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What a treat! To have A. J. van den Hul, the Maestro, personally build a cartridge for review... a cartridge with a treated lacquer finish done three times over many months for proper drying. The lacquer is the precise replica of the lacquer used on the historic Strads, as in violins not cartridges, and flavors the music just... Read More »

The three available finishes of the absolute:  copper, black, and silver (image courtesy of Manley) Let us just cut to the chase! I have reviewed countless headphone amplifiers and the Absolute is absolutely the most elegantly designed, intensely musical, and extremely flexible of them all! Add in the superb remote and it’s game over. Provided with... Read More »

Disruptor! The MAG-LEV Audio ML1 Levitating turntable is a disruptor! Are you surprised? I own one of six Paravicini magnetic drive turntables in America. It does not levitate, but it is quiet and astonishingly open and life-like. ML1 as delivered: Signal to noise ratio -73dB! Way better than your turntable? Why? It has no motor!... Read More »

The final Sonorous X Closed Back Dynamic Headphones are the unmatched audiophile enigma of the decade. This cost-no-object luxury model of S'Next Co. Ltd. of Japan is both: 1) The most scientifically advanced, meticulously-complex, exquisitely-designed, delivering superior imaging and soundstaging, with the ne plus ultra definition I have ever heard; and, 2) have received a Rodney-Dangerfield-styled series... Read More »

Ever since I discovered the ultra-high-value audiophile cables and now power cords from Unique Innovation Technology (UIT), my audiophile life has been altered forever. Two years ago I met the UIT folks, headed by the extraordinary Mitch Ko, at the LA Audio Show, and their suggestion that I try their interconnects with a pure silver module... Read More »

With Grado's new superstars of the cartridge world on the scene, I have updated my turntables, adding the EAT Csharp and Forte S models. Both had DIN connectors requiring me to search out top-notch phono cables with DIN plugs. I auditioned many wires, and finally settled on the WyWires Diamond Phono Cables. I also auditioned... Read More »

After many many years as an audiophile delving into all forms of music reproduction in the home, I am most aware of the direction of the many twists and turns of our limitless hobby. The infinite variability of our quest enhances the fun and fulfillment waiting just after the next acquisition. Recently, I described a dynamite phono... Read More »

No, I did not make up the name. Yes, Josefina Lichtenegger is CEO of EAT, European Audio Team, and is both chief audiophile extraordinaire and chief designer. Her beauty is only matched by her exquisite taste, and both seem employed in all EAT products. This is very refreshing as most of the audio industry appears stuck... Read More »

The workhorse of the Stein Music tweaks has been, and continues to be the Stein E-Pad, a truly excellent and predictable way of precisely dampening vibration in critical components and speakers. The E-Pad put Stein on the map in America and opened the door wide for his ingenious components and other system controls, like the superb Harmonizers. Though... Read More »

For the first time ever, I present my reviewer's high-end balance sheet. ROI (Return on Investment in High-end Audio) Grado Epoch Cartridge: $12,000 "State of the Art" Grado Aeon Cartridge: $6000 "85% Overall Performance of Epoch" Savings selecting Aeon over Epoch: "$6000" Aeon Gains: acquire up to 200 re-issue LPs from your favorite vendor Aeon... Read More »

I described the noble first attempt by Unique Innovation Technology (UIT) to bring their outstanding new technology, demonstrated by their groundbreaking interconnects, to full bore with their speaker cables. I am truly excited by their progress and underscore UIT’s explanation of their current superb results as follows: "Perfect Music Purifier technology within the Perfect Music Purifier... Read More »

ESS 422H Heil AMT/Moving Coil Hybrid Headphones: New Current Production Back in February when I reviewed these brand new headphones with their amazing drive system, they did not look like the current cans on the shelf today. They were pre-production and were supposed to be exactly like they are now in every musical parameter. Actually,... Read More »

True, ​from "Those Wonderful Folks That Brought You the Blue Hawaii"… …except, subtract the tubes, use different designers, develop for dynamic headphones, use bipolar transistors output in class A, have a much more extended frequency response, undergo extensive modification including new exquisite volume control, produce up to 6 watts into a pair of headphones, and... Read More »

The Grado RS1 headphones: a classic! (Photograph by clothfairy via Flicker; Creative Commons license is at https://www.flickr.com/photos/7403543@N04/2250991856. Used in accord with that license. No changes were made to this image; use of this image does not imply endorsement by the photographer.) Twenty-three years ago, in a city far, far away, I purchased the most expensive, mahogany headphones... Read More »

News Alert for Dyna FM3 Tuner Owners Recently, I bought a used Dynaco FM3 off Ebay with the tuning eye tube working fine for $80, an absolute must. After listening with a quality antenna, it was obvious that it needed alignment. Dyna's instructions for this were way out of my league, so this looked like... Read More »

Ever want to be the conductor of a world class symphony orchestra? Got a desire to enjoy a performance of a stellar big band and ease on to the Duke's piano bench during a Columbia recording session? Maybe you would like to take a chair during the performance of a Beethoven piano trio? Then just... Read More »

F1 Fractal™ Interconnect by Townshend Audio On the heels of the ridiculously superb (passive) Allegri+ preamplifier (HERE), with its secret sauce…fractal wire…comes the introduction to America of Townshend F1 Fractal Interconnects. (There are speaker cables also, but I did not have them for review.) The interconnects are extremely exotic looking and terminated in excellent shielded... Read More »

Under the leadership of ​the brilliant Mitch Ko, President and Chief Designer of UIT Products, comes the long awaited PMP Speaker Cables. In both single-wire and bi-wire configurations, pricing is not the same type of truly super-attractive deal of the UIT interconnects—being in the $2500 - $3000 range—but the complexity of the speaker cable, silver... Read More »

Greensleeves TBM5011 Recorded 1978. Three Blind Mice Records Inc. a subsidiary of Sony Direct Japan Inc. Manufactured and distributed by Impex Records Inc. Featuring Shoji Yokouchi Trio plus Yuri Tashiro on Hammond B3 Organ. 3000 numbered copies produced worldwide. Reissue is 180 Gram LP pressed at RTI, in California. Impex cutting engineer: Chris Bellman, Bernie... Read More »