Hi-fi system resolution has long been the cause of heated arguments. But when it comes to converting digital data to an analog signal, there can be no argument. Data go in at one end of a DAC and an analog signal comes out of the other end, with a noise floor directly rated to the combination of the converter’s digital and analog resolution. Ever since I started measuring digital products for Stereophile, I have been expressing a D/A processor’s effective resolution in terms of the equivalent number of bits. With a typical FFT-derived analysis of 16-bit data, the levels of the individual FFT bins lie around 130dB below full scale. When the noise floor drops by 6dB, that’s equivalent to another bit of resolution.

Two of the highest-resolution D/A processors I have measured have been from Swiss pro-audio company Weiss Engineering: the Medea, which Kalman Rubinson reviewed in February 2003, and the DAC202, which Erick Lichte reviewed in January 2012. Both offered superb resolution—almost 20-bit performance with the Medea and 21-bit with the DAC202—and both paired that resolution with sound quality to die for. “The Medea . . . remains in my mind as one of the only digital systems I’ve heard that could compete with the very best that vinyl has to offer while still doing what digital does best. In other words, there were warmth and musicality, staggering dynamics, and real silent backgrounds,” wrote Kal. Erick concluded that the DAC202 was “easy to recommend for those who want a digital system that doesn’t sound ‘digital.’ The Weiss . . . offers a sound that will be very pleasing to many audiophiles tired of fatiguing hi-fi sound.”

Now comes the subject of this review, the DAC502, which costs $9850, and while it doesn’t have the DAC202’s FireWire input, it offers USB and Ethernet connectivity and adds a balanced headphone output (footnote 1).

Design outside
The DAC502 is a utilitarian-looking component, with a black-finished steel chassis with a damped top panel—this connected to the main system ground with a wire—and a chamfered aluminum front panel that’s 10mm thick. On the left of the front panel is a ¼” headphone jack. On the right is a rotary control, and next to it a fairly small four-color touchscreen. In use, this panel displays the source, whether the line or headphone outputs are selected or muted, the sample rate, the metadata text when the DAC is receiving network data, and DSP and Setup information. A short push on the rotary control activates the Menu function; the control then acts as a scroll wheel, allowing various options to be selected and adjusted with the touchscreen; more on this later.

On the back panel are the IEC AC power inlet; an array of digital inputs—AES/EBU, coaxial and optical S/PDIF, USB Type A for connecting external storage, USB Type B, and Ethernet (Roon Ready or UPnP)—balanced and single-ended output jacks; and a 4-pin XLR jack for driving headphones in balanced mode.

Pressing the power switch on the front-panel rotary control—short push for on, long push for off—or on the remote control operates a semiconductor relay that only switches at zero crossings of the mains voltage to ensure glitch-free switching. Mains-voltage selection is done automatically by measuring the mains voltage before power is applied to the rest of the electronics.

The DAC502’s complexity resides within.

Design inside
Looking inside the DAC502 left an impression of a component constructed to a high standard. The DAC502’s circuitry is split into two. A large printed circuit board running front to back behind the display carries the power supply with its two toroidal transformers. Separate voltage regulators provide power to the left and right channels. The input-receiver circuitry and the signal-processing module are also mounted on this board, and a small daughterboard carries a Texas Instruments Arm Cortex-A8 microprocessor chip.

A ribbon cable connects this board to a completely shielded module that houses the D/A conversion and output stages. Digital-to-analog conversion for each channel is handled by a pair of ESS Sabre 32-bit DAC chips, these clocked, Weiss says, with a high-precision/low-jitter generator. The clock and DACs operate at a fixed sample rate of “about 195kHz,” which is the frequency that results in optimal performance from the DAC chips. While the DAC502 will accept all the standard PCM sampling frequencies up to 384kHz, as well as DSD64 and DSD128, the data are sample-rate–converted to PCM at 195kHz before being presented to the DACs.

Digital signal processing
The DAC502’s core functionality is controlled with a fourth-generation Analog Devices SHARC DSP (digital signal processing) chip. The following DSP algorithms are implemented:

Room Equalizer can apply high-shelf and peaking/notch filters to deal with low-frequency room modes.

Creative Equalizer is a tone control with low boost/cut, high boost/cut and mid boost/cut.

De-Essing automatically removes overly bright sibilance from human voices. Two modes are offered: “Surgical” and “Smooth.”

Constant Volume, aka Dynamic Adaptation, is a “party mode” that normalizes loudness for all the tracks played.

Vinyl Emulation allows “that special sonic character of a record player based playback chain” to be applied.

Crosstalk Cancellation (XTC) compensates for the fact that with loudspeakers, the left ear also hears the right channel’s output and vice versa. This mode allows dummy-head, binaural recordings to be correctly played back on loudspeakers. The user has to enter their head width, the separation of the loudspeakers’ centers, and their distance from the listening position.

Loudness Control is promised for a future firmware upgrade. It will equalize the output to compensate for the ear-brain’s differing frequency sensitivity at different listening volumes.

Headphone Equalizer is another yet-to-be-implemented function; it will adjust the frequency response of the headphone output to suit the listener’s ears.

Once you have chosen the parameters for each of these functions, the settings can be saved as a snapshot and recalled at the touch of a button. I report on the effect of some of these DSP settings below.

Setup
The DAC502 can be controlled in three ways: with the touchscreen and rotary control; with the supplied metal remote; or with a web browser, by entering the address “http://dac502-serial number.local.” Both web and front-panel interfaces provide access to volume, balance, mute, and polarity-inversion controls. Also selectable there is a choice of four full-scale output levels: “0dB,” “–10dB,” “–20dB,” and “–30dB.” I wanted to connect the DAC502’s balanced outputs directly to power amplifiers from Lamm, Parasound, and Classé, controlling volume with the DAC502’s high-precision volume control while remaining near the top of its range. The “–10dB” setting, equivalent to a maximum level of 2.2V, was the best choice for achieving those aims.

I connected the DAC502 to my network, opened the local webpage, and checked for firmware updates. (“FW is up to date,” it told me.) The processor was recognized by the Roon app as “Weiss DAC502,” and Roon allowed me to control its volume. (The Roon volume setting was immediately reflected in both the local webpage and on the front-panel display; the webpage duplicated Roon’s transport controls and displayed the artwork of any album that had been selected with Roon.) I was ready to play music.

Listening
The immediate impression was of extraordinary clarity. This wasn’t as if the edges of the objects within the soundstage had been enhanced, as can be done to images with PhotoShop, but as if the pixel count of the image had been increased. It didn’t manage this by emphasizing treble detail, but to resort to an audio reviewer cliché, the DAC502 cleaned the window into the recorded soundstage to an impressive extent.

Footnote 1: If you don’t need the balanced headphone output, the smaller DAC501 ($8750) offers the same performance as the DAC502. The DAC501 was enthusiastically reviewed in our sister magazine Hi-Fi News in December 2018.

NEXT: Page 2 »

COMPANY INFO

Weiss Engineering Ltd.

Florastrasse 42, 8610 Uster

Switzerland

Weiss deals directly with North American dealers

weiss.ch

ARTICLE CONTENTS

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Specifications
Associated Equipment
Measurements
Jason Victor Serinus October 2020

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Kimber Lee has announced her retirement. 

The 32-year-old had been with Impact Wrestling since 2020 but hadn't performed for the promotion since late 2021. She's wrestled sparingly over the last year, performing for promotions such as SHINE and FEST. 

On Saturday, Lee put out a statement announcing that her "heart is not in this anymore" and she will no longer be taking bookings for the foreseeable future. 

Her statement reads:

The goodbye that I thought would never come. The mistress that has overtaken my life for the past 15 years. At times, wrestling was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. I have been to places and I have gotten to see things that I never would have dreamed of in my lifetime. But at the some time, there comes a point in everyone's life where things just cannot continue in the same fashion that they have, because circumstances and goals evolve and change. 

I originally thought that this was just going to be a break from wrestling. That after some time I would be ready to put my heart into this again and come back better than I have ever been before. But the thing is, the more I think about it, the more I come to realize that my heart is not in this anymore. Kimber Lee brings me instant heartache and anxiety, not the butterflies and joy that once was. There are too many painful wounds that come with going back into this world, and I am not willing to give those wounds my power or dominion over my life anymore. 

With that being said, I will no longer be taking active bookings for the foreseeable future. Kimber is going to step away from the squared circle, and Kimberly Frankele is going out into the world, ready to become something amazing. I know I am being called into my healing abilities, and will be continuing to step forward in that space and I would love to have as many of you as I can along for that journey. When you close one door, you give yourself the opportunity to open up any new door you choose. I have lives to change and heal, and this is my first official step into my true self. As the real me. 

I love you all so much, and with this, the Princess takes her final bow. Let the curtain fall…. 

Before signing with WWE in 2016, Kimber Lee had a successful run in Chikara as Princess KimberLee. She won the promotion's top title, the Chikara Grand Championship, in 2015. Kimber is also a former Shimmer Champion and twice held the SHINE tag titles, once with Stormie Lee and once with Cherry Bomb (AKA Allie, The Bunny). 

Kimber Lee signed with WWE in 2016 and performed as Abbey Laith in NXT until she was released in 2018.  

Lee was married to Zachary Wentz (Nash Carter in NXT) from 2020 until 2022. She posted to social media in April 2022 that Wentz had been physically abusive and also posted a photo of him imitating Adolf Hitler. Wentz was released from WWE shortly after. He was one-half of the NXT Tag Team Champions along with Wes Lee at the time. 

Lee says she is currently enrolled in Reiki and Meditation teacher training.  

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I am fascinated by DACs and the shifting sands of today’s digital-audio marketplace. This month, I am reporting on two more DACs, both made by Denafrips: the $4498 Terminator, until recently their flagship DAC, and the $768 Ares II, the company’s least expensive model. Like the HoloAudio May DAC I described last month, both Denafrips converters employ R-2R conversion schemes, and both render recordings into direct, unprocessed sound.

The Denafrips Terminator is not new. It has been around since March 2017 and has been reviewed and discussed (but not in Stereophile). When I checked, Stereophile‘s Recommended Components listed a baker’s dozen sigma-delta DACs, five of which use the same ESS9038Pro chip; two use the ESS9028 chip. Five others employ FPGAs. Inexplicably, there was not a single R-2R ladder DAC. Especially glaring was the absence of popular audiophile brands like AudioNote, Lampizator, Totaldac, Aqua, Audio GD, HoloAudio, and Denafrips—all of which specialize in ladder DACs. (MSB does, too, but they say theirs aren’t R-2R.) In my usual Herb-being-Herb-the-contrarian way, I have taken it upon myself to correct these omissions.

I like reviewing DACs
When I review DACs, I feel especially close to my readers. I mean, we all have a DAC, right? I assume also that most of you stream music from somewhere: Tidal or Qobuz or Spotify or Amazon HD or Apple Music. When I describe how a track sounds on my system, you can try it on yours. This is important because in these Denafrips explorations, I am going to be more specific than usual about what I am listening for and how I assess today’s digital products by their ability to recover all the ambient and reverberant information stored in recordings.

All non-anechoic spaces pulse with audible reverberant energy. The complex time and phase relationships of these interacting reverberations are what we use to locate ourselves in our environment and assess our immediate safety. With our eyes closed, audible reflected energy tells us we are in the bathroom not the garden. Most importantly, these intricate patterns of reverberant energy assure us—perhaps deceive us is a better word—into thinking that what we are experiencing is real.

Sound recordings have carefully calculated amounts of naturally occurring and electronically manufactured reverberation. Record producers use reverb to thicken up vocals and locate singers and instruments in acoustic space. Unfortunately, adding reverb is a dangerous proposition. Too much, and the singer loses density and moves too far back in the recording’s spatial illusion. Too little, and the singer sounds fake, dry, and disembodied. With the right amount of reverb, the singer displays a lifelike, intimate density. (I am deliberately not mentioning microphone proximity or the grossly audible effects of dynamic compression.)

The biggest challenge for audiophile audio is the proper recovery of all of the reverb captured on a recording—but no extra! I have found that only the finest systems can do this. The less-than-finest systems either subtract reverberant information, as a result sounding dry, gray, and hard; or they add reverb-like distortions (such as second harmonics, phase shift, or microphonics), which make recordings sound wetter or more atmospheric than they actually are.

It’s hard to say where recorded reverb ends and system-added “reverb” begins because no one really knows what reverb is on the recording. I think the best way to tell is: If the reverb you hear from your system sounds “whole and a part of” the resonant fingerprint of the recording as a whole, it is likely on the recording. Labels like ECM and 2L make this job easier by employing recognizable house-sound reverb. If the reverb you hear from your system seems different from the whole in form or texture, it is probably added distortion. For example, second-harmonic distortion fills in what would normally be empty spaces and clouds detail like a fog. It sounds limp and de-energized compared to what recording engineers use.

To put the importance of reverberant information in a larger biological context: I believe reverberation is the auditory equivalent of shadows in visual perception. Exactly like reverberant sound, the complex interactions of shadow-matrices supply the primary data that tells our brain where we are and that what we are experiencing is real. In concert with our other senses, shadows and reverberations are the dominant “facts” of our perceived reality.

Once I realized this, my empiricist mind became fascinated by recorded sounds of quiet spaces of varying dimensions. Hence, I have come to believe that the stereo system that recovers the most complete reverberant airmass from a recording of an empty church, a deserted subway, or a tent in the wilderness is the highest in fidelity. In like manner, the system that most accurately maps the perimeters of those reverberant spaces is the most resolving.

The Terminator
The Terminator DAC is designed by Denafrips’s chief engineer, Mr. Zhao. It is a chipless, discrete-resistor, 26-bit R-2R converter for PCM decoding with a 6-bit processor for DSD decoding. The only major change since its introduction was the addition of a DSD module in 2019.

The Terminator is built and assembled in Guangzhou, China, at Denafrips’s own facility and sold directly by global sales agent Alvin Chee at Vinshine Audio in Singapore (footnote 1).

According to the Denafrips website, the Terminator DAC is a fully balanced, dual-mono design. Its core conversion modules are constructed with 1000 (!) high-precision (0.005%!), low–thermal-effect resistors. It uses Crystek’s top-of-the-line CCHD-957 ultralow–phase noise femto clocks, with FIFO technology to “ensure the DAC clock is independent to the input signal.” An FPGA controls the switching of the resistor ladders.

The Terminator uses a beefy linear power supply with two O-core power transformers (one for analog, one for digital) situated in a fully shielded metal enclosure just below the DAC board. This two-compartment box measures 17″ (430mm) × 15″ (380mm) × 4.1″ (105mm) and weighs 42lb (19kg).

The Terminator has nine digital inputs: three S/PDIF (one RCA, one BNC, one TosLink), two AES/EBU (XLR, supporting dual L/R AES/ EBU), three I²S (one over HDMI, two over RJ45), and one USB. It supports data rates up to DSD1024 and PCM1536 (!) on the USB and I²S inputs. It decodes DSD natively on those inputs using those 0.005% precision resistors; the other inputs accept DSD64 via DoP and PCM data up to 24/192. As for outputs, there is one single-ended RCA pair with a fullscale output voltage of 2.3Vrms and a specified output impedance of 625 ohms and one balanced (XLR) pair with exactly twice that output voltage and impedance.

Vinshine Audio has created a set of quality-assurance standards to ensure that each DAC leaves the factory in “flawless operating condition,” as Chee put it in an email. Tests include 100 hours of burn-in followed by a comprehensive examination with an Audio Precision APx525 audio analyzer to ensure that all measurements are up to spec. This is followed by a listening test at all supported sampling rates via all the inputs. Shipping is by DHL, UPS, or FedEx. The warranty is three years, transferrable.

Reverb and tangibility
If you stream Qobuz, I entreat you to test your system right now by playing Vladimir Horowitz Rehearsal at Carnegie Hall, April 14, 1965 (Remastered) (24/96 FLAC, Sony Classical/Qobuz). This is not an uber-transparent, I-can-see-the-microphones recording, but the way it was recorded makes it an effective reviewing tool. I found it a perfect test of my reverb theory. As the master strikes the keys, it is easy to hear the start, middle, and finish of individual notes and chords. It is easy to “watch” the notes expand into the air surrounding the piano. The pedaling is also obvious.

The Denafrips Terminator in non-oversampling mode—it can also oversample—driving the Rogue RP-7 preamp driving the Elekit TU-8600 single-ended amplifier (with Takatsuki 300B output tubes) driving the Klipsch RP-600M loudspeakers (connected with Cardas Clear Cygnus wires) exposed the unique forms and harmonic spectra of the individual notes.

I noticed how each note’s harmonic expansion activated the space between the piano and the microphones.

In this same system, the similarly priced HoloAudio May DAC sounded similar to the Denafrips in most ways. Both were open, effortless, un-digital, and smooth. The May recovered a larger, darker, denser volume of room air, while the Terminator (still in non-oversampling mode) delivered a more brilliantly lit, less-shadowy soundstage.

Interestingly, both DACs presented Vladimir’s piano at the same size and weight, located in precisely the same place. (When a reviewer compares two audio components using the same recording, they may declare that component A puts the listener “mid-hall” while component B puts the listener in “the second row.” What they are really saying is that the two components recover different amounts of apparent reverb—and also, of course, where the microphones were placed and how they were mixed—footnote 2.)

Footnote 1: Denafrips. Web: denafrips.com. Global sales agent: Alvin Chee, Vinshine Audio PTE. LTD., Singapore. Web: vinshineaudio.com

Footnote 2: The listening room also adds its own sonic signature, but I listen in the nearfield, and anyway, to me, room reverberation is easy to separate out and ignore.

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Measurements

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WWE has released the latest edition of its “Top 10” series on Youtube, this time featuring the best moments from last night’s episode of Raw. The full list and video can be found below.

 

10. “Painful Acceptance”-Imperium beats down Matt Riddle

9. “Money Press”-Ricochet defeats Shinsuke Nakamura

8. “Dirty Dom For The Win”-Dominik Mysterio defeats Akira Tozawa.

7. “Fortune Favors The Finn”-Finn Balor defeats Carmelo Hayes.

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6. “Scared Little Boy”-Cody Rhodes tears Dominik Mysterio down with a promo.

5. “A-List Sneak Attack”-The Miz attacks Tommaso Ciampa from behind.

4. “Chaotic Crutches”-GUNTHER defeats Sami Zayn to retain the Intercontinental Championship.

3. “Money Creates Chaos”-All the female MITB participants brawl.

2. “A Freakin Brawl”-Finn Balor and Seth Rollins trade blows.

1. “The Rhodes To Money”-Cody Rhodes defeats Damian Priest.

In an interview with BBC Radio Norfolk, Saraya commented on CM Punk's impending return to AEW.

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Saraya told BBC Radio Norfolk that she feels like Punk returning would be great for AEW. Saraya said Punk has always been an "absolute sweetheart" to her — and they've never had any conflict whatsoever:

He's always been an absolute sweetheart to me. He's never once — we’ve never had any conflict whatsoever. He’s been very helpful, given a lot of advice over the years, since basically near the beginning of when I was in WWE. He was kind of just on his way out, but I remember coming up on like live event loops and stuff and he was very, very nice. And then going into WWE Backstage, always very nice. And then coming into AEW, he had reached out to me and he's just like, 'If you need anything,' you know, he’s really awesome.

I want whatever’s best for business. And I feel like, if people don’t like each other, you have to find that common ground in a professional setting, you know? Because I mean there's been people I don’t like over the years, but I’ve never let my personal feelings get in the way of business at the end of the day. If he was to come back, I feel like it would be great for AEW.

While not officially announced, Punk is expected to return to AEW as part of the company's new Collision show this summer. When the new show debuts, it's slated to air on TNT from 8-10 p.m. Eastern time on Saturdays.

Punk's return would be his first appearance since getting into a backstage fight with The Elite after All Out 2022.

Bob Dylan: Rough and Rowdy Ways

Columbia C-250652 194397980991 (2LP; also available on CD and as 24/96 FLAC download) Chris Shaw, eng.; Greg Calbi, mastering.

Performance *****

Sonics ****

The stats alone are impressive—or, as we at Stereophile like to say, the measurements. 79-year-old Bob Dylan’s 39th studio album is his first album of original material since 2012. Rough and Rowdy Ways times out at more than 70 minutes of music, due in part to the inclusion of Dylan’s lengthiest studio song to date, “Murder Most Foul,” which runs 16 minutes, 54 seconds. The LP version requires 2 discs. His tour was supposed to be Never Ending—but it did end, temporarily, because of COVID-19, just as Dylan and the band were set to play Japan.

Instead, Bob has apparently been keeping himself busy, making whiskey, music in the studio, and art: If you visit the website for his Heaven’s Door Spirits, at heavensdoor.com, you will find examples of his recent paintings and ironwork sculptures.

It was a real pleasure to finally open up the vinyl release of Rough and Rowdy Ways. Despite the early availability of the streaming version, I stubbornly waited to listen to this album until I had received the 2-LP set, my copies of which were fairly flat and quiet. Rough and Rowdy Ways was recorded in January and February of this year at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California. Dylan’s recording band continues to be drawn from long-standing touring personnel. Speaking of stats/measurements: a shout-out to bassist Tony Garnier, who has been playing with Bob for 31 years—not as long as Freddie Green’s 50 for Basie or Harry Carney’s 47 for Ellington, but impressive nonetheless. There are a few new musicians in the mix, notably youngish guitarist/producer Blake Mills.

Most people who write about Dylan focus on the lyrics, but I am, as Phil Lesh put it, searching for the sound. At some point, Dylan started paying more attention to the sound of his recordings. He has said in interviews that in his early years he was eager to “get in and out” of the studio. More recently, he has self-produced using the pseudonym Jack Frost. No producer is mentioned in the credits for Rough and Rowdy Ways, though my spies tell me that Blake Mills may have contributed.

Whoever’s responsible, the album’s sonics feature amber-burnished timbres, the musical equivalent of a fine bourbon. There’s almost a hint of aged oak in Dylan’s voice—American oak of course—and the way it is miked is interesting: always clear, full-range, and intimate but with EQ that varies from track to track. The finely recorded textures subtly interweave mostly acoustic and electric guitars, upright bass, and drums. Pedal steel and low-percussion glue darken the musical canvas. This is acoustically subtle stuff that will bear repeated listening through a good system. As fine as the 24/96 hi-rez version sounds with my current gear—I finally listened after I heard the vinyl—the vinyl transfer, which is from a digital master, presents a different tactile chemistry.

Not enough credit and attention are given to Dylan’s melodic gifts; if you can write a tune as haunting as “Girl From the North Country,” the world would like to hear it. Not all of his songs call for it, but he can deliver a beautiful melody at any time.

Bob turns most often to two basic song forms: verses with refrains and 12-bar blues. Rough and Rowdy Ways mostly utilizes these two basic types. Dylan acknowledges his musical roots and sources loudly and clearly on this album, including Beethoven’s piano sonatas, which are mentioned in two different songs.

The lyrics on Rough and Rowdy Ways go every which way. Some are a raging Joycean stream of consciousness; others are tight and hard-hitting as a drum. Sometimes they feel like a slap in the face with a fish. In “I Contain Multitudes” (the title is from Whitman), Anne Frank and Indiana Jones cohabit the same line. Biblical and Roman images float next to a bar stool in Key West. Perhaps he’s writing about his life on the road. Humor is an arrow in his quiver—one that few contemporary songwriters seem to possess. How many living songwriters, other than Bob, would rhyme Leon Russell with St. John the Apostle?

The album ends with “Murder Most Foul,” which gives us Dylan’s personal R2D4: dozens of artists and their songs, the music that he loves. That alone is worth the purchase price.

Thank you, Bob. Carry on.—Sasha Matson

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Ronda Rousey has been cast in a new Fox reality competition series. 

Rousey is one of 12 celebrities who will star in "Stars on Mars" debuting Monday, June 5 on Fox. 

A description of the show states the cast will "live, eat, sleep, strategize and bond with each other in the same space station. During their stay, they will be faced with authentic conditions that simulate life on Mars." 

Rousey and the other celebrities will compete in missions that test their "brains and brawn" on the show. Eliminations will occur when crewmates are voted off the space station. 

"Stars on Mars will send these famous rookie space travelers where no one has gone before and reveal who has what it takes to survive life on 'Mars,' reads a Fox press release. 

William Shatner will serve as the show's host or "Mission Control."

Rousey's cast members will be Lance Armstrong, Marshawn Lynch, Adam Rippon, Tom Schwartz, Tinashe, Tallulah Willis, Natasha Leggero, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Porsha Williams Guobadia, Ariel Winter, and Tallulah Willis. The show is being produced by Eureka Productions.

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Stereophile‘s first change in editorial leadership in 33 years calls for a restatement of the magazine’s core principles.

Stereophile was founded in 1962 by J. Gordon Holt, on the premise that the best way to review an audio component is to listen to it. Following Holt as editor, John Atkinson turned that premise into a viable concern—a real magazine—and, in 1989, added a regular suite of measurements to Stereophile‘s otherwise subjective mix.

With his commitment to listening first, JGH created a new genre of audio publications; many others followed in its wake, of which only a handful survive. For Holt, it was a question of expediency—measurements weren’t telling the whole story. JGH was not against science. On the contrary, he embraced the pursuit of quantifiables, if inconsistently, and regretted it when the subjectivist-critical world he’d created lost its bearings. Perhaps I flatter myself, but in this respect JGH seems like a kindred spirit.

I’ve spent most of my professional life doing science or writing about it—but this task is different. Music isn’t science, and the experience of music—its emotional impact—is Stereophile‘s chief concern. For the moment, forget about the bits, bytes, and electrons, the clever firmware encoded on field-programable gate arrays and assess how the music makes you feel. Then switch out a component—just one, since we do have a methodology—and do it again.

There’s no doubt that we owe a debt to science-based designers of fine audio equipment. But it’s our right as music lovers to judge how successful a component is in conveying music’s emotion. Were you deeply moved or left cold? Fifty-seven years since JGH’s audacious experiment, I suppose we could, if we wished, apply science to that question, perhaps by hooking listeners up to an MRI machine as they listen to the same music with different DACs or preamps. That would be interesting, but it would be too expensive to do routinely, and it would probably result in boring copy.

Stereophile‘s reviews are what you might call narrative listening journals, documents of sonic/musical experience composed by skilled listener-writers. As a college professor taught me years ago when I was still studying theater: Watch, respond, and figure out what it was that made you respond that way. Substitute “watch” with “listen”—that’s what Stereophile does.

The argument objectivists make against this approach is that it’s soft and uncertain—too many sources of bias: How can you be objective? But that’s just it: we can’t. The same humanity that gives us standing in assessing how well emotion is conveyed renders us imperfect judges of said conveyance and the reasons for it. Ours is a human assessment, not a scientific one. But is this not also true for many other things—living, eating, loving?

Learning to assess audio components is a bit like learning how to live: Pay attention to how you move through the world. Assess your own responses. Develop your sensibilities. Accept uncertainty as a fact of life. When was the last time you attempted to measure how much you love your children?

Let us not, however, give the floor over entirely to the artsy music-appreciator crowd. Despite my just-stated humanist perspective, I have a little bit of scientist pride left.

Hence, measurements.

Measuring error may be low, but there is much uncertainty in measurements’ relevance to the conveyance of emotion. Subjective assessment is uncertain, but its connection to what we wish to assess—our emotional reaction to music—could not be more direct.

And speaking of uncertainty: We’re not against statistically valid listening tests. We’re just more aware than most of the challenges of doing them well and their tendency, as typically performed, toward missing effects that are subtle but real. Plus, as the cliché goes, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Stereophile, then, is a subjectivist journal that measures. As Herb Reichert would likely point out, listening is our yin (bringing spirit) and measurements our yang (offering form).

We are fortunate to have on our team some of the best ears in the business, allied with the best pens—and one of the best and most experienced measurers of fine audio equipment. This potent combination is why Stereophile is the most popular high-end audio magazine in the world.

This column is about values, so let me not forget to mention some other important ones. Stereophile practices an old-fashioned, strict separation between its editorial and business sides. You can’t buy a review in Stereophile. No advertising contract or other financial transaction can ensure a Stereophile review. The best way to get a review is to make an interesting product that promises excellent sound. Good value matters, too, and so does having a track record of excellent customer support.

Editorial independence gives Stereophile a credibility that keeps readers coming back. It’s not just readers, though: Our integrity is one reason a good review in Stereophile means as much as it does, and why ads in Stereophile still have impact.

A final point: Stereophile writers hold a wide range of opinions. I don’t tell them what to think or write. With thanks to my colleague Jon Iverson for providing the metaphor: Stereophile is a clubhouse where people can come together over a shared love of music—but with widely disparate views on pretty much everything else: tubes or transistors, classical or rock’n’roll, digital or analog. We gather to respectfully but energetically discuss and engage—then toast our shared love of music with a favored beverage, beer or scotch or protein shake.

Welcome to the club. Take off your shoes. Stay a while.—Jim Austin

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ALEXANDRIA, VA — With the first changeovers being considered in 2023 for streets with Confederate references, the Alexandria City Council learned on Tuesday how the renaming process will work.

City staff presented the scope of the renaming process, which involves renaming three streets per year. There are 41 streets the city has confirmed are named for Confederate soldiers.

Much of the work will be done by City Council’s three-member naming committee — Councilmembers John Taylor Chapman, Sarah Bagley and Alyia Gaskins — before full City Council consideration.

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The inventory of 41 Confederate street names includes major roads like Beauregard Street, Janney’s Lane and Van Dorn Street, as well as neighborhood streets like Lee Street, Armistead Street, Calhoun Avenue and Davis Avenue. The city is researching other names like Stevenson Avenue, Reynolds Street and Hume Avenue to determine if they are associated with Confederate figures.

Dana Wedeles, the city’s strategic initiatives officer, told City Council 20 of the 41 Confederate-named streets were named in a 1953 city ordinance. The ordinance said that streets generally running in the north-south directions should be named for Confederate military leaders. That happened after the city annexed a diverse part of the West End in 1952 and before schools were desegregated with the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.

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“I would encourage anybody, our residents and my colleagues, to really read that 1953 ordinance,” said Bagley, one of three members of City Council’s naming committee. “It will impact, I suspect, your point of view about this process. It’s not mincing words. It was very deliberate. Its timing was very deliberate, and it changed existing names.”

Councilmember Kirk McPike noted the 1953 ordinance renamed 57 streets. That includes 20 the city identified as having Confederate names.

“I have a hard time believing they went through the same amount of process that we’re going through now to try to undo what was done with some malicious intent,” McPike said.

The Renaming Process

The process will apply to the first three renamings to be considered in 2023. In September, the naming committee will discuss which three names it will prioritize for renaming first, and the Historic Alexandria Resources Commission will present recommended new names. The Historic Alexandria Resources Commission is being asked to research locations and people, especially, minority groups and women, worth recognizing with street names.

After the committee chooses the three streets for renaming and three new names, the city will open a public feedback form. Residents will be able to suggest names while providing a reason for a proposed name and proof of a community-led meeting on a proposed name.

In October, the naming committee will hold a public hearing on the renamings and encourage impacted property owners and those who suggested names to attend. The committee will then make a recommendation to the full City Council.

In November, City Council will receive the proposal, schedule a public hearing, and make a decision after the public hearing. If the proposal is approved, city staff would begin address, system, and signage changes in December.

Chapman, another renaming committee member, said the process isn’t meant to be short and should allow residents to share their thoughts.

“If we’re tackling three of these 41 names each year, understanding that as we start this year’s process, we’re kind of setting the table for what we do year after year and understanding that this is going to be the kind of first learning experience not just for the council and the committee but also for the community,” said Chapman.

Chapman noted the former names of streets before they were renamed with Confederate references could be considered.

“I did note when we laid this out that there were some good original names,” said Mayor Justin Wilson, who first proposed a new process for renaming streets in January.

Several councilmembers noted one major concern from the community is address changes to receive U.S. Postal Service mail. According to Wedeles, the city would be responsible for changing addresses and records with the U.S. Postal Service, personal property tax, land records and permits, utilities, voter registration, schools and emergency services.

Resident and business property owners would need to notify the IRS, Social Security, financial services, insurance, and subscription services of address name changes. DMV address changes for registrations and driver’s licenses can be done during renewals, Wedeles said. Passports can be updated when they are renewed. Wills and trusts will not require an address change, although residents can ask the city to provide a certified letter to add to a will or trust.

Information on what residents would be responsible for in a street renaming is provided on the Confederate street renaming web page.

Wedeles noted the community-led meeting requirement for suggesting new names seeks to filter out name suggestions that aren’t serious. For example, during the Jefferson Davis Highway renaming to Richmond Highway process, names like “Boaty McBoatface” were suggested. Wedeles said community-led efforts to suggest names can small, like a three-person meeting.

Wilson noted Tuesday’s discussion wasn’t an action on renaming streets by City Council. Residents can follow Confederate Street Renaming updates on the city’s web page.

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Scrypts no longer has his mask.

After Scrypts lost to Axiom on Tuesday’s NXT, Axiom helped Reggie to his feet as a sign of respect. Scrypts responded by attacking Axiom, who responded by punching Scrypts. Axiom then removed Scrypts’ mask, revealing the masked man as the former Reggie. Neither commentator identified Reggie under that name, although Booker T asked Vic Joseph if he recognized that guy.

Reggie made his debut under the Scrypts persona back in November. In recent weeks, Scrypts and Axiom have had confrontations, including in a NXT North American battle royal. On last week’s NXT, Axiom promised that he would “expose” Scrypts.

Prior to his run on NXT, Reggie had been on the main roster, first associated with Carmella and later with Nia Jax. He is a former 24/7 Champion who feuded with R-Truth and Dana Brooke over the championship. When Triple H took over as chief content officer in July of 2022, he was relegated to wrestling on Main Event prior to his NXT arrival.

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