Stereophile April 2022

Around the time I took over as Stereophile’s editor, I bought a Peloton, the internet-enabled stationary exercise bike. It was a lifesaver during the pandemic, when gyms were closed; despite the poor audio quality and the awful music many of the instructors choose, it’s good, diverting exercise. I quickly learned I’d be wanting Bluetooth headphones, since dangling wires get in the way. The Peloton, though, can be finicky about Bluetooth connections, and I can be finicky about sound, so I went through half a dozen choices before I settled on one that gave me good-enough sound and also connected consistently. I’d love to recommend some obscure high-end brand, but, while I tried several, none of the obscure ones established a Bluetooth connection with the Peloton bike with sufficient dependability, and none…

Thanks for the music I have found myself considering canceling my subscription to Stereophile over the last year or so. My home hi-fi is immensely satisfying to listen to, a nice “low-end audiophile” system. I find that my need, and even my want, for the gear listed in the pages of Stereophile is next to nil. I have no need for any of the equipment I see in the magazine and could not imagine paying the crazy prices that the items reviewed command. So, I was looking through this month’s issue (February 2022) and thinking “What do I get out of Stereophile?” As I flipped through page after page of expensive gear, I wondered, what is Stereophile worth to me? I flipped further into the issue, and I came across Tom Fine’s…

ATTENTION ALL AUDIO SOCIETIES: We have a page on the Stereophile website devoted to you: stereophile.com/audiophile-societies. If you’d like to have your audio-society information posted on the site, email Chris Vogel at vgl@cfl.rr.com. (Please note the new email address.) Please note that it is inappropriate for a retailer to promote a new product line in “Calendar” unless it is associated with a seminar or similar event. Due to the ongoing pandemic, Stereophile recommends confirming that events are still taking place. CALIFORNIA ❚ Sunday, March 13, 2–5pm: The Los Angeles & Orange County Audio Society (LAOCAS) will hold its monthly meeting at the Manley Laboratories Inc. factory in Chino (13880 Magnolia Ave.). The event is open to LAOCAS members, guests, and visitors. EveAnna Manley will conduct factory tours, demonstrating vacuum tube selection, parts matching, quality…

US, WORLDWIDE, AND ON THE INTERWEBS Julie Mullins In our February issue’s As We See It, Editor Jim Austin discussed the recording industry’s return to profitability, supported mainly by paid streaming subscriptions. Vinyl sales also played a minor role. But vinyl wasn’t the only format to rise in 2021. CD sales also increased, for the first time since 2004, reaching 40.6 million units sold, according to MRC Data’s 2021 U.S. Year-End Report in collaboration with Billboard. (Penske Media Corporation and MRC “joined forces in late 2020 to form P-MRC Data,” the report states.) In 2021, CD sales went up by 1.2% year-over-year compared with 2020’s total of 40.6 million units. Releases from pop-music divas Taylor Swift and Adele factored heavily into the rise of disc sales: Adele’s 30 was the top seller,…

What? Suddenly a new Japanese cartridge manufacturer? That’s what I was thinking when Mockingbird Distribution’s Phillip Holmes dropped three cartridges on me from DYLP Audio. Never heard of them—but then I’d not heard of MuTech either when Holmes sent me one of that company’s $4500 RM-Kanda (now Hyabusa) moving coil cartridges, which I reviewed in the March 2019 issue’s Analog Corner.1 If that cartridge is not on your moving coil radar, you ought to put it there. Holmes sent three made-in-China DYLP Audio cartridges: the MC Ruby-1, the MC100 Mk II, and the Mono. All are part of the Windbell series, and all are presented well in nicely finished wood boxes with QR codes on the glossy outer packaging that you can scan to access the company’s website, lpaudio.cn. Go there,…

Look closely at the audio system in the photo. It belongs to my friend, and fellow audio seeker, Devon Turnbull (aka Ojas).1 Notice every object in the room, particularly the arrangement of amplifiers, and turntables, and that awesome herd of cartridges on the table in front of the listening chair. May I suggest you regard these diverse objects as ceremonial utensils arranged in an aesthetically pleasing manner, for the pleasure of the main listener? For the sake of this short story, I will honor myself with the title of Shokyaku (Japanese for main guest) and my friend Devon as my esteemed host (Teishu).2 This tale of record-playing and discovery will be most clear if you consider the events I am about to describe as ritual communions practiced in front of an altar…