CATEGORIES

Harbeth Super HL5plus XD - LOUDSPEAKER

What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits-the 1974 album by those San Jose yacht-rock sages the Doobie Brothers-could also describe an audiophile's life.

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.

The curse of composition

Something has happened in jazz culture in the new millennium. There is more emphasis on original composition than ever before. There has been remarkably little discussion and analysis of this phenomenon, perhaps because many assume it is a positive development. Jazz, after all, prioritizes originality.

MoFi Electronics SourcePoint 8 - LOUDSPEAKER

When I got these new speakers for review, they were so new that, at the time I unpacked them, no official user manual was included or posted on the manufacturer's website, and the promised matching stands didn't exist. Yet, I have the abiding feeling that I am getting to the party long after it has started. The Mobile Fidelity SourcePoint 8 is the newer, smaller sibling of the SourcePoint 10 reviewed by John Atkinson in Stereophile's February 2023 issue, with a follow-up by Ken Micallef in June.¹

CINEMATIC SPOTLIGHT

ROB HAHN is an American film director of photography and a name you should be familiar with if you love movies. He worked as cinematographer for acclaimed director Frank Oz on The Stepford Wives, The Score, and In & Out.

Home Theater Ace

DENON AVR-X3800H AV RECEIVER REVIEW

Perpetual Motion

MARTINLOGAN, you know the name. They've been around since 1983 so pretty much everyone has heard of them.

QD-OLED FTW

SAMSUNG OLED G9 240 HZ 49\" ULTRA-WIDE MONITOR

The Werewolf

If music reflects the life of the person who created it-if, for example, we can hear Mozart's inner turmoil in his operas-then Warren Zevon's song catalog is uncommonly revealing. Headless mercenaries, killer rapists, and yes, impeccably dressed werewolves with a taste for pina coladas are all part of the colorful world of WZ's twisted imagination and especially of his masterpiece, 1978's Excitable Boy.

Sonos Era 100

A Versatile Compact Speaker

Audio Research I/50 - INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER

The first true high-end component I owned was an Audio Research SP-10. I reviewed this two-box, tubed preamplifier in the May 1984 issue of the English magazine Hi-Fi News & Record Review.

ASTRUD GILBERTO, RIP

HER FIRST PROFESSIONAL RECORDING BECAME A CAREER DEFINING GLOBAL HIT, CHANGED THE CULTURE, AND HELPED MAKE BOSSA NOVA A WORLDWIDE PHENOMENON. BUT THERE'S A DARK SIDE TO THE SUCCESS OF \"THE GIRL FROM IPANEMA,\" WHICH FOLLOWED THE BRAZILIAN CHANTEUSE UNTIL HER RECENT DEATH.

Music Metadata Smackdown

Classical music has a problem. A tiny company, and the world’s largest technology company, both think they have the answer.

Atmos Only Knows

Producer Giles Martin reveals how he focused on getting a “real” feel when he mixed The Beach Boys’ benchmark 1966 album, Pet Sounds, in Atmos.

The Music

THE SONOS Era 300 is the latest in a new generation of Atmos-compliant 'spatial audio' speakers that bring a more immersive listening experience without the hardware and installation grief inherent with discrete surround systems.

Total Immersion

ARENDAL 1961 9.4.4 SPEAKER SYSTEM

Charles Mingus's Changes: The Complete 1970s Atlantic Studio Recordings

The standup bass genius and jazz force of nature Charles Mingus made his first album for Atlantic Records, Pithecanthropus Erectus, in 1956. Several of his most memorable musical masterpieces, including The Clown (1957), Blues and Roots (1960), and Oh Yeah (1962), followed as he intermittently returned to the label throughout the 1960s and early '70s.

Summer Entertaining

When you think of \"entertaining\" with your AV system, chances are the first thing that comes to mind is your home theater or media room. And while having friends over for dinner and a movie is a great use of your system, it's really just the tip of the iceberg.

RECORD REVIEWS

At 79, Pulitzer Prize winner and NEA Jazz Master Henry Threadgill is one of the last men standing among the founding fathers of the jazz avant-garde. Because his output of recordings is not voluminous, every new Threadgill release is an event. The Other One is more of an event than most because of its ambition (it is an album-length suite) and its scale: It introduces a new 12-piece ensemble.

Invisible Treasure

I RECENTLY upgraded from traditional box speakers to in-wall speakers after delving into the world of in-walls with my recent review of the SVS 3000 In-Wall Subwoofer, which I installed in my den.

A Match for the Ages

BACK IN 2020 I reviewed the then-new Sonos Arc soundbar for Sound & Vision, and it never left my family room.

LIVEDEAD

BEAR WAS NOT HAPPY. As the 1970s began to unfurl, live engineer Owsley \"Bear\" Stanley was increasingly frustrated with the quality of the live sound he was in charge of mixing night after night for San Francisco's multi-genre jam stalwarts the Grateful Dead.

Mytek Brooklyn Bridge II Roon Core - STREAMER/SERVER/DAC

A useful way of thinking of this device is as a 21st century integrated preamp on steroids, where Roon (plus streaming services) is the new tuner, and a way to play records, with the possibility of endless future improvements via software updates.

AMAZON BEGINS OFFERING GROCERY DELIVERY FOR CUSTOMERS WHO ARE NOT PRIME MEMBERS

Amazon has begun offering its Fresh grocery delivery service to customers who aren’t Prime members.

CFPB SUES AUTO DEALER FOR ILLEGALLY LOCKING CARS.RE-POSSESSING VEHICLES. OTHER SHADY ACTIVITIES

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Wednesday sued USASF Servicing, the financial arm of a chain of auto dealerships found mostly in the South, alleging the company committed a laundry list of illegal practices, like disabling borrowers’ cars, double-billing customers, and illegally repossessing cars.

DOORDASH HITS RECORD FOR ORDERS, REVENUE IN SECOND QUARTER

DoorDash set records for total orders and revenue in the second quarter as its grocery and convenience deliveries accelerated and it improved driver efficiency.

CHINA PROPOSES TO LIMIT CHILDREN'S SMARTPHONE TIME TO A MAXIMUM OF 2 HOURS A DAY

China’s internet watchdog has laid out regulations to curb the amount of time children spend on their smartphones, in the latest blow to firms such as Tencent and ByteDance, which run social media platforms and online games.

CHINA RESTRICTS CIVILIAN DRONE EXPORTS, CITING UKRAINE AND CONCERN ABOUT MILITARY USE

China imposed restrictions this week on exports of long-range civilian drones, citing Russia’s war in Ukraine and concern that drones might be converted to military use.

PREPARE TO FLICK OFF YOUR INCANDESCENT BULBS FOR GOOD UNDER NEW US RULES THAT KICKED IN THIS WEEK

Get ready to say goodbye to the once ubiquitous incandescent light bulb, pioneered by Thomas Edison more than a century ago.

DEEP DIVE INTO META'S ALGORITHMS SHOWS THAT AMERICA'S POLITICAL POLARIZATION HAS NO EASY FIX

The powerful algorithms used by Facebook and Instagram to deliver content to users have increasingly been blamed for amplifying misinformation and political polarization.