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Wow! It's been more than 15 years since I've been attending the Munich High-End Show and this year will be the last year it is to be held in Munich. But for now, that time of the year again! The 2025 Munich High-End Show has finally arrived. Farewell with a record turn-out of visitors from... Read More »

Okay, I admit it. I love a good organ recording. In my vinyl days, I had shelves upon shelves of excellent organ recordings on LP. Today, my digital library is somewhat bereft. There are lots of organ albums on CD, but piffle. I want full resolution. If I can't have vinyl, then I want high... Read More »

Harbeth Audio Ltd. is a British company founded in 1977 by former BBC research chief Dudley Harwood. Its name is derived from 'HARwood' and his wife's first name 'elizaBETH'. In the early 1970s, when Dudley was employed by the BBC, he designed a near-field monitor that could be used in mobile broadcast studios. In 1986,... Read More »

Early on, Scottish folk singer Donovan Leitch was often considered at best to be little more than a Bob Dylan imitator. But when their paths crossed during Dylan's 1965 tour of England, the meeting was famously captured by filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker in his documentary Don't Look Back. A much-discussed scene occurs where Dylan and Donovan... Read More »

Sometimes an album arrives on my shores that simply requires immediate comment because it is so deliciously good. This is one of those. The Blue Hour Sessions, Rembrandt Frerichs, Rembrandt Trio. Just Listen Records 2025 (Pure DSD256) HERE  Edit Master Sourced I have been a fan of pianist Rembrandt Frerichs for several years now, ever... Read More »

Craft Recordings has rolled out another great selection of new release and reissue LPs, including three more Original Jazz Classics (OJC) reboot titles, another ultra-rare reissue from the King of Corrido song, Chalino Sanchez, and the original soundtrack recording for the Academy Award-winning motion picture, The English Patient. The trio of OJCs are long out-of-print,... Read More »

The great Trini Lopez (1937-2020) was a superb guitarist and singer. He was also an actor, both on film and on TV. The talented musician, who also hung with the Rat Pack, was born and raised in the Little Mexico neighborhood of Dallas, Texas. He started playing rock 'n' roll at age fifteen, and the... Read More »

Those who've read past articles know my admiration for the recordings of independent Dutch recording and mastering engineer Bert van der Wolf (now and hereafter, in honor of his recent marriage, Bert van der Wolf-Oude Avenhuis), Northstar Recording Services. Bert's recordings are a touchstone of excellence. He captures acoustic music in a most engagingly natural... Read More »

High Definition Tape Transfers continues to strike gold with its releases. Here are some excellent new classical and jazz transfers, plus one folk music transfer of the fingerpicking guitar persuasion. Much good music and good sound to share in this Recent Notes. Enjoy Ellington Jazz Party In Stereo, Duke Ellington and his Orchestra. HDTT 1959... Read More »

Freddie de Tommaso, Puccini Arias with London Philharmonic Orchestra/Edward Gardner. Decca 4870768 (digital EP, no booklet. La Bohème: Che gelida manina. Manon Lescaut: Donna non vidi mai; Guardate, pazzo io son. La fanciulla del West: Una parola sola...Or son sei mesi. Le villi: Torna ai felici dì. We don't ordinarily associate the EP format—the extended-play CD—with classical... Read More »

For some time I've wanted to share with you some of this outstanding music, performance excellence, and superb audio quality coming from Sono Luminus' ventures with Icelandic composers and performers. Why Iceland? I didn't have any clear understanding other than that Sono Luminus CEO Collin Rae has some connections there and they got started with... Read More »

By the mid-2000's, my growing appreciation of jazz music was also developing into a full-blown fascination with the artistry of jazz singer and pianist extraordinaire Patricia Barber. And when Taylor Perry of Shore Fire Media approached me mid-year 2021 to gauge my interest in covering Barber's soon-to-be-released album Clique!, I was quite nearly thunderstruck. I... Read More »

During well more than half a century of being a HFi Crazy, I've learned a lot about not only our hobby and its toys and goodies, but also about my fellow audiophiles. (I and my friends have always referred to ourselves as "HFi Crazies," so know that I use that other term lovingly). One of... Read More »

It's been a very passionate and rewarding journey for me when it comes to Patricia Barber and her music. As a long term resident of Chicago, I was able to see her and her band perform at the Green Mill many times over the last 30 years. Though she is now performing at several additional... Read More »

NativeDSD continues to earn highest recommendations from me as a preferred source for high resolution downloads. There are some labels they don't have access to, unfortunately, but their catalog continues to grow with new labels showing up every few weeks. This means their new releases outpace my ability to write about them. But, I'll keep... Read More »

Brad Lunde, at right, talks with a photographer based out of Los Angeles the ATC suite at this year's AXPONA (photo by Juan C. Ayllon) Brad Lunde is in Room 1534 at Audio Expo North America (AXPONA) held at the Schaumburg Renaissance Hotel to expedite the introduction of ATC's brand new SCM20 ASL h, a... Read More »

This article by Dave Clark originally ran in 2006, 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.  Want to add some flavor or seasoning to your system. Spice it up a bit!... Read More »

Frank Doris:  a portrait. AXPONA 2025, Chicago, IL. (Photograph by David W. Robinson.) I have been extremely impressed with the reissues I've heard from Impex Records, including Patricia Barber's Nightclub and more recently, Companion, the absolutely astonishing 1STEP Getz/Gilberto 45 RPM 2-LP release, and their 2020 reissue of Sing and Dance With Frank Sinatra. Impex has reissued the... Read More »

With such a rich history of music in the western world, it is too easy to get lost in centuries past. We can too easily fail to see the amazing music being written today. With this article, I want to offer up some outstanding music of the 21st Century I've been privileged to hear these... Read More »

The impressive PS Audio room, boasting their latest, continues to be a crowd-pleasing fixture at AXPONA Despite current concerns regarding U.S. tariffs, this year's edition of AXPONA (Audio Expo North America) proved to be triumphant, bigger and better than its predecessors, boasting over 200 listening spaces on 12 floors representing over 700 global manufacturers, distributors,... Read More »

John Marks is a multidisciplinary generalist and a lifelong audio hobbyist. He was educated at Brown University and Vanderbilt Law School. He has worked as a music educator, recording engineer, classical-music record producer and label executive, and as a music and audio-equipment journalist. He was a columnist for The Absolute Sound, and also for Stereophile magazine. His consulting... Read More »

Automotive journalist, amateur endurance-car racer, musician and music lover Jack Baruth challenged our mutual friend John Marks to come up with a list of the most frequently over-programmed pieces for symphony orchestra. And then, for each "War Horse" composition, come up with a "Delightful Discovery, Dark Horse" piece. John's answers ran in two articles published... Read More »

Nagra is a brand of portable audio recorders manufactured since 1951 in Switzerland. Starting in 1997, it also offers high-end equipment for the audiophile community (...). The Kudelski Group's original product, Nagra recorders are now developed, manufactured and sold by an independent company, Audio Technology Switzerland S.A., based in Romanel-sur-Lausanne. en.wikipedia.org, accessed: 3.01.2024. The founder... Read More »