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"Dean Waters: Portrait with Cigar." PAF 2023, SeaTac, WA The Mola Mola Makua Preamp, front-top oblique view In June of this year, I had a wonderful opportunity to attend High End in Munich. With an attendance of well over 20,000, it is certainly one of the largest, if not the largest, trade shows for the... Read More »

Dean Waters with Cigar:  a Portrait. (Photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson.) The Merrill Audio ELEMENT 110 Monoblock Amplifier (image by Dean Waters) As we continue our never-ending journey towards audio bliss, one of the things we look for is transparency. That is to say, music presented without colorization or modification by the... Read More »

Dean Waters with Cigar:  a study. 2023 Pacific Audio Fest, Seatac, WA (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) Throughout our lives we encounter special moments that are so transformative that we know that we will always remember exactly where we were and what we were doing the moment they occur. If you're old enough,... Read More »

Dean Waters with cigar at the Pacific Audio Fest 2023: a portrait. (Photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) I recently submitted an article reviewing the Alberto Guerra Designs (AGD) Duet monoblock amplifiers (HERE). They are in a word, wonderful. Since then, I've been reviewing the Duet's big brothers, the AGD Solo Limited Edition... Read More »

Dean Waters: portrait with a cigar. SeaTac, WA, Pacific Audio Fest, 2023 For the last few months, I've been listening to and delighting in a pair of AGD Duet monoblock amplifiers. These are the newest addition to the AGD product line, and are rated for a very solid 150W @ 8 Ohms (300W @ 4... Read More »

Dean Waters at the Pacific Audio Fest, 2023: a portrait with cigar (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) The Tambaqui from Mola Mola represents the finest in high end DACs available for the serious audiophile who's looking for a no-compromise solution for digital-to-analog bliss. I've been listening to the Tambaqui for the last... Read More »

Dean Waters at Pacific Audio Fest 2023: a portrait (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) The Qln Signature Series, Fifth Generation, front view with magnetically attached grill cover For the last several weeks I've been gleefully enjoying listening to and marveling at the 5th generation Signature series speakers from Qln. These are 2-way... Read More »

Dean Waters at Pacific Audio Fest 2023: A Portrait with a Cigar. (Photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson)  About four months ago I received a Mola-Mola Tambaqui DAC and a Mola-Mola Perca stereo amplifier from Bill Parish at GTT Audio, and I've been using them as my daily-driver since then with much glee... Read More »

Dean Waters with cigar: a portrait at Pacific Audio Fest 2023 (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) The Vivid Audio Kaya 90 loudspeaker in one of its many custom colors (image courtesy of Vivid Audio) The smaller Kaya 45, again in a custom color (image courtesy of Vivid Audio) The Kaya product line... Read More »

A portrait of Dean Waters at Pacific Audio Fest 2023 (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) In November of 2023 Chandos Records released their seventh album in their Music in Exile series. Each album in this series of recordings focuses on a different composer who was forced to flee their homeland to avoid... Read More »

Dean Waters at the Pacific Audio Fest 2023 (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson)  If you wanted to set out to build the most perfect power source solution for your system, you'd be hard pressed to do better than Paul & Scott McGowan and their team at PS Audio. They have created a... Read More »

Dean Waters at Pacific Audio Fest 2023 (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) Serious listeners of high-end and high-resolution audio generally agree that cables matter. When spec'ing the various components we look to buy and install, we also give consideration to the cables that will connect it all together. We tend to focus... Read More »

Dean Waters at PAF 2023 (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) Here's a neat little product that aims to solve not one, but two challenges we face in our setups. The HDMI Noise-Stopper plugs from AudioQuest are metallic 'blanks' that are designed to fit over any unused HDMI ports. The primary objective here... Read More »

The RSX Power8™ eight-outlet Power Box has one simple goal in life: Distribute power without getting in the way. In theory this would seem simple enough. In reality, this can be more complicated than one might imagine. As audio purists, we spend enormous resources sourcing just the right DACs, turntables, amps, interconnects—you name it. We... Read More »

Dean Waters on the hardware:  First contact with the KECES S300+ Stereo Amplifier I've been given the wonderful opportunity to listen to and evaluate the KECES S300+ dual-channel Class A / Class AB hybrid amplifier. What a marvelous experience! First time I've had goosebumps listening to recorded music since I can't remember how long. This... Read More »

An introduction Greetings everyone! Dean Waters with cigar:  a study. SeaTac, WA, 2023 (Photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) My name is Dean Waters, and I'm both thrilled and delighted to be joining Positive Feedback as a reviewer and Musician-in-Residence. It is indeed an honor to join such an amazing group of talented... Read More »