January 25, 2024 - Succasunna, NJ. Orchard Audio – a boutique audio company offering a variety of ultra-high-performance DACs, streamers, and amplifiers – will showcase two new products at the 2024 Florida Audio Expo (FLAX). PecanPi®+ Streamer Premium is designed to redefine the standards of audio streaming. With a commitment to uncompromising audio quality, this... Read More »
JCAT, a leader in next-generation computer audio solutions, is proud to announce the launch of its flagship linear power supply, the ULTIMO. Engineered for audiophiles and high-fidelity enthusiasts, the ULTIMO sets a new standard in power supply performance, ensuring unmatched clarity and purity in audio reproduction. Unparalleled Performance for Critical Audio Components Designed with the... Read More »
200 Listening Rooms, Top Hi-Fi Audio Brands, Thousands of Products and Gear, Educational Seminars and Live Musical Performances SCHAUMBURG, IL (January 2023) - - The 13th annual AXPONA (Audio Expo North America) will return April 12-14 to the Schaumburg Convention Center offering three jam-packed days of incredible sounds, technology, seminars, networking and the newest products in the industry. AXPONA is the largest high-end audio show in... Read More »
Four-way Aphrodite Designed for Best-in-Class Two- and Multi-channel Sound Reproduction MELVILLE, NY, January 24, 2024 – Alta Audio, the company that combines advanced technology and outstanding aesthetics to create industry-leading home audio loudspeakers, today announced Aphrodite, a four-way floor-standing speaker that heralds a new era for the brand. “Aphrodite is the ultimate statement of Alta Audio’s approach to... Read More »
On what would have been his centennial, Craft Recordings has releasing the complete recordings of jazz guitarist extraordinaire Wes Montgomery's seminal 1962 live date, Full House. Which in its new guise, The Complete Full House Recordings, presents everything recorded on June 25, 1962 at the short-lived Berkeley, California coffee house and jazz hotspot, Tsubo. Compiling... Read More »
Craft Recordings has just released Hot House: The Complete Jazz At Massey Hall Recordings, which is an expanded reissue of the original album, The Quintet: Jazz At Massey Hall. The event took place on May 13, 1953, at Toronto, Canada's Massey Hall, and the gathering of jazz giants Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Charles... Read More »
The SWAF discount room block ends in two weeks, and the rest of the hotel is sold out! March15-17,2024. Booking — https://book.passkey.com/event/50680411/owner/863/home Hotel info/pic gallery - https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/dfwanhh-hilton-anatole/gallery/ SWAF - https://www.southwestaudiofest.com/tickets-reservations Why should you stay at the Hilton Anatole during the Southwest Audio Fest? Let me count the ways: Luxury, convenience, great food, drink and music... Read More »
Norman Varney of AV RoomService Ltd. has joined Positive Feedback as a Senior Technical Editor as of Issue 113. His expertise in his field of audio acoustics and experience in the field makes him a helpful voice in our creative community for the audio arts. As has been our wont from the beginning of PF,... Read More »
Rhino Entertainment has released The Yes Album: Super Deluxe Edition (SDE) in a stunning new multi disc package that includes media choices to suit all listeners. The really unique package features an LP-sized gatefold that opens to reveal the same photograph of keyboardist Tony Kaye that's spread across both inner panels of the original album... Read More »
I've written here and there about my preference for listening to 32-bit PCM versus 24-bit PCM files (either 352.8kHz or 384kHz). When there is no Pure DSD256 file available because the file has been post processed in PCM, these 32-bit files have become my preferred alternative for sonic enjoyment, even over the DSD256 files that... Read More »
I'm excited about this most recent group of Recent Finds, all released over this past year at NativeDSD. Included are a great new album from Carmen Gomes and Sound Liaison, a new Rembrandt Frerichs album on Just Listen Records, Anna Fedorova and Dana Zemtsov on Channel Classics, several albums from the Navis Classics label which... Read More »
This is an ongoing project by Claude Lemaire of Soundevaluations 231. André Hodeir, American Jazzmen Play André Hodeir's Essais. Savoy Records – MG 12104 (mono 1957), 33 1/3 rpm. Genre: cool jazz, third stream. French composer, arranger, violinist, and musicologist André Hodeir had two album releases signed under the Savoy label—this is the first, the other being... Read More »
Includes Cannonball Adderley & Bill Evans’ Know What I Mean?, Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers’ Caravan, and Ron Carter’s Where? Available now for pre-order on 180-gram vinyl and in HD audio Click here to pre-order Los Angeles, CA (January 16, 2024) – Craft Recordings announces the latest batch of reissues for the acclaimed Original... Read More »
When we left off (HERE), I had just contacted Rob Fritz at Audio Art Cable about possibly getting set up with a loom of cables for both my digital and analog room systems. While I didn't press Rob to go the "full loom" route, he did agree to send me a full suite of interconnect... Read More »
I've always believed in the importance of well-constructed audio cables, and my systems of the last five or so years have been built around expensive (if not completely esoteric) cables from highly regarded manufacturers. I simply believed that logically, having well-made cables of a higher pedigree would give my systems a more legitimate claim to... Read More »
It's been five years since I organized and posted a shootout on this title. Click HERE if you would like to read that article. After several requests from readers for a comparison, three of my audiophile buddies joined me for a wonderful two nights of fun. This kind of thing might sound a little over... Read More »
CRAFT RECORDINGS CELEBRATES GRAMMY®-WINNING BLUEGRASS ICON TONY RICE WITH REISSUE OF CLASSIC 1983 ALBUM CHURCH STREET BLUES Available on 180-gram vinyl and hi-res digital, the newly remastered title features an intimate set of folk songs, including Bob Dylan’s “One More Night,” Norman Blake’s “Church Street Blues,” and Tom Paxton’s “Last Thing on My Mind” Los Angeles,... Read More »
Las Vegas (CES) – January 9, 2024 - Focal presents Aria Evo X, a line of high-fidelity loudspeakers for the home to follow in the footsteps of the Aria 900 range, which has enjoyed a decade of success. With revamped technologies and a brand-new finish, the Aria Evo X loudspeakers step it up another notch... Read More »
As far back as can I remember, organ music has brought me pleasure. Whether it's the sound of a small pipe organ in a small church, an electronic organ, the huge pipe organ at UCLA's Royce Hall accompanying an orchestra, or a theater organ with huge pipes, bells, and percussion, I love the way organ... Read More »
Portland, OR - January 8, 2024 – We are happy to announce the launch of our AVO interconnect cable lineup. The entire product line was developed with the benefit of many years of experience working with Naim Audio systems and exhaustive testing with Naim Audio reference systems. AVO interconnect cables offer a significant performance improvement for all eras of Naim... Read More »
Roger Skoff at the 2023 Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society Gala (portrait and image processing by David W. Robinson) Roger Skoff writes about how to save money on great sound Of all the components of your system, the likely most expensive are the speakers and, almost certainly, the most expensive part of building... Read More »
DVOŘÁK, Symphony 6; Husitská Overture. Milwaukee Symphony/Zdeněk Mácal. Koss Classics KC-1001. TT: 57.59 I was looking forward to hearing this, finally. I'd always been pleased by the sound of Koss headphones in various price ranges—though you'd not have mistaken them for Grado or Sennheiser—and I was anticipating engineering of comparably high, possibly audiophile quality. So Husitská, the... Read More »
From Positive Feedback, Volume 8, No. 1, late winter 1998/early spring of 1999... For the record, I have not changed my appraisal of DSD and SACD since I wrote this back in the wee hours of 1999. To my knowledge, Positive Feedback was the first audiophile publication to go on the record supporting DSD/SACD, and we... Read More »
New Old Stock - Articles from Our Days in Print but you are also going to see some articles from our early days of going online. Original text and commentary by Brian Hartsell, now sadly departed…. During the last two years the growing resurgence of new and reissue vinyl releases has become more than just a... Read More »
This article by Dan Wright of ModWright originally ran in Positive Feedback ISSUE 4 December/January 2003, so while we call this section "New Old Stock - Articles from Our Days in Print" you are also going to see some articles from our early days of going online. Dan Wright has joined the editorial group here at... Read More »
Impex Records is celebrating the 35th anniversary of Jennifer Warnes' groundbreaking Famous Blue Raincoat with a three-LP, 45 rpm, 1STEP reissue of Warnes' classic 1986 album that has gone on to become an enduring audiophile perennial. For what will surely represent the album's penultimate vinyl release, Jennifer Warnes agreed to supply her personal, first-generation analog... Read More »
The J. Sikora company was established in 2007. That's when its first turntable, the standard, was presented. It took as many as seven years to prepare the next model. When it came to it it was the top-of-the-line reference, which was introduced in 2014. In 2018 the company revealed its first tonearm, the KV12, and... Read More »
It's that time of year again and the Capital Audiofest has come around and an awful lot of people went to it. An awful lot of people; it was just packed in the hallways and some of the more popular demo rooms were pretty solid. I went, but because it was so big and so... Read More »
The Audio Engineering Society has a big event every year that alternates between the east and west coasts of the US. What makes it interesting is that it's both a big trade show upstairs and an academic conference with papers downstairs. This makes it much more interesting than most audio events because it brings in... Read More »
Here we are at the end of 2023 and again, not a lot has passed through our doors for review. Why? Neither of us are just not interested in reviewing whatever. We were years ago, but now after reviewing some 35+ years... yeah, no thanks. Been there, done that, and just don't have the interest... Read More »
Network Acoustics is probably best known for their ENO Ethernet Filter (HERE), but they also offer a line of Ethernet and digital cables as well as an assortment of other products to make your network streaming all that much better. And as you will see, a whole lot better. Case in point, their statement muon... Read More »
EXCLUSIVE! FREE HI-RES DOWNLOAD! 24-bit/88.2kHz Christmas Jazz Vespers jazz-quintet track "What Child Is This?" recorded location-live by John Marks. From the Editor: Our good friend John Marks got in touch about a "Christmas Jazz Vespers" concert he had recently recorded location-live in the spacious Third Meeting House (1775) of the First Baptist Church in America (gathered... Read More »
Cartografía del Mar (Maps of the Sea), André Cebrián, Pedro Mateo Gonzalez. Eudora Records 2023 (Pure DSD256, Stereo, MCh) HERE I am in love with this stunningly great Pure DSD256 recording from Gonzalo Noqué at Eudora Records! Gonzalo has made some excellent Pure DSD256 recordings over the past several years, but this is perhaps his... Read More »
High Definition Tape Transfers (HDTT) has been very busy these past few months with some excellent new releases of some of the best recordings from both classical music and jazz. I previously shared my thoughts about their DSD256/DXD reissue of Reiner's performance of Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kije and Stravinsky's Song of the Nightingale (reviewed HERE) which I... Read More »
Hi-Res Streamer Expanded to Canada, Named Billboard International Power Player, Signed Top-Tier Partnerships, and more. Since ushering in the Hi-Res streaming revolution, Qobuz has maintained the top spot as the music lovers’ service of choice - and in 2023, it reached more of that music-loving audience, by far, than ever before. Qobuz finally launched in... Read More »
New high-end StellarGold Series components combine technological innovation with superb sound and unmatched ease of use Boulder, Colorado, December 18, 2023 – In a significant expansion of its acclaimed Stellar Series lineup, PS Audio today announced the introduction of its StellarGold preamplifier and StellarGold DAC. The two new high-end audio components incorporate a host of PS Audio’s latest technological innovations, along with... Read More »
David W. Robinson in Jerusalem, 2022 (portrait by John Robinson; image processing by Ye Olde Editor himself) The Furutech Lineflux XLR NCF The Furutech Lineflux NCF XLR interconnect (image courtesy of Furutech) Furutech. A front-rank, top o' the heap high-end audio headquartered in Japan. I've followed their products for many years now, and for very... Read More »
