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 »
Quad DSD (DSD256) is arriving! And I am delighted to say that it is doing so with some albums that makes us sit up and take notice of the powerful virtues of this supreme format. If you don't get what the buzz about DSD is all about…if you think that CDs are "good enough," or... Read More »
Dieterich Buxtehude. Complete Vocal Works, 10 volumes (17 CD's). Ton Koopman. Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Chorus. Challenge Classics. In my long, lost youth, while dating one of three lovely young roommates in the magical Sixties of Cambridge, Massachusetts (all of us in our early twenties), one of the other two announced to us that her... Read More »
Elgar, Symphony No. 1. Cockaigne Overture. Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko. Onyx. ONYX4145. Why listen to Elgar? Unless you're British and feel the need for some nostalgic cultural reinforcement? Elgar? Pomp and Circumstance? Though I'll confess to some pleasant moments with the composer'sCello Concerto, I didn't come to this recording for Elgar. I came for Petrenko—the young... Read More »
BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Richard Hickox. Chandos CHAN 9959. TT: 75.48. Enter Spring. Isabella. Two Poems for Orchestra. Mid of the Night. Downloads: amazon.com (mp3); prestoclassical.co.uk (mp3, 320 kbps; FLAC, lossless) Although the present program was originally released in 2001—"old news" at the current rate of digital obsolescence—it's worth fresh attention. We still don't get to hear... Read More »
OK, straight outta the gate: Pearson Sound is not for everyone. Especially not all PF readers! If you're a fan of hard-hitting, percussively manic, and downright trippy intelligent electronic music—you should definitely give this LP a spin (or a click, whatever). However, if you're strictly a classical and jazz guy or gal—I don't think it would be fair to... Read More »
Robert Schumann, Violin Concerto; Piano Trio No. 3. Isabelle Faust, violin; Jean-Guihen Queyras, cello; Alexander Melnikov, piano. Harmonia Mundi. HMC 902196. CD & DVD. At some point in record collectors' lives they find themselves looking for musicians as much as for music. I have all of the Schumann I 'need'—but when I saw these three... Read More »
Duke Ellington, Masterpieces by Ellington 200 Gram LP, monophonic, $30. Years ago, a good friend sent me a vintage copy of Duke Ellington's Masterpieces by Ellington. It had been recorded at the dawn of the LP and Columbia's essay into those newfangled Germany-to-America tape recorders (courtesy of Bing Crosby!), back in 1950. It was in mono, natch, but... Read More »
Founded in 2010 by Pat Hickman, Paul Fasel, and Matt Kamna, Whammerdyne Heavy Industries is an amalgamation of technical skill-sets united by a common passion for hi-end audio, based in Portland, OR. With 80+ years of combined experience in hi-end audio, electronics engineering, and CNC fabrication. The trio set out to build the ultimate single-ended... Read More »
exaSound Audio Design, manufacturer of innovative, exceptional fidelity audio products, announced today the introduction of the model e12 stereo digital–to–analog converter. The e12 is the fifth in a family of converter products created by exaSound for the consumer marketplace. Based on ESS Technology's premium ES9018S SABRE32 Reference integrated digital–to–analog converter (DAC), the e12 is a... Read More »
Cary Audio has long been synonymous with the world's best sounding audio components. No matter vacuum tube or solid state, analog or digital, two-channel or multi-channel, Cary Audio has always represented the pinnacle of performance. The new DAC-200ts is no exception and represents our best digital product yet! The DAC-200ts digital to analog converter is the pinnacle... Read More »
3/23/15 PS Audio at the Montreal Audio Show 2015 Exhibit in Room #2417 features Canadian Premiere of BHK Signature 250 Amplifier! March 24, 2015 Boulder, CO-- PS Audio, maker of fine audio components since 1973, is pleased to announce the Canadian premiere of the forthcoming BHK Signature 250 Amplifier at the Montreal Audio Show/Salon Son &... Read More »
Mr. Tim Roth, Hope all is well, I had to read your review of the LS1s a number of times to fully understand it. Indeed a well written peace dear sir. You see for years I have been a supporter of all one's hifi to be from the same manufacturer simply because to mix &... Read More »
My memories from (I think) the first edition of High End Show in Munich (after it moved from Frankfurt's Kempinsky Hotel), survived in few "capsules". Each of them contains a part of me, but also – as I can see it now – sort of prelude to the future events. That's what happened in 2005... Read More »
CEntrance has established itself as a leader in the personal audio community/industry over the last decade. They've managed to position themselves at the top through constant innovation in their own products, while providing USB and other digital solutions for other high-end audio audio industry leaders such as Playback Designs, McIntosh, Benchmark, Wadia, and Lavry, to... Read More »
Enjoy the Music.TV's interview with David W. Robinson of Positive Feedback magazine and singer/musician/songwriter David Elias. Hosted by Steven R. Rochlin, we discuss creating and recording music, early Internet mp3.com and other services plus the places to buy modern DSD files today. As always, in the end what really matters is that you.... enjoy the music !
Click here to watch the DSD panel discussion from RMAF 2014.
BACK IN BLACK The vinyl is back for good. If there are people who haven't noticed this yet, they are clearly the sort that have no interest in music, know nothing about the younger generation, don't pay attention to the changes in design and don't understand the changing contemporary society. In other words, people... Read More »
Most of Poles realize that there are two countries in Europe who's flags are a combination of horizontal white and red strips. One of them is Monaco with red stripe above white one, and the other is obviously the Republic of Poland with white stripe above the red one. Probably much less people realize that... Read More »
There are certain inventions, technologies and design ideas that should have disappeared long ago, and yet stubbornly cling to existence. They are only preserved and cherished by people who see some kind of value in them, which seems to be lacking in newer inventions, technologies and design ideas. That is the case with full range... Read More »
Each business enterprise has its own so-called "founding myth" (in Western classical scholarship often referred to as etiological myth from the Greek word αἴτιον, "a cause"). The founding myth for Mark Levinson's company and, hence, for Mark Levinson himself was the LNP-2 preamplifier, launched in 1972. In Levinson's words, which he later repeated many times... Read More »
CD: Orchestra of Radio Canada/Jean Deslauriers; *unidentified pianist DVD: Nancy De Long (s), Feodor; Misha Raitzen (t), Shuisky; Yoland Guérard (bs), Pimen; orchestra and chorus/Pierre Hétu. Analekta 2 9223-4 (CD+DVD). CD time: 39.09. DVD time: 29.28. CD: BORODIN: Prince igor: Galitzky's Aria; Konchak's Aria. GLINKA: A Life for the Tsar: Ivan Susanin's Aria. RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Sadko:... Read More »
In 1986, Professor Atsumi Ohno of the Chiba Institute of Technology in Japan, a respected inventor and scientist, after years of research proposed an innovative method of producing a copper wire with unique properties. The main idea is that the wire is cast instead of being drawn. As a result, it is possible to produce... Read More »
Springing out of Minneapolis in the early '90's, the Jayhawks' music offered a healthy musical antidote to the rainy weather nihilism emanating out of the Pacific Northwest. With their gorgeous country harmonies, jangly Byrdsian–like guitar, combined with their knack for capturing pop hooks, the Jayhawks were conveniently pigeonholed by DJ's & music critics into the... Read More »
Best Sound in Show Pro Audio LA took some folks offsite to a studio called The Realm to audition some gear, most notably the new Guzauski-Swist monitors. These are three-way triamplified speakers with outboard amplifier and dsp boxes sold along with them, and the sound was excellent. There were a few issues with room asymmetry... Read More »
I've been trying to remember how long have we known each other with Mr Eugeniusz Czyżewski and I've realized it's been 12 years already. The Pracownia Elektroniki Przemysłowej ORLIK, as Mr Czyżewski's company was called back then when we met, was just about to change its name to Argos and it was Argos IA-45 Integra,... Read More »
New audio brands emerging on the market have become an everyday experience. Each year I come across new brands, names and designs, the same with new ideas for a product. Less often, one can say scarcely, I come across new business ideas. The transition from a "device" (speakers, accessories, cables etc.) to a product is... Read More »
I stopped writing about equipment quite some time ago. I blamed it on a number of things that were absolutely true … old man, heavy boxes; crazy distributors, the clamor of other things in my life. While this was the truth, it wasn't the whole truth. Like many men in their sixties, my hearing is... Read More »
If you frequently read high-end publications or Internet audio chat boards, then Audioengine is not new to you. Their finely engineered audio components and speakers have been recognized and lauded by publications around the world for great sound and high value. I had only heard Audioengine products at AXPONA, and even under show conditions their... Read More »
Damn. How does this happen? Every year, I work hard to compile my list of Brutus Award winners for the end of the year; every year I promise myself that I'll complete this award article way ahead of the curve; and every year, this deadline bushwhacks me. Bloody hell. You'd better appreciate it amigos…you'll never... Read More »
"By the time I got your letter I had lost my mind I was trippin' ‘When you gettin' better?' It's a jagged line Nothin' lasts forever when you travel time I've been sippin' that cool aid of the cosmos" —"The Voyager" by Jenny Lewis I wrote a while back about the AudioQuest Forest Ethernet cables,... Read More »
Walter Benjamin pointed out, during the tragic era when Adolph Garbage-bag stormed Europe with unquenched anti-Semitic malice, that each memorable character type and archetypal personality reflected (with inevitable prismatic distortion) the underlying zeitgeist from which it emerged on the historical scene. Benjamin suffered inordinately from The Fascist Fraud's hateful pomposity. His philosophically refined awareness of... Read More »
Shall I confess something? I've fallen in love. This time with an exceptional chorale and orchestral recording from Morten Lindberg and the good folks at 2L: Magnificat. Recorded by 2L at the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway, in 2013 and 2014, with Morten Lindberg at the controls, this album shows that rare bird: Brilliancies in... Read More »
Four years ago, when some folks were worrying about WikiLeaks and toot-tooting their vuvuzelas, I spent two thoroughly enjoyable months listening to the Peachtree Audio iDecco integrated amplifier. At the time, I declared that the iDecco was the hands-down, no foolin', best option for anyone desiring a fast, thoroughly modern musical integrated for less than... Read More »
(Including… deep breath here!... notes on the ModWright KWA 150 Signature Amplifier and LS 100 Preamplifier; the eXemplar T105 two-box tubed universal player; the Rogue Audio R99 Super Magnum Preamp and Rogue Audio Medusa Hybrid Vacuum Tube Amplifier; the Blue Circle BC30X1 Powerline Conditioner) When I reviewed the Magnepan 3.7 and Bass Panel DWM speakers... Read More »
Introduction Funny how you can get bushwhacked by excellence in the audio arts. In the early spring of 2014, Bill Parish, a long-time audio friend, got in touch with me about a line of products that he thought I would be interested in. It was from a company that I had never heard of: Audionet,... Read More »
Audio Skies, importer of the wonderful sounding Larsen Model 8 speakers, seems to have found another winner in Pear Audio Blue, a Slovenian firm which makes preamplifiers and turntables. On hand is their Reference Preamplifier. Michael Vamos of Audio Skies tells me that Pear Audio Blue's Peter Mezek was best friends with the late Tom... Read More »
