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Riva Audio's Magic Wand!
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 30, 2017  |  11 comments
Just had to sneak this in before heading for vacation. Riva Audio's Wand is a spectacular-sounding wireless Wi-Fi based distributed audio system that features open architecture, meaning you can stream using Google's Play app via Chromecast, or Apple's Airplay, or directly from a hard drive via DLNA or control the system Riva's own Wand app, at up to 192/24 bit resolution. It has Spotify built in.

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Can I Have My Money Back?
Goin' Fishin'
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 30, 2017  |  12 comments
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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #62
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 30, 2017  |  First Published: Sep 01, 2000  |  0 comments
What's June without a hi-fi show? With Stereophile's exhibition put on hold for 2000 while emapUSA sorts out future possibilities—Manhattan in May 2001 is the most probable place and date—I flashed on High End 1996 in Frankfurt, Germany, a June show I'd attended and reported on in this column. German audiophiles were still heavily into vinyl back then, so why not hit High End 2000?
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Analog Gear NewsNews
Portugal-Based Sempersonus Introduces New Epicyclic Drive Turntable
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 29, 2017  |  6 comments
Sempersonus, a new audio company based in Lisbon, Portugal just announced its first product: a turntable based upon an idler wheel-type drive it calls "Epicyclic Drive", because the motor and pulley directly drive the platter's inner rim.

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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #61
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 27, 2017  |  First Published: Aug 01, 2000  |  2 comments
Joni Mitchell played The Theater at Madison Square Garden recently, supporting her new CD, Both Sides Now. Mitchell with symphony orchestra sounded like a no-brainer, so we got tickets, though by the time my friend was able to get through online to Ticketmaster the best seats were gone. We got second-best accommodations for $75, which seemed reasonable, given the cost of rehearsing an orchestra, then traipsing around the country with it.
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Album ReviewsFeatures
Blue Note's Bi-Annual Blue Note Review Box Set Reviewed
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 26, 2017  |  11 comments
Don Was, community organizer. Who would have thought? There's long been a Blue Note "community" but it's a loose knit, worldwide group of like-minded label enthusiasts that have kept the Blue Note flame glowing. The fans remained true even as the company changed hands, lost artistic focus, engaged in self-exploitation and occasionally tried to re-invent itself into something it was not.

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Analog Gear News
Grado's New Prestige Series 2 Updates Classic Grado Cartridge Line
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 26, 2017  |  8 comments
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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
Which "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs"?
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 26, 2017  |  8 comments
After the messy "supergroup" hype surrounding Blind Faith—more a one-off money maker than a group formed to last—Eric Clapton decided to downplay his fame and so was born in 1970 Derek and the Dominoes and the Layla... double LP that initially flopped. Many people today forget that, but flop it did. It didn't help that it was a costly double LP by an "unknown" group.

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
Blood, Sweat & Tears "Bloodlines" Box Set From Analogue Productions
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 22, 2017  |  0 comments
BS&T fans fall into 4 camps: the 1st which prefers the Al Kooper led original group and the album Child is Father to the Man, the 2nd that prefers only the second eponymously titled album, which was the group's most popular, the 3rd camp that loves the first two albums and the 4th camp that loves all of the group's albums. This box is definitely for them.

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Analog CornerTurntable Reviews
Analog Corner #60
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 20, 2017  |  First Published: Jul 01, 2000  |  15 comments
A pleasant surprise arrived at my door the other day: the 180gm vinyl edition of Companion, the Patricia Barber album released last year on Premonition/Blue Note. According to the jacket, the six-track set, impeccably recorded live in Chicago last July by Jim Anderson, was mastered from a 24-bit transfer of an analog recording. You can bet the vinyl sounds better than the 16-bit CD—at less than 20 minutes a side, there's plenty of room for the recording's full dynamics.
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