I've Changed My Mind About Luxury Audio
- Written by: Jeff Fritz
- Category: Opinion
In my multiple articles on luxury audio over the last decade, I’ve missed some things. Today, I come to you a changed man -- or, at least, a somewhat more experienced audio journalist.
Gryphon Audio Designs Essence Stereo Amplifier
- Written by: Jeff Fritz
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
It’s easy for reviewers to digest a company’s products by starting at the bottom of a manufacturer’s line and working their way up to the top models. You’re initiated into what that company can do at a lower price, and hopefully you see and hear more and better as you ascend their price ladder. It seems to make psychological sense to experience a company’s line this way, and it often works out just as you’d hope: the higher the price, the better the qualities of build, appearance, and sound.
Paul Weller: "On Sunset"
- Written by: Joseph Taylor
- Category: Recording of the Month
Polydor 0859857 (LP), 0880405 (CD), 0880406 (CD, Deluxe Edition)
Formats: LP and CD
Musical Performance: ****½
Sound Quality: ****
Overall Enjoyment: ****½
Paul Weller doesn’t enjoy the level of stardom in the US that he does in his native UK, but his Stateside following is strong enough that his records have always been released here. Many of us in North America became fans when Weller fronted the Jam and, after that, the Style Council. We’ve stayed with him during his solo career of almost 30 years because his songwriting skills have never faded -- if anything, they’ve continued to grow -- and his records always surprise and challenge.
Constellation Audio Inspiration Integrated 1.0 Integrated Amplifier
- Written by: Hans Wetzel
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
Few spirited e-mail threads are exchanged among the SoundStage! Network’s editorial staff. With so many articles coming out each month that need eyes on them to ensure that they’re squeaky clean for your reading pleasure, I find myself weighing in only when I spot something amiss, or I see a chance to lob a snarky remark at the infallible Jeff Fritz or the Napoleonic Doug Schneider. Recently, however, an objectivist/subjectivist discussion broke out that prominently featured the topic of “bias.” No matter where you are on that continuum, bias is of course unavoidable, and to suggest otherwise would be ignorant.
The Purchasing of Luxury Audio and the Pursuit of Hi-Fi Are Two Different Hobbies
- Written by: Jeff Fritz
- Category: Opinion
Luxury audio has recently been gaining market share in an industry that was, at its beginning, about the pursuit of the high-fidelity reproduction of sound and music. I’ve seen the shift in more and more product introductions of the past decade -- components costing six figures and systems costing millions abound.
dCS Bartók Digital-to-Analog Converter
- Written by: Hans Wetzel
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
I like to think I was ahead of the curve when, in mid-2009, I bought a Benchmark Media Systems DAC1 USB (discontinued) off a dude on Audiogon. That was in the infancy of high-end computer audio, and the well-regarded Benchmark was one of the first mainstream DACs with a USB input. My previous source had been a cheap Sony CD changer (don’t judge -- I was 23), and the Benchmark DAC offered a big step up in sound quality: that immaculate, analytical sound that digital sources of the aughts all seemed to possess. And at the DAC1 USB’s modest price of $1295 (all prices USD), that kind of sound made it a steal.
Plinius Reference A-150 Stereo/Mono Amplifier
- Written by: Jeff Fritz
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
I’m not a member of the Everything Matters camp. I won’t list here all the things audiophiles do to alter the sound of their systems, but suffice it to say that I don’t spend hour after hour comparing footers or cable elevators in attempts to season the sound of my stereo to suit my palate. But most things, of course, do matter, and that’s where I focus my attention.
Neil Young: "Homegrown"
- Written by: Joseph Taylor
- Category: Recording of the Month
Reprise 093624893639
Format: LP
Musical Performance: ***½
Sound Quality: ****½
Overall Enjoyment: ****
When I imagine the vault that holds all of the recordings Neil Young has ever made, I conjure up a Batcave filled with tape boxes. In the last 14 years or so, Young has released a lot of material from his Neil Young Archives. The eight-CD Neil Young Archives Vol.1, 1963–1972 (2009) mixed previously unreleased rarities with things that had been available for a while. Young has also cut loose a series of live albums from performances over the years, and in 2017 issued Hitchhiker, a solo acoustic studio album recorded on a single evening in 1976. He has also released all-analog vinyl editions of much of his catalog.
EMM Labs DV2 DAC-Preamplifier
- Written by: Aron Garrecht
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
EMM Labs’ DV2 ($30,000 USD) digital-to-analog converter is the product of a three-way collaboration of Ed Meitner, EMM’s founder and chief designer, responsible for the DV2’s overall design, hardware, and layout; Mariusz Pawlicki, who engineered the DSP and firmware; and Kris Holstein, who designed the case and mechanics. The DV2 is based on the circuitry of EMM’s DA2 DAC ($25,000), but partners it with EMM’s VControl -- an all-new, very-high-resolution (50-bit), digital volume controller.
What in Audio Excites Me?
- Written by: Jeff Fritz
- Category: Opinion
Last month I wrote “System Finished: MSB Technology Discrete DAC.” In that article I detailed what went into my selecting this fantastic digital-to-analog converter from California as a permanent part of my audio system. Then I gave a rundown of everything in my new audio rig, which I began assembling in July 2017. As stated in that article’s title, that system is now finished, and I can breathe a sigh of relief.
- Wells Audio Commander Level II Preamplifier
- Steve Earle: "Ghosts of West Virginia"
- Audience frontRow Interconnects, Speaker Cables, and Power Cords
- In Honor of Art: Vertere Acoustics Mystic Moving-Coil Cartridge
- System Finished: MSB Technology Discrete DAC
- McIntosh Laboratory C1100 Preamplifier
- Lee Morgan: "The Rumproller"
- Xavian Electronics Classic Quarta Loudspeakers
- Jeff Chooses Shunyata Research
- Estelon YB Loudspeakers
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