Attack of the PODs! No they are not from Mars! They are from London: Designed, constructed, and shipped from London, England by the brilliant Max Townshend to American audiophiles like us, for the best replacement of the air filled bladder sinks of old. The PODs isolate your gear like it was suspended in outer space.... Read More »
The AURALiC VEGA DSD DAC (top) and TAURUS headphone amp (bottom) in tandem, on one of our reference Stillpoints ESS Grid Racks… lovely, lovely! Once, and not so long ago (A year? Two?), I maintained a list of DSD DACs. After the establishment of the DSD-over-PCM (DoP) open standard, and the polishing of ASIO drivers... Read More »
More than once this writer has been accused of having a single-track mind when it comes to talking audio. This view I must heartily confute: in fact he has three tracks. But the one that attracts attention foremost does concern polarity, also known as acoustic polarity, also under proper circumstances known as Absolute Polarity. On... Read More »
I had the distinct pleasure of attending a press briefing the other night to announce the release of a special limited edition box set of recordings to honor the 75th anniversary of Blue Note Records. Our hosts were Owen Kwon, VP of Product and Business for Astell & Kern, and Don Was, President of Blue Note... Read More »
George Klissarov, exaSound (left) and Jared Sacks, NativeDSD.Com (right) Listening to Multichannel DSD Music at RMAF 2013 Pushing the Boundaries of High Resolution Audio Many Positive Feedback readers and audiophiles are familiar with exaSound Audio Design based in Toronto, Canada. For those of you who are new to the world of high resolution stereo and multichannel music... Read More »
"Say it ain't so, I will not go, Turn the lights off, Carry me home" —"All the Small Things", Blink 182 So this all started with a big argument that my girlfriend and I had, the resolution of which was to move in together up in San Francisco, where she already lived. The problem was... Read More »
John (Fritz) Heiler has been designing his Fritz Speakers loudspeakers for over thirty years. His credo is always consistent: He uses the same premium parts as speakers costing much more, and works hard to make affordable speakers that deliver exceptional sound. I've met Fritz many times over the years. He's a really likable, down-to-earth guy,... Read More »
Another summer gone. Although nothing could beat the summer of Luxman for exquisite sound quality here at the shack (see HERE and HERE), recent experience with the Audioengine B1 proves once again that audio fun can be simple and inexpensive, if you know what to look for. The Audioengine B1 Premium Bluetooth Music Receiver "My world is perfect!"... Read More »
Chad Kassem and Marc Sheforgan of SuperHirez.com Chad Kassem is well known in music circles and among Positive Feedback readers as the CEO of Acoustic Sounds, Super HiRez music downloads site, Analogue Productions record label and Quality Record Pressings—a high quality Vinyl LP pressing plant. This has put Kassem at the forefront of many major breakthroughs in... Read More »
That's right, HiFi is a scam, and you, I, and every other audiophile, music lover, and HiFi Crazy have all been laboring under a misapprehension for all these many years. To make it even worse, even those people I've been maligning for so long by, in my innocent ignorance, calling them fools, trolls, "flat-earthers," troglodytes,... Read More »
The 2014 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest is fast approaching. Running from October 10-12, this event has been one of the great regional high-end audio events for years now. For the past few years I have been moderating a series of seminars on DSD audio developments. These have featured many of the leading persons in the... Read More »
Antonin Dvorak, Symphony No.8. Leos Janacek. Jenufa Symphonic Suite. Orchestra: Pittsburg Symphony. Conductor: Manfred Honeck. Reference Recordings #FR-710SACD Hybrid It is truly nice to have the Pittsburg symphony back again after some previous delays. The orchestra has a great history supporting it that is not known well outside of the Pittsburg area; the full range... Read More »
Last year, in May, the remarkable (truly without equal) Herbie Hancock gave the commencement address at Soka University, where I teach humanities and literature, as well as coordinating the "Jazz Monsters" concert series which I founded in 2005 after decades of teaching at Cornell, Brown, Stanford, Brandeis, and UCLA. Herbie's eloquent message to our graduating... Read More »
The Capital Audiofest is one of the few true high-end audio shows left in the world, and as the industry shrinks all of these shows become more and more important. Long-time readers will recall that I have very mixed feelings about the current state of the high end audio industry, and because of that I... Read More »
I love it when an albums' sound is so fresh and mysterious it challenges my ability to classify it. My dear friend and editor Dave Clark recommended Fhloston Paradigm's The Phoenix, knowing my taste (and his) for experimental electronic music. I would definitely call The Phoenix experimental. However, I'm not sure if this record is in fact 'electronic'. It... Read More »
Nick Cave. The man. The legend. To those who know him, he needs little introduction. He has been steadily churning out his own brand of beautifully macabre music since the '70s—from The Boys Next Door's beginnings in Australia, to the dark art punk outfit The Birthday Party that took up residence in Berlin, to the... Read More »
Bill Leebens. Jim Aud. EveAnna Manley. Knut Skogrand. Din Johnson of Ristretto Roasters. Andy Regan of Jerry Harvey Audio. Johan Coorg of KEF ESS Labs with Dared. More vinyl and audio accessories/bits and pieces over at the Atrium. Dan Muzquiz of Blackbird Audio. WyWires. More headphones and headphone amplifiers and more at the Atrium (courtesy... Read More »
One of the Audio Skies's rooms featuring Larsen speakers, Pear Audio Analogue, and Gamut. Walker Aduio showing Slient Source Cables, Raidho Acoustics, and the littler Pass Labs amplifiers. The other Audio Skies' room with Gamut, and Pear Audio Analogue. Liked this room a lot. Quintessence Acoustics showing PBN Audio, Maker Audio, and Snake River Audio... Read More »
I realize that for many years I've opened my various show reports with a little rant of sorts, carrying on about things that bother me about the high end audio industry, or about trade shows like CES. I was thinking about what to open with this time, when a brief conservation with an industry friend... Read More »
GIK Acoustics showed with Odyssey Audio. Devialet showed with Focal courtesy of Audio Plus Services. Sonic Studio demonstrating with Marten Logan and Peachtree. Brooks Berdan room showing Chord Electronics, Magico, VPI, and Light Harmonic Cables. Gingko Audio showed with DanaCable, Wells Audio, and LampizatOr. Another Brooks Berdan room, but this time showing Auralic, Spendor, Cardas,... Read More »
What a great time was experienced by anyone attending this year's event. Healthy attendance, crowded rooms, wonderful discussions (many heartfelt thanks to those who asked about Carol—is nice to see such love for her and for myself after such a year). And hats off to Richard Beers and his organization for putting such a stellar... 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 !
A short while ago Arly approached Val Kolton, the CEO of V-MODA, in hopes of securing two review samples for himself and Ethan concerning his new headphone, the XS. Val Kolton, always interested in feedback of his products, immediately agreed.
In the days leading up to CES 2014, McIntosh extended a special invitation to Audio360 to check out a prototype of their upcoming headphone amplifier: the MHA100. Having reviewed their D100 digital preamp just prior to CES, and having found it most worthy, we were of course thrilled to accept the invitation.
EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER, Island/Victor Entertainment VICP-78001 (1970/2014) TARKUS, Island/Victor Entertainment VICP-78002 (1971/2014) PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION, Island/Victor Entertainment VICP-78003 (1971/2014) Platinum SHM-CD is the newest and best CD pressing technology. I have no doubt about that. Although its advantage over "regular" XRCD and K2 HD releases differs from title to title, even the smallest difference... Read More »
Here at Audio360, we hear all kinds of wonderful stories from our fellow personal audio enthusiasts... stories of joy and delight at finding the perfect IEM to reach audio Nirvana.
It happens all the time, and we never get tired of hearing these tales (so keep your audio success stories coming).
But as heartwarming as those tales are, none of them can compare to the time we heard this:
"My IEMs helped save a man's life."
Come again?
That might be hard to fathom, as we have all kinds of cool gear just laying around waiting for us to listen to it, right? Kevin has a few reviewers whom he admires for the way they describe their experiences with the gear and the music.
Eno & Hyde have never missed as far as I'm concerned. That's a true rarity. Actually, I can't think of any other cooperative artists projects that have been consistent in holding my attention on every record like these gents have. Every studio album of theirs I've discovered, even a few live bits are all something... Read More »
During The Show in Newport Beach in May, I was walking in the parking lot between the two hotels that host the event when I spotted Cookie Marenco from Blue Coast Records. Readers of Positive Feedback know that Cookie and her company are among the pioneers in releasing DSD downloads. Earlier this year, she was interviewed by... Read More »
Blu-ray recordings may be video, audio or most commonly video plus audio. If the video is a distraction turn it off though I would suggest watching the video at least once; at times it can be interesting or entertaining. Naxos is again following up with more high definition (Blu-ray) audio only releases. For many listeners... Read More »
Turning; turning back. 2014. Another year, another THE Show Newport Beach in the books. This has become a favorite audio event on my calendar; the combination of southern California weather at the end of May, a great venue, a solid organization, and a great turnout from audio and music distributors from all over. Richard Beers... Read More »
Dana Zemetsov, Enigma. Works of Solo Viola. [Kreisler, Stravinsky, Hindemith, Kugel, Penderecki, JS Bach] Channel Classics CCSSA 35714. We come to recital CD's for the musician or for music we are unlikely to hear anywhere else. In this case, there is also the instrument—a viola, a peculiar instrument when on its own rather than as... Read More »
Have a look at the pictures in John Marks' listening room. What do you see? What caught your attention? I was struck by the ubiquity of records and the ATC standmount speakers placed upside down. They point to John's "out-of-the-box" thinking on the one hand and to his love for music. This is not just... Read More »
Prokofiev, Violin Sonatas. Five Melodies. Alina Ibragimova, violin; Steven Osborne, piano. Hyperion CDA 67514. I am reported in an ad on the Hyperion website for a new Ibragimova recording as saying that "when you're listening to Ibragimova, she is the only possible way to go." Is this true of her new Prokofiev CD? My favorite... Read More »
There are few genres more polarizing than minimal electronic music. This is totally subjective; but I believe you have to experience this music in a live setting in order to fully appreciate it outside the club: with perhaps a little chemical booster on-board in order to enhance the senses (or maybe not—Dr. David Robinson and... Read More »
Thank goodness for Michael Mercer. While other Positive Feedback writers cover headphones, DACs, and amps (Warren Chi, Bob Levi, and our editors spring to mind), nobody proselytizes from the headphone pulpit with as much relentless enthusiasm as monsieur Mercer does for this publication and on his website, Audio360.org. And there's a need to keep the momentum going, judging... Read More »
When I saw the promotional material announcing this book project from The Absolute Sound and learned that it was first going to be available in limited, numbered copies at CES 2014, I was distraught. For the first time in 15 years, circumstances prevented me from attending the 2014 annual industry event. That meant that not only was... Read More »
