SCHUBERT: Allegro moderato and Andante, D. 968; 4 Ländler, D. 814; German Dance with 2 Trios and 2 Ländler, D. 618; Introduction and Variations on an Original Theme in B-flat, D. 968A; Eight Variations on a French Song in E minor, D. 624; Fantasia in F minor, D. 940 Marco Schiavo and Sergio Marchegiani, pianos.... Read More »
Nigel Armstrong, Nigel Armstrong: Bach, Bartók, Korngold. Featuring Sir Neville Mariner and the Colburn Orchestra. Native DSD Catalog number YAR65007DSD This Yarlung Records recording is simply entitled Nigel Armstrong. Armstrong is a young and dynamic artist, exactly fitting the rising stars captured by the Yarlung label. With a varied repertoire of Bartok, Bach, and Korngold,... Read More »
Chicago. Not my favorite city. Mainly it has to do with O'Hare Airport, though its long and well-known history of political corruption and crime doesn't do much for me either. O'Hare Airport is the only air hub that I have been stranded at in all of my years of travels. The weather is generally iffy... Read More »
Belafonte at Carnegie Hall: The Complete Concert Photo: Courtesy of Acoustic Sounds Sometimes, the best things are worth waiting for. That's certainly the case with this week's long-awaited release of the Living Stereo album Belafonte at Carnegie Hall: The Complete Concert in 3 Channel SACD Stereo on the Analogue Productions label. I'm sure that most... Read More »
Dean Martin, Dream with Dean: The Intimate Dean Martin Analogue Productions, QRP 200 gram LP, stereo, 45 RPM (2 LP set), USD $50 You know, it really isn't fair. There I was. Just getting over my blood-pressure-wrecking pleasure over the brilliant Analogue Productions release of Duke Ellington's Masterpieces by Ellington (as reviewed HERE). Just getting... Read More »
If you have been following my reviews over the last few years, I have taken a considerable interest in integrated amplifiers. This includes those from Pass Labs, Vitus, D'Agostino, Simaudio, BMC and more. It was not my intent when arriving at CES this year to focus on this subject, but I noticed that there seems... Read More »
The is Interview originally ran back in 2015, but we felt it was worthy enough to run again... Image of Nelson Pass by David R. Robinson. Hello PF readers! Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Gary Bread. I am a woeful reviewer—all that subjective metaphoric bullshit and all—but I like to think I'm kinda... Read More »
The last page of a folder presenting the offer of the French Totaldac company reminded me of the way in which digital technology has developed in the last thirty-five years, in the context of the audio domain. It all started in the year 1980 when the fundamentals of the Red Book CD-CA standard were published.... Read More »
Geoff Merrigan, the CEO of Tellurium Q, is not very effusive when it comes to telling the secrets of his cables design. To be honest, it seems as if he wants people to know as little as possible about them. When asked about the reason, he gives an obvious answer: it does not matter how... Read More »
While tracing the development of the Accuphase company for the last several years, I underestimated its approach to designing audio equipment for a long time, which was in evident contrast with my respect for the products themselves. They have always been and undoubtedly will continue to be a model as regards the quality of workmanship,... Read More »
One of the most well-known Polish constructors specializing in digital systems asked me recently what we see in the "whole DSD thing". I frankly said that the answer is "nothing", because DSD files always come across better in comparison with PCM files. What I said was confirmed by a listening session in which I participated... Read More »
Power cords are a specialty within the category of audiophile connectivity that is mighty important. Those supplied with the gear, regardless of price, are merely included to allow the equipment to meet specifications and light the LEDs. They are best discarded and upscale cords should be used to tune your system for maximum performance. I... Read More »
A Little Background It's safe to say that mentioning John Tucker's eXemplar audio to an audiophile is likely to get one of three reactions. The most likely reaction is a blank stare accompanied by the questions "Who?" and "What?" There's a smaller group who hears the name and asks, "That guy with the big horns?"... Read More »
I would have called this a Quicky, but lets bump it up to a First Look in honor of Astell&Kern's top effort to date to create a network server, ripper, and ultimate headphone station and more! This powerful digital device has graced my big reference system for two weeks and here is what I heard.... Read More »
There's just something musically magical about the performance of idler-wheel Garrard transcription turntables that keeps me fascinated with them. Certainly the vintage Garrard 301 represents a beloved milestone of turntable design that remains enduringly popular with hi-fi enthusiasts to the present day, and who, like the 1956 Garrard advertisement below suggests, have concluded that Garrard... Read More »
John Ulrick on the cover of Positive Feedback, Vol. 6, No. 4, 1996 Today I mourn the passing of a good friend and one of the men who helped found the high-performance audio industry, John Ulrick. Hired as a Circuit Design Engineer at Litton Industries right out of college to work with the Air Data... Read More »
I wrote a rather extensive review relating my experience with the DEQX Mate in Issue 67 where I quite succinctly reported how wonderful the unit was in making ALL things better with respect to my music. While you are certainly welcome to read the whole review, the key to what the DEQX does when properly... Read More »
So here we have the Beethoven loudspeaker cables from Skogrand that at $22K are something I tend to never review. Actually make that never ever ever review. Just not at a price point that I am comfortable with, or one that I would ever consider as a purchase option—and yes, even with an industry accommodation.... Read More »
Dateline April 23-25th, 2015, The Westin Hotel, Rosemont Ill Today's Headlines: AXPONA 2015 Returns and Morphs into Audio Con! Spock Sighted Dancing with AXPONA Speaker Girl! Audiophiles Applaud Reviewers for a Job Well Done! This report and crappy photography brought to you by cub Field Reporter, Gary L. Beard. AXPONA 2015 Wow, how time flies.... Read More »
Shlohmo's got the Midas touch. Lemme just say it straight outta the gate. I think the guy's a musical genius. Why? If I could encapsulate that answer for you here I don't think he would've achieved genius-status to begin with!
The Woo Audio WA7tp and the Future of Two Channel Home Audio "It's just a kiss away It's just a kiss away" —"Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones A while back, I wrote that the Woo WA7 high-resolution DAC and all-tube headphone amplifier was possibly the most linear combination I'd heard, particularly for a combined... Read More »
We need to engage more women into high performance headphone culture. The biggest question is: How the hell do we accomplish that? We know that girls/women love music too, plus: They hear far deeper into the high frequencies than we do! I'm all for an open-discussion on how we can get together and accomplish this . Thankfully we already have some dedicated female enthusiasts in Hi-fi and personal audio already - so perhaps we get with them to make a plan.
Alexander Ekman's A Swan Lake. Composer: Mikael Karlsson. Conductor: Per Kristian Skalstad. Performers: Norwegian National Opera and Ballet. Art House Musik Blu-ray Disc 108 116 A Swan Lake by Alexander Ekman ('A' ballet) To classical music lovers and to ballet lovers, the addition of the letter, 'A' translates easily as this production and performances, like... Read More »
As personal audio enthusiasts, most of us have a decent portable rig to get us through the day. Occasionally, it becomes our only rig for days (or weeks) at a time during business trips or vacations. However, we always sleep soundly knowing that we'll come home to our reference rigs - eventually - where bliss awaits. But what if there was no home rig to come back to?
Matrix Audio is a Chinese manufacturer of amps and DACs that have garnered global praise in the last few years. The original M-Stage was their breakout hit in the West. It caused some waves on Head-Fi (lots of heavy discussions) with its stellar performance and optional DAC addition
A new life awaited me. From everything that I've read, this would be an entirely new lifestyle, one that that wasn't about working the extra hours towards more money, one that focused on enjoying life to the fullest extent possible. And, for me, one filled with excitement
The moment the Matrix Audio Mini-i Pro landed on our doorsteps and we took a listen, we knew that you guys (our readers) had to hear about it
It is with heavy hearts that we must share with you the sad news of the passing of a legendary man. Last night, the evening of November 4th, Harry Hall Pearson Jr. passed away peacefully in his home in Sea Cliff, NY, at the age of 77
I might as well come out and admit it. I've been a big fan of Oppo Digital and their product lines since I first tried them out, years ago now. I think that I've been through almost every one of their players from way back when. That would include the DV-983 DVD/audio player…don't think that... Read More »
"I don't know where I'm gonna live I don't know if I'll find a place I'd have to think about it some And that I do not wish to face I guess I'm counting on His Divine intervention" —"Divine Intervention" by Matthew Sweet I was looking at the Berkeley Audio Design's new reference DAC via... Read More »
I've really had a lot of fun listening to vintage McIntosh vacuum tube audio electronics in my hi-fi system over the last year. The McIntosh MX110Z tuner/preamplifier, the MC30 monaural amplifiers, and the MC225 & MC240 stereo amplifiers were available as new products during the time period between 1954 and 1969, depending on the model,... Read More »
Julian Hirsch was co-founder of Hirsch-Houck Labs, which for many years was the leading test organization in the HiFi industry, and provided the technical analysis for quite literally thousands of reviews in the mainstream audio and electronics publications of the time. In all of his writings for everything he wrote for, even his monthly "Technical Talk"... Read More »
With my forays of the last few years into computer-based audio, I've really come to appreciate the lowly compact disc. Even though the prevailing logic would tell me that they're on the way out—very much like LPs were on the way out when the CD appeared in 1981, right? I think just about everyone has... Read More »
Cookie Marenco of Blue Coast Records and Dominique Brulhart of Merging Technologies at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, 2014 (Photograph and processing by David W. Robinson) [By way of introduction, Cookie Marenco just recently took David Pogue, a long-time mainstream audio/technology writer, and now at Yahoo, to task for his evident cluelessness about high-resolution audio.... Read More »
Yes, I've used the same Linn LP12 turntable since 1984. It was a big deal for me, buying it back then, for a few reasons: At $1370, including the Ittok arm and Valhalla power supply, it was fairly expensive at the time. It certainly was a lot of money for me, being just four years... Read More »
Been awhile since I have had either the time or the desire to sit down and write about audio—let alone even spend much if any time listening to music. Too many personal and other things have happened this past year or so that have consumed all my time and energy. So most days my music... Read More »
"A smile like the cartoon, tooth for a tooth you said that irony was the shackles of youth you wore a shirt of violent green, uh-huh I never understood the frequency, uh-huh" —"What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" by REM As Slim Pickens' character says in the film Dr. Strangelove, "Well, I've been to one world fair, a... Read More »
