I was on the sidewalk in front of our house in San Luis Obispo. In 1952 it must've been a very quiet place, otherwise it's hard for me now, looking back, to understand why my mother let me go out by myself. I was only four. But she was very pregnant at the time, and... Read More »
This is an ongoing project by Claude Lemaire of Soundevaluations 191. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Unlimited Love. Warner Records – 093624874720 – 093624880653 (2022), (2x33 1/3 rpm). Genre: alternative rock, funk rock. First things first, even though this is the band's twelfth studio album, this is only the third 'Chili Peppers LP in my collection—the other two... Read More »
Few musical cycles are as compelling as is Rachel Podger's and Gary Cooper's cycle of the complete sonatas for violin and piano by Mozart on Channel Classics. With the plethora of new recordings, we sometimes lose sight of great recordings from the recent past. I thought it would be useful to revisit these and perhaps... Read More »
Back in the 1980s or maybe earlier, "transparency" became the buzzword in high-end audio. Harry Pearson of The Absolute Sound was a big proponent of the term, and soon many reviewers and sycophants jumped on the idea, to the point where talking about "transparency" quickly became a tiresome cliché. But what does "transparency" really mean? I think most audiophiles... Read More »
Volume VI offers an eclectic selection of pop, rock, classical, Americana and more, in exceptional DSD and SACD sound on newly-available premium gold discs – Boulder, Colorado, May 27, 2022 – PS Audio’s Octave Records has expanded its series of reference-quality music-sampler discs with the release of Audiophile Masters, Volume VI. The compilation offers an... Read More »
Modena, Italy (May 25, 2022) – Sonus faber is thrilled to announce the continuation of its celebrated partnership with Maserati, showcased in the audio system integration within the new spyder MC20 Cielo. The audio system technology has been specifically optimized from the EISA award-winning MC20 Coupè vehicle to fit the unique acoustic and positioning needs... Read More »
From organiser, exhibitors or visitors – the voices at the HIGH END 2022, which celebrated its comeback from 19th to 22nd May in Munich, all said the same thing. After a forced hiatus due the pandemic, the international audio trade show was filled with powerful emotions and pure passion. Not only the great joy of... Read More »
Plan your calendar for July 29-31, 2022 and book your rooms at the Doubletree Hilton Sea-Tac. https://book.passkey.com/go/audiofest22 All of our large vendor rooms are reserved and are booking table spaces and standard rooms, which are the largest in the industry at 15' x 20'. While at PAF be sure to visit: Headphone and record vendors. The... Read More »
(May 24, 2022) Enjoy the Music.com, high-end audio's celebrated site for over 26 years and a leader in providing premium audio and music industry news, hardware reviews, and show reports, is pleased to announce that we're sponsoring T.H.E. Show's Thursday night media and exhibitor celebration! To be held from Friday, June 10th through Sunday, June 12th... Read More »
Celebrating over 50 years of the Record Cleaning Machine with new siblings for the world's first Threadless point suction cleaner. High-End Munich MOC Hall 3 N07. Jonathan Monks, the son of the founder Keith Monks, today announced two new additions to the Prodigy series and updates to the original machine. Prodigy series brings the world's first... Read More »
Vertere Acoustics MOC Munich Thursday 19th May 2022. Touraj Moghaddam Vertere's founder and chief designer today announced the new Silencer equipment supports. These and an Iso-Shelf are part of the demo record player system in Atrium 4.1 E121. The Vertere Iso-shelf sits under a record player supported by low profile Iso-balls or the superior Silencers. Silencer is... Read More »
Can you like a work of music without understanding it? Indeed, yes. I don't claim to yet understand what Maya Fridman and Maarten van Veen have created in Nuït, their new release from TRPTK. But I do like it, and I plan to continue listening to come to grips with it. It is a wonderful... Read More »
Eric Clapton, Unplugged (Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab) This latest limited edition Mofi UltraDisc One-Step box set was cut by Krieg Wunderlich and pressed at RTI. You get your two 180 gram 45 RPM LPs on Supervinyl with all the usual packaging and perks, but I had to wonder if this pressing was really going to... Read More »
Tierkreis by Bruce Friedman, Jeff Schwartz, and Jim McAuley Tierkreis is a collection of 12 short compositions written by Karlheinz Stockhausen, each originally created to be played on a music box. In 2008, Bruce Friedman, a trumpet player based in Southern California, organized a concert of Stockhausen work, part of a global celebration of his... Read More »
The Munich Show is ongoing at the time of this writing. While many of us in the USA are still maintaining our distance during this ongoing pandemic (and with those rising airline prices!), those in Europe have this splended event happening just down the road. Our good friend, Dirk Sommer, Editor of our affiliated publication,... Read More »
May 19, 2022 (Munich) - Focal and Naim present a hi-fi system with exceptional performance and finishes: the new Aria K2 926 loudspeaker and the Uniti Star all-in-one player, Ash Grey finish. United under the VerVent Audio Group for 10 years now, the two brands embody the very best of French audio and English electronics.... Read More »
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The new innuOS 2.1 will feature a new TIDAL integration, initial support for UPnP/DLNA players, a Smart Mixes engine and Airplay connectivity based on the provided Logitech Media Server platform. TIDAL MQA integration will come later. innuOS 2.1 now in Beta testing to gather user feedback before launch, which is planned for the end of... Read More »
Faro, Portugal, May 16th 2022 After the tremendous success of their ZEN Music Server series, Innuos is now launching the new PULSE Network Player series to bring the Innuos experience to music lovers who mostly want to play music from streaming services or who just want another zone in their home connected to their main music... Read More »
Octave’s reference-quality sonic excellence is now available on two new LPs Boulder, Colorado, May 17, 2022 – PS Audio’s Octave Records announces the availability of two of its titles on vinyl LPs: The Audiophile Reference Disc, created to help listeners get the best out of their stereo systems by providing reference-quality music and test tracks,... Read More »
Greetings friends, I hope life is treating you well in 2022. Today I have an impressive Red Book CD player to tell you about, the Audio Note (UK) CD 4.1x Red Book CD player (MSRP $14,331 USD). The Audio Note (UK) CD 4.1x CD player is an expensive high-fidelity Red Book CD player with a... Read More »
Astell&Kern, a global leader in high-resolution audio players and accessories, launches three new products at HIGH END Munich 2022. All three products, along with Astell&Kern current line of portable digital audio players and accessories will be on display at their HIGH END booth – HALL 1, D02/E03a from May 19 – 22, 2022. All three products will... Read More »
With flexible Earhook design and Cleer+ App Control for Personalized Listening San Diego, Calif. (May 16, 2022) – Cleer Audio, an industry-leading headphone and smart speaker manufacturer, is pleased to announce its new ARC - Open Ear True Wireless Earbuds, an open ear design with a flexible fit. ARC features an earhook flexible hinge design for a comfortable... Read More »
Munich, Germany 2022: Nordost is excited to be back at the High End show in Munich, May 19-22, after three long years. Attendees will be the first to see, and hear, several products which have been released since our last Munich showing, in 2019, but have yet to be introduced on a public, international platform.... Read More »
Great Neck, NY, May 12, 2022---- Music Hall, manufacturer and distributor of fine audio components since 1985, is pleased to introduce the Analogue A3, a strikingly attractive high-quality vacuum tube phono amplifier. In the Music Hall tradition, the A3 is versatile, sounds amazing, and will provide many years of trouble-free listening enjoyment. Analogue A3 features: ultra... Read More »
To the audio reviewer community, Vladimir Lamm’s recent passing has brought deep sorrow to the members of his family and to all those who knew him and of him; who experienced the unforgettable feeling of elevation and involvement while listening to music through LAMM equipment; to countless number of people whose lives he touched through... Read More »
Classical ensemble Calefax Reed Quintet yields once again to the temptation for extemporaneous performance in this collaboration with improvising trumpeter and composer Eric Vloeimans—to extraordinarily satisfying results. On The Spot, Eric Vloeimans, Calefax Reed Quintet. Buzz | Northstar Recording 2014 (DXD) HERE I'm not sure what I expected when I started playing this album, but... Read More »
Grimm Audio introduces a new variant of the LS1 loudspeaker system: Nano Legs. With Nano Legs an LS1 can be placed on top of a side table or dresser. This is an advantage in for instance small rooms where every square meter counts - the acoustic properties of the LS1 make it function great in... Read More »
(BINGHAMTON, NY) MAY 11, 2022 – McIntosh is thrilled to introduce the MCD12000 SACD/CD Player. While classified as a CD player, the MCD12000 serves as a reference level digital-to-analog convertor (DAC) that includes reference level SACD/CD playback capabilities. Music played through MCD12000's digital inputs or compact discs is processed by professional grade 8-channel DACs, designed... Read More »
Chamber songs and duets. Corina Feldkamp, soprano; Anna Tonna, mezzo-soprano; Isabel Dobarro, pianist. Cezanne CZ 090. TT: 52.21 Caña española. El corazón triste. Canción española. Seguidillas de los oficialitos. Fandango. Mi numen parlero. Mazourka de Blagoïska. Stanzas for music. Amor con sue promesse. Occhi miei. Come fan' le ragazze. Saluto. Dimmelo caro ben. Le moissonneur. Scène de... Read More »
The US singer presents her latest album at the audio fair A special highlight of the HIGH END 2022 will be the performance of American musician Lori Lieberman on May 21, 2022. Accompanied by the Christian Schumacher Quartet from Munich, the renowned singer-songwriter will debut her latest album "Truly" during a performance at the MOC.... Read More »
WORLD PREMIERE The Italian company Grandinote was established in 2005. Its founder and chief designer is Massimiliano "MAX" Magri. Their first product was the A Solo amplifier, and the most important technology they use is called Magnetosolid. We are premiere testing their largest integrated amplifier, Supremo. If you look at the Grandinote's lineup, you will... Read More »
With delicate precision, Susana Gómez Vázquez illuminates these piano pieces with a scintillating beauty, each carefully shaped and presented like jewels on velvet cushions. Both the performances and the recorded sound quality, in Pure DSD256, are a treasure. Ad Illam - Music of Chopin, Piazzolla, Ginastera for Piano, Susana Gómez Vázquez. Eudora Records 2021 (Pure... Read More »
May 10, 2022 - The leading French brand in the audio sector unveils the 300 ICA6 angled in-ceiling loudspeaker at the ISE (Integrated System Europe) exhibition in Barcelona (10th-13th May). Discrete and easy to install, this versatile loudspeaker joins Focal’s current 300 Series line. By supplementing its range with a product for hi-fi or Home... Read More »
Andover Audio is pleased to announce a new vinyl accessory: the TrueGrain cork record mat. A perfect companion to Andover’s SpinDeck and SpinDeck Max turntables, the TrueGrain mat is precision-cut and finished to achieve a smooth, leather-like surface, adding an extra layer of protection for records while damping vibration, reducing noise, and diminishing static buildup.... Read More »
Following the introduction of the D1.5 CD/SACD player/transport, CH Precision is proud to announce the release of the partnering DAC, the new C1.2. As impressive as the D1.5 has already proved, the C1.2 represents an even bigger advance in musical performance. Four-fold increase in processing power. Revised and refined proprietary PEtER algorithm also introduces fixed-point... Read More »
SCHAUMBURG, IL - Wildly popular among high fidelity audio enthusiasts, due to COVID related cancellations, the annual three day Audio Expo North America—or AXPONA—last showed here in 2019. And now on Day One, it's Friday noon and people have come out in droves. Frankly, I cannot find a parking space at the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel... Read More »
