Andover Audio SpinDeck Max with Ortofon OM 10 Cartridge

Details: Written by Thom Moon; Created: 15 May 2022

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.

Every Audiophile Needs to Do This Annually

Details: Written by Dennis Burger; Created: 01 May 2022

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.

Rotel A12MKII Integrated Amplifier-DAC

Details: Written by Dennis Burger; Created: 01 May 2022

Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.

Reviewers' Choice 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.

Cowboy Junkies: "Songs of the Recollection"

Details: Written by Joseph Taylor; Created: 01 May 2022

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.

Paradigm Monitor SE 8000F Loudspeakers

Details: Written by Dennis Burger; Created: 15 April 2022

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.

Unboxing iFi Audio's Zen One Signature DAC

Details: Written by Dennis Burger; Created: 15 April 2022

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.

A Fantastic Gateway: A Q&A with Paradigm's Zoltan Balla and Blake Alty on the New Monitor SE 8000F Loudspeaker

Details: Written by Dennis Burger; Created: 01 April 2022

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.

NAD C 399 Integrated Amplifier-DAC

Details: Written by Dennis Burger; Created: 01 April 2022

Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.

Reviewers' Choice NAD’s new C 399 (with or without its BluOS-D expansion module) is a fascinating integrated amp straight out of the box. Fascinating because, despite claiming the top spot in the company’s Classic Series lineup and sharing that family’s aesthetic and naming conventions, it is in a lot of ways a bridge between the Classic and Masters Series, employing as it does the Ncore amplifier technology previously used in the latter, as well as the same 32-bit/384kHz ESS Sabre DAC chip used in the Masters M10 and M33.

Harkness: "The Occasion"

Details: Written by Joseph Taylor; Created: 01 April 2022

Windchild Records WCR001LP
Format: LP

Musical Performance

Sound Quality

Overall Enjoyment

In January, my fellow SoundStage! writer and vinyl enthusiast Jason Thorpe wrote an article on sister-site SoundStage! Ultra about Canadian musician and songwriter Harkness. Jason grew up in the same Toronto neighborhood as the artist and went to school with the Harkness family, and his article contains biographical detail about Harkness that I need not repeat here. The article also explains the reasons behind the musician’s public persona and his attire, which includes a visor and lavender-colored robe.

GrooveWasher Walnut Record Cleaning Kit

Details: Written by Thom Moon; Created: 15 March 2022

I started collecting LPs and singles back in my blushing youth, about a million years ago. At first, I admit, I didn’t care for them very well. But when the Discwasher first came out in 1972, I took the leap and bought one. While it didn’t deep clean really dirty records, it was great for new purchases and kept them pretty much like new.

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