Unlike the world of recorded music, where streaming has decimated sales of physical products, book publishing is seeing the reverse trend: sales of eBooks are declining while those of both hardback and paperback books are recovering. I have been a book junkie all my life— the two long walls of my listening room are lined with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and I have many boxes of books in storage—but these days almost all my book reading is with the Kindle app on my iPad mini.
Before I retired at the end of March 2019, most of my eBook consumption took place on the subway as I commuted to and from Stereophile’s Manhattan office. But these days I settle down to my reading in my listening chair, with my iPad both running the Kindle app and allowing me to control what I am listening to with the Roon app. Mostly the music plays on the big rig, but I also listen on headphones, driving them with the AudioQuest DragonFly Red USB DAC that Art Dudley reviewed in September 2016,1 plugged into the iPad mini.
So when AudioQuest’s Stephen Mejias asked me a few months back if he could send me a review sample of the new DragonFly Cobalt, it took me less than a New York minute to say “Yes.”
The Cobalt
...costs $299.95 compared with $199.95 for the DragonFly Red and $99.95 for the Black. What do you get for the extra coin?
Denne historien er fra December 2019-utgaven av Stereophile.
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Denne historien er fra December 2019-utgaven av Stereophile.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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RABBIT HOLES
The best Christmas gift in history was George Bailey being shown what the world would be like without his being born, courtesy of Angel Second Class Clarence, in the classic 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life.
REVINYLIZATION
As one of the first live albums to be recorded in the hallowed space that is New York City's Village Vanguard, Sonny Rollins's A Night at the Village Vanguard (recorded November 3, 1957, released in 1958) set the template, proving that recording in the odd, triangular club could not only work but could also produce distinctive, satisfying sound.
AURAL ROBERT
Recording music is complicated, and without the crucial assistance of producers and engineers, a lot of great records-not to mention successful musical careers would not happen.
Linear Tube Audio Aero
This paragraph from Linear Tube Audio's website description of their new Aero DAC sets the tone for the story I'm about to tell.
PrimaLuna EVO 300 Hybrid
Hybrid\" technology-specifically, mixing tubed and solid state in the same amplification device-stirs a deep desire for many enthusiasts.
SPIN DOCTOR
There once was an ugly duckling
BRILLIANT CORNERS
Stereo is the most successful audio gimmick of all time. While dashboard record players, quadraphonic LPs, and MQA have gone the way of Ron Popeil's hair-in-aspray-can infomercials, stereo remains king. And I am guilty of loving it.
Franco Serblin Accordo Goldberg
As founder and chief designer of Sonus Faber, Franco Serblin designed and manufactured many loudspeakers of acclaimed high quality, mainly in box form.
Grimm Audio MU2
For several months, my wife and I had been living in a cozy studio apartment in New York's Financial District while our apartment underwent substantial renovations.'
GoldenEar Technology T66
Loudspeaker company GoldenEar Technology was founded in 2010 by audio industry veteran Sandy Gross¹ after he left Definitive Technology.
