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Bob Levi (right) with Michael Fremer (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) Brand new to the lineup of Grado Labs Signature Headphones is the extraordinary Signature S950 all wood headphones. Frankly, I did not see these coming! The aluminum used in the excellent HP100 SE Headphones is gone and hand-crafted Brazilian walnut shell... Read More »

Growing up in late-sixties north Georgia, music first really grabbed my attention around my tenth birthday. My family had an old tube Philco console stereo, and after school every day, I'd run home to spin a few records or listen to the radio. I had no concept of buying my own albums yet, and the... Read More »

For me, a Pure DSD256 recording done well is the height of audio reproduction excellence. Yes, 15ips and 30ips analog tape sound marvelous, but so does Pure DSD256. Play either in its pure state, as in direct from the tape or direct from an excellent D/A converter, without intervening mucking about, and you can hear... Read More »

I spend a fair amount of time on social media, especially Instagram; it's a great space to post meaningless snippets of existential nonsense, and is less overtly cluttered by the intense political rants that have bogged down Facebook. Not that I'm apolitical—you don't want to get me started about the current state of affairs here... Read More »

It is celebration time, folks. Jared Sacks has launched a new label, Pelle D'oca ("Goosebumps" in Italian), with a stunning new recording of Beethoven's Violin Concerto. And the cherry on the top is that this release is in PURE DSD256! Recorded and mixed entirely in the DSD* domain, with no PCM, with no trip out... Read More »

What has intrigued me about this record for decades is its cover photo. I can't remember when I first saw it, but it was long ago. I think I saw it on an inner sleeve, or maybe it was in one of those colorful catalogs that record companies used to stuff inside of their LPs.... Read More »

Your hearing works in the dark. It even works when you are asleep! Humans were designed (or evolved) so that certain hard-wired aspects of our ear-brain systems serve as important defense and survival mechanisms. When an Ice-Age Cave Mommy heard a twig snap in the forest, she did not consciously have to focus on, think... Read More »

Okay, I admit it. I love a good organ recording. In my vinyl days, I had shelves upon shelves of excellent organ recordings on LP. Today, my digital library is somewhat bereft. There are lots of organ albums on CD, but piffle. I want full resolution. If I can't have vinyl, then I want high... Read More »

Preparing for this review I asked Ralph Karsten, principal at Atma-Sphere, if he planned to make a Class D preamplifier. He responded "There's not much point in a Class D preamp since you don't get the same advantages that you do in a power amp." The obvious question becomes: what are the advantages of a... Read More »

Image backdrop by Aubrey "Po" Powell, courtesy of Reddit.com In the 1970s, engineer and entrepreneur Billy Woodman ran a tidy business designing loudspeaker drivers and building them in his factory in England, supplying drivers OEM to audio manufacturers like Proac in the consumer market and clients like Yamaha in the pro audio realm. So says... Read More »

Early on, Scottish folk singer Donovan Leitch was often considered at best to be little more than a Bob Dylan imitator. But when their paths crossed during Dylan's 1965 tour of England, the meeting was famously captured by filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker in his documentary Don't Look Back. A much-discussed scene occurs where Dylan and Donovan... Read More »

Sometimes an album arrives on my shores that simply requires immediate comment because it is so deliciously good. This is one of those. The Blue Hour Sessions, Rembrandt Frerichs, Rembrandt Trio. Just Listen Records 2025 (Pure DSD256, Stereo) Edit Master Sourced HERE  I have been a fan of pianist Rembrandt Frerichs for several years now,... Read More »

Craft Recordings has rolled out another great selection of new release and reissue LPs, including three more Original Jazz Classics (OJC) reboot titles, another ultra-rare reissue from the King of Corrido song, Chalino Sanchez, and the original soundtrack recording for the Academy Award-winning motion picture, The English Patient. The trio of OJCs are long out-of-print,... Read More »

The great Trini Lopez (1937-2020) was a superb guitarist and singer. He was also an actor, both on film and on TV. The talented musician, who also hung with the Rat Pack, was born and raised in the Little Mexico neighborhood of Dallas, Texas. He started playing rock 'n' roll at age fifteen, and the... Read More »

Those who've read past articles know my admiration for the recordings of independent Dutch recording and mastering engineer Bert van der Wolf (now and hereafter, in honor of his recent marriage, Bert van der Wolf-Oude Avenhuis), Northstar Recording Services. Bert's recordings are a touchstone of excellence. He captures acoustic music in a most engagingly natural... Read More »

High Definition Tape Transfers continues to strike gold with its releases. Here are some excellent new classical and jazz transfers, plus one folk music transfer of the fingerpicking guitar persuasion. Much good music and good sound to share in this Recent Notes. Enjoy Ellington Jazz Party In Stereo, Duke Ellington and his Orchestra. HDTT 1959... Read More »

Freddie de Tommaso, Puccini Arias with London Philharmonic Orchestra/Edward Gardner. Decca 4870768 (digital EP, no booklet. La Bohème: Che gelida manina. Manon Lescaut: Donna non vidi mai; Guardate, pazzo io son. La fanciulla del West: Una parola sola...Or son sei mesi. Le villi: Torna ai felici dì. We don't ordinarily associate the EP format—the extended-play CD—with classical... Read More »

For some time I've wanted to share with you some of this outstanding music, performance excellence, and superb audio quality coming from Sono Luminus' ventures with Icelandic composers and performers. Why Iceland? I didn't have any clear understanding other than that Sono Luminus CEO Collin Rae has some connections there and they got started with... Read More »

By the mid-2000's, my growing appreciation of jazz music was also developing into a full-blown fascination with the artistry of jazz singer and pianist extraordinaire Patricia Barber. And when Taylor Perry of Shore Fire Media approached me mid-year 2021 to gauge my interest in covering Barber's soon-to-be-released album Clique!, I was quite nearly thunderstruck. I... Read More »