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One of those wall-warts came with the Fidelizer EtherStream network switch I use for music streaming. These little switch-mode devices have known issues. It is not good for music streaming; even worse, it spews contagion throughout the electric grid. With the ethernet switch on, my primary sources were degraded: the CD transport sounded worse. I... Read More »

The highlight bout begins with King Resolution dancing in his corner taunting Bishop Musicality across the ring, both egged on by PR guys with stakes in the outcome. The handicappers lay odds on the King. Why? Because resolution trumps all in the audiophile arena. These bouts occur regularly in my sound room. While I love... Read More »

A fellow-traveler who delights in extracting the max from his gear relayed this narrative the other day. "When guys come over for a listen, they often comment they never heard XYZ gear sound this good. Why is that? I tell them it is the attention paid to the little things—like premium fuses, RFI noise stopper... Read More »

Competitive upgrade, the notion of "keeping up with the Joneses," was never my thing. For whatever reason, even as our income grew, we opt to maintain the same comfortable lifestyle, rather like Warren Buffet has famously chosen to live in the same modest abode for 63 years. (We're going on 40 in our apartment. The... Read More »

Something strange happened recently that caused me to rethink the testing paradigm used by reviewers. I was multitasking, putting some low-priced music streaming gear through its paces, while checking out a sampling of AudioQuest Ethernet cables. I began with AQ's bottom-of-the-line Pearl ($49.95/1.5m), then swapped to the top-of-the-line Diamond ($1599.95/1.5m), when it struck me. For... Read More »

Photo courtesy New York School of T'ai Chi Chuan Sundays at noon I take Qigong class, a Chinese discipline of standing postures and slow movements. Translated, it means "energy work," and is related to T'ai Chi Chuan. The aim is to help you achieve relaxation. Sounds easy, right? That's what you think. By the time you... Read More »

The Covid-19 pandemic turned the world topsy-turvy, devastating lives. Nothing is the same. We are beginning to turn right-side up, so to speak, but life must now be perceived through differently tinted glasses. Where we go from here—what comes next? One personal side effect for me was the suspension of my audio sessions for the... Read More »

The first inkling something outrageous was approaching came abruptly with the email teasers. Soon a conversation ensued (or, more accurately, a monologue) with Brian Ackerman, the Stage III Concepts distributor and proprietor of Aaudio Imports, about a product so far beyond the pale—a power cord weighing 35 lbs, essentially equal to three individual Stage III... Read More »

Stick around long enough and you get to witness the life cycle of a fad. Presently, the audiophile community has been riding herd on RFI, judging by the third-party Band-Aids proliferating on Audiogon and webzine talk. I believe the interest to be an offshoot from the prior focus on the electrical ground: after all, RFI... Read More »

Back when I went to public school, everyone took band. If you had no preference, they gave you whatever instrument needed players to fill a section—that's how a dented, silver trumpet wound up in my lap. Most of us consumed the hour by chilling out, with the exception of a small coterie of trumpet players... Read More »

If there was a robust market for high-end audio cables back in 1983, I wasn't aware of it, but that's when Siltech joined the fray. In 2018, they commemorated 35 years with a limited edition series. It's now 38 years! That's a long time in any business. The 35 Year Anniversary series is comprised of... Read More »

Hecho a Mano When I first visited the Fono Acustica site, my attention was drawn to the repeated use of the words artisanal and hand-crafted. These are loaded words to the contemporary ear. As we move from the first machine age into the age of intelligent machines, they stimulate nostalgia for a bygone time when... Read More »

Advocacy for Neutrality Last year I came across several articles on high-end sites purporting to address, What is good sound? Most veered off to the vague and vapid, concluding, whatever floats your boat is good. Has it come to this? I know long-established standards smacking of elitism and privilege are under siege and youthful disruption... Read More »

At the turn of the twentieth century, Igor Stravinsky rocked the classical firmament with scores such as Song of the Nightingale. One hundred years later, the work is still so fresh as to pull you up short, mouth agape, wondering, "Where did that come from?" I always go back to the Fritz Reiner / Chicago... Read More »

This curious tale of low-end wires in a very high-end system to be filed in the "Things I Can't Explain" folder, is directed at keen observers with highly resolving, neutral systems. Not everyone will relate. Back in 2011, when I had installed the YG Acoustics Anat Studio speakers, my dealer gave me a spiel about... Read More »

Wouldn't it be nice if we could all agree what neutrality means? Webster's definition may be clear, but in the dialect of HiFi, we don't get off so easy. Is it a binary—either present or not—or a sliding scale with degrees of the quality? And consider that it is a loaded term carrying a positive... Read More »

One of the unsung perks of reviewing high-end gear is getting to travel without the discomfort of leaving home. When something new arrives, often even before the piece has settled in, I'll sit down for a taste and get the strong impression that the acoustic is unfamiliar, like maybe I've gone visiting another dude with... Read More »

If you believe in RFI—no, let me start over. If you believe in science (since RFI is a measurable phenomenon), most likely you are doing something to address RFI. We have all been advised to get those darn wires off the floor. A dozen companies will be happy to sell you specialized lifts at prices... Read More »

Fred Hersch's hands frozen in transmission What are the Options? On a late summer day in August, I reflect on how little has changed since last I wrote. Cultural institutions remain shuttered as mandated, while trying to stay relevant by improvising online teasers. They initially responded to the Covid-19 lockdown with live streams via the... Read More »