Welcome to The Abso!ute Sound online! We explore music and the reproduction of music in the home. We believe that the sound of music, unamplified, occurring in a real space is a philosophic absolute against which we may judge the performance of devices designed to reproduce music. Our goal is to provide the resources consumers need to judge how a component's sound either honors or departs from the music's truth, and to make sound purchasing decisions that maximize their experience of reproduced sound. Below is our Issue 157, December 2005 table of contents and editorial.

December 2005

Editorial

 

Viewpoints

8 - Letters

131 - Manufacturer Comments

Columns

14 - From The Editor

Equipment Reports

84 - Cover Story Accuphase DP-57 CD Player Neil Gader listens to the latest digital player from a company known for its beautiful, musically refined components.

24 - The Absolute Sound's Editors' Choice Awards Here 'tis, the biggie -- our annual roundup of the crème dela crème of high-end audio.

97 - Revel Concerta F12 Loudspeaker Arnie Williams listens to and reports on a new model from Revel at a very competitive price point.

99 - Canton Vento 807 DC Loudspeaker This highly resolving and seductive speaker finds Jim Hannon pondering the recent popularity of German manufacturers in the U.S.

101 - Coincident Technology Super Eclipse III Loudspeaker Sue Kraft checks out the latest from Canadian designer Israel Blume.

The Cutting Edge

106 - Music-Minded Controllers, Part I: The Middleweights In the first part of a survey intended to find musical multichannel controllers, Alan Taffel explores Rotel's RSP-1098 and McIntosh's MX-119, with further thoughts on the Aesthetix Calypso linestage.

113 - EXOTICA: TARA Labs "The Zero" Interconnect and Omega Speaker Cable Jonathan Valin takes a listen to a pair of beastly expensive and beautiful-sounding cables from designer Matthew Bond.

108 - HP’s Workshop The Bluenote Stibbert Improved CD Player; The Super SACD Sampler; The Perils of Reviewing; Of Turntables and Speed; Follow-up -- the ASR Emitter II Exclusive, Version 2005.

Music

16 - The Best-Sounding Jazz LPs In the third installment of an ongoing series of great and great-sounding music, Fred Kaplan chooses the very-best-sounding jazz platters.

137 - Recording of the Issue Bach: Keyboard Concertos (Angela Hewitt)

137 - Classical Harmonia Mundi's Saul, Cecilia Bartoli's risqué Opera Proibita, Kronos Quartet's venture into Bollywood, Phillip Glass' Orion, Joshua Bell on Tchaikovsky, plus six recent SACDs covered.

149 - Rock Etc. 22 CDs, LPs, and new-format discs reviewed, including the latest from Neil Young, Fiery Furnaces, Death Cab for Cutie, The Dirty Three, Bettye LaVette, Dangerdoom, Boubacar Traore, Freakwater, Paul McCartney, Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, and Amy Rigby.

175- Jazz A previously lost gem from Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane, plus new sounds from James Carter, Common Ground, Bill Frisell, John Scofield, Jenny Scheinman, and more.

Finale

173 - Classifieds

174 - Where To Buy The Absolute Sound

175 - Ad Index

175 - The TAS Back Page Addams Family Audio Research, by Wayne Garcia.

In the Next issue: A report on new high-res formats Krell's Evolution One preamp and Two amplifier McIntosh MC275 and Quad II amps Rocky Mountain Audio Fest report And More!