"Keep your voices down a little bit" is faintly heard in the background. This phrase is incredibly difficult to decipher in many systems, as it is located deeply in the background of the recording. "Then, a band member says"Oh I will tell you everything," and while it cannot be documented it is likely Christine McVie... Read More »
Craft Recordings has just released a trio of LP reissues of classic bluegrass and folk recordings from the catalogs of Rounder and Vanguard Records. The two albums from Rounder Records are seeing their first ever LP reissues, including bluegrass guitarist extraordinaire Tony Rice's 1982 crossover album Backwaters, performed by The Tony Rice Unit. As well... Read More »
Every now and again a recording comes along that is of such supreme quality, that I simply must stop and tell you about it. It deserves a special stand alone article. And this performance by Ning Feng, recorded by Jared Sacks, is such a release. Read on... Brahms & Goldmark Violin Concertos, Ning Feng, Konzerthausorchester... Read More »
Linda Ronstadt's classic 1975 album Prisoner In Disguise has just been released by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab as an Original Master Recording, and on a pair of 180 gram, 45 rpm LPs. A previous MoFi reissue (from 2008) of Prisoner In Disguise arrived as a 33 rpm, 180 gram LP, and hearing the differences between... Read More »
Oh yes! I am excited about this. I am in love with this. Why? Because this is what audio should be. Frans de Rond, founder and recording engineer for Sound Liaison has released a stunning new album in Pure DSD256 with Carmen Gomes Inc. It is phenomenal. It is clarity, purity and utter transparency at... Read More »
Bob Witrak has been busy in recent weeks releasing a nice assortment of albums. Among them is an outstanding set of Bruckner's music in modern recordings from the excellent recording engineer, John Proffitt, and provided to HDTT by John directly from his edit master files. Also included below is a marvelous Lewis Layton recording of... Read More »
Rhino Entertainment again celebrates Roctober with 43 limited edition reissues and new release LP offerings. For 2025, the series presents an eclectic mixture of rare and previously unreleased LPs, including box sets, ultra-cool colored-vinyl LPs, and multiple selections from both the premium Rhino Reserve and Rhino High Fidelity series. A broad range of musical genres... Read More »
When I started reviewing high-end audio in the early 1980s, I was young, naïve and easily fascinated with the fast-evolving technologies in the audiophile speaker sphere. I drooled at state-of-the-art designs and the exotic materials used in the top-of-the-line models from the leading brands. I admired the people designing these models, which were, more often... Read More »
My first encounter with the Aries Cerat was back in 2019 at the Munich High-End show. All I really remember was a truly magical experience—even under show conditions (noisy background, people coming in and out). The Aries Cerat system was very natural and analog sounding, surprisingly, I was listening to a digital set-up. Fast forward... Read More »
Sometimes, the most improbable juxtaposition of musical styles, sounds, and textures just works and, when spotlit in breathtaking clarity, as with Mobile Fidelity's Platinum Ultra Disc One-Step version of Miles Davis's Bitches Brew, it's brilliant. When I was a child, my mother cooked and served our meals at home. Occasionally, some spillover occurred between the... Read More »
I can't tell you about all the new releases from this past week now available at NativeDSD. I haven't had time to listen to them all, and certainly not yet time to write about them all. But I have selected six that truly piqued my interest, and they turned out to be just excellent releases... Read More »
Buckingham Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham & Stevie Nicks, Rhino High Fidelity Records (33 RPM LP) Kevin Gray's success with the Fleetwood Mac discography and related recordings continues to amaze. My go to copy for Rumors is the 2020 45 RPM reissue cut and mastered by Kevin Gray along with Steve Hoffman. My go to copy for... Read More »
If you were buying music in the mid eighties, then you might remember when the music industry expected us to replace our records with "perfect sound forever" compact discs (CDs). Even though I own a lot of CDs, and I still buy them on occasion, few were ever purchased to replace the same title on... Read More »
The KECES P14 Ultra Low Linear Noise Power Supply is a relatively new addition to the KECES Pier product line and it replaces the P8. The P14 is a four-channel power supply and the channels are labeled as zones I - IV. Zones I – III gives you a selection of different voltages ranging from... Read More »
Bob Levi: a moment. LAOC Gala Board Banquet, 2022 (Photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) One of my pet peeves in listening room acoustic treatments is devices that not only enhance the sound quality, but also cause an irregularity to the musical reproduction at certain frequencies. I run across these items almost weekly... Read More »
I first heard the now-acclaimed Parasound Halo JC1 amplifier during the January 2002 CES, though this soon-to-be-acclaimed amplifier was not officially available for purchase until March of 2003. But on that January day, the late Bob Crump had used four pre-production JC1s, a soon-to-be-acknowledged overachieving amplifier from renowned electronics designer John Curl, to drive a... Read More »
My first encounter of the Hyper Sonic X4 cartridge kind occurred in the VPI room at Capital Audiofest 2023. The next year, Laurence Borden, proprietor of Distinctive Stereo in NJ, also turned to the Hyper Sonic X4 to anchor his vinyl playback setup at Capital AudioFest 2024. Both times I left the show incredibly impressed... Read More »
HDTT has been hard at work once again with two very nice Redux re-releases in better sound quality and four new releases. Fans of Judy Garland will rejoice in this outstanding release of her live performance at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco from 1952. Amazingly, her voice sounds as if she is standing right... Read More »
This new release in the ongoing series of outstanding organ recordings from APSoon Recordings is their best yet. If you love great organ recordings, just get this now! It will blow you away. Aare-Paul Lattik, Live at Riga Cathedral. APSoon Records 2025 (Pure DSD256) Edit Master Sourced HERE This is the most recent release of... Read More »