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"I don't recall the name. It's a new product distributed by Merrill Audio of New Jersey." We were just starting a session when Jonathan, one of my regulars, mentioned a phono stage he heard at a meeting of The Audiophile Society in NYC. "It's certainly high-res. It seemed to retrieve a lot more back-of-orchestra instrumental... Read More »

Gilbert Yeung, the owner and proprietor of Blue Circle, is an engineer and an artist. He is one of the most brilliant audio designers working today. But he could not care less about marketing. He does not advertise very much and does not openly solicit product reviews, preferring to keep the scale of his operations... Read More »

One of the classics in the world of automobiles is the Porsche 911 and, in my opinion, the closest that any high-end audio product has come to emulating that automobile legend would be the Merlin Music VSM. Like the 911, the VSM started life as a timeless design, and like its automobile counterpart, the VSM... Read More »

In this wonderful hobby of music reproduction, there is perhaps no other discipline as dark and murky as the world of moving coil cartridge manufacturing. Most owners of analog gear view high performance moving coils as something akin to the practice of an arcane art, and the inner workings of a cartridge company are shrouded... Read More »

As class-D amplifiers continue to evolve, it's exciting to have the opportunity to test examples such as Digital Amplifier Company's small monoblocks, dubbed the Maraschinos. While each Maraschino is very compact—6 inches wide, 6 inches deep, and a 5 inches tall, they are surprisingly solid and heavy—these amps should not be taken, well...lightly. Their physical... Read More »

Change is good, particularly in high-end audio, as the Leto from Zesto Audio becomes the version 1.5 and positively improves its standing as a top notch and enviable offering. With a more dynamic presentation and even lower distortion, the gorgeously sophisticated 1.5 is now firing on even more musical cylinders. Zesto Audio just continues to... Read More »

Spatial Holography Last I checked the principles of Newtonian physics still apply. That's why I see my role as communicating the real-life observations that go down in Nack Labs: that's the key—observation and communication. But occasionally stuff happens that falls into a grey zone outside the paradigms we've developed. The problem then is what to... Read More »

Reviewing phono cartridges, be they of the moving magnet, moving coil, or moving iron variety, involves that old "devil in the details." Depending on your tonearm and headshell you'll encounter varying degrees of difficulty when mounting a cartridge, maintaining composure at all times to insure that fingers, tweezers, blood, and sweat don't damage the cartridge's... Read More »

"EMI and RFI run deep, into your DAC they will creep. Stop, now, what's that sound, everybody look what's going down..."—with deepest apologies to Stephen Stills. I'm basically an old-school analogue kind of guy at heart. Back in the day, my idea of getting closer to the music would mean some kind of tonearm/cartridge/stylus upgrade... Read More »

Talk about the proverbial can of worms. Recently Soundstring Cable Company's Len Miller asked if I would like to review two full complements of wire from their new line of cable. Whoa, that is a lot of cable. I have heard of hard core audio reviewers who refuse to do wire reviews. So either I... Read More »

The Zesto Audio Andros 1.2 phonostage has been one of my tougher reviews to finish. I know it sounds cliché, but the Andros 1.2 is one of those pieces of gear that makes you want to quit writing and just listen to the music. Even though I consider this a follow-up to the review of... Read More »

Nordost. Seems that these days Nordost is everywhere. Norse 2 series? Check. Valhalla 2 series? Check. Odin 2? Check. Headphone cables? Check. HDMI cables? Check. You get my point. All made in America, all made with engineering in mind, all made with guaranteed pride of ownership. Mind you, all of these upgrades to series 2... Read More »

Let me just say right up top that I generally do not review cables in this low price range. At $1149 per meter, whether RCA or XLR, the Merrill ANAP is expensive for many, but not for the audiophile like me who has to have the very best in all of audio. I took on... Read More »

The Grado GH1 Headphones...the sound of Brooklyn-born Maple! "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" and becomes not furniture, but headphones for music lovers around the world. This limited edition headphone is Grado's first time using American maple, a hard and musical sounding wood, for its new limited Heritage Series. This celebrates three generations of producing headphones,... Read More »

I like the idea of resonators as a prescription: Take one a day to keep the shakes away. Ha! Not quite, just me being silly. Seriously though, they are a sonic purgative. The actual prescription is to put them at strategic points on your components to prevent vibrations or mechanical energy from doing mischief. As... Read More »

I may have said this before, but I'll say it again… all of these amazing cables you have in your system (as beautifully constructed as they are) will not amount to much if you have garbage power coming into your room. This probably goes for 99% of you reading this where you don't have the... Read More »

If there is one credo that Alex Sventitsky the founder of WyWires Technology goes by, it is that the accurate reproduction of music is a very complex process and so "One size does not fit all!" This dogged determination in pursuing this dogma has helped WyWires differentiate itself from most of the competition and has... Read More »

The $1495 Charisma Audio MC-2 moving coil cartridge sounds far better than it has any right to! In fact, this recently introduced cartridge–and cartridge line—is undoubtedly one of today's best bangs for the buck in the once again growing world of high-end audio cartridges. It goes without saying that nothing but nothing prepared me for the... Read More »

Tipping the register at $1095 and $1195, respectively, the Music Hall MMF-5.1SE and recently introduced Ikura turntables share certain design and implementation features in their equally attractive frames. Both share a dual-plinth design, the same Pro-Ject 9 tonearm, same motor, a "precision stainless steel main bearing sheathed in Teflon for noise-free operation (quoting the Music... Read More »