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CES 2013
CES 2013: Vinyl A "Normal" Part of the High Performance Audio Mix
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 08, 2013  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969
Day one of CES 2013 proved that vinyl is now a normal and welcomed part of the high performance audio mix. It wasn't always that way of course. At one point it was "controversial." Not many new CD players were introduced at the show—at least based on what I saw so far. Granted I was looking for analog and not CD players.
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CES 2013
Tweeting and Blogging From The International Consumer Electronics Show In Las Vegas!
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 06, 2013  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969
The 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show begins Tuesday morning. I'm flying out tomorrow morning and will begin tweeting @analogplanet and blogging on this site as soon as there's stuff to report. Honestly, I still haven't posted everything worth noting from RMAF back in October and I fully intend to get those posts online here too but first, CES 2013!
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Album Reviews
Dirty Projectors Practice Musical Hygiene on "Swing Lo Magellan"
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 05, 2013
Dear Diary:

Dirty Projectors has been around for a decade. This is the group's, what? sixth album? but only the first I've heard since becoming aware of it only a few month ago. How totally clueless have I become?

When I write about Swing Lo Magellan do I fake it and write as if I've known about the group for a decade? I can't do that. So I'll have to admit how unhip and out of the loop I've become.

I know! I'll blame The Beatles and all of the reissues I have to cover. Right!

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Album Reviews
Elvis Peeks Under the Sheets in the "Imperial Bedroom"
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 03, 2013
The song "Imperial Bedroom" does not appear on E.C.'s fourth album issued back in 1982 but it does as a bonus track on Rykodisc's twofer CD. The twofer's other album Almost Blue does not include the song "Almost Blue," which is on Imperial Bedroom. Got that?
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News
Bert Jansch Mono (?) "Heartbreak" Update
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 03, 2013  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969
We recently reported the curious case of Omnivore's reissue of Bert Jansch's Heartbreak LP. The 1981 recording sounded "mono" on the LP but stereo on the MP3 download. We contacted the label and today got this reply:
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News
High End Audio: Luxury or Necessity?
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 02, 2013  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969
Is a fine audio system a luxury or a necessity?
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News
Swedish Band's Limited Edition Promo Single Made of Ice!
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 02, 2013  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969
The Swedish Band The Shout Out Louds released a limited edition of 10 copies of a promo single in a kit that requires the receiver to use a supplied latex mold to produce a record made of ice that actually plays
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Album Reviews
Neil Young's "Psychedelic Pill"—"Don't Want My MP3"
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 29, 2012
"Don't want my MP3," Neil Young protests on side two's "Drifting Back (Part 2)".

Young's lifelong obsession with sound quality is well known and of course welcomed around here. He was one of the first musicians to express serious reservations about digital recording and playback. Back in 1993 he appeared on an MTV News piece along with Peter Gabriel and me too. You can watch it here. "We've lost the sound" Neil laments—and that was before the scourge of MP3.

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Phono Preamp Reviews
What's a $8500 Cartridge Doing In a Place Like This? The $399 ifi iPhono Phono Preamplifier
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 27, 2012  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969
The $399 iFi iPhono phono preamp first spotted at the 2012 Rocky Mountain Audio Festival is the result of a joint venture between ifi micro (ifi-audio.com) and U.K. based Abbington Music Research, also known as AMR. ifi micro also manufactures a fits-in-the-palm-of-your-hand 192/24 bit USB DAC, a headphone amp and a USB power supply but the phono preamp is of the greatest interest around here.
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Album Reviews
Flower By The Dry River
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 26, 2012
The classically trained Cuban-born jazz pianist Elio Villafranca and his group the Jass Syncopators recorded this album Direct-to-Disk last Winter at the "Least Significant Bit Studios", which is actually a large room in the Sound-Smith.com production facility converted into a performance space/recording studio.

The double LP set is but one of many DirectGrace D2D records produced by Sound-Smith's founder Peter Ledermann to benefit a charity dedicated to helping some 215 million exploited children around the world enduring child labor, or abandoned to the streets due to the AIDS epidemic and other public health catastrophes.

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