Sanford Gross, the co-founder of Polk Audio and former CEO of GoldenEar Audio, has said that “in general, the best audio systems will sound more lifelike and will bring the listener closer to the performers and the performers will seem more alive in the room.”
A few weeks ago, I was playing Stravinsky Conducts Histoire Du Soldat Suite (LP, Columbia MS 7093) with Audio-Technica’s new AT-VM95E cartridge, which costs $49 ($69 after February 21; other prices listed here will increase, too), and wondering, did it ever sound this good with a Koetsu? With this cheap AT cartridge, the recording sounded so real, present, and compelling that my brain kept trying to remember how much more excitement or reality I got when I last played it with the $8495 Koetsu Rosewood Signature Platinum moving coil.
With the AT-VM95E, this Stravinsky sounded so good and so fundamentally correct, timbre- and tempo-wise, that it was doing what my friend Christopher Hildebrand of Fern & Roby says great audio systems do:
“With the best audio systems, the experience is what you take away with you, like what you feel when you leave an art exhibition that shifted your perspective on things you had stopped considering.” (Emphasis is mine.)
This month, without warning or forethought, simply by playing records with a gaggle of popular low-priced phono cartridges, I realized that some entry-level cartridges deliver spectacularly high levels of audio vérité. I also discovered that, unbeknownst to me, some under-$200 moving magnets outperform some exotic moving coils that cost 10 times as much.
I also rediscovered a mostly forgotten truth about what matters most in sound system design.
Audio-Technica AT95E
Denne historien er fra January 2021-utgaven av Stereophile.
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Denne historien er fra January 2021-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.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
My last Far East trip
First comes the anticipation, that initial jet of warm water, that miraculous searching, finding the sweet spot, then heaven on earth as it cleans and caresses.
Riding the Common Wave
In the e-commerce era, brick-and-mortar dealerships must give customers compelling reasons to stop by. Los Angeles hi-fi dealership Common Wave's owner Wesley Katzir keeps customers coming through the door with a simple idea: that music matters in our everyday lives and that what he enjoys, other people will enjoy, too.
Mind Games to the bottom of the rabbit hole
After a wild decade in the biggest pop music group ever, John Lennon's post-Beatles years were spent in protest, in various kinds of therapy, in immigration court, and in search of a new musical identity.
Trane meets the Motor City
Detroit became a destination for migrating African Americans early, starting with the Underground Railroad; the city's proximity to Canada was convenient for those seeking to escape Southern slavery.
Vital art never rests
At this late date, it seems impossible that there could still be \"lost\" albums lingering in the vaults by musicians as important and successful as Johnny Cash and Paul McCartney.
DUKE IN 10
TO COMMEMORATE THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF DUKE'S DEATH, ROBERT BAIRD SELECTS A DOUBLE HANDFUL OF EXEMPLARY TRACKS FROM PERHAPS AMERICA'S GREATEST MUSICAL GENIUS.
Piega Coax Gen2 811
It's funny how we discover some music in unexpected, twisting ways.
Pass Laboratories XP-27
One of the pleasures of reviewing-and also using-products from Pass Laboratories is an encounter with Nelson Pass's writing, which can usually be found in the owner's manual and is always competent, insightful, and sometimes funny.
EMT 928 II
Modern turntables are a paradox.
Dynaudio Contour 30i
Ah, Denmark. Land of the Vikings and blue-eyed, blond-haired folk with faces sculpted just so.
