September - October 2022 Archives - Positive Feedback

Grado Labs Statement Series 3000x Headphones

Robert H. Levi — Sat, 22 Oct 2022 15:34:15 +0000

GS3000x Wooden Grado Headphones I want to make it clear that the now discontinued wood body Grado Statement Series 3000e was my favorite go-to headphones for musical enjoyment and monitoring recording sessions. Their dynamic punch, beautiful definition, and excellent imaging rang every bell in the steeple. Frankly, I was surprised to receive the new 3000x. I... Read More »

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Nordost QNET Ethernet Switch

Marshall Nack — Fri, 21 Oct 2022 22:05:35 +0000

The natural order of things is to start low and aim high. Buy a low-cost product; get acquainted with it, even as you scan the horizon checking out options; become dissatisfied; then pull the trigger. That's what we do: the avid audiophile never stays put very long. Sure, you can jump-start the journey by handing... Read More »

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Rogue Audio Pharaoh II Integrated Amplifier

Editors at Positive Feedback — Fri, 21 Oct 2022 16:24:23 +0000

A new King is crowned! Review By Ric Mancuso With this article, Positive Feedback continues its content-sharing relationship with Enjoy the Music where Ric Mancuso shares his thoughts on the Rogue Audio Pharaoh II Integrated Amplifier. Dr. David W. Robinson, Editor-in-Chief Rogue Audio has once again upped the ante with their Pharaoh II hybrid integrated amp. I'm always... Read More »

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Chick Corea The Montreux Years

Gary Lea — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 20:34:44 +0000

Chick Corea, The Montreux Years. Double Album Set - Music Spanning Seven Years of Chick Corea at Montreux. BMG Records CAT583DLP If you are a jazz fan then you know the name Chick Corea! He was born Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea and he was one of America's premier jazz composers, pianists, keyboardists, bandleaders, and occasional percussionists. Many... Read More »

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The Arya Labs RevOpod Damping Foot

Arnis Balgalvis — Fri, 14 Oct 2022 19:48:20 +0000

Audiophiles are a compulsive bunch. They will try just about anything and everything when it comes to improving the sound of their systems. One very common recourse for mitigating this affliction is tweaking. Tweaking is a repetitive, at times even incessant activity where fine mechanical or electronic adjustments are made in attempts to achieve a... Read More »

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Sonny Rollins Saxophone Colossus in Pure DSD256

Rushton Paul — Fri, 14 Oct 2022 18:41:07 +0000

Bob Witrak at HDTT has done it again—a superb new release in Pure DSD256. This is the superlative Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus. And it sounds simply amazing, folks. Sonny's saxophone is alive, full of texture, filled with detail. Max Roach is in the room on drums, with outstanding transient attack on stick strikes and shimmering... Read More »

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Dynamic Design AV Cables

Mark Pearson — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 18:58:46 +0000

Dynamic Design AV is a Chicago based cable company that was established in 2000. Frankly, I was surprised that I had never heard of Dynamic Design prior to this review. Since Dynamic Design AV has been in business for 22 years, they must be doing something right. I was given the opportunity to review a... Read More »

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Escapism with the Sendy Apollo Headphones

Michael Laurance — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 18:36:42 +0000

I have very little need for escapism. I live in a very peaceful area, surrounded by lakes, trees, and very little traffic. My listening room is in my basement, further isolated still. My marriage is a happy one, and we have no kids at home. Only the occasional visit from the parents, siblings, nieces, nephews,... Read More »

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Impressions: Ansuz Hits a Home Run...Stop the (Virtual) Presses!

David W. Robinson — Sun, 09 Oct 2022 02:14:16 +0000

Ye Olde Editor with pipe: a portrait by John Robinson Hold the phone! Every now and then I run across a new audio design whose virtues are so obvious that I need to make our readers aware of it as quickly as possible. In this case, the discovery came immediately after PAF 2022. Having been... Read More »

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Hi-Fi Weather? Roger Skoff Writes About Something You May Not Have Thought Of…

Roger Skoff — Fri, 07 Oct 2022 00:19:18 +0000

Do you know what a "bad hair day" is? No, it's not just something for women to worry about; anybody can have one, even—at least figuratively—your system. And it's not just bad days, either; less than optimal times can happen at night, too. As with hair, one of the things that can start matters going... Read More »

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Orchestral Masterpieces from Iván Fischer and Jared Sacks

Rushton Paul — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 16:46:34 +0000

How best to present several of the outstanding orchestral masterpieces found in the Channel Classics catalog? My choice is to start with selections from the works of the great conductor, Iván Fischer, leading the Budapest Festival Orchestra. These are world class performances filled with deep intelligence and love for the music. Combined with the superb... Read More »

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Experienced Listening

Norman Varney — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 16:40:57 +0000

Norman Varney of AV RoomService Ltd. has joined Positive Feedback as a Senior Technical Editor as of Issue 113. His expertise in his field of audio acoustics and experience in the field makes him a helpful voice in our creative community for the audio arts. As has been our wont from the beginning of PF,... Read More »

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Wireworld Eclipse and Aurora Cables

Sam Rosen — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 15:57:09 +0000

If you look at my past reviews, you will notice certain names show up on a regular basis, Wirewold is one of those names and the subject of this review. Wireworld is one of the best manufacturers of high end cabling in the audio business. They are fairly priced and their lower to mid-tier lines... Read More »

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Billie Holiday's Lady in Satin in Pure DSD256 from HDTT

Rushton Paul — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 15:33:44 +0000

Grab onto the sides of your chairs so you don't fall over like I did when you hear this superb new transfer of Billie Holiday's Lady in Satin. The sound quality is simply gorgeous—alive, dynamic, transparent, with great accuracy of timbre in both instruments and voice. Billie Holiday is in the room with us, folks.... Read More »

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From an Editor's Notebook: Gold Note Celebrates its 10th Anniversary

David W. Robinson — Sun, 02 Oct 2022 23:40:34 +0000

I have been publishing periodic updates from Gold Note, an Italian high-end company whose products have really caught my eye and ear. As I've been commenting on the Gold Note PH-1000 reference Phono Stage and their PSU-1250 reference Power Supply in tandem with Dohmann Audio, Phasemation, and Schröder…Part the First of which can be read... Read More »

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A Positive Feedback EXCLUSIVE: My Dinner with [André] MFSL's Herb Belkin

John Marks — Fri, 30 Sep 2022 02:04:09 +0000

My Dinner with André MFSL’s Herb Belkin Herb Belkin (second from left), with members of the band Genesis circa 1974. Atlantic Records/ATCO Author's Note: The following autobiographical sketch is for the purpose of setting the stage (or giving the backstory) about how a total "Mr. Nobody from Nowhere" (i.e., John Marks) managed to get his... Read More »

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Top 500 SuperSonic List - Part 33

Claude Lemaire — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 15:23:23 +0000

This is an ongoing project by Claude Lemaire of Soundevaluations 201. Elvis Costello with Burt Bacharach, Painted From Memory. Mercury – 314 538 002-2 (1998), CD HDCD only, MoFi – MFSL 1-475 (2017), 33 1/3 rpm. Genre: sophisticated jazzy pop, baroque pop, easy listening. Burt Bacharach is the backbone behind some of the biggest hits from the... Read More »

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Greg Weaver's the audio analyst YouTube Interview with Andreas Koch about DSD

Greg Weaver — Wed, 28 Sep 2022 14:57:19 +0000

Greg Weaver of the audio analyst and I have been working to extend our readers/viewers understanding of DSD at all levels, including the use of DSD256 in the production of LPs, such as Mobile Fidelity has been doing for a number of years now. Other companies like ABKCO have done the same in projects like... Read More »

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HIFIMAN EF400 DAC/Headphone Amplifier

Malcolm J. Gomes — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 20:30:50 +0000

One of the more commercially successful combinations in the audiophile sphere, over the past decade, has been the amplifier/digital to analog converter combo. You can now choose this combo component from dozens of brands from prices that vary very widely from a few hundred dollars for a basic, no-frills component, to models like the Boulder... Read More »

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Downsizing Journey Update: Four Years with the Playback Designs MPD-8

Rushton Paul — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 20:19:42 +0000

We started our downsizing journey four years ago. I've written about that journey in four parts beginning HERE. I thought that after four years of experience with our all-digital, headphones-only listening system, an update might be worth sharing. As we headed into the realm of digital-files-only listening, my heels were dug firmly into the dirt trying... Read More »

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Mobile Fidelity StudioTracker Phono Cartridge

Ed Kobesky — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 17:50:54 +0000

Would it be damning this cartridge with faint praise to simply call it nice? I hope not, because that's precisely what the entry-level model from Mobile Fidelity Electronics is. That's not to say inoffensive, as in competent but not particularly inspiring. The StudioTracker is, in fact, fairly sophisticated and affable for such an inexpensive example... Read More »

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Stage III Ckahron Interconnect

Marshall Nack — Sat, 24 Sep 2022 16:33:56 +0000

Six years have passed since Stage III Concepts introduced their Medusa Speaker Cable, which the brand distributor claimed to be the world's first with a vacuum dielectric. This was no ordinary wire product. I gave it a Writers Choice Award in 2016. The Cerberus Speaker Cable, a new top model in the vacuum line, followed... Read More »

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More Treasures from Eudora Records in Pure DSD256

Rushton Paul — Sat, 24 Sep 2022 16:01:32 +0000

Gonzalo Noque's recordings continue to mesmerize and delight me. I'm sitting at the moment just stunned having listened to a preview copy in DSD128 of the coming release of J.S. Bach's Complete Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord, BWV1014-1019, with Andoni Mercero (violin) and Alfonso Sebastian (harpsichord). My need to share something about this recording compels... Read More »

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Vibration Issues with Your Turntable? Try A/V RoomService Equipment Vibration Protectors

Juan C. Ayllon — Sat, 24 Sep 2022 15:41:23 +0000

Concerned about vibrations in your home negatively impacting your vinyl listening experience? If you're like me, you want to extract every bit of performance out of your high fidelity music system, and eliminating unnecessary noise and vibrations is one way to do that. In a previous system in a former home, I used A/V RoomService... Read More »

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Impressions: The Pacific Audio Fest 2022, a Photo Essay, and my Audio Oasis! Awards, Part the Fourth and Last [Updated 09-27-2022]

David W. Robinson — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 21:33:05 +0000

Ye Olde Editor contemplating... Tiberias, Sea of Galilee, Israel, 2022. (Photograph by John Robinson; image processing by Ye Olde himself.) We're in the final stretch! Some of the best rooms I've saved for last...and here they are. Daedalus Audio/VAC/Lampizator/WyWires In the Daedalus/VAC/LampizatOr/WyWires room…delicious! Going into this space was a reminder of why I always enjoy... Read More »

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