JULY 27th 2017 (LOS ANGELES, CA) On A Higher Note, a California based premier promoter of musical integrity and distributor of synergistic high end audio components announces the arrival of Vivid Audio’s GIYA Series 2 loudspeakers, the GIYA Series 2 (G1S2, G2S2, G3S2, and G4S2) to replace the original GIYA series (G1, G2, G3 and... Read More »
David W. Robinson, Editor-in-Chief of Positive Feedback. (Photograph by John Robinson) As time has gone by, I have become more and more interested in covering not only audio shows or events, but also the people there. And not as photojournalism, but as art. Real portraits made during the difficulties of audio show circumstances. Show reporting... Read More »
Superb craftsmanship meets unmatched clarity and detail in a refined, customizable loudspeaker to fit any room Napa, CA, July 24th, 2017 – James Loudspeaker (www.jamesloudspeaker.com), designers and manufacturers of the highest quality décor-friendly entertainment products for both residential and commercial applications, has announced the introduction of the Q-Series floor-standing loudspeakers, a built-to-suit array of three models offering unmatched... Read More »
SIMAUDIO Ltd. is pleased to announce the soon-to-be-released MOON 240i Integrated Amplifier. This is the entry-level modern integrated you have been waiting for. With connectivity accented on digital audio (up to 24-bit/352.8kHz and DSD256), as well as a plethora of analog line-level inputs, plus a phono input, the 240i can easily become the one-box centerpiece... Read More »
Great news! John Grado and Grado Labs have come out with a brand new reference Grado cartridge, and were kind enough to send me a review sample for me to try and to report to our readers worldwide here at Positive Feedback. The Grado Epoch Phono Cartridge premieres in August, 2017 and is a cartridge of firsts! ... Read More »
Those of you who have been reading Positive Feedback for a long while will likely recognize the name Dan Zimmerman. He is a very close friend and fellow sojourner with me, and we have many deep interests in common: film, painting, photography, videos, poetry, philosophy, Christian life and thought, and spirituality...the list is a long one.... Read More »
The Brooklyn Company Kicks Off The Lineage Series With Sapphire And Cocobolo Grado Labs is proud to announce a major step forward in phono cartridge design, the all-new Lineage Series. The first two cartridges to join the series are the Brooklyn built Epoch and Aeon. For the first time in the family's sixty-four year history, sapphire,... Read More »
Gold Note—the Italian High-End manufacturer based in Firenze—is introducing P-1000, the first line preamplifier they have ever made, available from September at a MSRP price of 5.850,00€/USD $6.520,00 (6.500,00€/USD $7,250.00 for the P-1000 with digital input and DAC available on demand). P-1000 is an innovative ultra-balanced Class-A preamplifier powered by a new proprietary Six Gain... Read More »
What? My first "hi fi" stereo box, in 1957, was an elegantly constructed Magnavox LP changer with a built-in amp-preamp feeding two inch mono speakers. All of this consumed a minimal internal and external footprint. The device sat on splayed legs to raise it to easy access. It made sound of some discernible sort resembling... Read More »
The Audio Engineering Shows in Europe are much smaller and more oriented toward papers than the trade show, which makes them a good opportunity to sit and talk with people actually doing real audio research. This year AES 2017 Berlin was no exception. The conference was held in a hotel on the former East German... Read More »
Audio-Technica Is Now Shipping Its Award Winning ATH-DSR9BT Pure Digital Drive Headphones with Bluetooth Wireless Technology Audio-Technica is now shipping its ATH-DSR9BT Wireless Headphones with Pure Digital Drive technology. Winner of a CES 2017 Innovation award, the ATH-DSR9BT is one of the first headphones with Bluetooth wireless technology to employ Audio-Technica's new Pure Digital Drive system, which keeps... Read More »
Now in version 2 guise, the new MOON 600i V2 Integrated Amplifier elevates the performance standard to an even higher level than its predecessor. Based on the 600i's award-winning reputation, the v2 pushes the envelope with an even more natural and musical sound that will challenge far more expensive products. Increased resolution allows you to hear... Read More »
Salt Lake City, UT – Studio Electric is pleased to announce the launch of the all new m4 monitor. Building on the success of the award winning SE Monitor, and it's sister product the Benchmark SMS1, The new m4 takes stand mounted speakers to a new level! m4 features the company's proprietary highX™ 6.5" woofer,... Read More »
JULY 5, 2016 Cary Audio is pleased to announce our partnership with Roon Labs. As of now, both our DMS-500 reference network audio player and AiOS all-in-one network receiver are certified Roon Ready. All units now shipping will have Roon Ready pre-installed and all current DMS-500 and AiOS owners can update their firmware free of charge to bring... Read More »
January 16, 2017 |Dallas, TX |The Sound Organisation is thrilled to announce the long anticipated historical book from Rega, "A Vibration Measuring Machine". Inspired by their rich 43 year history, Rega, with assistance of gracious contributors and authors, compiled this limited edition labor of love and pride, artfully delivering a treasure of information and personal insight... Read More »
The Sound Organisation is excited to announce the new Rega Planar 3 turntable and RB330 tonearm. Arriving at the TSO headquarters by the end of May, the Planar 3 has improved sonic performance, aesthetics and usability. The new ‘Planar 3' is truly a turntable redesigned for 2016 carrying over just two components from the previous model.... Read More »
[Readers who read this article before the afternoon of 7/20/17 should re-read this amended version. In it, I correct a misapprehension that I was under regarding how the Sonoma Acoustics Model One handles DSD sources. You'll want to see what I have to say.] I like headphones. Heck, I love headphones. Always have, going back to my... Read More »
High end audio is one of those hobbies where there are a seemingly endless number of tweaks and refinements one can add to an existing stereo system, presumably to make it sound better. Who hasn't played around with isolation pucks or cables at some point or another? But often critics of audiophilia start out with... Read More »
Audeze, the #1 manufacturer of high-end, Audiophile headphones, launches the LCDi4 — an all-out assault on making the absolute best in-ear headphones, scaling down the renown LCD-4, and creating an "End Game" in-ear headphone for music lovers desiring many of the performance qualities of the LCD-4 for both in-home use or while traveling. The $2,495 LCDi4 utilizes... Read More »
LISZT: Mephisto Waltz No. 1 (with two concert endings). MUSSORGSKY: Night on Bald Mountain. LIADOV: Baba Yaga. FRANCK: The Accursed Huntsman. DUKAS: The Sorcerer's Apprentice. SAINT-SAËNS: Danse macabre. ARNOLD: Tam O'Shanter. J.STRAUSS II: Lucifer Polka. Minnesota Orchestra/Eiji Oue. Reference Recordings RR-82CD. TT: 71.56 DOWNLOADS: Amazon.com (mp3); emp3s.co (mp3); itunes.apple.com; qobuz.com ("16-bit" mp3); referencerecordings.com (Apple lossless, FLAC,... Read More »
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (MFSL) is best known for 40 years of legendary analog remastering. Its limited-edition reissues are consistently the most sought after by record collectors, audiophiles and music lovers across the globe. Fast forward to 2017 and Mobile Fidelity is now offering complete and moderately affordable analog solutions for all LP owners, especially those who... Read More »
Dear friend and fellow sojourner John Marks once again shares a musical morsel with us, originally published on his blog site, The Tannhauser Gate (http://www.thetannhausergate.com). This is a fine video of the guitar master, John McLaughlin, swingin' with Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show band. As John observes below, what can one say? As the ancient Romans would... Read More »
New product announcement from JENA Technologies: The Elite Series AC Power Conditioners! The Elite Series in AC power conditioners have a family trait of superior audio performance, unparalleled in the world. Any country, any polarity, any standard voltage... even true balanced power source is compatible with the design. THE PROBLEM AC power line noise and... Read More »
To celebrate our 15th year of publishing Positive Feedback as a 'webzine', we are re-running the article David Robinson wrote (Issue 1, June, 2002) introducing the new partnership between audioMUSINGS and Positive Feedback and the resulting new web format. Oh, and we dropped the "Online" part a awhile ago... We were so young-er-ish (circa 2005). "Yes, I can teach... Read More »
This article, by Jeff Silverstein, originally ran when Positive Feedback was in print - Vol. 8, No. 2, 1999. I miss my Lowther Medallion II loudspeakers. A lot. I had them for a while in 1998 and got to hear some magical sound. Tony Glynn of the Lowther Club of America (he is the Lowther Club of America)... Read More »
The bad is a magical space Whispers screams and laughter There is room for happiness There is room for sin It's an island of pleasure A sea of loneliness It's a place of birth And a door to nothingness Olga Jackowska, Łóżko in: Maanam, Łóżko, Kamiling Co. | Pomaton EMI 852718, CD (1996) Let's replace... Read More »
People keep on learning that this year I skipped this or that room, missed one or another presentation, or did not manage to come to some appointments. I justify myself, giving lack of time as an excuse (which is true), but it does not absolve me from the fact that I simply did not manage... Read More »
Roger Skoff writes about bringing new people into our Audiophile hobby There will be a total of three HiFi shows just in California this year. The first of them, the Los Angeles Audio Show ("LAAS") has already happened and I loved it. I saw a great many of my friends; had the wonderful honor of... Read More »
Title: Howard Hanson: An American Romantic Artist(s): David Craighead, organ; Rochester Chamber Orchestra, David Fetler conducting (Organ Concerto; Ballet Nymphs and Satyr) Recording session in Asbury First Methodist Church, Rochester, New York Brian Preston, piano; Meliora Quartet (Concerto da Camera; Yuletide Pieces). Recording session in Parmenter Chapel, Roberts Wesleyan College, Rochester Tracks included on tape: Concerto... Read More »
Jorge Federico Osorio, Final Thoughts. Last Piano Works of Schubert and Brahms. Çedille CDR 90000171. I grew up on the music of the late nineteenth century—Brahms was the center of my initial musical universe, the symphonies in particular. As is often the case if you 'grow up' on a particular style and composer (unless you... Read More »
Well, lawdy Miss Clawdy! John Marks' latest republication from The Tannhauser Gate is compact, but delicious. A shout from the past, really, right after World War II, but before Bing Crosby's Ampex Corporation with its pilfered Nazi technology that we today call "tape recorders" hit the scene. 78s everywhere, of course; no LPs to be seen. A... Read More »
It's been a little over a year since PS Audio's DirectStream Junior DAC landed in the Tune Saloon. I gave it a well-deserved two-thumbs up in my PF review, HERE. Since that time, DS Junior been the primary source for my digital audio system. The beating heart of the DSJ (and big bro DirectStream), is its custom Field... Read More »
This is an ongoing project by Claude Lemaire of Soundevaluations. "Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair"... 31. The Beatles. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Parlophone PCS 7027 (1967), MoFi – MFSL 1-100 (JVC) (1983), 33 1/3 rpm). Genre: rock, psychedelic, art rock, baroque pop, raga, avant-garde It was fifty years ago today, Sgt. Pepper taught... Read More »
Sometimes you write reviews. Sometimes you write raves. And sometimes you write love songs… Introduction "Sherman, set the Way-Back Machine to THE Show Newport Beach Michael Vamos. I met him a few years ago at a THE Show at Newport Beach. He had just started his high-end audio distribution biz, Audio Skies (http://www.audioskies.com), at around... Read More »
by Dave Mallette with assistance from Robert Schryer In 2014, a dozen of us from the Klipsch Community Internet forum held our first, the first, Forum-sponsored Klipsch Pilgrimage, at a motel in Hope, Arkansas, cradle of the Klipsch speaker company. It was an event intended to honor Klipsch and its founder, Paul Wilbur Klipsch (PWK),... Read More »
New West Records BO6XPTH66X, LP $20.98, Amazon.com When it comes to harmonizing singers, who's your favorite group? The Beach Boys? Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young? The Fleet Foxes, who finally put out a somewhat troublesome yet utterly charming third album this week? My personal pick—John Doe and Exene from X—may be off the beaten path,... Read More »
Good friend John Marks once again shares with PF readers the rich trove of musical discoveries that he shelters at his blog site, The Tannhauser Gate. In this case, we have the delight of hearing the fusion of Elizabethan modalities with...mirabile dictu!...none other than a particular favorite of mine, Nick Drake. As unlikely as it seems, the... Read More »
