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Photo courtesy of David Solomon of Qobuz. The time has come for me to pack it in and walk away from high-end audio and music journalism.  My decision follows a prolonged period of deep contemplation of personal and family health concerns, growing familial commitments, the increasingly graying demographic within the audiophile community – myself included... Read More »

Roger Skoff writes about saving our hobby Do us both a favor; the next several times you get the chance, ask anybody you come across who isn’t an audiophile what the word “hi-fi” means. Or “high fidelity,” its meaningful form. Or “stereo.” If the person you’re talking to is over fifty, there’s a possibility they’ll... Read More »

For those of you who would like to get a broader and deeper sense of the Positive Feedback philosophy of community and creativity, I discuss the need for truth and ethical integrity with my fellow panelists, you’ll find it at the following link. Most highly recommended for those of you who are interested in the... Read More »

As I approach my upcoming retirement from Positive Feedback (and audio journalism!), I’m revisiting my very first submission for the magazine. I’d previously authored music reviews that appeared here as part of a content-sharing arrangement between PF and Audiophile Audition, but this was the first piece published under my own byline. It’s a chronicle of... Read More »

Late last year, my wife and I decided to move to a new home that was 20 minutes away, but still in the same state and still very close to friends and family. One of the many things that attracted us to this home was the potential for a new dedicated listening room. In our... Read More »

It’s well-known among audiophiles that our systems can sound better or worse from day to day. Sometimes, the better the system, the more inconsistent it can sound. Over the past year, I’ve made some significant upgrades to my gear, including a new DAC, preamp tubes, cables, and perhaps most importantly, new loudspeakers. And over the... Read More »

Roger Skoff gives the facts about cables Lately, I’ve been following on Instagram some of the idiocy that so‑called “experts” have been posting about hi‑fi. Although there certainly is the occasional something of merit there by a person with real knowledge, the overwhelming majority of what I’ve seen seems either to be from a parts... Read More »

On a recent, really late evening, my phone chimed nearly nonstop as good friend and fellow high-end audio enthusiast Finnbogi Sigurdur Marinosson urgently slid into my DMs. Finnbogi and I are fairly obsessive hardware geeks, and he’d just descended into an inexplicable, almost incomprehensible journey from which there was seemingly no possibility of return. And... Read More »

   The difference  between the journalist and the novelist is the deadline… An award given as a story. For quite a while now I have given the rarest of my recognitions – my PF Lifetime Achievement Awards. As I wrote in 2017:  “Finally, we have a PF Lifetime Achievement Award, wherein I honor persons who have produced... Read More »

More very brief stuff, here. Another new word for my audiophile lexicon: Argumentarian. You know who you are. Selah... Dr. David

A New Solution to Understanding What Your Digital Audio System Is Doing With the Data Stream - Part 3 A few weeks ago we reposted Ferenc Koscsó's article introducing a minimalist, bit-perfect music player, written in C, with a single purpose: to deliver the music file data stream to the DAC by the shortest, most... Read More »

Very brief stuff, here. A new word for my audiophile lexicon. X/Z/Alpha bemuseick. Selah. Dr. David

Roger Skoff writes about the impossible dream Back in the 1950s and early ’60s, when I and our hobby were both very young, the whole subject of hi-fi seemed much simpler. Julian Hirsch – the most highly regarded audio reviewer of his time, with, eventually, more than 4000 tests to his credit – specifically stated... Read More »

I’ve written a lot of show reports, to the point where I was starting to repeat myself in some of the advice I was giving. So, I thought I’d write a separate article where I summarize my tips on attending audio shows. Part One: General Tips Rule number one: wear comfortable shoes! If you don’t,... Read More »

Most  This article is part of an ongoing series examining electromagnetic field theory and its application to high-fidelity audio reproduction. The engineering framework described here has been developed, tested, and refined over thirty-four years of product development at Synergistic Research – and has been the subject of extensive public discussion on my personal Facebook page,... Read More »

A couple weeks ago we reposted Ferenc Koscsó's article introducing a minimalist, bit-perfect music player, written in C, with a single purpose: to deliver the music file data stream to the DAC by the shortest, most deterministic path, untouched, in its original form. His efforts offer an open-source, free to use, program for both the... Read More »

At Capital Audiofest 2025, a small book on a table in cable manufacturer M101’s exhibit caught my eye. Titled Passport to Sound, it’s a children’s book that explains the principles of audio components and systems by means of a treasure hunt that guides young listeners through the exhibits at an audio show. What a wonderful idea, I thought. For... Read More »

Roger Skoff writes about when a ripoff is really a ripoff I read recently in another publication that Asian manufacturers are now copying ultra‑High‑End brand audio products and selling them, just as one cited example, a US$95,000 amplifier for under US$1000. I think I was supposed to be outraged, but the article said that the... Read More »

This article is drawn from an ongoing series of public discussions on electromagnetic field theory and audio cable design, conducted on my personal Facebook page over the past several weeks. The exchanges documented here are real – quoted directly from public comments – and represent a pattern I have observed consistently across hundreds of similar... Read More »