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The old proverb is false. You can teach an old dog new tricks! After 55 years as an audiophile, I finally have inner ear monitors (IEMs) that are not hearing aids! They are Ultimate Ears Reference Pro Monitors developed for studio recording and mastering use. They fit snugly in the ear just like a baby's... Read More »

At a Chicago Symphony Orchestra performance in Carnegie Hall one night I struck up a casual chat with the greybeard seated next to me. I learned he was a retired professional violinist and now, beyond being an enthusiast, he had a severe addiction. Classical music was his consuming passion. For each instrument we cared to... Read More »

  If you have followed the trending audiophile markets for headphone amps and DACs, you've probably stumbled across the iFi line of shiny, pocket-sized electronics much as I did. iFi is the budget brainstorm of UK high-end audio firm Abbingdon Music Research, gear designed in the UK, manufactured in China. The various products share extruded... Read More »

Although a stalwart in many the audiophile setup, you can really see the resurgence of analog playback in mainstream society. Even chain stores are now trying to tap into the market where it once was deemed prehistoric, record players and software are now for sale. The rediscovery of analog has brought about a reintroduction into... Read More »

Nathan Funk resides in Canada. Nathan lives for music. He is handy with shop tools and would love to build you a pair of speakers. That is exactly what Nathan and his team has been doing at their shop in Halfmoon Bay British Colombia for the past fifteen years. Over that time word of mouth... Read More »

Synergistic Research continues to be one of the driving forces in the high end audiophile community. Teaming up with several industry leaders at the various audio shows throughout 2015, their showrooms have been receiving admirable praise and feedback—and deservedly so. No longer just a cable manufacturer, their continued growth has been impressive while making a... Read More »

Over the past ten years, I have reviewed a half dozen or more products from Pass Labs. I ended up purchasing many of those components. It seems like every time I roll the dice and drift away in another direction, I come running back with my hair on fire and apologizing to the audio gods.... Read More »

Audio-Technica was founded in 1962 by Hideo Matsushita; the company's first offerings were the AT-1 and AT-3 phono cartridges. Over the years the company has branched into numerous facets of music reproduction, with products in both the home and commercial environment. For decades, Audio-Technica microphones have been chosen for their overall quality and performance, as... Read More »

I'm no longer responsible. I've relinquished control—the system has taken over. I'm only along for the joyride, afforded aural thrills on a regular basis that are beyond what I could have imagined only yesterday, as the system spirals ever upward in its willful pursuit. Ah, yes, there's no doubt about it. We're in a Golden... Read More »

Did you know that the sweet jasmine plant is represented by 200 species native to tropical temperate regions of Eurasia, Australasia, and Oceania? Or that jasmine is widely cultivated for the characteristic fragrance of its flowers? I assume you know the latter if not the former. Originating in China, where fragrance, tradition, beauty, and orderliness are... Read More »

Transfiguration's new top-of-the-line Proteus cartridge is unquestionably one of today's finest moving coil transducers. The Proteus truly excels when mounted in VPI's 3D tonearm at revealing musical nuances, unraveling textures and capturing the sense of recording space. At the same time, the Proteus is never amusical or exaggerated sounding and displays excellent linearity from the... Read More »

Mama said not to believe rumors and hearsay. And in college we learned the meaning of illicit generalizations. So it was in regards to the sound and performance of Fritz Loudspeakers. A few years back I heard so much about these speakers from word of mouth, reviews, and good old internet buzz, before I even... Read More »

I think we can all agree that, generally speaking, the thought of experiencing a new power supply or conditioning product is not quite as exciting as fresh new speakers and amplifiers. I mean, who really wants to spend all that money on electrical cords and outlets? Still, I have experienced several power cords and power... Read More »

Over the past several years, one of the big topics in field of high end or perfectionist audio has been how to get new people, and especially younger people, to participate. That means not just getting a new generation to both appreciate better sound and gear, but more importantly, getting them to actually buy better... Read More »

When I first found out last fall that I was getting the new Beatles Mono LP box for review, I contemplated going full-on mono to bring as much authenticity as possible to the process. That would require some serious shuffling of my current system to enable mono listening and a number of equipment acquisitions to... Read More »

When talking about the controversial topic of audio cables, there are three specific areas that keep getting discussed: Do cables actually sound different? If they do sound different, are any actually better, or are they just different? Is whatever difference they may or may not create worth the price? My answer to Point 1 was... Read More »

The principals behind JCAT, Marcin Ostapowicz and Josef Piri are perhaps better known as the creative minds behind JPLAY, a Windows based music playback software program that I heartily recommend. JCAT is the hardware side of their venture which also includes some rather nifty computer audio components. Last year I reviewed JCAT's USB and LAN... Read More »

How many rabbits can a magician pull out of the same hat? In the case of Bobby Palkovich, the wizard of Hemlock, it does seem like there is no limit. Just like Merlin, the wizard of old, who was said to have powerful magic, and for whom this speaker company is named. Bobby continues to... Read More »

Classical music subscriptions gobble up the lion’s share of our entertainment dollars. On average, we attend one or two concerts a week at Carnegie Hall (both Stern Auditorium and the smaller venue, Zankel), Alice Tully at Lincoln Center, or Town Hall. Every hall sounds different—all of those mentioned above have one thing in common: they’ve... Read More »