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Continuing... ZYX UNIverse Optimum X MC What a year for phono cartridges 2018 has been. I've already extolled the seductive charms of the Air Tight PC-1 coda and the return of the van den Hul Colibri Signature Stradivarius in this year's Brutus Awards. Magnificent achievements, both of these, whose awards were richly deserved. But there... Read More »

van den Hul Colibri Signature Stradivarius (the second coming!) Late in 2017, Randy Forman…he of Finest Fidelity distribution fame, and a jolly good gent…got me a van den Hul Colibri Signature Stradivarius (CSS). It got its break-in and fun run-out in the later days of the class vintage professional turntable, the direct-drive EMT 948's visit... Read More »

In 2018, I made the jump from a passable desktop audio system into the big leagues. Because of that, I'm ready to hand out some Brutus awards, I think for the first time ever! It's not often that I need to listen to things as I work at my desk, but I find myself listening... Read More »

Unbelievably enough, it's the end of the year 2018…already! I know that I say this every year, but every year it's worse and worse; time whizzes by faster and faster, and the final quarter always arrives long before I'm ready for it. The Earth rotates, and faithfully follows its annual orbit around yon Sun, so... Read More »

On December 11, 2018, PS Audio announced download availability of the newest Operating System for the PS Audio DirectStream Junior DAC. Named after another of Colorado's 14,000 foot peaks, Snowmass, this update to PSA's DirectStream digital converters is likely to be judged a significant step up in sound quality. Handwritten for the DirectStream Junior's Field-Programmable Gate Array... Read More »

Last weekend I traveled to Buena Park, CA, to attend the 25th Anniversary Gala Weekend for the Los Angeles and Orange County (LAOC) Audio Society. Some background:  The LAOC was founded originally with the help of two of my partners at Positive Feedback, Carol and Dave Clark. They recently told the story of that development... Read More »

I first became aware of Mr. Ken Ishiguro's Acoustic Revive products in 2007 when they were recommended to me by Mr. Yoshi Hontani (The MuSon Project, Osaka, Japan), who exports hifi exotica from the Leben Hi-Fi Stereo Company, the Spec Corporation, fo. Q, Audio Replas, KRYNA, SFORZAT, Murasakino Ltd, and of course, the subject of this article, Acoustic Revive.  This is Chapter... Read More »

ORA Singers: The Mystery of Christmas. Music of Allain, Anonymous, Byrd, Hall, Hyde, Lauridsen, Macmillan, McDowall, Peacock, Rowarth, Rutter, Samitz, Sixten, Tallis, Williams, and Weir. CD Harmonia Mundi HMM 905303. Downloads (24-bit/96kHz stereo AIFF, ALAC, FLAC, and WAV) available from HDTracks. Streaming available from Tidal. Recorded at St. Augustine's Church, Kilburn, London, January 23-28 and August 7-12, 2017. Nicholas Parker (all... Read More »

Great First Impressions I'll never forget the look on Greg Weaver's face the moment he and I got to hear (at the AXPONA 2018 high end show) what Studio Electric and chief designer Dave McPherson's latest thinking on what small loudspeakers, the diminutive M4, could do. Greg had that classic "I told you so" grin... Read More »

So, yeah… I buy a lot of music every year and little if any of it will ever be mistaken for that of the typical audiophile genres: jazz, female vocals, classical, or whatever. No, the music I buy tends to fall way outside what is heard at audio shows or seen in various audiophile magazines…... Read More »

The Beginner's Guide to Vinyl: How to Build, Maintain, and Experience a Music Collection in Analog, by Jenna Miles. ISBN-10: 1440598967. ISBN-13: 978-1440598968. Published by Adams Media (2017) Rating Global Appreciation: 8.5. Presentation: straightforward, non-deluxe. Category: music, vinyl record guide. Format: paperback book. 5.5 x 8.5 inches approx. 256 pages all B&W except for 8 semi-gloss colored pages located... Read More »

High-end headphones and Personal Fi. I've evaluated a goodly handful of 'phones and headphone amps over many years, with some excellent results. Some were large cost-no-object designs, built for home, listening room, or office use only; others were compact and portable, for the music lover on the go. (I do a fair amount of flying,... Read More »

When Less Offers More In Issue 96 (this review has taken far too long, about which more in Part 2), I previewed several knockout products that had taken up temporary residence here at the Lounge (HERE). One of the new arrivals, Ron Sutherland's knockout 20/20 phono preamp, a unit that has been available to music... Read More »

The premise is simple enough:  I key in on seven albums that are brand new to me. They could have been released at any point and time throughout history. Their format may be CD, Vinyl, Cassette Tape, or Streaming…who cares?! The albums may technically be singles or they may be EPs…again, who cares?! This is... Read More »

Beginning at the end of 2003, PF established its first annual awards for fine audio. The Brutus Award was established for the best that David Robinson and Dave Clark (and Carol Clark) had heard in their own listening rooms during that year. You can think of it as our equivalent of an "Editors' Choice" award. The Gizmo... Read More »

Roger Skoff at the LAOC Audio Society Gala Banquet, 2018:  a portrait by David W. Robinson In Part 1 of this two-part article, I pointed out that we audiophiles are the only fan group I know of who argue, not just about which stuff is better, but about whether, for some products, there's any difference... Read More »

At Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2018, I was asked to participate in a panel titled Why We Listen: Music Changes Lives. I didn't realize what they meant is that they wanted me to moderate the panel. To ease the stress of moderating my first audio show panel, I was given the opportunity to choose the... Read More »

It seems like such a long time ago since I last dropped in and shared my audio adventures with you guys. Well, I got a good one for ya in this episode of Wayne's World. I don't quite remember how it all got started, but more than likely I was bragging to David Robinson about... Read More »

The following video is from RMAF 2018 where we discussed ways to increase the diversity in the audiophile community. Not only shows, but consumers as well. A lot to digest, to distill, and to build upon. Look for an article summarizing what we discussed soon, but till then.... stop denigrating people (age, gender, etc.) for their... Read More »