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If you know the name Lyle Ritz (1930 - 2017) at all, it's because you saw him credited as the bass player on a pop or rock album. Ritz was a prominent bass player in Los Angeles during the 60s, and he was part of the studio musicians collectively known as the Wrecking Crew. His... Read More »

Women and War and Peace. Yarlung Records; Katelyn Bouska, Piano; YAR54460: Gold Substrate CD pressed in Germany.  Executive Producers: Evan Flaschen and Patrick Trostle. Recording Engineers: Bob Attiyeh and Arian Jansen. Mastering Engineers: Steve Hoffman, Arian Jansen and Bob Attiyeh. Microphone Preamplification: Elliot Midwood. AKG C24 microphone: Ancona Audio. Steinway Technician: Kathy Smith Cooper Bates. Photography Graphic Layout: MikeDesign "Kate flew to Southern... Read More »

Every now and then—but really, not all that frequently—a product appears that really "shakes the chessboard" in terms of performance, value for money, or both. The Monitor 9 from Solen Electronique is one such product. Solen is a Montreal-based Canadian company with manufacturing facilities in Canada and France. Its overall performance is top-tier, and its... Read More »

I was chatting with an exhibitor at last year's tiny NY Audio Show 2022 and mentioned I found the treble in his room had too much bite. I got no argument: "I like that. That's what I hear at concerts." Hmm…his comment made me pause before I continued with the rest of my list: boomy... Read More »

Over the course of my lifetime, I have grown to really love jazz. I distinctly remember the first time I heard a jazz trio playing at a party in my mid-twenties, and it affected me in a way no other exposure to music ever had. The delicately textured pluck or slap of the acoustic bass,... Read More »

Dialing in this DAC conjures an enchanted eye exam—however, instead of an optometrist switching lenses in a phoropter and asking, "Better or worse?", you swap 12AU7 tubes and focus on how they affect your music experience. As with eyeglasses, the optimal fit varies with each individual. It depends on a variety of factors—the room's acoustics,... Read More »

Base2 Music, located in West Sussex, UK, is a fairly new label, founded in 2017 by owner, producer and recording engineer, Jake Purches. Jake captured my attention because he's been focusing on a love of mine: well recorded organ music on some of the great organs around the world with internationally respected musicians. A fellow... Read More »

Over the past several years, increasing emphasis has been placed on products made in the U.S.A., and moreover, those hand-crafted by artisans. Entire fairs have sprung up showcasing wares by craftsman and more attention is being paid to the sources of materials of each product. Whether it is the farm-to-table movement, or your daily deliveries,... Read More »

Kirsten Edkins, Shapes & Sounds, Cohearent Records (33 RPM LP) There are many talented people involved with this project, but let's start with Kevin Gray. As many might know, Kevin is universally renowned and respected for his skills as a Mastering Engineer. This includes reissues and new releases on virtually every label and every analog... Read More »

This is a brilliant new release by pianist Katelyn Bouska, recorded and mastered in Pure DSD256 by Bob Attiyeh of Yarlung Records. But what makes this recording truly special are the musical works selected and the stories of the composers, all women who were at the cutting edge of the contemporary music scenes in their... Read More »

Image courtesy of UIT Unique Innovation Technology Co. (UITaudio.com) is a California company under the guidance of Mitch Ko, an extremely talented electrical engineer and designer who has always been looking to improve and advance connectivity for high-end audio. When I met him for the first time at the LA Audio Show a few years... Read More »

When HDTT issues a Redux edition of an album I’ve liked, I always pay attention. I’ve yet to be disappointed with the improvements Bob Witrak has been able to wring from the source tapes. I thought this release was excellent before. In this updated version the sound quality clearly goes up a notch, if not... Read More »

Bob Witrak continues his quest for access to some great sounding tapes. Here are a few more jazz finds that knock my socks off. In addition to some great stereo releases, I'm including several mono releases from HDTT's Archival Series that are simply superb. We're all well past that notion from a few decades ago... Read More »

I own a lot of albums, and my use of the word "albums" means LPs and CDs. Most of them bring me tons of pleasure, but I also keep a few albums for reasons other than pleasure. I find Miles Davis uniquely irritating, and LP-era Ellington turgid, but since I like to cruise in the... Read More »

If any audio product should be standard issue, the lowly record cleaner certainly qualifies for that status. If you play records, they need cleaning. If you buy new or used records, they need cleaning. Yes even new ones need a once over with a good old record cleaner. Of course I have talked to people... Read More »

Classy Operation A class-D amplifier, or switching amplifier, all too often mistakenly referred to as a "digital" amplifier, differs from the much more traditional and popular linear amplifier classes. In a switching amplifier, its transistors, usually MOSFETs (Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistors), rather than directly providing gain to the sourced signal, operate as electronic switches. The audio... Read More »

I wrote about my enthusiasm for what Hunnia Records has been doing in this earlier article covering a dozen or so of their releases over the past few years. But Hunnia does not stand still! Not by any means. And I continue to enjoy their new releases. Here are a few you should know about...... Read More »

It has been a little over one year since the write-up about the Sonus faber Lumina V (HERE). A keen-eared reader made a comment regarding the Lumina V: "It was amazing how little the Lumina V gave up to the Sonetto VIII." The Sonetto VIII is the big brother of the Sonetto III which will... Read More »

The last of the Fono Acustica cables had been sent back about six months ago. Already, their sonic profile was receding. It's difficult to retrieve what you can barely describe in words because sounds are not stored in long-term memory. So it was amazing and a testimony how fast that profile resurrected when the newly... Read More »