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So, yeah… I buy a lot of music every year and little if any of it will ever be mistaken for that of the typical audiophile genres: jazz, female vocals, classical, or whatever. No, the music I buy tends to fall way outside what is heard at audio shows or seen in various audiophile magazines…... Read More »

The Beginner's Guide to Vinyl: How to Build, Maintain, and Experience a Music Collection in Analog, by Jenna Miles. ISBN-10: 1440598967. ISBN-13: 978-1440598968. Published by Adams Media (2017) Rating Global Appreciation: 8.5. Presentation: straightforward, non-deluxe. Category: music, vinyl record guide. Format: paperback book. 5.5 x 8.5 inches approx. 256 pages all B&W except for 8 semi-gloss colored pages located... Read More »

High-end headphones and Personal Fi. I've evaluated a goodly handful of 'phones and headphone amps over many years, with some excellent results. Some were large cost-no-object designs, built for home, listening room, or office use only; others were compact and portable, for the music lover on the go. (I do a fair amount of flying,... Read More »

When Less Offers More In Issue 96 (this review has taken far too long, about which more in Part 2), I previewed several knockout products that had taken up temporary residence here at the Lounge (HERE). One of the new arrivals, Ron Sutherland's knockout 20/20 phono preamp, a unit that has been available to music... Read More »

The premise is simple enough:  I key in on seven albums that are brand new to me. They could have been released at any point and time throughout history. Their format may be CD, Vinyl, Cassette Tape, or Streaming…who cares?! The albums may technically be singles or they may be EPs…again, who cares?! This is... Read More »

Beginning at the end of 2003, PF established its first annual awards for fine audio. The Brutus Award was established for the best that David Robinson and Dave Clark (and Carol Clark) had heard in their own listening rooms during that year. You can think of it as our equivalent of an "Editors' Choice" award. The Gizmo... Read More »

Roger Skoff at the LAOC Audio Society Gala Banquet, 2018:  a portrait by David W. Robinson In Part 1 of this two-part article, I pointed out that we audiophiles are the only fan group I know of who argue, not just about which stuff is better, but about whether, for some products, there's any difference... Read More »

At Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2018, I was asked to participate in a panel titled Why We Listen: Music Changes Lives. I didn't realize what they meant is that they wanted me to moderate the panel. To ease the stress of moderating my first audio show panel, I was given the opportunity to choose the... Read More »

It seems like such a long time ago since I last dropped in and shared my audio adventures with you guys. Well, I got a good one for ya in this episode of Wayne's World. I don't quite remember how it all got started, but more than likely I was bragging to David Robinson about... Read More »

The following video is from RMAF 2018 where we discussed ways to increase the diversity in the audiophile community. Not only shows, but consumers as well. A lot to digest, to distill, and to build upon. Look for an article summarizing what we discussed soon, but till then.... stop denigrating people (age, gender, etc.) for their... Read More »

Roger Skoff writes about the ongoing war over cables and what really matters Roger Skoff at the LAOC Audio Society Gala Banquet, 2018:  a portrait by David W. Robinson I've said it before, and you've seen it before:  We audiophiles, unlike any other group of fans or hobbyists that I know of, are always at... Read More »

Ye Olde Editor, late summer 2018:  a portrait by John Robinson A late-year glance backwards. Memory, music, people, associations… "No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me. An exquisite pleasure had... Read More »

Okay so the article below is from way back in June 2002 when David Robinson and his wife Lila Ritsema, Carol Clark and I (Dave Clark) decided to merge our two print publications into one web publication, well for the first two years or so, so sorta two. This article ran not only in the last... Read More »

Ye Olde Editor:  a portrait by John Robinson Numbers. I don't usually get too hung up on round numbers and anniversary metrics…they happen all the time. But as we get ready to launch our next issue and go into 2019, I wanted to stand up, take a stretch, and note two things that are at... Read More »

Photo credit: Geoff Zagarola of La Naranja eBay auctions. I find it hard to believe that 2018 marks the 30th anniversary of the recording session for Arturo Delmoni's legendary 1988 Water Lily solo-violin recital. Recorded at night in a monastery chapel, Delmoni's compelling performances combine thrilling technique with thought-provoking musical insights. This minimalist-audiophile, two channels from two... Read More »

Ye Olde Editor with pipe weed. Portrait by John Robinson. This seems to be a season for culminating projects. Given that autumn is upon us now, I reckon that the time matches the season, and the mood matches the moment. Having finished my summing up of the Audionet STERN and HEISENBERG reference products, it is... Read More »

George Klissarov and David W. Robinson George Klissarov, AXPONA 2017 exaSound's new flagship device, the PlayPoint DM Dual-Mono D/A Converter and Network Audio Server, is the high point of my life-long obsession with audio and eight years of research, design, and the making of DACs and streamers. We entered the audiophile market with the introduction... Read More »

Ye Olde Editor:  a portrait by John Robinson Audionet's STERN and HEISENBERG:  Back to the mountaintop again! Fair warning:  This is yet another one of my evaluations that is not going to be a typical "review." No, not with these designs. This is going to be more of a culminating mediation on my experiences with... Read More »

Nelson Pass:  a portrait. Sea Ranch, CA, 2018. Photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson. Introduction – Why do we care about 2nd harmonic? Historically, audio amplification has been about the elimination of all forms of distortion. Early on, the premise has been that low distortion is one of the keys to audio quality... Read More »