Tabla de contenidos para February 2026 en Stereophile

What’s better than attending an audio event? Attending three. Well, not exactly three—more like two spread across three locations, tied together by one company: importer-distributor American Sound of Canada, which is based in Greater Toronto. Owned by longtime industry figure Angie Lisi, American Sound of Canada has, since its founding in 1990, been a purveyor of some of the finest audio gear in the biz. According to the written invitation, the event’s main purpose was to celebrate the launch of a new showroom. But when I spoke with Angie ahead of my visit, she explained, in her signature rasp and no-nonsense style, that there was another reason behind the event: to bring the people who help shape the industry—manufacturers, dealers, consumers, media—together. “There are too many cliques now,” she said,…

Nick Doshi, accompanied by Jessie Bentley of Virginia dealer Command Performance AV, picked up the Doshi Evolution Stereo amplifier from Ken Micallef’s Greenwich Village apartment and delivered it to me in Brooklyn. They carefully installed the eight numbered Electro-Harmonix 6CA7-EH output tubes, then Nick briefed me on his design philosophy and how to operate the various buttons and switches. As I did with the similar-looking Evolution Monoblock amplifier that Jason Victor Serinus reviewed in May 2021,1 I left the amplifier powered up for 45 minutes before I started examining the Evolution Stereo’s performance on the test bench with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system.2 Before doing so, I muted the amplifier and checked the bias current for each of the four paralleled pairs of output tubes using the front-panel display and…

When this feature premiered in 1991, it was intended as a list of recordings that were, in the words of Richard Lehnert, the music editor at the time, “both musically and sonically impeccable—in other words, the best, the tops, to die for.” RL went on: “such a list also makes for some strange procrustean bedfellows—obscure recordings that would never make the proverbial ‘desert island’ list snuggling up next to towering classics of the concert hall and control room.” Over time, that focus has shifted. The requirement that the selected recordings be “sonically impeccable” has been relaxed. Sure, we’re a hi-fi magazine, and we care deeply about sound quality, yet we’ve come to realize that some of the recordings we value most are sonically flawed. Larry Archibald agreed. In the very…

Why award Recording of the Month to a project whose vocal soloists, though thoroughly committed, are in some respects less than ideal? Because the orchestra and conducting in this Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth), one of the greatest works of music in the late German romantic idiom, shed such light on Mahler’s achievement as to make the recording either a first choice or an essential supplement to the other great recordings of his career-defining creation. Mahler, who did not live to witness Bruno Walter conduct the premiere of this massive vocal symphony, composed Das Lied von der Erde in 1908 and 1909, a period when his life was in turmoil. His young daughter, Maria, had died unexpectedly, and Alma, his progressively estranged wife, blamed Maria’s…

CH Precision L10 We thank Jason Victor Serinus for the depth and care he brought to this review, and Stereophile for the unexpected opportunity. Timely delivery has long been part of CH Precision’s business ethos. We have built our production processes around maintaining short lead times as a reflection of how we believe a manufacturer should support its dealers and their clients. We also appreciate the time Jason spent with CH Precision’s Kevin Wolff during system setup and technical discussions. The L10 was developed without preconceptions about what a preamplifier “should” be. Beyond an uncompromising focus on musical veracity, no design element was taken for granted. Our engineering team revisited fundamentals: topology, architecture, power supply, noise behavior, grounding, gain structure, and DC offset management. We did not begin with fixed…

Thank you! It was a sad day when I learned that Sound & Vision was no longer to be. I received a notification that the remainder of my 25-plus-year subscription was going to be fulfilled with Stereophile. Meh! What good is a magazine that reviews high-end and high-dollar components going to do for a budget-minded 68-year-old semi-audiophile? After several issues, I discovered that I was getting an education. The more reviews I read, the more I learned about my lifelong hobby. This really kicked in when I got an issue with the Recommended Components guide. Since then, I have built the best-sounding system of my 50 years of listening. It consists of a Elac DPA 2 amplifier, Shiit Freya Plus preamp, Schiit Bifrost DAC, a pair of Philharmonic BMR monitors,…

Stereophile strives to distribute the wealth equally. Did that get your attention? What the statement refers to, in terminology devoid of dollar signs, is that Stereophile attempts to review products from different companies rather than repeatedly focus on products from a single company. We may consecutively review an amplifier and its companion preamp or preamp/DAC/streamer, but I doubt we’ve ever reviewed three of a company’s top-level products in six months. Until now. Only a hermit, living remotely without access to media, need be told that we live in challenging times. Challenging times demand flexibility. After I experienced two consecutive product review cancellations—the first because tariffs forced the distributor to rebudget, the second because the product was not yet ready—Editor Jim Austin started reaching out. Kevin Wolff, director of global sales for…

I measured one of the EgglestonWorks Andra 5 loudspeakers, serial number A5-88887, in Tom Fine’s listening room. Tom and I maneuvered the 159lb loudspeaker onto a small dolly, wheeled it several feet from the wall behind it, and aimed the speaker along one of his listening room’s diagonals so that it was well away from the room boundaries, apart from the floor. The speaker was driven by TF’s Benchmark AHB2 amplifier for the measurements. I used DRA Labs’ MLSSA system with a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to examine the EgglestonWorks speaker’s farfield behavior and dispersion at my usual 50” distance; I used an Earthworks QTC-40 mike, which has a small ¼” diameter capsule, for the nearfield responses. I measured the Andra 5’s impedance magnitude and electrical phase angle with Dayton Audio’s…

My DACs are taking naps. I have not played music from a digital source in at least 12 weeks. I’m having too much fun playing records from the ’50s and ’60s with period-correct phono cartridges and listening to 100-year-old 78s at the Hot Club of New York. When I’m walking the sidewalks, my brain is strategizing about which vintage cartridge I should try next. Cartridge-rolling is my new favorite pastime. These recent adventures have reminded me how close and handson the relationship is between a record collector and their phono equalizer. Watching analog shaman John DeVore play 78s while tuning the sound with his EMT JPA66 phono stage/preamp, or Jazz Deejay-Supreme Matthew Rivera adjusting the EQ on his 1960 MacIntosh C20 while working the crowd at the Hot Club, has…

Before beginning any measurements, I connected the Kii Control unit to one of the loudspeakers and installed the Kii Home app—v.1.1.27 (build 60)—on my iPhone. When I powered up the speaker, the app found it via Bluetooth, and it allowed me to connect the speaker to my Wi-Fi network. I then connected my MacBook Pro’s USB port to the Control unit. Apple’s AudioMIDI utility revealed that its USB port accepted 32-bit integer data sampled at all rates from 32kHz to 384kHz. The USB Prober app identified the Kii as “Kii Control” from “Kii Audio GmbH” with the serial number “415-001” and indicated that the USB port operated in the isochronous asynchronous mode. I reset the loudspeaker’s settings by pressing the appropriate button on its rear panel for more than 15…

 “They lack the original analog warmth.” “The AI-powered ‘demixing’ process has produced a clearer sound with better separation.” “The new mixes lose the magic of his father’s original ’60s mixes.” “The selective use of compression is pure heresy.” Opinions vary, but like everything connected to The Beatles, charged arguments over Giles Martin’s ongoing remastering of, and sonic tinkering with, the band’s hallowed recording catalog are unending. To be fair, potentially changing the band’s sonic profile to something more “modern” was always a no-win proposition, with zero chance of pleasing everyone. With that as a given, George Martin’s son has shown that he’s hyperaware that any monumental changes to the sound of Beatles’ albums or singles would likely incite a rebellion. Any Coke-vs–New Coke situation would also likely endanger his burgeoning…

Definitive Audio in Bellevue, Washington, near Seattle—one of the premier dealerships in the Pacific Northwest—continued its 50th anniversary celebration with an event it called “Icons and Innovators.” Highlighted by showings of the new JBL Everest series and Bowers & Wilkins Nautilus and 801 Abbey Road edition loudspeakers, the event drew a full house to the first of two sessions. JBL/D’Agostino/dCS/Clearaudio My first stop was at the first showing of JBL’s Summit Makalu loudspeakers ($60,000/pair). The name derives from Makalu mountain near Mount Everest. On hand were Chris Hagen, the principal acoustic engineer for the Summit series; Dave Tovissi, vice president and general manager of Harman’s Luxury Audio division; and Jim Garrett, senior director of product strategy and planning for Harman’s Luxury Audio division. “The Summit series is JBL’s latest effort…

After performing the CH Precision L10 balanced input’s Calibration procedure, I used my Audio Precision SYS2722 system1 to perform a complete set of measurements using the L10’s direct-coupled balanced inputs and outputs with the input impedance set to High, the gain adjust set to “0dB,” feedback set to Local, Phase Polarity set to In Phase, and the Ground Lift switch set to Opened. I then repeated some of the tests using the unbalanced RCA inputs and outputs then did more tests with the magazine’s higher-performance APx555. The supplied umbilical cables were long enough for me to place the power supply on the floor, well away from the L10’s preamp chassis. The L10 preserved absolute polarity (ie, was noninverting) with balanced and single-ended inputs and outputs. (Its XLR jacks are wired…

Nick Doshi is cautiously reserved when he talks about his amplifiers, preferring to let the products speak for themselves. At every show I’ve heard them at, from Chicago to DC to Munich, they have done exactly that: Every system I’ve heard featuring a Doshi amp has delivered great sound. When I pressed him as to why, he just smiled. So it was with a little trepidation that I asked to review the hybrid Doshi Audio Evolution Stereo Amplifier ($24,995), a push-pull, hybrid solid state/tube amplifier that operates its first 50Wpc in class-A into 5 ohms, up to 65Wpc in class-AB. The amp exhibits the best qualities of a triode, Doshi insisted. “The Doshi Stereo Amplifier is actually two very different and highly desirable amplifiers in a single, extraordinary product,” the…

I measured the Luxman E-07 phono preamplifier with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system.1 To minimize noise, I connected wires from each channel’s grounding terminals on the preamplifier’s rear panel to the analyzer’s ground. I left the Articulator function turned off for the testing. The E-07 has two single-ended inputs and one balanced input; the balanced inputs can be used only for MC cartridges. With the single-ended inputs, absolute polarity was preserved from both the balanced and single-ended outputs with the front-panel Phase Invert switch set to “Off,” which the manual says will have pin 2 of the XLR jack connected to “Cold” rather than “Hot,” the opposite of the AES standard. Polarity was inverted, though, from the balanced inputs. In MM mode (via the single-ended inputs only), the gain was identical…

“The midfrequency portion is reproduced both by the midrange and side woofers, but with a precise phase-amplitude relationship that causes output behind the speaker to be minimized. The lowand high-frequency bands are reproduced normally, by the side woofers and tweeter, respectively. “Here’s a polar plot of the mid and low bands combined. Note that these plots are made with the center of rotation directly in front of the midrange driver, hence the apparent rearward shift in the bass. “Because the lowfrequency band is simply reproduced by the side woofers, the speaker is omnidirectional in this range. In the midband, the speaker is cardioid. At the crossover point (125Hz), you can see that the directivity is precisely between omni and cardioid. Now to some degree, any box speaker will transition between…

Punk rock was never meant to grow old. For their first three studio efforts, The Replacements epitomized the punk ethos. Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash (1981), the EP Stink (1982), and Hootenanny (1983) are loud, bashy fun. Song titles on Stink give a fair idea of the band’s level of maturity in those days: “Fuck School”; “White and Lazy”; and “Dope Smokin’ Moron.” It has been suggested over the years that this most worshipped and mythologized of all ’80s indie rock bands weren’t just deliberately sloppy but suffered from self-sabotage. Around 1984, the band discovered that punk, even more than most other forms of popular music, had its own credo of unwritten rules, and those rules started to chafe against the band’s nonconformist ways. In 1984, during…