A fun seasonal confection—Tchaikovsky's "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" is played solo on a 5 1/2 octave celesta. This little gem will stress test your audio system's capabilities, and put a smile on your face if your system is up to playing it. Tchaikovsky, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, Celia Garcia-Garcia. EP (DXD,... Read More »
(December 21, 2021) Enjoy the Music.com, high-end audio's celebrated online site for over 26 years and a leader in providing industry news, hardware reviews, and show reports, is pleased to announce that we're sponsoring AudioCon Los Angeles' (AudioConLA) Thursday night Industry Happy Hour! Show exhibitors and members of the press are invited to join us at... Read More »
– Levelland presents Bonnie and Taylor’s singing and acoustic instruments with a warm, rich purity – Boulder, Colorado, December 20, 2021 – Octave Records’ latest release is Levelland by country-folk duo Bonnie and Taylor Sims. It’s a contemplative and romantic set of songs by the two, who have been playing and recording together for more... Read More »
Hürth, Germany, December 2021 – Effective Immediately, TIDAL-Audio GmbH is proud to announce the TIDAL Intra Power Amplifier. The TIDAL Intra results from the uncompromising implementation of our most basic requirement: pure amplification of the musical signal without adding any sonic color or concealing even the smallest of details. A TIDAL basic since founding the... Read More »
Tampa, Florida—December 2022—The countdown to Florida Audio Expo 2022 has begun. The Florida Audio Expo is ready to host the audio-industry elite for its third show, to be held Friday–Sunday, February 18–20, at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Tampa Airport Westshore. Qobuz returns as the Expo’s official streaming service, and David Solomon, Chief Hi-Res Evangelist... Read More »
Roger Skoff writes about why it costs so much to get less Roger Skoff is the former CEO and Lead Designer for XLO Cables. Nowadays, he captains RSX Technologies, a new high-end cable company in southern California. Words are cheap. If you just want to hear the words of a song, even a kid's "crystal... Read More »
Beaverton, Dec. 17, 2021 – AURALiC Inc., today announced that it will now offer the capability to stream Amazon Music Unlimited on all of its streaming products. Owners of AURALiC products may now control and play Amazon Music from within Lightning DS, a feature-rich and intuitive control app designed in-house by the AURALiC engineering team.... Read More »
Adele, 30 Bravery Through Vulnerability Adele's a global superstar. The anticipation for new releases from the reclusive singer/songwriter is always a palpable worldwide event. But super stardom comes with a heavy price, especially when you're often compared to the greats like Etta James, Aretha Franklin, and Whitney Houston. Speaking of heavy; the constant criticism thrown at... Read More »
At long last, T.H.E. Show team is delighted to announce the official launch of T.H.E. Group (link to www.thegroup.life ), a brand new highly curated audio, music, and lifestyle… well, group! This is a membership-based eco-system with two levels of membership offered: (***Membership is open globally so you don’t have to be local to be part of... Read More »
T.H.E. Group: a Specially Curated Audio and Lifestyle Ecosystem Los Angeles, CA, December 15, 2021 - T.H.E. Show announces the launch of their brand new specially curated initiative, T.H.E. Group. Born in the cauldron of the unprecedented Covid pandemic when audio shows were forced to shutter, T.H.E. Show’s President, Maurice Jung and Director of Marketing,... Read More »
Since 2001 Wax Poetics has been highly regarded as a benchmark of quality in music. From its timeless music stories, through to its focus on progressive artists and scenes, quality has always been at the centre of what Wax Poetics does. Now newly relaunched to bring this same high level of music and insight to... Read More »
Bach's Goldberg Variations performed by string trio is a singular delight. This performance by members of the CamerataRCO is one that I rank among the best, most enjoyable, performances of this work that I know. With the significant bonus of outstanding sonics in this beautifully captured recording by Bert van der Wolf, Northstar Recording, I... Read More »
Norwegian soprano Mari Eriksmoen is remarkable. Her clear, agile soprano and light vibrato deliver perfectly in this collection of Mozart and Handel Arias. Highly recommended. Mozart and Handel: Arias and Overtures, Mari Eriksmoen, Jan Willem de Vriend, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. Challenge Classics | Northstar Recording 2020 (DXD) HERE This is my first occasion listening to... Read More »
Hurth, Germany, December 2021 – Effective January 1, 2022, TIDAL-Audio GmbH is proud to announce the newly created status of Brand Ambassador, TIDAL-Audio, USA. As a component of global changes surrounding the company’s growth, TIDAL-Audio GmbH is proud to announce the newly created status of Brand Ambassador, TIDAL-Audio USA. Effective January 1, 2022, Doug White... Read More »
Jan Willem de Vriend and the Residentie Orkest The Hague give us a symphony cycle to savor, the symphonies of Franz Schubert in glorious high resolution audio. This is a great cycle of the complete symphonies, with one more volume to come. Highly recommended. Schubert, The Complete Symphonies, Volumes 1-3, Jan Willem de Vriend, Residentie... Read More »
The New RS150 and RS250 Systems Feature Streaming for Modern Listening Binghamton, NY – December 10, 2021 – McIntosh is proud to introduce its iconic sonic quality in the new RS150 and RS250 wireless loudspeakers. The RS150 Wireless Loudspeaker is a compact, user-friendly speaker delivering a larger-than-life home audio sound performance. The RS250 Wireless Loudspeaker... Read More »
Beginning at the end of 2003, PF established its first annual awards for fine audio. The Brutus Award was established for the best that David Robinson and Dave and Carol Clark had heard in their own listening rooms during that year. You can think of it as our equivalent of an "Editors' Choice" award. The Gizmo Award,... Read More »
Boulder, Colorado, December 8, 2021 – Marking a major milestone for the company, PS Audio today announced the introduction of its aspen FR30 loudspeaker, an elegantly slim 3-way floorstanding tower that incorporates planar-magnetic and dynamic drivers and a host of innovative technologies to deliver extraordinary musical realism. The new FR30 features all-new push-pull planar magnetic midrange and high-frequency transducers,... Read More »
Buffalo, NY, December 8, 2021 --- Bluebird Music, distributor of fine audio products since 2000, is pleased to announce the availability of the AVM CS 2.3, an extraordinary all-in-one audio solution from Germany’s AVM (Audio Video Manufaktur). One elegant unit contains everything needed as a source for a high-quality music system---except a turntable. And AVM... Read More »
The Sound of Jazz - Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Jimmie Guiffre, Red Allen, Jo Jones, Mal Waldron (from the rehearsal for the Live from CBS Studio 58, NYC, broadcast December 8, 1957 (DXD, HDTT Redux) HERE The Sound of Jazz was a one-hour program that aired on CBS Sunday, December 8, 1957 at 5 p.m.... Read More »
Occasionally there are evenings where simply wallowing in aural excess is permitted. Tonight was one of those evenings as I pulled out this HDDT PureDSD transfer of two glorious performances from Charles Munch and his Bostonians, one of the greatest orchestras in the United States. It is from this Munch era in Boston that we... Read More »
Andy Duncanson and the High Cross Sound - International Phonograph, Inc., High Definition Tape Transfers, 2021. (from analog tape to DSD256, a PureDSD transfer) HERE This is Chicago Blues recorded on 26 May 2021 at High Cross Sound. Guitarist/vocalist Andy Duncanson is a regular live performer from the Champaign/Urbana area south of Chicago. He travels... Read More »
With compelling musicianship, the Ragazze Quartet deliver a superb cycle of Bartók's String Quartets. The Ragazze capture the full range of emotional content in these six quartets with vibrant, intelligent performances that rise to the top ranks of the great performances we've known over the decades. And the sound quality from Channel Classics is superb.... Read More »
Atmosphere SX replaces Atmosphere X, the longest-running and most successful cable loom in our 30-year history, with an uninterrupted four years in production. So needless to say, these new cables have some big shoes to fill. And how did we do this? Ultimately you’ll need to be the judge, but Atmosphere SX takes this loom... Read More »
2nd December, 2021, Tokyo, Japan: Leading digital music library specialist Melco Audio has released a new over-the-air firmware update (4.30), which brings a host of updates for the company’s N100, N10 and N1EX (EX Series) of digital libraries The new update, which has already been automatically sent to owners of Melco’s current EX Series or EX-updated digital music libraries,... Read More »
TRPTK delivers to us another amazing recording with Maya Fridman, a cellist whose musical sensibilities and skill never cease to enthrall me, performing two outstanding works for cello and orchestra by Jan-Peter De Graaff. The works are challenging and the performances by Maya Fridman are compelling. If you are at all sympathetic to contemporary music,... Read More »
Krakow Sonic Society is an informal group of music lovers, audiophiles, friends, meeting to learn something new about audio products, recordings, music, etc. The idea for KTS was born in 2005 and this is now its 132 meeting. Many steps led to the 132 meeting of the Krakow Sonic Society—bigger and smaller, but necessary ones.... Read More »
For anyone who values the early Decca sound, High Definition Tape Transfers is a treasure trove of music to explore. Here I'd like to share with you some of the outstanding recordings made by Decca's recording engineer Roy Wallace between 1956 and 1961. My hope is to give you a start to your own explorations... Read More »
30 November 2021 Arvada, CO, U.S.A. For immediate release YG Acoustics announces a truly game-changing new product… Vantage Live Vantage Live is a unique product, a complete system delivering stunning audio quality combined with exceptional convenience and installation flexibility. It is the culmination of many years of research and development by a team spanning three... Read More »
On Saturday December 11th from 12-6 PM,, Ideon Audio will host a dealer event with their dealer, Lucky Dog HiFi in Santa Fe. Ideon Audio’s owner George Ligerakis and Ideon Audio’s North American distributor, Michael Vamos , owner of Audio Skies, will be on hand to demonstrate Ideon’s complete range of products from their entry... Read More »
I wasn't intending on going to the Capitol Audiofest this year at all, what with so many things still being shut down due to the virus and all. I was enroute from Philadelphia where I was doing some work, down to my home in Tidewater Virginia and decided to stop off briefly and see what... Read More »
This Brahms Third recording takes pride of place above all others in my collection. Here is a superb interpretation, excellent performance, and outstanding sound quality all in a single package from Iván Fischer, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, and Channel Classics. Brahms Symphony No. 3 and Serenade No. 2, Iván Fischer, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Channel Classics... Read More »
Romanel, Switzerland – Wednesday 24th November 2021. The Swiss company announces it is celebrating its 70th anniversary in style with a limited edition turntable. The Reference Anniversary turntable is the product of a years long, major research and development project that has been kept under wraps until this past summer. In 1951, our founder Stefan... Read More »
THE DEFINITIVE SOLUTION TO COMPUTER-BASED HI-FI SYSTEMS’ MOST NOTABLE WEAKNESS? The computer-focused audiophile market lacked audiophile-grade PSUs for computer-based transports. Optimo S ATX promises a small revolution by introducing the first-ever audiophile power source unit dedicated strictly to extreme quality audio playback from PC-based transports. The market lacked a genuine audiophile-grade power supply capable of driving... Read More »
Part 1: TECHNOLOGY Or why a recording is not a document and what does it mean DIGITAL SOUND RECORDING – method of preserving sound in which audio signals are transformed into a series of pulses that correspond to patterns of binary digits (i.e., 0's and 1's) and are recorded as such on the surface of... Read More »
Pure Joy! Three world premier recordings from a contemporary composer with much to say, performed by a string quartet in their own recording debut whose style shows they will be going places, and stellar audio engineering once again by Tom Peeters on Cobra Records. Enthusiastically recommended all around. Introspect: String Quartets No. 1 & 2... Read More »
A ray of Sunshine! This is an ongoing project by Claude Lemaire of Soundevaluations 181. Jimmy "Bo" Horne, "Get Happy"/"It's Your Sweet Love". T.K. Disco – 33 (1977), 12", 45 rpm. Genre: funky disco, Sunshine Sound. Jimmie Horace Horne, Jr.—better known as Jimmy "Bo" Horne—honed his singing style and success to Steve Alaimo and Henry Stone's Alston... Read More »
