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I was twelve when Carly Simon released her third album "No Secrets." Even at that age, I was not into commercial pop music much, so I never owned this album until now.  However, I did not change the channel when Carly Simon came on. She had unmistakable talent; voice and composition. Simon achieved international fame... Read More »

Ólafur Arnalds, Sunrise Session III. Olafur Arnalds, composer and pianist; Sandrayati, RAKEL, Salóme Katrín, vocals; with string quartet. Universal Music (EP, digital only). TT: 12.58. Echoes. Þú ert sólin. Ashes. A Dawning. This is not my usual line of territory: I'm very much a classical guy. But the majors—Universal and Sony/BMG, at least—have been promoting... Read More »

Recently, while doing some research, I discovered the existence of an album that in all my decades of obsessive record collecting I had never seen nor heard of. The album is called Red And Ernie (Decca DL 8298). Not to be confused with Burt and Ernie, Red and Ernie were music legends Red Foley (1910-1968)... Read More »

Today, given the sea-change advances in performance that two recent arrivals have brought to my reference system, I’m pushing other AXPONA and related events coverage aside to bring you today's conversation. You see, I’ve recently lost several days of productivity to listening to my updated reference system…watch and you’ll soon understand!

Black velvet, acoustic-dampening curtains cover the surrounding walls of the darkened 12' x 15 'x 8' Chesky Audio hotel room packed with guests seated in folding chairs this Saturday afternoon. Upfront, the celebrated owner of HD Tracks, David Chesky, 69—a wiry and energetic man with a New York accent, long curly locks, clad in a... Read More »

James Oscar Smith was an American jazz icon who helped popularize the Hammond B-3 organ, forging a link between jazz and 1960s Soul—or the "urbanization and commercialization of rhythm and blues in the 60s," (www.allmusic.com), and the Acoustic Sounds Series reissues from Verve/Universal Music Enterprises delivers his artistry with exceptional fidelity in their 180 gram... Read More »

We deeply believe in "development" and "progress." Especially in audio. On the other hand, we know that newer is not always better and that old technologies can surprise us. So what is the current situation: Is there progress or not, and if there is, what drives it, and how should we respond to it? Let's... Read More »

This article is part of an ongoing series examining electromagnetic field theory and its application to high-fidelity audio reproduction. The engineering framework described here has been developed, tested, and refined over thirty-three years of product development at Synergistic Research—and has been the subject of extensive public discussion on my personal Facebook page, where the physics,... Read More »

This was the line-up who was the first to play "electric" at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. This caused quite a disturbance from the folk-purists in the crowd. Especially when members then backed up Dylan for his first electric performance. The Butterfield Blues Band album "East West" of 1966 is one of the earliest... Read More »

I so often bring to you music in ultra-high resolution, but there are so many wonderful recordings not originally recorded in DXD or DSD256. I listen to many of these, but don't regularly write about them because my brief is to focus on the higher resolution recordings so readers can know that they are available.... Read More »

AXPONA! The trade show where all the sounds and other spectaculars of the high-end audio community come together to listen, listen, and then listen some more with 12,546 attendees and 235 individual listening rooms this year. I'm pretty sure this is a record. So many products, distributors, and manufactures here that it really wouldn't be... Read More »

Spendor is an English company specializing in the production of loudspeakers, founded in 1968 by Spencer Hughes Its first product designed for independent operation was the BC1 model (1969), commissioned by the British Broadcasting Company, known as the BBC. We are testing a new version of floor-standing speakers from the "budget" A series, model A4.2.... Read More »

Today, I join my friend and colleague Maurice Jeffries in his “New Apartment Lounge” in Orlando. We share our thoughts on some of the highlights from the eighth annual Florida International Audio Expo.