Every month Stereophile magazine offers authoritative reviews, informed recommendations, helpful advice, and controversial opinions, all stemming from the revolutionary idea that audio components should be judged on how they reproduce music.
For this issue, in addition to compiling Recommended Components, I finished my review of the CH Precision C10 D/A processor (see p.133). Yet for these last few weeks, my attention has been mainly focused on analog things. Here’s the first analog thing: After owning a McIntosh MR78 tuner for many years—I bought it on eBay sometime early in this millennium; it was fully functional and in superficially excellent condition—I finally did what I’d long intended to do: I sent it in to Audio Classics for inspection, refurbishment, and the famed Modafferi mod. At the time of its introduction, the MR78 was almost certainly the best tuner ever made. It is the only radio tuner in the IEEE Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame, alongside1 the original iPhone, the Fuzzbuster radar detector,…
Visual aesthetics One aspect that attracts me to a specific brand, along with musical performance of course, is the design and aesthetics. Whether it is the sculptured beauty of a D’Agostino amp, the attractive minimalism of a Hegel, or the hypnotic blue of a McIntosh, there is an artistic merit to these jewels of audio design. Have you considered adding a commentary and rating for aesthetics? Nick Giuffre Toronto, Canada Mr. Giuffre, Most reviewers care about design and visual aesthetics, and they surely affect our ultimate judgment about products we review, if only implicitly, and occasionally we comment. But, though it has limitations, the best way we can address visual aesthetics is to provide good photos. —Jim Austin August issue highlights I was very sad to learn that Bob Lietz of…
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. United States CALIFORNIA ◼ Saturday, September 13, 10am–6pm, and Sunday, September 14, 10am–5pm: CanJam SoCal 2025 at the Irvine Marriott, Orange County. Among the top headphone audio events in the United States, where visitors may listen to the latest headphones, in-ear monitors, headphone amplifiers, and other personal listening gear from around the world. Seminars about developing technology will be available, and society officers will host a hospitality room with light refreshments where they will answer visitor questions about audio in the home and on the go. Parking is available at the hotel. The Los Angeles & Orange…
JOHN GIOLAS ASSUMES MARKETING LEADERSHIP AT CH PRECISION AND WATTSON AUDIO Jason Victor Serinus Industry veteran John Giolas, global director of marketing for Swiss-based Wattson Audio since November 2024, has expanded his portfolio by also becoming global director of marketing for Wattson’s parent company, CH Precision. The appointment, effective July 16, 2025, consolidates marketing strategy across both Swiss brands under Giolas’s direction. “I manage all aspects of content creation, from websites, videos, and visual assets to messaging, social media, and all outward-facing communication,” Giolas told Stereophile. “It’s similar to my former job at Wilson Audio, where I was strictly in charge of marketing for the last six or seven years of my time there. I originally did sales as well, just as I did sales and marketing at dCS. But…
Costing just $899, Shanling’s top-loading ET3 CD transport appears to have been designed by people who recognize the multitude of big and small fails (or lost opportunities) of previous CD transports. In use, the ET3 felt like a distillation of what I’ve always wanted in a transport: strong, solid, compact, cool-looking, and feels good to use. Everyone knows I like pro-audio cool with no froufrou. This Shanling deck looked so damn smart and felt so good to touch that it kept my mind repeating, “Yep! That’s how a CD transport should be built!” The ET3 uses Philips’s notoriously musical SAA7824 CD drive and a Sanyo HD850 laser pickup. It can play “Red Book” CDs and their R/RW variations, plus MQA CDs. It cannot read SACD discs. The ET3 has multiple…
For the past few months, I’ve been getting ready to move. Those of you who’ve looked for an apartment in New York City know that it may be the single most dismal thing about living here. Imagine spending months online, looking at “digitally staged” photos of dark, cramped, cheaply renovated apartments where you can hardly believe anyone would consent to live, all offered at prices that, elsewhere, can get you a Greek Revival manse with four acres of rolled lawns. To wade through these listings is also to partake of some of the most godawful words in the English language, all designed to make the reader feel poor. My least favorite may be “coveted,” which brings to mind the kind of late–19th-century opera where a Sicilian villager gets knifed in…
