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MUNICH → TOKYO → KRAKOW This is the story of how wireless, in-ear headphones belonging to the top-of-the-line "8000" series, model ZE8000, turned into my personal headphones, not only in the sense that I became their owner, but that they were personalized specifically for me. And it's not at all about cosmetics, appearance or equipment.... Read More »

Acoustic Revive is a Japanese company founded in 1997 and led by Mr. Ken Ishiguro. It specializes in audio signal cables, anti-vibration products, but also has a range of innovative products, the ideas behind which usually come from the University of Tokyo. We are testing a system for data transmission and LAN conditioning. When, at... Read More »

Varèse Sarabande is a specialty imprint of Craft Recordings, and is one of the world's most prolific producers of motion picture and television soundtrack recordings. While originally established in 1972 as an avant garde classical music label, it has since found a successful niche specializing in the release of film scores, original soundtrack recordings, and... Read More »

Ye Olde Editor the seeker:  A moment in Jerusalem. Jerusalem, Israel, 2022 (photograph by John Robinson). Well, actually from Long Valley, NJ, the home base of Bill Parish and GTT Audio.  Because there's significant news from that site. Those of you who have been following my reviews, photo essays, and commentary over the years, you... Read More »

Dean Waters with Cigar:  a study. 2023 Pacific Audio Fest, Seatac, WA (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) Throughout our lives we encounter special moments that are so transformative that we know that we will always remember exactly where we were and what we were doing the moment they occur. If you're old enough,... Read More »

Perhaps the principal joy in attending audio shows is sitting and auditioning insanely expensive speakers, many with six-figure price tags. As long as I live, I will never tire of it. If nothing else, it puts everything in the audio world into some sort of perspective. At the most recent AXPONA, I heard plenty of... Read More »

I live on the fourteenth floor of an apartment building on a busy avenue in NYC. Even this high up with the windows closed, the sounds of the city—automobile horns, pulsating boom boxes, people arguing—filter in. It's annoying, especially when I'm having a session. Unexpectedly, though, I found it sets up a good test. If... Read More »

I admit to being skeptical. In 2023 when Gary Gill and Lou Hinkley announced their plan to hold a new HiFi show called Southwest Audio Fest in Dallas Texas March 15-17, 2024 my first reaction was "does North America need another high-end audio show?" Apparently, it is not about needs, rather wants. And the Dallas... Read More »

When singer, songwriter, disco diva, and queer icon Sylvester walked onto the stage of San Francisco's War Memorial Opera House on March 11, 1979, it would prove to be not only an important pinnacle in his all too brief career, but also a historic moment for the city's LGBTQ+ community. The evening would become a... Read More »

Rhino Entertainment's High Fidelity Premium Vinyl Series continues with a pair of classic LP reissues from influential country rock performers Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, both of whose lives and music were inseparably entwined. Included are Gram Parsons' second and final studio album (and his undeniable masterpiece), Grievous Angel (Reprise Records, 1974), along with Emmylou... Read More »

Harold Tichenor continues his series of articles on reel-to-reel tape in this article on restoration copies. Dr. David W. Robinson, Editor-in-Chief Harold Tichenor at work on a RTR setup... Restoration copies are made from tapes that are deteriorating through wear, age, or inherent flaws. They are the means of assuring that the content is not... Read More »

Craft Recordings' revival of the Original Jazz Classics (OJC) series continues with another pair of exciting new 180 gram LP reissues. Including The New Miles Davis Quintet's classic 1956 session Miles (Prestige Records), along with a noteworthy collaboration between trumpeter Clark Terry and Thelonious Monk, 1958's In Orbit (Riverside Records). Both are landmark recordings of... Read More »

Roger Skoff doesn't write about sour grapes In a previous article, I wrote about how one manufacturer of exceptionally fine High-End audio electronics had had to raise the price of his products in order to be able to sell them. It was all a vicious cycle that worked like this: In order to get the... Read More »

There are few if any male rock voices that I find more interesting and pleasing than the one possessed by Alex Chilton (1950-2010) during the sixties. The gritty, soulful, and expressive voice that Chilton used during his tenure with The Box Tops never, to my knowledge, reemerged on recordings after 1970. Rock historians are quick... Read More »

Mahler: Symphony 4. Netania Davrath, soprano; Utah Symphony/Maurice Abravanel. Vanguard Classics SVC-24 (CD, 1995, orig. rec. 1968). TT: 52.14 Downloads: archive.org (processed from LP); ca.7digital.com (Canada only); us.7digital.com (U.S. only) The charismatic Leonard Bernstein, with his equally prodigious gifts for music and self-promotion, has been accepted unquestioningly in many quarters as the great Mahler pioneer, but... Read More »

When I hear that Gonzalo Noqué is releasing a new Pure DSD256 recording on his Eudora Records label, my ears prick up. When I find that he is recording the excellent pianist Susana Gomez Vazquez, I'm doubly on alert. Her playing is just scintillating and her choice of programming is always intriguing. And so, when... Read More »

Bob Levi:  a moment at the LAOC AS Board Banquet. Los Angeles, CA, 2023. (Photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) I have been listening to and testing cables and other connectivity from UIT for about a decade, and have marveled at their progress. Their Perfect Music Purifier technology has improved and propelled their... Read More »

The labels represented in NativeDSD's catalog continue to deliver outstanding performances in great sounding recordings. NativeDSD is just a stunning resource for those who love immaculate high resolution recordings made by some of the best recording engineers working today (Jared Sacks of Channel Classics, Brendon Heinst of TRPTK, Gonzalo Noqué of Eudora, Jake Purches of... Read More »

This article by Jeff Day originally ran in Positive Feedback ISSUE 45 September/October 2009, so while we call this section "New Old Stock - Articles from Our Days in Print" you are also going to see some articles from our early days of going online.  It's common knowledge that cleaning vinyl records makes a big... Read More »