Sonoma Acoustics Heads To CanJam@RMAFTo Debut Model One Electrostatic Headphones Following on the heels of CanJam London where Sonoma Acoustics LLC showed a prototype of their revolutionary Model One (M1) Headphone System—the first high-end headphones to utilize the High-Precision Electrostatic Laminate (HPEL) transducer developed by Warwick Audio Technologies Ltd.—the company is headed to CanJam at the... Read More »
In which our hero meditates… What a year it's been. As I observed in the first of these "Brief Impressions" articles, on the Oppo Sonica (HERE), there have been so bloody many products and projects here at PF Central in 2016 that I'll be writing from here until the end of the year to cover... Read More »
ROON ENABLED MERGING+NADAC PLAYER AT RMAF 2016 A new generation of integrated audiophile server will be demonstrated by On a Higher Note Merging Technologies will display a pre-production version of the Merging+NADAC Player at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. The result of a dynamic partnership with Roon Labs, On a Higher Note, Merging’s US... Read More »
Luis Filipe Fortunato’s Live and Pure A year or two ago I had to adopt a somewhat self-serving policy as a reviewer—physical formats only, please. I did this for a few reasons. First of all, too many publicists simply wanted to send me a link to some MP3 download of their clients—one in particular wanted... Read More »
This is my fourth attendance at the National Audio Show held each year at Whittlebury Hall near Towcester, England. I believe this will be the first time our readership at Positive Feedback will have been exposed to this show. This has been the premier show in the UK until the last couple of years where... Read More »
Once again John Marks educates and enlightens us with his recommendation of a worthy recording from our audio treasures. "Some of the best recordings were done decades past" is a truth that is none the worse for being so true that is has become a truism. Those who are newer to fine audio will want... Read More »
Incredibili Sine Compromissum This is it. Think of Trader Joe's. The Hyundai Genesis. A Hamilton watch, Uniqlo clothing, a CAO cigar, the...well, you may begin to get the idea. Bear witness: this is the Alpha Design Labs STRATOS and it is the hidden value champion of USB DAC's. Long may it reign. God Knows... Read More »
SVS Prime Elevation soars as an uncompromised height effects speaker and as a front, center, rear surround, side surround and/or LCR speaker when ideal placement isn’t possible. SVS, manufacturer of high performance speakers, subwoofers and audio accessories, proudly announces availability of the SVS Prime Elevation Speaker. The SVS Prime Elevation takes speaker versatility to new... Read More »
The LAAS – Los Angeles Audio Show – is a new high-end audio and home theater show debuting in June 2017 and every weekend each year following Memorial Day. The LAAS is presented in collaboration with the Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society at the Sheraton Gateway LA with complimentary shuttle service from the Los Angeles International... Read More »
RETURN TO VINYL: ROCK ‘N’ ROLLA™ PORTABLE BRIEFCASE TURNTABLES ARRIVE AT RETAIL OUTLETS IN OCTOBER Go Anywhere, Attractively-Priced Record Players Make Perfect Complement to Vinyl Sales Surge "Back to the future, a retro look with today's technology" Rock ‘N’ Rolla™, the ultimate in Portable Briefcase Turntables, will be available from retailers and online outlets beginning... Read More »
The Italian MC FIRENZE, Italy: Gold Note - the Italian High-End manufacturer based in Firenze – has announced the release of Donatello, the new MC cartridge available in two models: Donatello Gold (low output level) available at an MSRP of 950€ and Donatello Red (high output level) available at an MSRP of 650€. Gold Note... Read More »
[I'm pleased that our longtime cartoonist, Bruce Walker, is becoming active with us again. His unique style of edgy, crazy, Feifferesque drawings are unlike anyone else that I know of. He's been drawing for us on and off again from the very early days of Positive Feedback...we hope to have new work from him periodically. Enjoy!... Read More »
NEW AUDIO SHOW IN SUNNY CALIFORNIAThe LA Audio Show is Coming to Los Angeles, Summer 2017! Join us in Sunny California for a new Audio Show experience jam-packed with Audiophile bliss! Find your perfect chair in the plethora of private listening rooms or skip booth to booth to hear the best in headphones, find your... Read More »
Funny thing. You'd think that there wouldn't be any enormous mountaintops in Newark, New Jersey. And you'd be wrong…. Let me explain. Bill Parish of GTT Audio A couple of months ago I got an invitation from Dick Diamond of YG Acoustics, Bill Parish of GTT Audio, and Joe Kubala of Kubala-Sosna to attend a... Read More »
Select members of the audio press were invited to GTT Audio for the YG Acoustics Sonja XV speaker press event. Over the course of a week, each of us got to experience a personal listening session. Lynn and I were scheduled for the afternoon of the first day; Dr. David Robinson, ye olde editor at... Read More »
Michael Kiwanuka, Love & Hate Polydor B0024912-01 2 LPs – $24.99 Purchased at The Sound Garden in Syracuse, NY Tidal strikes again. Just a few weeks since I accidentally played The Avalanches' Wildflower on the streaming music service and discovered a mind-bending, sensibility-changing masterwork, I've done it a second time. Hmmm…Michael Kiwanuka…wonder who this is,... Read More »
Dirk Sommer, with photographs by Helmut Baumgartner For everyone who takes a real interest in High End it's a truism that even the best equipment can't recreate a live impression. This alleged fact, however, while perhaps not refuted, would be at least seriously shaken by visiting the Audio Forum in Duisburg, Germany, the Acapella Audio... Read More »
Von Schweikert Audio Introduces the UniField 2 MkII Von Schweikert Audio is pleased to announce our newest loudspeaker, the UniField 2 MkIII. First introduced in 2006, the stand-mount designed UniField 2 has proven extremely popular. So much so, it’s earned the distinction of being the highest selling model of any Von Schweikert Audio design since... Read More »
[UPDATED VERSION with new purchase links for NativeDSD.com included at the end of the review.] For quite a while now I've been sitting on an advance copy of an important Quad DSD recording, waiting for it to be released commercially. Now, I'm glad to say, the time has come…at last! The album is music by... Read More »
AURALiC Introduce ARIES firmware 4.0 New playback engine brings massive sound quality improvement and exciting new features Beijing, China, 11th September, 2016 – AURALiC LIMTIED released version 4.0 of Lightning device firmware for ARIES, ARIES LE and ARIES MINI. The new firmware, which utilizes AURALiC’s latest Lightning Playback Engine V2, brings user several new... Read More »
MAHLER: Symphony No. 9 Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Pierre Boulez Deutsche Grammophon 289 457 581-2 TT: 79.46 The death of Pierre Boulez earlier this year provides as good an opportunity as any other to consider his recorded legacy, as well as giving me an excuse to check out this 1995 Mahler Ninth, which I'd somehow managed to... Read More »
FIRENZE, Italy: Gold Note - the Italian High-End manufacturer based in Firenze - is going to release Vasari in October, a new MM cartridge engineered to offer high quality at a competitive price. The cartridge will launch in two models: Vasari Red and Vasari Gold, both featuring a unique body design, fully machined from solid... Read More »
It was a glorious day for a Hudson River crossing, with clear skies and endless visibility, the kind of day that photographers love. Lynn and I were off to visit Distinctive Stereo in northern New Jersey. We boarded the New York Waterway ferry at West 39th Street. Eight minutes later we docked at Port Imperial/Weehawken,... Read More »
iPhone Headphone Jack Going Away? Your Headphones Won’t Have to With HRT’s i-dSp Accessory! The rumors have been flying: Apple may be introducing a new iPhone or two – and the new phones may not have a 3.5 mm headphone jack. No headphone jack? No worries: users will still be able to use their current... Read More »
J.S. Bach, The Art of Fugue. Rachel Podger, Brecon Baroque. Channel Classics CCS SA38316. There was a time, which for some may still be the time, when J.S. Bach's 24 Preludes and Fugues for solo keyboard (Well Tempered Clavier), six Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, six Cello Suites, and The Art of Fugue were... Read More »
The iSINE Series and LCD i3 are the Latest Innovations in Planar Magnetic Technology Costa Mesa, Calif. The Audeze iSINE 20 (USD $599.00) Audeze, the #1 manufacturer of high-end headphones, launches its first series of in-ear headphones. They Incorporate all the technology of the rave-reviewed LCD Collection, including patented Fluxor™ magnets, ultra-thin diaphragms and patented... Read More »
Nordost is excited to announce the launch of its newest product, the Sort Lift®. The Sort Lift® is the preeminent cable support in the consumer electronics industry, and is the perfect addition to Nordost’s line of Resonance Control Devices: the Sort System. Nordost’s Sort System is designed to allow components to resonate at their natural... Read More »
Great news! Positive Feedback and NativeDSD (http://www.nativeDSD.com) announce the release of a joint music project, the PF DSD Sampler, Volume 1. This project was done to celebrate NativeDSD.com's amazing achievement of passing 1000 albums at its site in early September of 2016. The PF DSD Sampler, Volume 1 is a collection of ten selections from... Read More »
In July, I visited all star music guru Quincy Jones at his mind-boggling hacienda near UCLA with its round ballroom's piano ready main gathering area looking out over Los Angeles. Description fails to capture the elegance and grandeur of Quincy's palace. Three Oscars sit here and there like Olympic paper weights. Q's two dozen-plus Grammy... Read More »
So here I am retired, and with lots of time. Time for music, beer, wine, the magazine… my art and more (like being on the Board of Directors for two non-profits here in LB—yikers what have I done?)... and time to listen to our music with the PS Audio BHK Signature Preamplifier and DirectStream DAC.... Read More »
The audio domain is a field which combines a few spheres of human activity, i.e. music, the art of recording and reproducing it. The most important aspects of music reproduction are: technical knowledge, musical sensitivity and attention to artistic design. The last of the three is (or rather used to be) especially controversial. It is... Read More »
Brief Impressions: From an Editor's Notebook In which our hero meditates… What a year it's been. There have been so many products and projects here at PF Central in 2016 that I'll be writing from here until the end of the bloody year to cover them all. Some of these will require a more extended... Read More »
Wyred 4 Sound Releases New Powerful Amplifier, The SX-1000R ATASCADERO, CA, Aug 2016— Wyred 4 Sound is pleased to announce the SX-1000R, the evolution of the multi-award-winning SX-1000 amplifier and Wyred 4 Sound’s most powerful amplifier. The SX-1000R can produce peaks in excess of 625W with 8Ω loads and 1225W with 4Ω loads. The new... Read More »
Well, right on, John Marks! Here's a real classic from the trove of audio loot. This week's album from The Tannhauser Gate (http://www.thetannhausergate.com) brings back a pile of memories from my junior year in high school, which was a time of ferment and fervor in my life, there with friends and life in the East Bay sprawl-town of... Read More »
Playback Designs Announces the Production Release of their Pinot A/D Quad DSD Converter The Playback Designs Pinot Analog-to-Digital Quad DSD/PCM Converter Playback Design has announced the production release of their new Pinot A/Dconverter as part of their SONOMA series system incorporating the latest QUAD DSDFPGA technology. According to Andreas Koch, president and designer of Playback... Read More »
The DirectStream Junior DAC is my first in-home experience with a PS Audio product. It is also a brand-spanking new product, so my thanks to PS Audio's Marketing Director, Bill Leebens for making it happen. Having such a hot product on my review-plate does not happen to me that often. It's awesomely cool... It's Steve McQueen... Read More »
If one has to use the word "legendary" to describe a musician or band, then when applied to the King Crimson it would be relatively painless from where I stand. Founded in London in January 1969 still the same year, in October they released the album that, let's not start to be modest now, forever... Read More »
