Every month Stereophile magazine offers authoritative reviews, informed recommendations, helpful advice, and controversial opinions, all stemming from the revolutionary idea that audio components should be judged on how they reproduce music.
I have a confession, one I’m hesitant to make for reasons that will soon become clear, but my conscience compels me to make it. I have a new dog. A puppy. Her name is Ella Wren. Yes, “Ella” honors Fitzgerald, who started her career singing on the streets in Harlem, not many blocks from here, some 90 years ago. Wren was the puppy’s shelter name; we liked it, so we kept it. To me she is a beauty: brindle all over with a long, elegant snout and sad brown eyes. She’s nearing 40lb at just 4 ½ months: She’s going to be a good-sized dog. We don’t yet know what kind of dog she is, and we don’t especially care, although we’ll know soon, since we recently sent off an…
What would we listen to if it weren’t for music? Thanks for recognizing that musicians are the only ones in the pipeline not benefiting from streaming. Where is this hobby without music to listen to? Larry Lippold Los Angeles, California First gorilla, redux Regarding the May 2022 article “Deal(er) or No Deal(er)?,” by Julie Mullins: I, too, was blown away when I first realized stereo produces three-dimensional imaging and soundstage. No one had ever explained this phenomenon to me. Why? Because, I now realize, few people understand that stereo should sound this way. I offer as evidence the many binaural soundtracks available that offer the disclaimer “must use headphones to hear the spatial effect.” That is completely untrue. What’s required is a good, correctly-set-up hi-fi system with loudspeakers and listener…
IAN (THE HURRICANE, NOT JANIS) HITS FLORIDA HI-FI Jim Austin Hurricane Ian left those of us in the New York City area snug and relatively dry: just a little rain. I wondered, though, how other members of our industry and community fared, especially in the area hardest hit by Ian, on Florida’s southwest coast, especially in and around Fort Myers. The first company I thought of was Valve Amplification Company, aka VAC, run by Kevin Hayes in Sarasota, Florida. I contacted Hayes by email a few days after the storm. “All our people are safe, damage to homes generally minor,” Hayes replied. “VAC is completely intact and undamaged. Power and telephone service were restored over the weekend, and we’re starting back to work today. Overall, we have a lot for…
ATTENTION ALL AUDIO SOCIETIES: We have a page on the Stereophile website devoted to you: stereophile.com/audiophile-societies. If you’d like to have your audio-society information posted on the site, email Chris Vogel at vgl@cfl.rr.com. It is inappropriate for a retailer to promote a new product line in “Calendar” unless it is associated with a seminar or similar event. CALIFORNIA ■ Sunday, December 4, 11am: The Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society will hold its 29th Annual Gala and Awards Banquet at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Buena Park (7000 Beach Blvd., Buena Park, CA 90620). The society will honor John Atkinson, technical editor of Stereophile, with the Founder’s Award, our highest honor. Recipients will be announced for Audiophile Recordings of the Year and George and Carolyn Counnas Innovation Awards, and…
In the May issue’s Industry Update, we wrote about Masimo Corporation’s acquisition of Viper Holdings Company, which owns Sound United, parent company to Marantz, Denon, Bowers & Wilkins, Polk Audio, Classé, Definitive Technology, and Boston Acoustics. Masimo “is a global medical technology company that develops and produces a wide array of industry-leading monitoring technologies,” according to a press release from the time. Following Masimo’s acquisition, Sound United CEO Kevin Duffy was named president of the Consumer Audio Division; Duffy was then terminated “without cause” in July, as Jim Austin reported in our May issue. Masimo recently announced a new leader to replace Duffy: Blair Tripodi, who is currently chief operating officer for the company’s consumer audio division. Tripodi previously served as Sound United’s chief marketing officer and senior VP of…
In last month’s Gramophone Dreams, I explained why doing any sort of empirical study of high-quality digital sources was extremely difficult. That any success I might achieve as a reporter would boil down to my ability to employ metaphors to describe a DAC’s clarity and dynamic personality. Concocting metaphors for DAC reviews is risky because it assumes readers will be familiar with the sound of my amplifier and speakers and, ideally, with one of the DACs I’m using in the comparison. That’s a lot to assume. When a reader is unfamiliar with the other components I mention, my exposition becomes abstract—useful entertainment if it’s useful at all. That’s why I believe strongly in comparing products under review to widely known and respected reference components whenever possible. Fortunately, in the current…
