02-17-2025 | By Tom Gibbs
AC Records is the brainchild of jazz drummer, composer, arranger, and producer Adam Czerwiński. He's been performing in the jazz world as a leader and sideman for over forty years now, and has provided the rhythmic foundation from behind the drum kit for a myriad of famous and respected musicians. Among them, notable jazz artists... Read More »
02-14-2025 | By Tom Gibbs
Craft Recordings continues their reboot of the Original Jazz Classics (OJC) series with another heavy-hitting 180 gram LP reissue, Thelonious Monk's 1957 release, Monk's Music (Riverside Records). Monk's Music is a cornerstone from his middle period on Riverside Records, and features an all-star lineup of some of the greatest players in jazz, including John Coltrane,... Read More »
02-13-2025 | By Tom Gibbs
Craft Recordings has just released the latest installment in their premium Small Batch audiophile LP series with a reissue of the Bill Evans Trio's classic 1961 sophomore effort, Explorations. The album would mark the final studio session with Evans' classic trio that featured Scott LaFaro on bass and Paul Motian on drums, and would come... Read More »
02-13-2025 | By Wojciech Pacuła
SPEC Corporation is a Japanese company founded in 2010 by Mr. Shirokazu Yazaki, former chief engineer of TEAC and Pioneer, to realize one goal: to deliver tube sound from solid-state amplifiers. The RSA-EX1000 amplifier is its latest product. It is a top-of-the-line integrated amplifier. SPEC is one of my favorite brands in the audio world.... Read More »
02-13-2025 | By Rushton Paul
I was fascinated recently by Sound Liaison's 2024 remastering of their excellent 2012 album Thousand Shades of Blue by Carmen Gomes Inc. In this new release, Thousand Shades of Blue Revisited, recording engineer Frans de Rond and producer Peter Bjornild went back to the original 96kHz 24-bit recorded tracks and applied everything they'd learned the... Read More »
02-12-2025 | By Frank Doris
This is the latest installment of re-published articles from our good audiobud, Frank Doris, Editor of Copper magazine, the journal of Paul McGowan's company PS Audio. Paul has kindly given Frank Doris permission to re-publish here at Positive Feedback, and some of Frank's valued articles appear here occasionally, courtesy of them both. This is Part 2 of a three-part interview with Jamie... Read More »
02-12-2025 | By Robert Pincus
Floyd Cramer (1933-1997) was one of the most prolific studio musicians who ever sat on a piano bench. During the early 60s he was a key member of Nashville's A-team of musicians who backed famous singers, such as Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline, Ray Price, Roy Orbison, Jimmy Dean, The Everly Brothers, and Jim Reeves. And... Read More »
02-07-2025 | By John Marks
An Affirmation of the Concept of Grace I can already envision the angry Comments: Herr Doktor Marks: We hereby award you the Prize for the Most Completely Outrageous Clickbait Trash-Post of the Week! I reply: Nicht so schnell! Please read my headline carefully. I am not claiming that the Grateful Dead were a "Christian" rock band,... Read More »
02-06-2025 | By Roger Skoff
Roger Skoff writes about a game that could save a valuable part of our culture... As many of you probably know by now, I like and listen to just about every kind of music: everything from opera to Tuvan Throat-singing, to Mexican Rancheras, to Russian folk songs (which are just like Mexican music in that... Read More »
01-29-2025 | By Rushton Paul
I'm catching up... honestly I am. There are many wonderful albums to talk about, more than I can cover in one article. But, I'll make a start and then add more in a later article. Today, I want to visit several terrific Pure DSD256 recordings from Eudora, Hunnia, and Yarlung. Plus some outstanding high resolution... Read More »
01-28-2025 | By Michael Mercer
Mogwai, The Bad Fire Mogwai is a cosmic band. With the fires finally subsiding in Los Angeles County; The Bad Fire is aptly, and unfortunately titled. Utterly coincidental (we don't want to spark even more conspiracy theories here—the world needs that like we all need holes in our heads)—but isn't that one of the most... Read More »
01-22-2025 | By Rushton Paul
Mahler Symphony No. 9 in D major, Bruno Walter, Columbia Symphony Orchestra. HDTT 1961 2024 (DSD256, DXD) HERE Some performances are so culturally significant that they require special notice when a superb new release becomes available. Such is the case with this 2024 reissue from HDTT of the classic account of Mahler's Ninth Symphony recorded... Read More »
01-22-2025 | By Rushton Paul
I've been on a bit of an audio hiatus these past few months, but that hasn't meant I wasn't paying attention to the many excellent albums Bob Witrak has been releasing over that time. Those of you who have read some of my other writing know with what great respect I hold Bob's work at... Read More »
01-21-2025 | By Frank Doris
This is the latest installment of re-published articles from our good audiobud, Frank Doris, Editor of Copper magazine, the journal of Paul McGowan's company PS Audio. Paul has kindly given Frank Doris permission to re-publish here at Positive Feedback, and some of Frank's valued articles appear here occasionally, courtesy of them both. Enjoy! Plangent Processes offers a... Read More »
01-13-2025 | By Stephen Francis Vasta
Passos Brasileiros, Toomai String Quintet, with assisting artists. Tocanta Media (CD). 53 minutes. Pascoal: Garrote. Villa-Lobos: Saudades das Selvas Brasilieras 1-2; Chôros 5 ("Alma Brasileira"). Gonzaga: Passos no Choro. Freire: Mamulengo; Espiral; Turbulenta; Pintou um Grilo. Nascimento: Cais. Gil: Domingo no Parque. Nogueira: Bachianinha 1. Lara: Força da Imaginação/Sonho Meu. As in their 2018 début... Read More »
01-08-2025 | By Robert Pincus
We've all bought albums for the hit song that we heard on the radio, or for that one incredible sounding demo cut we heard at an audio show. Because of this, vinyl nuts, like me, who've been collecting records for decades, always wind up owning lots of albums that have only one good cut. I... Read More »
01-07-2025 | By Rushton Paul
Recording engineer Bert van der Wolf's releases are eagerly awaited in our household. The reason is a combination of three factors: (1) the audio quality he achieves is easily in the top ranks of what is possible today, and he's constantly pushing the envelope to achieve even better sound; (2) I like his choice of... Read More »
01-04-2025 | By David W. Robinson
Another year, another Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society Gala weekend. Early December once again. Been doing these for a long time, now...over the past number of revolutions around the Sun, chairing the LAOC Audiophile Recording of the Year Awards (ARYA). 2024 was another trip to LA for this event; my photographs and brief... Read More »
01-01-2025 | By Editors at Positive Feedback
This article by Dr. Sardonicus originally ran in Issue 77, 2015, so while we call this section "New Old Stock - Articles from Our Days in Print" you are also going to see some articles from our early days of going online. The Aging Audiophile … a Tale of Sorrow and Redemption (sort of) I... Read More »
12-26-2024 | By Wojciech Pacuła
The J.Sikora company was established in 2007 in Lublin. Its first turntable offered the same year was called Standard. It took as many as seven years to prepare the top design, Reference, which was introduced in 2014. In the following years, it was joined by the lower-priced Initial turntable, followed by tonearms. The Standard Max... Read More »
12-26-2024 | By Tom Gibbs
Impex Records continues to honor the legacy of celebrated guitarist Al Di Meola with a new 180 gram LP reissue of his 1977 jazz fusion classic, Elegant Gypsy. The album sold a half-million units in the year of its release, peaking at the number 5 position on Billboard's jazz album charts while earning Guitar Player... Read More »
12-19-2024 | By Scott Dorsey
The Audio Engineering Society show has been going on for many, many years, and for a long time was the only audio engineering show in the world. Because of its history, it has a number of unique features that you won't find at NAMM or the Tonmeistertagung. It's split between a scientific conference with papers... Read More »
12-13-2024 | By Roger Skoff
Roger Skoff: a moment. Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society Gala. Buena Park, CA, 2024 (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) Roger Skoff writes about glad tidings from HiFi Land... Happy Holidays! Now's the time to enjoy family, good food, good friends, and good music, played in great sound. But, even now,... Read More »
12-11-2024 | By Tom Gibbs
Craft Recordings continues to drop great late-year releases, and I have four more here you'll definitely want to check out! These albums criss-cross the genres of classic jazz, alternative pop, post-grunge hard rock, and jazz fusion, and feature reissues of rare, long out-of-print, and hard-to-find classic and noteworthy LPs. Including a new Miles Davis compilation... Read More »
12-03-2024 | By Claude Lemaire
This is an ongoing project by Claude Lemaire of Soundevaluations 246. ABC, "The Look of Love (USA remix-dub version)"/ "The Look of Love (part 3 dance version)". Mercury MDS-4023, Mercury 6400 751 (1982), 12" 45 rpm. Genre: synth-pop, dance-pop, new romantic, alternative. Hailing from Sheffield, England, minimalist electro-new wave outfit Vice Versa started back in 1977. The... Read More » . . . Read More »