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The Higher End: HiFi Pig, Part-Time Audiophile, and Positive Feedback link-up In which our hero meditates… Those of you who have been reading Positive Feedback over the years are aware of the fact that from our beginning, 28 years ago, we have maintained friendly and open relationships with other publications. In fact, for quite a long... Read More »

Jim Merod was in NYC recently, helping to MC a special Jazz event at The Lincoln Center. While there, he took the time to visit with Bill Parish of GTT Audio, at his listening rooms in NJ. Bill took the time to get Jim's take on the listening experience in Bill's big reference room, one... Read More »

The Critical Mass Systems QXK Mk. III Rack in Four-Shelf Configuration, photograph courtesy of Critical Mass Systems. The latest chapter in a story… Some designs and products that I review are from new companies. This is a very good thing; it shows that the world of fine audio remains vibrant, creative, and open to innovation.... Read More »

Stein Music's "The Perfect Interface" Carbon Signature Resonance Control mat in place on our EMT 948 turntable. Every now and then I receive a product whose benefits are so obvious, and whose design is so straightforward that there's no point in holding back or trying to write an extended essay. It isn't a complicated call,... Read More »

The Oppo Digital HA-2 SE A while back, the good folks at Oppo sent me a review sample of their replacement for the HA-2 USB DAC and Headphone Amp, the HA-2 SE (Special Edition). This is their very compact DAC + headphone amp with battery, made for road/travel warriors who want extra finesse and punch... Read More »

The KRONOS Pro LE Turntable with Black Beauty Tonearm, photograph courtesy of KRONOS Audio. Take a breath. A shift of gear, now. From reference-grade DSD DACs to reference-grade turntables. This will be the third of three turntable evaluations that I've done over the past year, rounding out what's turned out to be the top three... Read More »

The Gryphon Audio Kalliope DSD DAC upon arrival here… (Photograph and image processing by Robinson) The world of DSD DACs has certainly exploded over the past four years, going from a relative "we happy few" to over 400 models to choose from. The price points vary wildly…from $189 all the way out to multiple tens... Read More »

Positive Feedback has a lively and diverse creative community on its masthead. One very unforgettable person, and a very close, dear friend of mine, is the inimitable Dr. Jim Merod, a Senior Associate Editor at PF. A professor at Soka University in southern California, Jim is widely renowned in the world of Jazz as The... Read More »

Herewith is Impressions:  Robinson's Brutus Awards for 2016, Part The Last. Part The First can be found HERE, Part The Second HERE, Part The Third HERE, and Part The Fourth HERE. Music Software/Record Companies/Download Sites Year in and year out, we audiophiles and music lovers rely on our trusted labels, recording companies, re-issuers, and download sites to provide us with... Read More »

Herewith is Impressions:  Robinson's Brutus Awards for 2016, Part The Fourth. Part The First can be found HERE, Part The Second HERE, and Part The Third HERE. This final installment of my Brutus Awards for hardware in 2016 (there will be a very last installment dealing with labels and music companies) concludes with cables, accessories, and system enhancements. In the... Read More »

Herewith is Impressions:  Robinson's Brutus Awards for 2016, Part The Third. Part The First can be found HERE and Part The Second HERE. There will be a fourth installment to cover this busiest of years...stay tuned! All photographs are courtesy of their respective companies, unless otherwise noted. Aurender W-20 Music Server The Aurender W-20 Reference Music Server, a technological... Read More »

Gather around, audiosports fans! It's that time of year again…Positive Feedback's Brutus Awards season. Here is 'Part The Second' of Robinson's Brutus Awards 2016. Part The First can be found HERE and Part The Third HERE. Electronics, Part 1 Gryphon Audio Kalliope Quad and Qcto (256fs and 512fs) DSD DAC The Gryphon Audio Kalliope DSD DAC upon arrival…... Read More »

Gather around, audiosports fans! It's that time of year again…Positive Feedback's Brutus Awards season. You can find Part The Second HERE and Part The Third HERE. At the end of each year, my unindicted co-conspirator Dave Clark and I give our Positive Feedback awards. These are our annual "best stuff we heard this year" plaudits. No padding, crap, junk food, or... Read More »

Johnny Hartman - Once In Every Life Reissued by Analogue Productions APJ 105 originally released in 1981 by Bee Hive Records BH 7012 A very difficult record to review! So much to say and so little room to say it. In 1995 Clint Eastwood directed and starred in The Bridges Of Madison County. In September... Read More »

No. Not the streaming media service. Turns out, there's a major high-end audio company in Germany, TIDAL Audio, which is joining the ranks of world-class audio design. In fact, TIDAL Audio, founded in 1999 by Jorn Janczk with the stated intent of building the finest audio systems on the planet, has been around years longer... Read More »

Rush Paul is an audio friend of mine, who happens to share my passionate love for LPs and Lloyd Walker's wonderful Walker Audio Proscenium Turntable, arguably one of the very best reference turntables on this humble rock. He's deeply into getting the best out of his albums. Rush recently sent me his notes summarizing his... Read More »

So here I am again, returning to one of the touchstone companies for DSD and digital audio:  Playback Designs. Am I surprised? Should anyone be surprised? Heck no. In fact, according to Andreas Koch, he and I first saw each other at the original DSD demonstration at Mobile Fidelity in Sebastopol, CA, back in September... Read More »

There's glory for you! In which our hero meditates… This isn't going to be anything like a standard review, which is something that I don't do anyway. No short-term romance…no quickie relationship…no three-months-and-done. No "Wow, what the hell was that?!" No "of all the turntables I've ever heard, this is another one." No, this is... Read More »

In which our hero meditates… What a year it's been. As I observed in the first of these "Brief Impressions" articles, on the Oppo Sonica (HERE), there have been so bloody many products and projects here at PF Central in 2016 that I'll be writing from here until the end of the year to cover... Read More »