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F1 Fractal™ Interconnect by Townshend Audio On the heels of the ridiculously superb (passive) Allegri+ preamplifier (HERE), with its secret sauce…fractal wire…comes the introduction to America of Townshend F1 Fractal Interconnects. (There are speaker cables also, but I did not have them for review.) The interconnects are extremely exotic looking and terminated in excellent shielded... Read More »

As the science of astronomy moves forward, many of the ideas about how the universe has formed continues to evolve. The accepted theory used to be that galaxies formed from gas clouds and star clusters coming together. Over time gravity gathered enough material together to form the various galaxies in the universe. Only lately has... Read More »

About five years ago, I'd just gotten an HRT Streamer HD DAC with balanced outputs, and had also just upgraded my system amps to a pair of Emotiva XPA-1Ls. The Emotivas were (and still are!!) capable of fully-differential, balanced Class A operation, and I was itching for a balanced preamplifier to help me enter what... Read More »

Under the leadership of ​the brilliant Mitch Ko, President and Chief Designer of UIT Products, comes the long awaited PMP Speaker Cables. In both single-wire and bi-wire configurations, pricing is not the same type of truly super-attractive deal of the UIT interconnects—being in the $2500 - $3000 range—but the complexity of the speaker cable, silver... Read More »

You know the phrase "size matters", I'm sure you've heard it before. Does it matter with a speaker? If you're attempting to reproduce low frequencies, you bet it does. Most of the time I've had subwoofers not larger than 10". I was always under the impression that if you go too large, that you would... Read More »

The wind is in from Africa and last night I couldn't sleep. I laid there instead contemplating the review of the Mad Scientist Audio Flexible Carbon Fiber/Graphene balanced interconnects I was preparing. For those not familiar with Mad Scientist Audio, they came on the scene circa 2013, based out of New Zealand and run by... Read More »

Herein, good friend John Marks takes us into the heavenly realm of Western Christian chant, our faithful guide to a recent release by Morten Lindberg and the gifted production team at 2L in Norway. As always, 2L produces a recording with masses of detail, atmospheric presence, and haunting musicality; as always, John touches upon the... Read More »

Brooklyn Rider plays Philip Glass; String Quartets Nos. 1-5. 2 CDs. Orange Mountain 0074. I didn't get the string quartets of Philip Glass at all until I began to hear them as informed by dance—all kinds of dance. The opening work on the album, Suite from Bent (1997), adapted for string quartet by the Brooklyn... Read More »

Prokofiev: Lt. Kije (recorded in 1957); Stravinsky: Song of the Nightingale (recorded in 1956), Fritz Reiner (conductor), Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Producer: Richard Mohr; Engineer: Lewis Layton. Acoustic Sounds/RCA Living Stereo Ultra Tape, 15-ips, 2-track, reel-to-reel tape, LSC 2150. Price: $450. Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's performance of Prokofiev's Lt. Kije paired with Stravinsky's The Song... Read More »

Denny Zeitlin & George Marsh's Expedition. (Sunnyside Communication SSC1487. CD $12.98. http://sunnysidezone.com/album/expedition) The first time I listened to Expedition from pianist Denny Zeitlin and percussionist George Marsh, I didn't think of it as a collection of improvisations between two longtime collaborators. I imagined a more traditional jazz ensemble, one with a traditional rhythm section, even though their... Read More »

One of the better rooms I heard at the 2017 Los Angeles Audio Show featured the Silverline Audio Minuet Grand speakers. These relatively small, two-way stand-mount speakers were putting out a big, big sound that was dynamic and engaging when I came by. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to spend in this room, but... Read More »

Greensleeves TBM5011 Recorded 1978. Three Blind Mice Records Inc. a subsidiary of Sony Direct Japan Inc. Manufactured and distributed by Impex Records Inc. Featuring Shoji Yokouchi Trio plus Yuri Tashiro on Hammond B3 Organ. 3000 numbered copies produced worldwide. Reissue is 180 Gram LP pressed at RTI, in California. Impex cutting engineer: Chris Bellman, Bernie... Read More »

This review started out an examination of the popular EAT C Sharp Turntable, but ended up a phono playback review. Only focusing on the turntable meant I was ignoring the cartridge and phono cable. A poor cable or cartridge meant I was only reviewing the weakest link in the chain! With that oversight fixed, the... Read More »

"Whattya got in these things—gold bars?" chortled the mover; he and his partner grappling the last of the heavy crates around the turn in my staircase. "Nah, better than gold," I replied, electric drill in hand. "These are stereo speakers." His eyes went wide. The Wilson Audio Alexia Series 2 had arrived, and in the... Read More »

Antonio Meneses Cello Concertos. Schumann: Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129; Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33; Tchaikovsky variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33. Antonio Meneses, cello; Royal Northern Sinfonia/Claudio Cruz. AVIE AV 2373.  TT: 60.29 Downloads: Amazon.com (mp3); hdtracks.com (AIFF, ALAC, FLAC, WAV); prestoclassical.co.uk (FLAC, HD FLAC, 320 Kbps mp3)'... Read More »

If you ask five guys what's the best way to configure AC power for an audio system, you're likely to get five—or more—answers. Everything in audio is contentious; AC power delivery is no exception. At one point I was advised, "Every component needs a dedicated line, especially your amps if you're running monoblocks." The reasoning... Read More »

The personal portable market is a really tough one, especially when you're attempting to market anything towards audiophiles. The biggest problem seems to be the opening price point for anything considered audiophile-quality or Hi Res certified—with just about anything that seems to appeal to anyone who's "serious" about music playback being somewhere around the $1K... Read More »

From the inventor of the world's first practical equipment and turntable isolation devices, the first practical and most utilized ribbon super tweeter, the most effective turntable/tonearm design with both isolation and active tonearm damping, and probably other "firsts" I am unaware of, comes the first totally passive audiophile preamp (no power cord, no tubes, no... Read More »

The Zesto Audio Andros Allasso Step Up Transformer Once upon a time, full-featured preamplifiers like the ARC SP-3 ruled the audio scene and contained a phono stage. Phono cartridges were high output MM or MI, and so the preamps of the day had only about 40 dBs of gain, max. Then along came the low output... Read More »