Wilson Alexia and Legacy Aeris Loudspeakers
$47,500; $18,500
One of two ties this year, although I’m tempted to give the Wilson the edge just to try to push Bill Duddleston into adding an automatic set-up feature to the Aeris. I haven’t had so much fun using speakers to re-explore my music in a long, long time. In spite of their radically different features and design, both the Wilson and the Legacy have detail, dynamics, full deep bass, extended upper octaves, and soundstaging that are truly exceptional at their very different price points. They have a natural musical realism with classical music and acoustic jazz for which I’ve searched a great deal longer than I care to remember. (Issues 238 and 235)
VPI Classic 3 Turntable
$6000
It may seem a bit odd to give the Classic 3 a Golden Ear award when I’m firmly convinced that the VPI Classic Direct and Classic 3D tonearm is a real breakthrough in analog. The reason, however, is that the Classic 3 and its new tonearm do an amazing job at a far more affordable price. Sure, if you have the money, then the Classic Direct is my clear winner, but the Classic 3 outperforms VPI’s far more expensive HRX, is virtually bulletproof in reliability and setup, and is the winner in cost-effectiveness for most audiophiles. (216)
EMM Labs XDS1 Disc Player/DAC and PS Audio DirectStream DAC
$25,000; $5995
Once again, two radically different technologies and price points. The EMM Labs is an older design, but has been upgraded to have a USB input, and is superior in dynamic detail and midrange realism. The PS Audio DirectStream DAC is a cutting-edge effort and offers superb sound quality at a far lower price, plus it has excellent Ethernet streaming with its “bridge.” I’d throw the Oppo 105 or 105D in as a truly affordable third party to this tie with outstanding sound quality at its far lower price, but Robert Harley would never let me get away with this. (Review forthcoming)
By Anthony Cordesman
I've been reviewing audio components since some long talks with HP back in the early 1980s. My first experiences with the high end came in the 1950s at the University of Chicago, where I earned part of my tuition selling gear for Allied Radio and a local high-end audio dealer, and worked on sound systems for local night clubs, the Court Theater, and the university radio station. My professional life has been in national security, but I've never lost touch with the high end and have lived as a student and diplomat in Britain, Belgium, France, Germany, NATO, Asia, Iran and the Middle East and Asia. I've been lucky enough to live in places where opera, orchestras, and live chamber and jazz performances were common and cheap, and to encounter a wide range of different venues, approaches to performing, and national variations in high-end audio gear. I currently hold the Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and my open source analyses are available at that web site. What I look for in reviewing is the ability to provide a musically real experience at a given price point in a real-world listening room, and the ability to reveal the overall balance of musical sound qualities that I know are on a given recording. Where possible, I try to listen on a variety of systems as well as my own reference system.
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