January - February 2021
Audio Discourse
Graham Audio Chartwell LS6 Loudspeaker
We are blessed once again by some fine reflections from our good friend and brother, John Marks, he of The Tannhauser Gate fame. This time around we...
How to Solve "The Audiophile Problem": Roger Skoff Writes What...
If you're a serious audiophile, one of the things you can be certain of is that you're eventually going to have a problem. If you're lucky, it might...
Impressions: Robinson's Brutus Awards for 2020, Part the Fifth...
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....
Noam Sivan: Improvisations upon the Goldberg Variations, BWV 988
I am indebted to David P. Goldman‘s wonderful Tablet magazine article on the place of classical music in Israeli society for introducing me to...
Network Acoustics' ENO
Okay so I have always been about removing or filtering out "noise" or whatever crap is in the signal or wherever… stuff that can cloud or obscure the...
Impressions: Robinson's Brutus Awards for 2020, Part the Fourth
Yon Editor, contemplating... Photograph by John Robinson; image processing by David W. Robinson. Here's the fourth installment of my Brutus Awards for...
New Sound for the New Year?
Roger Skoff writes about what might be the future of our hobby So what do you do when there's nothing to do? That's what a whole lot of us have had to...
Rolling the Linlai E-300 and Psvane ACME 300B - An Aural...
Most tube electronics enthusiasts are content to live with the stock tubes chosen by the manufacturer. And yet for others, comparing various types and...
Greg Weaver, the audio analyst©: the Latest Chapter of a...
A portrait of Greg Weaver, Chicago, 2018. Photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson. Greg Weaver is a very good audiobud of mine. I first...
Impressions: Robinson's Brutus Awards for 2020, Part the Third
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...
PF's Rip Van Winkle Awakens - The Place Formerly Known as Stu's
Is He Rip, a Penny, or Moby Dick? Like the proverbial "bad penny," I keep turning up. I think our PF world could suffer another grizzled audio...
Impressions: Robinson's Brutus Awards for 2020, Part the Second
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...
Hardware Reviews
The Pass Labs XP-17 Phono Preamplifier: Wayne’s World!
I was really impressed by the Pass Labs XP-12 line-level preamplifier that I wrote about in Positive Feedback Issue 111 (HERE), and I have been looking...
Enhanced System Performance with AudioQuest Niagara Power...
I've talked here at intervals over the last couple of years about a variety of system enhancements I've employed at my home with the goal of improving...
the art of listening: VLOT Loudspeakers – Maybe the Best...
the art of listening… for art's sake – the art of listening to music including hi-res audio, MQA, DSD and 5.1 surround sound A recent product from...
The Pass Labs X250.8 - An Elite Heavyweight Among Amplifiers
Years ago as news editor for the Cyber Boxing Zone, I witnessed the special veneration that insiders held for the late Emanuel Steward, a boxing...
Mojo Mystique EVO B4B 21 DAC - 2021 Version
World Premiere Review! It sounds like music. Review By Dr. Matt Clott With this article, Positive Feedback continues its content-sharing relationship...
The IsoAcoustics GAIA I Speaker Isolators – Superb Performance...
I have a great deal of respect for isolation devices, though certain caveats should always be considered. I have reviewed and/or owned some of the most...
When Something Is Nothing - iFi Zen Phono Preamplifier
The art of listening for art's sake - the art of listening to music, including hi-res audio, MQA, DSD, and 5.1 surround sound In an unconventional...
AGD Audion Amplifier - Second Look
Regular readers will be familiar with AGD from Michael Zisserson's previous review on this unit, I seriously recommend it for the deep technical info....
Audience frontRow Interconnects
At the turn of the twentieth century, Igor Stravinsky rocked the classical firmament with scores such as Song of the Nightingale. One hundred years...
iFi NEO iDSD DAC
Though I'm known among my audio friends as an analog and LP guy, I actually spend more time listening to digital music than my LP collection....
Meze Empyrean Upgrade Wire - It Just Gets Better!
The Meze Empyrean continues to be the headphone that I go to for both reviewing and for simply enjoying the music. Rare, indeed, is the product that is...
LampizatOr MM2 Moving-Magnet (MM) Phono Stage
Beautiful to behold and a joy to use. Review By Brett Rudolph With this article, Positive Feedback continues its content-sharing relationship...
Focal Stellia Headphones
As a lifelong two-channel audio listener I had my doubts that I could appreciate listening to music through headphones. A good friend of mine extolls...
Empire Ears Odin - A Transparency and Sound-Staging Champion!
Empire Ears is a family-owned In-Ear-Monitor (IEM) company based in Atlanta, Georgia, that, collectively, brings over thirty years of experience in...
The Torus Power AVR2 ELITE 20 Steps Up Your AV Experience
The Torus Power AVR2 ELITE 20 Isolation Transformer is a powerful friend to discerning audiophiles, consumer and pro audio specialists alike. It serves...
ampsandsound Nautilus Amplifier
The ampsandsound Nautilus, 60+ pounds of single ended glory As both a reviewer and a consumer, I read a lot of reviews myself. I often see solid state...
Interviews
A Conversation with Tom Peeters, Cobra Records
You know how certain record labels become favorites that you come back to again and again? For me, it comes from a developing trust in the label and...
An Interview with Andreas Spreer of TACET Musikproduktion
TACET a musical term to indicate that an instrument or voice does not sound, also known as rest. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacet date...
Music - SuperSonic Recordings
Top 500 SuperSonic List - Part 24
This is an ongoing project by Claude Lemaire of Soundevaluations 156. Jackie McLean, It's Time!. Blue Note – BST 84179 (1965), Tone Poet Series...
Music Reviews
More Gems from Just Listen Records
I wrote enthusiastically about Just Listen Records a couple months ago (HERE). We were impressed by what this label was accomplishing, and we've been...
Oh Yes, Count Me a Fan of the Double Bass
Reports From The Low Country, Rick Stotijn (double bass), Channel Classics (2019 DSD256, DXD) (HERE) When a master plays, the double bass is one of the...
A New One Step Benchmark: Patricia Barber, Café Blue
Patricia Barber remains one of my favorite contemporary jazz artists—both in the studio and live. Yes, her recordings are renowned for their sound...
Open Your Ears with this 12-Minute EP from TRPTK
Droplets II, Christiaan Richter, TRPTK (2020 DXD) (HERE) Live from Amsterdam's Concertgebouw Hall, it's an ear-opening extravaganza with a single...
Stunning Binaural Recordings from Tom Peeters at Cobra Records
If you listen via headphones or earbuds, you need some good binaural recordings in your music library. Binaural listening is the only way we get to...
Notes of an Amateur: Jennifer's Koh's Bach; Gardiner's Handel;...
As I get older, as I said a year or so ago when I started getting older, I find myself less inclined to talk, more inclined to drop a few notes and...
George Thorogood and The Destroyers: Live In Boston, 1982: The...
I was a total rock radio hound from the seventies through the eighties; I really stood up and noticed George Thorogood and The Destroyers when "Bad To...
Cooperstown - A Jazz Opera in Nine Innings
Sasha Matson, Cooperstown (Jazz Opera in Nine Innings). Albany Records. (2015, 2020 Revised Edition (CD and 24-88 FLAC) (HERE) Baseball and jazz—two...
Je donnerais mes jours, Songs by Dupont
Je donnerais mes jours. Songs by Gabriel Dupont. Rachel Joselson, soprano; Bo Ties, piano. Centaur CRC 3811. TT: 76.58. Downloads: amazon.co.uk...
Frank Sinatra - A Spectacular Return to the Columbia Years
Frank Sinatra, Sing and Dance with Frank Sinatra. Impex Records (33 RPM LP) You gotta love Frank Sinatra. We have been streaming Mad Men during the...
Our Friends at HIFI Statement
MSB m500 Mono Amplifier
n der beeindruckendsten Kette, die ich je gehört habe, sorgten zwei 1000-Watt-Endstufen für die Verstärkung. Allerdings waren die bisher teuersten.... . . Read More »
Ferrum Hypsos Powersupply
Auf diesen Test freue ich mich schon seit gut einem Jahr. Während der Entwicklung des Hybrid-Netzteils HYPSOS, dem ersten Produkt von Ferrum.... . . Read More »
Chord Electronics Ultima Pre 2 and 3
Egal ob für den stationären oder mobilen Einsatz: Chord Electronics' Digital-Komponenten und ihre einzigartige Technologie waren schon häufig Thema.... . . Read More »
Our Friends at High Fidelity
How Loud?
Or, why recordings don't always sound the same. We listen to music in various conditions, sometimes loud, sometimes quietly. However, in order to hear...
Show Reports
Audio Show Flashback: CES 2003
Until there are some new shows to attend, we continue our look back at shows from years gone by. For many, many years, audio industry folks from around...
