It seems that High Fidelity was one of the first magazines in the world, and surely outside Japan, that received Acoustic Revive cables based on PC-Triple C copper and published such a review (No. 126, October 1st 2014). The Japanese magazine Audio Accessory, printed their review a month before us in their September issue, dedicated... Read More »
"There's always somethin'..." Howard Mercer I don't mean to bite off my friend and co-PF scribe Andy Schaubs' style by leading with a quote for this installment of Behind the Booths & Back, but given the fact that the quote came from my pops, it seemed fitting. His words danced around in my brain throughout... Read More »
Now that I have highlighted the systems that for me were the top of the show, I will now turn attention briefly to a few systems that were still affordable by us mere mortals, and not just showcases in excess. By "affordable" I mean a system that comes in at less than the price of... Read More »
If you ever get tired of the way I choose to express the strange, wonderful, and occasionally morose journeys in my Hi-fi life here at Occupyhifi - I'm sorry I can't be more straight-up and editorial-like for ya. There are plenty of solid Hi-fi magazines and websites out there full of that. I even write for a couple of em, and I love that too.
(Not) Another $18,000 Challenge, or: "Whoa! This system costs how much?!" "I like Downbeat, you know?" This was the first sentence Graeme Humfrey said to me, after I'd introduced myself as a PF writer. Graeme is the proprietor of the latest audio shop to be handed my unsolicited musical challenge. "I mean, it's still great what you're doing," he... Read More »
AURALIC North America Inc. and its parent company, AURALIC LIMITED, has announced promotion of Chris Morris to Manager, Global Technical Support. Although his duties are worldwide, a major emphasis will be on working with U.S. dealers. Prior to this promotion, Chris handled both dealer and consumer technical support issues for AURALiC’s streaming products. He... Read More »
One lucky audiophile to win a complete system worth over $12,000! Gary Gill, the promoter and owner of the Capital Audiofest announced today an exciting promotion at the upcoming show. “We have had a tradition of giveaways at all of our previous shows, it’s always been a big crowd pleaser. After all who doesn’t like... Read More »
The 2016 edition of AXPONA (also known as Audio Expo North America) was held at the Westin O'Hare hotel in Rosemont, IL just a short distance away from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport from April 15-17, 2016. AXPONA is the premiere audio show in the Midwest. While one will see a number of high end and... Read More »
"Take him hence; to the rack with him! We'll touse you Joint by joint, but we will know his purpose." William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure The Stillpoints ESS Reference Rack with Grid Shelves (image courtesy of Stillpoints) Fine audio reviewing can be great, with passion driving you through the work and all the costs that... Read More »
Blue Light Audio, the North American Distributor for darTZeel, Evolution Acoustics and Wave Kinetics, will team up with Alma Music and Audio, San Diego's most innovative audio dealer, to present some incredible World Premiers at the upcoming T.H.E. Show in Newport Beach on June 3rd - 5th at the Hotel Irvine in the Quail Hill... Read More »
As you've probably heard, Colleen and I have been working on the Down Under Audio theme for Colleen Cardas Imports ever since my visit to Sydney last August. Weeks after my return, Colleen and I became the US distributors for REDGUM Audio, one of the most popular Australian amplifier brands for more than 20 years. I... Read More »
Like most audiophiles who are into jazz, I tend to reach way back into history for my sonic fixes. I'm talking late '50s and early '60s, of course, and maybe a few Three Blind Mice titles from the mid-'70s just to mix things up. The idea of choosing a modern jazz piece as a reference,... Read More »
As usual for the Munich show, the numbers of rooms that I can call truly excellent were quite limited. Now, one can debate as to whether this was due to "show conditions"; poor rooms with thin walls, poor electrical power (I have witnessed this first hand many years ago), poor choice in matching of components... Read More »
Wyred 4 Sound is proud to showcase its all-new flagship stereo amplifier, the STATEMENT, at T.H.E. Show, Newport, June 3-5, 2016 in Irvine, CA. At its core is Wyred 4 Sound’s completely proprietary Class-D design. This revolutionary technology produces a massive 750 watts into 8 ohms. Contributing this level of power are a transformer-coupled input... Read More »
“Where Sound Takes You” OPPO Digital, renowned for award-winning universal disc players and personal audio products, announces that a new product, the Sonica Wi-Fi Speaker, is now available for immediate shipping. Sonica is an elegant and powerful Wi-Fi speaker designed with state of the art technology delivering unbeatable sound quality in a compact package. Sonica comes... Read More »
In part two, I cover the balance of my Audio Oasis! Awards for AXPONA 2016. As I said in part one, these notes are presented in no particular order, and so there is no greater or lesser in the sequence. Read on… ModWright/Ryan Loudspeakers/Aurender/PS Audio/Cardas/Shunyata/Massif Audio/GIK Acoustics/Audioquest room A portrait of Dan Wright of ModWright,... Read More »
Funjoe, the owner of CLONES audio, left his well paid job of a graphic designer to take on his life's true passion—audio. He is not the first as there were others before him like Silvio Pereira of Audiopax to name one, and he won't be the last, but surely he is among few who made such... Read More »
I'll elaborate on that later but let me start with information that products by Slovenian company Audio Alto are custom made—to be exact they are made to satisfy first of all needs and expectations of their designer, who says that "they reflect my [sound] philosophy". It's not only about perfect reproduction of the sound that preserves... Read More »
Merrill Audio Advanced Technology Labs, LLC announces the Gold series Christine Reference Preamplifier at $12,400. Presented at T.H.E. Show 2016, Newport, Room 1417. Merrill Audio Advanced Technology Labs, LLC is proud to announce the gold series Christine Reference Preamplifier Finally, experience the illusion of space with detail, midrange and a solid holographic image. Hear the... Read More »
Jenna Mammina and Alex de Grassi (Photo: David Pappas) On April 21st, a bit of music history was made as singer Jenna Mammina and guitarist Alex de Grassi performed an hour long concert that was broadcast live over the Internet in Direct Stream Digital (DSD) 5.6 MHz Stereo. The concert was the first of its... Read More »
Sony STR-DN1070 AV Receiver with 5.1 Multichannel DSD 5.6 MHz Playback Sony Electronics has expanded their DSD series of High Resolution Audio products with the release of the new STR-DN1070 Audio Visual receiver. Sony describes the STR-DN1070 as a 7.2 Channel Home Theater AV Receiver with High-Resolution Audio and Video plus Native Multichannel Native DSD... Read More »
In which our hero meditates… [Sketch by Robinson, c. 1989, during a particularly boring faculty meeting…] So…another audio show in the books, and it's time to share the highlights as I heard them. I would normally have had these out to you all a couple of weeks ago, but lost that time to a necessary... Read More »
So back on track here… got the Aurender review (a truly wonderful product—read that HERE) done and so on to another product that I loved so much, I ended up buying the review sample… the PS Audio BHK Signature 250 Stereo Power Amplifier. Bought it? What about the legendary Clayton M200 amplifiers? Are you selling... Read More »
Tape cassettes recorded directly from an analog master tape, the so-called "Master Compact Cassette". And the box! The Hemiola Records company specializes in reel analog tapes that are master tape copies. The Tone Tool turntable, Sprocket model. Prices starting from €108 900—without the arm, of course. The Swiss Goldmund is a synonym for high-end. The person... Read More »
The Italians from Pathos have a sense of style—in the photo there is the new INPOL Heritage integrated amplifier, which resembles the INPOL topology developed by the company. In the system there was also the Endorphine CD player and Frontiers speakers. The inexpensive TEAC TN-300 turntables in any color and with a USB output. Mark... Read More »
Hideaki Nishikawa-san, the TechDAS constructor, is signing a printout with the May High Fidelity cover. "Japanese style? – Sure, with pleasure…" Einstein has prepared a premiere – The Tonearm, presented on the Air Force III turntable. The German Trigon company does not often surprise us with new products, but now demonstrated a few novelties at... Read More »
The original plan was completely different: the Old Pinacotheca (German: Alte Pinakothek - collections of paintings from the 14th to the 18th century), the New Pinacotheca (German: Neue Pinakothek - a collection of European art from classicism to art nouveau), perhaps even the Deutsches Museum (Masterpieces of Science and Technology)—the largest museum of this type... Read More »
When listening to this album, I found it difficult to do so with a strict, examining state of mind. I wanted to capture all of the technicalities and mechanical bits within each song, so that I could later articulate what those ingredients did to either help or hurt the album. I wanted to listen to... Read More »
I have become quite lazy and it is all to blame on the technology that we use today to get our music out into the room. It all started with CDs allowing me to sit and listen to something like 60 mins of music while never stirring. Of course a lot of time I never... Read More »
This year’s High End sees MQA, the innovative music technology, reveal further business updates, including new content and hardware partnerships. MQA Music Partners High Res Audio, the renowned international high-resolution music download service, joins the list of MQA content providers, meaning music lovers visiting www.highresaudio.com can download high-quality releases from renowned labels including 2L, Acoustic... Read More »
One of the advantages of writing about LPs and turntables for the last 18 years is that sometimes records just show up in my mailbox without warning or reasonable explanation. I know nothing about Chicago's Milk Factory Productions, and even less about The 3.5.7 Ensemble, but my intuition tells me that the same intrepid individual... Read More »
Ever since the annual AXPONA/Chicago high-end show relocated in 2014 to the jazzy Westin O'Hare, located just down the street from the show's former home, the far more modest Doubletree Inn, I have approached this annual event with a combination of cautious optimism and mild trepidation. You see, whatever its shortcomings as a hotel (tired... Read More »
Plus a Few Album Recommendations Component Droughts, the Grumblings of Privileged Men, and Happy Endings For longer than I care to remember, I don't have any components to review, a situation I find both annoying and liberating. Liberating in the sense that I needed a respite - as well as the kind of perspective that... Read More »
Since we opened our doors March 31st, 2015, our goal has been to provide the best musical experience by offering the finest audio equipment available. We do this by working with truly special, innovative brands. Last year we held our first "Music Talks" event, where we invited some of the masters behind these brands, to... Read More »
Nativ Sound, an audio start-up based in Hong Kong working on a family of elegant touchscreen music components, has announced that they have passed their $100,000 fund raising goal on Indegogo in one week. This exceeds the company's original goal of reaching that milestone in 2 months. Nativ's family of music system components includes Nativ... Read More »
"Shine on you crazy diamond" - by Pink Floyd First of all, I should say that I like the Simaudio MOON Neo 280D ($2200) very much and that, with the optional MiND module, it provides for a one-box media server solution, WiFi support, DSD256-capable DAC, and all. Having said that, I did run into a... Read More »
Prokofiev, Scythian Suite & Symphony No. 3. Orchestra: Sao Paulo Symphony. Conductor: Marin Alsop. Recording: Naxos NBD0047 There certainly are significant differences in the music composed by Prokofiev compared to those famous Russian composers that preceded him. It is our good fortune to have his compositions available now. Yes, he turned out those compositions needed by performers in the... Read More »
