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As Blur returns with The Ballad of Darren, Mark Lepage highlights their mature, melancholic sound—and wonders if the album’s strength might provoke the ultimate Britpop revenge: an Oasis reunion just to spite them.
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Metallica’s 72 Seasons may not reinvent thrash, but it refines it with maturity and muscle. With Greg Fidelman’s production and standout tracks like “Inamorata,” the band delivers their strongest album since Death Magnetic.
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In the final part of his candid interview, Michael Fremer defends good digital, champions honest reviews, praises his 17-year-old protégé Malachi Lui, and reflects on how far vinyl—and his own journey—has come.
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In Part 2 of Gilles Laferriere’s revealing interview, Michael Fremer reflects on his departure from Stereophile, his triumphant return to The Absolute Sound, and the exciting ventures fueling his passion—from producing records to mentoring young writers—all while reaffirming vinyl’s enduring magic.
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Robert Schryer recounts the Canadian launch of Esoteric’s Grandioso M1X monoblocks, where Focal Scala Utopia speakers and jaw-dropping dynamics delivered a “grandioso” performance marked by explosive realism and lush musicality.
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MoFi’s remaster of Iron Butterfly’s acid rock landmark “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” breathes new life into the 1968 classic, delivering thunderous bass, refined detail, and an intimacy lost in reverb-heavy earlier pressings.
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Montreal’s Samuel Furon blends French artisanal audio with retail savvy at Atelier Audio, where a system featuring Diptyque speakers and Ocellia electronics delivers uncannily lifelike, emotionally resonant digital playback.
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Blue Train gets the Tone Poet treatment, and John Coltrane’s only Blue Note leader session never sounded better—Kevin Gray’s stereo cut dazzles with dynamic finesse, stellar horn imaging, and top-shelf vinyl presentation.
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Despite MoFi’s DSD controversy, Claude Lemaire finds their Eye in the Sky 45 rpm remaster a revelation—eclipsing his Canadian first press with staggering dynamics, transparency, and an analog warmth that challenges purist assumptions.
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Three high-end speaker cables—Audience Studio ONE, AudioQuest Robin Hood ZERO, and Kimber Kable Monocle XL—showcase different flavors of excellence: the Studio ONE’s lush warmth, Robin Hood’s soundstage depth, and Monocle XL’s bold, detailed realism.
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For the first entry in our “Best $20,000 System” series, Art et Son’s Rob Sutcliffe and Antonello deliver a warm, sweet, and tactile sound built around Harbeth, Moonriver, Chord, and Melco—plus smart upgrade paths for vinyl lovers.
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In his latest interconnect roundup, the Guru pits Audience, Kimber Kable, and AudioQuest against each other—finding all three excellent, but each with a unique sonic flavor and value proposition worth testing in your own system.
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At T.H.E. Show 2022, Katli Audio’s system delivered such an emotionally invigorating performance it left all others in the dust, earning top honors over high-caliber contenders from Alma Music and High-End by Oz.
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Three SPDIF cables from AudioQuest, Kimber, and Audience face off—each delivering distinct sonic strengths—while the old-school Auric Illuminator CD treatment surprisingly proves its worth, boosting clarity, ambiance, and realism across multiple discs.
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In this second “Cable Guru” entry, the Guru explores mid-priced hi-fi cables from major manufacturers, emphasizing sound character over specs, system synergy, and the artful subjectivity that makes cable evaluation a unique audiophile pursuit.
