NAD C 379

On May 28, 2020, Tidal announced that it was rolling out Dolby Atmos Music for home-theater systems. Nearly a full year later, on May 17, 2021, Apple Music announced that, along with lossless audio, its catalog would support spatial audio, which also uses Dolby Atmos. For Tidal, Dolby Atmos Music is included in the higher-tier HiFi subscription at $19.99 (all prices in USD) per month for a single subscription ($29.99 for up to five additional family members). For Apple Music, spatial audio and lossless audio are included in the $9.99 plan ($14.99 per month for up to five additional family members). For most audiophiles, the biggest draw would be lossless audio—the company was joining niche providers such as Tidal and Qobuz, but Apple’s pervasive influence brings it to a much wider audience.

Read more: Dolby Atmos Music in Your Home

You might think that a guy who earns his living by writing about technology would want to have the latest and greatest of everything. Not yours truly. When I make a purchase, I’ll spend what it takes to get a product that will meet my needs for a long time—but then I’ll make that thing last and last. I’ll replace a product only if it stops working properly and can’t be repaired economically; or if my circumstances change and the thing no longer suits my needs.

Read more: The Big Switch

In his July 1 editorial, “Rich Guys and Reviewers Running Amok in Hi-Fi,” SoundStage! Network founder and publisher Doug Schneider discussed the amount of exorbitantly priced hi-fi products available today, and the fact that their performance often does not justify their crazy price tags. And he cited academic studies showing that consumers often mistakenly equate price with quality.

Read more: I'm Only in It for the Money

We’re just past the halfway point of 2021, but I think I’ve already heard my favorite album of the year. On August 6, Impex Records will release Clique, an album of jazz standards by Patricia Barber, on MQA CD, SACD, and hi-rez download. Stereo and 5.1 surround-sound mixes will be included on the SACD, and available as hi-rez downloads. Clique will also be streamed by Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, and Qobuz. Coming later this year is a 33rpm LP; a 45rpm LP and a reel-to-reel tape release will follow in 2022.

Read more: Encore! Encore! An Interview with Patricia Barber, Jim Anderson, and Ulrike Schwarz

First Amazon, then Spotify, and now Apple. With the company’s May 17 announcement that it was planning to make the 75 million songs in its Apple Music catalog available in lossless format, and that a substantial number of tracks would be available in high resolution (up to 24-bit/192kHz ALAC), all the major streaming services have now joined the lossless party.

Read more: The New Apple Music

The past five years have been mighty tumultuous for Bowers & Wilkins. In May 2016, the venerable British loudspeaker brand was acquired by EVA Automation Inc., a Silicon Valley startup. The two companies joined forces to develop a series of wireless audio products, which they unveiled in April 2019.

Read more: Moving Forward with Formation: An Interview with Andy Kerr of Bowers & Wilkins

I’m old enough to remember a time, in the 1970s and ’80s, when component hi-fi was a mainstream thing. It seemed everyone either owned or planned to soon buy a stereo system.

Read more: Glory Days

It’s hard for people who are passionate about something to imagine others not sharing their enthusiasm. How could anyone not appreciate small-batch bourbons? Or 35mm rangefinder cameras? Or vintage wristwatches?

Read more: Spotify Goes Lossless

For his February 1 “SoundStage! UK” column on SoundStage! Hi-Fi, Ken Kessler wrote an entertaining (but slightly unhinged) rant, “I Hate Streaming.” Characteristically, Ken spiced up his piece with colorful prose. “As for streaming, I can’t even be bothered to dignify it by hating it,” he proclaimed. “Rather, I prefer to disrespect it with the ultimate insult: I couldn’t care less about it. . . . Indeed, when suffering insomnia, I think of streaming. Then, when I invariably wake up at 3 a.m., being of pensioner age, streaming is exactly what I do. In the loo.”

Read more: In Defense of Streaming

During the 2018 Toronto Audiofest, I had an interesting conversation with an industry colleague about active speakers and streaming music. As previously observed on Simplifi, my living room can’t accommodate a conventional component system comprising amps and passive loudspeakers. Nor can it accommodate physical media such as CDs and LPs. For that reason, I’ve built my main hi-fi system around a pair of Elac Navis ARF-51 active speakers ($4599.96/pair, all prices USD), which have 300Wpc of built-in amplification. I stream all my music to the living room over our home network.

Read more: Tinkering Simplifi'd

A trick question: What are the most valuable components of your music system? I don’t know about yours, but the most valuable parts of mine are space and time. If that sounds like new-age hokum, stay with me—that insight has a lot to do with how I’ve configured my hi-fi system, how I use it, and the writing I do in this corner of the SoundStage! Network.

Read more: Simplifi Defined

  1. Going Deep with Artison
  2. A Simplifi Yearbook
  3. A Perfect Pair
  4. The Critical Component
  5. Has the Time Come for Surround Music?
  6. My Top Ten Products of the Last Two Years
  7. Turning Pro
  8. All About That Bass
  9. Gently Down the Stream
  10. Big Events
  11. Rules of the Game
  12. The Name Game
  13. January 1, 2020: The State of Streaming
  14. Warsaw’s Audio Video Show 2019, Simplifi’d
  15. Toronto Audiofest 2019, Simplifi'd
  16. Hi-Rez à-Go-Go
  17. Streaming the Classics
  18. Play Nice Together -- An Interview with Rob Darling of Roon Labs
  19. Active Voices, Part Three: KEF's Jack Oclee-Brown
  20. High End 2019, Simplifi'd
  21. Active Voices, Part Two: Axiom Audio's Andrew Welker
  22. Montréal Audio Fest Simplifi'd
  23. Active Voices, Part One: Elac's Andrew Jones
  24. Let's Keep it Simple
  25. A Roon of One's Own
  26. How I Simplifi'd My Wi-Fi
  27. Are Downloads Dead?
  28. Hi-Rez Streaming: Tidal vs. Qobuz
  29. Toronto Audiofest 2018 Simplifi'd
  30. How I Simplifi'd My Hi-Fi
  31. Time to Celebrate: Five Years of Google Chromecast
  32. How Good Can Voice Recognition Get?
  33. Are Smart Speakers Any Good for Audiophiles?
  34. High End 2018, Simplifi'd
  35. Is the Smart Speaker a Dumb Idea?
  36. What's Up with Apple AirPlay 2?
  37. The Spotify Dilemma
  38. CES 2018, Simplifi’d
  39. Farewell, CES
  40. Room Tunes
  41. Social Streaming
  42. CEDIA 2017, Simplifi’d
  43. Classical Prime Time
  44. The Röst Reconsidered
  45. High End 2017, Simplifi'd
  46. Vinyl: There's an App for That
  47. Metadata: Life with Roon
  48. The Internet and Audio: The Good, the Bad, and the Impossible
  49. The State of Streaming
  50. CES 2017, Simplifi'd
  51. Why "Simplifi"

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