CATEGORIES

Rotel Michi S5 POWER AMPLIFIER

It took some time to figure out why, in the middle of auditioning Rotel’s Michi S5 stereo power amplifier ($7499.99) with the room-shaking opening of Richard Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra, Ravel’s far subtler and perfumed setting of Tristan Klingsor’s lyrics from Shéhérazade came to mind. And then the pathway opened: As mundane a task as reviewing a component may be—listen to this, listen to that, compare to your reference, take copious notes, ponder, and proceed—we music lovers perpetually long for more. We want to be seduced by music and soar aloft on its wonder. We want to transcend routine, rise above the commonplace, and experience the beauty that can rise amidst the ashes. We want to fly.

Clearaudio Reference Jubilee RECORD PLAYER

There’s an enduring debate among the turntable-tech intelligentsia between opposing theories of turntable design. Some designers, notably Roy Gandy of Rega, follow a lessis-more approach, building stiff, lightweight turntables that release energy rather quickly. Others, such as Franc Kuzma, whose Kuzma Ltd. manufactures my reference Kuzma Stabi R turntable and Kuzma 4Point tonearm, believe in heavy mass-loading to dampen vibrations, including transparency-miring resonances. Though analog sages and savants have argued for decades, the question remains: Should turntables be light or heavy? Should you liberate or dampen internal energy to achieve perfect analog sound forever?

Technics SU-G700M2 Grand Class INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER

When I reviewed Technics’s SU-R1000 integrated amplifier for the December 2021 issue, I found its performance beyond my expectations. It practi-cally rewrote the ritual of listening to music on my home hi-fi. With its wealth of technological advancements, significant user options, and clear, three-dimensional sound, it cast a large sonic shadow over the other integrated amplifiers in my possession.

RABBIT HOLES

New rock music as an odd musical niche

Lejonklou Entity PHONO PREAMPLIFIER

Sometime around 483 BCE, in Kushinagar, the capital of the Malla Republic in what today is the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, an aristocrat named Siddhartha Gautamaknown better to us as the Buddha, or the Awakened One-passed away. For 45 years, he had wandered the North Indian River Plain teaching a method of overcoming ignorance, craving, and the cycle of death and rebirth to a growing community of followers. As he lay dying, the 80-year-old teacher was surrounded by disciples, many of them crying. Gautama was by no account a sentimental man, and several times he told the monks to cut it out.

LYLE LOVETT

Music among great players can be a conversation

Gryphon Audio Designs Commander LINE PREAMPLIFIER

Are well-heeled audiophiles ready for a knob-free future? Gryphon Audio Designs thinks so. In contrast to Gryphon's volume knob-dominated Pandora preamplifier, the Danish company's new Commander offers nothing on its bold front panel to grab or turn.

GRAMOPHONE DREAMS

Dream incubation

ANALOG CORNER

The J.Sikora Reference turntable and KV12 VTA tonearm

Bluesound Powernode

Streaming integrated amplifier

Melco N50

DIGITAL MUSIC LIBRARY

PrimaLuna EVO 400

INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER

Meitner MA3

INTEGRATED D/A PROCESSOR

The Art of Cable

GRAMOPHONE DREAMS

Chario Aviator Amelia

LOUDSPEAKER

JansZen Valentina P8

LOUDSPEAKER

Linn Klimax LP12

RECORD-PLAYING SYSTEM

Revinylization

Round Trip: Ornette Coleman’s Blue Note sides

CH Precision D1.5 SACD/CD/MQA-CD Player/Transport

There’s a school of thought that maintains that among all hi-fi components, the D/A converter is easiest to perfect or come close to perfecting. Just make sure that every sample is converted accurately, that there’s little rolloff in the audioband, that aliased images are suppressed almost completely, and that background noise is extremely low, and you have a top-quality D/A processor. Use of a high-quality DAC chip is assumed.

Analog Corner

Paradox’s remarkable Phono 70 Signature MC phono preamplifier

GRAMOPHONE DREAMS

Stax, EAR, and Bob’s Devices

SINGING TO THE SOUL

THE MAGIC OF ART SONG ON RECORD

MayFly Audio Systems MF-201A LOUDSPEAKER

If you’ve ever read Homer’s Iliad, you probably remember the Cata-log of Ships at the beginning. It’s an exhaustive record of the contingents the Achean army deployed against Troy, naming the commanders, their hometowns, the number of ships in each contingent, and more. Not to put too fine a point on it, it’s a snoozefest. It makes you dread what’s next. But of course, if you come to this point only to abandon the Iliad in frustration, you’ll miss the fabulous war epic that follows, chockablock with action, drama, and romance.

Gold Note PH-1000 PHONO PREAMPLIFIER

Gold Note’s $11,999 PH-1000 is by a con-siderable margin the most sophisticated, most configurable phono preamplifier that any audio manufacturer has ever produced, at least that I know of. Remarkably, considering all that flexibility and sophistication, using and adjusting the PH-1000 is straightforward.

“Music Was Mine to Experience.”

For all its ghastliness and heartbreak, the COVID-19 pandemic has been good to Keb’ Mo’. When the virus hit the US, it forced the cancelation of a string of his concerts. “I was getting a little burned out on touring,” he confesses.

Book Review

The Secret History of Washington, DC, R&B

Forget about the sound of the recording.

MY BACK PAGES

Monitor Audio Silver 500 7G

LOUDSPEAKER

Iron OOR

GRAMOPHONE DREAMS

Topping Pre90

LINE PREAMPLIFIER