Stereophile June 2015

THERE ARE AS MANY OPINIONS AS THERE ARE EXPERTS THIS ISSUE: Is the writing on the wall for both high-end audio and the record industry? The day before I began writing this, John Atkinson posted on Stereophile’s website a chart from Nielsen Soundscan showing the ski-jump–like path CD sales have been on since 2004.1 In 2004, total sales were 651 million units; in 2014, 141 million units. All that is lacking from that impactful visual to make the ski-jump analogy perfect is the little uptick at the end to launch the skier into free air. Those numbers look to me like a total decline in sales of 78%. Ouch. My audio retailer friend Bob Saglio stopped by today. He had with him the first CD he’d bought in living memory: Shadows in the…

TAKE HEED! Unless marked otherwise, all letters to the magazine and its writers are assumed to be for possible publication. In the spirit of vigorous debate implied by the First Amendment, and unless we are requested not to, we publish correspondents’ e-mail addresses. It’s about reviews Editor: I am now enjoying really nice vinyl on the Pioneer PLX-1000 DJ turntable. Herb Reichert’s review (March, p.53) made me go out and buy this turntable sight unseen. OMG! —Stew Margolis Glen Mills, PA It’s about diversity Editor: Have heard Miles Davis, Don Cherry, Alice Coltrane, John Coltrane, Frank Lowe, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, and many others live. Spent over 100 grand on my system. Read your reviews and love them. But I’m in the present. I did not stop in the past. You need to get some younger reviewers—some blacks,…

ATTENTION ALL AUDIO SOCIETIES: We have a page on the Stereophile website dedicated to you: www.stereophile.com/audiophile-societies. If you’d like to have your audio-society information posted on the site, e-mail Chris Vogel at info@XLinkAudio.com. Please note that it is inappropriate for a retailer to promote a new product line in “Calendar” unless this is associated with a seminar or similar event. CALIFORNIA Friday–Sunday, May 29–31: The Los Angeles & Orange County Audio Society will present T.H.E. Show Newport, its co-venture with T.H.E. Show Organization and the largest fineaudio show in North America open to the public. Our fifth and most extensive show ever, T.H.E. Show is presented at the gorgeous Hotel Irvine (17900 Jamboree Road, Irvine) for the first time. Once again, join the Society in the hotel lobby or in advance and get…

SUBMISSIONS: Those promoting audio-related seminars, shows, and meetings should e-mail the when, where, and who to JAtkinson@enthusiastnetwork.com at least eight weeks before the month of the event. The deadline for the August 2015 issue is May 20, 2015. US: QUEENS, NEW YORK John Atkinson I am deeply saddened to inform everyone that the review of VAC’s Statement preamplifier in this issue is the last by Robert J. Reina that we will publish. Bob passed away Friday, March 27, after a brief battle with cancer that began in his esophagus in fall 2014. Bob was 61. After a stint at The Abso!ute Sound, Bob cofounded a high-end audio magazine, Sounds Like . . . , and joined Stereophile in 1995; his first review, published in December 1995, was of a Creek integrated amplifier (see www.stereophile.com/content/creek-4240-special-edition-integrated-amplifier).…

INSIDER VIEWS ON EVERYTHING VINYL THIS ISSUE: Ikeda Sound Labs Kai cartridge plus more on Ortofon’s MC A95 cartridge. But first, the blowback I expected following my April 2014 column on Synergistic Research’s Uniform Energy Field Technology room treatments never arrived—in fact, quite the opposite. My own positive experience of the UEF devices was confirmed by e-mails from readers who’d already used them, and from those who’d taken up Synergistic’s offer of a money-back guarantee. Skeptics will charge that what I and these readers heard is evidence of confirmation bias, but people say this about any positive remarks made about audio components priced above $500. The other day, I received an e-mail from Art Noxon, who invented the TubeTrap room treatment, manufactured by Acoustic Sciences Corp. TubeTraps have been a staple of studios,…

With the Ikeda Kai ($8500) in the Kuzma 4Point tonearm and the Ortofon A95 ($6500; See “Analog Corner,” May 2015) in the Continuum Audio Labs Cobra arm, and both arms mounted on the Continuum Caliburn turntable, it wasn’t difficult to switch between them. But it wasn’t instantaneous—I also had to switch from Ypsilon’s MC-26L step-up transformer to their MC-16L. (Actually, the optimal step-up for the A95’s output of 0.23mV would probably have been Ypsilon’s MC-20L, but I don’t have one. Ypsilon’s Demetris Backlavas assured me that the MC-16L was sufficient to properly drive the VPS-100.) Yarlung Records ( www.yarlungrecords.com) will soon release on vinyl an AAA recording, Vanish, by the innovative percussion group Smoke and Mirrors. Currently available in various digital editions, the album is musically varied and thoroughly entertaining. I…