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ESS RLM-713 Headphones, photograph courtesy of ESS ESS is back big time with an array of top quality loudspeakers and—for the first time—headphones for the budding audiophile. The ESS RLM-713 headphones are very high quality cans with an ebony wood sealed sounding board and advanced circuitry. They sound musically superb and are surprisingly inexpensive, recently... Read More »

My son's increased homework load and need for more quiet time is requiring more headphone listening for me. I don't particularly like listening to headphones... not sure why, maybe it's growing up in a "Big Fat Greek Wedding" family, where everyone was social, like it or not. Naturally, I have a modest headphone setup for... Read More »

Music@Menlo 'Live,' 2016 "Russian Reflections" . (8 discs), available separately or as a box set. www. musicatmenlo.org. If you share Music@Menlo's enthusiasm for nineteenth century music, this latest edition of their annual set of (summer 2016) festival recordings will please you. It features a large group of minor and minor major Russian composers (plus Tchaikovsky... Read More »

It's been thirty years since Accuphase presented to the world their own Compact Disc Player. The two-box DP-80/DC-81 system premiered in July 1986 and immediately became a flagship player for this brand. The CD transport was designed in a way it would have been today, ie. with utmost attention to the power supply circuit and knowledge... Read More »

I have been very excited about this review since the opportunity was presented late in 2016. The T+A PA 3000 HV integrated amplifier and PDP 3000 HV SACD/CD/DAC  have both received many rave reviews over the last two years. The descriptive "rave" would be quite an understatement. Some of my audio buds with ears that... Read More »

"I suppose there's no remote? Dual mono volume controls?" I was discussing the operation of his L2.1 Reference Preamp with Vladimir Lamm. VL: "Yes, that's right." MN: "Ah, determinedly 20th century." VL: "Correction: 22nd century." MN: "Huh? Don't you mean 21st?" VL: "No. Sometime at the beginning of the next century, they will realize the... Read More »

The Ayon CD-3sx CD Player is a companion piece to the Ayon Triton III integrated amplifier that I reviewed. This is a full-featured Tube Top Loader CD-Player Class-A triode vacuum-tube output stage for single-ended & balanced operation, All the superlatives that apply to any Ayon product apply to the CD3sx. It followed the Ayon formula... Read More »

As Joe Walsh would say, I'm an ordinary, average guy. While I've got some very nice gear, the room itself has been neglected. I'm sure it has modal ringing, uneven frequency response, and sucky suck-outs. This chamber of audio horrors is stuffed with a mishmash of unmatched furniture, as well as several bottles of excellent bourbon;... Read More »

I'm overdue to finish what I started with my preliminary review of the Audio Research Ref 6 preamplifier (HERE). I have now spent many pleasurable hours listening to and using the Ref 6 as part of my reference system. Prior to purchasing the Ref 6, I owned the Ref 5SE and enjoyed the almost two... Read More »

New to phono enthusiasts is Ray Kimber's latest and greatest tonearm cable concoction which will definitely delight and amaze you. The Kimber Select KS 1236 Phono Cable is compact, elegantly constructed, and made of the purest polished silver in the world. Terminated with tip-top silver WBT connectors, WBT 0102AG in the RCA version I tested, it... Read More »

Let's cut right to the chase. I have had a battery powered Grado RA-1 since 1996, and found it to be more than satisfactory with Grado cans. With new revisions in place by Grado, I was very interested to hear the newest RA-1 version, with a large outboard transformer and new sexier knob and pot...... Read More »

Those of  you who pay any attention to any of my stuff at all will know that I've been in the process of building a new home for the last year, and it really began for me in mid-February of 2016 when my real estate agent insisted that all my stereo equipment had to go... Read More »

Tinariwen, Elwan (ANTI- 87467-1, 2-LP set $19.98 through Amazon) Reviewing contemporary music is often merely a matter of describing a hybrid. "Their music is a cross between Gwar and the first three Partridge Family LPs." "This latest album blends grindcore and dubstep with Texas swing." You can communicate the essence of a performer by mentioning two... Read More »

The Venus is the third Duevel speaker I have reviewed and sits directly in the middle of their lineup. Since I have heard at one time or another all of Duevel's models, the Venus just might offer the biggest bang for the asking price. Let's find out. As with all Duevel speakers, the Venus is... Read More »

Eclipse: Chamber Music of Mischa Zupko. Wendy Warner, cello. Sang Me Lee, violin. Mischa Zupko, piano. Cedille CDR 90000168. Calling someone a "Chicago composer" as Cedille Records often does is probably not doing him a favor. It suggests limitations, local heroes. The fact is, in the case of Mischa Zupko (and cellist Wendy Warner who... Read More »

Music Interface Technologies (MIT) products have had a place in my system on and off over the last twenty years. From the MI-850 Tri-wire designed for my long lost and loved Avalon Radian speakers to the subject of this review, the ACC169 Speaker Interface and the Oracle MA-X SHD XLR Interconnects. In that time I... Read More »

Wilson Audio Alexx Loudspeakers Every once in awhile (though frankly, more frequently than I care for), I chuckle, nay, swing my arms and hands in protest at the uninformed nonsense I hear on otherwise fine and decent radio shows like Leo Laporte and his part time sidekick Scott Wilkinson of AVSforums, a highly respected audio... Read More »

Back in the '80s, when I was in college, I tried very hard to get into jazz. Many of my music-loving friends had already discovered it, and they constantly told me that if I found the right entry point I would totally dig it. I tried and I tried but I just couldn't find the... Read More »

Acoustical Systems' tonearm Aquilar, as well as the top-of-the-range model Axiom, are characterized by the UNI-DIN geometry newly developed by Dietrich Brakemeier. The analogue specialists from Bavaria have not yet invented a new generator principle, but with The Palladian Cartridge they thoroughly demonstrate how far one can get sonically with the ingenious combination of already... Read More »