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Truly special recordings deserve to be heard and celebrated. Such a truly special album is the newly released Lost in Venice by Infermi d'Amore, from Eudora Records. On this album are alert, energetic, and beautifully played performances of works from three Venetian Baroque masters using instruments appropriate to the period. Complementing these delightful performances are... Read More »

Speaker isolators…for a turntable? Yes, according to the folks at IsoAcoustics, or at least their surprisingly comprehensive online product selector tool. I wasn't expecting to find my audiophile-unapproved, direct drive turntables in the drop-down box, but there they were. And at the top of their list showing recommended vibration control devices were the GAIA-III screw-on... Read More »

It's taken me more time (years) to get serious about a new rack than any other component I've ever bought. My room and system have been so cooperative that for the past few years I've spent more time listening and looking for new music rather than fret about components, cables, room treatments, or a rack.... Read More »

Relished by many for their low cost, high quality audio components and accessories, iFi is renowned for enhancing sound quality and eradicating distortion, noise, and hiss from equipment like headphones, speakers, audio devices, cell phones, and televisions with their products. And, at a price of $329, the GO bar is their flagship pocket totable USB... Read More »

Ukranian pianist Anna Fedorova is a remarkable talent. She is right in the top of my list for outstanding performers in recent years. I've written about her solo-piano and chamber music recordings with Channel Classics here, here, and here. But now she is expanding her recorded repertoire to include some of the most challenging pieces... Read More »

Introduction This review is a follow up to my earlier posting on the Aavik I-580 Integrated Amplifier. If interested, please click on the link here as it provides some very useful background information. Like the Aavik I-580, the Ansuz products discussed in this review are all part of the Audio Group Denmark portfolio. Audio Group... Read More »

GS3000x Wooden Grado Headphones I want to make it clear that the now discontinued wood body Grado Statement Series 3000e was my favorite go-to headphones for musical enjoyment and monitoring recording sessions. Their dynamic punch, beautiful definition, and excellent imaging rang every bell in the steeple. Frankly, I was surprised to receive the new 3000x. I... Read More »

The natural order of things is to start low and aim high. Buy a low-cost product; get acquainted with it, even as you scan the horizon checking out options; become dissatisfied; then pull the trigger. That's what we do: the avid audiophile never stays put very long. Sure, you can jump-start the journey by handing... Read More »

A new King is crowned! Review By Ric Mancuso With this article, Positive Feedback continues its content-sharing relationship with Enjoy the Music where Ric Mancuso shares his thoughts on the Rogue Audio Pharaoh II Integrated Amplifier. Dr. David W. Robinson, Editor-in-Chief Rogue Audio has once again upped the ante with their Pharaoh II hybrid integrated amp. I'm always... Read More »

Chick Corea, The Montreux Years. Double Album Set - Music Spanning Seven Years of Chick Corea at Montreux. BMG Records CAT583DLP If you are a jazz fan then you know the name Chick Corea! He was born Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea and he was one of America's premier jazz composers, pianists, keyboardists, bandleaders, and occasional percussionists. Many... Read More »

Audiophiles are a compulsive bunch. They will try just about anything and everything when it comes to improving the sound of their systems. One very common recourse for mitigating this affliction is tweaking. Tweaking is a repetitive, at times even incessant activity where fine mechanical or electronic adjustments are made in attempts to achieve a... Read More »

Bob Witrak at HDTT has done it again—a superb new release in Pure DSD256. This is the superlative Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus. And it sounds simply amazing, folks. Sonny's saxophone is alive, full of texture, filled with detail. Max Roach is in the room on drums, with outstanding transient attack on stick strikes and shimmering... Read More »

Dynamic Design AV is a Chicago based cable company that was established in 2000. Frankly, I was surprised that I had never heard of Dynamic Design prior to this review. Since Dynamic Design AV has been in business for 22 years, they must be doing something right. I was given the opportunity to review a... Read More »

I have very little need for escapism. I live in a very peaceful area, surrounded by lakes, trees, and very little traffic. My listening room is in my basement, further isolated still. My marriage is a happy one, and we have no kids at home. Only the occasional visit from the parents, siblings, nieces, nephews,... Read More »

How best to present several of the outstanding orchestral masterpieces found in the Channel Classics catalog? My choice is to start with selections from the works of the great conductor, Iván Fischer, leading the Budapest Festival Orchestra. These are world class performances filled with deep intelligence and love for the music. Combined with the superb... Read More »

If you look at my past reviews, you will notice certain names show up on a regular basis, Wirewold is one of those names and the subject of this review. Wireworld is one of the best manufacturers of high end cabling in the audio business. They are fairly priced and their lower to mid-tier lines... Read More »

Grab onto the sides of your chairs so you don't fall over like I did when you hear this superb new transfer of Billie Holiday's Lady in Satin. The sound quality is simply gorgeous—alive, dynamic, transparent, with great accuracy of timbre in both instruments and voice. Billie Holiday is in the room with us, folks.... Read More »

One of the more commercially successful combinations in the audiophile sphere, over the past decade, has been the amplifier/digital to analog converter combo. You can now choose this combo component from dozens of brands from prices that vary very widely from a few hundred dollars for a basic, no-frills component, to models like the Boulder... Read More »

Would it be damning this cartridge with faint praise to simply call it nice? I hope not, because that's precisely what the entry-level model from Mobile Fidelity Electronics is. That's not to say inoffensive, as in competent but not particularly inspiring. The StudioTracker is, in fact, fairly sophisticated and affable for such an inexpensive example... Read More »