LATEST ADDITIONS

Features
Two Weeks With ZVOX’s VB20 VoiceBud
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 31, 2018  |  11 comments
An elderly gentleman wearing a pair of high tech digital hearing aids accompanied his wife to a kennel club meeting at my home a few years ago. He had little interest in the dog doings upstairs so I invited him downstairs into my listening room. It allowed me to conduct an experiment of sorts. Did he like music? Yes. Had he ever heard or seen a big high performance audio rig? No, he hadn’t. Would he like to hear some music on it? Yes he would: jazz or classical. I obliged, curious to find out what exactly he heard listening through digital hearing aids to a high-resolution audio system. The look on his face told me he was hearing plenty.

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Turntable Reviews
Gearbox’s Vinyl “Compact Disc” Player
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 27, 2018  |  13 comments
U.K. based Gearbox, best known for its restored vintage all-tubed Westrex mastering system (Haeco Scully lathe with Westrex RA1700 series amps, Westrex 3DIIA cutting head and Telefunken U73B tube limiter) and eclectic all-analog vinyl record catalog recently entered the hardware business with this cool “compact disc” player it calls “The Gearbox Automatic” though it’s a manual player.

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Features
A UHQM (Ultra High Quality Message) to Chad Kassem
Malachi Lui  |  Dec 21, 2018  |  20 comments
Last Sunday while back on the east coast AnalogPlanet’s Malachi Lui paid a visit. We hadn’t seen each other since late July so it was great catching up in person. We spent much of the time together comparing multiple copies of Axis: Bold As Love including a preliminary pressing of the upcoming Analogue Productions UHQR 200 gram vinyl edition in both mono and stereo mixes housed in a not quite finalized version of the exquisite packaging. I shot an impromptu video of the opinionated Mr. Lui fully expressing his opinion to AP’s Chad Kassem. When I suggested that we post the video on AnalogPlanet both Kassem and Lui said “OK” so please watch it below. Lui insisted on writing an intro to the Experience experience, which you’ll find directly below this.—Ed.

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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #104
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 16, 2018  |  First Published: Mar 01, 2004  |  14 comments
If you're looking for something completely new and/or different in a turntable design, you won't find it in Musical Fidelity's new $5000 M1 turntable. The M1 uses tried and true mechanical concepts, design strategies, and materials, with an emphasis on precision machining. The goal, according to MF's press release, was "very low mechanical and electrical noise, excellent mechanical isolation, speed accuracy and stability, [and] pitch control."
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AAA Vinyl
Joan Baez's Debut Album Still A Wonder
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 10, 2018  |  10 comments
Joan Baez recorded this Vanguard debut in 1960 at age 19. With her impossibly high and pure quavering voice and matching pristine finger picking guitar, she and this album created a sensation that helped shift the "folk-revival" back to authenticity from the commerciality into which it had drifted. Though while she sounded like a barefoot waif recently arrived from the Appalachian mountains, she was born on Staten Island. Her Mexico-born father who grew up in Brooklyn, the son of a minister, was a Stanford PhD credited with co-inventing the X-ray microscope. Her Scottish mother's father was an Anglican priest.

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News
Furnace Record Pressing Fires Up!
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 09, 2018  |  8 comments
Last year when AnalogPlanet visited Furnace Record Pressing in Alexandria Virginia it was an enormous, mostly empty building. The vinyl pressing plant infrastructure installation had just begun.

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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #103
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 08, 2018  |  First Published: Feb 01, 2004  |  10 comments
"What's this? The new Thorens turntable? It doesn't look like a Thorens turntable."

That's what I thought as I unboxed the new Thorens 850—part of the new 800 line from the rejuvenated company. Sure, I'd seen mockups at trade shows, but until I get the finished product in my hands, I really don't pay careful attention.

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Features
"John Wesley Harding" 3-Way Reveal!
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 06, 2018  |  11 comments
AnalogPlanet recently posted 3 96/24 "John Wesley Harding" files recorded from original, Sony Legacy and Mobile Fidelity mono records and asked readers to weigh in on what they heard and which they preferred (if any).

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News
AnalogPlanet Editor Receives Prestigious LA&OCAS Founder's Award
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 05, 2018  |  21 comments
At the L.A. and Orange County Audiophile Society's annual GALA last Sunday, AnalogPlanet editor Michael Fremer was given the society's prestigious Founder's Award. It was also the Society's 25th anniversary so many of the past Founders award winners were on hand including Tim DeParavicini, EveAnna Manley and Richard Vandersteen, among others along with more than 200 of the society's 2600 members.

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News
Nabisco's New Oreo Turntable Sounds Sweet! Or Tastes Sweet....
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 04, 2018  |  12 comments
Nabisco recently announced a turntable that plays Oreo cookies. Pop any Oreo cookie onto the platter and it will play a tune. Take a bit out of it and it plays a different tune. Apparently it's been on the market for a few weeks and the company is sold out for now. It sells for $19.99. Sweet deal hopefully back in stock for Christmas.
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