March - April 2024
Audio Discourse
Do Streaming Services Have a Sound?
I'm pleased to introduce this article by my audio friend, Ferenc Koscsó, founder of My Reel Club™ and eminent recording engineer. As so often in...
Hit Play! Loving Horch House's Latest Yello Release on Tape!
Welcome to the first installment of Hit Play!, a bimonthly column (at least in the beginning) dedicated to the ultimate in music and sound on 15-ips...
Eating Soup with a Fork
Roger Skoff of RSX Technologies at the LAOC Gala, 2023 (portrait and image processing by David W. Robinson) Roger Skoff writes about doing the right...
About Method - Or About What to Do When It Fails
For a man who still retains spontaneity, truth will always remain a great word, at the sound of which the heart beats more vividly. W. F. Hegel,...
Flaunt the Audio Imperfection
Frank Doris is a valued colleague at Positive Feedback, a Senior Associate Editor here, as well, and Editor of Copper magazine, the publication of PS...
Is it Really all BS? Part 2
Roger Skoff of RSX Technologies at the LAOC Audio Society Gala, December of 2023 (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) Roger Skoff...
RP22 Immersive Audio Guidelines v1.0
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: Photo Essay of AXPONA 2023 Audio Oasis! Awards, a...
Ye Olde Editor, before the tsunami... Personal tsunami, 2023. Such a strange year for me, one that threw me for a loop right in the midst of the two...
Hardware Reviews
With the New Record Doctor X, Your Vinyl Cleans Up Nicely!
As widely noted, for the second year in a row in 2023, vinyl record sales topped compact disc sales in the U.S.—this time by a whopping $43 million,...
Gingko Audio's Cloud22 Isolation Products
As many years as I have been in this hobby, within the last few I have become more and more intolerant of the exaggerated claims of expensive tweaks by...
Waters on the Hardware: Qln Signature Loudspeakers (5th...
Dean Waters at Pacific Audio Fest 2023: a portrait (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) The Qln Signature Series, Fifth Generation,...
A Follow-up on the Vanguard Caldera 10 Subwoofer: Dual Subs Now...
My original review of the Vanguard Caldera 10 subwoofer earlier this year was nothing short of an all out rave, and deservedly so! I know this is...
Puron Resolve RFI Eliminators
In my recent review of the Puron AC Power Conditioners, I was struck by the abundance of amazing and relatively inexpensive enhancements...
XACT S1 Music Server
The brochure included with the XACT S1 music server hammered on the point again and again. Digital that doesn't sound like digital. More like vinyl....
Zesto Audio Andros Spirit Phonostage World Premier
The Zesto Audio Andros Spirit Phonostage (image courtesy of Zesto Audio) The new Zesto Audio Andros Spirit Phonostage is an inexpensive wonder. It is...
Waters on the Hardware: Mola Mola's Perca Stereo Amplifier,...
Dean Waters at Pacific Audio Fest 2023: A Portrait with a Cigar. (Photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) About four months ago I...
Bella Sound Kahili Amplifier
Bella Sound is the brain child of Michael Vice. Educated at UC Berkeley and Stanford in Physics and Electrical Engineering, Mike has poured his decades...
Vanguard Scout Loudspeakers from Vera-Fi Audio
I've been reviewing a ton of LPs over the last few years, and to enhance my review process, I set up a dedicated, all-analog system in one of my audio...
WAY Cables: From Serbia with Love
WAY Cables Poetry X Analogue XLR interconnects Despite having access to a pretty wide range of very enticing gear, I really try to avoid the...
CleanerVinyl Ultrasonic Record Cleaner
Playing vinyl is some of the most fun you can have in this hobby. Sliding a record out of its sleeve and setting it on the platter, throwing a switch...
JBL TT350 Classic turntable
To paraphrase Lawrence Welk: there are more new turntables than ever to choose from, good and bad, and this is certainly one of them. That's actually...
The Swiss Digital Fuse Box and the Weakest Link
A Swiss Digital Fuse Box (SDFB for short) is a $395 device that replaces the generic $2 power fuse in high performance audio gear. Yes, you read that...
Vera-Fi Audio VBH-1 Vibration Black Hole Isolation Feet
Since my move to South Carolina, I've been in the process of slowly refining and (hopefully!) finalizing my seemingly ever-evolving audio systems. With...
Interviews
Creating a Musical World With the Slambovian Circus of Dreams
This article is republished from Copper Magazine, edited by Frank Doris, and was written by him. Frank is also a Senior Associate Editor here...
Music Reviews
Patricia Barber's Companion, Now Available on 45 rpm 1STEP from...
Impex Records continues to roll out the hits with another superb choice for their next deluxe 1STEP LP treatment, reaching again into the catalog of...
Dave Brubeck & Paul Desmond at Wilshire-Ebel
I think it's pretty safe to say that most record-collecting audiophiles know Dave Brubeck (1920-2012), and his album, Time Out (Columbia CS8192). After...
April 2024 Record Store Day LPs from Rhino and Warner
Rhino Entertainment has an impressive slate of limited-edition LPs available for the upcoming Saturday, April 20th celebration of Record Store Day 2024...
April Record Store Day LP Offerings from Craft Recordings
Craft Recordings is offering another cool slate of limited-edition LPs for the upcoming Saturday, April 20th celebration of Record Store Day 2024...
Rare and Classic Top Shelf Reissue LPs from Jazz Dispensary and...
Jazz Dispensary is a specialty imprint of Craft Recordings that's dedicated to mining the riches of parent company Concord Music's vast catalog of...
Classic Contemporary Label Jazz Reissues from Craft Recordings...
Craft Recordings has announced the latest group of reissues from their Contemporary Records Acoustic Sounds series, which features twelve LP reissues...
Three New Audiophile LP Reissues that Really Deliver! Iconic...
The Cars, Candy-O. Rhino High Fidelity Series (33 RPM) The Cars first album entitled The Cars, was released in 1977 on the Reprise label and was a huge...
The New IMPEX Records Getz/Gilberto 1Step. Has IMPEX Now...
I have been waiting with great anticipation for the new IMPEX 1Step Getz/Gilberto reissue to arrive, but that was no problem. I have learned long ago...
Notes from Recent Finds, No. 20 - More from HDTT
High Definition Tape Transfers has released/reissued many superb albums over the couple of months since I last posted an update, and I keep being...
Notes on Recent Finds, No. 21 - New Joys from NativeDSD
As David Robinson and I were discussing a couple of weeks ago, we truly are living in the golden age of recorded music and home audio—both in the...
Pure DSD256 Large Orchestra Recording from Eudora Records - With...
Utter transparency. Abundant detail. Extreme delicacy and nuance. A soundstage to die for. Unrestrained dynamics and immense power. This is a recording...
Vaughn Monroe Plays Cole Porter
Nobody talks about Vaughn Monroe (1911-1973) anymore. That's sad, because Monroe was a very good singer. It's pretty clear to me that it's his unusual...
Start Your Ear Off Right with Limited Edition LPs from Rhino...
Rhino Entertainment has announced their cleverly named Start Your Ear Off Right series, which features a slate of eighteen limited edition LP releases,...
Isaac Hayes' Hot Buttered Soul on Craft Recordings Small Batch...
Craft Recordings' has just released the sixth installment in their premium Small Batch audiophile LP series with a reissue of Isaac Hayes' 1969...
Alice In Chains, Jar of Flies 30th Anniversary Edition from...
Sony Music Entertainment, Columbia Records, and Legacy Recordings have just reissued Alice In Chains' classic 1994 EP Jar of Flies in a 30th...
Getz/Gilberto, Sounding Better Than Ever on 1STEP 45 rpm LPs...
Impex Records has just released another of their incredible 1STEP 45 rpm LP box sets, this time featuring the classic Bossa Nova album Getz/Gilberto....
Bill Snyder -Themes Of Distinction from Great Motion Pictures
Who the heck was Bill Snyder? Based on the scarce info I could find, William P. Snyder (1916-2011), from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, was America's most...
Silvestrov Postludium No. 3
Silvestrov, Postludium No. 3. Matt Haimovitz, cello; Nadia Shpachenko, piano. Pentatone Music PTC5187305 (digital single). TT: 4.53. It's been two...
Jascha Heifetz: The Lark on 180 gram LP from Impex Records
I've had the immense pleasure of being able to evaluate a number of Impex Records' excellent LP releases over the last year or so, with results that...
Hawaiian Holiday
My old friend and former roommate, Dave, suggested that I write about my Leni Okehu record. What a cool idea. The music is a boatload of fun, it's...
More Classic OJC LPs from Craft Recordings, Featuring Cannonball...
Craft Recordings has announced the first group of new titles for 2024 in their Original Jazz Classics (OJC) reboot, featuring three albums that were...
Rhino High Fidelity Premium Vinyl Series Continues with Classic...
The Rhino High Fidelity Premium Vinyl Series continues with the release of two new titles, and as with the previous group of offerings, the selections...
Horenstein's Mahler Third - Jerry Bruck's Excellent Recording...
A great new listening experience for this well loved performance, perhaps the greatest performance of Mahler's Third Symphony in the catalog. Mahler...
New Old Stock - Articles from Our Days in Print
The Twentieth Century and the Birth of Audio Technology
This article by John Pearsall originally ran in Positive Feedback ISSUE 3 October/November 2002, so while we call this section "New Old Stock -...
Our Friends at High Fidelity
Fezz Audio Equinox EVO DAC
PREMIERE Fezz Audio is a company specializing in tube amplifiers. It is the audiophile branch of toroidal transformer manufacturer, Toriody.pl, also...
Siltech Royal Single Crown Interconnect
Siltech is one of the three brands that make up International Audio Holding BV. Founded in 1983 in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, it specialized in silver...
Flow Three Integrated Amplifier
PREMIERE Flow by Allegro is a Hungarian company, founded in 2018, specializing in audio amplifiers. Its founder and designer is Mr. Bela Teleki, but...
Show Reports
Slouching Towards Schaumburg - AXPONA 2024
I'm sliding into Northern Illinois on a dreary Thursday in early April. There is a touch of nostalgia and foreboding landing here in the suburbs of...
Southwest Audio Fest 2024 Best Rooms - High End by Oz
With this episode of the audio analyst©, "Episode 167: Southwest Audio Fest 2024-Best Rooms - High End by Oz," I’m highlighting the remarkable sonic...
Florida International Audio Expo 2024
One of my favorite audio events every year is the Tampa show. For the past four visits the weather has been sunny and in the 70s every day. This year...
