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van den Hul 3T Rock Interconnects I have been most curious about Van den Hul interconnects as they have a sterling reputation, but a lesser following in America compared to the rest of the world. Jay Rein, their distributor at Blue Bird Music graciously suggested I try their middle-level wire in the 3T series, The Rock, which... Read More »

For several months, the superb Silnote Audio Orion-M1 Master Reference XLR interconnects have anchored my reference system. The time spent testing their sonic mettle has proven an unmitigated delight, and a revelation. I first encountered Silnote's superb line of audio cables at the 2014 AXPONA audio show. I stumbled upon the Silnote Audio room purely by... Read More »

So I have already touched on the AC cords from Triode Wire Labs in my review of the PS Audio BHK preamplifier and DirectStream DAC (as did Steve Kozle way back in Issue 61 HERE in his review of the TWL cords), and yeah, these are the real deal. What they do is pretty much take... Read More »

Frederik Carøe in Denmark knocked me out with his amazing Duelund Coherent Audio CAST capacitors, inductors, resistors, and autoformers that I wrote about in Issue 70 and Issue 74 of Positive Feedback as part of the Duelund-Westminster Royal SE loudspeaker project, and now Frederik has done it once again with his superb Duelund Coherent Audio... Read More »

The impact of tests in trade magazines is either described as none or of a sort that can change everything; it depends on whether or not the one who expresses such an opinion likes or does not like the press and/or reviews. But if you want to form your own opinion, it would be best... Read More »

And, now, a quick audiophile word association game. What comes to mind when you read the following? Belt drive turntables Quad DSD Marantz Model 9 Electrostatic loudspeakers High End Cables  If you're like me, all of those items produced definite responses, most likely shaped by plenty of articles and opinions like the one you're about... Read More »

Expensive cabling systems have become something 'common'—both for you, the readers of High Fidelity, and for us, the members of the Krakow Sonic Society. On one hand one might consider it a 'sign of our times', the average price of products of high-end companies sky-rocketed, but it's also also a sign of catching up with... Read More »

It seems that High Fidelity was one of the first magazines in the world, and surely outside Japan, that received  Acoustic Revive cables based on PC-Triple C copper and published such a review (No. 126, October 1st 2014). The Japanese magazine Audio Accessory, printed their review a month before us in their September issue, dedicated... Read More »

"That is a…a…a power cord?" It's a guilty pleasure witnessing visitors' disbelief when I show them a Stage III Concepts cable. Even seasoned audiophiles are predictably wide-eyed. The uncommon (unnatural?) girth and nonpareil build quality of the cables make other brands appear malnourished. And then there's the top-of-the-line Leviathan Power Cord, the "Sea Monster," surely... Read More »

I guess not many of the owners of high quality audio components even realize that brands that made their devices often actually belong to the same mother-company. Like, for example, Audio Research, Sonus faber, Wadia Digital, Sumiko, McIntosh—they all belong to the Italian holding Fine Sounds Group; Denon, Marantz and Boston Acoustics belong to Japanese... Read More »

Spatial Holography Last I checked the principles of Newtonian physics still apply. That's why I see my role as communicating the real-life observations that go down in Nack Labs: that's the key—observation and communication. But occasionally stuff happens that falls into a grey zone outside the paradigms we've developed. The problem then is what to... Read More »

Gabi was standing in the door, looking at us condescendingly while we were discussing acoustics, the microphones used and distortions. A moment before we had finished our first round of listening sessions and each of us was enthusiastically trying to convince the others that he was right. We paid the most attention to what Edwin... Read More »

Talk about the proverbial can of worms. Recently Soundstring Cable Company's Len Miller asked if I would like to review two full complements of wire from their new line of cable. Whoa, that is a lot of cable. I have heard of hard core audio reviewers who refuse to do wire reviews. So either I... Read More »

Let me just say right up top that I generally do not review cables in this low price range. At $1149 per meter, whether RCA or XLR, the Merrill ANAP is expensive for many, but not for the audiophile like me who has to have the very best in all of audio. I took on... Read More »

Synergistic Research continues to be one of the driving forces in the high end audiophile community. Teaming up with several industry leaders at the various audio shows throughout 2015, their showrooms have been receiving admirable praise and feedback—and deservedly so. No longer just a cable manufacturer, their continued growth has been impressive while making a... Read More »

When talking about the controversial topic of audio cables, there are three specific areas that keep getting discussed: Do cables actually sound different? If they do sound different, are any actually better, or are they just different? Is whatever difference they may or may not create worth the price? My answer to Point 1 was... Read More »

Geoff Merrigan, the CEO of Tellurium Q, is not very effusive when it comes to telling the secrets of his cables design. To be honest, it seems as if he wants people to know as little as possible about them. When asked about the reason, he gives an obvious answer: it does not matter how... Read More »

It must be a real shock for a company that uses some particular material as a key element for its products when it learns that it won't be manufactured anymore by a single provider. If the whole philosophy of a company, which means its all activity, is based on this single element/material the end of... Read More »

The era of photonic interconnect cables has arrived and we should all be singing praises! What do I mean? I've written before about the photonic cables from Harmonic Technology/INEX Innovation that use photons instead of electrons to carry audio signals. This technology, fiber optics, has revolutionized the telephone, cable TV and telecommunications industries including the... Read More »