January - February 2022
Audio Discourse
Now Playing - Part 1
Today I am pleased to introduce what will be a new series of articles, one which will feature closer looks at some of my favorite recordings. I have...
Impressions: Final notes on the aqua Formula xHD Rev. 2 DAC
Ye Olde Editor lighting a contemplative stick: a portrait. Spring, 2021, Happy Valley, OR. (Photograph by John Robinson; image processing by Ye Olde...
Hand Book of a Hidden Man, Part 5: The Hideout
Dan Zimmerman: a portrait of an artist and musician. Happy Valley, 2019. (Photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) Why was it so easy to...
The State of The Art - Roger Skoff Writes About It
FYI, Roger Skoff is the founder and President of RSX Technologies, and the former founder and President of XLO Cables, a name well known to many. He...
Room Acoustics - More Science than Art
Norman Varney of AV RoomService Ltd. has joined Positive Feedback as a Senior Technical Editor as of Issue 113. His expertise in his field of audio...
Impressions: The Wolf Audio Alpha 3SX Music Server, Revisited...
Ye Olde Editor in contemplation, pipe in hand, Happy Valley (portrait by John Robinson; image processing by David W. Robinson) Wolf Audio's Alpha 3SX...
Oldies? Goodies? Remember That Line from Porgy and Bess...
Roger Skoff agrees with Porgy and Bess's character Sportin' Life about some Hi-Fi issues Nostalgia is a wonderful thing. It allows us to recall,...
Why I Choose to Review What I Do
When I started writing music reviews for Positive Feedback, David gave me the brief to focus on high resolution DSD and DXD recordings. I think this...
Hardware Reviews
Treehaus Audiolab Phantom of Luxury Loudspeaker
World Premiere Review! A very high quality speaker with unique sound. Review By Rick Becker With this article, Positive Feedback continues its...
The Parks Audio Puffin Phono Stage - Etc, Etc, Etc, Etc, Etc…
So why all the Etc's? Because, while nominally an affordable MM/MC phono stage, the Parks Audio Puffin incorporates a flock of features and functions...
Mola Mola Makua Line Stage
On Mola Mola's website if you click on the Makua, the first thing you will notice is "Analog Design for a Digital Age" in bold under a picture of the...
Nordost QSOURCE Linear Power Supply
One of those wall-warts came with the Fidelizer EtherStream network switch I use for music streaming. These little switch-mode devices have known...
The Soncoz SGA-1 Headphone Amplifier - a Great Value, Bringing...
If you enjoy headphone listening but prefer spending more of your cash on quality cans than amplification, the Soncoz SGA-1 headphone amplifier may be...
Boazu Integrated Amplifier
The following review has been submitted by guest reviewer, Miguel Barrio. Boazu vs Ongaku: David or Goliath? Ever since I was a kid I have been...
Parks Audio's Almost New Puffin
I am happy to tell you about a little device that will do things you might never imagine possible. It is something that feeds my restless pursuit of...
Rotel A14 MKII Integrated Amplifier
I can't remember the exact date, around the late eighties, nor the exact model, but I used to own a Rotel integrated amp in my fledgling days of...
Isolation Platforms from Marigo Audio Lab
The highlight bout begins with King Resolution dancing in his corner taunting Bishop Musicality across the ring, both egged on by PR guys with stakes...
Matthew Bond Audio GSC 36 Loudspeaker Cables
Once upon a time the life of an audiophile was very simple. Take speaker cables, for example. At a meeting of The Audiophile Society in the 1980s, in...
432 EVO High End Reference Music Server - Soothing Vinyl Sound...
Somewhere off shore, just west of Pillar Point Harbor in northern California, the 432 EVO High-End reference music server is riding a mammoth wave at...
Audio-Technica OC9XSH Cartridge
In the 20th century the Japanese manufacturing sector gained recognition for the ability to improve products through a continuous refinement of the...
Command Performance - Parasound JC 5 Stereo Power Amplifier
Every once in a while, a piece of gear comes into the listening room that immediately makes its presence known as something special, something just a...
Questyle M12 Mobile Phone Headphone Amp and DAC - Great HiFi On...
Chances are, you spend a lot of time either behind a desk, on a computer, or out and about without access to a quality home high fidelity stereo. Or,...
Interviews
The Editors Series 33 - Jim Austin of Stereophile
№ 33 of High Fidelity's "The Editors Series" of interviews. "The Editors" is a series of interviews with editors of audio magazines from all over the...
Music - SuperSonic Recordings
Top 500 SuperSonic List - Part 29
A ray of Sunshine! This is an ongoing project by Claude Lemaire of Soundevaluations 181. Jimmy "Bo" Horne, "Get Happy"/"It's Your Sweet Love". T.K....
Music Reviews
Dutch Hidden Gems – With the Excellent Dana Zemtsov, Viola
This new recording by the ever-excellent Dana Zemtsov offers much to savor, particularly with the rich, resonant tonal qualities of her viola brought...
Penetrating Readings of Two Masterpieces by the Trío Arriaga -...
These searching, deeply penetrating, and searingly wrought performances by Trío Arriaga of two elegiac masterpieces left me emotionally drained...and...
A Very Personal Journey Through Ysaÿe's Six Sonatas for Solo...
Alessandro Perpich delivers an intensely felt, personal journey through the challenging Six Sonatas for Solo Violin by Eugène Ysaÿe. Perpich is an...
Mozart and Beethoven Wind Octets - From Jared Sacks in DSD256
Celebrate! Raise joyful noises in the streets because Jared Sacks has released another wonderful album recorded in DSD256. And superb, indeed, is the...
A New Deeply Emotional Wintereisse from TRPTK
There are few more beloved classical songs than Schubert's Wintereisse. It is a true joy to hear a new performance that brings such a direct,...
The RCA Living Stereo Recordings by Lewis Layton at HDTT
Lewis Layton is among that small pantheon of engineering greats who made the golden age of stereo such a wonderful period. I've long admired his work...
Somethin' Else in Pure DSD256 from HDTT - You Need to Hear This
Oh my, oh my, indeed. This is a great transfer from analog tape to DSD256 from HDTT, released this past week. If you love classic jazz, you owe it to...
The Magic of Josep Colom on Eudora in Pure DSD256
I have been awestruck by the musicianship of veteran Spanish pianist Josep Colom since I first heard one his recordings three years ago. He is truly...
The Remastered Antonio Lysy At the Broad from Yarlung Records
When Bob Atiyeh sounds excited about some sonic improvement he's achieved, I pay attention. In this case it is Bob's announcement of a 15th Anniversary...
Ted Heath Swings in High Stereo – More Gold from HDTT
Kenneth Wilkinson, Kingsway Hall, and the Decca Tree—it all adds up to Audiophile Quality Big Band sound. I'm delighted to find yet another Kenneth...
Newport Jazz Festival 1958/1963 in Hi-Res from HDTT
Live recordings from the 1958 and 1963 Newport Jazz Festivals are legendary. Other years are also amazing, but its 1958 and 1963 in which I've been...
The Artistry of Ars Antiqua Austria, Part 3
The recordings by Ars Antiqua Austria continue to provide a rich treasure of musical enjoyment in our home. I group these next three recordings for no...
The Artistry of Ars Antiqua Austria, Part 2
As I continue exploring the recordings by Ars Antiqua Austria, I am delighted by the richness of instrumentation brought to the works they've chosen to...
The Artistry of Ars Antiqua Austria, Part 1
The fine artistry of Ars Antiqua Austria illustrates the excellence of historically informed performance practice today. Fifty years ago, one would...
A Tapestry of Sounds - Carole King's Tapestry
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, Ode Records – UD1S-030, Limited Edition, SuperVinyl, Box Set (adv. 2021, Dec. official 2022, Jan.), advanced promo #P004...
Notes of an Amateur: Fourth Quarter, 2021
Sofia Gubaidulina, Three Orchestral Works. Vadim Repin, violin. Gewandhaus Orchestra, Andris Nelsons, conductor, DGG 486-1457. Andris Nelsons and...
Chamber Sondheim?
Sondheim (arr. Stern), A Little Night Music: Suite. Opus Two (William Terwilliger, violin; Andrew Cooperstock, piano). Bridge 4010. TT: 14.31...
Bach Suites for Solo Cello with Nathaniel Rosen
What a pleasure it is to have this recording from 1994 of Nathaniel Rosen playing the complete Bach Suites for Solo Cello. Rosen brings his broad...
Robert (Bob) Fine's Recordings at HDTT
Recording engineer C. Robert (Bob) Fine (1922 - 1982) is best known for his Mercury Living Presence recordings with his wife Wilma Cozart Fine, and he...
Prokofiev, Górecki, Ysaÿe - Sonatas for Two Violins
There are very few major works written for two violins only, perhaps due to the seeming lack of variety in range and effect. This album from Challenge...
Carmen Gomes Inc. - Up Jumped the Devil
With this completely unexpected treatment of the great Robert Johnson's songs, Carmen Gomes Inc. surprises and delights me. I was expecting blues, of...
Carmen Gomes - Ray!
With the wonderful lead vocals of Carmen Gomes, the Carmen Gomes Inc. band delivers an album I find totally engaging from start to finish. They make...
New Old Stock - Articles from Our Days in Print
For Christmas: A Carol to Judy
This article, as written by Clark Johnsen originally ran in Issue 4, December/January 2003, so while we call this section "New Old Stock - Articles...
Our Friends at HIFI Statement
Auralic Sirius G2.1 Upscaler
Als ich 2018 den Aries G2 und den Vega G2 mit der Leo GX, einer „Direct-To-DAC“-Clock zum Testen hatte, ging ich noch davon aus, dass der.... . . Read More »
Our Friends at High Fidelity
Acoustic Revive RGC-24K - Artificial Round Conditioner
Acoustic Revive is a Japanese company that was set up in 1997, run by Mr. Ken Ishiguro-san. It specializes in connectors and anti-vibration products,...
A Reference System as a Source of Heartache or Joy
A reference system is a fundament of audio reviewer's work. It is his working tool. It turns out, however, that although we all want the same thing,...
Show Reports
Florida Audio Expo - Part 2
The Q Acoustics Concept 50 floorstanding loudspeakers made quite an impression! Tenacious Sound featuring Q Acoustics, Perlisten Audio, Cyrus, and...
Florida Audio Expo - Part 1
This year marks my second trip to the Florida Audio Expo (FAE), and the first visit since 2020—last year's show was canceled because of the pandemic....
