May - June 2018 Archives - Positive Feedback

The Hana EL Moving Coil Cartridge: Exceptional Performance at an Agreeable Price Point

Tom Gibbs — Mon, 11 Jun 2018 16:00:38 +0000

Late last year, I had a tremendous review opportunity that focused on ProJect's The Classic turntable; unbeknownst to me, the review unit arrived as the heavily upgraded Superpack SB edition. Which, along with electronic speed control and other really nice goodies thrown in, also came with a Sumiko Blue Point No. 2 cartridge attached to... Read More »

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Muddy Waters, Folk Singer, on Analogue Productions LP: It Feels Like Going Home

Wayne Goins — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 21:12:21 +0000

Muddy Waters was born on April 4, 1913 and died on April 30, 1983. The 35th anniversary of his passing has recently come and gone. For this occasion, I find no better reason to introduce to you a dissection of one of the greatest blues albums ever recorded, entitled Folk Singer. Before we begin, please... Read More »

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Impressions: Select Portraits and Studies from the Munich Show 2018

David W. Robinson — Tue, 05 Jun 2018 01:02:54 +0000

You may have noticed a trend over the years in my response to high-end audio shows. I've gravitated more and more to photographs not of products, but of people. Less and less of audio porn; more and more of the folks who make up the slightly mad world of fine audio. There are plenty of... Read More »

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STEALTH Audio Helios Phono Cable - Analog Dreams of Noise-Free Vinyl

Marshall Nack — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 19:03:23 +0000

Saturday mornings I'm at the Greenmarket early and later I make my way over to Academy Records, my favorite music retailer. While perusing the bins recently, I stumbled upon Jazz Ballets from Broadway, an early stereo LP from 1958 (Warner Bros BS 1240). The title won't ring a bell for many people, but it was... Read More »

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Radio Free Chip - A Brief Assignation with Clark Terry, December 14, 1920 - February 21, 2015

Chip Stern — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 18:30:04 +0000

Making the simple complicated is commonplace. Making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. - Charles Mingus Years ago my friend, the British guitarist Robert Fripp (of King Crimson renown), found the time for a brief assignation at a Greenwich Village bistro. Over lunch, when I inquired as to how his visit to Manhattan was... Read More »

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Universal Disk Players Placed on Endangered Species List

Norman Tracy — Fri, 01 Jun 2018 23:07:59 +0000

"May you live in interesting times." Legend has it that in ancient China this was a curse to be invoked against one's enemies to deprive them of a calm, simple life. The modern audiophile equivalent was the April 2, 2018 press release from Oppo's audio/video division announcing cessation of production of existing products and closing... Read More »

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Naim Audio Uniti Atom vs. UnitiQute vs. Smoked Eel

Gautam Raja — Wed, 30 May 2018 23:36:03 +0000

Fergus Henderson—the chef who's the reason the hip restaurant around the corner from you serves bone marrow, sweetbreads, and other animal bits—opens his seminal cookbook Nose to Tail Eating: A Kind of British Cooking, with a terse description of lunch at Sweetings. When you order the smoked eel at the bar of this London seafood... Read More »

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In Memory of David A. Wilson II, 1944 - 2018

John Marks — Tue, 29 May 2018 18:29:58 +0000

The world of fine audio was rocked by the news of David Wilson's passing. In this memoriam, our good friend John Marks, the editor of The Tannhauser Gate, reflects on David's contributions to the industry, and how he helped to set the foundations for modern high-end audio. I echo John's prayer for his eternal rest and... Read More »

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Quickies: The ESS 422H Heil AMT Headphones, the Linear Tube Audio Micro ZOTL 2.0, and Greensleeves on LP

Robert H. Levi — Sat, 26 May 2018 20:18:27 +0000

ESS 422H Heil AMT/Moving Coil Hybrid Headphones: New Current Production Back in February when I reviewed these brand new headphones with their amazing drive system, they did not look like the current cans on the shelf today. They were pre-production and were supposed to be exactly like they are now in every musical parameter. Actually,... Read More »

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The Gingko Acoustic Resonance Clarifier™ (ARCH)

John Zurek — Fri, 25 May 2018 17:00:16 +0000

As I began listening to the Gingko ARCHs the many audio tweaks I've tried over the years ran through my mind. The more I thought about it virtually every system I've heard, no matter price or size, included some sort of accessory I would—at least loosely—label as a tweak, an accessory that can improve the... Read More »

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Audio Physic Avanti Loudspeakers

John Acton — Wed, 16 May 2018 16:24:38 +0000

German loudspeaker manufacturer Audio Physic has a long and storied history of innovation. From the employment of side-mounted woofers and narrow baffles featured throughout its loudspeaker lines, to coaxial, string-suspended midrange / tweeter drivers utilized in the legacy Kronos and Caldera II models, and even to the promotion of radical nearfield-based placement recommendations, Audio Physic... Read More »

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JCAT USB Isolator - Enhancing USB Audio Playback to the Nth Degree

Tom Gibbs — Tue, 15 May 2018 22:16:02 +0000

I've been using JPLAY as my go-to computer-based music player/streamer for the last couple of years—it's without a doubt the very best bang-for-your-buck improvement for use with any PC music playback system. In my review of the Sonore microRendu last year, I found that music via my PC with JPLAY came darn close to matching... Read More »

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First Systems, Part 1 - Julie's System

Steve Lefkowicz — Tue, 15 May 2018 21:34:55 +0000

This will be the first of another sporadically updated series I hope to do, maybe annually or maybe more often, about helping people set up their first real stereo system. I'll help them through the process of deciding what they hope to accomplish (hopefully wanting to listen to their favorite music at home and have... Read More »

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Shunyata Research Sigma Phono Cable

Tim Aucremann — Tue, 15 May 2018 15:01:09 +0000

I think of Shunyata Research as an investigative research center for signal and power transmission. And I suspect its principal scientist, Caelin Gabriel, has a lot of fun digging into how electricity works, down to the quantum level. After all, Gabriel spent his early career with the NSA, designing military systems to acquire extremely low-level... Read More »

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Q Acoustics 3050 Loudspeakers - The Antidote to Overthinking

Gautam Raja — Sat, 12 May 2018 22:28:28 +0000

I told a knowledgeable audio friend that I was writing about Q Acoustics speakers, and he didn't know the brand, so he looked it up. He saw online that the 3050 floorstanders I was to review cost $700. "This is bargain-basement stuff," he said. "Why is Positive Feedback getting you to review them?" Why do... Read More »

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Kubala-Sosna Elation! Full Cable Set Preview

Danny Kaey — Sat, 12 May 2018 16:52:37 +0000

Two gents walk into a bar… So the joke generally begins. Unlike a joke, however musing, what comes next is nothing short of a blockbuster HiFi story worth telling and then some. The two gents in question, Howard Sosna, and Joe Kubala, went on to form what is otherwise known as Kubala-Sosna (or "KS" for... Read More »

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Where Do We Go From Here - More on the Pear Audio Blue Little John/Cornet 1 Turntable

David Williamson — Sun, 06 May 2018 15:54:39 +0000

So, months, days and year (no "s") into my sojourn with the Pear Audio Blue Little John (system par excellence), I've hit critical mass. I'm taken, enamored, sold-on, dedicated, committed to and otherwise fully engaged with this turntable life. Without spending another three-thousand-plus words telling you all the ways I'm madly in love with the... Read More »

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From an Editor’s Notebook: Follow-Up Thoughts on the LampizatOr Golden Gate 2 Tubed DSD DAC

David W. Robinson — Sat, 05 May 2018 22:20:08 +0000

Ye Olde Editor, in medias res… (photograph by John Robinson) No, this is not a major review. It is more of a retrospective and reflection on what I've heard in the upgrade of our LampizatOr Golden Gate DSD DAC from its original design to its new Golden Gate 2 version. As it turns out, that upgrade... Read More »

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Top 500 SuperSonic List - Part 8

Claude Lemaire — Fri, 04 May 2018 22:53:35 +0000

This is an ongoing project by Claude Lemaire of Soundevaluations. 61. Pixies, Surfer Rosa. 4AD – 803 (UK) (1988), MoFi ‎– MFSL 1-296 (2009), 33 1/3 rpm. Genre: alternative, garage rock, noise pop, punk The words garage, punk, and noise rarely go hand in hand with audiophile, and yet this second release by the Bostonian band encompasses exactly... Read More »

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Bricasti Design M15 Solid-State Stereo Amplifier

John Marks — Thu, 03 May 2018 20:57:35 +0000

I just had a rather arresting (in the sense of, one has to stop doing anything else, and just listen) listening experience. I want to share it with you. The music I was listening to is from an underappreciated (really, almost unknown) classic-era jazz recording; but I have heard it many times. However, I had never heard it... Read More »

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Tellurium Q Interconnects and Speaker Cables

Wojciech Pacuła — Thu, 03 May 2018 16:30:57 +0000

I wonder if Geoff Merrigan, the owner and designer of the British company TELLURIUM Q is having nightmares? The question seems to me to be all the more justified, since both him and his company have roots in the pro world, that is, one set on functionality and utilitarianism and reluctant to any experiments. The experiments... Read More »

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The B3B4 Organ Jazz Quartet

Marc Phillips — Tue, 01 May 2018 19:45:15 +0000

Self-released and available at b3jazz.com; CD $12.97, digital download $9.99 "My name is Kevin Gerzevitz and I play the Hammond Organ. I've learned through my fellow organist Robert Kennedy that you write reviews of jazz recordings. I am a member of a group called B3B4. We are based in the San Francisco Bay Area and... Read More »

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Spendor A2 Loudspeakers: Legendary British Sound at an Affordable Price Point

Tom Gibbs — Tue, 01 May 2018 16:22:53 +0000

At the last Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, a conversation took place between Chris Morris of Bluebird Music (Spendor's North American distributor, based in Canada) and PF's Dave Clark regarding Spendor's newest and most affordable line of loudspeakers. The A2 and A4 Models, priced at $2395 and $3195 USD, would offer Spendor's renowned sound at a... Read More »

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ATC SCM50asl Loudspeakers and the SCA-2 Preamplifier

Editors at Positive Feedback — Tue, 01 May 2018 16:21:30 +0000

This article, as reviewed by Francisco Madrid, Victor Chavira, and Larry Cox, originally ran when audioMusings was in print. Issue 13, 2001 This is going to be the easiest review I've ever written. Simply stated, the ATC system is the best sound I've experienced in my home. (But then, this is the first time I've had $15,000 dollars... Read More »

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Mojo Audio Déjà vu Music Server

Mark Pearson — Mon, 30 Apr 2018 18:30:33 +0000

I'm going to start off by saying that I feel like I have been on a digital journey during the process of reviewing the Mojo Audio Déjà vu Music Server. I encourage all who are interested in the specs and tweaks for the Déjà vu Music Server to visit the Mojo Audio website and read... Read More »

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