March - April 2023
Audio Discourse
The Mactone XX-440 Line Preamplifier and MH-120 Stereo...
Founded in 1964, and for 59 years now, Mactone has continuously manufactured high-fidelity vacuum tube audio components, longer than any other company...
Who Made That?
Roger Skoff writes about the things we buy Did you know that if you drive a Mercedes-Benz, or a Toyota there's a good possibility that your car wasn't...
Impressions: Additional Robinson Brutus Awards, Time-Shifted...
Time shift! Sometimes things stay on track; sometimes they don't. My Brutus Awards for last year fell into that category. There were so many great...
Impressions: Vivid Audio at GTT Audio, a Photo-Essay…and...
Robinson in Jerusalem, 2022, contemplating on the Via Dolorosa. (Photograph and image processing by John Robinson.) Every now and then I make a trip to...
YouTube Video from Greg Weaver: GTT Audio Launches Vivid Audio...
David W. Robinson, Editor-in-Chief of Positive Feedback, with Greg Weaver of the audio analyst and a Senior Associate Editor at Positive Feedback in...
Boxing Match: Bargain Headphone Amplifier vs. Audiophile Classic
Headphone stuff comes up in my email feed all the time! Last week I received a notice from online bargain store Monoprice that an "audiophile"...
Nothing Isn't Possible
Roger Skoff's new article is, hopefully, less ambiguous than its title. In a recent comment on one of my articles for this publication, a reader named...
Audio Ramblings and the Telos GNR 5.1 Plus+ Active Grounding Box
Telos has been around for quite some time. I reviewed their active grounding unit in 2016 after hearing it being demoed ion the Positive Feedback...
Hardware Reviews
Rock and Roll All Night… I Just Might! - Wharfedale Diamond...
A common topic among audiophiles or collectors of HiFi gear is the piece of gear you regret selling the most. Often, this results in a list of...
Phasemation PP-500 Moving Coil Cartridge: Punching Above Its Pay...
"The whole is greater than the sum of the parts" is the perfect description of the sound of the Phasemation PP-500 low output moving coil cartridge. In...
FiiO R7 Desktop Digital Music Streamer, Preamplifier, and...
With this article, Positive Feedback continues its content-sharing relationship with Enjoy the Music where Steven R. Rochlin shares his thoughts on...
McIntosh MP100 Phono Preamplifier
If you are a reader of this esteemed publication it is not a stretch to presume you are an audiophile and probably pretty deep into our wonderful...
Silent Angel Bonn NX LAN Switch
ThunderData Co. LTD. is a company founded by Dr. Eric Jian Huang. It is engaged in the production of servers, network communication, data management,...
Solen Monitor 9A: A Standout Bargain Among Professional...
Every now and then—but really, not all that frequently—a product appears that really "shakes the chessboard" in terms of performance, value for...
Two from Purist Audio Design: Diamond Edition Dominus Power Cord...
I was chatting with an exhibitor at last year's tiny NY Audio Show 2022 and mentioned I found the treble in his room had too much bite. I got no...
The Purity Audio Design J-DAC - A Customized Spin on Analog...
Dialing in this DAC conjures an enchanted eye exam—however, instead of an optometrist switching lenses in a phoropter and asking, "Better or worse?",...
Locally Sourced - SOTA Quasar Turntable with Zephyr Tonearm
Over the past several years, increasing emphasis has been placed on products made in the U.S.A., and moreover, those hand-crafted by artisans. Entire...
Music - SuperSonic Recordings
Top 500 SuperSonic List - Part 35
This is an ongoing project by Claude Lemaire of Soundevaluations 211. Donald Byrd, At the Half Note Cafe (Volume 1). Blue Note – BLP 4060 (mono),...
Music Reviews
Stan Kenton Classics
When I was twenty two I came to the conclusion that I actually like jazz, but I had a problem with jazz. The problem was I had yet to hear any jazz...
Jazz Dispensary Top Shelf LP Reissues from Craft Recordings
Jazz Dispensary is Craft Recordings' house label that mines from the riches of Concord Music's jazz, funk, soul, and fusion recordings from their...
Lawo Classics - A Label Well Worth Exploring - Plus Organ Music!
The Norwegian classical music label, Lawo Classics, makes recordings I've come to quite enjoy. They find outstanding musicians and make recordings of...
Sasha Matson Returns with Works for Jazz Orchestra
Sasha Matson is an interesting contemporary American composer. Some may recall my earlier review of his jazz opera, Cooperstown (HERE). Jazz opera?...
Helen Merrill American Country Songs
Helen Merrill isn't my favorite female jazz singer, as that designation belongs to June Christy. Having said this, I really like the two Merrill albums...
Saint-Saens Symphony No. 3 - Paul Paray, Detroit Symphony...
Saint-Saëns, Symphony No. 3 "Organ Symphony," Paul Paray, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, with Marcel Dupre organ. 1957, 2023 (DXD DSD256) HERE Paul...
Barbra Streisand Live at the Bon Soir on Impex Records SACD
How do you spell diva? Barbra Streisand has been a brash, larger-than-life, irrepressible talent throughout her career, whether on Broadway, the big...
A Journey Rediscovered: Bill Evans' Classic You Must Believe In...
I was a longtime subscriber to the now defunct Audio magazine; around the midpoint of 1981, while thumbing through the record review pages, I came...
Classic Contemporary Records Reissues from Craft Recordings and...
Craft Recordings is beginning a new push with remasters and reissues of titles from the Original Jazz Classics (OJC) series from Concord Music's vast...
The Bobby Hammack Quintet
When you think of jazz pianists you probably don't think of Bobby Hamack (1922-1990). That's because his work was primarily behind-the-scenes studio...
Maya Fridman - The Power of Indifference
There are some artists whose music I find so compelling they force me, compel me, to stop and listen and absorb. Such is the impact of Maya...
Die Walküre with the Greatest Cast Ever Assembled - from HDTT...
High Definition Tape Transfers (HDTT) has released the great Erich Leinsdorf recording of Die Walküre—let there be celebrations in the streets! With...
Notes on Recent Finds, No. 6 - A Potpourri of Worthy Albums
This episode provides a potpourri of musical gems that I thought worth bringing to your attention. All are available from HDTT or NativeDSD or Octave...
J.S. Bach, Partita No. 2 in D Minor, Petteri Iivonen
J.S. Bach, Partita No. 2 in D Minor, Petteri Iivonen Violin. Yarlung Records. 45 RPM LP. Executive Producer: Elliot Midwood Producer and Recording...
A Slave Galley Upon the River Styx: What is the Worst Pop Song...
Music manuscript, Northern Italy, circa A.D. 1350. (Courtesy of John Marks) "Best" and "Worst" are often creatures of Pure Subjectivity—especially...
Noseda Conducts Prokofiev
PROKOFIEV: Symphony No. 1 in D, Op. 25 ("Classical"). London Sympbhony Orchestra/Gianandrea Noseda. LSO Live LSO0363 (download only). TT:...
The Jonathan Horwich Recordings at HDTT - Pure DSD256 from the...
Over the past 40 years, Jonathan Horwich has been making very high resolution reel-to-reel tape recordings of live jazz concerts. He works out of the...
50th State Jazz
If you know the name Lyle Ritz (1930 - 2017) at all, it's because you saw him credited as the bass player on a pop or rock album. Ritz was a prominent...
Women and War and Peace from Yarlung Records
Women and War and Peace. Yarlung Records; Katelyn Bouska, Piano; YAR54460: Gold Substrate CD pressed in Germany. Executive Producers: Evan Flaschen...
Patricia Barber's Nightclub 1STEP 45 rpm, 180g 2-LP Set from...
Over the course of my lifetime, I have grown to really love jazz. I distinctly remember the first time I heard a jazz trio playing at a party in my...
Organ Recordings from Base2 Music
Base2 Music, located in West Sussex, UK, is a fairly new label, founded in 2017 by owner, producer and recording engineer, Jake Purches. Jake captured...
Two Citadels of Sound and Performance – Exquisite New Vinyl...
Kirsten Edkins, Shapes & Sounds, Cohearent Records (33 RPM LP) There are many talented people involved with this project, but let's start with...
New Old Stock - Articles from Our Days in Print
E.A.R. 864 Integrated
This article by Ed Morawski originally ran in Issue 6, April/May 2003, so while we call this section "New Old Stock - Articles from Our Days in Print"...
Our Friends at HIFI Statement
ENLEUM AMP-23R Integrated
ENLEUM ist ein neuer Name auf dem Audiomarkt, der einen Neubeginn und gleichzeitig eine Fortsetzung der bekannten Marke Bakoon International darstellt..... . . Read More »
Our Friends at High Fidelity
Digital Audio Workstation or DAW - Part 2
Or about computer sound recording systems It all started in January 1971 with the world's first LP with digitally recorded material. In a long chain of...
Silent Angel Bonn NX LAN Switch
ThunderData Co. LTD. is a company founded by Dr. Eric Jian Huang. It is engaged in the production of servers, network communication, data management,...
Digital Audio Workstation or DAW - Part 1
Or about computer sound recording systems It all started in January 1971 with the world's first LP with digitally recorded material. In a long chain of...
Show Reports
AXPONA 2023 - Several Highlights and a Few Observations
What a wonderful weekend at AXPONA 2023! The weather was quite lovely for this time of the year in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs—sunny and in...
Florida Audio Expo 2023 - Part 4
During my show experience at FLAX, I basically live-posted capsules on Facebook from notable rooms I visited each day, saving my full coverage for...
Florida Audio Expo 2023 - Part 3
Mobile Fidelity featuring Andrew Jones A couple of weeks prior to FLAX, I got an email press release from Mobile Fidelity alerting me that speaker...
