X-quisite Voro Moving-Coil Phono Cartridge
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
This wasn’t how a review process normally starts. I’d just received the Thales TTT-Compact II turntable for review and was rolling up my sleeves to dig right into this fascinating product. According to Wynn Wong, the Canadian distributor, the Thales ships to the dealer, and thus the customer, as a ready-to-go package, complete with their Simplicity II tonearm and—this is what threw me—the X-quisite Voro cartridge.
Musical Fidelity M8xTT Turntable
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
I have a sweet tooth when it comes to turntables, but I’m not stuck on one type of confection. I’m an equal-opportunity fetishist. I love turntables made from solid steel, real wood, MDF painted to look like wood. Piano lacquer, matte paint, or—gasp—clear acrylic.
Bounce with Counce and Mat Matters
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: For the Record
Curtis Counce, and that album cover!
I’ve always loved You Get More Bounce with Curtis Counce! by the Curtis Counce Group. It’s a delightfully easy, loping album, full of smooth, juicy lyricism, almost totally absent of the paid-by-the-note speed-bop that often leaves me feeling cold. But it’s not so laid-back that it’s going in reverse. Rather, it’s a midway blend of West Coast chardonnay and Chicago barrel whiskey. There’s some wonderful soloing going on here—Miles meets Ben Webster without the drug addictions. The arrival of the Craft Recordings reissue of this criminally underappreciated album really sent me down a rabbit hole.
The Hardest-Rocking Album Ever—“Van Halen” on Vinyl
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: Opinion
Van Halen’s first album is the greatest debut record of all time. Some may well not agree with this.
Naim Audio NAC 332 Preamplifier and NPX 300 Power Supply
- Written by: Jonathan Gorse
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
Technology and design
The Naim NAC 332 is the second component in the new Naim 300 range to be reviewed on SoundStage! Ultra. The 300 series is only the fourth generation of Naim amplification to be launched since the firm’s inception in 1973. Priced at $10,999 (all prices in USD), the NAC 332 preamp sits in the middle of Naim’s hi-fi separates series, above the new 200-series NSC 222 streaming preamplifier ($8999) and below the existing NAC 552 preamplifier ($32,000), which will continue in production unchanged, save for switching to white front-panel illumination. In effect, the NAC 332 replaces both the discontinued NAC 282 and NAC 252 preamplifiers with a single unit. It’s all part of a simplification strategy that’s admirable, not least because the NAC 332 is priced only slightly above the NAC 282 (currently retailing at $8599) and below the recently discontinued NAC 252 ($12,599).
The Grateful Dead: “Terrapin Station”
- Written by: Joseph Taylor
- Category: Recording of the Month
Rhino Records R1 516251 / 603497830824
Format: LP
Musical Performance: ***½
Sound Quality: ****
Overall Enjoyment: ****
The consensus among fans and critics is that Grateful Dead was primarily a live band, and its studio recordings were rarely good examples of its art. There are exceptions, of course. Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty, both from 1970, have long been considered outstanding and are among the best albums in rock music.
DALI Epikore 11 Loudspeaker
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
I feel like I’ve been chasing this speaker around the world.
Back in 2022, I flew to Denmark for a tour of DALI’s headquarters and an in-depth introduction to the company’s new statement Kore loudspeaker. I was surprised to learn that DALI—an acronym for Danish Audiophile Loudspeaker Industries—is the second-largest manufacturer of speakers in the world. I was equally surprised by the depth of DALI’s investment in the infrastructure and technical expertise that went into the Kore project. While the folks at DALI were rather coy on the issue, they did hint that some of the Kore-specific technologies were likely to trickle down to future products . . .
Old Man Yells at Clouds
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: Opinion
I swore to myself that it would never come to this. I promised myself I wouldn’t become a curmudgeon.
Naim Audio NSS 333 Streaming DAC
- Written by: Jonathan Gorse
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
History, technology, and design
Last year, Naim Audio celebrated its 50th anniversary. It’s incredible to think that there have only been four iterations of Naim’s core model range during those 50 years. Put that in the context of mass-market brands that revamp their entire product line every year, and you’d think the R&D engineers in Salisbury spend most of their day playing croquet on the corporate lawn before retiring inside for a spot of tiffin! I have been behind the scenes, though, and the factory is a hive of activity. The place has a vibe reminiscent of Bletchley Park, where the Enigma code was cracked during WW2: a hodgepodge of buildings and a whole lot of boffins. Serious-looking types stare intently at advanced CAD workstations, while others bustle about in white or beige engineer’s coats, taking prototype next-generation audio hardware under cover into secret listening rooms.
YG Acoustics Peaks Ascent Loudspeaker
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
Note: measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada's National Research Council can be found through this link.
It was a snap decision. Back in May, at the 2023 High End show in Munich, Germany, I found myself sitting in YG Acoustics’ room getting the cobwebs of a hangover blasted out of my skull by the Denver, Colorado, company’s new Ascent speakers. The room was populated by a bunch of young folks, all wearing YG Acoustics polo shirts, all extremely enthusiastic, all ready to talk about the company’s speakers, and all more than ready to take musical requests. It was a fun visit, and I was exceptionally keen to get in a pair of these new speakers for review. So I put a bug in the ear of CEO Matthew Webster, and followed up several times via email to make it so.
- The Importance of the Phono Cable—Crystal Cable Diamond Series 2 Reference2
- I’m Not an Oligarch!
- Audionet Humboldt Integrated Amplifier
- DS Audio DS-W3 Optical Phono Cartridge
- Analog versus Digital: We Have a Winner!
- Leema Acoustics Tucana II Anniversary Edition Integrated Amplifier
- “Chaomorphic” Dissolves the Ego
- Roon in the House—the Future Is Now
- TAD Compact Evolution One TX Loudspeaker
- The Adam Deitch Quartet: “Roll the Tape”
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