Loading...

If you saw my coverage of last March’s inaugural Southwest Audio Fest, held at the beautiful Hilton Anatol in Dallas, you’ll recall that this freshman event earned near-universal acclaim from the members of the press. This new event was lauded as showing remarkable potential to become one of the premiere events on the American show circuit.

While I have been trying to go to this show for several years now, thwarted repeatedly by bad weather conditions canceling my flights and making it impractical to reschedule, or last year, with a scheduling conflict for a surgical procedure, I finally made it for the 2025 edition of this event.

Many of you will recall that I had the opportunity to be the first to listen to, and report on, the $280,000-a-pair Børresen M3 loudspeakers here at the channel, with Episodes “E140: First Listen: Børresen M3 Loudspeaker,” in September of 2023, and “E158: World Premiere-The Børresen M3 Loudspeaker,” from January of 2024.

If you’ve been following my “Second Space” series of episodes, which are explorations of considerably more affordable products than those that I more typically cover, like those that are integrated into my own Hyper-Audio reference system, you will know that I’ve recently spent some time covering the amazing work being done by Audience, of San Marcos, California.

Today will feature the last episode covering my four-day visit to GTT Audio in Long Valley, NJ, two weeks ago, and will focus on one of the most significant, engaging, and important analog products I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing, the KRONOS Discovery Phonostage.

In this week’s episode, Bill Parish and I discuss the introduction of the latest products to join the Audionet Scientist Series of electronics, the Mach linestage and the Schrödinger monoblock amplifiers. These products may represent the most important product introduction in Audionet’s nearly three-and-a-half-decade history.

Today Bill Parish and I discuss the relevant takeaways, and perhaps the deeper significance of what my latest extended stay at GTT and listen to the production release of the KRONOS Perpetual Turntable may have to offer.

Today we Have a look at what is coming over the first months, and on into the year 2025.

Today we take a look at the results of what I am calling the Fosi Audio V3/SparkoS Labs SS3602 “Full Monty.” The V3s, pimped out with a pair of the SS3602s in the two “significant” OpAmp locations, likely used to drive each half of the differential input for the V3s tiny Class-D amplifier chip, the Texas Instruments TPA3116D2, provide some exhilarating performance.

This week, we’ll explore the advantages that come with implementing a full loom of cabling comprised of the same series of products from a single manufacturer. Specifically, we will take a closer look at the benefits I’ve realized with the installation of a loom of the entry-level series of OHNO cables, including interconnects and speaker cables, and non-captured AC cords, the forte F3 powerChords, from Audience.

In today's world, Eydie Gormé (1928-2013) is most famous for being part of a successful singing duo with her husband, Steve Lawrence (1935-2024). As a pair, they were successful from the earliest days of stereo LPs and well into the digital era. They also excelled at comedy, and they looked great too. By all accounts,... Read More »

David Fung, Evening Conversations. Yarlung Records 2006 2025 (Pure DSD256) HERE  Edit Master Sourced I found myself talking recently on the phone with my friend Bob Attiyeh, the creative founder and visionary of Yarlung Records. I'm always intrigued by these occasional calls with Bob. One never knows whence they may wander. That day, Bob was... Read More »

Last year Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab began releasing six of Joni Mitchell's most iconic albums, making them all available not only as hybrid SACDs, but also in MoFi's ne plus ultra analog statement format, their UltraDisc One-Step 180 gram LP set. The series began with Ladies of the Canyon (1970), then moved to Joni's deeply... Read More »

Bob Witrak has been busy these past months with additions to the HDTT catalog. The biggest news is that the International Phonograph Jazz recordings are back! See my earlier note about this great news, HERE. Below are some of the new reissues (not IPI) that have caught my ear in recent weeks. Witches Brew, Alexander... Read More »

Record Store Day typically always takes place on the third Saturday of April in any given year, but for 2025, that date fell on what is a bank holiday across much of the globe, so the date was pushed forward to April 12. Rhino is again offering a broad selection of 47(!) limited edition LPs... Read More »

Craft Recordings again offers an interesting mix of collectible, limited-edition, rare, and long out-of-print LPs for Record Store Day 2025 (RSD) that's happening on Saturday, April 12. Record Store Day typically always takes place on the third Saturday of April in any given year, but for 2025, that date fell on what is a bank... Read More »

Let there be rejoicing among fans of Pure DSD recordings—transfers from the IPI analog master tapes to Pure DSD256 are back at HDTT! They disappeared for a while when IPI owner and recording engineer Jonathan Horwich decided to retire and withdrew them. But now the International Phonograph, Inc., catalog is returned to HDTT. These albums... Read More »

Lee Scoggins at the 2017 LA Audiophile Show. Los Angeles, CA, 2017 (portrait and image processing by David W. Robinson) It's hard not to love the Tampa show. Always great weather, and the people running the show, including Bart Andeer and team, really care about the experience people are having. This year the show moved... Read More »

As an owner of the Parasound JC5 stereo amplifier, I was intrigued to review the mighty JC1+ mono amplifiers in my system. As many of you know, the JC5 was John Curl's attempt to distill as much of the JC1 amplifiers into a single stereo chassis as he could. As good as the JC5 stereo... Read More »