Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2026 i Stereophile

Renowned British turntable manufacturer Rega once defined a turntable as a vibration-measuring machine; that definition became the title of a coffee table book tracing the company’s history and design philosophy.1 To me that title perfectly captures what a turntable does: measure the microscopic undulations pressed into the record groove by using a phono cartridge to convert them into an electrical signal that feeds the rest of the system. The more accurately the turntable can measure those tiny squiggles, the better the turntable is. It’s really that simple. I always get a chuckle when someone tries to tell me that a turntable’s sole requirement is to rotate at a steady 33 1⁄3rpm—that assuming that’s achieved, every turntable sounds the same. While rotational speed accuracy and consistency is a critical factor for…

The NuPrime brand may not be familiar to many readers of Stereophile, though a quick search reveals coverage in a 10-year-old report,1 a side reference in a 2022 review of a different product,2 and most recently, a brief mention of the product I’m reviewing—the NuPrime MCX-800AD—at High End Munich 2025.3 In the early years of this century, Stereophile reviewed several NuForce products as well; Jason Lim founded NuPrime after NuForce was sold. NuPrime calls the MCX-800AD ($3995) an “Immersive Audio Processor,” but that’s not really what it is, so I don’t know why they call it that. NuPrime lists it on its website under both “Amplifiers” and “Multi-Channel DACs.” So what is it, a floor wax or a dessert topping? The MCX-800AD is an eight-channel D/A converter with source selection…

T+A Out of the box, the T+A Symphonia streaming integrated amplifier Rogier van Bakel reviewed in the November 2025 issue1 has two pairs of single-ended analog line inputs. The second pair can be used as a moving magnet–compatible phono input by selecting an internal phono module with the front-panel Menu buttons. As RvB is a digital-only guy, he wasn’t able to audition the Symphonia’s phono stage, but before I shipped the amplifier to Tom Fine for a phono audition, I performed a complete set of measurements on the phono input with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system.2 I controlled the amplifier with the T+A Music Navigator G3 app, which I installed on my iPad mini after connecting the amplifier’s Ethernet port to my network. To minimize noise, I connected a wire…

“The term ‘sales’ is an anachronism. Today, it’s about streaming and ancillary income.” Randall Grass, general manager at Shanachie Entertainment, has seen many changes since joining Shanachie Records in 1980. After uttering the statement above, he’s happy to admit that while streaming and merch sales predominate in the music business today, there is one very powerful and profitable new surprise: vinyl. It’s why Shanachie, an independent label based in Newton, New Jersey, has just launched a vinyl reissue series. Shanachie’s catalog is extremely diverse, covering a wide range of genres from Celtic traditional and reggae to world music, and more recently, smooth jazz. The label’s initial group of releases includes titles by Celtic trad bands Solas and Planxty, which date from the label’s earliest days, and Mississippi John Hurt’s 1928…

For a lot of bands, the second album is intimidating. There are numerous examples of sophomore slumps, which sometimes lead to a band’s quick end. Talking Heads didn’t just avoid a sophomore slump; they scored their first top-40 hit and put their career on solid, sky-is-the-limit footing. Through their innate talent and curiosity, relentless hard work, and some good luck, their second effort—More Songs About Buildings and Food—was a smashing success. Capitalizing on the modest buzz created by their debut, Talking Heads: 77—“Psycho Killer” got some FM airplay and notoriety—the band hit the road. They toured the US and Europe almost constantly in 1977 and 1978. In late winter, they paused for two months to make their next album. More Songs is the focus of a new, deluxe four-disc (three-CD,…

There’s a scene in the 2002 movie The Pianist in which Adrien Brody’s character, the Polish-Jewish pianist Władysław Szpilman, is hiding in the ruins of a Warsaw villa. The Nazi officer who discovers him asks what he did before the war. “I was a pianist,” Szpilman stammers. The German points to a battered grand piano and orders him to play something. Szpilman hesitates, sits, lifts his trembling hands, and begins Chopin’s Ballade No.1 in G minor. He plays because it’s what’s left; not to beg, not to resist, but to hold onto the one thing that still makes him himself. It isn’t protest music or even defiance in the traditional sense. It’s something deeper: an assertion of worth, humanity, beauty, all still alive in the rubble. That scene wouldn’t leave…

Frederich Nietzsche distinguished between two approaches to culture: The Apollonian, which is characterized by order and rationality, and Dionysian, which is about chaos, intoxication, and vitality. Apollo was the god of Music, Art, Light, and Knowledge, and to Nietzsche, the Apollonian impulse was the main source of beauty. It is characterized by order, clarity, individuation, and measured restraint. To me, Greek sculpture and the paintings of the Great Masters best represent this impulse. It’s not just their classical forms—there’s a strength to it, a solidity. Also think of the great Classical composers: Haydn. Mozart. Beethoven to a point. Dionysus, on the other hand, was the god of wine, religious ecstasy, and ritual madness. The Dionysian view of culture is quite the opposite of the Apollonian view. The impulse is—quite different.…

The technical evolution of the Sabrina V over its forebear, the SabrinaX, can be gleaned by comparing a few key performance indicators. For example, the newcomer still achieves a higher sensitivity than the 87dB specification at 88.9dB despite being slightly less sensitive than the ‘X (89.6dB, all ref. 1kHz/2.83V/1m). Also, the V’s response is slightly less uniform than its predecessor’s (see fig.2) with errors of ±3.80dB/±3.90dB (L/R) versus ±2.85dB/±2.90dB for the ‘X (both 200Hz–20kHz), and it’s also a little tougher to drive. However, all this is traded for lower distortion and significantly improved bass extension. I’ll dive into the detail a little further into this report, but the background to this shift in subjective ‘tone’ – and the deeper bass in particular – all stems from Wilson’s repurposing of its…

The all-in-one stereo component occupies the same territory as those Italian restaurants that also serve sushi and Texas barbecue. Every instinct says it’s a dubious overreach: Few chefs master two or more distinct cuisines. But then you experience that rare eatery that somehow nails the California roll, the carbonara, and the brisket, and you realize that dismissing it on principle could mean missing something that’s genuinely excellent. While some of the products Eversolo makes do just one thing, like the AMP-F10 two-channel amplifier Tom Fine reviewed in Stereophile’s August 2025 issue, most of the Chinese company’s products perform double or triple duty. The $1980 DMP-A8 I assessed for this magazine in July 2024 is a truly excellent streamer, DAC, and preamp in one. I liked the similar but higher-performance A10…

I sought out the MCX-800AD because of my fascination with Atmos. Here’s why. Multichannel audio is how I listen to music, and for two decades I have been able to obtain and enjoy multichannel recordings on disc or by download. In the past two years, those sources have withered, as labels large and small have been drawn away by the siren song of Dolby Atmos streaming, mainly from Apple Music. Record companies that used to offer discs or downloads now offer only streaming links. It seems inevitable that the future for multichannel is Atmos and perhaps other “immersive” formats like DTS-X, Auro-3D, and Sony 360 Reality Audio. However, for me, and I think most Stereophile readers, a big problem with Atmos for music is that it is only commonly available…

After I reviewed NAD’s Masters Series M10 streaming integrated amplifier in January 2020,1 I bought the review sample to use as my daily driver. Not only did I appreciate the fact that the M10 was no bigger than it needed to be—it measures just 8.5" W × 3.9" H × 10.25" D and weighs less than 10lb—it is Roon Ready and includes a free license to use Dirac Live LE Room Correction. (This can be upgraded to a paid Dirac Live Full Frequency version.) The amplifier is supplied with a USB microphone that can be used to measure the responses of the owner’s loudspeakers at the listening position. The Dirac app then creates a digital filter to optimize the sound and sends it to the M10 with the BluOS app,…

Pur ti miro presents a certifiably off-the-beaten-track crosscultural instrumental exploration that may strike some audiophiles as a bit weird, at least at first. Yet once you transcend tried-and-true expectations and allow what you hear to (in words immortalized by Grace Slick) “feed your head,” you will likely find the timbral contrasts, colors, and expressive power of Pur ti miro’s trio of sheng, viola, and double bass hard to resist. The overwhelming beauty of the sounds these three instruments make playing baroque music and beyond transforms something that at first seems like an oddity into near-visionary inspiration. For the project, Manfred Eicher, ECM’s founder and visionary executive producer, enlisted three superb musicians: Wu Wei on sheng; Martin Stegner on viola; and Janne Saksala on double bass. I can’t get enough of…

Like many vinyl obsessives, I’ve amassed a considerable CD collection—a 10' × 15' wall of them, behind dark blue curtains in my listening room. It is almost as if I was concealing a dirty secret from purist analog snobs, including me. Between 1990 and 2010, CDs ruled. Some titles released during that era were never released on vinyl. Peek behind those curtains and you’ll find a mix of such music—music released only on CD: Dim Lights, Thick Smoke & Hillbilly Music. Country and Western Hit Parade 1959. Paul Motian’s six-disc, self-titled ECM epic. Philip Glass’s Koyaanisqatsi, a Tom Jobim anthology called Fotografia, and Miles Davis’s All Stars from JVC’s exceptional XRCD series. I bet your shelves hold digital-only treasures, too. CD players are still available, with new ones issued often,…

There’s widespread consensus that Shohei Ohtani’s performance in Game 4 of the 2025 National League Championship Series was the greatest in baseball history: at the plate, 3 for 3 with three home runs; on the mound, six innings with 10 strikeouts and only 2 hits allowed. That defines double threat. Almost seven decades earlier, jazz’s original triple threat made his first record—Triple Threat—for the King label: Roland Kirk, just a month past his 21st birthday and blind since infancy, played three different horns, sometimes simultaneously and not as a mere novelty. Later he added flute, clarinet, oboe, English horn, bagpipes, nose flute, siren, flexatone, other instruments, circular breathing, multiphonics, and spirited sermonizing to his arsenal. These days, Kirk is much less visible than many of his contemporaries. One reason is…

A common theme in this space in Stereophile is the need to reach new audiences and generate broader interest in the hi-fi hobby. At a time when traditional hi-fi buyers are becoming scarcer—as older generations pass on—the need becomes more critical to the industry’s survival. Recently, two industry stalwarts—who both happen to be named Walter—have come together to form “an audio distribution and marketing superpower,” their first press release said. The Walters are bringing their skills and experience together to form the 2WA Group, merging their respective companies: Walter Schofield’s marketing firm Nexus Audio Technologies and Walter Swanbon’s Fidelis Distribution. “Fidelis Distribution and Nexus Audio Technologies no longer exist as those entities,” Schofield said during a recent conversation I had with the two cofounders. 2WA’s “core group” has two other…

Goldmund Telos 2800 Rhythm Distribution, the North American distributor for Goldmund, is honored to acknowledge Jim Austin’s thoughtful and comprehensive review of the Goldmund Telos 2800 Monoblock Power Amplifier in Stereophile. Mr. Austin’s profound exploration of the Apollonian concept—representing order, clarity, and measured restraint—perfectly captures the philosophy behind Goldmund’s design. This commitment is the very reason we proudly distribute the brand. The Telos 2800 is a testament to Goldmund’s decades-long pursuit of Absolute Transparency. We are delighted that the amplifier’s core objective—to act as a perfectly neutral medium, faithfully reproducing every nuance exactly as captured in the original recording—was experienced so clearly. Mr. Austin’s description of the sound as “carving the music from solid, transparent crystal” and rendering it “in quartz” validates the precision engineering and sonic mastery Goldmund represents.…