Innehållsförteckning för December 2022 från Stereophile

What does it mean to be Stereophile’s Product of the Year? It’s an honor, certainly, and probably helps the winner sell more products, but is there anything more we can say about it? The PotY competition is the culmination of a whole year of the magazine’s work, starting with the choice of products to review. Only products we review or consider carefully in a column qualify for the competition, and every product we review is eligible for the competition: We only review products we think will have a decent shot at being among the best. Every product is subjected by the reviewer to a thorough evaluation over a period of weeks or months—plus, for regular reviews (not columns), a session in John Atkinson’s measurement laboratory. The resulting review documents what’s…

I used DRA Labs’ MLSSA system, a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Paradigm Founder 120H’s frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield responses; both microphones were used with an Earthworks microphone preamplifier. I usually measure a loudspeaker’s farfield behavior level with its tweeter, which the 120H’s manual suggests is the optimal axis: “For the most accurate and natural timbre, place front speakers so that their high-frequency drivers are approximately at ear level.” However, with the Founder 120H sitting on its outrigger stands, the tweeter is 42" from the floor, which is significantly higher than the average listener’s ear height of 36". I queried RvB what axis he had used for his auditioning. He responded that Paradigm’s John Bagby had told him that…

People tend to believe that things are what they appear to be. This turned out to be the case in 2016, when Panasonic introduced the limited-edition Technics SL-1200GAE turntable. It appeared almost identical to an SL-1200—arguably the best-selling and most loved record player series of all time, discontinued in 2010 after more than 30 years—but it cost a whopping $4000. The similar model designation didn’t help stem the griping that Panasonic had made a “fancy” version of their legendary DJ turntable at six times the price of the original. By the time the regular-production SL-1200G was released later in 2016—it was almost identical to the SL-1200GAE and cost the same—most people had realized that this was an entirely new design created for audiophiles, not a new version of the old…

Three decades ago, I had a boss who insisted I drive a Mercedes-Benz as a company car. Tough gig, you might be thinking, but there was solid reasoning behind this extravagance: He wanted the people representing his company to look successful, so it was three-pointed star cars for all, at a time when a Mercedes was more exclusive than it is today. I only worked at that company for a couple of years, but my passion for Mercedes never faded. In the decades since, I have owned more Swabian cars than I can count using fingers and toes. So, when a box shows up on my doorstep and the packing slip includes words like Benz, AMG, SLR, and Gullwing, I assume it’s a box full of car goodies. This AMG,…

JEFF TWEEDY IS AN ARTIST WHO TRANSCENDS TIME. WAIT—LET ME CLARIFY THAT. TWEEDY, THE MULTIHYPHENATE SINGER, SONGWRITER, GUITARIST, AND CO-PRODUCER FOR THE MIDWESTERN-BRED ALT-ROCKING AMERICANA BAND WILCO, HAS SPENT THE BULK OF HIS CAREER CREATING MUSIC THAT CROSSES THE DIVIDES BETWEEN PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. If I told you Wilco’s 21-song, genrestraddling double album Cruel Country, which was released in August, could easily be a contemporary of the Band’s Music From Big Pink from the summer of 1968—as much as it is a chronicle of the world as it currently spins—would you believe me? Once you’ve heard it, you won’t think twice.1 The sonic tapestry Tweedy and his bandmates have honed over the past 28 years, on record and onstage, hasn’t come easy, nor has it been arrived at randomly.…

My wife saw me putting on my new LP of Joni Mitchell’s great For the Roses album and said: “Oh, our breakup album!” Never mind the confusing details—we’re obviously still (or again) together—that’s how intense the bonds are for many people with Joni’s music: We people of a certain age set the clock of our lives by her recordings. Enough time has passed now in the history of music that succeeding generations can connect with music that was new when their parents or even grandparents were young. This tends to happen with the best of the popular recorded catalog; lesser material fades away sooner, breaking like the waves at Malibu. Sometimes it skips a generation, sometimes not: I did not force my sons to listen to music of the Beatles;…

Bro, guitar; Lovano, tenor sax, tarogato; Larry Grenadier, Thomas Morgan, bass; Anders Christensen, bass guitar; Jorge Rossy, Joey Baron, drums ECM 2747 (CD). 2022. Manfred Eicher, prod.; Thomas Vang, eng. Although he’s more than able to hold his own in a straight-up blowing session, eminent tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano has a tender, introspective side and a talent for free jazz, both of which are brought into sharp focus here, thanks to a pairing with that supreme textualist on guitar, Jakob Bro. The collaboration is a tribute to the late Paul Motian, with whom Lovano played for many years in a trio with guitarist Bill Frisell. Earlier, after breaking in as part of the Bill Evans Trio, Motian anchored Keith Jarrett’s band for a decade. Bro, whose playing has some of…

Gilkes, trombone; Aaron Parks, piano; Linda May Han Oh, bass; Johnathan Blake, drums; eight-piece brass ensemble Alternate Side ASR013 (CD). 2022. Gilkes, prod.; Aaron Nevezie, eng. Marshall Gilkes is one of the two or three best trombonists to enter jazz in the new millennium. He is also something rare for a world-class instrumentalist: an accomplished big band composer/arranger. Of his seven recordings to date as a leader, three feature his impeccable orchestral writing. The configuration on his new album is unusual: Gilkes expands his quartet with an eight-piece brass ensemble. Cyclic Journey is based on complex relationships between jazz and classical forms. The octet includes high-profile classical players. The core dynamic is contrast, with a quick-on-quick jazz quartet playing against the formal backdrops of the classical brass section. But there…

Pentatone PTC5187021 (24/96 WAV). 2022. Holger Urbach, prod.; Holger Urbach, Stephan Reh, engs. For many Mahler lovers, the heart-tugging Adagietto of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony (1901–1902) makes or breaks the performance. A continually unfolding tender embrace that remains lodged in the memory of anyone who has heard it in Luchino Vicsconti’s 1971 film, Death in Venice, the Adagietto surfaces after two movements filled with terror and dread and a third movement whose curious waltz begins to sweep the pain away. Conductor Semyon Bychkov’s recording of the Adagietto’s uninterrupted flow of tenderness and longing—which may express Gustav Mahler’s conflicted feelings about his pregnant wife, Alma Mahler—lasts for 9:30. But don’t mistake pace for lack of feeling: Bychkov’s timing is 1:42 faster than Leonard Bernstein’s 11:12, but Bychkov’s understanding of the sweet yearning…

When scouring the labyrinthine halls of big audio shows for products to review in Stereophile, I use three main markers to determine which rooms to visit: a must-hear designation from Editor Jim Austin; a company or brand whose products always light my fire; and systems fellow Stereophile correspondents have described, in a text or an in-person conversation, as worth checking out. Other times, though, I just follow my nose. Such was the case at AXPONA 2022, held at the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center near Chicago. At the coffee and pastry stalls on the first floor, I ran into P.J. Zornosa, wizened sage of hi-fi public relations. P.J. was involved with two rooms at AXPONA. One of them consisted of Bel Canto, Audiovector, Cardas, Harmonic Resolution Systems, and—handling front-end duties—the Harmony…

This morning, I received an email from John, my DIY friend in Europe, saying how happy he was. He had just finished building a new power amplifier using two UcD250LP class-D amplifier modules. He described the results as “quiet, clear, clean, effortless class-D power,” adding, “What more could I ask for?” I am slow on the uptake, so I thought my friend’s question was sincere, not rhetorical. Moments later it hit me: This is a question I should try to answer in this review of the Rogue Audio Pharaoh II amplifier. Beyond the virtues John described, what more, indeed, could we ask for? In closing, John mentioned, “Later, I might build a tube input buffer for it, but for now I am happy.” My Euro friend’s letter reminded me that…

When I put together my first hi-fi system in the late 1960s, the amplifier was a Kenwood integrated. Soon I replaced the Kenwood with a Sony integrated, and then, a few years later, I bought a Lecson preamplifier and power amplifier pairing. It’s been separates for me ever since. However, a reader wrote this comment on Stereophile’s website a while back: “It will be interesting to see if Stereophile catches up to the focus on active, integrated designs. The relevance of separates seems to be waning in comparison to these sexy and modern designs.” The commenter was referring to fully integrated, active loudspeakers, but his point could equally refer to the increasingly common integrated amplifier that incorporates line and phono analog inputs plus a versatile, network-connected D/A section. In January…

Sometimes it’s good to step outside your comfort zone. In fact, I relish new and novel experiences. It’s a major reason I enjoy attending hi-fi shows and events: for the chance to see and hear new things—new hi-fi equipment, especially equipment that’s ground-breaking or unusual. Sometimes a component speaks to you visually first. It reminds me of an expression about food presentation that loosely translates to “You eat with your eyes first.”1 Sometimes, you listen with your eyes first, too. Love at first sight is too strong, but the first time I laid eyes on the HiFi Rose RA180 integrated amplifier, I was smitten. It was on static display at AXPONA in all its silvery, mechanical glory. “Output level meters and a full suite of controls grace the RA180’s solid…

Tyler Chester was headed south on the I-5 to San Diego, where he would join indie-rock eminence Andrew Bird’s road band for a brief tour. Touring is an activity Los Angeles–based Chester pursues with decreasing frequency, he told me in a recent phone chat. After years as a busy sideman and recording-session musician—he is equally proficient on bass, guitar, and keyboards—Chester finds himself spending less and less time as a player and more as a producer. His rapidly expanding clientele includes Sara Bareilles, with whom he produced the album More Love in 2020, and Madison Cunningham, whom he nurtured from a teenage neophyte to a budding, twice-Grammy-nominated star. Chester is a teacher by inclination. “These days,” he says, “in the world of Pro Tools and GarageBand, musicians need a lot…

Despite world-class songwriting and great singing from Ray Davies, solid guitar work from brother Dave, a run of six classic albums from Face to Face (1966) to Muswell Hillbillies (1971), multiple hit singles and albums in the US and the UK, the Kinks are rarely mentioned, on either side of the Atlantic, in the same breath as contemporaries the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Why is that? Was the music of the Davies brothers too esoteric? Too fusty and British for American audiences? Surely the band’s trademark unpredictability—obstreperousness might be a better word—and their 1965 ban from US touring were factors. That obstreperousness was never on clearer display than on their most neglected album, Muswell Hillbillies. In 1970, Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One—long titles were an annoying…

McDuff, Hammond B3; Richard Davis, bass guitar; Joe Dukes, drums Blue Note 84334 (LP). 1972/2022. McDuff, prod.; Bob Gallo, eng. I’m not exactly a fusion fan, but I do love music that evokes past eras, like this 1970 album from Brother Jack McDuff, reissued in Blue Note’s excellent, affordable Classic Vinyl series. Moon Rappin’ reminds me of other music from the era, including a few albums I loved back in the day that approached a similar place from the rock side. I’m thinking, for example, of Spirit and The Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus, which, as I’ve just discovered from Discogs, came out the same year as Moon Rappin’. The Spirit album is wild and psychedelic, with horns on several tracks; Moon Rappin’ is a laid-back, relaxing listen, enjoyable at…

Garabedian, bass; Dayna Stephens, tenor and soprano saxophones; Carmen Staaf, piano; Jimmy Macbride, drums; Samuel Adams, electronics Outside In OiM2227 (CD). 2022. Samuel Adams, prod.; David Stoller, eng. Noah Garabedian is not well known outside the inner circles of leading-edge jazz, but he is a favored bassist of important leaders like Kris Davis and Ravi Coltrane. Consider the Stars Beneath Us, his second album under his own name, deserves attention on its merits. It is a distinctive, deeply probing, creatively conceived, beautifully executed work. It is also interesting for ancillary reasons. First, it can be understood as a test case in how a bassist can lead an ensemble from within the rhythm section. On the opening track, “RR,” tenor saxophonist Dayna Stephens and pianist Carmen Staaf hover together and set…

The Tippett Quartet SOMM SOMMCD 0656 (24/192 WAV). Siva Oke, prod.; Adaq Khan, eng. Vaughan Williams’s two quartets demonstrate that the line between his English-pastoral style and his more abrasive, dissonant mode is not hard but is porous. The basically lyrical First keeps veering into foreign harmonies and evoking ambiguous moods; even its jiglike Finale bounces into the unstable minor for a bit. Conversely, the Romance and Epilogue of the more aggressive Second both relax into folklike motifs. The Romance’s context is distinctly not pastoral, but the Epilogue turns bittersweet and ultimately settles peacefully. The Tippett Quartet is attuned to the scores’ lyricism and unsettled angularity. Attacks are appropriately incisive or gentle, with suave chordal entries. Unaccompanied solos stand out in high relief, blending unobtrusively as the other players join.…

Grado Platinum3 We’d like to thank Herb for taking the time to give the Platinum3 a detailed audition. Being in this business for almost 70 years, we understand that careful listening to any audio product is hard work. There are two statements from Herb that we enthusiastically endorse: “In my system, the Platinum3 delivered more tube-like glow and sparkling inner detail than any cartridge I’ve heard at anywhere near its modest price.” And: “If your taste in music runs toward acoustic jazz, ambient, or classical, the Platinum3 could save you from spending $4000 on a fancy-pants MC. It’s that good.” Thanks, Herb and Stereophile. The Grado Team Goldring Eroica HX We’re glad that you enjoyed your month in analog. At Goldring, we have the pleasure of spending every month in…

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…

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…

I performed the measurements of the Rogue Audio Pharaoh II with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system.1 As the Rogue’s output stages operate in class-D, all the measurements other than frequency and RIAA responses were taken with Audio Precision’s auxiliary AUX-0025 passive low-pass filter, which reduces the level of noise above 80kHz and eliminates noise above 200kHz. Without the filter, 376mV of ultrasonic noise was present at the loudspeaker terminals, with a center frequency of 428kHz. Looking first at the line-level inputs, the Rogue Pharaoh II preserved absolute polarity, ie, was noninverting from its loudspeak er output with both balanced and single-ended inputs but inverted polarity from the headphone output. With single-ended input signals, the maximum voltage gain at 1kHz was 37dB from the loudspeaker output into 8 ohms and 21.4dB…

I performed measurements on the Roksan Attessa with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system.1 I preconditioned the amplifier by operating it at 1/8 power into 8 ohms for 30 minutes. At the end of that time, the top panel’s temperature was 108.4°F/42.4°C and that of the grille over the heatsinks almost too hot to touch, at 134.4°F/55.9°C. The Attessa needs sufficient ventilation. Looking first at the line-level analog “Variable Input” and with the sensitivity set to “Low” with the MaestroUnite app, the Roksan Attessa’s maximum voltage gain at 1kHz was 34.9dB from the loudspeaker output into 8 ohms, 5.85dB from the Pre output, and 11.85dB from the headphone output with the sensitivity set to “Mid.” The amplifier preserved absolute polarity, ie, it was noninverting from its loudspeaker, headphone, and Pre outputs.…

For logistical reasons, I measured a different sample of the HiFi Rose RA180—serial number ESL203AB000182—from the one auditioned by Julie Mullins. I performed the measurements with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system,1 examining the amplifier’s performance in both normal mode and in bridged (“BTL”) mode, following the instructions in the excellent manual. As Julie Mullins found, the RA180 doesn’t recognize 5G Wi-Fi networks, but I was able to connect it to my Netgear NightHawk router’s 2.4GHz network. I could control the RA180 with the RoseAMPConnect app on my iPhone, as well as with the remote control and the front-panel controls. As the RA180’s output stages operate in class-D, all the measurements other than frequency and RIAA responses were taken with Audio Precision’s auxiliary AUX-0025 passive low-pass filter, which reduces the level…

The year 1965 was turbulent, pivotal, and consequential. LBJ sent soldiers to the Dominican Republic, stepped into Vietnam with both feet, and signed laws expanding voting rights and creating Medicare and Medicaid. Antiwar protests gathered steam, Bob Dylan went electric, the Beatles played Shea Stadium, Sandy Koufax pitched a perfect game, and pioneering DJ Alan Freed died.1 The cover of the April 9, 1965, edition of Time featured Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip characters; inside was a lengthy article about the cartoonist and his creation.2 Fifteen years into its long run, Peanuts had established itself as a funny papers staple. By the end of 1965, the Peanuts gang would be rooted in the country’s heart and culture. In New York, a Mad Man at the Mc-Cann Erickson agency read…

Philion, bass; nine others Sunnyside SSC 1666 (CD). 2022. Philion, prod.; Nick Broste, eng. The works of the greatest jazz composers are often neglected today because most current jazz musicians are obsessed with writing their own stuff. Enter Ethan Philion, a Chicago bassist who reveres Charles Mingus and believes, correctly, that Mingus’s music is underperformed. Meditations on Mingus is rich with rewards that only come from accessing a genre’s strongest repertoire. It contains 50- and 60-year-old songs that sound newer, riskier, and more relevant than most of the jazz originals written today. It is intriguing to hear these familiar pieces in the fresh contexts of Philion’s arrangements. For example, on Mingus’s album At UCLA 1965, there is a hair-raising version of “Once Upon a Time, There Was a Holding Corporation…

Columbia Legacy 19439863841 (3 CD or 2 LP). 2022. Teo Macero, Miles Davis, Michael Cuscuna, Richard Seidel, Steve Berkowitz, prods.; Mark Wilder, eng. Davis, bass; many others After pausing in 2018, Columbia Legacy has again reached into the Miles Davis vaults to issue this 3-CD box set, released alongside a hi-rez digital package with the same material and a 2-LP “highlights from” pressing, covering the years 1982–85. During this period, Miles released the final three albums in his storied Columbia Records run before moving over to Warner Bros. That sequence of albums included Star People (1983), Decoy (1984), and You’re Under Arrest (1985). This period and this trio followed Miles’s well-documented early retirement, a period during which he did not perform or record, which ran from 1975 through 1980. The…

London Symphony Orchestra/Gianandrea Noseda LSO Live LSO0858 (CD). Nicholas Parker, prod.; Neil Hutchinson and Jonathan Stokes, engs. Noseda’s Tchaikovsky 5 offers a more distinctive sound than the customary generic polish. The LSO strings’ soft-edged attack produces a nice, cushiony backdrop for expressive woodwinds and crisp, focused brass. There’s no tonal bloat—those midrange horn chords don’t carry an ounce of extra fat—and balances are exemplary. Noseda’s manner is appropriately forthright. The conductor sets tempi that allow a natural flow: a little faster than most in the first movement, a little slower in the Finale’s main Vivace. There’s little fussing with the basic pulse, even in the first movement’s third theme, though Noseda can’t resist added rubatos in the recap. The great horn solo is dignified rather than pulsing; the most expressive…

The Crossing, Donald Nally, cond.; JACK Quartet; Musicians of the University of Michigan Department of Chamber Music and University of Michigan Percussion Ensemble Cantaloupe Music CA-21177 (24/96 WAV/CD available). 2022. Doug Perkins & Nathaniel Reichman, prods.; Bill Maylone & Paul Vazquez, engs. To the indigenous Inuit peoples of the north, “Sila” is the spirit that animates all things, encompassing wind, weather, the forces of nature—what they call “the breath of the world. “Sila,” however, also connotes intelligence, consciousness, our awareness of the world around us, and the world’s awareness of us. So says Pulitzer Prize in Music–winning American composer John Luther Adams. Adams has spent decades embracing the miracles of nature through music, first in Alaska and more recently in the Sonoran Desert of Mexico. His music has focused increasingly…