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In this wonderful hobby of music reproduction, there is perhaps no other discipline as dark and murky as the world of moving coil cartridge manufacturing. Most owners of analog gear view high performance moving coils as something akin to the practice of an arcane art, and the inner workings of a cartridge company are shrouded... Read More »

As class-D amplifiers continue to evolve, it's exciting to have the opportunity to test examples such as Digital Amplifier Company's small monoblocks, dubbed the Maraschinos. While each Maraschino is very compact—6 inches wide, 6 inches deep, and a 5 inches tall, they are surprisingly solid and heavy—these amps should not be taken, well...lightly. Their physical... Read More »

I'm not sure I can keep the fact that, at forty, I'm going through a separation following a marriage that's lasted half my life from my readers. Do I have a choice? Though I'm doin' all this "work on myself" to keep movin' forward, that inescapable fact is always lurkin' in my mind. I'm no Yoda.

Pressed by QRP on 200 gram vinyl, 33.3, half-speed mastered, this recording from 2000 is receiving its LP release for the first time. The original release was on HDCD CD and has been a reference disk for my reviews since it was available. It features Eiji Oue conducting the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra. The Producer was... Read More »

Change is good, particularly in high-end audio, as the Leto from Zesto Audio becomes the version 1.5 and positively improves its standing as a top notch and enviable offering. With a more dynamic presentation and even lower distortion, the gorgeously sophisticated 1.5 is now firing on even more musical cylinders. Zesto Audio just continues to... Read More »

Spatial Holography Last I checked the principles of Newtonian physics still apply. That's why I see my role as communicating the real-life observations that go down in Nack Labs: that's the key—observation and communication. But occasionally stuff happens that falls into a grey zone outside the paradigms we've developed. The problem then is what to... Read More »

Roger Skoff writes about some people he encounters on the internet... Although I use the internet daily, I'm not all that familiar with a lot of the lingo and the current culture that has developed from and around it. Oh, I know (after having asked someone) what IMHO means, and LOL, and even ROFLMAO, but... Read More »

We live in the true Golden Age of fine audio. I've said this before, but I don't want readers to forget the fact that we're awash in a great wave of audio designs in all categories, with the recordings to go with them. The best DSD and DACs, the best turntables, the best LPs ever... Read More »

Hitting the Ocean, or: "What Are You Babbling about Now?" Those words contained about as much sympathy as you'd be likely to imagine they would. "What are you babbling about now?" That was my wife of 19 years, her face contorted in that 'you-know-I-don't-care' expression that drops like a curtain at the first sign of... Read More »

Reviewing phono cartridges, be they of the moving magnet, moving coil, or moving iron variety, involves that old "devil in the details." Depending on your tonearm and headshell you'll encounter varying degrees of difficulty when mounting a cartridge, maintaining composure at all times to insure that fingers, tweezers, blood, and sweat don't damage the cartridge's... Read More »

"EMI and RFI run deep, into your DAC they will creep. Stop, now, what's that sound, everybody look what's going down..."—with deepest apologies to Stephen Stills. I'm basically an old-school analogue kind of guy at heart. Back in the day, my idea of getting closer to the music would mean some kind of tonearm/cartridge/stylus upgrade... Read More »

Product launches happen all the time in fine audio. We have well over 300 DSD DACs now, for example, new turntables and cartridges all the time, with amps, preamps, integrateds, headphones, wireless speakers, cables, accessories, music servers, NAS/hard-drive arrays, and speakers spilling forth continuously. It seems like nearly every day I get new press releases... Read More »

Gabi was standing in the door, looking at us condescendingly while we were discussing acoustics, the microphones used and distortions. A moment before we had finished our first round of listening sessions and each of us was enthusiastically trying to convince the others that he was right. We paid the most attention to what Edwin... Read More »

There is not too many people like Mr Shirokazu Yazaki. I was tempted to write something like: are extremely rare, but I managed to hold myself back. He is an engineer with impressive education and immense practical experience with both, analogue and digital devices. He created such a remarkable devices like TEAC A-7300 reel-to-reel, high... Read More »

Edwin van der Kleij, the owner of Siltech, is a great fan of speakers designed by Franco Serblin. Over the years he bought all his designs with Sonus faber logo, and later with Franco Serblin one, too (see HERE and HERE). As he told us during Cracow Sonic Society meeting in Cracow, death of Mr... Read More »

Shostakovich, 'Under Stalin's Shadow.' Symphony No. 10. Andris Nelsons. Boston Symphony Orchestra. Deutsche Gramophone DG 479-5059. I bought this album out of loyalty to my 'local' orchestra under their new leader. Nothing was at stake as I had already married Petrenko's terrific Shostakovich cycle on Naxos, but I'll admit to some hopes. And then the... Read More »

Talk about the proverbial can of worms. Recently Soundstring Cable Company's Len Miller asked if I would like to review two full complements of wire from their new line of cable. Whoa, that is a lot of cable. I have heard of hard core audio reviewers who refuse to do wire reviews. So either I... Read More »

Sometimes it's not just the destination, it's the journey, whenever it is that you finally arrive. Trust me, this is, in fact a review of Naxos' Classics Online HD•LL Streaming Service, but a little background is in order, so please bear with me.... I know myself pretty well, and, let’s face it—I can get pretty... Read More »

After laughter at the first GOP debate from Donald Trump's chauvinist dump on Rosie O'Donnell, jazz hounds, east and west, now look eagerly ahead to the impeccable vocal art of Diane Reeves on the third weekend of September this year near Carmel. Ms. Reeves is literally at the top of any astute list of jazz... Read More »