Tabla de contenidos para November 2025 en The Absolute Sound

Email the Editor: rharley@nextscreen.com or: TAS, 1801 Red Bud Lane, PO Box 164, Round Rock, TX 78664 Kudos to Paul Seydor Paul Seydor really knocked it out of the park with his review of the new Quad 33 and 303 [Issue 363]. Such iconic products deserve thorough reviews like this. And referring to the controversial thinking and statements of Peter Walker, the genius behind Quad, as “ex cathedra,” was both funny and spot-on. Whether you agree or disagree, his opinions about hi-fireally were pontifical. The 33 and 303 are also two of the most unusual and best-looking modern designs ever. Kudos to TAS and Paul Seydor. Thank you for TAS! Tom Schnabel A Retrograde Decision Most of the music pre-1990s was great, but the recordings were awful. Most of the music…

JBL 4329P $4500 This is a complete system, not just a speaker. It has streamer, hi-res DAC, and amplifiers, as well as a horn midrange/tweeter, and 8" ported woofer. Signals are routed through an electronic crossover to the 50W horn amplifier and the 250W woofer amplifier. If you want a physically simple system, this one fits the bill, yet it also allows for added sources. If you also want a big, bold sound with tight, solid midbass, the 4329P should be at the top of your list in this price range. The sound is energetic and on the bright side, but for dynamic music and group listening this can work well. The imaging for central listeners is also a 4329P strength. YT ATC SCM19A $8999 The active, two-way tower version…

Mapleshade LP Racks $100 With the premium vinyl resurgence of the last few years, record collections are increasing once again. Run out of rack space? Mapleshade rides to the rescue. Its racks are constructed of ¾" finished or unfinished oak or finished Ambrosia maple and are still hand-crafted by the Amish family that also builds Mapleshade's massive Samson racks. NG, 245 Mye Sound Stands Price varies with model These aftermarket stand designed for Maggie dipole loudspeakers have no downside, according to reviewer Jacob Heilbrunn—only up. Punchier, tauter bass, quieter backgrounds, cleaner mids and highs, increased snap and speed, less smearing and fuzziness are a few of the benefits. Sanus SF26 Steel Foundation $209 Sanus’ thoughtfully designed and beautifully executed SF Series speaker stands do everything you could want a good…

Belkin Gold Series $15/1m Despite being ridiculously inexpensive, this cable was AT's reference for nearly two years. Though no longer the best USB cable available, in sonic and musical terms it continues to outperform and embarrass many alternatives, regardless of price. AT, 226 Straight Wire USB-Link $60/1m, $72/1.5m This well-made, great-sounding USB cable is a relative bargain, delivering outstanding dynamics, timbral fidelity, and transparency. AT, 226 AudioQuest Forest Ethernet $119/1.5m The inexpensive Forest is a worthy upgrade over generic Ethernet cables, delivering greater space and dimensionality, smoother timbres, and wider dynamics. RH, 240 AudioQuest Carbon USB $239/0.75m, $299/1.5m One of the go-to USB cables for computer-audio fans, the Carbon is neutral without sounding bleached, dynamic without sounding piercing, detailed without sounding analytical. AT, 226 Wireworld Starlight 8 Ethernet $275/1m, $350/2m…

Icon Audio HP8 MkII Signature Edition $2250 The HP8 mk II is a tube-based headphone amp designed in England by David Shaw. It uses an ECC83 tube in the first gain stage which drives 6SN7 tubes. The 6SN7s then feed through a multi-tap output transformer. This is a nice feature because it allows front-panel-switchable output impedance to match different headphones from 8 ohms to 1000 ohms. Sonically, the big thing about the Icon is that it smooths out some of the peaks that headphone makers can't seem to avoid in the upper midrange and treble. But it does this without making the music dead or even noticeably altered. The HP8 has some brilliant tone-shaping going on that should fit the reality of listening today. YT Centrance Amp Mini $3500 The…

MUSIC SONICS Buddy Guy: Ain't Done with the Blues. RCA. This is high-octane sonic fuel for a Chicago-bound road trip among speed-crazed truckers on the raggedy asphalt strip that's Interstate 80. Guy's hard-driving blues rock follows a formula he settled on after 1991's Damn Right, I've Got the Blues. It's a style that banks, not on his early Guitar Slim-inspired sound, but on gritty modern-rock guitar riffs. Those subsequent recordings paired Guy with B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, and Keith Richards, to name a few. The new album finds Guy trading licks with Joe Walsh (“How Blues Is That”), Peter Frampton (“It Keeps Me Young”), and Joe Bonamassa (“Dry Stick”), the latter of which displays the soulful R&B vocals and nuanced guitar dynamics that mark Guy's finest work. The Blind Boys…

TAS CEO Tom Martin responds to a reader statement about a fundamental philosophical question that has important implications for describing audio component sound quality. Reader Gene Crawford writes: “Qualia is the ability to have subjective experiences inside the mind. A person's qualia can't be detected from the outside. My interior subjective experience is not known by others. Ray Kurzweil writes, ‘When we label certain frequencies of light ‘green’ or ‘red,’ we have no way of telling whether my qualia—my experience of green and red—is the same as yours. Maybe I experience green the same way that you experience red, and vice versa. Yet there's no means for us to say that you experience red like me.’ The same applies to our perception of sounds. TAS, keep the journalism standard high.”…

Welcome to the 2026 edition of TAS’ Editors’ Choice Awards, our semi-annual recommended products feature. Last year we made a major change to the Editors’ Choice Awards by dividing our recommendations into two parts. The first part, published here, covers products that we think best fit into systems that share a space in the home with other activities, such as a living room. The second part, published in the March issue, covers components that best fit into larger systems that often occupy a dedicated listening room. The annual Buyer's Guide issue, normally published with a November cover date, has been eliminated in favor of this new approach. We think that these changes will better serve our readers while also eliminating the redundancy of publishing both an Editors’ Choice issue and…

$1000 and under PSB Alpha P5 $399 The Alpha P5 is a budget mini-monitor with a nicely weighted midrange, non-fatiguing treble, and an overall naturalism that's easy to engage with. Commendably, there is little evidence of the tonal peaks and valleys associated with lesser speakers in its class. Vocals retain a nice blend of physical warmth and clean articulation with hints of airiness in the upper octaves. The ability to fully define the contours of a soundstage are a wee bit beyond its purview; nonetheless, the P5's string section layering, orchestral depth, and image stability outclass much competition in its price class. The Alpha P5 is the essence of what it means to be an entry-level compact in the 2020s. NG, 306 Polk R200 $749 Polk's R200 hits sonic pay…

Tributaries T10 Power Strip $145 Equipped with two rows of five outlets. One row of five outlets rotates 90 degrees so that plugs can lie flat along the floor. LEDs indicate operation, grounding, and protection status. Offering plenty of surge suppression and noise filtering for AC power as well as signal-line protection for telecomm, network, and cable, it's a bargain for its segment. Various cords included. Shunyata Research Venom Defender v2 $300 Bravo to Shunyata for designing a system that recognizes the fact that not everyone has the cash, space or the inclination to run dedicated lines into a listening room. Apartment dwellers take note. You'll never look at power strips and AC power quite the same way again. The Venom Defender brings much of the technology and many of…

Wireworld Stratus 10 Power Cord $180/2m Offering competitive performance with elite power cords costing many times their price, the Wireworld Stratus 10 have a defiantly flat profile, and are lightweight and available in color choices. Another major factor in the Stratus’ favor—they are pliable enough to negotiate corners. NG, 208 Shunyata Research Venom V14 $195/1.75m Shunyata's entry-level is a quantum leap over the standard, no-name cord. Flexible and UL-approved, Venom 14 adds transient pop and image stability, opens the soundstage, and peels away the soft veiling that lowers transparency and resolution. Audience forte f3 power-Chord $250/1.75m Sheer excellence in the entry-level power-cord bracket, the Audience forte f3 is a definitive winner. It will lift the performance of any system, as it lowers the noise floor, improves transient attacks, and permits…

AcousTech Electronics Stylus Force Gauge $79 Getting the most out of any turntable requires accurate vertical tracking force—and yes, kids, you can easily hear slight changes. Not only is AcousTech's new gauge a relative bargain; it is small, has a backlit display, is incredibly easy to use, measures weights from 0.001 to 5.000 grams at the height of an LP's surface, and is said to be accurate to within ± 0.002 grams. Aesthetix ABCD-2 MC Cartridge Demagnetizer $175 This battery-operated device sends a special signal through your moving-coil cartridge, removing stray magnetism in the coils. Used every two weeks or so, the ABCD-2 will restore tone colors and soundstage clarity. For use only on moving coils. Recently updated chassis with new easy-change battery replacement. AnalogMagik V2 Turntable/Cartridge Set-up System $1100…

BALANCED PHONO INPUTS are rare on a preamplifier; virtually all phono cables are terminated with RCA plugs, not balanced XLR connectors. These facts may lead one to believe that a phono cartridge is inherently an unbalanced source. But a cartridge's output is in fact balanced . . . sort of. As you may know, an unbalanced signal is carried on two conductors, one signal and one ground. An unbalanced signal is also called “single-ended” for this reason. By contrast, a balanced signal is carried on three conductors: ground, signal, and the signal in inverted polarity (i.e. 180° of phase). When a balanced signal is fed to a balanced differential input circuit such as a preamp's input stage, the circuit passes only the difference between the signal and the polarity-inverted signal.…

MUSIC SONICS Lang: poor hymnal. The Crossing Choir, Nally. Cantaloupe Music. MUSIC SONICS Fields of Wonder. Cantus. Signum Classics. MUSIC SONICS There Is Sweet Music—Part-songs by Sir Edward Elgar. Proteus Ensemble, Shellard. Avie. Three recent recordings of unaccompanied choral music by top professional vocal ensembles demonstrate the considerable range of expression with this genre. The mission of the Philadelphia-based Crossing Choir is to commission, perform, and record music of enduring value. Additionally, every so often they introduce a piece that's widely adopted into the choral repertoire: David Lang's hour-long poor hymnal was written to be well within the performing capabilities of any amateur chorus. In his liner note, Lang tells us that the work's subject is “how people who are comfortable should act towards those who are not.” The first…

“If the number of buyers decreases and there is no ‘cultural’ interest anymore, then any product dies.” How and when did your interest in high-end audio begin? I developed a serious interest in the subject when I had an epiphany during the development of GaN (gallium nitride transistor) technology while working at International Rectifier (now Infineon, following its acquisition in 2015). The reason for this was straightforward: The performance we observed from early GaN MOSFET prototypes was significantly superior to that of the best silicon-based MOSFETs. This led me to embark on a sort of Quixotic mission to eliminate the stigma of “bad sound” associated with Class D amplification. Basically, I knew it was possible to create a perfect amplifier, and it was time to de-stigmatize Class D. Along with…

Roon 2.0 Music Management Software $9.99/mo. billed annually; $12.99/mo. billed monthly Roon is a computer program that runs on Windows and Macintosh computers and plays back computer-audio files. What distinguishes it from other playback programs is the voluminous information it provides about your music. Want to read an album's liner notes? How about the lyrics of a song being performed? Or maybe some information about a composer? Roon provides you with the data. Roon's first job is to sound good, which it does in spades. Roon makes computer-audio file playback easier and more fun, factors it desperately needs. By far the most sophisticated music management software. VF, 258; AT, 286, SS, 315, 334 Muzo Cobblestone $59 This inexpensive little device provides wireless streaming to any audio system. Although the Cobblestone…

Transparent Audio Link Interconnect, Wave Speaker Cable, Performance Power Cord $100/1m pr., interconnect; $250/8’ pr., speaker; $135/1m, power cord The $100 The Link interconnect brings more than a taste of high-end interconnects to an entry-level price. Similarly, the $250 The Wave speaker cable is a bargain, offering superior tonality, wider dynamics, and a more open soundstage. The Performance Power Cord is also an extremely cost-effective upgrade. NG, 196 Moon Audio Silver Dragon V1 IEM Headphone Cable $205/4' The Silver Dragon V1 IEM headphone cable is a drop-in replacement for use with in-ear monitors where light weight and flexibility are important. The Silver Dragon IEM is a coaxial design using a 99.99998% UP-OCC stranded silver 26AWG center-conductor for the positive leg. The center-conductor uses the same Kevlar reinforcing as other Dragon…

Sony MDR-7506 $109 This is the entry point to headphones that don't do a bunch of a-musical bashing to the music. The MDRs are clear and clean and fairly balanced from 100Hz up. They do roll off in the bass, but most headphones even at 3 times this price do as well (Sennheiser open-backs, for example). But for midrange openness without high-frequency glare, the MDR-7506 is a solid answer and a good reference for understanding when better more expensive headphones are actually better. If you can stretch your budget, the Audio-Technica ATH-M50x has similar merits and a bit more bass extension (a bit). YT Audio-Technica ATH-M50x $179 These are closed-back, wired, over-the-ear headphones that work on a wide variety of music and don't have major additive distortions. They do roll…

The Absolute Sound's Illustrated History of High-End Audio, Volume Two: Electronics Edited by Robert Harley Nextscreen, LLC, 330 pp., $129.95 The follow-up to Volume One. This time the TAS staff tackles the history and highlights of high-fidelity electronics, with the considerable help of Nelson Pass, Bob Carver, and Scott Frankland. If you want to know how electronics have evolved from the acoustic era to today's astonishing high end, and who was behind this evolution, you'll find all the milestones and celebrated personalities in the pages of Volume Two. JV The Complete Guide to High-End Audio, Sixth Edition Robert Harley Acapella Publishing, 596 pp., $49.95 (paper). hifi-books.com First published in 1994, now in its thirtieth year in print, The Complete Guide has been newly updated and expanded in its Sixth Edition…

A 15IPS REEL-TO-REEL TAPE, 2xHD's Audiophile Analog Collection Vol. 2 is a compilation of eight different tracks with different artists, different recording environments, and different music styles. Each of the tracks was recorded all analog to open reel tape. Six tracks used two-channel microphone recording techniques that range from mid-side (M/S), Blumlein, omni, etc. by René LaFlamme directly to a Nagra IV-S open reel field recorder. The remaining two tracks, using multi-microphone techniques, were recorded directly to tape by recording engineers Jean De La Durantaye and Jeff Wolpert. This single tape, a production copy using Recording the Masters SM911 formulation, comes secured in a black reel box that has the label title cover with an image of a Nagra T open reel recorder. The rear label of the reel box…

MUSIC SONICS Alessandro Bianchini: My Space 24. Birdbox (LP). Founded by Lorenzo Vella in 2021, the Italian label Birdbox is crafting seriously produced all-analog LPs (and other formats) while working with “meticulously restored vintage tape machines,” including Studer and Ampex. Percussionist Alessandro Bianchini has a deep background in both the classical and jazz fields; My Space 24 is his second recording for Bird-song. Playing vibraphone and marimba and accompanied by bass, drums, and alto sax, Bianchini wrote four of these tunes and arranged his own solo outing from Bach's Lute Suite in E Minor along with covers of Sam Rivers’ “Cyclic Episode” and Harry Warren's “Summer Night.” Although the final two tracks were recorded live and sound more “onstage” than “in-studio,” the sound throughout is exceptionally pure and liquid. The…