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The Constellation Audio Inspiration 1.0 Linestage and pair of 1.0 Stereo amplifiers, driving the GamuT Flagship Zodiac Loudspeakers. From the Beginning For a company that just recently celebrated only its 8th birthday, Constellation Audio has proven itself virtually unparalleled in both accomplishment and acceptance. My first take was at their 2010 CES introduction, where I... Read More »

I was recently introduced to Mytek, a company out of Brooklyn, NY that specializes in digital electronics. Not being known for being the go-to guy for digital I thought the opportunity to try something completely different was something I could not pass up. Suffice it to say right up front that I am glad that... Read More »

Mythical Sound from the Winged Lion. How many manufacturers offer fully designed turn-key systems? How many do it with the panache of Gryphon Audio of Denmark? The answer can fit on one hand if you were missing at least two fingers. My first encounter with Danish designer Fleming Rasmussen's Gryphon Audio came with the review... Read More »

Spoiler Alert Parasound has chosen to take a staple core product that has remained an exceptional value for over fifteen years, the Halo A21 amplifier, and re-spin it into the Halo A21+. Doing so has proved that extremely high performance-per-dollar is still possible today when a company leverages decades of experience, and is spearheaded by... Read More »

The old capacitors. A Parcel Arrives One day a box of gargantuan capacitors arrived—really heavy industrial cans measuring nearly 7" high and 3" in diameter. They were destined to replace the main caps in my CH Precision M1 monoblocks. This was the hardware component of the newly released M1.1 Amplifier mod. I had been informed... Read More »

This article was written by and contributed to Positive Feedback by Roland Dietl of our affiliate publication in Germany, HiFi Statement. You may remember the ZeroUnoDAC and the ZeroUno PLUS looking like a small, tubed power amp, which inspired me a lot. Now, CanEVER Audio has expanded its product portfolio through offering a real power amp – the... Read More »

Okay everyone! Time for the obvious disclosure! How could I not want to review an amplifier that emblazons my name right on the front of the amp in such fashion? Just ignore that Mc part. This is truly a Gary amp! I was a bit surprised when the unit showed up at my door as... Read More »

High-end headphones and Personal Fi. I've evaluated a goodly handful of 'phones and headphone amps over many years, with some excellent results. Some were large cost-no-object designs, built for home, listening room, or office use only; others were compact and portable, for the music lover on the go. (I do a fair amount of flying,... Read More »

Ye Olde Editor, late summer 2018:  a portrait by John Robinson A late-year glance backwards. Memory, music, people, associations… "No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me. An exquisite pleasure had... Read More »

I hear this term thrown around loosely... "disruptive product," sometimes appropriately used... however in this case, we have a winner. I've been on a mission lately, unintentional as it may seem, to be reviewing Class-D based amplifiers. Talk about a dirty word. I've had so many in an out of here, my head is spinning.... Read More »

The three available finishes of the absolute:  copper, black, and silver (image courtesy of Manley) Let us just cut to the chase! I have reviewed countless headphone amplifiers and the Absolute is absolutely the most elegantly designed, intensely musical, and extremely flexible of them all! Add in the superb remote and it’s game over. Provided with... Read More »

Ye Olde Editor:  a portrait by John Robinson Audionet's STERN and HEISENBERG:  Back to the mountaintop again! Fair warning:  This is yet another one of my evaluations that is not going to be a typical "review." No, not with these designs. This is going to be more of a culminating mediation on my experiences with... Read More »

Nelson Pass:  a portrait. Sea Ranch, CA, 2018. Photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson. Introduction – Why do we care about 2nd harmonic? Historically, audio amplification has been about the elimination of all forms of distortion. Early on, the premise has been that low distortion is one of the keys to audio quality... Read More »

Nearly a decade ago, my girlfriend and I co-wrote a favorable review of the GLOW Audio music system, composed of their Voice One loudspeakers, GLOW Amp One integrated amplifier, and Sub One subwoofer. Both of us were mightily impressed by the system's inviting sound and stylish good looks. It was our first experience with single... Read More »

"It's good to be the King!" While sitting back and listening to the Pass Labs INT-250 integrated amplifier, I couldn't help but giggle and think about this infamous line from Mel Brook's underground 1981 classic film, History of the World, Part I. What I was hearing had me glued to my seat and skimming through... Read More »

Gosh, it sees that lately I've been inundated with Class D topology amplifiers. Several here for review, pending. Each one with their own style and power. The latest lightweight contenders come from PS Audio, a company well versed in the high end audio scene (and very well respected). Now, when I hear the words PS... Read More »

Dean Seislove mentioned he had Schiit's Vidar amplifier in house. You can read that review HERE. I'd just been listening to Schiit's Gungnir Multi-Bit (Schiit refers to in in-house as "Gumby") and was really pleased with the experience, so I asked to hear it before it went back. Schiit's Vidar is a small amplifier, weighing... Read More »

More. Nothing drives audio like More. Landfills in every continent are filled with working integrated amps, bookshelf speakers, and last year's gear; discarded like unspooled cassettes by people chasing after More. And in this hobby size matters. Anyone who has been to audio shows has seen attendees do the small system Cha-cha-cha: Glide by the... Read More »

Pretty much everyone involved in enthusiast audio has heard of Nelson Pass, and for good reason, as Nelson has been a central figure in the audio design world since the mid-1970s. I asked Nelson if he would tell me a little about his early years, about how he first got involved in music and audio... Read More »