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This is the real deal. Or at least that was the knee-jerk emotion that flooded in during the first few notes from the Bricasti Design M25 power amplifier (M25) as it first drove my loudspeakers. Sure; the M25 had drive, poise, a neutral tonality, and an impeccably tidy soundstage. But most well designed high-power amplifiers... Read More »

There's a scene from The Godfather where Sonny, Michael, Tom Hagen, Tessio, and Clemenza are all sitting around, strategizing in the aftermath of the failed assassination attempt on Don Corleone. They're also concerned with the whereabouts of Luca Brasi, the family's ruthless hit man. Tessio then brings in a brown paper wrapped package and places... Read More »

When I reviewed Audioengine's flagship HD6 speakers a few years back, I was absolutely smitten with their build quality and magnificent sound—especially with a hardwired connection to a good source. I so went on about the sound quality—finding it not at all unlike that of a good British mini-monitor—that, after the review, Brady Bargenquast of... Read More »

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to experience the Aerosmith: Deuces are Wild in-residence concert at the Park MGM hotel in Las Vegas. In addition to the show being one of the most extraordinary rock concerts of my life, I was treated to a direct feed from the band's mixing board to a... Read More »

One must be very comfortable perambulating interior space to be an audio wire designer. You spend your time juggling a limited number of variables in quest of the happy permutation that will result in a leg up over the competition. And contemplation only takes you so far. Prototypes must be built. Odds are high these... Read More »

Stein Music of Germany has been known in these pages as the source for unique and exciting accessories that advance room treatment, amplifier performance, power supply distribution, power cords, turntable performance and more. We knew they were big into loudspeakers and electronics, though few made it to these shores. Time all that changed! Now available... Read More »

Getting closer to the music etched into your LP's grooves. Review By Tom Lyle With this article, Positive Feedback begins its content-sharing relationship with Enjoy the Music. Tom Lyle, who used to write for PF in former years, shares his thoughts about the Etsuro Urushi cartridge. Read, and learn.... Dr. David W. Robinson, Editor-in-Chief It was about a year... Read More »

First, a quick recap for readers who missed the initial installment of this two-part review. (HERE). Very early on in the course of the Fuuga review I realized that the cartridge's relatively high mass and low compliance and my reference VPI 3D printed tonearm's 10-gram effective mass weren't exactly a match made in heaven. Not... Read More »

The enormous WM-4 FINKTEAM loudspeakers caused a lot of confusion among people during the High End 2018 exhibition  in Munich. Looking at them and not knowing what it was all about, it was hard to say why, however. They did look a little different than most loudspeakers at the exhibition, but they still seemed to... Read More »

It’s here! Three decades in the making, and revisiting every electromechanical and musically natural design known to the House of Cardas, has led to the Cardas Clear Beyond Interconnects. With the XL Power Cord and the Clear Beyond Phono Cable covered by me in previous PF reviews, the bigger, extraordinary interconnects are now up to... Read More »

When it comes to room acoustics, size matters. The axiom that smaller listening rooms lead to larger acoustical challenges holds true in my experience. Room-mode resonances, which greatly affect bass response, generally manifest higher in frequency in small rooms, leading to coloration, not just in the bass, but further up into the midrange. Those of... Read More »

Digital Audio Converters (DAC), which take the carefully crafted digital signal and convert it to analog, mostly matured between five and ten years ago. Companies like DCS, Playback Designs, Theta, and more, pushed the chip manufacturers to develop extraordinarily complex and powerful designs, and finally have nearly eliminated jitter and other innate problems. Musicality improved... Read More »

If you have never heard of Kanto or their products don't feel bad. "Kanto was founded in January of 2007. The founders had a vision to build quality products with style—and offer excellent value to customers throughout their life cycle. Many years designing and manufacturing OEM products for large consumer electronics companies gave them the... Read More »

Digital Marches On Back in Issue 96 (HERE), Managing Editor Dave Clark put the AURALiC ARIES G2 Streaming Transporter ($3999) through its paces, praising that unit for its relative ease-of-use and naturally unforced, but also superbly detailed, sound. More recently, Alex Brinkman, AURALiC North America's Marketing Director, reached out to see if I wanted to... Read More »

One of the many reasons why I love the audiophile hobby so much is that it always affords me so many avenues to learn something new and interesting. For example, take the need to "ground" all your audio components. On the surface, grounding may seem like a boring concept. However, if you dig beneath the... Read More »

  The LA4  Line Amplifier is a linestage preamp introduced by Benchmark Media Systems in 2018. Priced at a very competitive $2495 USD, the small, squarish LA4 comes securely packaged, and includes a power cord, 12V trigger cable, and a manual complete with test reports. The review LA4 was furnished with the optional remote (add... Read More »

'Twas the week before Christmas when Nick Doshi and Anthony Chiarella dropped by bringing seasonal cheer in the form of the Doshi Phono Stage V3.0. While it was warming up, I took the opportunity to bring them up to speed on my current configuration: all CH Precision components, including the CH P1 phono stage. Nick... Read More »

The Persistence of Myth If you've followed this hobby long enough, you've no doubt heard the oft-repeated barb that "all audio cables sound the same." In my estimation there is no more misleading or unsubstantiated audio shibboleth, one embraced widely by legions of the "all components sound the same brigade," than this misguided trope. Sadly,... Read More »

Though more and more phono stages contain moving coil facilities, many do not. From McIntosh to Sony, preamps are available with only moving magnet amplification. Most preamps that have MC on board, have only one input. If you own two tables with MC cartridges on board, you have to plug and unplug to enjoy the... Read More »