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 217, November 2011 table of contents and link to the editorial.

 

Articles & Reviews In This Issue
05 From the Editor
We are just entering a new Golden Age of audio.
Editorial By Robert Harley

8 COMPUTER AUDIO & iTUNES DEMYSTIFIED
Want to join the computer-audio revolution but don’t know where to start? This comprehensive 10-page soup-to-nuts primer tells you everything you need to know.

26 AMPLIFIER TYPES AND HOW THEY WORK
Robert Harley explains — in plain English — the differences between power amplifiers — 
Class A, Class B, Class A/B, switching, digital, SET, push-pull, and single-ended. 

36 NEW AND UPCOMING REISSUES
Wayne Garcia on the golden oldies in store for music lovers on LP, CD, SACD, and download. 

40 TAS REISSUE WISH LIST
Our editors and writers each name the recordings they would most like to see reissued. 

63 INTRODUCTION
64 STAND-MOUNTED LOUDSPEAKERS 
74 FLOORSTANDING LOUDSPEAKERS 
90 SUBWOOFERS 
93 POWER AMPLIFIERS 
106 INTEGRATED AMPLIFIERS 
112 PREAMPLIFIERS 
120 PHONOSTAGES 
125 CD AND SACD PLAYERS 
134 DACs, MUSIC SERVERS, AND OTHER DIGITAL SOURCES
143 TURNTABLES 
150 TONEARMS 
152 CARTRIDGES 
161 TUNERS 
162 RECORD-CLEANING MACHINES 
164 EQUIPMENT RACKS 
166 POWER CONDITIONERS 
168 INTERCONNECTS, SPEAKER CABLES, AND POWER CORDS

183 HEADPHONE BUYER’S GUIDE
We pick the 29 best headphones for every purpose — on-the-go, high-end home listening, and noise-canceling.

200 THE 30 GREATEST BARGAINS IN HIGH-END AUDIO (AND WHERE TO FIND THEM IN THIS ISSUE)

 

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