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Listening Impressions There's an elephant in the room, and I mean that almost literally. Certain frequencies, the lowest ones, simply aren't reproduced faithfully by most loudspeakers. They'll wobble along, giving the impression of bass, but when you sit in the chair you're left wondering: can you feel it? Subterranean frequencies are not just meant to... Read More »

Today's issue is an eclectic mix, and I think delightfully so. From an outstanding new release by The Hague String Trio of modern music composed in the 1920s, to even more challenging modern music of the past 30 years with the Rudersdal Chamber Players, to music of the 18th Century on clavichord (of all things),... Read More »

Sliding the PS Audio PowerPlant 20 into my system wasn't like unboxing a new amplifier or speaker. It doesn't announce itself with power meters or driver cones. Instead, it quietly rebuilds the very electricity your system relies on. Yet, from the first few tracks, it was obvious this wasn't a subtle change. For my particular... Read More »

After living with a handful of Class D amps over the past few years, it's been a real joy to get back into a serious Class AB amplifier. The Pass Labs X350.8 has reminded me why these big, heavy beasts are still so special. There's simply more weight, more authority, more current on tap, and... Read More »

When the Support System One (SS-1) from Node Audio came to my attention, I was smitten by its elegant looks, intrigued by its intelligent design, and impressed by its very sensible list of materials. Welcome to SS-1, a modular component support eco-system that isolates equipment from its support, drains equipment vibrations, and focusses stray magnetic... Read More »

I often have a hard time suppressing my level of excitement when I see upcoming new releases from Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, but that pegged off the scale when I saw they were reissuing the debut album from prog rock legends Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP). The excitement meter reading nearly doubled when I came... Read More »

Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab continues their survey of Miles Davis' catalog of albums with an Original Master Recording reissue of his 1975 live album Agharta, now available as a 33 rpm, 180 gram 2-LP set. Easily the most dissonant album of Miles' entire catalog, Agharta's dense, sprawling compositions challenged listeners and divided fans—even those who'd... Read More »

Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab honors the 50th anniversary of Heart's Dreamboat Annie with a deluxe 45 rpm, 180 gram LP reissue of the band's classic debut. Initially only available in their native Canada, Dreamboat Annie at first failed to gain much traction—at least until the album's second single "Magic Man" hit the Montreal airwaves. It... Read More »

We have a virtual cornucopia of excellence from NativeDSD for this edition of Recent Finds. Following the release of Eudora's outstanding Pure DSD256 album of Mozart's piano music for four hands, Review HERE, now we have a superb Mozart Requiem from Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Orchestra, delightful Handel and Bach secular oratorios from Florilegium... Read More »

  What happened to all of the luxury Japanese turntables? You know the ones I mean: those tall, chunky, rosewood-veneered JVCs and Denons and even Hitachis, with their fully-automatic feature sets, dead-on direct drive propulsion and wildly over-engineered parts like servo-damped tonearms? While other companies like Rega were trying to simplify turntable design, these folks... Read More »

So you want to travel back in time to the mid-1970s to buy a brand new (back then) 1975-era pair of Quad ESL-57 loudspeakers. Okay… I get it. The primary difficulty, of course, is that all of your efforts to build a time machine out of a Delorean have failed; completely and utterly failed. Is... Read More »

When two masters play side-by-side, magic happens. So it is with this excellent new recording from pianists extraordinaire Josep Colom and Javier Laso.  Mozart & Schubert Four Hand Piano Works, Josep Colom and Javier Laso. Eudora Records 2025 (Pure DSD256-Direct Mixed, Stereo, MCh) Edit Master Sourced HERE I have long admired the playing of both... Read More »

Rarely does technology trickle up into the high-end realm of two-channel audio playback. Yet, in the case of Class D amplification, this has indeed happened. The Class D circuit was invented in the mid-1950s by Alec Reeves, and the first commercial product was released by Sinclair Radionics in 1964. A bit further down the road,... Read More »

If you're a vinyl-spinning audiophile and you love great guitarists, you should listen to Chet Atkins (1924-2001). Heck, even if you don't spin vinyl you should listen to Chet Atkins. The soft-spoken man from Luttrell, Tennessee, was also known by the nicknames Mr. Guitar and The Country Gentleman. His guitar tone was sweet like honey,... Read More »

The Fenby Legacy: Music of Delius. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Eric Fenby. Unicorn-Kanchana DKP (CD) 9008/9 (2 CDs; recorded 1981-3). Songs of Farewell (The Ambrosian Singers). Idyll (Felicity Lott, s; Thomas Allen, b). Fantastic Dance. A Song of Summer. Cynara (Allen, b). Irmelin: Prelude. A Late Lark (Anthony Rolfe Johnson, t). La Calinda. Caprice and Elegy (Julian... Read More »

Rhino Entertainment and Warner are celebrating the 75th anniversary of iconic label Elektra Records with twenty limited edition LP reissues and releases as part of the Elektra 75 Vinyl Collection. Albums in the series include a mix of 140 and 180 gram LPs, with many of them pressed on really cool colored-vinyl! The Elektra 75... Read More »

Wilco, A.M. (Rhino High Fidelity) I am a Chicago guy, and I have been a long term loyal fan of Wilco since the very beginning of the band. Wilco was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of the alternative country group Uncle Tupelo, after Jay Farrar's departure that same year to form Son Volt.... Read More »

Every now and then, something really special comes our way. And today it has. A new release from HDTT of Miles Davis' album, Milestones, in a gorgeous, sonically luscious Pure DSD256 transfer. I hope you will forgive this fresh new article after so many others right in a row. But I wanted you to hear... Read More »

Kapow! Right in the noggin! Wobbling like a UFO saucer in the finest Ray Harryhausen tradition, the record sailed crazily in the air, then jetted straight into the hapless boy's forehead. Score! A direct hit! The lesson here was, while some may argue about a Dynaflex record's sound quality, it's pretty tough to dodge in-flight.... Read More »