Being an Audiophile Is Not a Serious Endeavor. Or Is It?
- Written by: Jeff Fritz
- Category: Opinion
Adults face many issues every day, some of them deadly serious. It would be easy for me -- or you -- to draw up a long list of them, but as that list would include issues typically batted back and forth in political circles, I won’t. On the SoundStage! sites, I’ve always tried to stick to writing about audio -- it’s not within the purview of a family of publications dedicated to the pursuit of great sound to include the latest political talking points.
Gryphon Audio Designs Mojo S Loudspeakers
- Written by: Jeff Fritz
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
Gryphon Audio Designs’ very first loudspeaker was the Cantata, a stand-mounted two-way, released in 2002. But the Danish company had been founded 17 years before, in 1985, by Flemming Rasmussen, who retired in 2018. Until the Cantata came along, Gryphon had been known only for their massive class-A power amplifiers and other electronics. With the Cantata, an all-Gryphon system had become a reality, and to this day, many of their customers have systems in which every link in the audio-signal chain, cables included, is a Gryphon product. The Cantata was produced until 2008, and in 2009 Gryphon launched the original Mojo, which remained in production until 2016. By then the Mojo had been joined by several other Gryphon speakers, all rather large floorstanders. The Mojo S, reviewed here, was debuted at Munich’s High End in May 2016, and is the only minimonitor among Gryphon’s four current speaker models.
A Death in the Family -- and Record Cleaning with Revolv
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: For the Record
Last February, my mother died. Her passing wasn’t unexpected -- she was 84 and not in good health. Still, it took me by surprise, and shook me up far more than I’d anticipated. The two years and more that I’d had to prepare myself didn’t mean squat. I’d thought I was ready, but -- there was no way to be ready for the death of my last remaining parent.
Sam Rivers: "Contours"
- Written by: Joseph Taylor
- Category: Recording of the Month
Blue Note B0029413-01
Format: LP
Musical Performance: ****
Sound Quality: ****
Overall Enjoyment: ****
When saxophonist Sam Rivers began recording as a leader for Blue Note Records in 1964, he’d played briefly in Miles Davis’s quintet, and had also played in sessions led by Tony Williams, the drummer in Davis’s band. Rivers was a bit too avant-garde for Davis, who replaced him with Wayne Shorter. The four albums Rivers made for Blue Note between 1964 and 1973 were cutting edge, but still accessible enough for the label’s loyalists.
Synergistic Research Galileo SX Interconnects, Speaker Cables, and IFT Jumpers
- Written by: Howard Kneller
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
Discontinued well over a decade ago, Synergistic Research’s quantum tunneled X-series cables ran with the best in terms of soundstaging, three-dimensional imaging, transparency, speed, leading-edge detail, noise reduction, and dynamics. However, as I wrote at the time, those cables could sound a bit harsh and grainy in the upper frequencies. And given the great amounts of detail they could convey, and their somewhat forward sound, they could be fatiguing in some systems.
The Sound I've Been Searching For
- Written by: Jeff Fritz
- Category: Opinion
Although I can’t pinpoint the exact date, the last time I was satisfied with my stereo system was sometime in early 2017. I had a pair of Magico Q7 Mk.II speakers driven by a Soulution 711 stereo amplifier. My digital source was a Soulution 560 DAC-preamplifier, and interconnects and speaker cables were Nordost Valhallas. That ca.-$400,000 system was assembled in my listening room, the Music Vault, and tweaked with excruciating attention to detail. The sound was all that I could hope a system of that pedigree could produce -- it was sublime.
Auralic Vega G2 Streaming DAC-Preamplifier
- Written by: Jeff Fritz
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
I sit and read with sadness as insecure audiophiles on various audio forums denigrate each other’s six-figure stereo systems. Grown people ought to know better. If you’re used to watching Vikings and The Walking Dead, well, the carnage can be just about as gory.
David Bowie: "Let's Dance"
- Written by: Joseph Taylor
- Category: Recording of the Month
Parlophone DB83881 0190295692735
Format: LP
Musical Performance: ***½
Sound Quality: ***½
Overall Enjoyment: ***½
Let’s Dance, David Bowie’s 15th studio album, appeared in 1983. Videos based on its singles were in heavy rotation on MTV, which by then had established itself as the dominant promotional tool for new pop music. Bowie’s acute visual sense made him a good fit for MTV, and his videos for “Let’s Dance,” “Modern Love,” and “China Girl” won viewers and sales. Those singles were among his biggest selling, and the LP hit no.1 worldwide.
Cocktail Audio X45Pro Music Server-DAC
- Written by: Aron Garrecht
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
There’s no arguing that playing music from a digitally stored library is more convenient than getting out of your chair, sorting through shelves of CDs, and spinning discs one by one. But there’s a catch -- first you must build that digital library. That process can take hours, days, even weeks, depending on the size of the collection.
A Measured Approach to Room Acoustics
- Written by: Jeff Fritz
- Category: Opinion
In September 2018 I wrote “Jeff’s New Room,” in which I wrote in detail about moving into my new listening room after selling our previous home and spending some time in a rental house. The room had not yet been acoustically treated when I wrote the piece, and it remained largely untreated throughout the listening sessions for the first product I reviewed there, the EgglestonWorks Kiva loudspeakers. The Kivas are terrific speakers -- despite being asked to perform in a room in which little attention had been paid to acoustics, they sounded quite good in my new space.
- Luxman L-509X Integrated Amplifier
- My Little Fwend and My Double-Wide Equipment Rack
- Matthew Sweet: "Girlfriend"
- Vivid Audio Kaya 45 Loudspeakers
- The Making of Two Vimberg Tondas
- Audio Research Reference 160M Mono Amplifiers
- Neil Young: "Songs for Judy"
- Weiss Engineering DAC501 Digital-to-Analog Converter
- Jeff Buys Loudspeakers: The Vimberg Tondas
- EgglestonWorks Kiva Loudspeakers
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