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.
Dedicated readers know that lately in this space I’ve been on something of an analog kick. Two months ago, in the October issue,1 I wrote about refurbishing and modding my old McIntosh FM tuner. Last month’s column (November) was on the much-discussed but little-understood topic of the skating force on a phono cartridge stylus.2 This month, I am writing about what could be the ultimate analog topic circa 2025: A prominent vinyl-only record club is going totally offline. Is it a marketing gimmick? Sure it is, but read on. I am a former Vinyl Me, Please (VMP) member. In the spring, my membership was up for renewal. I had joined on a whim, and while I found their pressings excellent, their titles were a mixed bag. Then I heard that…
The Modafferi mod The best part of reading Stereophile each month is the writing. For years, your magazine has engaged writers who have a talent not only for interacting with audio equipment and music but also for conveying a very human sense about what they do that helps to keep everything interesting, enjoyable, and fun. Jim Austin’s October As We See It column “Analog Matters,” on the McIntosh MR78 FM tuner, is a case in point. I remember meeting Harold Colt—the man whose house was the site of the infamous FM DX torture test—at the Stereo Shop in Hartford many years ago. His experience spurred me to buy one myself, albeit a used one. I kept it many years. It sounded as good as my other analog sources—Tandberg 9000x, Thorens…
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. United States FLORIDA ◼ Saturday, December 6: Bending Wave USA at 2800 North Federal Highway, Unit #5, Boca Raton, FL, will host Brandon Lauer of Wadax. Lauer will present live demos of the Wadax Studio Player with the new Studio Power Supply and Studio Clock and the new Akasa cables. ◼ Saturday, January 17: Bending Wave will host Silvio Delfino from Riviera Audio Labs and Jonathan Halpern from Revival Audio. Both will present live demonstrations. Both events will feature special promotions for attendees. ◼ February 20–22: The eighth annual Florida International Audio Expo will take place at…
At 1am on September 17, 2025, Adam Wexler’s phone broke through his snores. He silenced the call and rolled over. Four hours later, an insistent ring jolted him awake. “When Ray, an amazing man who oversees the pier and runs everything around here, called me at 1am, I ignored it,” Wexler recalled, “though fire did cross my mind, because this space is entirely timber. Then my employee Robert Kapszewicz called, and I went to the warehouse at 5:30am.” Starting in the early morning, a five-alarm inferno tore through the historic 19th century Beard Street Warehouses at 421–499 Van Brunt Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn, home to dozens of artists’ studios and Wexler’s 7500ft2 hi-fi store, Resolution Audio/Video (RAV). Two hundred fifty FDNY firefighters battled the flames. What Wexler found on…
Simaudio has introduced a network streamer–integrated amplifier, the Moon 371, the first product in a new, more affordable series called Compass. Why Compass? The name evokes the name of the higher-end North series, introduced in 2023. “Compass guides you North,” a Simaudio rep said at a press event in Boucherville, across the river from Montreal. The 371, which carries a price tag of $6500, gives you everything you need to make music except a streaming subscription, speakers, and speaker cables. During a presentation at the Boucherville press event, Simaudio execs described the philosophy of the new Compass series and Simaudio broadly. Compass is intended to broaden the brand’s appeal. “We don’t want to stay just another audiophile brand,” a Simaudio staffer told the assembled audio journalists. Simaudio aims to do…
German speaker and electronics manufacturer MBL Akustikgeräte has been acquired by MBL International GmbH, a new subsidiary of China’s Chow Tai Seng. MBL says the deal secures the company’s long-term future and is a step toward resolving ongoing insolvency proceedings. Chow Tai Seng, whose core business is fine jewelry designed, manufactured, and sold under its own brand, ranks among the world’s top 100 luxury-goods companies, with some 4200 employees and more than 4700 stores across China, according to the announcement. The group also owns United Audio, a distributor of high-end audio brands (including several German manufacturers) for the Chinese market. With MBL, the group adds its first in-house audio manufacturer. “MBL is in excellent hands with MBL International GmbH, backed by Chow Tai Seng,” CEO Christian Hermeling said, adding that…
