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'Twas the week before Christmas when Nick Doshi and Anthony Chiarella dropped by bringing seasonal cheer in the form of the Doshi Phono Stage V3.0. While it was warming up, I took the opportunity to bring them up to speed on my current configuration: all CH Precision components, including the CH P1 phono stage. Nick... Read More »

The old capacitors. A Parcel Arrives One day a box of gargantuan capacitors arrived—really heavy industrial cans measuring nearly 7" high and 3" in diameter. They were destined to replace the main caps in my CH Precision M1 monoblocks. This was the hardware component of the newly released M1.1 Amplifier mod. I had been informed... Read More »

Rounding third and heading for home, the fourth (and I hope final) contender in my phono cable shootout has arrived. By no means exhaustive, this mini survey involves only those on my short list, with the added qualification that the winner had to be worthy of "the bomb," as Bill Parish of GTT Audio refers... Read More »

What's New? I've calculated that every time I leave my apartment, it costs me $50 on average. In an odd way, that makes me feel patriotic, like I'm doing my bit to keep the consumer economy humming. Doesn't it make me a good citizen? It was late summer and the doldrums had set in, so... Read More »

Makeshift towers of stacked maple or walnut wood flooring samples support the wires to my amps Take a look at my gallery of homemade cable supports. What a mess! I am embarrassed to show it. With a mid-six figure investment in gear, this is the best I could come up with? I've been looking for... Read More »

Indra Redux Back in the Precambrian Era of audio (circa 2003), STEALTH Audio introduced an interconnect that disrupted the cable industry. The Indra had many ground-breaking features, not least its MSRP of $5750/meter, a startling number at the time. (Little did we know what was to come on that front.) But one element in particular... Read More »

Now that the 2018 classical concert season has drawn to a close, I'd like to share a few of my most contentious observations: 1) the best European orchestras maintain an edge over those from the New World; 2) there are some surpassingly fine ensembles among the next-gen of string quartets; and 3) something must be... Read More »

Ah, Montreal We finally made it! An excursion to Kronos Audio in Montreal had been planned last year, but, due to one thing or another, it never happened. Lynn and I were again vacationing nearby, attending the Ottawa Chamberfest (13 years and counting!). One full day is always given to "New Music Now" programming. This... Read More »

"It doesn't look like it could change shape," Joseph observed after a long pause to process the behemoth power cable resting on my carpet. That would be the Proteus, the latest from Stage III Concepts, the audio wire manufacturer. Proteus was an ancient Greek sea god capable of assuming different forms. Yeah, it definitely looks... Read More »

Saturday mornings I'm at the Greenmarket early and later I make my way over to Academy Records, my favorite music retailer. While perusing the bins recently, I stumbled upon Jazz Ballets from Broadway, an early stereo LP from 1958 (Warner Bros BS 1240). The title won't ring a bell for many people, but it was... Read More »

You know how one thing leads to another. Since I am a huge fan of CH Precision, having acquired a whole system of their components, when I found out they market audio cables, I soon reviewed their Reference line (HERE). Once again, I was taken and acquired the demo set. Turns out the CH cables... Read More »

Where are the Gatekeepers? Even as audio-related content has proliferated on the web, I tend to spend my browsing time elsewhere. The three reasons are: the slippage in quality, the ubiquitous upbeat bias, and the sheer redundancy. Click on the latest hardware article and it won't take long to realize you've already read it—just replace... Read More »

The missing tweeter I've had the same pair of YG Anat speakers going on seven years. That's the longest I've owned any reference component by far. And still the Anats' give no cause to go out looking. They do everything well. If I notice a performance shortfall, it won't be the speakers I'm looking at.... Read More »

The Age of Bulk Occasionally I invite non-audiophile, classical music aficionados over to listen. I intentionally leave them unprepared for what they will see, except to mention that I'm an audiophile. It's a setup and it always works. They enter my living room and they freeze. After a pause, they point to the Kronos Sparta,... Read More »

If you ask five guys what's the best way to configure AC power for an audio system, you're likely to get five—or more—answers. Everything in audio is contentious; AC power delivery is no exception. At one point I was advised, "Every component needs a dedicated line, especially your amps if you're running monoblocks." The reasoning... Read More »

Last weekend Lynn and I attended the launch of the YG Acoustics Sonja Series 2 Loudspeaker. The event followed the format of recent product unveilings hosted by GTT Audio in New Jersey. Each press attendee was invited to a personal listening session with Bill Parish and Dick Diamond, the YG Director of Sales & Marketing,... Read More »

"In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." Andy Warhol didn't foresee the internet, but he sure nailed a defining characteristic of how we live today. You could make a case that master clocks for digital audio had their 15 minutes when they were featured on audio magazine covers—sort of like MQA digital... Read More »

The Ghosts in the Machine "Remember when we used to talk about hearing the inner voices?" Lynn whispered. "How listening to the system was like looking at the score?" I knew what she was talking about. "That was a long time ago." LN: "Well, those inner voices are back…and with dimension." We were spinning Capriccio... Read More »

Lynn in the BIG room Last year Lynn and I trekked out to New Jersey for the YG Acoustics Sonja XV speaker press event. That roll out went so well that GTT Audio staged a reprise this year for the launch of the Audionet Heisenberg amplifier and Stern preamp. So, Lynn and I recently returned... Read More »