Indholdsfortegnelse for June 2017 i Stereophile

THERE ARE AS MANY OPINIONS AS THERE ARE EXPERTS THIS ISSUE: When must the tweaking stop to let the music begin? Balance is certainly a lovely concept, as well as a lofty ideal. But achieving an optimal sonic balance in a high-end audio system—whose final sound is determined, in part, by interactions among any number of components and that great bugaboo, the listening room—while maintaining some semblance of psychic equilibrium can be the hardest goal of all. One dictionary defines the noun balance as “a condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions,” as well as “mental and emotional steadiness.” In the largest sense, balance describes the place where two or more opposing physical, moral, or spiritual states can coexist in harmony. Think hot and cold,…

ATTENTION ALL AUDIO SOCIETIES: We have a page on the Stereophile website dedicated solely to you: www.stereophile.com/audiophilesocieties. If you’d like to have your audio-society information posted on the site, e-mail Chris Vogel at info@XLinkAudio.com. Please note that it is inappropriate for a retailer to promote a new product line in “Calendar” unless this is associated with a seminar or similar event. ARIZONA ■ Wednesday, June 28, time tba: This Arizona Audio Video Club meeting will feature David Stipes, two-time Emmy Award winner for his visualeffects work at Paramount Studios while working on Deep Space Nine. Following the success of David’s first presentation to the club, his muchrequested return will continue with the state of CGI, including detailed looks behind the scenes, past and present titans of visual effects, where the…

THIS ISSUE: High-end personal listening with cans from Sony and AudioQuest. EXPLORING THE ANALOG ADVENTURE The MDR-Z1R’s appearance is dominated by its outer earpieces. As much as I delight in pagan dreams of sweetly perfumed garden nymphs, I’m embarrassed to admit that my mind also drifts in pleasant reveries whenever I hear the words research and development in the same sentence. I am by nature a greasy gearhead. The idea of taking wellconsidered steps of engineering to analyze and possibly improve the operation of any electrical or mechanical system never fails to get my imaginative juices flowing. This is why I’ve spent decades fascinated by perfectionist audio: I like watching and participating in its edgy, eccentric evolution. So it’s perfectly natural that I’m attracted to what some call personal audio.…

Description D/A processor with volume control. Digital inputs: 1 AES/EBU (XLR), 2 75 ohm coaxial (BNC), 2 TosLink, 1 USB (Type B). Analog outputs: 1 pair balanced (XLR), 1 pair unbalanced (RCA), 1 headphone. Digital formats supported: 32–768kHz PCM in 32-bit; DSD64/128/256/512. Frequency response: 20Hz– 20kHz, ?}0.1dB. THD+N: –127.5dB ref. 0dBFS. Dynamic range: 127.5dB. Output impedance: 0.0055 ohm (short-circuit–protected). Dimensions 13.2" (334mm) W by 2.8" (71mm) H by 6.1" (154mm) D. Weight: 15.4 lbs (7kg). Finishes Silver, Black. Serial number of unit reviewed 413-001. Price $10,588. Approximate number of dealers: 25. Manufacturer Chord Electronics Ltd., The Pumphouse, Farleigh Bridge, Farleigh Lane, East Farleigh, Kent ME16 9NB, England, UK. Tel: (44) (0)1622-721444. Fax: (44) (0)1622-721555. Web: www.chordelectronics.co.uk. US distributor: Bluebird Music Ltd., 275 Woodward Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14217. Tel: (416) 638-8207.…

Description Solid-state integrated amplifier with phono stage and DAC. Digital inputs: 3 S/PDIF (one RCA, two optical), 2 USB (Type B, Type A optimized for iOS Lightning). Analog inputs: 1 line-level, 1 switchable between line-level and MM phono (maximum input 120mV). Output Power: 300Wpc into 8 ohms (24.8dBW), 450Wpc into 4 ohms (23.5dBW). Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz, ?}0.4dB. THD (1kHz, 4 ohms): 0.005%. Headphone output impedance: 1 ohm. Dimensions 14.02" (356mm) W by 4.37" (111mm) H by 13.25" (336.55mm) D. Weight: 17 lbs (7.7kg) net, 21 lbs (9.5kg) shipping. Finishes Piano Black, Gloss Ebony Mocha. Serial number of unit reviewed 161020042. Price $2499. Approximate number of dealers: 40 as well as online. Manufacturer Peachtree Audio, 2045 120th Avenue NE, Bellevue, WA 98005. Tel: (704) 391-9337. Web: www.peachtreeaudio.com.…

Analog Sources Palmer 2.5 turntable, Audio Origami PU-7 tonearm, AMG Teatro, Mighty Cala Sound TNT 15 cartridges; Analogueworks Zero turntable & tonearm, Ortofon 2M Black, Hana EL, Zu Denon 103 cartridges; Roksan Radius 7 turntable and tonearm, Corus Silver, Dynavector 20X2L cartridges. Digital Sources Mytek HiFi Brooklyn, Schiit Audio Yggdrasil DACs; Integra DPPS-7.2 DVD-A player (used as transport). Preamplification Rogue Audio RP-1 line-level preamplifier; Dynavector P75, Lounge Audio LCR Mk.III, Parasound Halo JC 3+, Tavish Design Adagio phono preamplifiers; Bob’s Devices CineMag 1131, Dynavector SUP-200, Lounge Audio Copla step-up amplifiers; Linear Tube Audio microZOTL2.0, Pass Labs HPA-1 used as line-level preamplifiers. Power Amplifiers First Watt J2, PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium. Loudspeakers DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/93, Falcon LS3/5a, KEF LS50, Technics SB-C700, Zu Audio Soul Supreme. Cables Digital: Kimber Kable D60 Data…

Imeasured the Arcam FMJ SR250 with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 “As We See It,” http://tinyurl.com/4ffpve4). Before performing any tests, I ran it at 40Wpc into 8 ohms for an hour. At the end of that time, the louvers on the top panel were warm, at 110.6°F (43.7°C). Looking first at the Arcam as a conventional integrated amplifier, I performed all the measurements in Stereo Direct mode, which bypasses the digitization and DSP effects. With the volume control set to “99,” the maximum gain at the loudspeaker terminals was 43.8dB. At the headphone outputs, the maximum gain was 26.2dB; at the preamplifier outputs it was 13.1dB. The unity-gain setting of the volume control would have been between “48” and “49”: with the volume control set to…

Analog Sources Thorens TD 124 turntable (reconditioned by Schopper AG); Ortofon RMG-212 (rebuilt), Schick 12” tonearms; Ortofon 90th Anniversary SPU cartridge. Digital Sources MacBook Pro computer (early 2015); Intel NUC computer with SSD drive running RoonServer; Benchmark DAC 3, Meridian Explorer 2 USB, Mytek HiFi Brooklyn, PS Audio DirectStream DACs. Preamplification Auditorium 23 Standard step-up transformer; EAR 834P phono stage Power Amplifiers Lamm Industries ML1.2, PS Audio BHK Signature 300 Mono (all monoblocks). Integrated Amplifier Leben Hi-Fi Stereo CS-600. Loudspeakers DeVore Fidelity The Nine. Cables USB: AudioQuest Carbon & Cinnamon & Coffee, Comprehensive Connectivity. Interconnect: Chord (UK) Chorus & Chameleon Silver Plus, Q Cables Tao. Interconnect: Auditorium 23, Mogami Gold (XLR). Speaker: Auditorium 23. AC: Belden 14-gauge shielded, HOSA 14-gauge IEC, stock IEC. Accessories PS Audio Power Plant P10 power…

Iused DRA Labs’ MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Volti Rival’s frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield responses. (I measured Rival serial no.001.) Before carrying out any measurements, which were performed without the grille, I ensured that all the crossover resistor and capacitor choices on the rear panel were set as recommended in the manual. The Volti’s voltage sensitivity is specified as an unbelievable 100dB/ W/m; ie, the Rival will play as loudly when fed 1W as a tiny LS3/5a would when fed 60W (assuming the LS3/5a didn’t melt). Nevertheless, my estimate of the Volti’s B-weighted voltage sensitivity was close to the specification at 98.2dB/2.83V/m. This is indeed a loud speaker—one of the highest-sensitivity loudspeakers I’ve measured! The Rival’s…

TAKE HEED! Unless marked otherwise, all letters to the magazine and its writers are assumed to be for possible publication. In the spirit of vigorous debate implied by the First Amendment, and unless we are requested not to, we publish correspondents’ e-mail addresses. Breezy Jana Editor: Blogger Jana Dagdagan is a fresh breeze—such a good writer. It’s about damn time we let a female into the club. Thank you for having her on board! —Eric Elliott musictolive2014@gmail.com Insightful Thomas Editor: A short note of appreciation for Thomas Conrad’s insightful jazz reviews and his great article on European jazz in March. Reading his reviews over the years has introduced me to a wider spectrum of jazz than I would normally contemplate, none of it ever disappointing. His descriptive writing conjures up…

For fans, of course, he’s never been gone, not even for a minute. A jazz pianist who played from the heart and spent a tumultuous life fighting his demons while searching, as singer Tony Bennett has often said, “for truth and beauty,” Bill Evans is now the subject of four previously unheard, recently released titles, on LPs, CDs, and downloads, of live recordings of his music. There’s also, from Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, a new and superlative One-Step Process vinyl reissue of his classic Sunday at the Village Vanguard. Finally, there’s a wonderful new documentary, Bill Evans: Time Remembered, a labor of love by a fan and titled for one of Evans’s best-loved tunes. And, unlikely as it sounds, the demand for Evans’s music is still strong enough to inspire…

Imeasured the Chord DAVE with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 “As We See It,” http://tinyurl.com/4ffpve4), using both the Audio Precision’s optical and electrical digital outputs and USB data sourced from my MacBook Pro running on battery power with Pure Music 3.0 playing WAV and AIFF test-tone files. Apple’s USB Prober utility identified the Chord as “Dave” from “Chord Electronics Ltd,” with the serial number “413-001.” The DAVE’s USB port operated in the optimal isochronous asynchronous mode. Apple’s AudioMIDI utility revealed that, via USB, the DAVE accepted 32-bit integer data sampled at all rates from 32 to 768kHz. The optical input locked to datastreams with sample rates up to 96kHz, the AES/EBU and S/PDIF inputs locked to streams of up to 192kHz-sampled data. In variable mode, the…

Imeasured Peachtree Audio’s nova300 with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 “As We See It,” http://tinyurl.com/4ffpve4). Before performing any tests, I ran it at 80Wpc into 8 ohms for an hour. At the end of that time, the vents on its top panel were warmer than I’d anticipated for an amplifier with a class-D output, at 92.3°F (33.5°C), though this is cooler than would be expected for an amplifier with a conventional output stage. Because of it uses ICEpower class-D modules, all measurements of the nova300 were taken using Audio Precision’s auxiliary AUX-0025 passive low-pass filter, which eliminates noise above 200kHz that might otherwise overload the SYS2722’s input circuitry. Without the filter, there was almost 1V of ultrasonic noise present at the Peachtree’s output, with a center…

Description Tubed, dualmono, line-level preamplifier. Tube complement: four 12AU7, two 5AR4. Inputs (all RCA): 4 pairs line-level, 1 pair home-theater bypass, phono optional. Outputs (all RCA): 2 pairs variable, 1 pair fixed. Gain: 12dB. Input impedance: 100k ohms. Output impedance: 2800 ohms. Input sensitivity: 200mV. Dimensions 14.5" (370mm) W by 8" (200mm) H by 15.5" (390mm) D. Weight 37.5 lbs (17kg). Serial number of unit reviewed D6442852. Finish Gray lacquer. Price $2199. Approximate number of dealers: 60. Warranty: 2 years, limited; 6 months, tubes. Manufacturer Durob Audio BV, PO Box 109, 5250 AC Vlijmen, The Netherlands. Web: www.primaluna.nl. US: PrimaLuna USA, 2058 Wright Avenue, La Verne, CA 91750. Tel: (909) 931-0219. Web: www.primaluna-usa.com.…

Digital Sources Oppo BDP-103 universal BD player, Apple Mac mini running BootCamp, Windows 7, JRiver Music. Preamplifier Marantz AV8802a. Power Amplifiers Bryston 9BST, Classé Sigma Monos. Loudspeakers Bowers & Wilkins 802D3, Monitor Audio Silver 8, JL Audio E-Sub e110 subwoofers (2). Cables Interconnect: AudioQuest Vodka (HDMI), Kubala- Sosna Anticipation (RCA) & Fascination (XLR). Speaker: Kubala-Sosna Anticipation & Fascination. AC: Kubala- Sosna Emotion. Accessory BrickWall 8RAUD power conditioner.…

Description Fully balanced hybrid line preamplifier with headphone amplifier. Tube complement: two handselected, matched 12AU7 dual-triodes. Analog inputs: 5 unbalanced (RCA), 5 balanced (XLR). Analog outputs: 1 pair balanced (XLR), 1 pair unbalanced (RCA). DC triggers: 2. Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz, ?}0.1dB; 0.1Hz–200kHz, –3dB. Input impedance: >66k ohms balanced, >33k ohms unbalanced. Output level: 4.0V RMS. Output impedance: <100 ohms. THD+IM at 1kHz (full scale): <0.03%. Headphone amplifier: output impedance, 0.5 ohm; output power, >200mW at 300 ohms, 4.0W at 16 ohms. THD+IM at 1V: <0.02%. W by 4" (100mm) H by 14" (360mm) D. Weight: 26 lbs (11.8kg). Finishes Black, silver. Serial number of unit reviewed PWP-A-6H0226. Price $5995. Approximate number of dealers: 65 Manufacturer PS Audio, 4826 Sterling Drive, Boulder, CO 80301. Tel: (720) 406-8946. Web: www.psaudio.com.…

Analog Sources Kuzma Stabi S turntable & Stogi S tonearm; Music Hall MMF-7.3 turntable; Denon DL-103, Goldring Elite MC, Ortofon 2M Bronze cartridges. Digital Sources Apple MacBook computer running Audirvana Plus; Halide DAC HD, PS Audio NuWave DACs; LG BD player; Western Digital T2 Mirror Drives (2). Preamplification Auditorium 23 A23 moving-coil step-up transformer, Heed Audio Quasar phono stage, Shindo Laboratory Allegro preamplifier. Power Amplifier Shindo Laboratory Haut-Brion. Integrated Amplifier Heed Audio Elixir. Loudspeakers DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/93, Elac Debut B6, Snell Type J/II. Headphones Master & Dynamic MH40. Cables Interconnect: AudioQuest Water, JPS Labs Superconductor, Shindo Laboratory. Speaker: AudioQuest Castle Rock, Auditorium 23, Tellurium Q Black. Accessories Mapleshade Clearview Double Helix Mk.II power strip; Music Hall Aztec Blue & Mooo record mats; Spec AD-UP1 Analog Disc Sheet; Salamander five-tier…

EDITOR'S PICK RECORDING OF THE MONTH It was a pairing that seemed right from the very start: ECM’s founder, Manfred Eicher, a man renowned for having an unmatched ear for talent and exacting sound-engineering skills; and guitarist Dominic Miller, an internationalist who was born in Argentina, raised in Racine, Wisconsin, and now lives in Provence, France, and who’s spent more than 20 years playing and writing with Sting. Along the way, Miller has been a hired guitar slinger with everyone from the Pretenders and Chris Botti to Rod Stewart and Placido Domingo. He’s made 13 solo records, has recorded the music of J.S. Bach on guitar, and says his favorite album is Deep Purple’s Made in Japan. Silent Light, Miller’s debut for ECM, features mostly Miller’s steel and nylonstringed acoustic…

SUBMISSIONS: Those promoting audio-related seminars, shows, and meetings should e-mail the when, where, and who to JAtkinson@enthusiastnetwork.com at least eight weeks before the month of the event. The deadline for the August 2017 issue is May 20, 2017. THE WEB John Atkinson The twenty-second recording on the Stereophile label, Tight Lines, a collection of works for chamber orchestra composed by Sasha Matson, is now available on CD, 180gm LP, and as 24/96 files from the magazine’s Shop page: http://store-badz031c.mybigcommerce.com. Recorded by Michael C. Ross, mixed by Ross and Grammy-winning engineer Mike Marciano, Tight Lines was produced by yours truly. The album’s title is a quote by former President George H. W. Bush in which the phrase is used as a good luck greeting; according to a recent review in Fanfare…

D/A PROCESSOR Fifteen years? Has it really been 15 years since I reviewed what was then the flagship D/A processor from English company Chord Electronics? In the July 2002 issue, here’s how I summed up my review of the Chord DAC64: “While the Chord Electronics DAC64 is undoubtedly expensive, it is eye-poppingly gorgeous. . . . many listeners should find its silky-smooth highs seductive, as well as its slightly larger-than-life lows.”1 How times and prices change—the “undoubtedly expensive” DAC64 cost only $3040! I did make a couple of criticisms of the DAC64 in my review, but according to Wes Phillips, in his August 2007 review of Chord’s revised DAC64, “the Choral Blu [CD transport] and Choral DAC64 are, together, the CD player we music lovers have long prayed for”2—even if,…

Analog Sources Garrard 301 turntable; EMT 997 tonearm; EMT OFD 15 & TSD 15, Ortofon SPU #1S, Shindo Laboratory SPU pickup heads; Denon DL 103 cartridge. Digital Sources AudioQuest DragonFly, Halide Designs DAC HD USB DACs; Apple iMac computer (late 2015) running OS 10.12.1 & Roon v.1.2, Build 165; Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player. Preamplification Hommage T1 & T2 step-up transformers,"article_61-2"Shindo Laboratory Masseto preamplifier. Power Amplifiers Shindo Laboratory Corton-Charlemagne (monoblocks) & Haut-Brion (stereo). Loudspeakers Altec Flamenco. Cables USB: AudioQuest Carbon. Interconnect: Audio Note AN-Vx, Luna Red, Shindo Laboratory. Speaker: Auditorium 23. AC: Luna Orange, manufacturers' stock cords. Accessories Box Furniture Company D3S rack (source & amplification components), Audiodesksysteme Gläss Vinyl Cleaner Pro.…

Imeasured the PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium preamplifier with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 “As We See It,” http://tinyurl.com/4ffpve4). The gain with the volume control set to its maximum was 11dB, unbalanced input to unbalanced output, 1dB below the specified 12dB. The preamplifier preserved absolute polarity (ie, was non-inverting). The inputs, all unbalanced, offered a very high input impedance of 183k ohms at 20Hz and 1kHz, dropping to a still very high 116k ohms at 20kHz. The PrimaLuna’s output impedance, specified as 2800 ohms, was 2600 ohms at high and middle frequencies, rising to 4500 ohms at the bottom of the audioband. As a result, the ProLogue Premium’s frequency response into the demanding 600 ohm load (fig.1, cyan and magenta traces) was down by 3dB at 30Hz, compared…

Description Solid-state, class-G integrated audiovisual receiver with FM/ DAB tuner, analog & digital inputs, Dirac Live room correction. Analog audio inputs: 6 unbalanced (RCA), 1 auxiliary (3.5mm). Digital audio inputs: 7 HDMI, 4 S/PDIF (RCA), 2 S/PDIF (TosLink), USB, Ethernet (RJ- 45). Preamplifier outputs: 2.1-channel unbalanced Left/Right/SW1/SW2, Zone 2 Left/Right (RCA). Communication: Ethernet RJ-45 control interface; Spotify, vTuner enabled. Digital input sample rates: USB & Ethernet, 24-bit/48kHz; HDMI & S/PDIF, up to 24/192. DACs: Cirrus CS42528. Power output: 90Wpc into 8 ohms (20Hz–20kHz, <0.02% THD) (19.5dBW), 125Wpc (21dBW), both channels driven, at 0.2% THD. Frequency response: 20Hz– 20kHz, ?}0.2dB. Residual noise and hum: <0.15mV, A-weighted. Signal/noise: 110dB, A-weighted. Analog input impedance: 47k ohms. Power consumption: 600W (maximum at full output), 100W (idle, typical), <0.5W (standby). Dimensions 17.1" (433mm) W by…

I decided to use the same music files to compare the sound of the Arcam FMJ SR250 with Dirac Live room correction to the Dirac Live filtering in my server. It was a fair fight, as long as I set the server to downsample to 24/96 and used the same target curves for both implementations. In this face-off, the Dirac Suite on my server seemed marginally but consistently more successful than did the Arcam implementation. Yeah, the microphone positions couldn’t possibly have been exactly the same, but the purpose of the multiple positions is to create a statistically representative sample. The two sets of Dirac graphs looked quite similar, except for the region below 100Hz. Even there, I could find no meaningful differences. Via my server, Dirac Live’s filters are…

Imeasured the PS Audio BHK Signature preamplifier with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 “As We See It,” http://tinyurl.com/4ffpve4). The gain with the volume control set to its maximum of “100” was 9.8dB, balanced input to balanced output; 3.7dB, unbalanced input to unbalanced output; and 9.7dB, unbalanced input to headphone output. The unity-gain setting at the line outputs would be between “79” and “80” on the front-panel display, except that that isn’t possible; the balanced gain at “80” was 0.33dB. Both sets of inputs preserved absolute polarity (ie, were non-inverting). The unbalanced inputs offered a usefully high input impedance of 77k ohms at 20Hz and 1kHz, dropping inconsequentially to 53k ohms at 20kHz. The balanced input impedances were twice these values, as expected. The line output impedance,…

Description Three-way, front-ported, horn-loaded, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" compression tweeter mounted to elliptical Tractrix-flare horn, 3.5" phenolic-diaphragm midrange driver with neodymium magnet mounted to wooden midrange horn with 2" throat, 15" papercone woofer. Crossover frequencies: 400Hz, 6kHz. Frequency range: 32Hz– 20kHz. Sensitivity: 100dB/ W/m. Nominal impedance: 6 ohms. Recommended amplification: 3–100Wpc continuous. Dimensions 41.5" (1050mm) H by 19" (480mm) W by 16" 410mm) D. Weight: 125 lbs (56.7kg). Finishes Birch; add $3500/ pair for wood veneer or custom paint. Serial numbers of units reviewed 001, 002. Price $7900/pair; grilles, add $500/pair. Approximate number of dealers: 1, plus sold factory-direct. Volti offers a “try-beforeyou- buy” program. Manufacturer Volti Audio, 6100 Nashville Highway, Baxter, TN 38544. Tel: (207) 314-1937. Web: www.voltiaudio.com.…

THIS ISSUE: HR and KM each audition a speaker that the other had reviewed. NEAT ACOUSTICS IOTA ALPHA LOUDSPEAKER My girlfriend, bb, and her garden friend Casey were hanging on the bed in my room as I installed NEAT Acoustics’ diminutive Iota Alpha floorstanding speakers.1 Casey said, “Herb, what kind of speakers are those? They look like lawn dwarfs.” I told her to shush her smart-ass mouth. “These are serious British-made high-end audiophile speakers—and they cost $1995/pair!” Then bb chimed in: “I like them! . . . better than all those other speakers you have. These don’t dominate the room. They leave space to move around. If their wood finish matched the floor, they would just vanish into the floor. Then, if I wasn’t playing music, I could push them…

ANY CLOD CAN HAVE THE FACTS; HAVING OPINIONS IS AN ART THIS ISSUE: darTZeel, Shunyata, PS Audio, PrimaLuna, Volti, and Peachtree respond to our reviews of their products darTZeel Audio NHB-18NS Editor: We at darTZeel Audio SA are very happy Michael Fremer spent the time to review our new NHB-18NS preamplifier. As he well described, everything that was suboptimal in the earlier version has been improved beyond any reproach. We are extremely proud that 100% of the new NHB-18NS owners have shared their complete satisfaction with us. While I might agree that our phono stage is probably not as good as one we could design in a standalone housing, I nevertheless find it is way better than just being able to “more than satisfy casual LP listeners.” I understand that…

THERE’S ONLY TWO KINDS OF MUSIC: THE BLUES AND ZIPPETY DOO-DAH. —TOWNES VAN ZANDT “We’re saying to the music enthusiast, all these pieces will be in place in a very short time to offer you a much better overall experience.” –MARC FINER Can Hi-Rez Catch On? Two recent developments are providing hope for a better-sounding future. One is the much-ballyhooed revival of the once lowly LP. My theory about the LP’s return goes beyond the ritual of playing vinyl, and also blames as a key factor the compromised sound of MP3s, which can be heard through better gear and in quiet environments. Certainly, the continued availability of high-quality turntables throughout the 1990s and early ’00s also encouraged vinyl’s welcome comeback. The other, potentially even more exciting change has been the…