A Baloney Detection Toolkit for Hi-Fi?

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

On a recent episode of the SoundStage! Audiophile Podcast, I mentioned to Brent Butterworth that we need an Audiophile Baloney Detection Toolkit. If you’re not familiar with the reference, it comes from “The Fine Art of Baloney Detection,” an essay by Carl Sagan from his final book, The Demon-Haunted World.

Dual CS 429 Turntable with Ortofon 2M Red Cartridge

Details: Written by Thom Moon; Created: 01 October 2022

Reviewers' Choice At one time—in the 1970s and into the 1980s—Dual automatic turntables were in probably half the entry-level stereo systems in the US. But when the CD came along, and turntables became yesterday’s story, Dual went through some very rough times.

The Who: "The Who Sell Out"

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

Polydor / Track Record / UMC ARHSLP014
Format: LP

Musical Performance

Sound Quality

Overall Enjoyment

Released in December 1967, The Who Sell Out fulfilled the promise of the band’s first two albums, moving it into the front ranks of the great British Invasion bands. When MCA reissued the album on CD in 1995, Who biographer Dave Marsh penned the liner notes. “For me,” he wrote, “The Who Sell Out is the greatest rock and roll album of its era and, as the years go by, seems more and more to me The Who’s consummate masterpiece.”

Thorens TD 102 A Turntable with Audio-Technica AT-VM95E Cartridge

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

The automatic turntable, absent from audio dealers’ offerings for years, is definitely making a comeback. The first unit I reviewed was the Andover Audio SpinDeck Max ($599, all prices USD). There are at least three more automatic turntables coming to me for review, and many more I haven’t reviewed or arranged to review. In this article, I’m looking at the Thorens TD 102 A ($1099), a fully automatic unit from the renowned Swiss/German company.

Unpacking the Denon PMA-1700NE

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

Having written primarily about home theater for the last decade or so before joining the SoundStage! family, I’m still adapting to just how different the two-channel world is in many respects. Take Sound United’s output, for example. Tell a typical home-theater enthusiast that Denon just dropped a new integrated amp, and the first question a cynical AVR guy will ask is, “What’s the Marantz equivalent, and how do the two products pretend to be different?” In the two-channel domain, though, the Sound United sister brands have done a really good job of differentiating themselves in everything from form factor and ergonomics to circuitry and presentation.

What Do Our Future A.I. Overlords Think About Hi-Fi?

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

The nightmare fuel you see in the preview image for this story was created when I asked a sophisticated neural network, “What would a malevolent artificial intelligence think about high-end audio?”

Cambridge Audio Evo 150 Streaming Integrated Amplifier

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

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

There’s this pervasive notion in the world of hi-fi that if a box does more than one thing, it simply must perform worse at its multiple functions than separate boxes performing the same tasks. In other words, there are people who argue that a separate amplifier and preamp will by definition sound better than an integrated amplifier with identical specifications, and that an integrated amp and standalone DAC will certainly sound better than an integrated amp with a DAC built in. The argument, as I understand it, is effectively: “something’s gotta give somewhere.”

Helge Lien and Knut Hem: "Villingsberg"

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

Ozella Music OZ100CD
Format: CD

Musical Performance

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Overall Enjoyment

Ten years ago, I wrote about Ozella Music, a record label in Germany that releases well-recorded jazz albums, instrumental music that often defies category, and a few singer-songwriter titles. Recently, I was listening to some of the recordings I had previously reviewed and realized I hadn’t heard any news from the label for a while. I popped over to Ozella’s website to see what was going on there. A few days later, I opened my mailbox to find some new releases from the label. The three discs in the package were all worthwhile, but Villingsberg, an album of duets by pianist Helge Lien and guitarist Knut Hem, caught my ear immediately.

Marantz Model 40n Network Integrated Amplifier-DAC

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

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

Reviewers' Choice Somehow or another, I keep accidentally undermining my own arguments here on SoundStage! Access. First I questioned the need for standalone D-to-A converters in most modern audio systems. Then I found a standalone DAC compelling enough to add to my own reference system. Last month I took modern hi-fi manufacturers to task for not making affordable audio gear with anything resembling the sense of style or design found in vintage audio gear. Then—almost as if in response—Marantz dropped its new Model 40n integrated amp in my lap as if to say, “Hey, we’ve been rocking this high-style design for over a year now, since the launch of the Model 30.”

This $100 Hack Could Transform Your Perception of Your Stereo System

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

Click-bait headlines of the sort you see above have been par for the course in the world of hi-fi for longer than I’ve been into hi-fi. It isn’t hard to understand why. We all want our music to sound as good as reasonably possible, and since so few people understand the fundamentals of sound reproduction (not a criticism, mind you, just a statement of fact), our hobby is susceptible to all manner of snake oil, from green markers applied to the edges of CDs to grounding systems for loudspeakers.

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