This is a brilliant new release by pianist Katelyn Bouska, recorded and mastered in Pure DSD256 by Bob Attiyeh of Yarlung Records. But what makes this recording truly special are the musical works selected and the stories of the composers, all women who were at the cutting edge of the contemporary music scenes in their... Read More »
Qobuz Announces Christian McBride as Artist-Approved Sound Spokesperson GRAMMY® Award-winning jazz bassist continues partnership with Qobuz following 2021’s exclusive EP The Q Sessions Christian McBride - Credit Ebru Yildiz Eight-time GRAMMY Award-winning jazz artist Christian McBride is continuing his work with Qobuz, the high quality music streaming and download platform, as its next Artist-Approved Sound... Read More »
2023 marked my third consecutive trip to the Florida Audio Expo (or FLAX as it seems to have been shortened to), and the experience was hands down the best yet! In terms of vendors, the show was completely sold out, which is great, but also a mixed blessing of sorts. There was so much more... Read More »
Los Angeles, CA - February 21, 2023, Rose City Media Group is announcing production has begun on a new documentary film, directed by Emiko, about the auspicious beginnings and meteoric rise of legendary loudspeaker designer Andrew Jones. Wherein the hifi audio industry usually focuses on the "how" aspect of things produced, this film is geared... Read More »
Consumer electronics business icon Jeff Coombs has passed away. Jeff Coombs is best known as the founder of two iconic electronics brands, James Loudspeaker and Ambisonic Systems. He was President of Ambisonic Sales at Origin Acoustics. Coombs died on Monday, February 20, 2023, in Palm Desert, CA, after a battle with cancer surrounded by family who loved and adored him. He... Read More »
Telos has been around for quite some time. I reviewed their active grounding unit in 2016 after hearing it being demoed ion the Positive Feedback Hospitality room at THE SHOW. Impressed by what it did to the music being played, I ended up buying the demo unit and we have been living happily ever after.... Read More »
The TAD Reference One Experience lets US audiophiles hear TAD's lineup together for the first time. TAD Labs (TAD stands for Technical Audio Devices) is a Japanese high-end audio company that's working to establish higher product visibility in the US audiophile market through the efforts of PAD HiFi (Pro Audio Design), their exclusive US distributor.... Read More »
New Stand Mount Speaker Featuring TAD’s Esoteric Technology Embodies the Legendary Company’s Design Philosophy Hanover MA – Iconic Japanese audio brand, Technical Audio Devices Laboratories (TADL) announces the official North American launch of its new Compact Evolution CE1TX stand mount speaker. TAD’s engineering team thoughtfully preserved cherished elements of the original model, the multi-award-winning Compact Evolution CE1 speaker, while making... Read More »
Frank Doris is a good audio friend, and the Editor of PS Audio's Copper magazine. From time to time he shares articles from Copper with Positive Feedback, to bring his excellent writing to our readership. All such articles are re-published with the permission of PS Audio and Copper. We've all experienced burnout in one form... Read More »
Orange, CA. February 16th, 2023 – ELAC, a leading global provider of high-performance speakers and electronics, today announced the Varro Line-up of high-end subwoofers. The new Varro line-up consists of three separate series, the Premium Series, Reference Series, and Dual Reference Series. These new subwoofers embody 95 years of creating audio excellence through tradition, craftsmanship... Read More »
For years I've been told that it is not possible to mix in DSD—that this is one of the major limitations of recording in DSD. Well, I'm now learning from Tom Caulfield, mastering engineer for NativeDSD, and Gonzalo Noqué, owner and recording engineer at Eudora Records and Noqué Studio, that this is no longer true.... Read More »
New Streamlined Facility Maximizes Manufacturing and Administrative Efficiencies ORLANDO, FL, February 14, 2023 -- Gordon J. Technologies Inc., parent company of Clarus high-fidelity audio cable, power conditioners and digital-to-analog convertors, and its sister company, Tributaries A/V Cables, today announced it relocated to a new facility in Orlando, Florida. “The past few years have been a huge... Read More »
Releases include a 40th-anniversary Violent Femmes picture disc, the first US mono reissue of Chet Baker’s Chet, Jonathan Richman’s long-out-of-print country album, and a sensuous journey of the mind, courtesy of Jazz Dispensary. Also available is a collectible soundtrack for How to Train Your Dragon 2, a Latin psych-funk rarity from Flash & The Dynamics,... Read More »
12th Annual AXPONA will feature All-Star Musicians, Industry Experts, and Guest Appearances Schaumburg, IL (February 13, 2023) -- AXPONA (Audio Expo North America) returns to the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center and Hotel April 14-16, 2023 with three jam-packed days of incredible sound, technology, seminars, live music and the very latest products in the industry. AXPONA... Read More »
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 »
