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Welcome to the first installment of Hit Play!, a bimonthly column (at least in the beginning) dedicated to the ultimate in music and sound on 15-ips reel-to-reel tape. Why devote space to a column about an obsolete analog format? Easy. Tape is far from obsolete! To start, three companies (Analog Audio Design (France)/Metaxas (Holland)/Ballfinger (Germany)... Read More »

It's been a tad over 15 years since The Tape Project set the audiophile world atwitter with the release of their first, soon to be followed by 29 more, real time duped, high speed, 15-ips tapes. And it was love at first listen for oh-so many of us! In that intervening time, the reel-to-reel tape... Read More »

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 tape can make bad speakers sound like a million dollars!) The best source here being 15-ips reel-to-reel tape. Now making the best sounding consumer 15-ips, 2-track reel-to-reel tapes... Read More »

Abey Fonn, President of Impex Records, always likes a good challenge. But Impex Records' latest project required Abey to dip deep into her bag of tricks to come up with the ultimate vinyl version of Patricia Barber's Nightclub. Nightclub was Barber's sixth, not to mention, one of her best-selling albums with sales peaking at 200,000... Read More »

"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 short? The Phasemation PP-500 cartridge is an extremely musical sounding, low output moving coil cartridge whose overall performance transcends its readily identifiable sonic signature. Is the sound of... Read More »

Cantate Domino. Torsten Nilsson (Conductor), Oscar's Motet Choir, Alf Linder (organ), Marianne Mellnas (soprano), Proprius 7762/AudioNautes Recordings AN-RTR-2107, 15-ips, 2-track reel-to-reel tape, IEC EQ, Price: €850 (until January); €990 (after January, 2023). Proprius Records' conjure up many fond memories for old time audiophiles and for good reason! And thanks to Fabio Camorani, founder and owner... Read More »

Far too much time has passed since my last Positive Feedback review. This unintentional hiatus was traceable to the Covid-19 pandemic (and resulting work changes) coupled with an unexpected move to new digs early this year. For the record. Heidi and I weren't in the market for a new place but pandemic pricing on Manhattan... Read More »

I was once upon a time in a galaxy far, far way, an unabashed, dyed-in-the-wool tube lover. The mere mention of solid-state electronics sent my upper lip into involuntary quivering. Still, it was important to separate my job as an audio reviewer from my personal preferences. Over the years, products from Levinson, Rowland, Cello, PASS,... Read More »

To quote that famous Bronx born comedian Robert Klein, "It's hard to believe, I know it is." Yes, it's hard to believe that twelve years have passed since my last power cord review (ESP's Essence Reference power cord for Inner Ear magazine.) Don't mistake this break, however, for not appreciating the importance of or hearing... Read More »

The Swedish Analog Technology LM-12 Tonearm Two of the finest tonearms that I've encountered in my search for the Holy Grail hail from of all places Sweden. The first is the '90s vintage Air Tangent linear tracking, air bearing tonearm that sold for at the time an unheard of $15K (around $30K in today's dollars)... Read More »

First, a quick recap for readers who missed the initial installment of this two-part review. (HERE). Very early on in the course of the Fuuga review I realized that the cartridge's relatively high mass and low compliance and my reference VPI 3D printed tonearm's 10-gram effective mass weren't exactly a match made in heaven. Not... Read More »

How times have changed! Just a decade ago tape enthusiasts literally grabbed any title they could get their hands on just to have something, anything, to play on their machines. Many of those tapes, in retrospect, were pretty darn bad. Jump ahead a decade and there is such a glut of tapes on the market... Read More »

Cartridges and jazz musicians share at least one thing in common. Ask five artists to play a song and each performer will give a slightly different interpretation. A little more swing. A little behind the beat. A little slower or faster tempo. Improvising differently. Cartridges (and for that matter arms and tables) are no different... Read More »

Cables, cables everywhere. Thin, thick, round, flat, flexible, stiff, heavy, light, silver, copper, gold, silver plated copper, silver with gold. Just about every possible permutation under the sun. That brings us to Audience's latest Au24 SX interconnect and speaker cables. Audience's newest top-of-the-line cables are a rare and endangered breed falling into the thin, light... Read More »

Top Five Show Sounds at AXPONA 2018 1. GTT Audio lineup YG Acoustics Sonja XV Jr. speakers Audionet Heisenberg amplifiers, Stern preamplifier, PAM 2 phonostage Kronos turntable Air Tight Opus 1 cartridge Kubala-Sosna cabling 2. Quintessence Audio lineup Wilson Audio Alexia 2 Speakers Audio Research Reference M160 amplifiers and Reference 6 linestage AMG Viella 12... Read More »

By Sunday all that was to give it the olde college try and go for broke. Sunday's game plan was to start as early as possible—beginning with a 7:30 AM breakfast with buddy Andre Jennings from The Absolute Sound—and visit as many of the rooms that had missed. There's no question that covering audio shows... Read More »

Bigger than a basketball court but slightly smaller than a football field. Roughly one-half of the exhibit hall was designated the "Record Fair," while the other half of the Marketplace was the Ear Gear Expo. Inside this massive room sat 80 tables/booths filled to the brim with audiophile goodies ranging from software to cables to... Read More »

By now the reality of covering 162 rooms (with 60 new exhibitors) and 80 booths was over. Any hope of seeing the whole show—other than sprinting from room to room and taking pictures—was also dashed and it was time to implement Plan B. So plan B—namely cover what I could—was put into motion. Of course,... Read More »

I’ve been totally overwhelmed by the size of the show, and trying to cover all the rooms. Industry turnout today Friday was, as my Absolute Sound buddy Andre commented, "like RMAF, pre-renovation, only with far more consumer turnout." According to Liz Miller of JD Events, there were 162 rooms at AXPONA 2018. Consumer attendance on... Read More »