Sasha Matson

United States

Journalist at Stereophile

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Articles

My New Album!

3 weeks ago | stereophile.com | Sasha Matson

February 2025 marked the release of a new recording of my compositions: Fillmore Street/Little Woodstar. This is the sixth album of my music. My first solo outing as a composerSteel Chords i-5, on AudioQuest Musicwas in 1993. I am part of a small music demographic that I described in 1998, in an article in Positive Feedback, as "high-end composer." Another applicable term might be "audiophile composer." There are others who work this way, but not many.
SVS Ultra Evolution Pinnacle loudspeaker

Sep 13, 2024 | stereophile.com | Sasha Matson

How many times have you been told by parents and teachers that everything successful must be built on a strong foundation? It's true in music, where the low frequencies are the foundation the music rests on, like the basement framing a building. If you get that part wrong, where are you? Sitting in the mud, that's where. With no chance to address beauty in the midrange, texture and air above, or other tasty things.
McIntosh ML1 MkII loudspeaker

Jun 19, 2024 | flipboard.com | Sasha Matson

Sabrina Carpenter 1 hour ago Sabrina Carpenter interaction with rapper leaves people in hysterics and questioning 'why would she say that' UNILAD - Emily Brown • 1h Sabrina Carpenter has found herself unintentionally entertaining fans thanks to awkward interaction she had with rapper Central Cee at Paris Fashion … Rap Music 2 hours ago Fabolous Outlines Inspection Process When Buying Timberlands: ‘Real Timb Buyers Know’ hiphopdx.com - Sam Moore • 2h Fabolous has revealed that he has a...
McIntosh ML1 MkII loudspeaker

Jun 19, 2024 | stereophile.com | Sasha Matson

In this, McIntosh is not unique; KLH, JBL, Klipsch, and other companies have rethought and reworked vintage products for the current marketplace, employing new approaches and technologies. Think of it as remastering classic hardware. I asked McIntosh President Charlie Randall how he thought about the process of updating and reissuing classic designs. His response: "We always pick products that have been pivotal in McIntosh's history, as well as products that are timeless in performance.
A Chat with Charles Lloyd

May 15, 2024 | stereophile.com | Sasha Matson

Sasha Matson: Good morning from Cooperstown, home of baseball. Do you follow baseball? Charles Lloyd: I played first base. I'm left-handed. Matson: Does this new album, The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow, feel special to you? Lloyd: It does indeed. Matson: Tell me a little about how you view the sound. Lloyd: My dear friend and mentor Joe Harley is always around me, and he's been my sound mentor for years. I started out on Heathkits and graduated to Marantz. He's a wonderful sage.
TAD Grand Evolution One loudspeaker

May 1, 2024 | stereophile.com | Sasha Matson

Review samples of some new high-end audio products do not grow on trees. They are more like dray horses trouping from one destination to another. After the US premiere of the Technical Audio Devices (TAD) Grand Evolution One (TAD-GE1), a floorstanding speaker from TAD's Evolution series, at the 2023 Capital Audio Fest, the review pair came to stay with me in Upstate New York for a couple of months before traveling on to the 2024 Florida Audio Expo for another public appearance.
Wilson Audio Specialties Sasha V loudspeaker

Jan 25, 2024 | stereophile.com | Sasha Matson

Wilson Audio's new Sasha V loudspeaker (that's "V" as in victory, not "five") extends the line that began in 2009 with the debut of the Sasha 1 model. The installation manual includes a page titled "Sasha Evolution," with elegant line drawings of the various versions of the Sasha loudspeakernow fourwhich were preceded by the two-box WATT/Puppy combo, which dates from 1989. The Wilson Audio Specialties Sasha V ($48,900/pair) replaces the prior Sasha model, the Sasha DAW, in the Wilson lineup.
Santa's–Sorry, Sasha's–Christmas Playlist | Flipboard

Dec 19, 2023 | flipboard.com | Sasha Matson

The Most Underrated Sci-Fi Adventure of the Decade Just Quietly Dropped on NetflixFeel free to just sit back and enjoy the ride. The apocalypse has been visualized so many times in so many different ways that it’s hard for any …
Make America Old Again: Remembering Robbie Robertson and The Band

Oct 23, 2023 | stereophile.com | Sasha Matson

When I read the news that songwriter and guitarist Jaime Royal "Robbie" Robertson had passed, I forwarded a link to the obituary in the New York Times to my friends Doug and Jon. They were with me in the balcony of the Berkeley Community Theater on the evening of January 31, 1970, to hear a performance by The Band. We were juniors at Berkeley High School that year and lived and breathed that music every day. I recall sitting around with them outdoors, singing songs from The Band's first two albums.
McIntosh C12000 preamplifier

Oct 20, 2023 | stereophile.com | Sasha Matson

But when you look at a Rolls or a Bentley, you immediately recognize it for what it is, and you want to sit down in it. And so it is with McIntosh, except you don't want to sit down in it; you want to sit down in front of it, between the speakers of the hi-fi system it occupies. History matters. When a new model from Bentley appears, there is a connection to what came before it, a long tradition.