September - October 2020
Audio Discourse
The Pass Labs XP-12 Line-Level Preamplifier: A Musical...
I have been looking forward to telling you about the Pass Labs XP-12 line-level preamplifier, as I've found the XP-12 to make for an excellent match to...
In Search of a Perfect Song, Part 9
These Perfect Song articles have moved beyond my original intent: So, what is a perfect song? In my opinion, a perfect song touches you on many...
Bunking Cable Lifters: Roger Skoff Writes About the Other Side...
One of the audiophile "tweaks" most often criticized on the internet and in back-room bull sessions is the use of cable lifters to improve system...
Impressions: The Vinnie Rossi L2i SE Integrated Amplifier
The Vinnie Rossi L2i SE Integrated Preamp with DAC and Pono Section (image courtesy of Vinnie Rossi Audio) Ye Olde Editor, in situ (portrait by John...
Equinox Balance Acts – Listening to Vinyl
The year continues to be a trial for us all in balance and direction. I hope you are making the transitions needed or wanted in the most healthy and...
Time Stands Still - Neil Peart's Heady Metal
Freeze this moment a little bit longer Neil Peart GHOSTS…In keeping with my apparent predilection—as an obsessive chronicler of fructifying high...
Just Listen: There’s Something Special Going On
To my ears, the Dutch label Just Listen Records is today capturing much of what is best about live, or nearly live, recordings in their...
Preferences in Reproduction
I think it's fairly well-known in the high-end community that people tend to like what they like, and they tend to like different sounding systems....
Does a 1956 Recording Really Belong in a High Res Music Library?
When Dr. David, Ye Olde Editor at PF, invited me to write some music reviews with a principal focus on DXD and DSD256, I don't think he expected I...
Yes, There Really is Music After Vinyl - Part 4
Part 4 – So what does the new system sound like and what are we listening to? Fair warning: my focus is on classical music with a smattering of jazz...
Yes, There Really is Music After Vinyl - Part 3
Part 3 - In which we get down in the weeds: the files, the library and how this all gets lashed together… "Nobody knows everything, nobody has...
From an Editor’s Notebook: the Ryan Tinsel LP Rack Stack
Ye Olde Editor with an exceptional La Flor Dominicana Andalusian Bull (portrait by John Robinson) Oregon and trees…they go together. The forests of...
Impressions: A Final Meditation on the LampizatOr Pacific DAC
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." Maya...
Yes, There Really is Music After Vinyl - Part 2
Part 2 – In which this (now former) vinylholic seeks his solution for moving to an all-digital world, with headphones… [Please understand that this...
Yes, There Really is Music After Vinyl
Rushton Paul Well now! I'm pleased to say that we've gotten my friend Rush Paul back for another article here at PF. Longer-term readers may remember...
From an Editor's Notebook: Positive Feedback Central Goes Solar
PF Central…River City and up the Hill…has finally made the investment and switchover to solar power. (Photograph and image processing by Ye Olde...
Hardware Reviews
Wave High Fidelity Storm Reference BNC Cables
Wave Storm Reference BNC Cables and the Chord Dave I have heard many cables I have liked over the years, and have endorsed several of them throughout...
Grado GT220 Bluetooth Wireless IEM Universal Fit Headphones
Finally! Bluetooth IEM monitors that present real music in real space without wires! Grado has done it and I am mightily impressed. Surpassing the...
Synergistic Research Tranquility Pod
It is hard to imagine any human inhabitant of planet Earth whose life has not been negatively impacted by the current Covid-19 pandemic. However,...
Audience frontRow powerChords
One of the unsung perks of reviewing high-end gear is getting to travel without the discomfort of leaving home. When something new arrives, often even...
KECES S300 Power Amplifier and S3 Preamplifier
"Holistic." "Quiet." "Transparent." Those words are my attempt to summarize the KECES S3 Preamplifier/S300 Combo: A delightful possibility for those...
ZMF Vérité Closed Headphones
ZMF Vérité Closed, ZMF Wooden Case, Cable Bag, and Warrantee Card ZMF has become one of the most well-known names in the head-fi community, producing...
iFi iPhono 3 Black Label Phono Stage
I've had the same Linn LP12 turntable in my system for thirty-six years. Regular maintenance has kept it in tip-top condition. Of course it has had a...
Pass Labs XP-17 Phono Preamplifier and X250.8 Power Amplifier
Impressive sound quality that we've come to expect from Pass Labs. Review By Tom Lyle With this article, Positive Feedback continues its...
TLP Audio TF130 Power Conditioner
High performance audio components have a variety of needs to reach their full potential, and one of the most critical requirements is being fed the...
USBe Perfect
My power conditioner is an EQUI=CORE 300 by Core Power Technologies. Some time ago, the company's assets were acquired and renamed Core Power...
AudioQuest Fog Lifters
If you believe in RFI—no, let me start over. If you believe in science (since RFI is a measurable phenomenon), most likely you are doing something to...
Synergistic Research UEF Record Weight
A fairly common thread that runs through most audiophiles who are partial to vinyl rather than digital, is their penchant for tweaking. In contrast to...
Core Power Technologies Equi=Core 1800 MK2
How to think about Power Conditioning Power conditioning is an incredibly touchy subject and seems to divide the audiophile community as a whole. There...
Verity Audio Otello Floorstanding Loudspeakers
A loudspeaker for music lovers. Review By Rufus Smith With this article, Positive Feedback continues its content-sharing relationship with Enjoy the...
Koetsu Black Goldline Moving Coil Cartridge
Auditioning cartridges is a lot like wine tasting and shopping for televisions. You never know how good a glass of wine from a $100 bottle tastes...
AURALiC Aries G1 Streaming Transporter
When it comes to streamers, my point of view is simple: software is king. Good software can make a streamer, and bad software can break a streamer. For...
Plussound Tri-Silver X8 Cable
Plussound is a boutique custom cable company with roots in Los Angeles, California. Headed by Christian Oliver, the American company has built a legion...
Synergistic Research MiG SX Isolation Footers and UEF Cable...
I have come across a few skeptics in the audiophile community who subscribe to the notion that footers do not make much of a difference to the...
E.A.T. Jo NO 8 MC Cartridge
I think most of us are aware of E.A.T. and their turntables and cartridges. You may have read Robert Levi's review on the stunning Jo No. 5 cartridge...
Chario Sonnet Monitor Loudspeakers -
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Boudoir. Since I moved into a very large loft some 20 years ago, my only rule for reviewing was NO MONITOR...
Sonus Faber Olympica Nova V Loudspeakers
Greetings faithful readers. It is time to bring you another installment on Sonus Faber Speakers. I initially reviewed the Olympica Nova I stand mounted...
A Sonic Landslide - The Boulder 866 Integrated Amplifier...
I recently reviewed the entry level Boulder 508 phono stage, and it surprised the boots off me by its price / performance ratio. It's so good, in fact,...
Interviews
An Interview with NativeDSD's Mastering Engineer Tom Caulfield
Tom Caulfield is NativeDSD's mastering engineer and an accomplished DSD multi-channel recording engineer. I've had the pleasure of getting to know Tom...
Music - SuperSonic Recordings
Top 500 SuperSonic List - Part 22
This is an ongoing project by Claude Lemaire of Soundevaluations "To B, or not to B-Note, that is the question" "It's Poetry In Motion" –Thomas...
Music Reviews
A Triumphant New LP Reissue: John Coltrane Quartet - Ballads
Ballads is considered by many as an essential addition to any John Coltrane collection. First released on the Impulse label in mono and then later in...
TRPTK: Intersection of Passion, Skill, and Excellence
The more I listen to the recordings created by Brendon Heinst and his team, the more enchanted I become. TRPTK has easily become a favorite music label...
Vince Guaraldi: Peanuts Portraits (70th Anniversary LP Edition)
If you're a baby boomer (OK, Boomer!) or one of their children, you no doubt have a strong familiarity of the works of jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi. Or...
Collective Soul: 25th Anniversary LP Reissues
Back in the early nineties, I worked at my day job with a guy, Tim, who was following his dream, trying to make it as a guitarist moonlighting in a...
Organ Transcriptions of Handel
Handel: Organ Transcriptions (arr. J. Walsh and J. Hook). Simone Vebber, organ (Serassi organ, Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Milan,...
Cantor Meir Finklestein, Grant Geissman: Kathleen Mavourneen
Our good friend and fellow scrivener John Marks, he of The Tannhäuser Gate, has shared with us another of his musical reflections from that estimable...
New Old Stock - Articles from Our Days in Print
Majeel Laboratories Pristine SA10 Amplifier
This article, as reviewed by Larry Cox, Dave Clark, and Victor Chavira originally ran in Issue 2, August/September 2002, so while we call this section...
Our Friends at HIFI Statement
Goebel Epoque Aeon Speaker
Es wäre wirklich schön, wenn ich mich öfter mit Testobjekten so intensiv beschäftigen könnte wie mit der Epoque Aeon Fine. Schon das.... . . Read More »
Chord electronics 2go Streaming Module
Angekündigt wurde das Streaming-Modul 2go schon vor langem. Auf den Norddeutschen Hifi-Tagen konnte ich ein frühes Exemplar sehen, und jetzt ist die.... . . Read More »
Audio Note Vindicator Amp and Preamp
Achtung, befangener HiFi-Redakteur: Die Audio Note M2 Phono ist meine, die ich mir schon vor einiger Zeit gekauft habe und ich liebe sie. Der Vertrieb.... . . Read More »
Ansuz Powerswitch D-TC Supreme
Nein, Hifistatement entwickelt sich nicht zum Fachmagazin für audiophile LAN-Switches. Doch seit Roland Dietl und ich hörten, welche klanglichen.... . . Read More »
Our Friends at High Fidelity
MITSUBISHI ProDigi Digital Reel-to-Reel Recorders - From X-80 to...
It is the story of birth of digital audio, as well as a journey through the 1970s and 1980s, the best period in the history of digital recorders, and...
Show Reports
Rocky Mountain Audio Fest
Sadly, the 16th annual Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, which was set for October in Denver, has been cancelled due to the Covid 19 pandemic. RMAF 2021 is...
