Goodly guide and hale-fellow-well-met! John Marks of The Tannhauser Gate once again leads us into fascinating lesser-known musical worlds in this latest essay. Music and painting meet here, to the blessing of all! This possibility is something that I know well; PF artist Dan Zimmerman used to have sessions of listening-cum-drawing at my place many years ago.... Read More »
Grandissimi Gravita. Violin Sonatas by Vivaldi, Tartini, Veracini, Pisendel. Rachel Podger, violin; Brecon Baroque. Channel Classics SACD. CCSSA 39217. Snow showers! On November 13. In Western Massachusetts! And unexpectedly this album of baroque violin sonatas sounds warm and comforting that last week seemed a bit indifferent. I've learned not to underestimate the role meteorological (and... Read More »
Furutech Co. Ltd. • Tokyo, Japan, manufacturer of ultra-refined analog, digital, video cable and accessories, invites you to the RCM Audio room – Azalia I. Furutech debuts the ultimate Cable and Connector damping solution featuring Furutech’s revolutionary NCF sound enhancing material. Multifunctional NCF Booster Performance-enhancing Connector & Cable Holder Not only does the Furutech NCF... Read More »
DETROIT, MI—November 14, 2017—Shinola is proud to announce The Canfield Headphone Collection. Designed and developed in Detroit and based in the belief that how it’s made matters, that how things look, feel and sound, matters. The Canfield adds to a range of Shinola Audio goods (Runwell Turntable, Bookshelf Speakers) that are distinctive in every detail. Two years in... Read More »
Wayne Goins, Jazz and Blues Man Extraordinaire, joins Positive Feedback as a Senior Associate Editor and as a Musician in Residence. We welcome Wayne to our creative community with real enthusiasm…I've heard him play! The man has the real bad-ass chops, amigos! Dr. David W. Robinson, Ye Olde Editor Well, hello there! Nice to meet... Read More »
Cue exhibit C, marked as personal identification tag, allowing said member of the audio press to attend Denver's annual mile high HiFi show. "Your honor", says the defendant, "this is more proof that the industry is doing great!" Truth be told, I'd agree—advocate—that for some in the industry, the HiFi business is indeed booming. Let's call... Read More »
Ye Olde Editor, a portrait. (Photograph by John Robinson; image processing by Ye Olde Etc.) I made a recent trip to Salina, Kansas to catch the 20th Anniversary Acoustic Sounds/Analogue Productions Blues Master weekend. My good audiobud Chad Kassem had been asking me to catch this event for twenty years now, and I had always... Read More »
In which our hero meditates… (Drawing by Robinson at a particularly boring faculty meeting many years ago….) What's the deal with me and German designs? In my later adult life, I've gravitated to a lot of products from our friends in Germania. While I'm not in the market for, say, guns, artillery pieces, or tanks,... Read More »
Angela Gheorghiu, soprano; *Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi/Anton Coppola; +Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden/Antonio Pappano. EMI Classics 50999 9 65938 2 0. TT: 73.35 Madama Butterfly: Un bel dì vedremo; Tu, tu, piccolo Iddio (with Roberto Alagna, tenor). Edgar: Addio, mio dolce amor*; Nel... Read More »
Confession is Good for the Soul Those few pilgrims who've remained in touch, and kept up to date with RADIO FREE CHIP's infrequent musings, might just recollect how a persistent and recurring theme of recent columns centered around how contented I was with my rig, how my system had evolved to the point where I... Read More »
So it is now 2017, and many of us music lovers and gear nuts have moved into the area of playing back our music files (streamed or downloaded from the internet or ripped from a CD) in some fashion. The world of computer-based audio has evolved from using an off-the-shelf PC or Mac to do... Read More »
Roger Skoff Comments on the State of Music and Our Hobby Most of us will never sit on the stage at a concert of any kind. Neither will we ever have the opportunity to actually see—either by our physical presence or even through pictures—our favorite music of whatever kind being performed or recorded. Even so,... Read More »
Our fellow voyager and good audio friend, the esteemed John Marks, he of The Tannhauser Gate blog site, strikes out in a direction in this article that speaks to me. It's the moving and deeply inward world of Morton Feldman's Rothko Chapel, a commissioned composition both celebrating and creating the spiritual framework for the edifice of that... Read More »
At last! The construction that plagued last year's Rocky Mountain Audiofest is history and the show is back to normal. Improved sleeping rooms. Much larger restaurant with the same amount of help. The same nice friendly staff. The Marriot's tower section packed with audio equipment of all shapes and sizes from the Mezzanine to the... Read More »
Marek Pospieszalski, gra piosenki, które śpiewał Frank Sinatra Marek Pospieszalski MP001, Medium: Compact Disc. Date of release: 15th March 2017 A parcel with Marek Pospieszalski's album was sent from my home city of Cracow. It is modest, released in a digipack without any booklet, with minimum lettering imprinted on the CD and is – let me tell... Read More »
This article, by Clark Johnsen, originally ran when Positive Feedback was in print - Volume 8, Issue 2, 1999 I. In The Beginning Was The Tone The amiable, estimable John Marks (or is that, inestimable?), before appearing on the cover of our previous issue, addressed in TAS #115 the vital topic of how to engage (or is that,... Read More »
Lynn in the BIG room Last year Lynn and I trekked out to New Jersey for the YG Acoustics Sonja XV speaker press event. That roll out went so well that GTT Audio staged a reprise this year for the launch of the Audionet Heisenberg amplifier and Stern preamp. So, Lynn and I recently returned... Read More »
25 October 2017 Sarasota, FL - VAC/Valve Amplification Company will exhibit in the Potomac Room at the upcoming Capitol Audio Fest, November 3-5 in Rockville, MD. Kevin Hayes, President of VAC, stated, "In 27 years, this will be the largest, finest, highest performance music system we have ever displayed, and we are so pleased to be in the largest... Read More »
10/24/2017 | Rossville, Georgia | Rossville, Georgia | Western Electric Select®, distributes and sells only the finest High End products available. The first to qualify for Western Electric Select is Gauder Akustik, a successful speaker manufacturer with a full line based in Renningen, Germany. The Western Electric website offers direct sales of four select Gauder Akustik... Read More »
Brian Hunter of Audiohead volunteered to cover this for Positive Feedback as we could not make it... As always with Schiit Audio, good time was had. Schiit Audio's second live stream event (and IRL event) took place last Friday to address the company's newest 3 products the Magni 3, the Loki mini and a prototype... Read More »
Fyrlyd Records FYRLYDLP1602, available at http://fyrlyd.no/ for 389 NOK "I'm a huge fan of those guys." Music reviewers aren't supposed to admit to such things. We're supposed to be objective in our approach to something that's almost perfectly subjective. We're supposed to accurately describe the release, offer some sort of reference for the reader that... Read More »
Our coverage of Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2017 continues. In this report, all photos by Dave Clark, words by Carol Clark. Thrax Audio, Symposium Acoustics, Sound Application, Antipodes, Weiss Engineering, Audio Den, Audio Limits. Acoustic Sounds, and the amplifiers are a custom-made gift to Sony from Nelson Pass. As always, the Daedalus Audio, WyWires, and... Read More »
Our coverage of Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2017 continues. In this report, all photos by Dave Clark, words by Carol Clark. Schiit Audio and Salk Sound. Schiit Freya preamplifier. Schiit Vidar amplifiers. Great sounding room! Ryan R620 loudspeakers, Vincent Audio SA T7 preamplifier and SP 331 MK hybrid power amplifer, Aurender A10 music server, and... Read More »
Gold Note might not be familiar to us here in the States as they are a relatively new company from Italy that is rapidly filling its offerings with anything and everything a music loving audiophile could imagine; from amplifiers, preamplifiers, speakers, turntables, servers and DACs, they have it all. And all made with that Italian... Read More »
Our coverage of Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2017 continues. In this report, all photos by Dave Clark, words by Carol Clark. Focal, Naim, Vicoustic, Audio Plus Services. ELAC had more than one room at the show, this one featured more affordable gear. Aurender had the A10 music server on hand along with Magnepan 3.7 loudspeakers,... Read More »
Our coverage of Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2017 continues. In this report, all photos by Dave Clark, words by Carol Clark. AVM Audio, Music Direct. This room sounded great. Martin Logan Ltd., D'Agostino, Stromtrunk, AudioQuest. Fort Collins Audio featured some new products. Spendor A4 loudspeakers, Rega P6 turntable, Chord Hugo, and Cardas Clear Beyond XL.... Read More »
October, 20, 2017 - Since we hired Electrical Engineer Mike Bettinger we have been asked about VPI's future in electronics. Mike is known for his award winning "Arion" phono, which is how we met him. Harry Weisfeld liked his phono so much he bought one for his personal use. Mike has taken what he learned... Read More »
18th October 2017 - dCS announces the release of a software update that provides MQA compatibility to all current product ranges - bringing the MQA experience into what many regard as the best digital music source in the world. MQA, Master Quality Authenticated, provides a means to efficiently encode and transmit high resolution audio. MQA... Read More »
FRANKLIN, TN, October 19, 2017—Emotiva Audio Corporation, the company that continually proves high-performance audio doesn't have be high-priced, now offers two new variations on its configurable XPA Gen 3 modular amplifier. The new XPA-9 and XPA-11 Gen3 amplifiers (both priced at $1,999) are, respectively, nine- and 11-channel versions of the latest generation of Emotiva power... Read More »
For the past fourteen years Rocky Mountain Audio Fest happens each October. Usually Dave and I battle airports and uncomfortable flights, but this year we decided to drive. Two days driving, gorgeous scenery, and we arrived midday on Wednesday. Plenty of time for rest and relaxation before the show began on Friday. In this report,... Read More »
Burning Amp Festival 2017, DIY Audio's Premiere International Festival Held Annually in San Francisco, set for November 12th Burning Amp Festival 2017 is coming to the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco on Sunday, November 12th from 8:30 a.m. to 8:00 PM. New This Year: BAF's hours have been extended due to the increased interest and... Read More »
Mike Bovaird, the owner of Suncoast Audio in Sarasota Florida, held an event at his store on October 14, 2017 to provide a premier demo of the new Pacific flagship DAC from LampizatOr for his Sarasota customers. I flew in on 'lucky' Friday the 13th to Sarasota in order to cover the event. Suncoast Audio... Read More »
It isn't just every day that a hardcore audiophile disguised as an audio reviewer meets living high-end audio legend. In fact, there's no doubt that some present day Positive Feedback readers were just a glean in their parents' eye when Aalt Jouk (A.J.) van den Hul built his first cartridge some 50 years ago. No... Read More »
This year, for the first time in its history, the TAVES Consumer Electronics Show was moved to a non-hotel setting. The 2017 TAVES venue was the Toronto Congress Center in Etobicoke. This suited the organizers goal of transforming TAVES from a predominantly high-end audio show, to a true, all encompassing Consumer Electronics Show. This transition... Read More »
On Sunday October 15, 2017, the Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society held its monthly meeting at the beautiful Weinhart Design audio emporium in Bel Air, CA. The main draw for this meeting was an opportunity to audition the Carver Amazing Line Source (ALS) Speakers from the Bob Carver Corporation. But, not only would... Read More »
Chopin's Last Waltz, Robert Silverman pianist, Kimber Kable ISOMIKE 5606, LP. Producer: Ellen Silverman Editing: Aaron Hubbard Mastering: Chad Kassem, Aaron Hubbard Recording Engineers: Aaron Hubbard, Ray Kimber Mastering Engineer: Kevin Gray, Cohearent Audio, LLC Recorded using the ISOMIKE RECORDING TECHNIQUE recorded at DSD256 and edited in that format without any compression or equalization other than... Read More »
John Marks of The Tannhauser Gate favors us with some reflections upon Bernadettes, Leonard Cohen of remarkable memory, the exceptional Jennifer Warnes, and a certain haunting song. This is a bracing little essay, taking across time and space to one of the great tandems of recent decades: Cohen and Warnes. He's gone now, to my heart's... Read More »
