Greetings friends, I hope you are doing well! In August of 2019 the Shuguang Electron Tube Factory was shut down in preparation for a move to a new location. By March 2020 the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a worldwide pandemic, which would result in the shut down of most vacuum tube production still operating... Read More »
Craft Recordings has just released a new 25th Anniversary Edition of R.E.M.'s 1998 album Up, which was the iconic group's first outing as a trio in the aftermath of drummer Bill Berry's retirement from the band. My limited exposure to post-Bill Berry R.E.M. wasn't particularly favorable at the time of that string of albums' original... Read More »
Dr. Tom Davis has a longtime association with Positive Feedback. He was a very active contributor to the magazine back in the 1990s during our paper 'n ink days and a hale and hearty audio friend. He is now joining us once again, and I could not be more pleased! His writing is always worth... Read More »
As a child of the 60s, I heard some of the greatest rock and roll ever created, and the place I heard much of it was in the back seat of my mom's car. As I lived in Los Angeles, the number of AM radio stations that played rock and roll was vast, and therefore... Read More »
Craft Recordings is offering another exciting line-up of limited-edition LPs for the upcoming November 24th Black Friday celebration of Record Store Day (RSD). Craft's offering of rarities and specialty releases are just a handful among literally hundreds of cool records that will be available online and at your favorite independent record store. For Black Friday,... Read More »
20%* off on all home products, including: Focal Theva, Vestia, Kanta speakers All Focal Headphones Celestee - $639 sale price Clear Mg - $1,199 sale price Stellia - $2,399 sale price Utopia 2022 - $3,999 sale price ^10% off Focal Bathys - $629 sale price Naim Uniti Atom Headphone Edition - $3,039 sale price Naim... Read More »
Craft Recordings continues their impressive Original Jazz Classics reboot with a brilliant pair of live album reissues, featuring the Dave Brubeck Quartet's Jazz At Oberlin (1953, Fantasy Records) and the Bill Evans Trio's Sunday At The Village Vanguard (1961, Riverside Records). Dave Brubeck's Jazz At Oberlin showcases an earlier incarnation of the group that would... Read More »
Meze Audio is introducing Empyrean II – innovative open-back, planar magnetic headphones that mark the brand’s continuous pursuit of audio perfection. Building on the acclaim of the original Empyrean - already one of the most technologically advanced designs – this new generation emerges as a symphony of artistry, innovation and craftsmanship. (MSRP: $2,999) The Empyrean II will... Read More »
Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition, Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra. HDTT 1957 2023 (DSD256, DXD "Redux") HERE Just superb - you owe it to yourself to get this! This recording from December 7, 1957, in Orchestra Hall, Chicago, is a world treasure. It is among the earliest stereo recordings released on LP (1958) and it... Read More »
New Bluetooth 5.2 Earbud Represents a “Light Luxury” Approach to Reference-Quality Wireless Audio BELLMORE, NY, November 6, 2023 – HIFIMAN, the leader in high fidelity personal audio, today introduced the new SVANAR Wireless LE, a “light luxury” edition of its reference True Wireless® earbud, SVANAR Wireless. The new SVANAR Wireless LE ($299) is a full range... Read More »
BELLMORE, NY, November 6, 2023 – HIFIMAN, the leader in high fidelity personal audio, is now shipping a new True Wireless® earbud, SVANAR Wireless Jr, that is a follow-up to its reference wireless earbud, SVANAR Wireless. The new model, which is available at a suggested retail price of $179, offers many of the same sonic... Read More »
Totaldac is a French audio manufacturer, founded in 2010 by Vincent Brient. Its headquarters are located near Mont Saint-Michel, a rocky island in the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel, in the English Channel. The company specializes in digital-to-analog converters and audio file players. It also offers a range of amplifiers, speakers and accessories to improve digital signal... Read More »
The veteran pianist shows that his musical creativity is still blossoming with his brilliant debut for evosound. Famed for his light touch, exquisite musical sensitivity, and hard-swinging approach to the piano, jazz master Tsuyoshi Yamamoto (山本 剛) has enjoyed a long and storied career that has yielded over 50 albums, seen him play alongside American... Read More »
Southaven, MS, October 26th, 2023 – American Audio & Video (AA&V), a division of Jam Industries USA, LLC, is thrilled to share that Cyrus Audio has launched a brand-new high-end turntable, the TTP turntable. Cyrus Audio are looking forward to celebrating their 40th anniversary in 2024 so much so that they have decided to... Read More »
I'm far from being an expert on Hawaiian music, but I'm crazy about it. LPs, both stereo and mono, of Hawaiian music have provided me with decades of pleasure. I also love the way vintage Hawaiian records sound, because they often sound amazing. I currently own 55 Hawaiian LPs, and I used to have more.... Read More »
Premier Divine Acoustics is a Polish specialized company, founded in 2003 by Piotr Galkowski. It’s core business are loudspeakers, but the lineup also includes an anti-vibration platform, anti-vibration feet and loudspeaker cables. Divine Acoustics products are in-house developments, significantly different from other products of those kinds available on the market. We are Premier testing its... Read More »
Bartók Concertos. Bartók Piano Concertos 1-3, Pascal Rogé, piano; London Symphony/Walter Weller. Violin Concerto 1, Kyung-Wha Chung, violin; Chicago Symphony/Sir Georg Solti. Violin Concerto 2, Iona Brown, violin; Philharmonia Orchestra/Simon Rattle. Two Portraits, Chantal Juillet, violin; Montreal Symphony/Charles Dutoit. Decca Eloquence 480 2320 (2 CDs). TT: 79.30, 78.13. Downloads: Amazon.com (all except Violin Concerto 2) This compact collection, fitting Bartók's major concerti onto... Read More »
Toronto (pronounced: Tir-ran-Nah) is a Native Canadian word for "place of high taxation." It was also the city where TAF 2023 (the Toronto Audio Fest) was held at the Westin Toronto Airport Hotel from Friday 20 October to Sunday 22 October 2023. The Westin is located right next door to Hell…er, ehm…the Lester B. Pearson... Read More »
Rhino Entertainment has just released Devo: 50 Years of De-Evolution (1973-2023), a box set that celebrates the legacy of the iconic band and their 50th anniversary as performers. Devo's genre-bending style of rock and roll bounded across a half-century of art punk, new wave, post-punk, and synth pop, and their nine studio albums never failed... Read More »
Streaming specialists Network Acoustics introduce tempus, their flagship Ethernet Switch. tempus is precision ultra-low noise Ethernet Switch, designed to deliver a clean and perfectly timed data signal to your music and video streamers, media servers, NAS and Smart TV. Providing an instant upgrade to the performance of any connected device, tempus is the essential foundation for any serious music... Read More »
Romanel, Switzerland – Thursday November 2nd 2023. With more than four years of R&D efforts, Nagra’s new ambitious phono stage is finally in production and first units are shipping worldwide. The HD PHONO is the ideal companion to the Reference turntable and Reference MC cartridge and when all three are combined they form the ultimate... Read More »
Woodinville, WA – Genesis Advanced Technologies will show two new passive floor standing loudspeaker models at Capital Audiofest, November 10 – 12 in the Frederick Room of the Twinbrook Hilton, Rockville, MD. The new series, when still in design prototype form, was premiered at Pacific Audiofest in June. Two models, now in final production form, will... Read More »
Van Morrison His Band And The Street Choir (Rhino High Fidelity Series) Released in 1970 on the Warner Bros. label, Van Morrison His Band And The Street Choir was recorded at the infamous A&R Studios in New York City earlier that year. As an interesting aside, the original title for this album was Virgo's Fool,... Read More »
It's been a tad over 15 years since The Tape Project set the audiophile world atwitter with the release of their first, soon to be followed by 29 more, real time duped, high speed, 15-ips tapes. And it was love at first listen for oh-so many of us! In that intervening time, the reel-to-reel tape... Read More »
Renowned Guitarist Anthony Pirog to Play for Show Attendees BOSTON, MA, October 31, 2023 -- Nexus Audio Technologies, a company that supports port independent, high fidelity audio brands sales and marketing initiatives to grow their business throughout North America, today announced that it will take a leading role at Capital Audiofest by sponsoring a performance by... Read More »
Diamond Springs, October 30, 2023 The triple-patented imersiv D1 DAC was shown publicly for the first time at AES 2023 in New York City. Millennia founder John La Grou was on-hand to demonstrate and discuss imersiv architecture and its paradigm-shifting performance. “Imersiv is a 28-bit audio ecosystem [>170dB dynamic range], which establishes a radically... Read More »
Impex Records is celebrating the 30th anniversary of Jennifer Warnes' 1992 album The Hunter with a limited edition, individually numbered LP pressed on crystal clear, HQ-180 green vinyl. With compact discs ruling the marketplace at the time of its release, Warnes' Grammy-nominated follow-up to her classic Famous Blue Raincoat was never made available as a... Read More »
Rhino Entertainment has just released a 50th Anniversary reissue of David Bowie's beloved Pinups, his 1973 album of cover tunes that paid homage to songs from the 1964 - 67 period that greatly influenced the teenaged David Jones and helped him get his bearings musically. Despite debuting to a very mixed reception from the music... Read More »
I've been scattered about in my listening recently, shifting from classical to jazz to pop. But I've found some gems to share with you in this edition of Recent Finds. Leading off are some exceptional classical music albums released in 2023 and applying some of the best high resolution digital recording technology available. Complementing these... Read More »
Acclaimed Violinist’s Providence Recital of Two Beethoven Violin/Piano Sonatas to Be Free of Charge and Open to the Public FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contacts: Stephen T. Martorella (The First Baptist Church in America) (401) 454-3418 [email protected] John Marks (401) 433-8999 [email protected] WHO: Arturo Delmoni, internationally-acclaimed violin soloist and recording artist. Dr. Delmoni is Concertmaster of the... Read More »
As I mentioned in my last review of late-period R.E.M. releases from Craft Recordings, drummer Bill Berry's departure from the band changed the overall dynamic of R.E.M.'s music so much that I no longer found the group's new music as absolutely essential as in years past. I therefore had very little experience with post-Bill Berry... Read More »
Roger Skoff writes about what's good enough. A great many years ago, I briefly owned a genuine Italian race car. It was a Siata factory team car, built for the 1953 Targa Florio. It was red. It was gorgeous. It was homologated and barely street legal. It came equipped with both two seats and a... Read More »
Warner and Rhino Entertainment have just released The Darkness, Permission To Land…Again, which is a 5 LP, 20th Anniversary Edition that celebrates the 2003 debut album from UK glam-metal band The Darkness. Permission To Land was a huge commercial success and runaway best seller, taking the band to the number one spot on the UK... Read More »
If you missed it, the other day I posted a review of the PS Audio DirectStream DAC MK2 (HERE) that was prefaced by the idea that is it ever "As good as it can get?" Or something like that. Simply, one does whatever and sits back thinking that it is as good as it gets…... Read More »
October 24th, 2023The Treehaus Audiolab “Phantom of Luxury” field-coil loudspeaker is an open-baffle dipole design utilizing live-edge wood plinths. Natural materials, and their inherent imperfection, are celebrated here as being able to create sound that is real, rather than simply reproduced. This speaker’s heart is the full range driver, a Super Aero 10” field coil... Read More »
WHO: Arturo Delmoni, internationally-acclaimed violin soloist and recording artist. Dr. Delmoni is Concertmaster of the Orchestra of the New York City Ballet. His musical collaborator for this recital is Stephen T. Martorella, Minister of Music of the First Baptist Church. WHAT: Tomaso Vitali: Chaconne; and Ludwig van Beethoven: “Spring” and “Kreutzer” violin/piano sonatas. WHEN: Sunday,... Read More »
Last week, a post on the Facebook group Streaming Music Matters generated quite a bit of interest and a long thread of responses. The post header read thusly: "Is this what Dan Fans have been waiting for?" The subject was the newly Bernie Grundman-remastered, 24-bit/192 kHz high-resolution files for Steely Dan's Aja that are now... Read More »
