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By far, the most common blind spot that most audiophiles I have met and chatted with seem to have, is the lack of awareness of the importance of the quality of power that they feed into their audio system. I have encountered audiophiles that have spent high six figure amounts on their system but have... Read More »

In 2020 Jeff Spalls introduced the Audiomods Series Six tonearm, providing many analog hobbyists with an opportunity to experience excellent yet affordable analog playback. Shortly after the Series Six's introduction, two significant events altered the audio landscape for many of us. First, the Ichikawa Jewel Company LTD shuttered its doors, leading to the loss of... Read More »

Schumann Symphony 4 (orig. vers.); Manfred Overture. Yun: Cello Concerto. Jaemin Han, cello; Korean National Symphony Orchestra/David Reiland. Decca Records (Korea). Downloads and streams: music.apple.com; plixid.net (FLAC 24/96); qobuz.com (16/44.1); spotify.com; uk.7digital.com (M4A, MP3, FLAC) Universal, the current parent company of Decca and Deutsche Grammophon, has been unusually unforthcoming about this particular production. Although it was listed in... Read More »

Over the course of my audiophile journey, I've owned, reviewed, or auditioned many different types of loudspeakers, from electrostatic to planar, from dynamic to horn-loaded, in a myriad of configurations. The one transducer variant that I've not had the opportunity to experience in any meaningful sense is a point-source design. Curious to see what I... Read More »

Four years ago, Impex Records contracted a pair of Grammy award-winning engineers and tasked them with reviving the original analog tapes for Frank Sinatra's transitional masterpiece, 1950's Sing and Dance with Frank Sinatra. Andreas Meyer of Swan Studios handled the restoration and transfer of the original tapes, and Chris Bellman of Bernie Grundman Mastering mastered... Read More »

Rhino Entertainment has launched their Roctober and Now Playing Fall 2024 LP series, which combined feature 48 limited edition LP releases, with many of them being offered in ultra-cool colored-vinyl versions. The release package covers a broad range of artists and musical genres, and includes catalog album reissues, rare and long out-of-print LPs, previously never-released... Read More »

Craft Recordings has a diverse slate of new release and reissue albums that they're offering heading into the last part of 2024, and I have a generous handful of them here for your consideration. As is typical for Craft, their new releases will appeal to a range of musical interests, and feature rare, long out-of-print,... Read More »

"They're boxy, but they're good." That was the slogan coined for Volvo cars by Dudley Moore's unhinged ad exec in the mediocre 1990 movie farce, Crazy People, which imagined what might happen if marketers started writing painfully honest ads. Regarding Goldring's $549 1012GX, I couldn't help but think along the same lines: looks old fashioned,... Read More »

Audeze strikes again with its new CRBN 2 reference electrostatic headphones! Weighing in at 480 grams versus 300 grams for the original CRBN, with increased depth of the leather ear cups and housing, significantly improved and perfected 2nd generation nano-tube technology drivers, and a patent pending passive technology to enhance deep bass, the Audeze CRBN2... Read More »

"Dean Waters: Portrait with Cigar." PAF 2023, SeaTac, WA The Mola Mola Makua Preamp, front-top oblique view In June of this year, I had a wonderful opportunity to attend High End in Munich. With an attendance of well over 20,000, it is certainly one of the largest, if not the largest, trade shows for the... Read More »

A little over 10 years ago, Canadian melodic hardcore band, Counterparts, released their groundbreaking album The Difference Between Hell and Home. An eleven track foray into a variety of emotional themes, death, religion, depression, love, and the lack thereof. Counterparts set the stage for an emerging genre, and continued building a musical movement today. Over... Read More »

My eyes welled with tears staring at a glorious reproduction of Edgar Degas' painting, The Orchestra at the Opera, in a massive book in the reference section of the University of California, Riverside Library. As an art student in 1990, I was overwhelmed by the virtuosity, draftsmanship, rhythmic composition, and sheer beauty of a bassoonist—captured... Read More »

I am not a music reviewer. Never done that before as I never saw that as something I could do with respect to being faithful to the artist and their music. Pretty much a whole different thing than reviewing audio gear. Of which, that is hard enough. But, out of nowhere I get an album... Read More »

HumminGuru? Just another Tik-Tok #influencer, you'd think? No, it turns out HumminGuru is a Hong Kong-based firm focused on accessories for vinyl enthusiasts, from LP inner sleeves to ultrasonic record cleaning machines. Two actually, both functionally similar to the high-end audiophile approved $4-6K machines, but currently going for as little as $379 and $699. Not... Read More »

New Kids on the Block Back in late fall 2021, as most of the nation impatiently wiped layer upon accumulated layer of sleep from COVID-19 weary eyes, GTT Audio & Video's head honcho Bill Parish bravely invited a small group of reviewers to his sprawling suburban New Jersey listening rooms, amongst the finest such spaces... Read More »

Rhino Entertainment, in cooperation with Sunset Boulevard Records is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the release of Bob Neuwirth's self-titled debut album, Bob Neuwirth. Many of you are probably asking yourselves the same question I asked upon receiving the initial press release for this LP from Shore Fire Entertainment: "Bob Neuwirth? Who is Bob Neuwirth?"... Read More »

Roger Eno, the skies:rarities. 2024. Desutche Grammaphon. Available HERE As I am shifting away from 24 years of equipment reviews and focusing more and more on sharing music I find, I was recently afforded the opportunity to listen to a wonderful new album by Roger Eno. The album is titled the skies:rarities available on Deutsche Grammaphon. Yes... Read More »

If you're an audiophile who's under the age of eighty, you probably haven't paid much attention to Frankie Laine (1913-2007). There was a time when the dynamic Mr. Laine, who was born Francesco Paulo LoVecchio, was as popular as Frank Sinatra. In his day he was affectionately called Mr. Rhythm, and for good reason. Great... Read More »

This is not 1999 anymore. Flash forward 25 years and most loudspeakers from any reputable manufacturer are far more than a few speaker drivers in a cabinet with basic filtering. The finest loudspeaker companies are leveraging advancements in materials, complex software, precision manufacturing practices, Digital Signal Processing (DSP), finite element analysis (FEA), and a whole... Read More »