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The Esoteric K-01X SACD/CD Player It has been an interesting couple of years while ramping up on my knowledge and experience with computer audio and the latest from all things digital. For those marketing folks out there, the traditional definitions for innovators (2.5%), early adopters (13.5%), early majority (34%), late majority (34%), and laggards (16%)... Read More »

Since the modification to my solid-state Reference Marantz integrated amplifier more than a few years ago, my tube amplifiers have been gathering dust. My modified PM15S1 has been getting the lion's share of the musical stage at my house. But a recent upgrade of my Margules U280SC to 25th Anniversary Edition has changed all that.... Read More »

van den Hul 3T Rock Interconnects I have been most curious about Van den Hul interconnects as they have a sterling reputation, but a lesser following in America compared to the rest of the world. Jay Rein, their distributor at Blue Bird Music graciously suggested I try their middle-level wire in the 3T series, The Rock, which... Read More »

For several months, the superb Silnote Audio Orion-M1 Master Reference XLR interconnects have anchored my reference system. The time spent testing their sonic mettle has proven an unmitigated delight, and a revelation. I first encountered Silnote's superb line of audio cables at the 2014 AXPONA audio show. I stumbled upon the Silnote Audio room purely by... Read More »

For the second time this year, I've had the good fortune to report on an exciting new digital product. This time it is Auralic's latest digital to analog star, the Auralic Altair Wireless Streaming DAC.   According to Auralic's president & CEO, Xuanqian Wang, "The new ALTAIR is both a high quality streamer and DAC, and was... Read More »

Tempus Fugit but Some Things Stay the Same Three nearly identical, "old school," black chassis took up position on my rack. It would be a stretch to call them eye candy—some visitors chided the pro audio cosmetics—yet the effect is nearly the same. The Lamm LP1 Signature Phono Preamplifier is an imposing sight that proclaims... Read More »

Ustvolskaya, Silvestrov, and Kancheli. Works for Piano and Orchestra. Elisaveta Blumina, piano. Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Thomas Sanderling. Grand Piano Records GP 678. To many music lovers, the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries belong to the composers of Eastern Europe and Russia. Notable among this group are Galina Ustvolskaya (1919-2000), Valentin Silvestrov (b. 1937), and... Read More »

The world of high-end audio is wondrous, but can easily reach the realm of unrealistic indulgence for all but the very wealthy. I have been fortunate to hear two channel audio systems with price tags well into the six-figure range (plus custom or acoustically treated listening rooms) and have wonderful sonic imprints of the experiences.... Read More »

"It's so easy to fall in love." Buddy Holly and Norman Petty might have just as easily been writing about reel-to-reel tape as finding one's soulmate (although tapes are not for fools!). Everything from the machines' "retro" look to the "coolness" factor to the feel of spooling up the tape to the look of the... Read More »

Sometimes bigger, I mean longer, is better! Straight out of the box, one can't help but notice that the Role Audio Starship SE speakers look a bit different than your typical compact two-way floor-standers. Oh, the cabinets appear traditional enough, albeit quite attractive and well-built; the speaker binding posts of high if not exceptional quality;... Read More »

[Note that this guest review is by Wolfgang Kemper of HiFi Statement, our affiliated journal in Germany, edited by good friend Dirk Sommer.] The famous New York Mercy Sound Studios has been working with Legacy Audio speakers for years. Now, thanks to the distributor Notabene-audio, Legacy Audio is also represented in Germany. The Signature SE Premium... Read More »

Sometimes we come to the reality that a certain product in our system is not the be all and end all we thought it was. Take for instance the "built-in DAC". It is a great idea till that fast paced technology renders that chip obsolete. I have often thought that what I have my system plugged into was... Read More »

Navigating the New Digital Highway with the Lumin D1 Audiophile Network Music Player For the past year or so, I have grown increasingly frustrated with the theoretical promise but pragmatic limitations of computer-based audio playback. When all the stars align, meaning a musical alignment of one's chosen computer and operating software, one's chosen hard drive(s), and... Read More »

One evening in the vacant space of my commute home, I contemplated phono cables. (Yes, too much free time on my hands.) Specifically, wouldn't the magnitude of difference in the output of a phono cartridge vs. that of an analog interconnect dictate a specialized design for the phono cable? (A medium output MC typically generates... Read More »

Nessun Dorma: The Puccini Album It's happened again. I'd read several years' worth of pro-and-con about Ian Bostridge before hearing the fellow, on a recital disc that I reviewed for this site a few years back. Now, after hearing numerous encomia for tenor Jonas Kaufmann, I've finally heard him sing. Given the novel repertoire for... Read More »

Who can gainsay Bach? Like Mozart or Beethoven, he is a towering figure. I don't know exactly how many recordings that I have of The Art of the Fugue over the decades now, but I do know that I have a lot of them, but not this one by The Emerson Quartet! And so, one more?... Read More »

I have always been a fan of Ayon products. While many of their offerings are not for the faint of heart from a cost perspective you can generally count on the company to produce some of the finest gear around and you could spend a lifetime listening to an Ayon based system without complaint for... Read More »

Miles Davis - Nefertiti, Miles in the Sky, and Filles de Kilimanjaro How time flies! Twenty five years almost to the day after Miles Davis passed away and close on the heels of Mobile Fidelity's 40th anniversary, the confluence of one of the most influential and iconic jazz figures with the world's preeminent record reissue label obviously brings... Read More »

CIKADA & Oslo Sinfonietta: Maja S. K. Ratkje's And sing… (2L Recordings 2L-124-SABD, available in various formats at https://shop.klicktrack.com/2l/475351) Are you musically adventurous? That question might seem dated in a spacy, Jimi Hendrix' first album sort of way, but it's an honest question for most music lovers. We all have strange and unique recordings in... Read More »