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Forget the obvious "fairies" wisecrack for a moment, and think about this: Although the internet is thick with guys out there playing the "Troll", there are no "Anti-trolls" at all―not even one "Blue Fairy." If, like me, you enjoy sharing your thoughts with other people on the internet, whether on Facebook, on Twitter, in some... Read More »

The Pass Labs XA30.5 vs. XA30.8: A Classic Matchup! [In my best Michael Buffer ring announcer voice] Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Pass Labs Class A Lightweight Ch(amp)ionship of the World! In one corner, weighing in at a svelte 62 pounds without cardboard, the reigning champion, XA30.5! In the opposite corner, weighing in at 106 pounds boxed... Read More »

CEntrance has established itself as a leader in the personal audio community/industry over the last decade. They've managed to position themselves at the top through constant innovation in their own products, while providing USB and other digital solutions for other high-end audio audio industry leaders such as Playback Designs, McIntosh, Benchmark, Wadia, and Lavry, to... Read More »

  I stopped writing about equipment quite some time ago. I blamed it on a number of things that were absolutely true … old man, heavy boxes; crazy distributors, the clamor of other things in my life. While this was the truth, it wasn't the whole truth. Like many men in their sixties, my hearing... Read More »

If you frequently read high-end publications or Internet audio chat boards, then Audioengine is not new to you. Their finely engineered audio components and speakers have been recognized and lauded by publications around the world for great sound and high value. I had only heard Audioengine products at AXPONA, and even under show conditions their... Read More »

Damn. How does this happen? Every year, I work hard to compile my list of Brutus Award winners for the end of the year; every year I promise myself that I'll complete this award article way ahead of the curve; and every year, this deadline bushwhacks me. Bloody hell. You'd better appreciate it amigos…you'll never... Read More »

"By the time I got your letter I had lost my mind I was trippin' ‘When you gettin' better?' It's a jagged line Nothin' lasts forever when you travel time I've been sippin' that cool aid of the cosmos" —"The Voyager" by Jenny Lewis I wrote a while back about the AudioQuest Forest Ethernet cables,... Read More »

Walter Benjamin pointed out, during the tragic era when Adolph Garbage-bag stormed Europe with unquenched anti-Semitic malice, that each memorable character type and archetypal personality reflected (with inevitable prismatic distortion) the underlying zeitgeist from which it emerged on the historical scene. Benjamin suffered inordinately from The Fascist Fraud's hateful pomposity. His philosophically refined awareness of... Read More »

Four years ago, when some folks were worrying about WikiLeaks and toot-tooting their vuvuzelas, I spent two thoroughly enjoyable months listening to the Peachtree Audio iDecco integrated amplifier. At the time, I declared that the iDecco was the hands-down, no foolin', best option for anyone desiring a fast, thoroughly modern musical integrated for less than... Read More »

(Including… deep breath here!... notes on the ModWright KWA 150 Signature Amplifier and LS 100 Preamplifier; the eXemplar T105 two-box tubed universal player; the Rogue Audio R99 Super Magnum Preamp and Rogue Audio Medusa Hybrid Vacuum Tube Amplifier; the Blue Circle BC30X1 Powerline Conditioner) When I reviewed the Magnepan 3.7 and Bass Panel DWM speakers... Read More »

Introduction Funny how you can get bushwhacked by excellence in the audio arts. In the early spring of 2014, Bill Parish, a long-time audio friend, got in touch with me about a line of products that he thought I would be interested in. It was from a company that I had never heard of: Audionet,... Read More »

Audio Skies, importer of the wonderful sounding Larsen Model 8 speakers, seems to have found another winner in Pear Audio Blue, a Slovenian firm which makes preamplifiers and turntables. On hand is their Reference Preamplifier. Michael Vamos of Audio Skies tells me that Pear Audio Blue's Peter Mezek was best friends with the late Tom... Read More »

Eight years ago or so, I purchased a pair of David Slagle's Intact Audio "Basic" $200 autoformers. They lay unloved in a drawer for five years before I put them in a little wooden box and hooked them up to my system. (HERE) Once I did, I couldn't believe how fantastic they sounded. While I... 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 Dave Clark and I had heard in our own listening rooms during that year. You can think of it as our equivalent of an "Editors' Choice" award. The Gizmo Award, on... Read More »

As many of you know—and as the title reference to "The Acoustic Revive Chronicles" suggests—over the years I've written quite a lot about the innovative Acoustic Revive audio accessories designed by the brilliant Mr. Ken Ishiguro in Isesaki, Japan. In fact, I've spent more time writing about Mr. Ken's Acoustic Revive accessories than I have... Read More »

"Oh help me, please doctor, I'm damaged There's a pain where there once was a heart It's sleepin, it's a beatin' Can't ya please tear it out, and preserve it Right there in that jar?" —"Dear Doctor" by The Rolling Stones So, first, I wanted apologize for jamming two sets of commentaries, the latter of... Read More »

I love and appreciate tube based audio gear and own sixteen pieces of tube gear between my two reference systems. Without a thorough knowledge of tube types and their substitution possibilities, you may be over-paying for your new or NOS tubes you employ, or just pick the wrong ones. This data is based on my... Read More »

"The digital music business has been a war of attrition that nobody seems to be winning," said David Goldberg, the former head of Yahoo music. "The CD is still disappearing, and nothing is replacing it in entirety as a revenue generator." Its no mystery that the wiring of our world has brought enormous changes in... Read More »

The First Blueport "Audio Transcendence" Award (With a response by Marshall Nack) What does it mean that the onset of Global Warming coincides with the arrival of a theoretical Golden Age of audiophile possibilities? I'll think about that awhile as the emergence of DSD (direct stream digital), after a quarter-century languishing in audio twilight with... Read More »