Yes, it’s about time for a new addition to my Audiophile Lexicon. So here it is: Sour grapes = when wine turns into whining… If that’s you… (Video courtesy of Bob Newhart and Mad TV.) Selah! Dr. David . . . Read More »
Joe Kubala of Kubala-Sosna cables: The beauty of silence.
RECENT ARTICLES
A Very Brief Postcard From Portland: The Latest Addition To My Audiophile Lexicon
Songs without Words, Old and New
Songs without Words Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, piano Sony Classical 196874735053 (EP, download only). MENDELSSOHN: Lied ohne Worte, Op. 62, No. 1. PRICE: Song without Words in A. BONDS: Spiritual Suite: II. The Bells. PRICE: Song without Words in G (“Pleading”). SAINT-SAËNS: Theme from Samson and Delilah (arr. Simone). Jeneba Kanneh-Mason opens this mini-program of Songs without... Read More »
MoFi ELP Brain Salad Surgery 33 1/3 RPM
ELP as a band was barely two years old when Brain Salad Surgery was released in the U.S in November, and the U.K. in December, 1973. Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s fourth studio album and on their own, new Manticore label, was distributed by Atlantic. I remember having trouble getting a decent copy when this was... Read More »
TAF 2026 – Show Coverage Fri 16 Oct – Sun 18 Oct 2026 PART #1
The 2026 Toronto Audio Fest, (herein referred to as TAF 2026), was held at the Toronto Sheraton™ Airport Hotel on Dixon Road that’s a few miles (er… kilometres) away from the Lester B. Pearson™ International Airport. For TAF 2026, I’m going to provide two – count ‘em… two – show reports. There were a lot... Read More »
Rhino's INXS 'Kick' Reissue Takes You There in High Fidelity!
If there’s an album that's a musical portal to the college and singles years from the 80s and early 90s, INXS’ Kick album might be it. The band, INXS, was formed in Sydney, Australia in 1977, and after they broke out internationally in the mid-80s, their intoxicating blend of Australian rock, new wave, funk, and... Read More »
Katz and Stax!
Stax Maturity I’ve been a proud owner of Stax Earspeakers (SR-3 and SR-5) since the year 1972, when I began doing remote recording with Stax phones for monitoring. At that time, E-Stat was a revolution, offering far superior sound quality to any dynamic phone available. It’s been 54 years! In the early 70’s, I fed... Read More »
…and Steve says...Listening to All My Records, Part 10
For those readers new to this column, please read the introductory comments in Part one here. Sorry for the delay in getting this installment published. I’ll be getting back on my normal schedule now. I’ve talked to a lot of record buyers over the years, many of whom are not audiophiles at all, and just... Read More »
RECENT HARDWARE REVIEWS
Écoute Audio TH2 Headphones Review In my time reviewing closed-back headphones, I’ve found that it usually leads to a smaller and more condensed soundstage; I was astounded when I first heard the TH2s. The TH2s are actually only the second closed-back pair... Read More »
The Jadis DA88 Signature Integrated... Image courtesy of Jadis I have an amazing memory of my first experience with Jadis which proved to be mind-bending. While I was visiting Seoul, Korea in 1990 I was invited to meet Mr. J. Y. Woo. He introduced me to the world... Read More »
Chord Company PhonoARAY® Turntable... At times, life can be both difficult and confusing. Like when your significant other hires a Fung Shei consultant to maximize the “Chi” in your home. Said Chi expert insists on placing a large propane barbeque next to... Read More »
The Audio Note (UK) Ongaku 211 SET... Greetings friends, I hope you are well! Today’s feature article is about the incredible Audio Note (UK) Ongaku 211 single-ended-triode (SET) integrated amplifier. Audio Note (UK) is Peter Qvortrup’s family-owned audio... Read More »
GRADO Labs Signature S550... I discovered in my career that if companies are to survive, they must continuously reinvent themselves. This applies to Audio as it does to broadcasting, cable television, streaming, and all of the exciting new... Read More »
Audio Desk Systeme’s Premium... If you’re unfamiliar with my work, you should know that I am an unapologetic vinyl devotee. Since my initial record-playing days in the early 1960s, my approach to cleaning and caring for my LPs has grown steadily more... Read More »
Down the Rabbit Hole with the... On a recent, really late evening, my phone chimed nearly nonstop as good friend and fellow high-end audio enthusiast Finnbogi Sigurdur Marinosson urgently slid into my DMs. Finnbogi and I are fairly obsessive hardware geeks,... Read More »
Audience aR6-T4 Power Conditioner What price, perfection? Put another way, at what point do diminishing returns themselves diminish? In my view, when an audio system is sufficiently resolving, seemingly minor performance improvements associated with a... Read More »
Ed Kobesky on Dynavector My house was built in 1970, and the AC power was pretty ratty. Flickering lights I can handle; visible arcing, not so much. As a plucky new homeowner, I first tried to tackle it myself by replacing some obviously... Read More »
Monitor Audio Gold 300 6G Speakers One aspect of my late teen years that I will always cherish, was the time I had the privilege of playing keyboards for a rock band. Not only did it cure me of stage fright, but it also gave me the thrill of seeing the sheer... Read More »
Audeze MM520 Headphones with SLAM Initially designed for the record producer and those in the mastering specialty, the MM520 has been upgraded flawlessly to truly include the audiophile. Smaller and more compact than its big brother, the 5S, it is also... Read More »
True Life Audio Supreme Series: the... At the 2023 Munich Highend show, the True Life Audio and the Lorenzo Audio Labs teamed up together to produce a fabulous sounding room. I later reviewed the Lorenzo Audio Labs LM1 loudspeakers and liked them so much that... Read More »
The Wells Audio Commander Preamp I first met Jeff Wells over 15 years ago when he was the national sales manager for Spectron. He in turn introduced me to Class D amplification via the superb Musician III Mk. 2 amplifiers that Spectron produced at the time.... Read More »
A Rose by Any Name - The Platanus... "The tonality is really good, better than most MCs at any price,” Alexey Kornienkov wrote on Facebook. “A joy with voices and acoustic instruments. Good tonality sometimes comes at the expense of resolution, but not in... Read More »
It’s A Whole New Ball Game - The... During my visit to AXPONA 2026, there were several outstanding new products that made my show highlight list. One of the most impressive was the new Synergistic Research Quark streaming server. Ted Denney’s... Read More »
The Aura LCC 1 Preamplifier &... (AURA is now a Japanese company, founded in 1989 in the UK. Its first and best-known product was the VA-40 integrated amplifier. In 1996, the brand was acquired by the Japanese company Yukimu, which in 2023 released a new... Read More »
RECENT NEWS
Warsaw Poland High End Audio Show 2026 Ayon Audio
Ayon Audio and Lumenwhite exhibited at the Audio Video Show 2026 in Warsaw, Poland. Event &...
NAD Expands Its Classic Series with the C 359S an …A re-engineered Class AB amplifier with BluOS built-in, joined by a CD player designed to reveal more...
A personal note after Audio Video Show – Everes …Dear all, While I still have your attention following Audio Video Show, I’d like to share a...
Everest Audio Labs introduces the latest version …PRESS RELEASE | WARSAW | 20 OCTOBER 2026 Everest Audio Labs introduces the latest version of the...
Mytek Audio launches Empire DAC/Streamer V2.0 at …PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: New York, October 25, 2026, Mytek Audio launches Empire...
Nordost Announces The Norse 3 SeriesFor more than a decade, the Norse Series has offered listeners a path to greater musical performance...
Jeff Checking In: Audio Note (UK), Infineon GaN Cl...
Greetings friends, I hope you are well! 🙂 It's getting cold here as Fall settles in, and I got in what was proba...
First Impressions: Jun-san's Infineon GaN amp...Greetings friends, I hope you are doing well! 🙂 Above photo: Infineon GaN Class D amplifier connected to a Leben...
"World Premiere" of the Infineon GaN Cla...Greetings friends, I hope you are well! 🙂 I hope you've had a chance to read my article about the unveiling of t...
Preliminary Listening Impressions - Part 1: The Le...I heard that Norah Jones bought a Leben CS-300X from In Living Stereo in NYC some years ago. Great choice, it's har...
Jeff Checking In: New, used, vintage, or DIY? Yes!...I love the music and audio hobby. I'm pretty sure that for me, music and audio falls squarely into Abraham Maslow's...
Jeff Checking In: Audio Note (UK), Leben Hi-Fi Ste...Greetings friends, I hope you are well! 🙂 Fall is officially here in the Pacific Northwest of the USA. Temperatu...
E267: High End Vienna 2020 - The Austria Center V …
By
Today, we take a walkthrough tour of the Austria Center Vienna, the fabulous new home of the High End Society’s annual international audio show, High End Vienna...
E266: MoFi Electronics UltraPhono Pro Phonostage ByToday we’ll have a closer look at the new MoFi Electronics’ UltraPhono Pro phonostage, the latest entry in their phono preamplifier stable. This is the second...
E265: The Børresen M8 & Aavik M-880 Experie … ByThis week, I share the more refined and revealing experience of listening to the premiere of the Børresen M8 Gold Signature loudspeakers, driven by four of the...
E264: Two AXPONA-Adjacent Product Launch Events ByToday, we take a behind-the-scenes look at two loudspeaker launches, both held during AXPONA, but off-site. The Von Schweikert Audio Mercury launch at Perry’s...
E263: Game-Changing Arrivals from Kronos and Kuba … ByToday, given the sea-change advances in performance that two recent arrivals have brought to my reference system, I’m pushing other AXPONA and related events...
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