NAD C 316BEE V2 Integrated Amplifier

Details: Written by Brent Butterworth; Created: 15 July 2018

As high-end audio shifts its focus to products costing four, five, or even six figures, we forget how great a simple, affordable system can sound. A basic integrated amplifier or stereo receiver hooked up to a good pair of bookshelf speakers can deliver realistic and satisfying reproduction of music, which is most -- perhaps even all -- of what most people want from an audio system. People who are just now getting into traditional stereo audio because of their interest in vinyl understand this, and it’s for them that NAD has produced the C 316BEE V2 ($399 USD), an integrated amp designed to deliver all the power and options a basic stereo system needs.

Grant Green: "Funk in France: From Paris to Antibes (1969-1970)" and "Slick! Live at Oil Can Harry's"

Details: Written by Joseph Taylor; Created: 15 July 2018

Grant Green: “Funk in France: From Paris to Antibes (1969-1970)”

Resonance/INA HCD2033
Format: CD

Musical Performance

Sound Quality (disc 1)

Sound Quality (disc 2)

Overall Enjoyment

Grant Green: “Slick! Live at Oil Can Harry’s”

Resonance HCD2034
Format: CD

Musical Performance

Sound Quality

Overall Enjoyment

Grant Green (1935-1979), like his near contemporary Wes Montgomery (1923-1968), died while still in his 40s, and like Montgomery’s, Green’s later recordings are sometimes scorned by jazz purists. While toward the end of his life Montgomery leaned in the direction of easy listening, Green played funk. Beginning in 1969, when he returned to Blue Note after a few years with other labels, Green’s jazz showed the influence of then-current soul musicians James Brown and the Meters, both of whose compositions he covered that year on Carryin’ On.

The Backward-Thinking High End

Details: Written by Hans Wetzel; Created: 01 July 2018

The speed of change in consumer electronics is breathtaking. Smartphones are rapidly supplanting computers as our default devices for most consumer activities, and my own practices are no exception. I deposit checks and verify transactions through my mobile banking app. I use my phone to communicate with family and friends, and for work using text and e-mail. I check my stock portfolio, fret over retirement funds, read the news, keep up to date on stupid memes, and ask Google all sorts of questions. A couple weeks back I bought a pair of aftermarket underseat subwoofers for my car through eBay’s app, and the same day, via an online car forum, found a buyer for my car’s stock underseat subs, to help defray the cost of that impulse buy.

Sumiko Oyster Rainier Moving-Magnet Phono Cartridge

Details: Written by Thom Moon; Created: 01 July 2018

Reviewers' Choice Sumiko, a longtime importer and distributor of high-quality audio equipment, is now owned by the McIntosh Group, formerly the Fine Sounds Group and owner of McIntosh Laboratory, Audio Research, Sonus Faber, Pryma, and Wadia. For years, Sumiko’s Oyster and Pearl moving-magnet and Blue Point moving-coil cartridges have been considered great values by many reviewers and audiophiles. Recently, they added three new low-priced MM models to their Oyster line, to fill the price gap between the Pearl (MM, $119 USD) and the Blue Point No.2 (MC, $449). The new models are the Rainier ($149), the Olympia ($199), and the Moonstone ($299), and Sumiko recently gave me the opportunity to check out all three. This review is of the least expensive, the Rainier.

Ry Cooder: "The Prodigal Son"

Details: Written by Joseph Taylor; Created: 01 July 2018

Perro Verde/Fantasy FAN00235
Format: CD

Musical Performance

Sound Quality

Overall Enjoyment

The Prodigal Son, Ry Cooder’s 17th solo studio recording (not counting his many film scores), is his first such outing since Election Special (2012), and the first since Chávez Ravine (2005) that doesn’t overtly address political themes. While on his last five albums Cooder was the primary composer, on The Prodigal Son he returns to his role as interpreter of songs from America’s past. The emphasis is on old blues and country gospel, but Cooder also includes three of his own compositions that fit well with the vintage tunes he’s chosen.

Definitive Technology Demand D9 Loudspeakers

Details: Written by Hans Wetzel; Created: 15 June 2018

Reviewers' Choice I don’t believe that Definitive Technology gets the audiophile street cred that it deserves. In some respects, they were one of the first companies whose reputation was predicated on designing speakers that allowed folks living on real-world budgets to get a taste of genuine hi-fi sound. Short of iconic designs like the Mythos ST and Mythos STS, Definitive was always more concerned about the sound of their creations than about their looks. Their best-known speakers, their bipolar tower models, were clad not in veneered cabinets but in simple black fabric socks that made them look like obelisks. They were distinctive, if not exactly stylish. The fact that they can be purchased from Best Buy and Crutchfield lends the brand more of a consumer feel, rather than the holier-than-thou audiophile patina. Just because you can buy a speaker online rather than through a bricks-and-mortar dealer doesn’t mean it can’t sound great.

Venetian Snares & Daniel Lanois: "Venetian Snares x Daniel Lanois"

Details: Written by Joseph Taylor; Created: 15 June 2018

Planet Mu/Timesig TIMESIG008CD
Format: CD

Musical Performance

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Overall Enjoyment

In 2016, Daniel Lanois used his pedal steel guitar as the basis for Goodbye to Language, a series of ambient compositions that recalled Brian Eno and Harold Budd, two composers he’s worked with. His collaborator on that album was Rocco DeLuca, who played lap steel. The complex, layered compositions revealed new sounds and evoked new emotions with each hearing. Tracks that had at first seemed contemplative and calming later opened the way to deeper, sometimes darker territory.

Munich: The Best of High End 2018 -- From a Distance

Details: Written by Hans Wetzel; Created: 01 June 2018

Munich’s annual High End audio show is now the best in the world. After covering the 2015 and 2017 editions, though, I took this year off. Between needing to take a honeymoon at some point, and having taken a new job that offers a bit less paid time off, I just couldn’t swing it. But from my laptop here in Philadelphia I watched our five-member team’s coverage like a hawk for Access-friendly products. I expected to see a few more new-product introductions, especially of electronics, and more companies venturing into powered speakers -- but there’s always next May, when I hope to return to the Munich Order Center. Meanwhile, I found plenty to like at High End 2018.

Elac Adante SUB3070 Subwoofer

Details: Written by Brent Butterworth; Created: 01 June 2018

Elac Adante SUB3070 subwoofer measurements can be found by clicking this link.

For the past couple of years, the Andrew Jones-designed speakers from Elac have ranked among the most discussed products in audio -- as were the Pioneer speakers designed by Jones in the years before that. What haven’t been talked about as much are the subwoofers Jones has come up with -- from the low-budget favorite, Pioneer’s SW-8MK2, to the technically advanced Elac Debut S12EQ. Elac’s new Adante SUB3070 may be the subwoofer that at long last draws attention to Jones’s work in the bottom two octaves of the audioband.

The Who: "Live at the Fillmore East 1968"

Details: Written by Joseph Taylor; Created: 01 June 2018

Geffen B0028266
Format: CD

Musical Performance

Sound Quality

Overall Enjoyment

“At the end of the tour, in early April [1968], the Who recorded their show at the Fillmore East,” Dave Marsh writes in Before I Get Old, still the definitive history of the band. “The tape of the Fillmore East concert is extraordinary,” he continued; “a remarkable burst of sustained energy.” Unfortunately, when the Who listened to the tapes, enough flaws jumped out that they decided not to release them. Nonetheless, over the years, bootlegs of those New York City concerts of April 5 and 6, 1968, enhanced the band’s reputation as a powerful live act.