23rd February 2021, Kent, UK: In a new article posted on the Neil Young Archives, Neil Young and Phil Baker describe how they currently use Chord Electronics' Mojo DAC/headphone amplifier with their phones and desktops. They created a web page dedicated to correct Mojo set up to help their members enjoy all that Neil Young... Read More »
American drummer Steve Gadd has performed with some of the most iconic names in music, including Eric Clapton, Paul Simon, Paul McCartney and Steely Dan. So, when the legendary drummer raves about the jazz he creates with saxophonist Michael Blicher and organist Dan Hemmer, it behooves music lovers to listen. They can do just that... Read More »
This article originally ran in Volume 5, No. 2 of Positive Feedback Back in the Tube Saddle Again It's been a while, hasn't it? A couple of loudspeakers and a DAC got in the way, but now I'm back with a big embrace of those thermionic devices that I've grown to love. Since our last... 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 »
Introducing DualCoherent™ 2 Sonja Series Upgraded YG Acoustics is pleased to announce DualCoherent 2, a significant advance in one of our core and unique technologies. DualCoherent 2 builds on YG’s industry-leading DualCoherent crossover technology, further optimised through the powerful modelling capabilities of Cambridge Acoustic Sciences (CAS) https://cambridgeacousticsciences.com/. Working together with CAS, we measured the electronic... Read More »
New Music App Offers a Wider Range of Music-streaming Services and Enhanced Usability, with More Upgrades to Follow. WORTHING, UK (February 12, 2021)—Bowers & Wilkins, the leading global premium audio brand, is proud to announce an exciting new development to its Formation wireless technology platform. Launching on February 12th, the new Bowers & Wilkins Music... Read More »
We are blessed once again by some fine reflections from our good friend and brother, John Marks, he of The Tannhauser Gate fame. This time around we read his thoughts on the Graham Audio Chartwell LS6 Monitor Loudspeaker. I always fine John's commentary to be excellent reading, a blend of audio experience, music, deep insight, and... Read More »
Qobuz, the first Hi-Res music streaming service, is celebrating its two year anniversary in the US on February 14th. A love letter to the audiophile community, Qobuz streams in up to 24-bit / 192 kHz, and offers editorial content, liner notes, lyric booklets, and other musichead content found nowhere else. With the best sound quality... Read More »
Treat Your Headphones to McIntosh Vacuum Tube Amplification Binghamton, NY – February 4, 2021 – McIntosh, the global leader in prestigious home entertainment and ultimate-quality audio for 70 years, is proud to introduce the MHA200 Vacuum Tube Headphone Amplifier. The McIntosh MHA200 Vacuum Tube Headphone Amplifier is designed for discerning headphone enthusiasts who demand the... Read More »
If you're a serious audiophile, one of the things you can be certain of is that you're eventually going to have a problem. If you're lucky, it might just be that something in your system breaks or, like tubes and some other kinds of electrical or mechanical parts, eventually wears out. If you're less lucky,... Read More »
No, not quite done yet. RSX Technologies MAX Power Cable and the RSX Technologies Power8 Multi-Outlet Power Box The RSX Technologies MAX Power Cable. All images courtesy of RSX Technologies. Disclaimer first: Roger Skoff, formerly of XLO Cables, has been writing essays for Positive Feedback for a few years now. Back in 2019 he started... Read More »
I am indebted to David P. Goldman‘s wonderful Tablet magazine article on the place of classical music in Israeli society for introducing me to the young pianist Noam Sivan, who is recovering the lost art of classical-piano improvisation. Born in 1978, Sivan has taught at the Curtis Institute and the Juilliard School. Currently he is Professor of Piano Improvisation at the... Read More »
Okay so I have always been about removing or filtering out "noise" or whatever crap is in the signal or wherever… stuff that can cloud or obscure the music. Been after this ever since I realized it was there. Crap that gets in the way of the music. AC conditioners, AC regenerators, signal filters, grounding... Read More »
This is an ongoing project by Claude Lemaire of Soundevaluations 161. Diahann Carroll and The André Previn Trio, Porgy and Bess. United Artists Records UAS 5021, United Artists Records UAS 4021 (mono) (Can.) (1959), 33 1/3 rpm. Genre: jazz, musical. I loves you Porgy... let me count the ways. There are several interpretations of Gershwin's work—originally considered by... Read More »
KRAKOW SONIC SOCIETY is an informal group of audiophiles and friends who meet every now and then to learn something new about audio products, music releases, music itself, and so on. The idea for KSS was born in 2005. It has already been the 128th. KSS meeting. THE ENTERTEINMENT INDUSTRY IN THE TIME OF PANDEMIC... Read More »
Marius Leirånes. Photo by Natalie Jensen, used with permission. A few miles south of the arctic circle, in the small village of Rognan, Norwegian musician Marius Leirånes has, for decades, been dreaming up dark musical fantasies. Although his influences are diverse, he and his long-time friend and collaborator, Jostein Haugen, have plumbed the depths of... Read More »
January 28, 2021 - Following the launch of Stellia in 2019, global audio leader Focal presents Celestee. Delivering uncompromising audio quality, these headphones feature modern design and a blue finish, showcasing the French brand’s savoir-faire in audio. Focal has been present on the headphones market since 2012, developing a universally acclaimed collection of open-back and closed-back headphones. A... Read More »
I wrote enthusiastically about Just Listen Records a couple months ago (HERE). We were impressed by what this label was accomplishing, and we've been enjoying more of their deliciously well-recording acoustic music releases since then. They continue delivering innovative music from very talented artists, recorded in live single takes, with exceptionally natural, high resolution sound.... Read More »
Reports From The Low Country, Rick Stotijn (double bass), Channel Classics (2019 DSD256, DXD) (HERE) When a master plays, the double bass is one of the most amazing instruments. And so it is in this 2019 recording by bassist Rick Stotijn. Focusing on compositions by Dutch composers from the past 50 years, Stotijn brings his... Read More »
Patricia Barber remains one of my favorite contemporary jazz artists—both in the studio and live. Yes, her recordings are renowned for their sound quality and unique, if not eclectic arrangements, but she is much more than that. I lived in the Chicago area for many years and often found my way to her weekly Monday... Read More »
Los Angeles, Calif. — AGD Productions, Inc., a leader in Hi-End Audio electronic design, today introduced the AGD “Gran Vivace”, its new top of the line monoblock amplifiers. The AGD Gran Vivace 350W/4ohm amplifier is based on the new GaNTubeKT120. The AGD GaNTube technology is a unique proprietary CLASS-D modular platform 100% Gallium Nitride MOSFET... Read More »
Droplets II, Christiaan Richter, TRPTK (2020 DXD) (HERE) Live from Amsterdam's Concertgebouw Hall, it's an ear-opening extravaganza with a single percussionist and his 13" Chinese gong. But what a show! Watch out for the dynamics on this EP. Things start very softly, but progress to shattering volumes in the course of the twelve minutes of... Read More »
Republished from January - February 2021 I wrote about Jared Sacks and Channel Classics this past fall, focusing on several recordings which I find treasurable (HERE). Today, I'm returning to share a further conversation from this past December in which Jared and I talk about his recording philosophy, his work with some of the artists... Read More »
Mytek Audio proudly introduces the new Liberty THX AAA™ HPA, an analog headphone amplifier featuring THX Achromatic Audio Amplifier technology to deliver pure audio. The patented THX Achromatic Audio Amplifier (THX AAA™), the most linear amplifier technology available today, powers the Liberty THX AAA™ HPA to provide astonishing musical accuracy, unprecedented dynamic range, as well... Read More »
New York, January 15, 2021 Mytek Audio has announced a slew of new products to be launched throughout 2021 following the shifting of production to the new larger factory in Poland that took place last Summer. This change, originally prompted by a loss of confidence in previous manufacturer and EU distributor, HEM Electronics coincides with... Read More »
You know how certain record labels become favorites that you come back to again and again? For me, it comes from a developing trust in the label and the people behind that label—it's a brand thing. I know that I'll be safe taking a chance on a new release even if I don't know the... Read More »
If you listen via headphones or earbuds, you need some good binaural recordings in your music library. Binaural listening is the only way we get to hear true imaging and instrument positions via headphones. Stereo recordings, no matter how good, simply don't provide the same realism over headphones that properly made binaural recordings deliver. (In... Read More »
Dressed in a devilish red, iFi’s new top-of-the-range transportable DAC/headphone amp sports a powerful engine under the hood, expertly tuned to deliver an exhilarating sonic performance. Southport, England – iFi ushers in the New Year with the best battery-powered DAC/headphone amp the company has ever produced – the devilishly brilliant iDSD Diablo. Engineered to sit... Read More »
Yon Editor, contemplating... Photograph by John Robinson; image processing by David W. Robinson. Here's the fourth installment of my Brutus Awards for 2020. Time flows...I goes. Onwards.... The Mytek Brooklyn Bridge Streamer/DAC & the Mytek Brooklyn Amp+ Straight to this particular chase. I have been listening to designs from Mytek Digital for many years now…all... Read More »
As I get older, as I said a year or so ago when I started getting older, I find myself less inclined to talk, more inclined to drop a few notes and then just point. These are three recent recordings I feel compelled to point at. Jennifer Koh, Bach & Beyond, Part 3. Bach, Harbison,... Read More »
Roger Skoff writes about what might be the future of our hobby So what do you do when there's nothing to do? That's what a whole lot of us have had to figure out over most of the last year. Without restaurants, the movies, sports, concerts or other live music, without parties, the gym, or... Read More »
I was a total rock radio hound from the seventies through the eighties; I really stood up and noticed George Thorogood and The Destroyers when "Bad To The Bone" first hit the airwaves—especially his over-the-top guitar playing. The song (and George Thorogood) became a point of frequent discussion between my friends and me, who mostly... Read More »
Sasha Matson, Cooperstown (Jazz Opera in Nine Innings). Albany Records. (2015, 2020 Revised Edition (CD and 24-88 FLAC) (HERE) Baseball and jazz—two great American traditions here combined by composer Sasha Matson for an engaging musical experience. Add opera to the mix and you get some nice theater. Originally released in 2015 as a double CD... Read More »
Je donnerais mes jours. Songs by Gabriel Dupont. Rachel Joselson, soprano; Bo Ties, piano. Centaur CRC 3811. TT: 76.58. Downloads: amazon.co.uk (mp3); amazon.de (mp3); qobuz.com (16-bit) Poèmes d'automne. Le chanson de Myrrha. Le Foyer. Mandoline. Les Effarés. Deux mélodies. La Pluie. Chanson d'automne. Annie. Journée d'hiver. Le Jardin mouillé. En aimant. Les Caresses sur des poèmes de... Read More »
Most tube electronics enthusiasts are content to live with the stock tubes chosen by the manufacturer. And yet for others, comparing various types and grades of vacuum tubes into audio equipment poses an endless point of fascination, as they impart different qualities on signal passing through them, thus affecting the listening experience; some are more... Read More »
A portrait of Greg Weaver, Chicago, 2018. Photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson. Greg Weaver is a very good audiobud of mine. I first became aware of him back in the 90s, when I received a copy of his the audio analyst newsletter. His prose and commentary on LPs were top-notch. I got... Read More »
Ye Olde Editor contemplating in the fall of 2019. Photograph by John Robinson; image processing by David W. Robinson Time for Part the Third of my Brutus Awards for 2020... Merrill Audio Christine Reference Preamp Image courtesy of Merrill Audio Anyone who follows my "Impressions" series over the many years now knows that I have... Read More »
