Loading...

The end is nigh. I've read the news and it sure looks bad. Hurricanes, forest fires, eclipses! Oh my! Oppression, discrimination, bigotry! Oh no! Chaos and bedlam are consuming the entire world. UV light waves are only the beginning. We have an inch of topsoil left.  And what about the irreversibly progressive depletion of the... Read More »

With its top-of-the-range models, Transrotor plays a prominent role internationally in the highest league of analogue playback. However, to date there hasn't been a cartridge matching the high-end turntables in the company's portfolio. The JR Tamino now has come to change this. Of course, the analogue specialists from the traditional region of the so-called Bergisches... Read More »

Up until the arrival of the Stellar Gain Cell DAC a couple of months ago, my home system—while capable of producing some very satisfying music—was basically a cluster fu©k, with a mish-mash of two  preamplifiers controlling all inputs. One for balanced (Luminous Audio Axiom II), a second one for single-ended (Acurus RL-11), and a constant... Read More »

The Rogoz Audio website shows no less than 23 anti-vibration rack models and that doesn't include the latest series. Some of them are versions of the same model, a wider one or featuring more shelves, but still, it's a large number. Mr. Janusz Rogoz's company, since 2010, when it was founded, has gone a long... Read More »

AVM Audio Video Manufaktur GmbH is a German company that has been around more than 30 years but has only recently made a significant push into the United States. They have a huge catalog of electronic components separated into three product lines. The Ovation series is their current top of the line brand. After living... Read More »

I was on the phone with Vladimir Lamm discussing delivery of his LL1.1 Signature Preamp when somehow we got onto the subject of foreign accents. MN: "I am intrigued by foreign languages. I like sounds. My office is like the United Nations, so I get the chance to be an equal-opportunity abuser." VL: "That is... Read More »

The Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York has a slogan. "The improbable will be done right away. The impossible takes just a little longer." The Astell&Kern A&ultima SP1000 Series High-End Music Player (or Digital Audio Player – DAP) took just a little longer to develop, but the impossible has been achieved. This sonic and technical tour... Read More »

Last year I reviewed Fiio's M3 DAP, which broke the mold and set new standards for great-sounding, CD-quality, microscopically sized DAPs at the sub-$100 USD price point. But if you wanted a more full-featured unit—especially on a budget—you were basically out of luck, with the only real competition starting at about the $500 USD mark.... Read More »

The little preamplifier that could? KR Audio is the now relatively well known Czech amplifier brand that made its name on very big, and big sounding, tubes and tube amplifiers. Who, in the audiophile world, doesn't know the fearsome name of the Kronzilla, with its awe-inspiring KR T1610 output tubes. While these are no longer... Read More »

Image courtesy of Tweek Geek Power conditioners are an essential part of a high fidelity audio system. The reproduction of musical sounds in our homes begins with AC power. Unfortunately, AC power is susceptible to all manner of electrical contamination that impedes audio components from sounding their best. Even dedicated sound rooms with independent wiring... Read More »

Computer audio is a little bit like Sauron's "Ring." It promises audiophiles control over their digital files, easier access to information about the music they are listening to and even dominion over the information from the overlord of information called the interwebs all from your throne, er listening seat. What's not to like? That's the lure. The... Read More »

The Compact Disc player launched some time ago by the Norwegian Hegel Audio company was called the Mohican. It is a clear allusion to The Last of the Mohicans, a novel by James Fenimore Cooper from the year 1826, which shouts: "the Compact Disc format is dead!", i.e. all digital optical disc formats are the past.... Read More »

The Grado Epoch Phono Cartridge has become available this August, 2017, and takes its place as Grado's supreme cartridge offering. With my hands-on experience using the Grado Statement 1 and Statement 2, the Statement 2 being one of my five current references, cartridge advances are speedily continuing, and most advances mean more expensive. The Statement 2... Read More »

I've used the same pair of speakers for 22 years. (And they still surprise me.) They're nameless and were made for me by Richard Marsh: a pair of Dynaudio cabinets with Dynaudio drivers and crossovers built by Richard. He said I should call them DS-something—so how about Marsh/Dynaudio DS-1? He'd made a pair for himself,... Read More »

At the recent LA Audio Show packed with manufacturers—many known to me, but also many surprises—I noticed a table loaded with sharp-looking cables and manned by a gentleman I knew: Mitch Ko. His previous company, INEX, built the most fascinating and unusual cables on the planet:  they were made of fiber optic cable and battery powered.... Read More »

   The Stein Music Powerbar 10 Signature (US version) With a track record of doing the amazing and, occasionally, the impossible, Stein Music of Germany introduces a power distribution system that works effectively and elegantly in the most sophisticated systems. Holger Stein, Chief Engineer and CEO, is both an electrical engineer and physicist and has... Read More »

Hot off the assembly line in Ogden, Utah, comes Ray Kimber's very latest thinking in USB cable design. With five other models listed, starting at $50, this tour-de-force design is a semi-affordable $900 for a meter. This is quite a deal compared to the multi-thousand dollar models I have heard, and generally out performs those... Read More »

It was about fifteen, sixteen odd years ago that I fell into the "vinyl" trap. Sure, growing up mom and pop had records, mostly of the classical Deutsche Gramophone variety; my ten years older brother had vastly greater selections diving into classic rock, some jazz and avant garde pop, but even he probably never made... Read More »

To go reel-to-reel tape or high resolution digital? That was the question facing this basically all analog person some ten years ago. No, there wasn't a lot of tape software available at the time but the same held true for high-rez digital too. Not to mention that digital playback technology was (still is?) changing from... Read More »