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There are many reasons to collect records, and the best and most common reason is for the music. However, if you also care about sound, and you own a high end audio system, the sound can be, as it is to me, just as important. You can also collect LPs like people collect stamps and... Read More »

Over the many years that I've been involved in high quality home audio, there's been no part of system that has given me more concern, and kept me from making a decision for what my system needs, than the preamp or linestage. Seems silly, as in theory at least, a preamp or linestage should be... Read More »

The Zesto Audio Leto Ultra II Preamplifier Now celebrating its 13th anniversary of producing award-winning all-tube designs for audiophiles, California's Zesto Audio has introduced its most advanced preamplifier to date. The Leto Ultra II Preamplifier is the amazing George Counnas's assault on the state of the art in all tube topology, and the third incarnation of the... Read More »

A little over four years ago, I reviewed tech guru Bill Stierhout's ADD-Powr Sorcer X2 Harmonic Resonator, which is manufactured in the USA by his company, Coherence Systems. The Sorcer line of harmonic resonators employ a novel approach to improve audiophile AC power conditioning by using an additive process versus the typical subtractive process of... Read More »

A portrait of Dean Waters at Pacific Audio Fest 2023 (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) In November of 2023 Chandos Records released their seventh album in their Music in Exile series. Each album in this series of recordings focuses on a different composer who was forced to flee their homeland to avoid... Read More »

Sometimes reviewing high-end audio cables can feel like checking-in for an overbooked trans-Atlantic flight and being assigned the middle seat in economy class. Ohhh yeah… that torturous middle seat where you're stuffed in between the adjoining aisle seat and window seat. On your left, there'll assuredly be someone with scorching halitosis whom can't stop droning... Read More »

Dean Waters at the Pacific Audio Fest 2023 (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson)  If you wanted to set out to build the most perfect power source solution for your system, you'd be hard pressed to do better than Paul & Scott McGowan and their team at PS Audio. They have created a... Read More »

As a reviewer, I'm accustomed to switching gear in and out of my system for evaluation purposes, but it's not often that I fundamentally change the overall configuration of components. Owing to this, I've been able to optimize the selection and placement of ancillaries to support my specific needs. Recently, however, I repositioned my rack,... Read More »

Craft Recordings has just released a new 25th Anniversary Edition of R.E.M.'s 1998 album Up, which was the iconic group's first outing as a trio in the aftermath of drummer Bill Berry's retirement from the band. My limited exposure to post-Bill Berry R.E.M. wasn't particularly favorable at the time of that string of albums' original... Read More »

As a child of the 60s, I heard some of the greatest rock and roll ever created, and the place I heard much of it was in the back seat of my mom's car. As I lived in Los Angeles, the number of AM radio stations that played rock and roll was vast, and therefore... Read More »

Among the more popular topics receiving vigorous traction on social media and public forums are discussions about the derisive and conflicting beliefs and approaches on how to clean and maintain our record collections. For those of us old-school audiophiles, aging stalwarts who have NEVER not known the benefits and caveats of vinyl playback, such processes... Read More »

Craft Recordings is offering another exciting line-up of limited-edition LPs for the upcoming November 24th Black Friday celebration of Record Store Day (RSD). Craft's offering of rarities and specialty releases are just a handful among literally hundreds of cool records that will be available online and at your favorite independent record store. For Black Friday,... Read More »

The Pass Labs HPA-1 Headphone Amplifier seen here is accompanied by the iconic Artemide Tizio Desk Lamp For many—especially those in their teens through their 20s—headphones are the preferred mode of listening to music, and when it comes to a quality sound experience, they offer them their biggest bang for their buck.  "I never sold... Read More »

Craft Recordings continues their impressive Original Jazz Classics reboot with a brilliant pair of live album reissues, featuring the Dave Brubeck Quartet's Jazz At Oberlin (1953, Fantasy Records) and the Bill Evans Trio's Sunday At The Village Vanguard (1961, Riverside Records). Dave Brubeck's Jazz At Oberlin showcases an earlier incarnation of the group that would... Read More »

Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition, Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra. HDTT 1957 2023 (DSD256, DXD "Redux") HERE Just superb - you owe it to yourself to get this! This recording from December 7, 1957, in Orchestra Hall, Chicago, is a world treasure. It is among the earliest stereo recordings released on LP (1958) and it... Read More »

I'm far from being an expert on Hawaiian music, but I'm crazy about it. LPs, both stereo and mono, of Hawaiian music have provided me with decades of pleasure. I also love the way  vintage Hawaiian records sound, because they often sound amazing. I currently own 55 Hawaiian LPs, and I used to have more.... Read More »

Bartók Concertos. Bartók Piano Concertos 1-3, Pascal Rogé, piano; London Symphony/Walter Weller. Violin Concerto 1, Kyung-Wha Chung, violin; Chicago Symphony/Sir Georg Solti. Violin Concerto 2, Iona Brown, violin; Philharmonia Orchestra/Simon Rattle. Two Portraits, Chantal Juillet, violin; Montreal Symphony/Charles Dutoit. Decca Eloquence 480 2320 (2 CDs).  TT: 79.30, 78.13. Downloads: Amazon.com (all except Violin Concerto 2) This compact collection, fitting Bartók's major concerti onto... Read More »

Rhino Entertainment has just released Devo: 50 Years of De-Evolution (1973-2023), a box set that celebrates the legacy of the iconic band and their 50th anniversary as performers. Devo's genre-bending style of rock and roll bounded across a half-century of art punk, new wave, post-punk, and synth pop, and their nine studio albums never failed... Read More »

Van Morrison His Band And The Street Choir (Rhino High Fidelity Series) Released in 1970 on the Warner Bros. label, Van Morrison His Band And The Street Choir was recorded at the infamous A&R Studios in New York City earlier that year. As an interesting aside, the original title for this album was Virgo's Fool,... Read More »