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Details: Pulse!

January 2017

As this column posts, the editors and writers of SoundStage! will be packing their bags for Las Vegas and the 2017 International Consumer Electronics Show. I’ve already received embargoed information about many of the products to be launched at CES 2017, and based on that (sorry, can’t reveal specifics until the show starts) and information I’ve picked up from talks with manufacturers and engineers, I have six predictions about what we’ll see at CES and in the rest of 2017.

Details: Music Everywhere

January 2017

Reviewers' Choice Koss Corporation’s UR42i over-ear headphones cost $49.99 USD. That price is unbelievably low for a set of serious cans, but the veteran headphone maker has often proved that inexpensive ’phones don’t have to sound inexpensive. I was curious to hear if the UR42i’s would be more proof.

Details: Feature Reviews

Audiofly AF1120 earphones measurements can be found by clicking this link.

January 2017

Reviewers' Choice We audiophiles think of ourselves as sophisticated, discerning consumers, but the “more is better” trend in earphones makes me wonder. In this case, “more” means more drivers. You can now buy earphones, such as 64 Audio’s A12s, with as many as 12 drivers per earpiece. Yet you can also buy high-end earphones, such as Sennheiser’s IE 800s, with just a single driver per ear. And, of course, you can get models in between, such as Audiofly’s six-driver AF1120 earphones ($699.99 USD).

Details: CD music

January 2017

Auricle 16/17
Format: CD (2)

Musical Performance

Sound Quality

Overall Enjoyment

For both commercial and musical reasons, longstanding bands are rare in improvised music. The trio BassDrumBone, which celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2017, is unusual, then, in terms of longevity, but even more unusual in instrumental makeup. Bassist Mark Helias, 66; drummer Gerry Hemingway, 61; and trombonist Ray Anderson, 64, were all up-and-coming young men in 1977 when they got together for the first time to play in New Haven, Connecticut. Hemingway, a New Haven native, was already teaching and developing a unique approach to codifying non-traditional percussion sounds. Helias was studying at Yale, and Anderson was a nascent member of Anthony Braxton’s group. Hemingway thought they might gel as a trio, and clearly they did.

Details: Feature Reviews

December 2016

As our new house on the North Carolina coast was being built, one of the things Mrs. East and yrs trly decided was that this winter we weren’t going to shovel snow. If you’ve shoveled snow, you get this. If you haven’t, it’s like jail -- something you don’t want to experience. So what better way to adapt to coastal life than to rent a beach condo? One thing we’ve learned over many years of summer Carolina Beach rentals: Good luck getting one with anything close to acceptable audio. With good reason, seasonal landlords don’t trust renters with anything but the cheapest, most rudimentary audio and/or video gear.

Details: Blu-ray movies

December 2016

Robert Altman’s Unique Western on Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 827
Format: Blu-ray

Overall Enjoyment

Picture Quality

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American film director Robert Altman loved to bend familiar genres to his own purposes. M*A*S*H (1970) was like no other war movie that had preceded it. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) turned the typical showdown-and-shoot-out Western into a Northwestern, set in the fictional mountain town of Presbyterian Church.

Details: Pulse!

December 2016

A pro-audio company recently asked me to run measurements on a prototype recording monitor -- the kind of speaker recording engineers and producers use to listen to what they’re recording and mixing. I thought the task would be simple. I own a pair of Genelec recording monitors, and they measure almost perfectly: nearly dead flat on axis, with a smoothly increasing treble rolloff as I move off axis. But the job turned out to be quite complicated, and it raised some questions about what, exactly, I should be listening for when I test speakers and headphones.

Details: Music Everywhere

December 2016

Altec Lansing has a long and distinguished history -- the company was founded in 1936, before I was born, and I remember their speakers from my college days. The subject of this review, the Mini Lifejacket 2 ($99.99 USD), is only the tip of an iceberg -- Altec Lansing makes eight models of Jacket Bluetooth speakers, from the Mini H20 ($39.99) to the Omni Jacket Ultra and the Super Life Jacket (both $299.99).

Details: Feature Reviews

HiFiMan HE1000 V2 headphones measurements can be found by clicking this link.

December 2016

Reviewers' Choice Why are they reviewing these headphones again?

If you’re thinking that, I don’t blame you. At a glance, the HiFiMan HE1000 V2s look just like the HE1000s, and the original price of $2999 USD remains unchanged. Look closer, though, and you can see that the V2s are different in many ways. The HE1000s have been my reference for high-end headphone sound ever since I reviewed them in October 2015. I had to wonder why HiFiMan had changed them, and what effects those changes would have on their sound.

Details: CD music

December 2016

ECM 5702466
Format: CD (4)

Musical Performance

Sound Quality

Overall Enjoyment

David Mott -- baritone saxophone master, former music department head at York University, and martial artist -- once told me that the best musicians play without ego. By creating an unmediated flow of ideas, artists like John Coltrane channel something approaching the divine.

Details: Feature Reviews

Final Sonorous III headphones measurements can be found by clicking this link.

November 2016

Final is a brand from Japan that specializes in exotic, high-end headphones decorated with lots of shiny metal bits. I’ve seen Final headphones at a few headphone shows, but otherwise have rarely encountered them. That’s true of a surprising number of small headphone companies, which seem to do most of their sales through the Internet. When I found out about the Sonorous III headphones, a closed-back design priced competitively at $399 USD, my curiosity was piqued.

Details: Blu-ray movies

November 2016

Carol Reed Channels Alfred Hitchcock

The Criterion Collection 523
Format: Blu-ray

Overall Enjoyment

Picture Quality

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Extras

Sir Carol Reed (1906-1976) was a British film director best known for three masterpieces: Odd Man Out (1947), The Fallen Idol (1948), and The Third Man (1949). After this brief flash of genius, his films went relatively unheralded until Oliver! (1968), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Director.

Details: Pulse!

November 2016

The No.1 speaker brand in the US is now Amazon, with a 26% market share. It took Amazon less than two years to attain this rank.

Those shocking facts should tell you where audio is headed. While the AmazonBasics line of cheap Bluetooth speakers does well, Amazon’s meteoric success in audio is due in large part to the Echo, a voice-command speaker that has sold some five million units since its launch a year and a half ago, and is expected to sell twice that in 2017.

Details: Music Everywhere

November 2016

Expect the unexpected from Grace Digital and you’ll never be disappointed. Hot on the heels of their EcoPebble Bluetooth speaker-powerbank-flashlight, which I reviewed last month, comes another waterproof powerbank combo -- but this one’s solar powered.