Had you asked what the most exciting trend in high-performance audio was, say, three years ago, I would have told you it was the increasing adoption of room correction in two-channel audio systems. Had you asked me the same question three years before that, I would have told you one of the things exciting me most was that audiophile headphone manufacturers were finally embracing Bluetooth in a meaningful way.
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.
I don’t think I’ve ever prejudiced a review as much as this one. It started with an editorial in which I questioned the need for external digital-to-analog converters outside of specific use cases, such as adding digital connectivity to an all-analog setup, or adding support for formats not handled natively by the internal DAC of a beloved piece of gear. Brent Butterworth and I followed that up with a discussion on the SoundStage! Audiophile Podcast, in which we basically concluded that DACs have become a commodity, which is an increasingly common sentiment in the industry. But as I said in my unboxing blog post for iFi Audio’s Zen One Signature, if there’s one DAC that I think has the potential to address all of the relevant use-cases listed above while also being reasonably priced, it’s this one.
Read more: iFi Audio Zen One Signature Digital-to-Analog Converter
Sub Pop Records SP1430
Format: CD
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment
Singer-songwriter Joshua Tillman recorded a number of albums as J. Tillman before adopting the stage name Father John Misty. He has released five albums credited to that name, the newest being Chloë and the Next 20th Century. Misty albums are often crammed with instrumental details that enliven Tillman’s songs, and his latest is no different in this respect. Chloë and the Next 20th Century is carefully and lushly appointed, but this time, Tillman pulls in ideas from several earlier eras of pop music. The result is an album that is a nod to the past while feeling very modern.
Read more: Father John Misty: "Chloë and the Next 20th Century"
Personally, I’ve always liked automatic turntables. Automatic refers to the way they work with records. On most manual turntables, you have to pick up the arm and manually place it in the lead-in groove, hence the name. A semi-automatic will either stop rotating at the end of a side, or in some cases, stop rotating and lift the arm from the disc, but starting the record is still a manual operation.
Read more: Andover Audio SpinDeck Max with Ortofon OM 10 Cartridge
Although I love my dad with all my heart and get along with him swimmingly, we are very different people, with different interests and significantly different life philosophies. Really, the main things we have in common are our mutual love of Corvettes and our equally unhealthy obsession with the weather. So we spend a lot of time talking about both.
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.
I should probably state right from the giddy-up that there’s going to be a lot of overlap between my review of Rotel’s new A12MKII integrated amplifier-DAC ($1099.99, all prices USD) and that of the company’s A11 Tribute ($799.99) from around this time last year. There are, after all, a lot of similarities in terms of aesthetics, ergonomics, design, and of course sound. But don’t get lulled into a trance by the repetition; there are some significant differences between the A11 Tribute and A12MKII that may or may not be relevant given your needs, preferences, and the rest of your stereo setup.
Proper Records PRPCD160
Format: CD
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment
The Cowboy Junkies have recorded quite a few of their own songs in the 37 years they have been performing together, but the Canadian group has always shown a talent for reinterpreting other artists’ tunes. Their first album, Whites Off Earth Now!! (1986), comprised eight covers and only one original song (“Take Me,” by band members Margo and Michael Timmins). But it was a cover song from their second album, two years later, that brought them international attention: Velvet Underground’s “Sweet Jane,” from The Trinity Session (1988)—the Junkies’ best known and most highly acclaimed recording.
Note: measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada's National Research Council can be found through this link.
It’s getting to the point where even the most elitist high-end audio enthusiasts have to admit that the performance delta between affordable and aspirational audio gear is shrinking at an ever-increasing rate. More and more these days, the things that separate budget components from the spendy stuff are styling, materials, finishes, pedigree, exclusivity, and so forth. All valid, mind you. I’m not discounting any of them. But there’s also a good argument to be made that at the upper end of the value scale—meaning the lower end of the price scale—there aren’t a whole lot of speakers that can peel your face straight off your skull in a really large room while also being refined and balanced at lower listening levels. I’d say my go-to in this category is GoldenEar Technology’s Triton Two+, but at $4500/pair (all prices USD), that one is still quite out of reach for a lot of people. All of which makes Paradigm’s new Monitor SE 8000F—a $1699.98/pair beast of a loudspeaker that promises to fit this niche—potentially very exciting.
You won’t often see me reviewing—and as such unboxing—standalone DACs here on Access, given that most of the gear I’m likely to review in the appropriate price range already benefits from high-quality built-in digital-to-analog conversion. In fact, I recently wrote an editorial about this very subject.
You could have probably guessed this from my chosen profession, but I’m a sucker for a good story. Put a cool product in front of me that’s competently designed and delivers good performance, and I’m smitten. Put that same product in front of me and talk to me about the creative impulse behind it, the reason for its existence, the hole in the market that it fills, and my tail wags that much harder.