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Audeze strikes again with its new CRBN 2 reference electrostatic headphones! Weighing in at 480 grams versus 300 grams for the original CRBN, with increased depth of the leather ear cups and housing, significantly improved and perfected 2nd generation nano-tube technology drivers, and a patent pending passive technology to enhance deep bass, the Audeze CRBN2... Read More »

"Dean Waters: Portrait with Cigar." PAF 2023, SeaTac, WA The Mola Mola Makua Preamp, front-top oblique view In June of this year, I had a wonderful opportunity to attend High End in Munich. With an attendance of well over 20,000, it is certainly one of the largest, if not the largest, trade shows for the... Read More »

A little over 10 years ago, Canadian melodic hardcore band, Counterparts, released their groundbreaking album The Difference Between Hell and Home. An eleven track foray into a variety of emotional themes, death, religion, depression, love, and the lack thereof. Counterparts set the stage for an emerging genre, and continued building a musical movement today. Over... Read More »

My eyes welled with tears staring at a glorious reproduction of Edgar Degas' painting, The Orchestra at the Opera, in a massive book in the reference section of the University of California, Riverside Library. As an art student in 1990, I was overwhelmed by the virtuosity, draftsmanship, rhythmic composition, and sheer beauty of a bassoonist—captured... Read More »

I am not a music reviewer. Never done that before as I never saw that as something I could do with respect to being faithful to the artist and their music. Pretty much a whole different thing than reviewing audio gear. Of which, that is hard enough. But, out of nowhere I get an album... Read More »

HumminGuru? Just another Tik-Tok #influencer, you'd think? No, it turns out HumminGuru is a Hong Kong-based firm focused on accessories for vinyl enthusiasts, from LP inner sleeves to ultrasonic record cleaning machines. Two actually, both functionally similar to the high-end audiophile approved $4-6K machines, but currently going for as little as $379 and $699. Not... Read More »

New Kids on the Block Back in late fall 2021, as most of the nation impatiently wiped layer upon accumulated layer of sleep from COVID-19 weary eyes, GTT Audio & Video's head honcho Bill Parish bravely invited a small group of reviewers to his sprawling suburban New Jersey listening rooms, amongst the finest such spaces... Read More »

Rhino Entertainment, in cooperation with Sunset Boulevard Records is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the release of Bob Neuwirth's self-titled debut album, Bob Neuwirth. Many of you are probably asking yourselves the same question I asked upon receiving the initial press release for this LP from Shore Fire Entertainment: "Bob Neuwirth? Who is Bob Neuwirth?"... Read More »

Roger Eno, the skies:rarities. 2024. Desutche Grammaphon. Available HERE As I am shifting away from 24 years of equipment reviews and focusing more and more on sharing music I find, I was recently afforded the opportunity to listen to a wonderful new album by Roger Eno. The album is titled the skies:rarities available on Deutsche Grammaphon. Yes... Read More »

If you're an audiophile who's under the age of eighty, you probably haven't paid much attention to Frankie Laine (1913-2007). There was a time when the dynamic Mr. Laine, who was born Francesco Paulo LoVecchio, was as popular as Frank Sinatra. In his day he was affectionately called Mr. Rhythm, and for good reason. Great... Read More »

This is not 1999 anymore. Flash forward 25 years and most loudspeakers from any reputable manufacturer are far more than a few speaker drivers in a cabinet with basic filtering. The finest loudspeaker companies are leveraging advancements in materials, complex software, precision manufacturing practices, Digital Signal Processing (DSP), finite element analysis (FEA), and a whole... Read More »

Mention Crystal Cable in an audiophile conversation, the adjectives that likely come to mind are thin, elegant, top-drawer fabrication, and expensive. With an unflinching eye on aesthetics, the color scheme has always featured silver, often accented with gold—the regal metals—in a visual palette resembling the colors of a painting. The association with luxury goods has... Read More »

Photo by Bryant Larsen The Quadratic Audio MC-1 was influenced by a triumphant tradition that rose from the Great War's ashes to avant-garde and worldwide influence that continues today.  It was 1919 in post-World War I Germany when, under Berlin architect Walter Gropius' leadership, the Weimar School of Applied Arts merged with the Academy of... Read More »

Dean Waters with Cigar:  a Portrait. (Photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson.) The Merrill Audio ELEMENT 110 Monoblock Amplifier (image by Dean Waters) As we continue our never-ending journey towards audio bliss, one of the things we look for is transparency. That is to say, music presented without colorization or modification by the... Read More »

McIntosh MC830 Solid-State Amplifier (courtesy of McIntosh) McIntosh amplifiers are the type of ultra high-end audio components that cause fist fights at estate hearings. When the opportunity to review a pair of McIntosh's MC830 solid-state amplifiers, ($8000 per pair) arose, I was quite excited to begin listening. Product Description Each MC830 single channel amplifier is... Read More »

Varèse Sarabande is a specialty imprint of Craft Recordings, and is one of the world's most prolific producers of motion picture and television soundtrack recordings. While originally established in 1972 as an avant garde classical music label, it has since found a successful niche specializing in the release of film scores, original soundtrack recordings, and... Read More »

Perhaps the principal joy in attending audio shows is sitting and auditioning insanely expensive speakers, many with six-figure price tags. As long as I live, I will never tire of it. If nothing else, it puts everything in the audio world into some sort of perspective. At the most recent AXPONA, I heard plenty of... Read More »

I live on the fourteenth floor of an apartment building on a busy avenue in NYC. Even this high up with the windows closed, the sounds of the city—automobile horns, pulsating boom boxes, people arguing—filter in. It's annoying, especially when I'm having a session. Unexpectedly, though, I found it sets up a good test. If... Read More »

When singer, songwriter, disco diva, and queer icon Sylvester walked onto the stage of San Francisco's War Memorial Opera House on March 11, 1979, it would prove to be not only an important pinnacle in his all too brief career, but also a historic moment for the city's LGBTQ+ community. The evening would become a... Read More »