that classical music recordings will soon disappear. That would be madness!

News

Dealer Events in Chicago and Maryland Saturday

Stereophile Staff Feb 05, 2016 First Published: Feb 05, 2016

Chicagoland dealer Musical Artisans (8335 N. Keeler Avenuem Skokie,) and Maryland dealer JS Audio (4919 St. Elmo Avenue, Bethesda) are both having open houses this weekend: JS Audio presenting Wilson Audio's Peter McGrath playing his 4-channel recordings on a system featuring new components from Wilson, D'Agostino, dCS, and Nordost starting at 5pm, and Musical Artisans presenting the Midwest debut of DeVore Fidelity's new Gibbon X loudspeaker from 6:309:30pm.

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Devialet Event in San Francisco, Thursday

Stereophile Staff Feb 03, 2016 First Published: Feb 03, 2016

High-End retailer AudioVisionSF (1628 California Street, San Francisco, CA 94109) is having what it calls a "Big Free Event!!" Thursday February, 7:309:30pm, featuring the Devialet Limited Edition Reference LE900 Original d'Atelier 900Wpc Integrated Amp/DAC/Phonostage. Only 100 of the LE900 were produced worldwide, and the amplifier features a new 900W D-amp, class-A evolution circuit with updated transistors, a new filter board, and an enhanced power supply, The event will also feature YG Acoustics loudspeakers, Clearaudio turntables, and Nordost cables.

News

Meridian Updates its Products to MQA

Jason Victor Serinus Jan 29, 2016 First Published: Jan 29, 2016

Meridian Audio's hotly anticipated firmware update for its MQA-ready electronics has arrived. Starting February 4, owners of Meridian's Explorer² DAC (above), Prime headphone amplifier, 808v6 Reference CD player, 818v3 Reference Audio Core, Special Edition loudspeakers and 40th Anniversary systems will be able to upgrade their products and hear the full benefits that MQA-encoded files can deliver.

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An Open Letter from Bill Low of AudioQuest

Stereophile Staff Jan 28, 2016 First Published: Jan 28, 2016

An open letter from myself and AudioQuest to the communityto everyone who cherishes the truth, regardless of their opinions about audio and digital cables, regardless of their opinions about AudioQuest.

News

VTL/Wilson/Transparent at Innovative Audio: Selling “Happy”

Jim Austin Jan 25, 2016 First Published: Jan 25, 2016

Photo: Jim Austin

"'Happy' is our primary product," Elliot Fishkin, the proprietor of Innovative Audio, which is entering its 45th year of business, told visitors early Thursday evening, January 21. "We want you to be able to be connected to the music in profound ways." A small crowd was gathered in the lobby outside Innovative's newly renovated showrooms, in an expansive underground space on the east side of Manhattan, to hear amplifiers by VTL, cables by Transparent, and loudspeakers by Wilson Audio.

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Stereophile Special Issue: 10 Years of Records to Die For

Stereophile Staff Jan 19, 2016 First Published: Jan 19, 2016

Available on newsstands and the Stereophile online Shop this week is a special 148-page "Collector's Edition" of Stereophile, in which we have compiled all of the reviews comprising the past 10 years' worth of R2D4some 500 albums selected by 46 writers, organized by musical genre and listed alphabetically. Along with six short essays on recorded music by the magazine's music editor, Robert Baird, there are: 48 pages of Rock reviews, 20 pages of Jazz reviews, 15 pages of Opera & Vocal reviews, 14 pages of Classical Orchestral & Film Score reviews, 9 pages of Chamber Music & Instrumental reviews, and 10 pages of Folk, Blues & World Music reviews.