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Music/Labels, and Other Special Awards This year's list of Brutus Awards for labels/sites/enterprises is going to look a lot like past years. Why? Easy. "The best indicator of future performance is usually past performance," as a friend of mine once said. And these recipients all have histories of getting it done. On to it, then.... Read More »

Ye Olde Editor, contemplating life... Nagra HD DAC with MPS External Power Supply One of the legendary companies in fine audio is Nagra. As a lifelong lover of reel-to-reel recorders, I've known the name for decades…it's highly respected. In conjunction with the extraordinary Sound Galleries SGM2015, we brought in two different DSD DACs to receive... Read More »

"Hey, we have the Aurender A10 in; interested in writing a post script to my review?" spoke our fearless leader, Dave Clark. "Sure, why not", I simply replied.  Having spent time with various digital bits and players over the past year or so, including dCS Rossini, Meridian's stupid great Explorer2 (with full Roon and MQA compatibility),... Read More »

Thursday morning, December 7th, I was treated to a private unveiling of the new YG Acoustics Sonja Series 2 loudspeaker. As a guest of Dick Diamond, YG's Director of Sales & Marketing, and Bill Parish, owner of GTT Audio & Video, in Long Valley, NJ, I was granted the privilege of spending the entire day... Read More »

John Marks essays the Ars-Sonum Filarmonia integrated in this article. In doing so, he's revisiting...he had given a very favorable evaluation of an earlier iteration of the Filarmonia some ten years ago, while writing for Stereophile.  An offer to Positive Feedback by long-time audio friend Rich Brkich of Signature Sound provided John with the opportunity to hear... Read More »

Named for Redcloud, a 14,035' high peak in Colorado's San Juan Mountains, PS Audio's latest firmware update for the DirectStream Digital to Analog Converters, was officially released December 8th, 2017. Redcloud is PS Audio engineer Ted Smith's next evolutionary step in code development for the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) used in the DirectStream series... Read More »

Lew Johnson (left) and Bill Conrad (right) with the ACT2 preamplifer at a CES many years ago! This is the story of Bill Conrad and Lew Johnson of conrad-johnson. The always introspective Bill and the ever-affable Lew. Two audiophiles who in their personal quest for audio nirvana came together and successfully parlayed their unbridled passion... Read More »

When conrad-johnson releases a statement product, everybody listens. Particularly when the new 40th anniversary ART300 amplifiers are the team of Bill Conrad, Jeff Fischel and Lew Johnson's first crack at an amplifier design incorporating the newly designed Tungsol KT-150 output tubes. Make no mistake. The new 40th Anniversary ART300 monoblock amplifiers aren't the conrad-johnson Premier... 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 »

Where does the line between a project and a hobby lie? When does a review transition from an assignment to an obsession? Pear Audio Blue Little John Turntable in Red (image courtesy of Pear Audio Blue) Have you ever had a piece of audio equipment you just didn't want to leave alone? The kind of... Read More »

Alright, so as 2017 winds down I am left with a feeling of, "Where did it all go?" Not just as in all things audio, but also as in well… yeah, that went quicker than I thought—but then most years do as one gets older; time is fleeting. What the heck happened? Along with that,... Read More »

SOtM, a Korean company, had caught my attention at a number of shows with their way cool looking and affordably priced products that allow one to get their files from A to B. SOtM offers three lines of products: the Ultimate, the Advanced I, the Advanced II, along with a good number of accessories. You... Read More »

The Apartment Life For those curious about the name I've chosen for my new Positive Feedback column, the New Apartment Lounge, here's the story. Last spring, I moved into a new apartment, a bigger space than my former digs, but still on the small side. Shortly thereafter, I found a CD I had not listened... Read More »

So soon! Another year, another time to announce my Brutus Awards for 2017. Every year seems to go by faster, and this year was no exception. As longtime readers know, I instituted the Positive Feedback Brutus Awards way back in the mists of time…yonder in 2003. And every year, for the new readers who have... Read More »

­­In my last Ramblings I wrote about the Gold Note PH-10 phonostage and in summary, loved what it did with our vinyl (reveiwed HERE) … in this Ramblings let me ramble a bit about the Mediterraneo turntable ($6973 with bundled B 5.1 arm) and the supplied Donatello MC cartridge ($1030). For the Mediterraneo turntable, from the Gold... 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 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 Award, on the... Read More »

Good friend John Marks of The Tannhauser Gate once again sallies forth to introduce us to another musical worthy:  In this case, the ravishing operatic singer, Frederica von Stade. Her vocal mastery is a wonder to hear, as you'll experience in John's three sample tracks below. I have been aware of Canteloube's Songs of the Auvergne for... Read More »

In which our hero meditates… The Audionet HEISENBERG Monoblock Amplifiers, bi-amped, with the YG Acoustics Sonja XV Loudspeakers and Kubala-Sosna Realization cables. In the fall of 2016 I reported on an extraordinary time that I had when I flew to Newark, NJ, and visited Bill Parish of GTT Audio for the launch of the brilliant... Read More »

Goodly guide and hale-fellow-well-met! John Marks of The Tannhauser Gate once again leads us into fascinating lesser-known musical worlds in this latest essay. Music and painting meet here, to the blessing of all! This possibility is something that I know well; PF artist Dan Zimmerman used to have sessions of listening-cum-drawing at my place many years ago.... Read More »