Featured
- Details
- Category: Blu-ray movies Blu-ray movies
"The Parallax View"
February 2021
Alan J. Pakula’s Masterpiece of Paranoia on BD
The Criterion Collection 1064
Format: BD
Overall Enjoyment
Picture Quality
Sound Quality
Extras
The Parallax View (1974) is the second of what has been called director Alan J. Pakula’s Paranoia Trilogy, bracketed by Klute (1971) and All the President’s Men (1976). Although each film deals with a conspiracy, only the last is based on historical events.
Channeling Humanity—the Music Hall a15.3 Integrated Amp Reveals the Warmth in a Unique Voice
February 2021
In opera, musical theater, the blues, country music, and, of course, in pop music, the human voice is an essential instrument. The skilled application of breath, glottal manipulation, timbre, tone, and other singing techniques can touch our hearts, draw a tear, raise a smile. It’s straight from human throat to human ear; there is no more elemental communication.
Mark Phillips: Audiophile, Recording Engineer, and Now SoundStage! Contributor
February 2021
Hi, and welcome to SoundStage! Xperience. My name’s Mark Phillips, and I’ve had a lifelong love affair with music and audio. I suspect that’s true for y’all, too. My path here to the SoundStage! family of websites may be unusual, but then, there’s no established career path for audio reviewing. Being a good writer isn’t enough—just as important are years of critical listening. I liken it to the training a sommelier goes through, but refining the sense of hearing instead of smell and taste. My training in critical listening came from being a recording engineer, first for classical and jazz recitals at a large university, and later, mostly rock in my own studio and independently. I left the field not long before the digital audio workstation (DAW) revolutionized recording.
Chris Potter: "There Is a Tide"
February 2021
Edition EDN1168
Format: CD
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment
If history tells us anything about what we’ve all been living through in the past year, it’s safe to predict that millions of words will be written about the lasting effects the pandemic and our various forms of isolation will have on how we live. One of the most thought-provoking observations I’ve heard directly came from the gifted young jazz pianist Christian Sands.
- Details
- Category: Music Everywhere Music Everywhere
EcoXGear EcoExtreme 2 Bluetooth Speaker and Waterproof Case
February 2021
Grace Digital’s EcoXGear brand of sports and outdoor speakers includes some of their most innovative concepts and designs, and has become the company’s biggest moneymaker. The EcoExtreme 2 is a waterproof Bluetooth speaker and a waterproof case in which you can safely store your smartphone or music player, along with a good assortment of accessories. Rugged as a bulldog at its attractive price of $79.99 USD, it seems ideal for the sports enthusiast who wants everything in one place.
- Details
- Category: Blu-ray movies Blu-ray movies
"Minding the Gap"
January 2021
Raw and Riveting Documentary About a Lot More than Skateboards
The Criterion Collection 1061
Format: BD
Overall Enjoyment
Picture Quality
Sound Quality
Extras
While best known for their restorations of classic films, once in a while The Criterion Collection deems something recent worthy of its attentions—such as Minding the Gap (2018), the first feature-length film to be directed by Chinese-American cameraman Bing Liu. It’s less “a skateboarding movie” than a riveting documentary on the lasting effects of domestic abuse.
Boosting the Grooves—"American Beauty" Blossoms Anew by Tweaking My Phono Signal with NAD and AudioQuest
January 2021
As a professional writer, I’ve spent a lot of my life interviewing electrical engineers about technology and then communicating how things work to lay audiences. From the basics of sending voices down copper lines to cloud storage for data, I like to think I’ve done a good job of explaining technology. And while I could do the same with the way physical vibrations are generated on a record and transformed into sound, there’s a black magic to that particular feat of engineering that always makes me shake my head in wonder.
- Details
- Category: Music Everywhere Music Everywhere
iHome Playtough Pro iBT158 Bluetooth Speaker
January 2021
iHome makes a wealth of Bluetooth speaker models, many of them including light shows. I ordered the Playtough Pro iBT158 ($79.99 USD) for its intriguing light-show rings and because it’s waterproof and dustproof.
Jimi Hendrix, Curated
January 2021
In September 1966, when James Marshall Hendrix arrived in London to record his debut album, fronting his own band, he was just two months shy of his 24th birthday. He had been playing professionally since 1962, when he and bassist Billy Cox had left the US Army, where they met, and moved to Nashville. While he was in Tennessee, Hendrix played on the Chitlin’ Circuit, sometimes referred to as the urban theater circuit. These were venues in the South, the Eastern Seaboard, and the Midwest that featured African-American performers. Hendrix backed a number of soul singers during his time on the circuit, including Wilson Pickett and Sam Cooke.
Sonny Rollins: "Rollins in Holland"
January 2021
Resonance 2048
Format: CD
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment
Instrumental virtuosity can be a mixed blessing, even if some of us would put it in the category of “nice problem to have.”
- Details
- Category: Blu-ray movies Blu-ray movies
"Moonstruck"
December 2020
The Moon, Magic, and Perfection in the Air
The Criterion Collection 1053
Format: BD
Overall Enjoyment
Picture Quality
Sound Quality
Extras
Canadian Norman Jewison made some fine films in his 41-year career as a director, including The Cincinnati Kid (1965), In the Heat of the Night (1967), The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Fiddler on the Roof (1971), A Soldier’s Story (1984), and Agnes of God (1985). But Moonstruck (1987) stands out as a masterpiece of romantic comedy, a film so perfect I find no fault in it.
- Details
- Category: SoundStage! Encore SoundStage! Encore
High-Res Recording for Musical Authenticity
December 2020
Located in Ultrecht, The Netherlands, TRPTK is a recording studio that specializes in producing multichannel, high-resolution music recordings. In our first video TRPTK video, released in May 2020, we talked to recording engineer Brendon Heinst about what attracted him to create high-resolution, multichannel productions. In this video, we talk to classical violinist Merel Vercammen and jazz musician Teis Semey about what drew them to record the TRPTK way and how they feel about the results achieved for their recordings.
Taking the NAD C 538 to Church. My "Kind of Blue" CD Never Sounded So Good.
December 2020
Oh, the hi-fi equipment and music I have known.
- Details
- Category: Music Everywhere Music Everywhere
JBL Go 3 Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker
December 2020
JBL’s new Go 3 portable Bluetooth speaker, attractively priced at $39.95 USD, is no mere update but instead a virtual redesign of their popular Go 2.
