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There's been a long, and I think unfortunate trend in the upper reaches of high-end audio over the last fifteen years or so. It is the moving of high end audio from an endeavor based on making gear whose principle raison d'être is to sound really good and to honor the music we listen to,... Read More »

The Ayon Audio Scorpio is a heavy, Class A integrated amplifier made of high grade aluminum and powered by gleaming KT88 and 12AU7 tubes. One look and listen, and you know it's textbook audio, the perfect answer to your friends when they say, "So how's a high end amplifier any different from my Yamaha?" Like... Read More »

So back on track here… got the Aurender review (a truly wonderful product—read that HERE) done and so on to another product that I loved so much, I ended up buying the review sample… the PS Audio BHK Signature 250 Stereo Power Amplifier. Bought it? What about the legendary Clayton M200 amplifiers? Are you selling... Read More »

I'm not going to tell you what I did on my summer vacation. (Maui) I'm not going to tell you what I got for Christmas. (Schiit Audio Vali 2). I am going to get right to the crux of the matter and tell you about the Wells Audio Majestic integrated amplifier. A few audio shows back,... Read More »

It so happened that together with some friends we delivered the Audio Tekne system I reviewed before directly to the  Audio Video Show 2015. As soon as we finished carrying all those damn heavy devices to the exhibition room Hari (from Natural Sound) told us the good news—next we would get the top Audio System... Read More »

My recent review of the Devialet 400 Integrated Amplifier was quite an eye opener for me and apparently many of our readers. Please see the review HERE. Many folks agreed with my findings and others provided some very interesting (but respectful) feedback. You gotta love this hobby! The entire exercise reminded me again and again... Read More »

Not sure how this came about, but man do I have a lot of stuff here to review… the PS Audio BHK250 amplifier and their AC12 and AC5 power cables, the Aurender N100H streamer, the Entreq Poseidon Grounding box and cables, several items from Synergistic Research (Black Box, Atmosphere, MiG, and HFT), iFi Audio's new... Read More »

This is one of those tests I've been wanting to do for a few years; but it kept being postponed and at one stage it seemed like it would never happen. In the meantime ownership of the company changed, the Model 88 I was originally planning to test has been eclipsed by the Maggiore ("reference")... Read More »

Headphonemania! Headphones hold top five slots in global audiophile charts! Well, that's what the headlines should say. Headphones, headphones everywhere, and now I see headphone ads from the same companies that used to make my plasma TVs. Even the President is bumpin' his Beats, although that may be just a farewell finger to his non-Beat... Read More »

A lot has happened in the headphone and headphone amplifier markets ever since we at HiFi Statement reviewed the Phonitor four years ago. However, the analog loudspeaker emulation—called SPL Phonitor 2 in this case—remains a unique SPL feature in version 2. Headphones have won worldwide attention and prestige among people of all ages, thanks to... Read More »

I've been interested in high-end audio since the mid 1970s, maybe even before that, certainly before anyone used the term High End Audio. This was mostly due to my love for music, and happening to have a few school friends and acquaintances who parents had really good systems. It wasn't until I was in college... Read More »

We are creatures of habit. For ten consecutive years Lynn and I have taken our summer vacation at the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival in Canada, which bills itself as the largest of its kind in the world. It is huge in terms of programming and number of days, if not in audience size. A... Read More »

When in January this year I received an email from Mr Hari Strukelj of Natural Sound asking if I was willing to review one of Audio Tekne's products I had no idea whether this would be a one time gig or maybe I would be given a chance for more encounters with products by this... Read More »

I first met Merrill Wettasinghe at AXPONA 2014 where he was showing his Veritas monoblock amplifiers with Sadurni horn speakers. It was quite an incredible system, and to say I was impressed would be an understatement. After enjoying the Merrill Audio room once again at the 2015 show, Mr. Wettasinghe offered to send me his... Read More »

(Image courtesy of Zesto Audio) Introduced at RMAF in October by Zesto Audio, these new powerhouse mono-blocks have the Zesto signature house sound, which is nearly nothing at all. It also has enough power from tubes to be an amplifier solution to any and all speakers I know of, with extraordinary results. If you loved... Read More »

I am a huge fan of Integrated Amplifiers. I am a firm believer that less is more.  Fewer boxes, cables and resonance control devices is a big plus in my book. Past reviews for models from Vitus, D'Agostino, Pass Labs, Simaudio, BMC, Marantz and more have established several reference standards for sound quality—even when compared... Read More »

These are interesting pieces to have to write about in my first for Positive Feedback. When I picked them up, Dave, who hadn't heard them, said something like, "You may not like them and if so, then just don't write about them."  But I didn't think that; I wasn't expecting miracles, but I nearly got... Read More »

In Issue 78 I introduced you to the remarkable Mr. Shirokazu Yazaki of Tokyo, Japan (above, center, with friends), in my article about the SPEC RSA-M3 Real Sound Amplifier. Mr. Shirokazu Yazaki has been a successful professional audio designer in Japan for over 40 years, and has been involved in the design of many fine... Read More »

I understand why there are so few surround sound gear reviews in high end audio. Two channel reviews occasionally dip into technology (not from moi) but (to paraphrase Bill Clinton), it's about the sound qualithy, stupid! Surround sound reviews end up being highly technical because so much is going on—straight wire with gain? Ha! In home theater and... Read More »