Malcolm J. Gomes, Author at Positive Feedback

Triode Wire Labs American II Series Power Cord

Malcolm J. Gomes — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 16:39:08 +0000

By far, the most common blind spot that most audiophiles I have met and chatted with seem to have, is the lack of awareness of the importance of the quality of power that they feed into their audio system. I have encountered audiophiles that have spent high six figure amounts on their system but have... Read More »

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Bryston BP-19 Preamplifier

Malcolm J. Gomes — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 18:01:52 +0000

For almost two decades now, my reference preamplifier was the Bryston BP-26 powered by the Bryston MPS-2 DC regulated power supply. I was perfectly happy with the performance of this combination and the vast connectivity options that it offered. When Bryston introduced its new BP-19, I was impressed by its specifications, and I have to... Read More »

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Akiko Audio Speaker Improver

Malcolm J. Gomes — Fri, 17 May 2024 16:04:14 +0000

Audiophile tweaks; you can either love them or hate them, but if you are a passionate audiophile, they are difficult to ignore. Sure, they can be controversial, and in a few cases, they can even be outright frauds with claims that border on the ludicrous. However, in my experience, if you look long and hard... Read More »

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Audiomica Cristal Silver Signature Speaker Cables and Veroni Silver Signature Balanced Interconnects

Malcolm J. Gomes — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 18:50:02 +0000

In the 36 years that I have been reviewing high end audio components, I have steadfastly held the notion that when it comes to cables, most mechanical filtering usually results in deteriorated sound quality. My rationale; it is very difficult to eliminate or reduce undesired artifacts in the sound signal passing through a cable without... Read More »

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HIFIMAN EF400 DAC/Headphone Amplifier

Malcolm J. Gomes — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 20:30:50 +0000

One of the more commercially successful combinations in the audiophile sphere, over the past decade, has been the amplifier/digital to analog converter combo. You can now choose this combo component from dozens of brands from prices that vary very widely from a few hundred dollars for a basic, no-frills component, to models like the Boulder... Read More »

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iFi GO blu Mobile Bluetooth Headphone Amp/DAC

Malcolm J. Gomes — Fri, 18 Feb 2022 21:35:22 +0000

"Honey, I shrunk the headphone amplifier and DAC," is what the engineers at iFi probably told their marketing counterparts when they first showed them the prototype of the GO blu, and that is hardly an overstatement! When I received the GO blu in the mail, and unpacked the unit, I encountered a component that is... Read More »

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Sonus faber Olympica Nova III Loudspeakers

Malcolm J. Gomes — Wed, 29 Dec 2021 19:12:02 +0000

For over a decade now, I have auditioned many models of Sonus faber loudspeakers at several audio shows in North America. Although in every case they sounded marvelous, I have always wondered to myself; if they can sound so good when performing at audio show where, more often than not, the room acoustics are anything... Read More »

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Xavian Ambra Esclusiva Loudspeakers

Malcolm J. Gomes — Mon, 12 Apr 2021 20:40:56 +0000

"Hello beautiful" is what I found myself thinking, as I unpacked the Xavian Ambra Esclusiva speakers from their carton. I am a fan of immaculately crafted furniture, and if any loudspeaker can claim to have cabinets that qualify as finely crafted furniture, the Ambra Esclusivas surely can. After having reviewed hundreds of speakers with cabinets... Read More »

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Synergistic Research Tranquility Pod

Malcolm J. Gomes — Wed, 21 Oct 2020 17:19:59 +0000

It is hard to imagine any human inhabitant of planet Earth whose life has not been negatively impacted by the current Covid-19 pandemic. However, amidst this dark cloud there are a few silver linings. One of them is the way it has impacted the listening habits of audiophiles. The feedback that I have received from... Read More »

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Synergistic Research UEF Record Weight

Malcolm J. Gomes — Sun, 27 Sep 2020 18:18:44 +0000

A fairly common thread that runs through most audiophiles who are partial to vinyl rather than digital, is their penchant for tweaking. In contrast to digital domain, where there is a limited scope to tweak the sound, in the analog domain, a cornucopia of tweaking opportunities abound, and many analog buffs revel in them. ... Read More »

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Synergistic Research MiG SX Isolation Footers and UEF Cable Risers

Malcolm J. Gomes — Tue, 01 Sep 2020 17:26:19 +0000

I have come across a few skeptics in the audiophile community who subscribe to the notion that footers do not make much of a difference to the performance of audio gear. To them, I love relating details of a historical sporting event where footers, or in this instance, shoes, made all the difference to the... Read More »

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Roon Labs Nucleus Plus Server

Malcolm J. Gomes — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 17:05:43 +0000

Over the past four decades I have had the pleasure of taking my readers through, and helping them understand many different music formats. During the 1970s we saw the compact cassette take over from vinyl records as the dominant format for music consumed at the mass-market level. The compact cassette was then eclipsed by the... Read More »

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Toronto Audiofest 2019

Malcolm J. Gomes — Sun, 27 Oct 2019 16:45:13 +0000

After the very successful Toronto Audiofest (TAF) last year, Sarah Tremblay and Michel Plante followed it up with an even more successful Show this year. Sarah and Michel are the team that also organizes the highly regarded Montreal Audio Fest. The TAF venue was once again The Westin Toronto Airport Hotel, which is conveniently located... Read More »

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Akiko Audio Corelli Power Conditioner

Malcolm J. Gomes — Mon, 21 Oct 2019 16:59:26 +0000

It was around 5 year ago that I learned a valuable lesson; never discount the validity of an audio tweak even, if it does not seem to have any apparent scientific basis, without trying it out first. The component that helped me learn this lesson was the Akiko Audio Tuning Sticks. It was claimed that... Read More »

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Synergistic Research Active Ground Block SE

Malcolm J. Gomes — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 15:20:10 +0000

One of the many reasons why I love the audiophile hobby so much is that it always affords me so many avenues to learn something new and interesting. For example, take the need to "ground" all your audio components. On the surface, grounding may seem like a boring concept. However, if you dig beneath the... Read More »

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Toronto Audio Fest 2018 Show Report

Malcolm J. Gomes — Thu, 25 Oct 2018 17:43:13 +0000

The people behind Toronto Audio Fest (TAF) are Sarah Tremblay, Michel Plante and Ben Scarcelli. Sarah and Michel are the ones that organizes the Montreal Audio Fest and Ben partnered with them for TAF bringing his valuable knowledge of the Ontario Market. The TAF venue was The Westin Toronto Airport Hotel, which is conveniently located... Read More »

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Synergistic Research HFT and FEQ

Malcolm J. Gomes — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 17:45:42 +0000

At the last Diana Krall live concert I attended, I happen to be seated next to an elderly woman who took great pleasure in singing, with all abandon, along with Ms. Krall for most of the concert. What made it worse was that she seemed to be quite tone deaf and sang totally out of... Read More »

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SweetVinyl SugarCube SC-1 Hi-Res All-In-One Vinyl Noise Removal and Digital Recording Platform

Malcolm J. Gomes — Wed, 18 Apr 2018 20:13:50 +0000

Having covered audio shows for many decades now, I have learned to take it with a pinch of salt when I hear exhibitors bandy about words like "revolutionary", "game changer", and "new generation" in trying to get you to focus on their products. However, what was different as I started my coverage of TAVES in... Read More »

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TAVES Consumer Electronics Show 2017

Malcolm J. Gomes — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 23:12:01 +0000

This year, for the first time in its history, the TAVES Consumer Electronics Show was moved to a non-hotel setting. The 2017 TAVES venue was the Toronto Congress Center in Etobicoke. This suited the organizers goal of transforming TAVES from a predominantly high-end audio show, to a true, all encompassing Consumer Electronics Show. This transition... Read More »

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TAVES 2016

Malcolm J. Gomes — Sat, 05 Nov 2016 19:45:28 +0000

TAVES has been growing exponentially over the past couple of years. In fact last year, it had a growth spurt that would send any teenagers with NBA stars in his eyes, into rapture. In 2014 the show attracted around 5200 people. Last year that jumped to 6500 and this year the growth continued with the... Read More »

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ACA Seraphim Skogrand SE Speakers

Malcolm J. Gomes — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 08:08:15 +0000

Over the past couple of decades, many of my audiophile friends have often questioned my preference for well designed, intelligently engineered 2-way speakers over their 3-way counterparts. This preference has been based not just on listening tests but also on the fact that 2-way speakers enjoy some significant advantages over all but the very best... Read More »

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Arion Phono Preamplifier by Luminous Audio Technology

Malcolm J. Gomes — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 05:50:09 +0000

I have come across many audiophiles who have truly splendid turntables, tone arms, and cartridges, of which cost them an arm and a leg. Nevertheless, they still may not enjoy the best that vinyl has to offer if the bottleneck in their audio arsenal is their phono preamplifier. There is no doubt that the phono... Read More »

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TAVES 2015 – Show Report

Malcolm J. Gomes — Fri, 06 Nov 2015 01:04:03 +0000

The TAVES Consumer Electronics Show is one event that I always look forward to. It is, by far, the show with the friendliest crowd that I have ever encountered any high-end audio show that I have attended over the past 35 years. It is also very well organized and always features a good number of... Read More »

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Merlin Music Systems VSM Black Magic Edition Loudspeakers

Malcolm J. Gomes — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 17:12:15 +0000

One of the classics in the world of automobiles is the Porsche 911 and, in my opinion, the closest that any high-end audio product has come to emulating that automobile legend would be the Merlin Music VSM. Like the 911, the VSM started life as a timeless design, and like its automobile counterpart, the VSM... Read More »

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WyWires Platinum Series USB and AES/EBU Digital Cables

Malcolm J. Gomes — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 16:12:51 +0000

If there is one credo that Alex Sventitsky the founder of WyWires Technology goes by, it is that the accurate reproduction of music is a very complex process and so "One size does not fit all!" This dogged determination in pursuing this dogma has helped WyWires differentiate itself from most of the competition and has... Read More »

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