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Experience "Xperience" Anew
February 2023
Music is the reason for high-end audio. I still recall the first time I heard music on something that was better quality than the stereo console my parents owned. When I was in high school, I knew a keyboard player who worked part-time in an electronics supply shop. He convinced the owner, who might have been his dad—we’re going back quite a few years so the details are a bit fuzzy—to let him set up an audio shop in a section of the store.
For the Love of Sound: Kenny Barron and the RME ADI-2 DAC FS
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.
February 2023
When the user’s manual for a desktop DAC has 68 pages—68 pages of very small type—you know you’re not dealing with just another digital-to-analog converter. At $1299 (all prices in USD), RME’s ADI-2 DAC FS isn’t priced like most of its competitors, either. I slid it into the place normally filled by my $199 iFi Audio Zen DAC V2, between my iPad Pro and my Focal Alpha Evo 50 studio monitors.
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Uni Boys: "Do It All Next Week"
January 2023
Curation Records
Format: 16-bit/44.1kHz FLAC download
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Uni Boys is a rock’n’roll quartet from Southern California whose crunchy, guitar-based power pop combines sophisticated songwriting with garage-band edginess. The group recorded two DIY albums that gained a following and impressed Los Angeles label Curation Records, which intended to give those recordings an official release. The group instead persuaded the label to release an album of new recordings, and Do It All Next Week hit streaming services a couple of months ago. Vinyl and CD releases will follow this month.
Making Records: Blue Sprocket Pressing Plant Tour
January 2023
Harrisonburg, Virginia, is a city of 52,000 in the Shenandoah Valley, about two hours from Washington, DC. Roughly an hour from Charlottesville, Virginia, where you can visit Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello, and another Jeffersonian attraction, the University of Virginia, Harrisonburg itself is home to two well-established colleges: James Madison University and Eastern Mennonite University. James Madison is a public university of over 21,000 students, while EMU is private and has about 1200 students.
Taking the Jazz Detective's Latest Releases to the Woods with the Helm Audio DB12 AAAMP Portable Headphone Amplifier
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.
January 2023
If there’s a psychiatrist out there who wants to delve into the connection between weather and music, I’d be happy to lie on your couch. Deep in my Canadian psyche is the need to hear extremely buoyant–yet-meditative instrumental jazz on late-autumn days. Pianist Keith Jarrett’s 1973 album Solo Concerts: Bremen / Lausanne is the ideal way to scratch that itch. That stems from the first time I saw Jarrett in concert: a crisp, fall night in 1975, which gave way to an exceptionally snowy morning. I woke to it with his music still in my head.
What I Heard: 2022
December 2022
It was the year live music was supposed to be back. And it was, in some senses—although pandemic-related restrictions continued to play havoc with musicians’ travel and festival schedules, and artists continued to reflect on the theme of “What the hell just happened?”
XTC, Curated
December 2022
Andy Partridge, the chief songwriter and coleader of the band XTC, has a chip on his shoulder about being from Swindon, a city of 233,000 in Wiltshire, about 70 miles west of London, England. In 2016, he explained why to an interviewer from Louder: “To the English, anything that comes from Swindon must have comedic value. And I think it’s held us back terribly.” He went on to say that if the band had been American, or even came from the northern city of Manchester, birthplace of many great English groups, it would have been held in higher esteem. “We were f**king brilliant,” he asserted: “One of the greats.”
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PMC's Dolby Atmos Immersion—An Exciting New Way to Hear and Experience Music
November 2022
Dolby Atmos is a new surround-sound format that uses objects instead of channels to place sounds around the listener. The result is a far more immersive listening experience that can scale from small to large systems far better compared to what traditional surround-sound formats can provide. In this video, PMC chief technical officer Oliver Thomas describes the Dolby Atmos mixing studio the company has set up in London, then brand ambassador and mix engineer Heff Moraes describes what Dolby Atmos is, how it works, and why he’s so excited by the potential it provides. As Moraes says in this video, “Dolby Atmos is a really exciting, new way for consumers to hear and experience music in a completely different way.” Watch and find out what the fuss is about.
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Mali Obomsawin: "Sweet Tooth"
November 2022
Out of Your Head Records OOYH 017
Format: 16-bit/44.1kHz WAV download
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Indigenous culture of all forms is gaining prominence, particularly in Canada—a country that is in the midst of a process of “truth and reconciliation” with its Indigenous Peoples. In the past, Indigenous musicians from the continent many call Turtle Island, like Link Wray and the members of Redbone, were rare; today, young artists like The Halluci Nation, DJ Shub, and others are receiving widespread exposure.
Exploring Indie Improv through the Zidoo Neo S 4K UHD Media Player
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.
October 2022
Most of us shift between multiple media sources as we move through our day.
As a creative resource for several marketing agencies, I’m immersed all day. I spend a lot of time developing video scripts, reviewing motion graphics and proposals for accompanying music, and editing presentations. The rest of the time, when I’m writing, I like to have a soundtrack to match the task and my mood. And then, there are all those music videos and bits and pieces of video from artists’ electronic media kits to keep track of, as well.
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Various Artists: "Here It Is: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen"
October 2022
Blue Note Records 0602445659920
Format: 16-bit/44.1kHz WAV download
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In September, at a New York City event to promote his new autobiography, Rolling Stone cofounder and longtime publisher Jann Wenner responded to a question posed by host Bruce Springsteen: Who did he regret never interviewing for the magazine? Wenner didn’t hesitate: “Leonard Cohen.” After a pause of a few seconds, he added: “And Elvis.”
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Meitner Audio: Expanding High-End Hi-Fi's Reach
September 2022
Amadeus Meitner is a DJ and a fan of electronic music. He is also the son of legendary audio-designer Ed Meitner, who founded EMM Labs and Meitner Audio, two brands that make world-class digital-to-analog converters, as well as other high-end hi-fi electronics.
Re-experiencing Jimi Hendrix's Epic Debut through the Marantz Model 40n Integrated Amplifier
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.
September 2022
Jimi Hendrix turning 80. It’s unfathomable, of course. Would he be dipping into hip-hop? Playing his hits in casinos? To quote one of his later compositions: Who knows?
Spirit, Curated
September 2022
Spirit is not exactly a forgotten band. Two of its songs, “I Got a Line on You” and “Nature’s Way,” have been constants on classic-rock radio playlists. Beyond those tunes, however, the typical rock fan probably hasn’t heard much from a group whose first four LPs rank among the best of the late ’60s and early ’70s. Perhaps Spirit’s eclecticism ended up limiting its appeal. At times its music could be pegged as progressive or hard rock, but it also included elements of jazz, folk, and even classical music. For all its ambition, Spirit wrote memorable songs that should have led to a much larger following.
