What can I possibly say about John Coltrane that hasn't already been said? Every jazz lover worth their salt knows John Coltrane was a player and band leader of unparalleled depth, creativity, and skill. With Craft Recording's new box set Coltrane '58: The Prestige Years the question is less about Coltrane and more about whether... Read More »
Reference Recordings RR-145, SACD and HDCD™ Price: $19.98; high-resolution download file, $24.98 While I don't do music reviews on a regular basis, there are times when a particular album really strikes me, and I have to say something…usually brief, but definite. This is one of those times. I just received a new SACD from my... Read More »
Sunday, June 2, 4-6 PM THE BACK ROOM, 1984 Bonita Avenue, Berkeley, CA Phone: 510-654-3808 Featuring: David Udolf, Piano; Dave Belove, Bass; Kendrick Freeman, Drums; Hugo Wainzinger, Guitar and special guests! Get Tix: https://backroommusic.com/events-1/2019/6/2/tribute-to-elis-regina-and-toots-thielemans-with-daria-and-brian-byrnes
With assistance on room lists from PF Senior Editor Myles Astor David W. Robinson, Munich 2018 (photograph by Wojtek Pacula) A glance backwards, and AXPONA 2019 fades into history. It's already being overlaid by Munich 2019, which occurs too quickly after the event in Chicago. Then again, the calendar for high-end audio events has been... Read More »
Yuko Mabuchi Plays Miles Davis, Yarlung Records, YAR88171, multiple formats. Recorded live in the Brain and Creativity Institute’s Cammilleri Hall on April 25, 2018. Executive Producer: Randy Bellous. Associate Producers: Billy Mitchell & Elliot Midwood. Recording Engineers: Bob Attiyeh & Arian Jansen. Sound Consultants: Brad Michel & Ricardo Ryan. Mastering Engineers: Steve Hoffman & Bob... Read More »
NORTH PRAIRIE, WI May 9th. 2019/VH Audio/- Chris VenHaus, the President and Head Designer of VH Audio, announced today that effective May 10th, 2019 the company's V-Cap™ line of high-end audio capacitors will be retailed exclusively through VH Audio, in North America. The V-Cap dealer organization in Europe and Asia will be unaffected by this... Read More »
So where to begin? I dunno… how about at the beginning? Okay so my first turntable was an AR-XA with the Shure VR-15 cartridge. This combo spun vinyl as I had never heard before and served me well for a good number of years. But then for whatever reason I went with a Sony PS... Read More »
Naim Audio, the British hi-fi specialist with 45 years of audio expertise, has launched the 2nd Generation of its multi award-winning Mu-so wireless music system. Mu-so 2nd Generation evolves the iconic styling of its predecessor, but under its luxury aluminium casing are game-changing performance, feature and functionality upgrades. From high-resolution streaming to multiroom music to... Read More »
High-End Munich – May 9, 2019 – Focal, the French expert in High-Fidelity manufacturing, is introducing new wooden finishes to the Sopra N°2, Sopra N°3, Scala Utopia Evo and Maestro Utopia Evo loudspeakers, at High-End Munich. The selection of sophisticated finishes complements the sound performance of these Made-in-France, high-end solutions. Focal’s audio innovation goes beyond... Read More »
Munich—May 9, 2019—Wireworld Cable Technology, one of the world's most respected brands of high performance audio and video cables, announces the release of their second generation Ethernet patch cables. Their patented flat design was developed through listening tests that compared network cables to a local USB stick. These new “Series 8” cables utilize higher density... Read More »
Munich May 8th, 2019 – Cementing its reputation for developing high-performance digital sources, AURALiC will unveil a new addition to the award-winning G2 Series of products at the Munich High-End Audio show this year. Three years in the making, the SIRIUS G2 Upsampling Processor will debut at the MOC venue in Munich from May 9th... Read More »
Munich May 8th, 2019 – Cementing its reputation for developing high-performance digital sources, AURALiC will unveil a new addition to the critically acclaimed G1 Series of products at the Munich High-End Audio show this year. Continuing its tradition as a high-performance wireless streamer, the updated and enhanced ALTAIR G1 will debut at the MOC venue... Read More »
Herb Reichert (left) and Lynn Olson at RMAF 2015: a moment (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) Although some of you may know me as the sometime Tech Editor of PF (and that only occasionally, when the mood strikes me), and the designer of the Ariel loudspeaker and Amity and Karna 300B triode... Read More »
Global agreement supports Powered by Napster with an extensive breadth of studio quality audio solutions Seattle, WA, May 6, 2019 -- Rhapsody International Inc., a pioneer in digital music and leading provider of music streaming technologies and services for partners, today announced it has completed a global agreement with MQA, the innovative company delivering authenticated master quality music in... Read More »
Totem Acoustic has introduced the V2 Element Series Metal and Fire loudspeakers; The result of dramatic advancements to their legendary 7" Torrent bass driver. After living with the immensely successful Tribe Tower for the past 18 months, Totem has applied many of the principles learned from the evolution of their 4" Torrent driver to the... Read More »
This is an ongoing project by Claude Lemaire of Soundevaluations 91. Deep Purple, Machine Head. Purple Records – TPSA 7504 IE 064 (UK) (1972), Warner Bros. Records, Rhino Vinyl – R1 75622 (2006), 33 1/3 rpm. Genre: hard rock, heavy metal, proto-speed metal, blues rock. "We all came out to Montreux..." Surely one of the most recognizable... Read More »
Vladigerov: Piano Music. Victoria Terekiev, piano. Da Vinci Classics C00134. TT: 69.01. Classique et romantique, Op. 34; Choumene, Op. 29; Episodes, Op. 36; Aquarelles, Op. 17. Downloads: amazon.com, play.google.com, qobuz.com (mp3) The music of Bulgarian composer Pancho Vladigerov (1898-1978) has already appeared on an earlier album, Wind from the East (Gega New GR 31), on which Victoria Terekiev,... Read More »
Here's an opportunity to celebrate excellence in various disciplines, and the greatness of the human spirit! Every now and then I stumble upon a musical performance that just fills me with so much joy, and then I hasten to pass the word on. What a talented young lady, and what a talented mother she has!... Read More »
There’s news: As of May 1, 2019, Positive Feedback has added Steven Rochlin’s online magazine, Enjoy the Music, to its community of high-end audio online affiliated publications. Enjoy the Music has likewise added PF to its list of content-sharing journals. Both magazines have a long history of fine audio publication: Positive Feedback for 30 years, and... Read More »
BERNARDSVILLE, New Jersey, USA - Zero Feedback, Zero Dead time and bottomless noise floor using Gallium Nitride (GaN) transistors on the ELEMENT 114 Stereo Power Amplifiers from Merrill Audio make it simply one of the best amplifiers available. Merrill Audio is very excited to release this new advanced technology at a lower price point. Utilizing... Read More »
It happens from time to time that a Japanese traveling in the world falls in love with a place or person and that's where he sets up his business. But for a Westerner to start a company in Japan - it's a real rarity. And in the audio industry it is an absolute rarity. This... Read More »
Munich High End 2019 Atrium 4, F221 Marking CH Precision’s 10th anniversary. L10 line-stage with dedicated external power supply and more powerful M10 mono/stereo power amplifier (300 W/RMS into 8 Ohms stereo, over 1kW RMS into 8 Ohms in bridged mono mode, with bi-amped and high-current mono configurations as well). The same proven topologies (fully balanced,... Read More »
Happy Little Accidents Bob Ross (1942-1995) was the loving host of the 1980's TV show The Joy of Painting. He enjoyed the peace, serenity, and most importantly; the process of creating a beautiful painting on a blank canvas. Many of our listening spaces are blank canvasses. But, despite the usual claims that great low-frequency reproduction... Read More »
WORLD PREMIER at the HIGH-END SHOW Playback Designs chief architect, Andreas Koch, long known for his innovative hardware and proprietary software, will demonstrate Hi-Resolution synchronization of audio and video files capable of 4k video and DSD4 (DSD256, or Quad DSD) audio. The AV presentation captures the complete passion and energy of the musician(s) at the... Read More »
"It's style over substance," I thought, seeing the Tentogra Oscar turntable for the first time. It was during the Audio Video Show 2017. "It's probably style over substance," I said to a friend when I saw the same turntable a year later at the Audio Video Show 2018. The change was subtle, because "probably" does... Read More »
Twenty questions with an audiophile who is also an artist. For this premiere, we feature Joshua Miles of JWM Acoustics. What's your background? My primary background is in visual arts and industrial design. After establishing myself in this world, I began my engineering work in acoustics and recording technology. What's integral to the work of... Read More »
I am very grateful to Stereophile's John Atkinson for alerting me to an extraordinarily well-thought-out and, to me at least, persuasive identification of the "Hidden Theme" of Elgar's "Engima" Variations. Here's the link to Ed Newton-Rex's case that, when Elgar commented: through and over the whole set [of variations] another and larger theme "goes", but is not played... Read More »
New features include: Dual ESS Sabre ES9038PRO DACs Greater Power Output 5-pin Mini XLR Quad-Core CPU, More Internal Memory and Larger Battery Updated UI, Support for MQA and Open App Service Tokyo, Japan - Astell&Kern, a global leader in portable high-resolution audio players, launches the KANN CUBE, the second model in the KANN performance line, today at... Read More »
The M-CR612 Delivers High Performance, Voice-Controllable Playback from a Variety of Digital and Analog Sources VISTA, Calif. (April 22, 2019)—Marantz®, manufacturer of the world’s most musical-sounding audio components, today announced the Marantz M-CR612 compact network CD receiver. The feature-rich Hi-Fi mini system is ideal for passionate listeners looking for a simple solution without sacrificing the beautiful... Read More »
AUDIRVANA, the world-renowned audio playback and management software for hi-fi quality, launches its new version 3.5 for MacOS with new Sound Quality enhancements and a completely new User Interface Paris, 25 April 2019 – AUDIRVANA, maker of the leading expert audio software for Mac, has redesigned the software and is thrilled to unveil its new... Read More »
Furutech Co. Ltd. • Tokyo, Japan, manufacturer of ultra-refined analog, digital, video cable and accessories, invites you to Hall 3, J01 where we will introduce an new model to our new ultimate Cable and Connector damping solution featuring Furutech’s revolutionary NCF sound enhancing material and introduce several new power connector series. Furutech will be debuting... Read More »
LampizatOr NA (Destination Sound Group) is proud to announce our new appointment as the exclusive North American Dealer for Final Touch Audio ("FTA") cables. FTA is a small family company born out of pure love and dedication to music. It combines technical proficiency with the artistic craftsmanship, as each one of our products is completely... Read More »
This year's European AES show was in Dublin, which seemed a bit of an odd choice for a location because there is not a huge audio production community there. So the show was small, but it was interesting because the people who did show up were dedicated folks. Room Treatment Usually at the US shows... Read More »
Okay, so let's cut to the chase, the Black Cat Matrix line of cables (specifically the 3202 interconnects, 3232 speaker cables, and the DIGIT USB) are exemplary. Stunningly good for the price. Competitive with cables I have here that cost several times the 3202 interconnect's $699.95 per meter, 3232 speaker cable's $649.95 per 1.5 meters,... Read More »
Continuing on with our coverage of AXPONA 2019. All images by Dave Clark, along with some added commentary. Pure Audio electronics Interesting turntable in the Marketplace, where there were lots of interesting things to see! DH Labs. Great people and great product! Besflores Nievera with a panel in the Marketplace discussing streaming services. Schiit Audio... Read More »
I've always thought of the Thorens TD-124 as one of the most beautiful of the classic turntables, which for whatever reason, reminds me of being the 1955 Ford T-Bird of the turntable world, a classic car which I also happen to greatly admire. Artisan Fidelity Thorens TD-124 Statement / Classic Long-Base Turntable I had lusted... Read More »
Continuing on with our coverage of AXPONA 2019. All images by Dave Clark, along with some added commentary. Distinctive Stereo, German Physiks, Mojo Audio. A lineup of AVM Audio USA products. First turntable for AVM called the Rotation. Very cool, it lights up blue and shines through the platter. ELAC had two rooms, both equally... Read More »
