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I was introduced to various Marigo Labs wire products back in the early 1990s. Ron Hedrich, owner and chief designer, was just minutes away in the north shore suburbs of Chicago. Later, Ron moved body and and soul to the great northwest in Washougal, Washington. Ron continues to design and manufacture some of the most innovative... Read More »

Want to start an argument with your audiophile friends? Tell them cables don't make a difference in sound. Or conversely, tell them cables do make a very clear and easily discernable difference. One side or the other, you are bound to get all kinds of personal experience stories and possible pseudo-science claims as to why... Read More »

HEADLINE: Rubinstein Bested by 24-Year-Old Russian Prodigy "Where are the great artists of contemporary classical music?" The question is not infrequently raised in the listening room, usually by the same dudes who don't go to many live performances. That's not a good basis for an opinion. I attend concerts often and, let me assure you,... 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 »

Once you know better, who wants to live with worse? PF Editor Dave Clark once described the letdown of listening to speakers from one’s youth and realizing that they don’t measure up as, "Kind of like running into that girl who you thought was so hot back in high school and wondering what the hell... 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 »

Verastarr Grand Illusion AC power cords ($2500 in 6 foot length) use high purity copper metal foils and produce a musical presentation that is big, bold, and robust. Not to be clichéd here, but being a copper-based cable, and using lots of copper to address skin effect with its four 2-inch wide foils, music with... Read More »

There will always be those who doubt ability to assess and differentiate audio devices by listening to them in controlled environment and comparing them with others. That's human nature—many people won't believe something until they have touched it themselves. But comparing different audio devices is a very good way to assess them. One should listen,... Read More »

Power cords are a specialty within the category of audiophile connectivity that is mighty important. Those supplied with the gear, regardless of price, are merely included to allow the equipment to meet specifications and light the LEDs. They are best discarded and upscale cords should be used to tune your system for maximum performance. I... Read More »

Classical music subscriptions gobble up the lion’s share of our entertainment dollars. On average, we attend one or two concerts a week at Carnegie Hall (both Stern Auditorium and the smaller venue, Zankel), Alice Tully at Lincoln Center, or Town Hall. Every hall sounds different—all of those mentioned above have one thing in common: they’ve... Read More »

  Aftermarket power cables are a variety of audio product that generally raises the eyebrows of many a hobbyist. I can't offer any technical proof of how a power cable could have any effect on music (although I could list several reasons why they possibly can't) but in my experience, they can and do have... 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 »

Being affable gets your foot in the door. Being affable and having the goods to back up your story, that's a prime recipe for success. Nordost's Joe Reynolds is the latter lad; he has both—debonair swagger and an operation that has defined much of what high-end audio's cable business has defacto become. Yes, cables do... Read More »

Somehow it doesn't seem reasonable, let alone rational, to harbor hopes of re-creating at home the powerful wave-fronts set in motion by a large ensemble. To compare the quantity of air a group of musicians can activate to what two, four, six, even eight speaker drivers activate seems a pitiful mismatch. Personally, I accept that... Read More »

Most power line conditioners are passive, meaning the components that are doing the conditioning are in parallel to the power cord. This is done so that the conditioning components do not interfere with the instantaneous demand for power that happens with amplifiers when the music goes from very soft to very loud in a few... Read More »

Our entire hobby is predicated on the contradiction of music reproduction, and one chord strummed live shatters the illusion of high end. But the joy I get from headphone listening, the main system, my car audio (even my Sports Walkman cassette player!) is very real and, often, equal in intensity. I say, leave the audio... Read More »

TiGLON is not a household name here in the states but if Phillip Holmes has anything to say about it they will be before long. Phillip is the principle and owner of Mockingbird Distribution LLC who are the importers for TiGLON, Jasmine, Abis, Zorin, Jakutus, Mockingbird Speakers, Pyon and a few other items just for... Read More »