Loading...

It is hard to find own niche on the market. The smaller the industry the smaller potential customer group and thus the more difficult is to reach them. On top of that there is this, sometimes even unaware, preference audiophiles have for products made in Western Europe, USA or Japan. If you consider all that... Read More »

The Editors Series Numbers show how much the world of hobbyist magazines has changed. In a book entitled EISA. Looking Back, Moving Forward published in 2007, which was to add splendor to the 25th anniversary of the EISA reward, we read that the German Stereo magazine had an impressive circulation of 70,000 at that time... Read More »

I guess not many of the owners of high quality audio components even realize that brands that made their devices often actually belong to the same mother-company. Like, for example, Audio Research, Sonus faber, Wadia Digital, Sumiko, McIntosh—they all belong to the Italian holding Fine Sounds Group; Denon, Marantz and Boston Acoustics belong to Japanese... Read More »

Gabi was standing in the door, looking at us condescendingly while we were discussing acoustics, the microphones used and distortions. A moment before we had finished our first round of listening sessions and each of us was enthusiastically trying to convince the others that he was right. We paid the most attention to what Edwin... Read More »

There is not too many people like Mr Shirokazu Yazaki. I was tempted to write something like: are extremely rare, but I managed to hold myself back. He is an engineer with impressive education and immense practical experience with both, analogue and digital devices. He created such a remarkable devices like TEAC A-7300 reel-to-reel, high... Read More »

Edwin van der Kleij, the owner of Siltech, is a great fan of speakers designed by Franco Serblin. Over the years he bought all his designs with Sonus faber logo, and later with Franco Serblin one, too (see HERE and HERE). As he told us during Cracow Sonic Society meeting in Cracow, death of Mr... Read More »

The Tangerine Dream is considered either a co-creator of krautrock, or of electronic music in general, and new age in particular. In fact both ascertainments are true. The first four records released between 1970 and1973, during so called "pink period" (these were released by Ohr label that had a pink logo), were recorded with drummer... Read More »

Talking only about the price of these speakers, about how impressive product we get for the price, how well it is made—that would be a classic reductionism. Focusing on one feature would suggest its dominance or even lack of other such features that make Pylon Audio Sapphire 25 speakers truly special. And that would be... Read More »

Cutting edge technologies are expensive. Whether they are used in medical, food, or military industry, or for sound recording and playback. Small companies deal with this issue using solutions developed by major players, multinational corporations that sell licenses for their products. What they have to do is to tweak such product/solution, customize it for their... Read More »

More and more interesting devices come to us from countries that, not that long ago, seemed to have nothing to offer for audiophiles, and today, to many people's of the West surprise, these countries deliver some widely appreciated products. Fortunately, as Heraklitus said, panta rhei. Many companies from behind Iron Curtain today are recognized an... Read More »

The latest Compact Disc player manufactured by the Japanese company C.E.C. (which I am going to simplify to CEC in this article), which was launched at the end of the last year, is officially called "CEC Belt Drive CD Player CD 5" (with the note: "USB Sound System - 32-bit/384kHz PCM and DSD128/5.6MHz"). So, everything... Read More »

Style of the work of Czesław Niemen is very heterogenic. It covers big-beat, progressive work, rock with jazz elements, blues-rock, avant-garde, and electronic music—you will find all these elements in his works. The period from 1967, the year of his debut album Dziwny jest ten świat… till 2001 was the most interesting period in popular... Read More »

Iwashimizu Hachiman-gu Shrine (jap. 石清水八幡宮) is one of the three most important Hachiman-gu Shintō shrines in Japan. It was founded in 859 by the monk Gyokyo on the instructions of the Emperor Seiwa in Yawata. Iwashimizu Hachiman-gu enshrines Hachiman, the God of War, associated with the mythical Emperor Ojin. Iwashimizu Hachiman-gu was built for the... Read More »

There will always be those who doubt ability to assess and differentiate audio devices by listening to them in controlled environment and comparing them with others. That's human nature—many people won't believe something until they have touched it themselves. But comparing different audio devices is a very good way to assess them. One should listen,... Read More »

Most likely by a pure coincident, if you believe such thing exists, a few things analogue related happened within one week period, important things I must add. First, on Tuesday, I received the latest issue of Hi-Fi News & Record Reviews magazine, with TechDAS Air Force Two on its cover, and with a review of... Read More »

Some devices are able to fit into particular audio system seamlessly, like they have always been a part of it, as if they've always belonged. They fulfill sonic character of this system, allowing its user to elevate his level of music perception by adding some elements he hasn't even known existed. That sound serious, right,... Read More »

As I already mentioned once (in the review of Wow Audio Lab L1/M1 amplifier), Audio Show in Warsaw is a place for me to collect information. Not necessarily about the sound but rather about brands, products and people. But I always welcome a nice surprise, I mean a really good sounding system. Such a system,... Read More »

One can wonder why so many people at certain age start using expression "I remember that..." more and more often. I can not not remember that several years ago whenever I came across such expression in a text it usually ignited at least some level of aversion towards obviously "advanced" age of its author. Why... Read More »

To be honest I can't remember how it started. In my own review of Dionysos preamplifier for January 2011 I wrote that I'd firstly learned about existence of Thrax Audio one year earlier during High End 2010 Show in Munich. But now I really can't remember any details. It seems though that I somehow knew... Read More »