Two silly-expensive preamplifiers, from Dan D'Agostino Master Audio Systems and Lamm Industries, are featured in the August Stereophile and both offer sound quality and measured performance that are beyond reproach. Rounding out this issue's amplification theme are a tubed integrated amplifier form Octave Audio in Germany and a high-quality class-D integrated amplifier from the American Rogue company. Contrasting with the preamplifiers, the Rogue is affordably priced, as is a Tascam CD player that John Marks raves about in his "Fifth Element" column and the Musical Fidelity V90-DAC, which gets the full review treatment from John Atkinson.
Add Art Dudley on the intriguing Well Tempered Amadeus LP player, Michael Fremer on the so-wrong-it-might-be-right Rigid Float tonearm from ViV Labs, and Robert Baird on how a jazz club turned itself into a recording studio and the resurgence of the ancient 78 as a DJ tool, with a kick-off essay from new writer Herb Reichert on how an audiophile must define his needs before he chooses his system, and you can see why we feel this issue is a winner!.
