Stereophile

EGGLESTONWORKS ANDRA 5 IMPACTFUL FIFTH-GEN SPEAKER EVOKES THE EMOTIONS OF A LIVE PERFORMANCE

Hidden music, fake musicians

Lately in this space I’ve focused on all things (rather, some things) analog. This month I return to digital, specifically to streaming. I love listening to records, but I also listen to a lot of streamed music. I’m a Qobuz devotee, since Qobuz is the...

AUDIO RESEARCH REFERENCE 330M

The skating force phenomenon

At the beginning of last month’s As We See It, I wrote that I’ve lately been focused on “analog things.” I proceeded to write about refurbishing and modding my old McIntosh tuner. That’s “analog thing” #1. So, what other analog things have I been...

Analog matters

For this issue, in addition to compiling Recommended Components, I finished my review of the CH Precision C10 D/A processor (see p.133). Yet for these last few weeks, my attention has been mainly focused on analog things. Here’s the first analog thing:...

Audiophiles behaving badly

By my estimation, this year’s High End hi-fi show—the last in Munich before the world’s largest audio show moves to Vienna—was a major success, perhaps the first I’ve attended since the pandemic that managed to completely escape that shadow. Every day...

The commercial impact of tariffs (and of vinyl)

As I write this, the current US president recently put into effect large import tariffs on almost every country except (oddly) Russia and North Korea, then paused for most countries (including EU countries) for 90 days (except for 10%, and then another...

Why hi-fi prices have risen

Iwrote much of this column, including the title, in early April before the Trump administration announced “reciprocal” tariffs on imported goods. A random example: Switzerland, home of CH Precision, darTZeel, Goldmund, Orpheus Lab, Piega, Stenheim,...

Chips are still for chumps

One Saturday not long before press time for this issue, I received an email from Technical Editor (and former Editor) John Atkinson with the subject line, “20 Years Ago.” “Just read your May 2005 As We See It for the first time in many years,” John...

Some new music

Recently, I found myself in an email correspondence with David Chesky, the musician/composer/entrepreneur behind Chesky Records and HDtracks, which was the world’s first hi-rez music-download service. With his brother Norman, David has long run those...

POLICED! ANDY SUMMERS SPEAKS

Confounding the Circle of Confusion

In last month’s As We See It, I offered some reminiscences of my almost half-century of being involved in audio magazine publishing, as well as some thoughts on the Law of Diminishing Returns as it applied to the prices of hi-fi products. As I was...

Taking Care of Business

As Jim Austin wrote in this space in the December 2024 issue, following a medical procedure that he had in mid-October, he needed to take several weeks’ leave to recuperate. He delegated the magazine’s production to Managing Editor Mark Henninger,...

SONETTO V G2

SONUS FABER’S MIDPRICED MARVEL

Two FTC rules

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued two new/newly revised rules relevant—or possibly relevant—to the hi-fi industry. As John Atkinson reported in the October Stereophile (see Industry Update, p.15),1 the FTC recently announced a revision...

What we lose

In the August issue’s As We See It, Tom Fine and I encouraged readers to hold on to their physical media—those black and silver discs—even if they’re stashed away in a closet or attic, replaced by hi-rez streaming. An important reason we gave is that...

To appeal to young audiophiles, tell a story

Yesterday, I had a brief conversation, by text message, with my 26-year-old son. He had just walked by the Devialet shop at the Shoppes at Columbus Circle here in Manhattan. Knowing my interest in such things, he sent me a photo. The Devialet boutique...

THE SOUND OF REAL INSTRUMENTS IN SPACE

AXPONA in the rear view

THIS ISSUE: A series of unconsummated affairs. If buying a hi-fi product from an internet retailer is like an arranged marriage, a hi-fi show is like speed dating. Not everyone, I realize, approaches hi-fi shows (or speed dating, for that matter) the...