Loading...

In the early days of our hobby, one reviewer reigned supreme. From his first "test report," in 1957, until his retirement in 1998, Julian Hirsch is said to have written— either as himself, or as Hirsch-Houck Laboratories—some 4000 "laboratory test reports" on the hi-fi equipment of his time. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Hirsch). All of those were, reminiscent of... Read More »

As you probably know, I'm not just a writer and a long-time audiophile (I and my friends call ourselves "HiFi Crazies"), but a manufacturer of High-End audio cables, originally XLO, now RSX. As such, to some of our HiFi brethren, that automatically makes me and anything I might say suspect. They insist—often based more on... Read More »

I'm not a skier. It's not that I don't know how—I've actually taken a total of three "dry land" ski courses so, if I were to try, I might not crash too often before I actually got the hang of it. I've never tried, though. The cost in time, money, on-site instruction, and unlikely-but-possible injury... Read More »

It used to be that great things were invented by one great man. Edison, Morse, Tesla, Bell, McCormick, Whitney, Fulton, and countless others all—at least until they became established—worked alone, or with just an assistant or two, to bring their wonders to the world. In most fields, that no longer seems possible. Maybe it's because,... Read More »

Roger Skoff writes about how illusions can sometimes be illusory If I were ever asked what one thing about High-End audio was my greatest turn-on, my answer would have to be "imaging": the ability of a great system playing a great recording in a great room to make you feel as if you could actually... Read More »

Roger Skoff explains… We've all seen them: The LP turntable that's gold-plated, stands four feet tall, weighs hundreds of pounds, and costs as much as a small house before inflation set in. There's also the utterly gorgeous gold-plated or solid solid silver—meaning chassis, wiring, and even the wiring of the hand-wound transformers—electronics that have come... Read More »

Roger Skoff gives advice about advice givers I recently came across an internet ad where some guy, who apparently makes his living by telling audiophiles what crooks other people are, was advertising his consulting services to tell you—for a not insubstantial fee—how to spend your money. When I checked further, I found out that he... Read More »

FYI, Roger Skoff is the founder and President of RSX Technologies, and the former founder and President of XLO Cables, a name well known to many. He knows whereof he speaks…. Michael Riley (known to his friends as just "Riley"), was one of my co-writers in the early days at Sounds Like...Magazine, the first audio... Read More »

Roger Skoff agrees with Porgy and Bess's character Sportin' Life about some Hi-Fi issues Nostalgia is a wonderful thing. It allows us to recall, honor, and enshrine the most cherished parts of the past while overlooking the less pleasant ones entirely. To the mind's eye (or to the ears of some audiophiles), the past is paradise.... Read More »

Roger Skoff writes about why it costs so much to get less Roger Skoff is the former CEO and Lead Designer for XLO Cables. Nowadays, he captains RSX Technologies, a new high-end cable company in southern California. Words are cheap. If you just want to hear the words of a song, even a kid's "crystal... Read More »

Roger Skoff writes about what we all strive for in the reproduction of our music with our systems. Roger Skoff is the founder and president of RSX Technologies, a high-end cable company, and the former founder and president of XLO. Have you ever really heard live music? Before you answer, consider this:  If you went... Read More »

Roger Skoff writes about the best way to approach improving your system Just in case you'd forgotten, Roger Skoff is the former Owner/Designer of XLO Cables, and currently occupies the same position with his new company, RSX Technologies. Just about everybody knows the old saying about a chain being no stronger than its weakest link.... Read More »

Roger Skoff writes about the stuff our stuff is made of... Many years ago, Goldmund, one of Europe's leading manufacturers of reference-quality audio products, offered individual "Cube" amplifiers to plug into and directly power each of the sections of its then US$80,000 (more like US$500K, today) Apologue speaker system. Among the talking points for these... Read More »

There's been a vast amount written about what an audiophile is. (Personally, I and my friends have always preferred the term "HiFi Crazies," which, at least to us, seems more accurate and less pretentious.) Audiophiles—depending on who's writing, where, and when—have been described as everything or every combination of things from music lovers to equipment... Read More »

Roger Skoff is the former CEO and Lead Designer of XLO, and the current Chief Honcho and Lead Designer of RSX Technologies. Full disclosure = no conflict of interest, eh? The views expressed here are Roger's own...but they happen to be ones that I would agree with. You might, too, eh? And if not, la... Read More »

Roger Skoff writes about one of High-End audio's truly basic questions. Full disclosure:  Roger Skoff is the former founder and CEO of XLO Cables, and is now the same for RSX Cables. His writing in this essay focuses on the notion of high-end power cables having an effect on turntables, his surprise at that possibility,... Read More »

When I was a Kid Hi-Fi Crazy many years ago, "specs" were really important to me and to all of my Kid Hi-Fi Crazy friends. Being kids, we naturally had no money, and couldn't afford to buy anything—or at least not anything that wasn't either a kit or second-hand. Even so, we were all very... Read More »

If you stop to think about it, you'll see that all of everything about our hobby—the music we love, the gear we give so much of our wealth and interest to, and the rooms we listen in—is about vibration. The recorded music we listen to is a vibration in the air caused by the vibration... Read More »

If you're a serious audiophile, one of the things you can be certain of is that you're eventually going to have a problem. If you're lucky, it might just be that something in your system breaks or, like tubes and some other kinds of electrical or mechanical parts, eventually wears out. If you're less lucky,... Read More »