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.
Starting Over In the excellent My Back Pages essay that closes this issue, Londoner Phil Brett writes, “I bought my first albums in my teens for £2 then sold them off years later for 50p each.” Why did he sell his records? “[I]n those days, most vinyl had the thickness of a butterfly wing without the quality. As I grew older, I went through—ahem—several relationships hence several changes of residence. The hassle of carting boxes of records around grew wearisome; CDs were so much lighter, and often, they sounded better.” Phil predicted Stereophile readers would be horrified by what he did those many years ago. Maybe so—but for many, the horror will arise from regret—at the memory of doing the same thing themselves back in the day. As I did.…
New or vintage? I read with great interest the article by Alex Halberstadt in the May 2023 issue. The topic of which vinyl version of an album sounds best has been on my mind for many years. Mr. Halberstadt was able to get down on paper and explain it so very clearly. This is just like my best college professors, who articulate many complex topics in a way that is more easily digested by us commoners. Thank you, Stereophile, and Mr. Halberstadt for a job well done. Alex Weiss Charlotte, North Carolina David Lindley’s passing Many thanks to Tony Scherman for his heart felt tribute to legendary musician David Lindley. It is a very well-informed piece and is right on the money in almost every respect. I was fortunate to…
IN MEMORIAM: HIDEAKI NISHIKAWA Julie Mullins Celebrated audio designer and mechanical engineer Hideaki Nishikawa, best known for designing TechDAS Air Force turntables, has passed away at age 81. Stereophile received the news in a statement from Zephyrn Inc., the high-end audio equipment company he started in 2001, under which he launched TechDAS as a house brand in 2010. According to prior information from Zephyrn Inc. (as reported in Industry Update in the November 2022 issue), Nishikawa remained active as an adviser at Stella Group after retiring from his CEO role in August 2022. He continued to lead design projects. A (slightly edited) portion of the statement follows: It is with great sadness that Stella Inc. and Zephyrn Inc. announce that our mentor, colleague, and former CEO Hideaki Nishikawa passed away…
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. (Please note the new email address.) 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 ❚ Friday evenings, 5–7pm PST: The San Francisco Audiophile Society hosts a virtual happy hour via Zoom. This is open to anyone who’d like to join us to talk about hi-fi and whatever else is on your mind. For more information and registration, visit bit. ly/3RyaqX9. FLORIDA ❚ February 16–18, 2024: The Florida Audio Expo will take place at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Tampa Westshore,…
Psychoactive analog I’m going to tell a story about blind listening, because it illustrates what I consider the most important issue in today’s audiophile environment. I’m going to skip the names of the participants because you probably know them. And I’m not going to name the components, because their role in this story is merely as symbols of their type. Here is what I’ll reveal: We were playing LPs through an expertly curated, six-figure–priced sound system in a largish room that suited the large speakers perfectly. The occasion was a “listening party” at a friend’s apartment. The guest list included me and four of the most experienced listeners I know. The plan was for everyone to nosh lightly, drink good wine, and weigh in on a new, unnamed, not-free low-output…
Munich from the back of the bus If you’re going to Germany to immerse yourself in big-city excitement—churning dance clubs, matterful contemporary art, visitors and food from around the world, and street life that goes on all night—you’ll probably find it in Berlin. Though rents have been climbing and there’s no shortage of dirty sidewalks and petty crime, the German capital remains one of the most youthful and vibrant cities in Europe, an art and culture center with large expatriate communities and endless things to do. For urban thrills on a smaller scale, you can make a case for Cologne and even Leipzig. Just maybe don’t go to Munich. As soon as you leave the airport, you know you’ve reached the epicenter of German burgherdom—a place where manicured lawns, public…
