U-Turn Audio Orbit Theory Turntable with Ortofon 2M Blue Cartridge

Details: Written by Thom Moon; Created: 15 March 2023

Reviewers' Choice This is my third review of a U-Turn Audio Orbit turntable. The first was in 2014, when I reviewed one of their early offerings, the budget-priced Orbit Plus. I reviewed the second in 2021, when I had the chance to audition their then-newest product, the mid-priced Orbit Special, which included a built-in phono preamplifier. I thought both were quite good, and they were both fine values at their respective prices.

Read This Before You Buy an Integrated Amplifier

Details: Written by Dennis Burger; Created: 01 March 2023

When I took the reins of SoundStage! Access in late 2020, I wasn’t really given a mandate, other than being told that the entire point of the publication was to cover affordable audio gear. Here’s the thing about affordability, though: everyone knows exactly what it means until you ask them to define it precisely. (I guess it’s sort of like smut in that regard.)

NAD C 3050 LE Integrated Amplifier-DAC

Details: Written by Dennis Burger; Created: 01 March 2023

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

Reviewers' Choice I wanted to start this review with a joke. Something to the effect of “What’s the exact opposite of a mullet?” And in case you’re not familiar with that particularly atrocious hairstyle and the humor surrounding it, the response would have been some ham-fisted attempt to describe NAD’s new C 3050 LE Stereophonic Amplifier (also referred to as a “HybridDigital DAC Amplifier”) as a party up front and all business in the back. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t make it work. But take a look at this thing, and you start to get a sense of why I was drawn to this unsuccessful dad joke.

Unboxing the NAD C 3050 LE Integrated Amplifier

Details: Written by Dennis Burger; Created: 15 February 2023

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

Here’s a peek behind the curtain that I may end up regretting giving you: More often than not, when I’m doing these unboxing posts, the first image of the unopened container is there to fill up space and give me room to monologue about the product and its place in the overall market, or my anticipation for reviewing it. In the case of NAD’s new limited 50th-anniversary-edition integrated amplifier—the C 3050 LE—I actually want to draw your eye to the packaging itself. It’s a little cheeky, a bit retro, but not a slave to past conventions.

Hi-Fi Is Worth Doing Badly

Details: Written by Dennis Burger; Created: 01 February 2023

You wouldn’t think someone from my neck of the woods would have a favorite loblolly pine tree. The things are so ubiquitous, it’s almost like having a fondness for one specific blade of grass. But I do have a favorite: a particularly majestic old Pinus taeda that I reckon is at least 150 years old—perhaps much older. It’s oddly the only pine on my property. It’s also the only tree of mine I can see out my office window. And of all the trees that were here when I bought the house a quarter-century ago, it’s one of only two that remain.

And it’s dying.

Fluance RT83 Turntable with Ortofon 2M Red Cartridge

Details: Written by Thom Moon; Created: 01 February 2023

Reviewers' Choice My first experience with the Fluance brand was some years ago when I reviewed their then-top-of-the-line XL7F floorstanding loudspeaker (now discontinued), which I found to be an amazing value. While the firm still makes several speakers for home audio/video applications, they’ve become just as well known for a line of turntables that retail for eye-openingly low prices. In keeping with this trend, the RT83, the subject of this review, sits squarely in the middle of their offerings but sells for a reasonable $349.99 (all prices in USD).

"The Adventures of Baron Munchausen"

Details: Written by Dennis Burger; Created: 01 February 2023

The Criterion Collection 1166
Format: BD, UHD

Overall Enjoyment

Picture Quality

Sound Quality

Extra

Terry Gilliam’s beloved 1988 film concludes with the most curious of pronouncements: “This is a new motion picture. This motion picture is not to be confused with the UFA/Transit/Murnau 1942/43 motion picture bearing the title ‘The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.’” As if anyone could confuse this with any other film by any other filmmaker. It is a unique statement, a singular effort, and yet . . .

SVS Prime Wireless Pro SoundBase Streaming Integrated Amplifier

Details: Written by Dennis Burger; Created: 15 January 2023

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

It’s not my intention to go full-blown “get off my lawn” on you here. But when I was growing up, it wasn’t difficult to know what to call a component with volume control, source selection, and built-in amplification. Did it have an AM/FM tuner built in? It was a receiver. Did it not? It was an integrated amp. That’s hardly helpful with a product like the new SVS Prime Wireless Pro SoundBase ($699.99, all prices USD), though. It lacks a radio tuner, sure. But it has so many other features that “integrated amp” hardly cuts it. SVS calls it a “smart integrated amplifier,” and I reckon that works.

Unboxing the Project Audio Systems MaiA DS3 Integrated Amplifier-DAC

Details: Written by Dennis Burger; Created: 15 January 2023

As I’ve said a number of times, we all have our biases and blind spots, and the biggest for me is that the more I weigh the pros and cons of vinyl, the more I love my all-digital hi-fi system. As such, there are a number of revered audiophile brands I don’t get to interact with much.

What Audio Production Has Taught Me About Audio Reproduction

Details: Written by Dennis Burger; Created: 01 January 2023

If you buy into Malcolm Gladwell’s interpretation of the “10,000-Hour Rule,” popularized in his book Outliers, I’m a long way from being an expert at audio production. A very long way. SoundStage! Solo editor Brent Butterworth and I have recorded 22 episodes of the SoundStage! Audiophile Podcast to date, and I’ve mixed and mastered about half of them. Each episode takes me anywhere between 16 and 20 hours to produce and edit, which means I’m creeping up on somewhere around 200 hours of experience in the field of audio production. And 200 divided by 10,000 is math.

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