Recommended Components Fall 2021 Edition

Every product listed here has been reviewed in Stereophile. Everything on the list, regardless of rating, is genuinely recommendable.

Within each category, products are listed by class; within each class, they’re in alphabetical order, followed by their price, a review synopsis, and a note indicating the issues in which the review, and any subsequent follow-up reports, appeared. “Vol.44 No.9” indicates our September 2021 issue, for example. “WWW” means the review is also posted online.

Stereophile‘s Recommended Components list is concerned mainly with products available in the US through hi-fi retail outlets. Companies that sell only through dealers must have well-established dealer networks. Products sold online also qualify. Companies that sell only online must demonstrate the capacity for satisfactory customer support, preferably right here in the US. A no-risk at-home audition is strongly preferred, whether it’s provided by an online or a bricks’n’mortar dealer.

We recommend you read our Recommended Components synopses to decide which reviews to read, then read each product’s review carefully before seriously contemplating a purchase, as many salient characteristics, peculiarities, and caveats appear in reviews that we cannot include in a circa 200-word synopsis. Almost all reviews of current products are available online at stereophile.com. Back issues of the magazine can be ordered from the website. The editors regret that we cannot supply copies of individual reviews.

The nuts and bolts

This listing was compiled after consultation with Stereophile‘s reviewing staff and editors—including, notably, Technical Editor John Atkinson. Our ratings take into account what we heard during the review period but also our continued experience with the product (if we’ve had any) after the review has been published. Defects discovered after the audition may cause

a product to be downgraded or removed. Class ratings are based on performance—but that includes performance not just in the listening room but also on the test bench. Products are downrated when and to the extent that their deficiencies interfere with the full realization of the music and the pleasure of the listener, although obvious limitations, such as limited bass extension in a minimonitor, are understood and so not viewed as defects.

Measurements matter. But we do not expect every component to aspire to the best measurements possible; to do so would incentivize conformity, boredom, and metric-gaming, all of which I oppose. Measurements indicating poor engineering or revealing potentially audible defects may cause us to lower our rating, but we do not expect our measurements of a single-ended triode amplifier to resemble those of a perfectionist solid state design.

In any case, the reviewer’s sonic experience is the most important factor.

Class ratings are based on performance, but different reviewers value different aspects of performance, so it’s best not to expect thematic and methodological consistency. You’ll find high-tech amplifiers with vanishingly low noise and distortion listed alongside old-school tube amps; what they share is the demonstrated ability to provoke musical bliss in their respective reviewers. Recommendations, then, are most useful to those who share, or at least are aware of, the specific reviewer’s tastes, proclivities, and reviewing context.

The best use of this list, and the original reviews, is to help you decide what to audition. Never turn down an opportunity to audition a component, especially if you can review it in your own system. Even the highest-quality component may not work optimally in your system and room.

The prices indicated were current when the listing was compiled (July 2021). We cannot guarantee that they will still be current when you read this.

There is a near-universal consensus that at some point in the upward climb of product prices, diminishing returns (performance vs price) set in. Where we have found a product to perform much better than might be expected at its price, we have drawn attention to it with a $$$ next to its listing. Otherwise, class ratings do not, as a matter of policy, take price into account. We believe that value in hi-fi is a value, which is to say, it’s personal. Still, it’s fair to assume that every reviewer implicitly factors value into their opinions about products, each in their own way.

Products discontinued by their manufacturer are of course removed from the list, as are those that have been revised in ways that could affect performance. Such revisions often lead to a follow-up review.

When a product is removed from the list, we endeavor to report why it was removed. Look for a Deletions listing at the end of each category.

Many products are deleted from the list while they’re still in production. That does not mean we’ve suddenly decided they’re unworthy or that they suddenly started sounding worse. Most products remain listed for just three years, for two reasons. The first reason is that there’s only so much space in the magazine. The second: It’s impossible to compare a component to others when your memory of it is dim.

We indicate with a star ★ products we have kept on this list for more than three years, usually because the product is part of a reviewer’s “kit,” so the reviewer uses it regularly. Sometimes, though, it’s at the editor’s discretion. For example, on this list I’ve retained some inexpensive turntables and phono cartridges because I want the list to cover those areas well. I’ve also retained several Class A (Full-Range) loudspeakers because, being blurbless, they take up little space.

Specific reviewers identified by their initials are John Atkinson, Jim Austin (JCA, or occasionally JA2), Brian Damkroger, Robert Deutsch, Art Dudley, Michael Fremer, Tom Gibbs, Larry Greenhill, Alex Halberstadt, Jon Iverson, Fred Kaplan, Michael Lavorgna, Eric Lichte, John Marks, Sasha Matson, Ken Micallef, Julie Mullins (JMu), Thomas J. Norton, Wes Phillips, Herb Reichert, Bob Reina (BJR), Kalman Rubinson, Jonathan Scull, Rob Schryer, and Jason Victor Serinus.—Jim Austin

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ARTICLE CONTENTS

Page 1
How To Use The Listings
Turntables
Tonearms
Phono Cartridges
Phono Preamplifiers
Phono Accessories
Disc & File Players
Digital Processors
Complete Audio Systems
Music Surround Components
Two-Channel Preamplifiers
Two-Channel Power Amplifiers
Integrated Amplifiers & Receivers
Loudspeaker Systems
Subwoofers & Crossovers
Computer Software
Digital Data Interconnects
FM Tuners & Antennae
Headphones & Headphone Accessories
Interconnects
Loudspeaker Cables
Miscellaneous Accessories
Powerline Accessories
Room Acoustics Treatments
Signal Processors
Stands, Spikes, Feet & Racks

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