Time for some real fun! I, like many others who work in high-end audio publishing, spend a lot of time at my desktop. Just because I'm working, though, doesn't mean that I don't want the best possible sound in the near-field conditions of desktop audio. On the contrary… Years ago, I put a pair of... Read More »
When HDTT issues a Redux edition of an album I’ve liked, I always pay attention. I’ve yet to be disappointed with the improvements Bob Witrak has been able to wring from the source tapes. I thought this release was excellent before. In this updated version the sound quality clearly goes up a notch, if not... Read More »
Roger Skoff writes about an all-too-common Audiophile problem From its very beginning, our hobby has been one of tinkering and do-it-yourself-ism. Much of that was for very good reason: in the mid-19th century, when the first telephone was attempted; in 1877, when Edison built the first phonograph; and even in 1920, when KDKA, the first... Read More »
Nexus to Manage Select Group of Independent, Top-Shelf Audio Designers and Manufacturers BOSTON, MA, February 1, 2023 – In a move intended to both build awareness of the high-end audio category and open doors for select, specialty brands that offer best-in-class performance, audio industry veteran Walter Schofield today announced the establishment of a U.S.-based sales... Read More »
What does mastering mean? Read and listen for yourself! The way mastering is executed at MOFI caused a lot of excitement among audiophiles, and Analog, the magazine of the German Analogue Audio Association, made mastering the cover story. And here, one of the best mastering professionals, Christoph Stickel, has his say in an interview that... Read More »
Ansuz Acoustics proudly introduces their new flagship series of audio cables and power distributors - Ansuz Gold Signature. Michael Børresen, CTO of Ansuz Acoustics, in collaboration with his engineering and development team, has designed this new series that elevates any audio system to a level of performance never achieved before. This new range of audio... Read More »
THE ENGINEER AND THE ARTIST Aavik expands its range of amplifiers with their new flagship Aavik 880 series. The 880 series is Aavik’s most innovative and sophisticated amplifier production to date. The new series consists of the Aavik I-880 integrated amplifier, the C-880 control amplifier, and the P-880 power amplifier. The primary development goal of... Read More »
In the past several years, I've been simply stunned by the sound quality of vintage recordings released by HDTT that credit the audio restoration work by John Haley, founder of Harmony Restorations, LLC. In many cases, such as the recent release by HDTT of the Judy Garland The Greatest Night In Show Business History (see... Read More »
Bob Witrak continues his quest for access to some great sounding tapes. Here are a few more jazz finds that knock my socks off. In addition to some great stereo releases, I'm including several mono releases from HDTT's Archival Series that are simply superb. We're all well past that notion from a few decades ago... Read More »
Ansuz has made quantum leaps in the development and design of innovative and unconventional audio technologies that have revolutionized the quality standards of high-end music reproduction. High time, then, to integrate all these groundbreaking advances into a new series of power distributors – namely, the new Ansuz Mainz8 Generation 3, a series of power distributors,... Read More »
Network Acoustics brings its professional 1Gb/s streaming system to the home audio market The team at Network Acoustics are mad about noise, by which they mean they hate it. Their aim is to eliminate the noise from streaming systems and thus allow those systems to reveal the full glory of the music. With its multi-award-winning... Read More »
I own a lot of albums, and my use of the word "albums" means LPs and CDs. Most of them bring me tons of pleasure, but I also keep a few albums for reasons other than pleasure. I find Miles Davis uniquely irritating, and LP-era Ellington turgid, but since I like to cruise in the... Read More »
When we release a new product at dCS, it marks the beginning of a journey that spans the life of the product. dCS’s engineers continually research how to improve existing technologies and products, a discovery process motivated by our drive to deliver unrivalled measured performance and the resulting musical experience. Often, innovation comes in the... Read More »
Faro, Portugal February 6, 2022. Innuos announces that its line of music server/streamers and network music players now include MQA Core Decoder technology delivering the sound of the original master recording. With MQA Core certification, Innuos is bringing new value and convenience to their award-winning HiFi lineup at no extra charge. MQA stands for ‘Master... Read More »
I wrote about my enthusiasm for what Hunnia Records has been doing in this earlier article covering a dozen or so of their releases over the past few years. But Hunnia does not stand still! Not by any means. And I continue to enjoy their new releases. Here are a few you should know about...... Read More »
The New Product Represents the Brand’s First Expansion into Outdoor Acoustics VICENZA, ITALY (January 31, 2023) – Sonus faber is proud to announce the launch of its first outdoor speaker, the Aster – bringing enriching Natural Sounds beyond walls to home and hospitality public spaces such as restaurants, hotels, museums, and more. In tune with the... Read More »
What Happened Before Before the emotional drama I'm about to relate took place, something happened to set the stage. It was a typical sunny day in San Luis Obispo. When he wasn't busy with church work, Dad usually had a project going around the house. He liked to worked with his hands. Mostly he preferred... Read More »
Re-published from Copper magazine, Issue 133, and used by permission of PS Audio. Many audiophiles are tinkerers. We're constantly striving to squeeze the last iota of performance out of our audio systems, or we just like to putz with stuff, or we're obsessive-compulsive. Tinkering often involves experimentation. And (cue evil horror movie laugh), the experiments... Read More »
We at Vivid Audio are proud the have found our home away from home with GTT Audio. This partnership creates a synergy in our shared passion for excellence in musical reproduction. Bringing Vivid Audio to GTT Audio matches the ambitions of two great companies, enabling more people to fulfill the dream of musical nirvana. “The... 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 »
Singer/songwriter Jessica Carson and band offer a richly-textured musical tapestry in stunning high-resolution sound Boulder, Colorado, January 24, 2023 – Octave Records' Clandestine Amigo returns with their newest release, Pinnacle, showcasing the vocal, piano and songwriting talents of Jessica Carson. The new album, available on SACD/CD and high-resolution download formats, features a richly-textured production and wide musical variety, and... Read More »
Over the past four years, I've found myself regularly returning to recordings by the Spanish string quartet, Cuarteto Quiroga. Their performances are refined, beautifully played, nuanced in interpretation, and played with total conviction. They recently released their sixth album for Cobra Records, Und es Ward Licht! (below), and it's a stunner. It's well past time... Read More »
Featuring dual THX AAA 788+ amps, dual AK4493S DACs and support for audio up to 32Bit 384kHz/DSD256 at £189/$199 January 19, 2023 The FiiO K7 is a balanced desktop amplifier featuring dual AK4493S DACs, dual THX AAA 788+ amp technology, USB/Optical/Coax/RCA inputs, and both 6.3mm single-ended and 4.4mm balanced headphone outputs. Building upon the success... Read More »
Patricia Barber, Clique!. HQ180 33.3 LP: $39.99 MSRP. Patricia Barber patriciabarber.com. Impex Records impexrecords.com Patricia Barber's Clique! was released to great fanfare by Impex Records in August, 2021. I had the good fortune to review the DXD (Digital eXtreme Definition) 32-bit/352.8kHz digital download files of the album at that time, and you can read my review... Read More »
The New Products Celebrate Italian Artisanship and the Heritage Brand’s Roots VICENZA, ITALY (January 17, 2023) – Sonus faber is proud to announce the revival of its iconic and award-winning Homage Collection, showcased in the premiere of 4 new products. The extension of the current collection highlights Sonus faber’s deep Italian heritage, commitment to its artisans’... Read More »
With this article, Positive Feedback continues its content-sharing relationship with Enjoy the Music where Maurice Jefferies visits the home of Greg Weaver, also known as the Audio Analyst Dr. David W. Robinson, Editor-in-Chief The New Apartment Lounge's Maurice Jeffries visits the Audio Analyst at home for the third time. Report By Maurice Jeffries What would we do without... Read More »
190 Listening Rooms, Top Hi-Fi Audio Brands, Thousands of Products and Gear, Educational Seminars and Live Musical Performances SCHAUMBURG, IL - - The 12th annual AXPONA (Audio Expo North America) will return April 14-16 to the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & 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... Read More »
Cary Audio is pleased to announce that the DMS-800 Professional Version (PV) Network Audio Player/Streamer/DAC has won a Hi-Fi Golden Diapason Award for 2022. The award was announced in the November 2022 issue of the Diapason d'Or Magazine and will be presented at its Awards Ceremony on January 20, 2023, in Paris, France. Diapason d’Or is a French magazine published monthly focusing... Read More »
Beware! Wildly broad generalizations coming below... Interesting conversations get started over morning cappuccinos in our household. Today, the discussion was about files from the HDTT (High Definition Tape Transfer) catalog versus modern recordings from the NativeDSD catalog. Ann opined that, overall, she found the NativeDSD files in our library were the files to which she... Read More »
The Absence of the Presence. Happy Valley, OR, 2022. Photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson. About my Brutus Awards… For years I have reiterated what our PF Brutus Awards represent. This is especially for the benefit of new readers who are unfamiliar with what we have in mind for this special recognition. Another... Read More »
New series of demonstration-quality recordings focuses on various critical sonic aspects of audio reproduction Boulder, Colorado, January 16, 2023 – PS Audio’s Octave Records is proud to announce its all-new series, The Art of Hi-Fi. Each recording in the ongoing series will showcase a different aspect of high-quality audio reproduction, beginning with this initial release, Volume 01: Bass. As the title indicates, The Art... Read More »
(January 13, 2023) Enjoy the Music.com, high-end audio's celebrated online site for 28 years and a leader in providing industry news, gear reviews, and show reports is pleased to announce that we're sponsoring Florida International Audio Expo's Industry Happy Hour during their 2023 event in Tampa. Exhibitors and members of the press are invited to join... Read More »
I love guitarists, and I own a lot of LPs by guitarists. Although I file the jazz guitarists, like Barney Kessell, Johnny Smith, and Wes Montgomery, alphabetically, many guitarists, regardless of genre, are also found in my miscellaneous guitarist section. That's where the obscure guitarists and multi-artist collections of guitar music are found. One obscure... Read More »
High Definition Tape Transfer has been on quite a roll in 2022 with a strong schedule of new releases. Their jazz releases in 2022 have been phenomenal and, hopefully, merited your attention. But, the classical albums they've reissued have been similarly outstanding, including performances in the top echelons of the catalog such as the Mercury... Read More »
Remastering is a technique applied to improve sound quality. It can be done in digital or analog domain. There are few audio manufacturers who also release their own recordings. One of them, and probably the most interesting, is the Japanese Esoteric, which remasters classical music from the world's best labels. Esoteric is a brand owned... Read More »
One of the few Polish audio brands that conquered global markets, highly acclaimed among both users and reviewers around the world, J. Sikora, after several years of consolidating its market position, prepared premiere products for the last Audio Video Show in Warsaw—new, improved versions of their fantastic tonearms. For this test, we received the first... Read More »
January 11, 2023 – Succasunna, New Jersey. Orchard Audio, LLC is proud to announce that the company will exhibit at the Florida International Audio Expo (FAE), February 17-19, 2023, in Tampa, Florida. Orchard Audio’s exhibit will feature the following award-winning products: Starkrimson® Stereo Ultra: 500W gallium nitride (GaN) stereo audio power amplifier Starkrimson® Mono: 150W... Read More »
