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Garrett Hongo's "The Perfect Sound: A Memoir in Stereo"

Details: Written by: Garrett Hongo; Category: Garrett Hongo; Created: 14 February 2022

My book, The Perfect Sound: A Memoir in Stereo, tells the story of three journeys—my own audio quest for the past 15 years, my love of all kinds of music since I was a kid in Hawaiʻi back in the 1950s, and the story of amplification itself from early acoustic instruments and classical amphitheaters to modern electronics and speakers. It’s part memoir, part personal audio chronicle, and part essayistic history of audio itself told through selected highlights. It took me a long time to write.

New Noise #3: A Little Box

Details: Written by: Jason Davis; Category: Jason Davis; Created: 02 February 2022

The term format agnostic has been showing up lately in certain hi-fi circles. I’m no linguist, but I am a fan of words and the creative ways we use them. These two words, in combination, caught my attention.

Magico's Impressive Quality Control

Details: Written by: Jeff Fritz; Category: Jeff Fritz; Created: 23 January 2022

Most high-end speaker manufacturers practice some form of quality control (QC) measures to ensure that their products leave the factory performing and looking exactly as they intend them to. These QC methods typically involve visual inspections—sometimes with special lighting or other tools that make obvious the smallest cosmetic flaws—and listening tests. The best manufacturers add acoustical testing to these QC steps.

CES 2022: (A Few) New Audio Products, Part 2

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: CES 2022; Created: 07 January 2022

Here’s my second batch of new audio products I saw as one of the handful of press attendees at the 2022 CES in Las Vegas this week. Why so few? Because I found only three major audio companies at CES. In fact, although I expected to see lots of headphone and Bluetooth speaker brands, they bailed, too—the biggest one I saw was Raycon, best known for heavily advertised and relatively cheap true wireless earbuds.

CES 2022: (A Few) New Audio Products, Part 1

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: CES 2022; Created: 07 January 2022

Against all odds, the 2022 CES took place this week in Las Vegas, even though many major tech manufacturers had pulled out and most press outlets canceled their plans to attend. So why did I go? Partly out of sheer inertia—I haven’t missed a CES since I first visited the show in 1990. Partly out of convenience—I was driving back to Los Angeles after visiting my family in Texas, and Las Vegas wasn’t far out of the way. And partly out of curiosity—I can remember when CES didn’t take over all of Las Vegas, when you could get a good lunch buffet at the Sahara for $6, and when the press events actually focused on new products rather than creating spectacle for the TV cameras. I hoped that the 2022 show would recall those simpler times of my youth. Rosebud . . .

Gryphon Stereo Amplifiers and Me

Details: Written by: Jeff Fritz; Category: Jeff Fritz; Created: 07 January 2022

There was a time when I was an audiophile but not an audio-equipment reviewer. Although I have been with SoundStage! since 1997, I recall a time before that when I had the gleam in my eyes that comes from pursuing the audio truth with limited means but an unquenchable curiosity. I dare say it was a more enjoyable experience in many ways than being “in” the industry. Sometimes, though, I feel brief moments of wonder like I did in my youth.

New Noise #2: An Unexpected DIY Surprise

Details: Written by: Jason Davis; Category: Jason Davis; Created: 26 December 2021

On the morning I submitted my previous (first) column, I stepped outside to my backyard workshop shed and unfastened the wood clamps from a fun little project I had no intention of keeping.

New Noise #1: Embracing the Unexpected

Details: Written by: Jason Davis; Category: Jason Davis; Created: 06 December 2021

I’ve long felt that a kid who doesn’t know what he wants to do will soon find out exactly what he doesn’t want to do. That is, there is no greater motivation for suddenly embracing (any) plan B than first being confronted with a disagreeable plan A.

Why I Decided to Review the Alta Audio Alec Loudspeakers

Details: Written by: Jeff Fritz; Category: Jeff Fritz; Created: 19 November 2021

Something struck me when I interviewed Michael Levy, president of New York’s Alta Audio, for a recent SoundStage! Talks video on the SoundStage! YouTube channel. First, Michael is a wealth of information, and his speaker-design knowledge goes back—way back. If you haven’t checked out that video, and you only know Alta from a few ads and maybe a quick experience at an audio show, you’ll gain a whole new perspective on the company and its products from watching that Talks episode.

Building the Magico A Series Loudspeaker Cabinets

Details: Written by: Jeff Fritz; Category: Jeff Fritz; Created: 06 November 2021

When I visited Magico at its Hayward, California, factory back in July of this year, my main focus was exploring the new Magico flagship, the mighty M9 ($750,000 per pair). I saw M9s being built and tested, and I got to hear a pair of these in Magico’s custom listening room. It was quite a treat.

Toronto Audiofest 2021—Keeping It Safe

Details: Written by: Gordon Brockhouse; Category: Toronto Audiofest 2021; Created: 25 October 2021

On September 27, an unexpected email appeared in my inbox. “Hey, Toronto, your Audiofest is back!” the message proclaimed. “After a two-year absence, the Toronto Audiofest is happy to return October 22–24, 2021, as the ‘SafeMode’ Toronto Audiofest.” I registered immediately.

Evaluating the SVS SB16-Ultra Subwoofer

Details: Written by: Jeff Fritz; Category: Jeff Fritz; Created: 21 October 2021

With the process of setting up the SVS SB16-Ultra complete, it was time to put this monster of a subwoofer through its paces to see how it performs. The first question I wanted to answer was whether the SVS app is preferable to the included small, plastic remote control. In a word, yes. The remote does provide basic controls such as volume and turning the display on or off, but the app gives the user far more control with direct access to functions such as the Parametric EQ and adjustable crossover. For users who don’t want their smartphone by their side in the listening room, the remote is handy in a pinch. The app, however, is made for you control freaks who want everything the sub is capable of right at your fingertips. I’ll use the app.

Pairing the SVS SB16-Ultra Subwoofer with My Monitor Audio Speakers

Details: Written by: Jeff Fritz; Category: Jeff Fritz; Created: 07 October 2021

I’ve had a set of Monitor Audio Studio standmount speakers ($1400 per pair when available, all prices USD) anchoring my multipurpose music/movie/YouTube stereo system for a few years now. This two-way minimonitor (mini Monitor?) is a high-resolution transducer, what with its AMT tweeter and dual midrange-woofers—both drive units derived from the company’s costlier Platinum series of flagship loudspeakers. The thing they lack, though, is deep bass. That is of course where SVS comes in.

CanJam SoCal 2021: Part 2

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: CanJam SoCal 2021; Created: 26 September 2021

Here’s the second half of my coverage of the CanJam SoCal 2021 headphone show, which took place September 25 and 26 at the Irvine Marriott hotel in Irvine, California. I was surprised to see so much innovation at this show—not just new headphone and earphone models but also new technologies I’d never seen before. But perhaps I shouldn’t have been too surprised, because what else were audio product designers going to do when they were shut inside for months?

CanJam SoCal 2021: Part 1

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: CanJam SoCal 2021; Created: 26 September 2021

Audio shows are understandably but sadly rare in the COVID-19 era, but happily, the relatively small (and manageable) CanJam SoCal headphone show was able to take place, at the Irvine Marriott in Irvine, California, just south of Los Angeles. All show attendees were required to be vaccinated (on the honor system) and wear masks, and we could take some comfort in the fact that California currently has the lowest rate of COVID-19 transmission in the US. Most exhibitors were careful to clean the headphones and earphones with sterile wipes after every use, and hand sanitizer was readily available.

Exploring the Heart of the SVS SB16-Ultra Subwoofer: An Interview with Smith Freeman

Details: Written by: Jeff Fritz; Category: Jeff Fritz; Created: 21 September 2021

In my May 1, 2021, SoundStage! Ultra article, “What Matters Most in an Audio System: The Loudspeaker Drive Unit,” I interviewed Vivid Audio’s technical director, Laurence Dickie, one of the world’s preeminent loudspeaker designers. The interview was all about drivers, obviously, and their importance above all other single factors in the design of a finished loudspeaker. In that article, Dickie—whose Vivid loudspeakers such as the Giya series are legendary in the industry—said something important:

Unboxing the SVS SB16-Ultra Subwoofer

Details: Written by: Jeff Fritz; Category: Jeff Fritz; Created: 10 September 2021

Rarely does high-end audio offer a value proposition like that seen in the SVS SB16-Ultra subwoofer ($1999.99, all prices USD). Now that might sound like a bold statement, but as I was unboxing this big, bad SVS sub, I couldn’t help thinking about just what was enclosed in the massive cardboard box my son and I had hoisted up into my listening room.

The Technics SU-R1000: Fully Digital Tour de Force Integrated Amplifier Plays Records

Details: Written by: Roger Kanno; Category: Roger Kanno; Created: 24 August 2021

With its large, analog VU level meters and old-school design aesthetic—and considering Technics’ reputation for producing turntables like the legendary SL-1200—you might think that the Technics SU-R1000 is an all-analog integrated amplifier at first glance. Nothing could be further from the truth. Lurking below its impeccably polished casework are a plethora of novel technologies, including an all-digital signal path and the company’s effort to take on the absolute state of the art with its Reference Class integrated amplifier.

Temple Audio: In a Class of its Own

Details: Written by: Rhys Brindle; Category: Rhys Brindle; Created: 16 August 2021

Among the best-known British hi-fi brands, there are some much smaller “under-the-radar” companies that almost never receive the recognition or acclaim for the quality of products that they design and produce. Some of you may already be familiar with Temple Audio, but for those who are not, the company designs and creates a range of high-end products (most notably, amplification and power supplies) at their headquarters in Manchester, North West England.

Audeze's CRBN: An Actual Game-Changer in High-End Headphones?

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: Brent Butterworth; Created: 02 August 2021

The story of Audeze’s CRBN electrostatic headphones, which the company announced today, is unusual. And judging from the brief listen I got last week at Audeze’s Santa Ana, California, headquarters, so is the end result.

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