The Absolute Sound

Email the Editor: rharley@nextscreen.com or: TAS, 1801 Red Bud Lane, Suite B, P.O. Box 164, Round Rock, TX Digital Wizardry Beware the lure of digitry, the cipher veiled in stream; Each emulated memory contorts the sacred scheme. Fidelity is Borne not by written code, nor crafted through the math we hear; It dwells in spiral valleys etched— where music moves to muse the seer. The stylus bows in pilgrimage, drawn gently through the dales; Every motion wakes a buried breath, each wave, but whispered tales. So, mark this truth, O Resonant, where silence dares to fill: The soul is not a stream of bits— the ear is analog still. Stephen Desper Editor’s Note: TAS reader Stephen Desper is a recording engineer and audio technology inventor. He has engineering credits on 10…

In last month’s editorial, I railed against the idea of readers asking an AI chatbot what component to buy to upgrade their systems. The essay was inspired by two readers who, independently, sent me lists of products a chatbot had recommended, asking me which of the components they should purchase. In the essay I wrote, “Frankly, it’s hard to know where to start in describing how appallingly wrong this approach is.” But since writing these words, it occurred to me that turning to a chatbot for advice on upgrading a component was a symptom of a general lack of understanding when it comes to building an audio system. We’ve all listened to our systems, wanted to improve them to get better sound, and then replaced a component to realize that…

Dynaudio Confidence 20A Loudspeaker Dynaudio’s Confidence 20A gives “active” hi-fi one of the biggest upgrades in over a decade. It takes the standard passive two-way Confidence 20A ’s good looks and legendary drivers and hides studio-grade power amps (400W to drive the mid/bass and 150W for the tweeter) within the stands. It uses the same audio-processing tools found inside Dynaudio’s flagship Core Pro reference speakers. In addition to analog and digital inputs, the Confidence 20A offers DSP room-compensation controls. Confidence 20 features the 28mm Esotar3 soft-dome tweeter, plus an improved 7” NeoTec MSP woofer, and an exponentially shaped dual-flared port. Its drivers offer cutting-edge developments in airflow technology (including a larger rear chamber and optimized venting in the tweeter, plus the resonance-stabilizing Hexis inner dome), simulation-derived diaphragm thickness, powerful neodymium…

Born in 2002 in Granada, Spain, Maria Dueñas began playing violin at the age of six. Before she was 20, she had won eight international competitions, including the prestigious Menuhin; by the time she was 20, she had been signed by Deutsche Grammophon, her maiden outing Beethoven’s violin concerto that introduced a master musician of great imagination, keen intelligence, flawless technique, interpretive insight beyond her years, a fiery and passionate temperament, yet also graceful, lyrical, and thoughtfully personal without being idiosyncratic (see my review in TAS 363 and on Tracking Angle). Scarcely a year later came her second: that Everest of the solo-violin repertoire, Paganini’s 24 Caprices, most of which require all but superhuman dexterity, flexibility, and strength in fingers, hands, and arms. Aware that Paganini called them not etudes…

WITH NO INTENTION of slighting Fall events held in Tokyo, Toronto, Zurich, or New Jersey, if High End Munich has been the Super Bowl of audio shows (beginning in 2026, it’ll be High End Vienna), Capital Audiofest has become the Season Opener. Since its modest beginnings 15 years ago, CAF has grown in size and substance, second in importance only to AXPONA in the Western Hemisphere. This year, CAF continued its inexorable evolution from being purely a small-dealer show to an event dominated by distributors and manufacturers (though there was still a significant dealer presence). Turnout was slightly down due to the government shutdown, but most exhibitors expressed delight with both the quality and quantity of attendees. The sense of engagement was palpable as thousands of like-minded souls convened in…

Bluesound, one of three companies, along with NAD Electronics and PSB Speakers, that constitute Canada’s Lenbrook Group, has been manufacturing music servers since 2013, mostly under the Node moniker. I’ve used its Node 2i since 2019 as part of a desktop office system, which I wrote about in a 2020 issue of TAS (Google “Seydor Bluesound”). Like its Lenbrook stablemate NAD, Bluesound is distinguished for audio products, notably its music servers, that are well made, intelligently designed, and expertly engineered for high performance at value-driven prices. Though purchased for my office, I wasted no time trying it out in my reference system, where it found an easy home in the company of several components costing many multiples its (at the time) $549 retail while yielding relatively little to an Aurender…