Saturday 7/27/2019, Boston MA First, a public service announcement: Get off the screens! While I work tirelessly with my children on this, I believe it is important for us, too. Perhaps this is self defeating as a columnist for an online magazine, however I cannot encourage the PF community enough to get off-line, plan a... Read More »
This article originally ran in Issue 41 of Positive Feedback, January/February 2009. This was the precursor to my last article, HERE. So …what do you want to be when you grow up? When I was in the first grade my class took a field trip to the fire station. At the time I thought... Read More »
HOLDEN, MA (July 22, 2019) – Vinnie Rossi has officially transitioned from direct sales to a dealer network in the USA and is pleased to announce the appointment of Mark Sossa of Well Pleased Audio Video as the company’s sales representative for North America, effective July 22, 2019. Commenting on the new partnership, Rossi said,... Read More »
So, when it comes down to getting the best, make that the very best, that one's system can produce sound wise in your room, after all is said and done… let's make sure that the AC that is feeding our components is as good as it can get—like with any AC filtration device or a... Read More »
Abey Fonn and the entire team at IMPEX Records continue to impress and delight. Though we have only just passed the halfway point for the year 2019, these new vinyl releases entitled Another Time, Another Place from Jennifer Warnes and Lo Que Nice Mi Cantar from Trio Palabras are already strong contenders for my favorite albums... Read More »
Lynn Olson and Thom Mackris, RMAF 2015 Let's start with a skeptical view from Steve Guttenberg, who's been around the block more than once: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIKkBgpo75I Steve's got a point. Surround music has failed in the marketplace not once, but twice. The first was a ten-year window in the Seventies, with the LP-based QS, SQ, and... Read More »
Kronos Audio is now shipping its much anticipated SSCPS (Sparta Super Capacitor Power Supply). Exclusively for those looking for the finest analog playback (outside of the Kronos Pro), Sparta now gets a major upgrade in performance with borrowed technology from the Kronos SCPS-1. The SSCPS has energy storage that would make the largest amplifiers jealous. ... Read More »
A tape, a test pressing, an LP "The most expensive music format (in the world)" as exemplified by records produced by the AC Records label. A lot has already been said about analog tapes—by us as well. However, it was the first time we had had the opportunity to compare an analogue "master" tape with... Read More »
Herb Reichert and Lynn Olson at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, 2015 (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) In my sophomore year in college (in Claremont, California), I applied for several Federal summer jobs in Washington, D.C. since my parents lived there (my father was transitioning from the Foreign Service to Marine Midland... Read More »
FLORENCE, Italy: Gold Note - the Italian High-End Audio manufacturer based in Florence – is introducing DS-10, an innovative D/A Converter & Streamer with Headphone amplifier and analogue preamplifier stage designed for the contemporary audiophile. First presented at the High End Show in Munich in 2019, DS-10 represents the state of the art among our... Read More »
LONDON / HANGZHOU, JULY 16th, 2019 - Xiami Music, a wholly-owned entity of the Alibaba Group, will be the first music streaming service in China to adopt MQA. With the implementation of MQA, Xiami Music will become the audio quality leader in China, sending a clear signal to artists and creators that Xiami’s service is... Read More »
Original version published Feb 20, 2015. Revised after stumbling onto Positive Feedback's Carol Clark's recent post, My Journey into Audio Pandora, Carol Clark (image by David Clark, Positive Feedback) It looked like Carol recently had a similar experience as I did in 2015 that "left [her] stewing." We have been friends with Dave and Carol... Read More »
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab reissue MFSL 2-479 (Sept. 2017). Originally released on Atlantic – SD-8227 (Aug. 1969). Category: soul, southern soul, R&B, blues, black gospel and spiritual roots, churchy. Format: Vinyl (2x180 gram LPs at 45 rpm). Rating Global Appreciation: 9.6 Music: A+ (9.5) Recording: 9.3 Remastering + Lacquer Cutting: 9.7 Pressing: 10 Packaging: above... Read More »
SAINT-SAËNS: Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor; LALO: Cello Concerto in D minor; MILHAUD: Cello Concerto No. 1, Op. 136; OFFENBACH: Les larmes de Jacqueline; MASSENET: Thaïs: Méditation. Hee-Young Lim, cello; London Symphony Orchestra/Scott Yoo. Sony Classical S80425C. TT: 75.40 The Korean cellist Hee-Young Lim has a lot to offer. Her tone is dark and full-bodied,... Read More »
The first product to feature McIntosh’s new advanced DA2 Digital Audio Module Binghamton, NY – July 10, 2019 – McIntosh, the global leader in prestigious home entertainment and ultimate-quality audio for 70 years, is proud to announce the C53 Preamplifier. The C53 Preamplifier is ready to serve in a home audio system for many years... Read More »
The three multi-use models are the company’s finest loudspeakers to date Lake Forest, CA – July 10, 2019 – Pro Audio Technology (PRO), the leading supplier of high-output loudspeakers and DSP loudspeaker controllers, announces two new series of loudspeakers consisting of three new models – S-12sm, SR-12ai, and SR-212ai – providing uncompromised sound for residential theater, commercial... Read More »
In 2012, the original AudioQuest DragonFly thoroughly disrupted the DAC market. For so many casual enthusiasts who had never previously considered the possibility of improving their digital-audio experience, DragonFly was nothing short of a revelation. Meanwhile, even the most experienced audiophiles were compelled to reexamine long-held notions of what a DAC could and should be. Stereophile’s... Read More »
Roger Skoff writes about everybody'd favorite controversial product While the debate continues on the internet over whether different cables sound different, those of us with the ears and listening skills to hear it and the systems and listening environments of sufficient resolution to show it know that it's not just different cables that sound different,... Read More »
I heard an interesting theory last year at the California Audio Show. Basically, I was informed that women aren't audiophiles because they're not wired that way. It seems boys spend time with their fathers working on cars, taking things apart and putting them back together, and are thus programmed to be gear heads. Girls, on... Read More »
Founded in 2010 by Pat Hickman, Whammerdyne Heavy Industries is an amalgamation of technical skill-sets united by a common passion for hi-end audio, based in Wilsonville, OR. With many years of combined experience in hi-end audio, electronics engineering, and CNC fabrication, the team set out to build the ultimate single-ended stereo amplifiers. The year 2019... Read More »
Qobuz, the Hi-Res streaming and download hybrid service, is teaming up with AudioQuest to give customers a taste of the best music streaming and sound with the newest generation of AudioQuest's groundbreaking DragonFly DAC line, the Dragonfly Cobalt. Upgrading Hi-Res listening from iPhones and other devices to full 24-bit, the new DragonFly comes loaded with... Read More »
BERNARDSVILLE, New Jersey, USA – Finally there is a good alternative for the purist of Reel to Reel Tape playback. Merrill Audio PURE Tape Head Preamp provides a superior Tape Head Preamp that brings out the full dynamics of Reel to Reel Tape, with the details and immediacy of the live recording. Merrill Audio is... Read More »
Self-portrait, 2017 In medias res… From time to time, I shake out my ongoing audio journal, and comment on some products and items that have accumulated over the past few months. Nothing too lengthy or intense, but quick thoughts and bullet points indicative of fine audio designs/products that I think our readers should be aware... Read More »
In this installment of the New Apartment Lounge, Maurice Jeffries takes a long hard listen to the stunning Mola Mola amp/preamp suite, an almost affordable turntable from Kronos Audio, and some smooth-sounding new cables from Kubala-Sosna Research LLC. With a fresh set of ears and new insights, he also revisits an old and trusted friend.... Read More »
Twenty questions with an audiophile who is also an artist. For this Audiophiles as Artists, we feature Chris Morris. What's your background? I grew up on a farm in eastern Colorado. No town or major population to speak of, lots of time to myself and explore the world around me. It was a very typical... Read More »
There’s nothing quite like listening to music with a great pair of headphones. But sharing your tunes with friends while you listen just doesn’t work. Thanks to a new innovation called VERTO Headphones, all that’s about to change. See at http://kck.st/2WTNCTN VERTO Headphones are the most versatile headphones ever made. Their innovation gives users complete freedom... Read More »
Accell’s ProUltra Supreme cable features an HDMI Ethernet Channel supporting the latest AV technology with HDR FREMONT, Calif. – July 1, 2019 – Accell, a provider of innovative Powramid power products and enhanced connectivity solutions, today announced the release of its new ProUltra® Supreme High Speed HDMI 8K Cable. With an MSRP starting at $19.99, the ProUltra Supreme... Read More »
I'm a music lover. I am an audiophile. I'm an electronics technician. I am an acoustician, a sound engineer. I am a philologist with a PhD. I am a reader. I am a journalist, a specialist journalist, let's add. I am each of them individually and all at the same time. Such thoughts come to... Read More »
Destination Sound Group (“DSG”), the North American Distributors of LampizatOr and Final Touch Audio) is proud to announce our newest partnership with Audionec from France as we introduce the revolutionary new “Evo” speaker line. Audionec has designed a proprietary full-range driver from 200hz to 25khz. No traditional driver compares when recreating the feel and sense... Read More »
Concluding our video interview series from Munich 2019, courtesy of NativeDSD.com, here are the final three interviews from that event. Many thanks to Jared, Jonas, and Floor of NativeDSD for sharing this series with the readers of Positive Feedback worldwide. Dr. David W. Robinson Grimm Audio presents the MU1 Eelco Grimm introduces the MU1 music player... Read More »
Time for cables Cables are one of the elements that constitute an audio system. It is neither more, nor less important than the remaining ones, but it is still approached with suspicion and from a distance by many engineers and music lovers. However, those who have already gone through this stage—St. Thomas's stage—do not need... Read More »
I grew up listening to records. These days we call then LPs or vinyl, but I will still think of them as records. My first record player was a toy, but eventually I graduated to an all-in-one system that was a receiver with the turntable on top, and speakers attached to the sides. In those... Read More »
Common Wave Audio is the most recent audio store to open in the greater Los Angeles area. Owned and run by Wes Katzir, this store, or better yet consider it to be a destination, is simply an amazing place to visit. Not your typical audio store, Common Wave is more about being a "place" to... Read More »
The MOON 700i v2 integrated stereo amplifier and 780D v2 streaming DAC MOON has added two outstanding new products to its class-leading range of audiophile electronics. Designed to offer performance way beyond their price, both the 700i v2 integrated stereo amplifier and 780D v2 streaming DAC will permanently alter listeners’ expectations of audio quality. The... Read More »
Continuing our coverage of T.H.E. Show, photos by Dave Clark, words by me, additional words by Dave as noted. Arion Audio, The Apollo System loudspeaker. Arion Audio LS-200 Line-stage, HS-500 amplifier. Chang Lightspeed powerline filters. Wilf Audio Systems Alpha 3 music servr. JPS Labs cables. EMM Labs DA2 Dac. Stillpoints rack. Arion Audio subwoofer. Computer... Read More »
Continuing our coverage of T.H.E. Show, photos by Dave Clark, words by me, additional words by Dave as noted. Sanders Sound System. This room insisted, "No pictures!" Okay... Esoteric: Grandioso P1X transport, Grandioso D1X monoblock DAC, N-03T network audio transport, Grandioso G1 rubidium master clock, Grandioso C1 preamplifier, Grandioso S1 amplifier. Von Schweikert Audio Endeavor... Read More »
Continuing our coverage of T.H.E. Show, photos by Dave Clark, words by me, additional words by Dave as noted. Klaus Bunge of Odyssey Audio with Magnan Cables, Symphonic Line, VPI. Klaus had a lot to say regarding the system. Blue Light Audio / The Audio Association. Evolution Acoustics EXACT Series loudspeakers. Wave Kinetics NVS Turntable... Read More »
