A portrait of Dean Waters at Pacific Audio Fest 2023 (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) In November of 2023 Chandos Records released their seventh album in their Music in Exile series. Each album in this series of recordings focuses on a different composer who was forced to flee their homeland to avoid... Read More »
Roger Skoff tells it like it is, and why When I recently Googled the question, "What is the best HiFi system in the world," I found that American Songwriter magazine had published the following (HERE). Quick Summary of the Best Home Stereo Systems Denon D-M41 (Best Overall) Bose Wave SoundTouch Music System IV (Best Compact Home Stereo... Read More »
Sometimes reviewing high-end audio cables can feel like checking-in for an overbooked trans-Atlantic flight and being assigned the middle seat in economy class. Ohhh yeah… that torturous middle seat where you're stuffed in between the adjoining aisle seat and window seat. On your left, there'll assuredly be someone with scorching halitosis whom can't stop droning... Read More »
Dean Waters at the Pacific Audio Fest 2023 (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) If you wanted to set out to build the most perfect power source solution for your system, you'd be hard pressed to do better than Paul & Scott McGowan and their team at PS Audio. They have created a... Read More »
Graphite Audio is a young Polish brand, established in 2020 after many years of work on successive anti-vibration solutions. Its founder and designer is Szymon Rutkowski. The company offers isolation platforms, cones, speaker spike bases and cable isolation stands. This is a premiere test of the Classic 100 Ultra platform. The High End Exhibition in... Read More »
As a reviewer, I'm accustomed to switching gear in and out of my system for evaluation purposes, but it's not often that I fundamentally change the overall configuration of components. Owing to this, I've been able to optimize the selection and placement of ancillaries to support my specific needs. Recently, however, I repositioned my rack,... Read More »
Greetings friends, I hope you are doing well! In August of 2019 the Shuguang Electron Tube Factory was shut down in preparation for a move to a new location. By March 2020 the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a worldwide pandemic, which would result in the shut down of most vacuum tube production still operating... Read More »
Craft Recordings has just released a new 25th Anniversary Edition of R.E.M.'s 1998 album Up, which was the iconic group's first outing as a trio in the aftermath of drummer Bill Berry's retirement from the band. My limited exposure to post-Bill Berry R.E.M. wasn't particularly favorable at the time of that string of albums' original... Read More »
Dr. Tom Davis has a longtime association with Positive Feedback. He was a very active contributor to the magazine back in the 1990s during our paper 'n ink days and a hale and hearty audio friend. He is now joining us once again, and I could not be more pleased! His writing is always worth... Read More »
As a child of the 60s, I heard some of the greatest rock and roll ever created, and the place I heard much of it was in the back seat of my mom's car. As I lived in Los Angeles, the number of AM radio stations that played rock and roll was vast, and therefore... Read More »
Among the more popular topics receiving vigorous traction on social media and public forums are discussions about the derisive and conflicting beliefs and approaches on how to clean and maintain our record collections. For those of us old-school audiophiles, aging stalwarts who have NEVER not known the benefits and caveats of vinyl playback, such processes... Read More »
Before I get to the meat of today’s discussion, permit me to share a little history of LP cleaning so that you have some context and perspective. Back in the 1960s, as I was first exploring and learning about the world of seven-inch, 45 RPM single and twelve-inch, 33 RPM LP playback, the cleaning and... Read More »
I wonder how many of you are aware of just what an amazing time it is to be a music-loving audiophile. Not only are we currently experiencing the most rapid and significant advances to the authenticity of sound regenerated by the electronics and loudspeakers used for the playback of recorded music, as well as witnessing... Read More »
Anyone who knows me, has followed my writing over the decades, or this channel since its inception, will be well aware of my love for the work of one of the most revered and celebrated classical composers, Ludwig van Beethoven. His Ninth Symphony is widely regarded by critics and musicologists as not only a masterpiece... Read More »
There can be no question that my first exposure to the Mola Mola Lupe phono stage in April of last year left me more than merely impressed. In fact, you can see my initial reaction to this remarkable phono preamplifier on Bill Parish’s GTT Audio YouTube Channel, in his Episode 78, or my Episode 115,... Read More »
My first exposure to the $280,000-a-pair Børresen M3 loudspeakers came last April at AXPONA 2023 in Schaumburg, Illinois. Hearing them there, driven by the flagship Aavik C-880 linestage and P-880 amplifier, $70,000 each, and a full loom of Ansuz flagship cabling left me more than merely impressed. They presented with an infectious degree of quickness,... Read More »
Craft Recordings is offering another exciting line-up of limited-edition LPs for the upcoming November 24th Black Friday celebration of Record Store Day (RSD). Craft's offering of rarities and specialty releases are just a handful among literally hundreds of cool records that will be available online and at your favorite independent record store. For Black Friday,... Read More »
The Pass Labs HPA-1 Headphone Amplifier seen here is accompanied by the iconic Artemide Tizio Desk Lamp For many—especially those in their teens through their 20s—headphones are the preferred mode of listening to music, and when it comes to a quality sound experience, they offer them their biggest bang for their buck. "I never sold... Read More »
Craft Recordings continues their impressive Original Jazz Classics reboot with a brilliant pair of live album reissues, featuring the Dave Brubeck Quartet's Jazz At Oberlin (1953, Fantasy Records) and the Bill Evans Trio's Sunday At The Village Vanguard (1961, Riverside Records). Dave Brubeck's Jazz At Oberlin showcases an earlier incarnation of the group that would... Read More »