September - October 2023
Audio Discourse
Now Starts the War!
Roger Skoff writes about what's good enough. A great many years ago, I briefly owned a genuine Italian race car. It was a Siata factory team car, built...
High-Res or Old School Digital?
Last week, a post on the Facebook group Streaming Music Matters generated quite a bit of interest and a long thread of responses. The post header read...
Waters on the Hardware: Notes on the RSX Technologies Power...
Dean Waters at Pacific Audio Fest 2023 (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) Serious listeners of high-end and high-resolution audio...
PS Audio DirectStream DAC MK2
"As good as it gets?" I dunno know anymore. Every time we get something here to listen to, and possibly review, we sit there and think just that. Which...
Impressions: The TARA Labs Omega Live Headphone Cables with...
David W. Robinson photographing at Icicle Creek, Leavenworth, WA, during the great fires of 2012. (Photograph by Lila Ritsema; image processing by...
Growing Concern with Audiophiles and Acoustics
Norman Varney of AV RoomService Ltd. has joined Positive Feedback as a Senior Technical Editor as of Issue 113. His expertise in his field of audio...
High Fidelity – to What?
Roger Skoff writes about an aspect of our hobby we sometimes forget... I've been calling myself a HiFi Crazy for well over half a century, I've seen...
A World of Wilco, Part 2: The Deep Dive
In the last episode, I shared my rabbit-hole experience with Jeff Tweedy and the Wilco band when I first experienced the music as I streamed Episode 5...
A New Way to Do an Old Thing
Roger Skoff writes about HiFi kit building When I first became a HiFi Crazy, I was twelve years old and, like virtually every other twelve- year-old...
The Audio Note (UK) CD 5.1x Red Book CD Player - Unicorn...
Greeting friends, I hope you are doing well! This article is about the Audio Note (UK) CD 5.1x Red Book CD player ($30,850 USD), a CD player that...
My High End Audio Trip to Sarasota, Florida – Follow the...
A Trip To Remember What an adventure! Despite the stifling heat in the 90s, and the intense humidity that would never let up, my recent trip to...
Recording Technique RADAR – Random Access Digital Audio...
The first fully functional HDD non-linear recording system, or how albums recorded using RADAR sound like Digital Sound Recording – method of...
Hardware Reviews
Von Gaylord Audio – A Great Integrated System
Some 20 plus years ago, as a fledgling cub reporter for a local HiFi group, I was attending CES and the high-end show at the Alexis Park. That's when I...
Taking Stock of the Da Vinci Power Cable from Crystal Cable
For many years I scoured the fleas and thrifts, scarfing up cheap classical and, to a lesser extent, jazz LPs. The getting was good and the leaning...
PS Audio Aspen FR20 Loudspeakers
So, you've decided it's time to up your audiophile game with a new pair of speakers. It's a very exciting experience that requires one to ask a few key...
The Aavik I-880 Integrated Amplifier - A New Flagship For Audio...
Audio Group Denmark (AGD) is on a roll. If you take a look at some of the major high end show accounts for 2022 and 2023, the Audio Group Denmark rooms...
Audio Sensibility Signature Special Edition A/C Power Cord: A...
Image courtesy of Audio Sensibility I've been writing professional (i.e., paid) audio reviews for 12+ years. I've auditioned hundreds of different...
Yamaha A-S1200 Integrated Amplifier
"I've got a big one for ya." So said the UPS guy the day this bruiser of an integrated amp showed up. Not too long ago, it would've been considered...
IsoAcoustics Gaia I Footers
Advanced Audio in Tacoma, Washington was the first high end audio shop I ever walked into. There I was introduced to the Linn LP 12 turntable,...
For Your Consideration - The Flagship Synergistic Research...
I have reviewed several brands of cables over the years, but more often than not, I always seem to come back to the Synergistic Research lineup for its...
Schiit Kickin' Rekker
I have had a tube integrated amplifier from China on my desktop for several years. It cost me about $180. It sounds pretty good through my ancient and...
Hana Umami Red Moving Coil Phono Cartridge
Just How Close to World-Class Performance Can You Get for $3950? Perspective Before I acquaint you with what an emphatically notable performer the Hana...
Audio Art D-1SE2 and Statement BNC Digital Cables: Absolutely...
I found out I'd be receiving the Gustard X26 Pro DAC and C18 Oven Controlled Constant Temperature Clock (OXCO) units for evaluation in late Spring...
SAE Mk One Preamplifier World Premier Review: A New...
With its strikingly intense blue-lit lettering and elegantly smooth finished black metal case, this uniquely featured and performing preamplifier is...
Waters on the Hardware: Brief Notes on the AudioQuest HDMI...
Dean Waters at PAF 2023 (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) Here's a neat little product that aims to solve not one, but two...
The LTA MICROZOTL Preamplifier
I think everyone who reads my reviews has figured out that "this guys loves him some tubes." I want to confirm that this is a factually accurate...
Dean Waters on the hardware: Thoughts on the RSX Technologies...
The RSX Power8™ eight-outlet Power Box has one simple goal in life: Distribute power without getting in the way. In theory this would seem...
Interviews
Feuilleton: An Interview with Mastering Engineer Christoph...
What does mastering mean? Read and listen for yourself! The way mastering is executed at MOFI caused a lot of excitement among audiophiles, and Analog,...
Music - SuperSonic Recordings
Top 500 SuperSonic List - Part 38
This is an ongoing project by Claude Lemaire of Soundevaluations 226. Prince, Dirty Mind. Warner Bothers Records – BSK 3478 (1980), 33 1/3 rpm....
Music Reviews
David Bowie: Pinups 50th Anniversary Reissue LP from Rhino
Rhino Entertainment has just released a 50th Anniversary reissue of David Bowie's beloved Pinups, his 1973 album of cover tunes that paid homage to...
Notes from Recent Finds, No. 15 - Something New, Something Old,...
I've been scattered about in my listening recently, shifting from classical to jazz to pop. But I've found some gems to share with you in this edition...
Late Period R.E.M. Albums from Craft Recordings on 180 gram LP
As I mentioned in my last review of late-period R.E.M. releases from Craft Recordings, drummer Bill Berry's departure from the band changed the overall...
The Darkness Permission To Land...Again 20th Anniversary Edition...
Warner and Rhino Entertainment have just released The Darkness, Permission To Land…Again, which is a 5 LP, 20th Anniversary Edition that celebrates...
Linda Ronstadt's Canciones de mi Padre on 180 gram LP and CD...
Iconic Artists Group is a relatively new venture spearheaded by music industry heavy-hitter Irving Azoff; in what has become the new normal for...
Notes from Recent Finds, No. 14 - Classic Recordings from HDTT
I highly prize the excellence of many of the recordings made in the golden era of stereo, recordings from the late 1950s through 1960s. HDTT's reissue...
Follow The Drinking Gourd, Michel Larue and Alex Foster
When I joined Positive Feedback to write about albums from my overflowing collection, I decided that it would be best if I wrote about easily...
Celebrating the Music of Nanci Griffith With Superb New Releases...
Craft Recordings has just released Nanci Griffith: Working In Corners, a new box set which anthologizes the country-folk icon's first four,...
The Replacements' Tim: Let It Bleed Edition Box Set from Rhino...
Rhino Entertainment has announced an enhanced and expanded edition of alternative darlings The Replacements' fourth studio album and major label debut,...
Thelonius Monk's Brilliant Corners On Small Batch 180 Gram LP...
Thelonious Monk's 1957 classic Brilliant Corners marks the fifth release in Craft Recordings' Small Batch LP series. The Small Batch series utilizes a...
Notes from Recent Finds, No. 13 - Gems from Cobra, Eudora, Just...
September arrived and so has a flood of wonderful new releases from some of my favorite artists and recording labels. Any one of these albums might...
The Reel Deal: A Quartet of the Finest in Reel-To-Reel Tape...
When all is said and done, it's all about the source material. The better the source material, the better the system sounds. (It's amazing how a master...
Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars: The Motion Picture...
July 3, 1973 at the Hammersmith Odeon in London was an important date in David Bowie's musical arc; it was the site of the final show of his Ziggy...
Kapu - the Exciting Sounds of Milt Raskin
If you've collected fifties and sixties era vinyl then you know the names Arthur Lyman (1932 - 2002) and Martin Denny (1911 - 2005). They were, during...
Rhino High Fidelity Premium Vinyl Series Continues with Classic...
Shore Fire Media has announced the next two titles in the Rhino High Fidelity Premium Vinyl Series, and as with the first offering, I'm fairly...
Alexis Ffrench
No, he's not a misprint "PEACE" Alexis Ffrench, piano. Sony Music Masterworks Ffrench: Peace; When the Bells Ring; St. Andrews. J.S. BACH (arr....
Notes on Recent Finds, No. 12 - From Hunnia, Lawo, TRPTK, Groove...
In this issue of Recent Finds we have some nice releases from Hunnia Records, Lawo Classics, Groove Note, three World Music video EPs from TRPTK, and...
Notes on Recent Finds, No. 11 - Alpha Classics!
This edition of Recent Finds will be a bit different because I'm including some 44.1 kHz reviewer sample files from Alpha Classics that I've been...
New Old Stock - Articles from Our Days in Print
Loudspeaker Cables - Simple Passive Connection or Complex...
As part of Positive Feedback's "New Old Stock" [NOS] series of reprints, Greg Weaver's article from 1997 is presented as a significant article worthy...
Sophia Electric Baby Integrated
This article by Francisco Duran and Ed Morawski originally ran in Issue 8, August/September 2003, so while we call this section "New Old Stock -...
Our Friends at HIFI Statement
Transrotor TRA 9 – 12 Zoll
When I tested the Palo Santos, fascinating with its balance and tonal coherence, the elegant Transrotor arm came in handy due to its effective mass.... . . Read More »
Silent Angel Bonn NX und Genesis GX
After the interview with Chorus Chuang from Silent Angel, the Top Switch Bonn NX has been playing in my listening room for a few weeks now and gets its.... . . Read More »
Ferrum WANDLA
A converter called WANDLA. Finally Ferrum, whose creators are considered DAC specialists, brings its dedicated digital-to-analogue converter to the.... . . Read More »
Velodyne Deep Blue 10
In the following test, the question is: Can Velodyne's Deep Blue with its deep sound waves transform my listening room from a small pond into a vast.... . . Read More »
Copland CTA407
Copland presents the new CTA407 tube integrated amplifier, the successor to its puritan classic CTA405. It marks the upper end of the company's own.... . . Read More »
Ansuz PowerSwitch and Digitalz D-TC Gold Signature
More than three years ago, I introduced you to the Ansuz PowerSwitch D-TC Supreme and the matching Digitalz Ethernet cables on this site. This combo.... . . Read More »
Keces P14
After my review of the Keces P28 linear power supply ... now follows a report on the Keces P14, which costs less than sixty percent of the P28 and.... . . Read More »
Ein Besuch bei Davis Acoustics
Auch wenn König Charles seinen Besuch in Frankreich abgesagt hat, besucht Hifistatment Davis Acoustics in Troyes (Frankreich) und trifft den.... . . Read More »
Show Reports
Pacific Audio Fest 2023, Part Three
Continuing our coverage. The Tektons really showed what they can do. Miller Carbon, Origin Live, Townshend Audio, Soundsmith, Atma-sphere, Heartsound....
