Inhaltsverzeichnis für November 2025 in Stereophile

As the Spin Doctor, I tend to lead an analog life. I’m not just talking about my preferred ways of listening to music, but also my approach to other everyday technology. For decades, there has been a push to turn everything we use into a connected, “smart” device. We now have technology that allows us to change the color temperature of the lights in our living room while we sit on the sofa, or to answer our front doorbell from the other side of the world. I prefer an older-school approach. For one thing, I drive a very analog car, a 33-year-old Mercedes-Benz diesel, which, once started, could happily drive all day without so much as a battery or alternator. Once it’s started, you don’t even need electricity, let alone…

Although I have very much appreciated how the best floorstanding loudspeakers have performed in my various listening rooms over the decades, I have always been most comfortable with relatively small two-way standmounts. Back in the early 1980s, I got musically moving sound from a pair of Rogers LS3/5a’s, which I still own, followed by Celestion SL6s, SL600s, and SL700s, and for the longest time a pair of Bowers & Wilkins John Bowers Silver Signatures. For the past decade, when not reviewing loudspeakers, I’ve been using either original KEF LS50s or GoldenEar BRXes as my daily drivers. Neither of these minimonitors can compete with big floorstanders when it comes to dynamics, maximum loudness, or low-frequency extension and weight, but both excel at creating a tangible, though admittedly small-scale, image of the…

I performed a full set of measurements on the McIntosh DS200 using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system1 then repeated some of the tests with the magazine’s higher-resolution APx555 analyzer. The coaxial S/PDIF, optical TosLink, and AES3 inputs all accepted data sampled at rates up to 192kHz. Apple’s AudioMIDI utility revealed that the USB port accepted 16 and 24-bit integer data sampled at all rates from 44.1kHz to 768kHz. The USB Prober app identified the DS200 as “MSA5500” from “McIntosh” and indicated that the USB port operated in the optimal isochronous asynchronous mode. When I connected the McIntosh’s Ethernet port to my network, Roon recognized the processor as the Roon Ready “McIntosh DS200.” After a factory reset, I used optical S/PDIF data for the testing as well as USB data sourced…

It’s been said before, but the essential truth remains as shiny as a new 2A3 tube: A well-made, good-sounding integrated amplifier is a sonic marvel, a triumph of audio engineering. Sound quality is just the beginning. Consider economics. An integrated amplifier is gentler on the wallet than often-cumbersome separate pre and power amplifiers. It’s the Marie Kondo of the audio world, decluttering your hi-fi rack with hardnosed efficiency. Fewer connections mean even more value—fewer expensive cables—less fuss, and a refined, all-inclusive electrical architecture tucked into one (often but not always sleek) chassis. Sometimes they’re as powerful as stand-alone amplifiers if not more so. We live in an era where watts are cheap, now more than ever. The latest iteration, class-D, has taken its place as a high-fidelity source to be…

Paul Miller measured the F-Dur turntable and its F-Note tonearm for sister publication Hi-Fi News. PM found the F-Dur superior to its predecessor, the older EAT Forte S, with its TPE-damped alloy platter, “continuous polymer belt with carbon fiber, and lownoise AC motor.” Paul found very low through-groove noise, at –74dB (DIN B-weighted), and very good absolute speed accuracy—just 0.045% slow. Peak wow was very low, at 0.02%, and flutter—higher-frequency fluctuations—added up to 0.05% and consisted mainly of random noise rather than discrete sidebands (see fig.1). Turning to the tonearm, PM noted that its high effective mass means it is suited best for low-compliance cartridges. The provided cartridge, Jo No.5, which is based on an Ortofon Quartet Bronze, is a pretty good compliance match but also quite heavy at 15gm.…

A drian Belew had an itch that needed some serious scratching. The iconoclast guitarist/vocalist had a hankering to perform material from the three King Crimson albums he fronted during the proto-prog band’s 1980s revival—October 1981’s Discipline, June 1982’s Beat, and March 1984’s Three of a Perfect Pair—but how could he go about it in a way that pays respect to and expands upon their original intent, all at once? First order of business: Make sure King Crimson founder and guitar visionary Robert Fripp approved, even though he would not be participating. Check. Next: Confirm that bassist Tony Levin is onboard. Check. Finally: Knowing that Fripp and drummer Bill Bruford wouldn’t participate,1 find perfect replacement bandmembers for these sure-to-be-challenging gigs. Belew and Levin enlisted two acknowledged virtuosos: guitarist Steve Vai (Frank…

In Robin D.G. Kelley’s definitive, 450-page biography of Thelonious Monk, Monk and tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse first meet on p.100, in 1944. Their next encounter comes 91 pages (11 years) later, when Rouse is working with Monk at the Music Barn concert series in the Berkshires. Then, from p.250 to p.409—that’s 1958–1969, when the two parted ways—there aren’t many pages that don’t bear Rouse’s name. The two are not only linked in music history; they are literally together in heaven—in the heavens rather: Astronomer Joe Montani named asteroids after them. Monk, of course, is one of the half-dozen or so most recognizable and influential figures in the history of jazz; Rouse not so much. Extended proximity to such fame sealed Rouse’s main reputation—as Monk’s sideman. That reputation doesn’t tell the…

German aesthetes are fond of saying “Das Auge isst mit”: “The eye feasts too.” In audio terms, your ears do the listening, but your eyes want their share of pleasure. I thought of that expression after I opened the T+A Symphonia’s double factory box. This German-built all-in-one has an attractive, subtly beveled, anodized-aluminum chassis that’s a few inches narrower and lower (14.9" W × 3.9" H) than the typical stereo amplifier. At 13.7lb, it isn’t heavy either, though it feels substantial, even dense, conveying a sense of quality. Looking at the Symphonia gave me a case of Ebenmäßigkeitsentzückung—a feeling of delight brought on by an object’s symmetry. Those Germans have a word for everything.1 The Symphonia looks understated, which is surprising considering that its silver-gray fascia is chockablock with controls.…

I used DRA Labs’ MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone with an Earthworks microphone preamplifier to measure the Dynaudio Contour 20 Black Edition’s farfield frequency behavior and dispersion. I used an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield and in-room responses and Dayton Audio’s DATS V2 system to measure the impedance magnitude and electrical phase angle. Dynaudio specifies the Contour 20 BE’s sensitivity as 86dB/2.83V/1m, which was confirmed by my B-weighted estimate. The Contour 20 BE’s impedance is specified as 4 ohms with a minimum value of 4.6 ohms. My measurement (fig.1, solid trace) was higher than 5 ohms for the entire audioband, with a minimum value of 4.73 ohms at 192Hz. The impedance is significantly higher in the treble than it is in the midrange; the Contour 20…

I used my Audio Precision SYS2722 system1 to measure the HiFi Rose RA280. While the manufacturer describes the RA280 as a “class-AD” design, it appears to have a class-D output stage for its two channels. Because class-D amplifiers emit relatively high levels of ultrasonic noise that would drive my analyzer’s input into slew-rate limiting—the RA280 emitted enough RF noise to interfere with reception on the portable FM radio I keep in my test lab—I inserted an Audio Precision AUX-0025 passive low-pass filter between the test load and the analyzer. This filter mitigates noise above 80kHz and eliminates noise above 200kHz. Without the filter, 79mV of ultrasonic noise was present in the amplifier’s output, with a center frequency of 574kHz. I used the Audio Precision filter for all tests other than…

A more temporal reason why 1975 was such a rich year for music is that by the middle 1970s, audio engineers had mastered the arts of recording on multiple channels and cutting and editing tape. Even more crucially, the profit motive still existed in music. Back when people bought vinyl LPs by the binful, it was still possible for musicians (and by extension record labels) to get rich making music. All those factors played a part in an explosion 50 years ago of popular music that has never quite been equaled. With that in mind, here’s an annotated list of 15 stars of 1975’s profusion, with a healthy list of equally important albums to follow. Although the lists focus on rock and pop, by 1975 jazz had cross-pollinated with the…

EDITOR’S PICK RECORDING OF THE MONTH ZACK LOBER So We Could Live Lober, bass; Jasper Blom, tenor saxophone; Suzan Veneman, trumpet; Sun-Mi Hong, drums ZenneZ ZR2025015 (CD). 2025. Ben Van Gelder, prod.; Alessandro Mazzieri, eng. Jazz people often hear about the vitality of the Netherlands jazz scene. But if they are American jazz people, they may not hear a lot of evidence. So We Could Live is the evidence. The leader, bassist Zack Lober, is actually from Montreal. He holds a master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music and had a 14-year career as a sideman in Boston and New York, playing with heavyweights like Henry Threadgill and Butch Morris. In 2019, he moved to the Netherlands. Sun-Mi Hong grew up in South Korea but relocated to Amsterdam 15…

Not many hi-fi dealerships can say they’ve survived half a century of history. Natural Sound, which is based in Framingham, Massachusetts, about 20 miles west of Boston, is one that can. Founded by Jim Lackey in 1975, Natural Sound turns 50 years old this November. Lackey continues as the company’s owner and president, though General Manager Pete Chinigo manages everyday business. In a recent conversation with Chinigo, I learned more about how business is going and what it takes for a hi-fi store—Natural Sound and others—to continue surviving into an uncertain future. First some background. Way back in the 1980s, Chinigo bought a stereo system from Natural Sound. He was in his mid-teens. He then worked part-time at the dealership when he was in college. Three years ago, he returned…

If you go to Tokyo, there’s a good chance you’ll develop a new appreciation for shopping malls. The Japanese know malls. They know just what to do with them. Inside a Tokyo mall, you can peruse the usual handbags and shoes in their unending variety. But you can also stare at Fuji apples as large as a baby’s head swaddled in tissue paper, flip through the world’s most exquisite stationery, stock up on fabric from the 1920s, and taste things that will haunt you well into retirement. I remember having my first serious sushi in Tokyo on the top floor of a Ginza mall. My partner and I were led into a private room where a chef who didn’t speak a word of English prepared one of the four or…

I performed a full set of measurements on the T+A Symphonia using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system. 1 I controlled the amplifier both with the front-panel controls and with the T+A Music Navigator G3 app, which I installed on my iPad mini after connecting the amplifier’s Ethernet port to my network. With the network connection active, Roon recognized the processor as the Roon Ready “T+A Symphonia.” As the Symphonia appears to use a class-D output stage and because class-D amplifiers emit relatively high levels of ultrasonic noise that would drive my analyzer’s input into slew-rate limiting, I inserted an Audio Precision AUX-0025 passive low-pass filter between the test load and the analyzer. This filter mitigates noise above 80kHz and eliminates noise above 200kHz. Without the filter, there was 221mV of…

McIntosh, which is based in my home state of New York, has long been in my audio life. It was the “house sound” where I grew up. My parents’ stereo system was powered by a pair of MC75 tubed amplifiers (fed by a Marantz 7B preamp, driving Bozak Concert Grand speakers). In my father’s recording studio,1 McIntosh amplifiers powered the monitors (most likely MC60s), and stereo records were cut using modified MI-200 power amps.2 Today, my office system is built around an early 2000s MA6500 solid state integrated amp. In this decade, Stereophile has reviewed a few McIntosh components. Larry Greenhill reviewed the MAC7200 receiver in December 2020;3 it is still in McIntosh’s product line. Sasha Matson reviewed the C12000 preamplifier in October 20234 and the ML1 Mk II loudspeaker…

Before beginning any measurements, I powered up the WiSA transmitter/hub, installed the SA Cockpit app on my iPad mini, connected the app to the hub via my Wi-Fi network, paired the hub with one of the speakers, and connected my MacBook Pro’s USB port to the hub. Apple’s AudioMIDI utility revealed that the USB port accepts 16- and 24-bit integer data sampled at all rates from 44.1kHz to 192kHz. The USB Prober app identified the WiSA hub as “Stereo Hub HT” from “Hansong (Nanjing)” and indicated that the USB port operated in the isochronous adaptive mode rather than the preferred isochronous asynchronous mode. I used the SA Cockpit app to disable any equalization settings then connected the analog output of my DRA Labs MLSSA system to the XLR jack on…

In the high-end audio industry, the representation of women in professional roles is strikingly low. Yet these women are integral to every facet of the industry, from engineering and design to leadership, proving that their contributions are vital. To name just a few: There’s EveAnna Dauray Manley, who recently sold her company, Manley Laboratories, Inc., to music tech entrepreneur Dirk Ulrich. There’s Inès Adler of Voxativ, whose “contagious passion for audio is built right into her components,” which “makes every Voxativ visit a blast,” I wrote about the Voxativ room at High End Munich 2025. Voxativ’s founder and chief engineer, Adler holds patents in engine design for Daimler Mercedes-Benz. She even started her own electric vehicle charging company. Carolyn Counnas is the industrial designer for Zesto Audio; she and husband…

Women have undeniably become the most dynamic and vital creative force in music today. Without their good energies and ideas, music, which in the digital age has become more background than art, would be much less interesting and inspiring. Many and perhaps most of today’s popular-music superstars are women: Beyoncé, Adele, Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga, Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, and of course Taylor Swift. Beyond the headlines is a vast world of independent and assertive music creation. From the costumed, Black Sabbath–indebted metal stylings of Riley Pinkerton of Castle Rat through the UK jazz of Nubya Garcia and on to Molly Tuttle’s bluegrass-pop and Kathleen Edwards’s Americana, women are often the reason to listen to new music. Three new albums are representative of the spirit and…

There are faster ways to start an online fight, but not many. Say “$10,000 DAC” and watch audio-forum commenters descend like pigeons on a dropped hot dog, flapping and furious. They’ll tell you the designers are crooks, the buyers are dupes, and anyone not DIY-ing with AliExpress kits is a poseur. Building high-end hi-fi equipment costs serious coin, but you wouldn’t know it from the Anger, Smugness, and Rigidity found on certain objectivist audio forums, where anything north of, say, $5000 is deemed a ripoff or a status buy. To posters in those snark-infested waters, expensive equals unfair. Margins and migraines Here’s the reality. Let’s say you want to build loudspeakers. That means renting, buying, or erecting a building, investing in precision tooling, buying high-quality electronic parts and cabinet materials,…