 | |
 Cover of the December 2024 issue | |
| Editor | Robert Harley |
|---|---|
| Categories | High-end audio |
| Frequency | Ten times a year |
| Founder | Harry Pearson |
| Founded | 1973 |
| Company | NextScreen, LLC. |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | Round Rock, Texas |
| Language | English |
| Website | theabsolutesound |
| ISSN | 0097-1138 |
The Absolute Sound (TAS) is an American audiophile magazine which reviews high-end audio equipment, along with recordings and comments on various music-related subjects.
The Absolute Sound was founded in 1973 by Harry Pearson, who was its editor-in-chief and publisher. In the early years, TAS was a quarterly, digest-sized magazine and accepted no advertisements. [1] During the 1970s and 1980s, TAS (along with Stereophile) was influential in the audiophile industry. [2] Pearson is credited as being the most important figure in the rise of High-End audio. [3]
Until the mid- to late 1990s, Pearson owned and directed all rights to TAS. The magazine was published by Pearson Publishing Inc., which also published a sister high-end video review magazine published quarterly called The Perfect Vision. Pearson remained the chairman of its editorial advisory board until 2006 and regularly contributed a feature entitled HP's Workshop until his departure in 2012. [2] The magazine is now published by NextScreen, LLC. of Round Rock, Texas.
High fidelity is the high-quality reproduction of sound. It is popular with audiophiles and home audio enthusiasts. Ideally, high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat frequency response within the human hearing range.
An audiophile is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. The audiophile seeks to achieve high sound quality in the audio reproduction of recorded music, typically in a quiet listening space in a room with good acoustics.
Bose Corporation is an American manufacturing company that predominantly sells audio equipment. The company was established by Amar Bose in 1964 and is based in Framingham, Massachusetts. It is best known for its home audio systems and speakers, noise-canceling headphones, professional audio products, and automobile sound systems. Bose has a reputation for being certainly protective of its patents, trademarks and brands. The majority owner of Bose Corporation is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Non-voting shares were donated to MIT by founder Amar Bose and receive cash dividends. The company's annual report for the 2021 financial year stated that Bose Corporation's yearly sales were $3.2 billion, and the company employed about 7,000 people.
High Fidelity — often abbreviated HiFi — was an American magazine that was published from April 1951 until July 1989 and was a source of information about high fidelity audio equipment, video equipment, audio recordings, and other aspects of the musical world, such as music history, biographies, and anecdotal stories by or about noted performers.
High-end audio is a class of consumer home audio equipment marketed to audiophiles on the basis of high price or quality, and esoteric or novel sound reproduction technologies. The term can refer simply to the price, to the build quality of the components, or to the subjective or objective quality of sound reproduction.
McIntosh Laboratory is an American manufacturer of handcrafted high-end audio equipment headquartered in Binghamton, New York. It is a subsidiary of McIntosh Group, which was under the ownership umbrella of Highlander Partners, a Dallas-based private equity firm.. On November 19, 2024, Highlander Partners announced the sale of McIntosh Group to Bose Corporation.
Stereophile is a monthly American audiophile magazine which reviews high-end audio equipment, such as loudspeakers and amplifiers, and audio-related news.
Audio ResearchCorporation ("ARC") is one of the oldest manufacturers of high-end audio equipment still in operation. The company was known to be a pioneer at advancing state-of-the-art audio reproduction in the 1970s, and for re-introducing the vacuum tube as the primary active amplification device. With the help of reviews in audiophile publications such as Stereophile and The Absolute Sound, it solidified its position as a well-respected audio manufacturer. Many industry observers consider the founder, William Zane Johnson, as one of the true originators of the entire concept of high-end audio as it exists today. As audio critic Jonathan Valin put it: “Where would the high end be without William Zane Johnson. . . ?” and “As with so many of my generation, he and his creations are the high end to me – and always will be."
Audio equipment testing is the measurement of audio quality through objective and/or subjective means. The results of such tests are published in journals, magazines, whitepapers, websites, and in other media.
Audio magazine was a periodical published from 1947 to 2000. It was America's longest-running audio magazine. Audio published reviews of audio products and audio technology as well as informational articles on topics such as acoustics, psychoacoustics and the art of listening. Audio claimed to be the successor of Radio magazine which was established in 1917. the magazine was based in Philadelphia.
Home audio refer to audio consumer electronics designed for home entertainment, such as integrated systems like shelf stereos, as well as individual components like loudspeakers and surround sound receivers.
Justin Gordon Holt was an audio engineer and the founder of Stereophile magazine, and is widely considered to be the founder of the high-end audio movement, which promoted the philosophy of judging sound quality by subjective tests, generally with "cost no object" sound components, including loudspeakers, turntables, amplifiers, vacuum tube components, cables, and other devices. Known as "JGH", Holt established a reputation for veracity, often-controversial opinions, passionate critiques, and journalistic integrity. He also pioneered the concept of the yearly "Recommended Components" list, providing a thumbnail summary of reviews for audiophiles looking for the finest sound components available at any price. Holt also came up with "Holt's Law," the theory that the better the recording, the worse the musical performance—and vice versa.
Audiophile Records is a record company and label founded in 1947 by Ewing Dunbar Nunn to produce recordings of Dixieland jazz. A very few of the early pressings were classical music, Robert Noehren on pipe organ, AP-2 and AP-9 for example.
Meze Audio is a high-end audio company based in Baia Mare, Romania. Its product range consists of audiophile headphones and earphones.
The NAD 3020 is a stereo integrated amplifier by NAD Electronics, considered to be one of the most important components in the history of high fidelity audio. Launched in 1978, this highly affordable product delivered a good quality sound, which acquired a reputation as an audiophile amplifier of exceptional value. By 1998, the NAD 3020 had become the most well known and best-selling audio amplifier in history.
AudioQuest is a company that was founded in 1980 by William E. Low and provides audio/video cables, digital-to-analog converters, headphones, power-conditioning products, and various audio/video accessories. The company is based in Irvine, California, has offices in the Netherlands and distributes its products to approximately 65 countries throughout the world.
HiFiMAN Electronics is a Chinese manufacturer of audio products including headphones, amplifiers, and portable audio players. Hifiman is more known for its headphone products, initially made under the brand Head-Direct but now only as Hifiman.
Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) is a proprietary system for delivering high-quality digital audio. The system includes audio signal processing, lossy audio compression and authentication. MQA requires licensing fees to use. The system was launched in 2014 by Meridian Audio, and is now owned by Lenbrook.
Harry Hall Pearson, Jr., known to his readers as HP, was an American journalist, audio reviewer, and publisher who founded The Absolute Sound magazine for high-end audio enthusiasts. Pearson is considered the most influential figure in the history of audiophile journalism. Pearson is famous for his philosophy of judging the sound of an audio component on how closely it approximates the "absolute sound", which he defined as "the sound of actual acoustic instruments playing in a real space."
Michael Alan Fremer is an American music journalist, YouTuber, and voice actor from New York City, known for writing about audiophile equipment and vinyl. He is the editor of The Tracking Angle and Senior Editor at The Absolute Sound. Due to his influence within the audiophile community, he has been called the "Pied Piper of vinyl", a "dean of audiophile writing” and “Fremmie”.