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In a world where smiling boxes mysteriously appear on your porch and contain products that may or may not be missing a crucial part, fail to operate after two days, or simply not work right out of the box, high end audio is a welcome relief. Online forum tirades from the bored and disgruntled notwithstanding,... Read More »

I enjoy a good challenge. Whenever a cable review comes my way, I accept wholeheartedly knowing that it will be quite the adventure. I say this because reviewing cables comes with quite the controversy. People seem to have an open mind when it comes to devices with circuitry with respect to a review, maybe because... Read More »

Dean Seislove mentioned he had Schiit's Vidar amplifier in house. You can read that review HERE. I'd just been listening to Schiit's Gungnir Multi-Bit (Schiit refers to in in-house as "Gumby") and was really pleased with the experience, so I asked to hear it before it went back. Schiit's Vidar is a small amplifier, weighing... Read More »

More. Nothing drives audio like More. Landfills in every continent are filled with working integrated amps, bookshelf speakers, and last year's gear; discarded like unspooled cassettes by people chasing after More. And in this hobby size matters. Anyone who has been to audio shows has seen attendees do the small system Cha-cha-cha: Glide by the... Read More »

"It doesn't look like it could change shape," Joseph observed after a long pause to process the behemoth power cable resting on my carpet. That would be the Proteus, the latest from Stage III Concepts, the audio wire manufacturer. Proteus was an ancient Greek sea god capable of assuming different forms. Yeah, it definitely looks... Read More »

Pretty much everyone involved in enthusiast audio has heard of Nelson Pass, and for good reason, as Nelson has been a central figure in the audio design world since the mid-1970s. I asked Nelson if he would tell me a little about his early years, about how he first got involved in music and audio... Read More »

No, I did not make up the name. Yes, Josefina Lichtenegger is CEO of EAT, European Audio Team, and is both chief audiophile extraordinaire and chief designer. Her beauty is only matched by her exquisite taste, and both seem employed in all EAT products. This is very refreshing as most of the audio industry appears stuck... Read More »

ORG Records ORGM-2114, LP $20, special limited edition green or white $25, available at orgmusic.com We music lovers and collectors know the feeling of missing out on a particular band or performer for a big chunk of our lives, only to say, "Why haven't I discovered this until now?" I can think of dozens of... Read More »

This was a fun project. The original genesis was realized from dozens of emails from various readers over the last twelve months in response to some of my most recent hardware reviews. When trying to explain a point or what they were hearing in their own system, the references were often a track from one... Read More »

The workhorse of the Stein Music tweaks has been, and continues to be the Stein E-Pad, a truly excellent and predictable way of precisely dampening vibration in critical components and speakers. The E-Pad put Stein on the map in America and opened the door wide for his ingenious components and other system controls, like the superb Harmonizers. Though... Read More »

I have a fairly long history with Audioengine loudspeakers and products; in my book, they're some of the most well-designed, well-constructed, and best-sounding powered speakers and ancillary products on the market. The level of technology employed in their designs approaches the current state-of-the-art, especially when you consider the ridiculously low MSRPs of many of Audioengine's... Read More »

Over the years a wide array of cartridges have passed through my reference system. While I cannot claim to have had serious relationships with designs from every cartridge manufacturer in our hobby, I have listened extensively to products from Dynavector, Shelter, Sumiko, Koetsu, Transfiguration, Benz Micro, and more than a handful of others. Over the... Read More »

This was not going to be my review piece. I'd heard Prism Sound's Callia at shows for several years. Each time I heard their demonstration, it was with ATC, a speaker I'm intimately familiar with. I've owned four pairs and reviewed three other models more over twenty years, consequently "show discoveries" about ATC speakers are... Read More »

Click over to Tekton Design's website and one could infer that I have quit my job, given away all possessions, and joined the church of Tekton in Utah. Of course, I did none of the aforementioned but, with its 99dB of sensitivity, Tekton Design's towering Double Impacts revealed an alternate path to aural enlightenment for... Read More »

The other day a friend of mine with keen ears, though not an audiophile, walked into my living room system and said "Hmmm… you changed something, I am hearing much more bass, more dynamic slam and less sizzle on top." Well then. Me, somewhat stumped as I was scratching my head trying to think of... Read More »

Cuerdas Cubanas, Toomai String Quintet. CD and downloads available at CDbaby.com. TT: 30.55 López: A Gozar con mi Combo. Lecuona: Gitanerías; Zambra Gitana; Andalucía; En Tres por Cuatro; La Comparsa*; Danza Lucumí. Castro: No Encuentro Palabras*. Moré: Bonito y Sabroso*. Brito: Cómo fue*. Morales: Dame Bururu*. (*with Alina Roitstein, singer; all selections arranged by Andrew Roitstein)... Read More »

For the first time ever, I present my reviewer's high-end balance sheet. ROI (Return on Investment in High-end Audio) Grado Epoch Cartridge: $12,000 "State of the Art" Grado Aeon Cartridge: $6000 "85% Overall Performance of Epoch" Savings selecting Aeon over Epoch: "$6000" Aeon Gains: acquire up to 200 re-issue LPs from your favorite vendor Aeon... Read More »

At the last Diana Krall live concert I attended, I happen to be seated next to an elderly woman who took great pleasure in singing, with all abandon, along with Ms. Krall for most of the concert. What made it worse was that she seemed to be quite tone deaf and sang totally out of... Read More »

"Get your station at the touch of a finger!" shouts the vintage ad for General Electric radios. "Touch tuning - Does away with tedious dialing!"  Now, that's an innovation one can hang a fine felt Cavanaugh fedora on. True, the pushbutton worked better in a VW bug than in the home, but you get the... Read More »