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Once you know better, who wants to live with worse? PF Editor Dave Clark once described the letdown of listening to speakers from one’s youth and realizing that they don’t measure up as, "Kind of like running into that girl who you thought was so hot back in high school and wondering what the hell... Read More »

Preface Without Mirth How many years will it take to tame, or dissolve, mind-numbing noise suffusing "audiophile" events? Year after year, more than twenty five in my experience, any expectation of focused attention with music and superior audio gear—formerly at CES and now THE Show Newport Beach, as elsewhere, where the claim of audiophile privilege beckons... Read More »

I guess not many of the owners of high quality audio components even realize that brands that made their devices often actually belong to the same mother-company. Like, for example, Audio Research, Sonus faber, Wadia Digital, Sumiko, McIntosh—they all belong to the Italian holding Fine Sounds Group; Denon, Marantz and Boston Acoustics belong to Japanese... Read More »

There are good reasons to review everything else other than loudspeakers. And the logistics is not even the worst reason. But there's a whole range of good reasons to look into AudioMachina's top of the range model. And that's why I've now lived with the Maestro GSE for several months. This is the first reason... Read More »

Audio is about listening. All of the good things in the high end community come out of listening and thinking about what you listened to. All of the problems in the high end community can only be solved by listening and thinking about what you listened to. There are very few places where people can... Read More »

"I don't recall the name. It's a new product distributed by Merrill Audio of New Jersey." We were just starting a session when Jonathan, one of my regulars, mentioned a phono stage he heard at a meeting of The Audiophile Society in NYC. "It's certainly high-res. It seemed to retrieve a lot more back-of-orchestra instrumental... Read More »

Prokofiev. Viktoria Mullova. [Violin Concerto No. 2; Sonata for Two Violins, Solo Violin Sonata]. Viktoria Mullova, violin. Frankfort Radio Symphony Orchestra, Paavo Järvi, conductor. Onyx 4142. (live recordings). I am predisposed to like any recording by violinists, Jennifer Koh, Vadim Guzman, Rachel Podger, Gidon Kremer, Alina Ibagimova, and Viktoria Mullova and am seldom disappointed. The... Read More »

It took a while but I am finally first—even if but by a scant three hours—at something (Well to be honest, I did win a few fencing tournaments in my younger days). That something was not only being the very first high-end reviewer or audiophile (outside of Magico) to audition Magico's newest $58,000 (in standard... Read More »

It's a rarity, watching an audio company take the type of user-oriented action we've been editorializing about here at OccupyHifi for awhile now (long before our own blog - back when Occupy Hifi was a featured column at The High Fidelity Report ). But leave it to our friends at JH Audio for comin' out swingin' with their brand-new JH Crew Program!

Gilbert Yeung, the owner and proprietor of Blue Circle, is an engineer and an artist. He is one of the most brilliant audio designers working today. But he could not care less about marketing. He does not advertise very much and does not openly solicit product reviews, preferring to keep the scale of his operations... Read More »

Tannhauser – Richard Wagner. Music and Libretto: Wagner, Romantic Opera in Three Acts. Composer:  Richard Wagner. Conductor:  Axel Kaber. Director:  Seabastian Baumgarten. Stage Designer: Joep vanMechaow. Chorus Master: Eberhard Friedrich. Recording: OABD7171D, 2 Discs Blu-rays, Opus Arte. Orchestra: Bayreuth Festival and Chorus First performance Koniglich Sachsisches H of theater, Dresden, 19 October 1845. Premiere of... Read More »

The digital era's exploration of the repertoire's byways led to a new interest in the music of Josef Suk—not only the son-in-law of Antonín Dvořák, but once a noted composer in his own right. The Asrael Symphony stands as a major score in his output; yet, despite intermittent attempts to promote it, it never seems... Read More »

This is going to be a sort of two-part review… first about the Auralic Aries and then about what I did to take my current file-based audio system to a completely different and yet, stunningly musical level... along with the Aries. Okay so to piggy back on the Antipodes review… yeah, I want it easier... Read More »

Wie auch die CanJam in Essen beweist, die in diesem Jahr schon zum dritten Mal stattfindet, haben sich Kopfhörer und dafür entwickelte Verstärker zu einem prosperierenden Marktsegment entwickelt. Wenn sich der Konstrukteur eines solchen auch noch auf die Studio-Legende Rupert Neve beruft, kann ich das Gerät einfach nicht links liegen lassen: Das ist beim Auralic Taurus MKII der Fall.

Ich bleibe unserem Sommer-Thema Kopfhörer treu und stelle Ihnen – von unseren kostenlosen Downloads einmal abgesehen – das bisher günstigste Produkt vor, das es in Hifistatement zu einem eigenen Bericht gebracht hat: ein Programm, das Musikdateien für den Genuss über Kopfhörer optimiert.

Audio Exklusiv erweitert sein Programm um drei Verstärker, die das bisherige Angebot preislich nach unten abrunden. Neben einer Vorstufe und einer Endstufe gibt es in der neuen Eco Linie den Vollverstärker E 12 für 2000 Euro. Wie viel Musik ist bei diesem Audio-Exklusiv-Neuling inklusive?

Brystons kleinste Stereoendstufe 2B LP Pro ist bei Aufnahmen, die ich über Lautsprecher abmischen kann, seit Jahren die verlässliche Kraftquelle für meine Monitore. Da lag es nahe, den Balanced Headphone Amp für das Monitoring per Kopfhörer auszuprobieren. Seine vielfältigen Anschlussvarianten machen ihn aber auch für Musikgenuss auf höchstem Niveau im heimischen Umfeld interessant.

Digital-Analog-Wandler haben in den letzten Jahren eine rasante Entwicklung erfahren und die Zeiten, in denen Musik von der Festplatte von High End-Anhängern verpönt wurde, sind auch längst vorbei.

One of the classics in the world of automobiles is the Porsche 911 and, in my opinion, the closest that any high-end audio product has come to emulating that automobile legend would be the Merlin Music VSM. Like the 911, the VSM started life as a timeless design, and like its automobile counterpart, the VSM... Read More »