awards Archives - Positive Feedback

Impressions: My AXPONA 2024 Audio Oasis! Awards, Part This One...

David W. Robinson — Fri, 05 Jul 2024 23:55:14 +0000

Ye Olde Editor delivering the goods, Corvallis, Oregon, 1972. (Photograph by John Hull.) Yes, I've always been this way. Munich has come and gone...so has my serious bout with pneumonia...and I'd like to get my AXPONA 2024 Audio Oasis! Awards published before any more time goes by. (These are two big shows that are too... Read More »

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Impressions: The Pacific Audio Fest 2023, Part the Third & Last

David W. Robinson — Sat, 30 Mar 2024 23:51:51 +0000

Ye Olde Editor with cigar and match, 2021 (photograph and image processing by John Robinson) Here's the last set of my Audio Oasis! Awards from PAF 2023, together with the final set of photographs. Focal-Naim The Naim-Focal room I'll admit it: I was very impressed by the Focal-Naim space. Departing from the usual emphasis on... Read More »

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Impressions: Photo Essay of AXPONA 2023 Audio Oasis! Awards, a Final Wrap-Up [Updated]

David W. Robinson — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 16:26:35 +0000

Ye Olde Editor, before the tsunami... Personal tsunami, 2023. Such a strange year for me, one that threw me for a loop right in the midst of the two main audio show that I attended: AXPONA 2023 and Pacific Audio Fest 2023. Normally, I'm able to issue my considered judgements and Audio Oasis! Awards within... Read More »

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Dave and Carol Clark's Brutus Awards for 2023

Dave Clark — Wed, 27 Dec 2023 18:26:59 +0000

Here we are at the end of 2023 and again, not a lot has passed through our doors for review. Why? Neither of us are just not interested in reviewing whatever. We were years ago, but now after reviewing some 35+ years... yeah, no thanks. Been there, done that, and just don't have the interest... Read More »

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Impressions: A Collection of Notes on the Furutech Lineflux XLR NCF, V-1 Power Cable, and Pure Power 6 NCF

David W. Robinson — Sat, 16 Dec 2023 01:06:13 +0000

David W. Robinson in Jerusalem, 2022 (portrait by John Robinson; image processing by Ye Olde Editor himself) The Furutech Lineflux XLR NCF The Furutech Lineflux NCF XLR interconnect (image courtesy of Furutech) Furutech. A front-rank, top o' the heap high-end audio headquartered in Japan. I've followed their products for many years now, and for very... Read More »

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The 20th Annual Positive Feedback Writers' Choice Awards for 2023

Editors at Positive Feedback — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 22:48:54 +0000

Beginning at the end of 2003, PF established its first annual awards for fine audio. The Brutus Award was established for the best that David Robinson and Dave and Carol Clark had heard in their own listening rooms during that year. You can think of it as our equivalent of an "Editors' Choice" award. The Gizmo Award,... Read More »

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Impressions: AXPONA 2023, a Photo-Essay & Intro to the Extro

David W. Robinson — Tue, 23 May 2023 21:37:37 +0000

Ye Olde Editor at work at AXPONA 2023, in ink outline (photograph by Bill Parish; image processing by Robinson) The years of the plague… It’s no feat of insight to say that the coming of COVID during 2020, 2021, and 2022 was a time that hit high-end audio shows with significant force. One after another,... Read More »

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Impressions: Additional Robinson Brutus Awards, Time-Shifted into 2023

David W. Robinson — Sat, 25 Mar 2023 21:17:06 +0000

Time shift! Sometimes things stay on track; sometimes they don't. My Brutus Awards for last year fell into that category. There were so many great products that were submitted that it was impossible for me to completely clear them out in 2022. I have therefore shifted them to the first quarter of 2023, and re-dated... Read More »

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Impressions: More of My 2022 Brutus Awards, Part the Second

David W. Robinson — Sat, 11 Feb 2023 23:54:07 +0000

Time for some real fun! I, like many others who work in high-end audio publishing, spend a lot of time at my desktop. Just because I'm working, though, doesn't mean that I don't want the best possible sound in the near-field conditions of desktop audio. On the contrary… Years ago, I put a pair of... Read More »

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Impressions: More of My 2022 Brutus Awards, Part the First

David W. Robinson — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 00:02:46 +0000

The Absence of the Presence. Happy Valley, OR, 2022. Photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson. About my Brutus Awards… For years I have reiterated what our PF Brutus Awards represent. This is especially for the benefit of new readers who are unfamiliar with what we have in mind for this special recognition. Another... Read More »

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Dave and Carol Clark's Brutus Awards for 2022

Dave Clark — Tue, 27 Dec 2022 22:30:38 +0000

Been an interesting year or three. Neither of us have done much writing simply because not much in audio interested either of us. The pandemic, health and personal issues, life... but also other things that were positive diversions to both our time and spirit. Audio took a back seat to so much that we just... Read More »

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The 19th Annual Positive Feedback Writers' Choice Awards for 2022

Editors at Positive Feedback — Tue, 13 Dec 2022 19:06:13 +0000

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Brief Impressions: Some Notable Products Here at the End of 2022, Part the First...RSX Technologies

David W. Robinson — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 15:12:52 +0000

Ye Olde Editor lighting one up, Happy Valley, OR, 2021 (Photograph and image processing by John Robinson) I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Very few high-end audio products require (or deserve!) a The Brothers Karamazov treatment. Or Melville. Or Proust. Or Solzhenitsyn. Very few. And logorrhea is no virtue. Piles of hyperbole,... Read More »

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Impressions: The Pacific Audio Fest 2022, a Photo Essay, and my Audio Oasis! Awards, Part the Fourth and Last [Updated 09-27-2022]

David W. Robinson — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 21:33:05 +0000

Ye Olde Editor contemplating... Tiberias, Sea of Galilee, Israel, 2022. (Photograph by John Robinson; image processing by Ye Olde himself.) We're in the final stretch! Some of the best rooms I've saved for last...and here they are. Daedalus Audio/VAC/Lampizator/WyWires In the Daedalus/VAC/LampizatOr/WyWires room…delicious! Going into this space was a reminder of why I always enjoy... Read More »

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Impressions: The Pacific Audio Fest 2022, a Photo Essay, and my Audio Oasis! Awards, Part the Third

David W. Robinson — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 01:58:52 +0000

Onwards to Part the Third of my Pacific Audio Fest 2022 Photo Essay and Audio Oasis! Awards report... Genesis/Merrill Audio In the Genesis/Merrill Audio space It's hard to know what to say about Gary Koh's good-sized Genesis room, featuring Merrill Wettasinghe's very special next-generation (MX) amplification from Merrill Audio. There was so much really unique... Read More »

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Impressions: The Pacific Audio Fest 2022, a Photo Essay, and my Audio Oasis! Awards, Part the Second [Update 09-09-2022]

David W. Robinson — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 02:09:27 +0000

Ye Olde Editor with some very fine coffee. Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2015. (Photograph by Lila Ritsema.) Time to continue my Pacific Audio Fest 2022 Audio Oasis! Awards. Part the Second, then...onwards! Parasound/Innuos/Marantz/Dr. Feickert/Norstone/Straight Wire/KEF Here's an eyeful of an earful of a fine-sounding room… The Parasound/Innuos/KEF/etc. room featured some designs from companies that I knew…JC... Read More »

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Impressions: The Pacific Audio Fest 2022, a Photo Essay, and my Audio Oasis! Awards, Part the First [updated 09/04/2022]

David W. Robinson — Thu, 01 Sep 2022 23:36:35 +0000

Robinson reflecting… (portrait by John Robinson; image processing by Ye Olde Editor) Prologue… At long last, after 2.5 years of pandemic interruption and scheduling conflicts, I was finally able to get to an audio show…and not a moment too soon. The Pacific Audio Fest was held from July 29-31 in SeaTac, WA, at the Hilton... Read More »

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From an Editor's Notebook: A Trip to Montreal and Kronos Audio, a Photo Essay

David W. Robinson — Sat, 06 Aug 2022 04:53:43 +0000

E-in-C Robinson photographing at the Kronos factory, Montreal, 2022 (photograph by Bill Parish; image processing by Robinson) If you've been following my comments since last February, you're well aware of the fact that I have been repeatedly stating my extremely pleased astonishment at Louis Desjardins' Discovery Turntable System. So have others in our creative community.... Read More »

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The 18th Annual Positive Feedback Writers' Choice Awards for 2021

Editors at Positive Feedback — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 02:11:09 +0000

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Impressions: Robinson's Brutus Awards for 2020, Part the Fifth and Final...Including the Music!

David W. Robinson — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 17:46:42 +0000

No, not quite done yet. RSX Technologies MAX Power Cable and the RSX Technologies Power8 Multi-Outlet Power Box The RSX Technologies MAX Power Cable. All images courtesy of RSX Technologies. Disclaimer first: Roger Skoff, formerly of XLO Cables, has been writing essays for Positive Feedback for a few years now. Back in 2019 he started... Read More »

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Impressions: Robinson's Brutus Awards for 2020, Part the Fourth

David W. Robinson — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 00:31:14 +0000

Yon Editor, contemplating... Photograph by John Robinson; image processing by David W. Robinson. Here's the fourth installment of my Brutus Awards for 2020. Time flows...I goes. Onwards.... The Mytek Brooklyn Bridge Streamer/DAC & the Mytek Brooklyn Amp+ Straight to this particular chase. I have been listening to designs from Mytek Digital for many years now…all... Read More »

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Impressions: Robinson's Brutus Awards for 2020, Part the Third

David W. Robinson — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 02:04:29 +0000

Ye Olde Editor contemplating in the fall of 2019. Photograph by John Robinson; image processing by David W. Robinson Time for Part the Third of my Brutus Awards for 2020... Merrill Audio Christine Reference Preamp Image courtesy of Merrill Audio Anyone who follows my "Impressions" series over the many years now knows that I have... Read More »

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Impressions: Robinson's Brutus Awards for 2020, Part the Second

David W. Robinson — Thu, 24 Dec 2020 23:20:11 +0000

Ye Olde Etc. enjoying the moment in the Pacific NW (portrait by John Robinson) Time for Part the Second of my Brutus Awards. iFi Audio Pro iDSD DAC/Headphone Amp/Streamer The iFi Audio Pro iDSD DAC/Headphone Amp/Preamp/Streamer (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) Earlier this year, iFi Audio sent along their new pro-grade many-in-one... Read More »

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Impressions: Robinson's Brutus Awards for 2020, Part the First

David W. Robinson — Sun, 13 Dec 2020 00:18:10 +0000

Ye Olde Editor in days collegiate, presenting the goods. Corvallis, OR, 1972 (photograph by Dr. John Hull) Thoughts at this end of the first year of the pandemic… Once again, yes, once again it's time for my Brutus Awards. This time, the 2020 edition…a year that will live in infamy. Our first major pandemic in... Read More »

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The 17th Annual Positive Feedback Writers' Choice Awards for 2020

Editors at Positive Feedback — Fri, 20 Nov 2020 18:38:57 +0000

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