Art Dudley

Peachtree iDecco D/A integrated amplifier

Art Dudley Dec 13, 2010

As with so many other things, from cell phones to soy milk, the idea of a portable MP3 player was something I at first disdained, only to later embrace with the fervor of any reformed sinner. But not so the idea of a high-fidelity iPod dock: Given that I now carry around several hundred high-resolution AIFF files on my own Apple iPod Touch, the usefulness of a compatible transport seemed obvious from the start. Look at it this way: In 1970, whenever I bought a music recording, I could enjoy it on any player, in any room in the house. In 2010, why shouldn't I enjoy at least that degree of convenience and flexibilitywithout resorting to a pair of tinny, uncomfortable earbuds?

Art Dudley Listening

Listening #95

Art Dudley Nov 21, 2010

The English public may not like music, but they absolutely love the sound it makes.Sir Thomas Beecham

Just as car magazines are filled with descriptions of how fast their subjects don't go and how surely they don't stop, magazines such as ours are filled with descriptions of how neutrally our subjects don't play tones, and how precisely they don't place images in space.

Phono Cartridge Reviews

Miyajima Shilabe phono cartridge

Art Dudley, Michael Fremer Oct 28, 2010

The unusual Miyajima Shilabe moving-coil cartridge ($2800) came to my attention through a friend, and I obtained one from the importer, Robin Wyatt of Robyatt Audio, a music lover and dedicated audiophile who imports gear as a sideline, and who lives nearby in New Jersey.

Art Dudley Listening Tube Preamp Reviews Audacious Audio

Listening #94

Art Dudley Oct 18, 2010

If you've followed their story here and elsewhere, you probably know that Tokyo's Shindo Laboratory (footnote 1) has a reputation for defying the two most monolithic of all high-end audio commandments.

Art Dudley Listening Stand and Rack Reviews

Listening #93

Art Dudley Sep 23, 2010

One more word for unhappy consumers, in any marketplace, who confuse praise for the new with rebuke for the old: 20 years on, I continue to admire the best qualities of my <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/turntables/1103linn">Linn Sondek LP12</A> turntable (itself not the first LP12 I've owned). I smile to think of all the records I enjoyed during those two decades.

Solid State Power Amp Reviews

Electrocompaniet AW400 monoblock power amplifier

Art Dudley Sep 13, 2010

One of my favorite parental duties is dispensing advice that's calculated to make me sound wiser than I am. Among those pearls: Every so often you should change your point of viewyour <I>philosophies</I>just to see if your opinions can stand the strain. In doing so, you may discover a few things that are better than you expected them to be!

Art Dudley Listening

Listening #92

Art Dudley Aug 15, 2010

Over the years, Stereophile and its writers have been taken to task for doing, thinking, and saying any number of things. We've been raked over the coals for enjoying acoustic music, electric music, old music, new music, light music, serious music, and music God put here as a test, just to see if we're smart enough to hate it. We've been taken to the woodshed for comparing new products to known references; for failing to compare new products with known references; for borrowing known references for the purpose of such comparisons; for taking advantage of professional discounts so that we can buy and keep known references for the purpose of such comparisons; for being out-of-touch naïfs who haven't owned enough gear in our lives to know anything about anything; and for being spoiled, materialistic pigs who have owned so many things that we've lost touch with The Common Man. We've been assaulted for loving analog, dissed for loving digital, tasered for loving tubes, sucker-slapped for loving solid-state, and mauled for loving mono. We've even been impeached, indicted, secretly reassigned to a new diocese, and flown back to Russia without an adult guardian for being overly concerned with current events.

Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

Gradient Helsinki 1.5 loudspeaker

Art Dudley Aug 09, 2010

A clever engineer with an interest in home audio says that the real obstacle to high-fidelity sound is the adverse and unpredictable way in which speakers interact with most domestic rooms. To address that need, he brings to market a loudspeaker that disperses sound in a new and original way. Controversy ensues. Controversy endures.

Art Dudley Listening Tube Preamp Reviews

Listening #91

Art Dudley Jul 19, 2010

At our best, audiophiles are the selfless and generous custodians of a thousand small libraries, keeping alive not only music's greatest recorded moments but the art of listening itself. At our worst, we are self-absorbed, superannuated rich kids, locked in an endless turd-hurl over who has the best toys.

Floor Loudspeaker Reviews Audacious Audio

Wilson Audio Sasha W/P loudspeaker

Art Dudley Jul 19, 2010

Before last year, I had no more than a professional interest in the products of Wilson Audio Specialties. But before last year I hadn't experienced <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/artdudleylistening/listening_86">Wilson's Sophia Series 2</A> loudspeaker ($16,700/pair)which, like the wines I tend to order when my wife and I go out to dinner, is the second-cheapest item on their menu. Within weeks of the Sophias' arrival, respect had turned to rapture, like to love, and an entirely new appreciation for Wilson Audio was mine (footnote 1).