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This review started out an examination of the popular EAT C Sharp Turntable, but ended up a phono playback review. Only focusing on the turntable meant I was ignoring the cartridge and phono cable. A poor cable or cartridge meant I was only reviewing the weakest link in the chain! With that oversight fixed, the... Read More »

From the inventor of the world's first practical equipment and turntable isolation devices, the first practical and most utilized ribbon super tweeter, the most effective turntable/tonearm design with both isolation and active tonearm damping, and probably other "firsts" I am unaware of, comes the first totally passive audiophile preamp (no power cord, no tubes, no... Read More »

The Zesto Audio Andros Allasso Step Up Transformer Once upon a time, full-featured preamplifiers like the ARC SP-3 ruled the audio scene and contained a phono stage. Phono cartridges were high output MM or MI, and so the preamps of the day had only about 40 dBs of gain, max. Then along came the low output... Read More »

Just when you think an audiophile's life cannot get any better, along comes the most astounding mono cartridge devised by man. From the master of cartridge masters, John Grado, comes a major development. Grado has transformed the stereo version of his Epoch Cartridge into a mono wonder as part of Grado Lineage Series Cartridges. All materials... Read More »

Ever since I discovered that all USB cables were very different musically, and needed to be selected with maximum care, I have been searching for the top USB wire for my digital server. Among the USB cables that I have tried, I have been most pleased with the WyWire USB, the Kubala-Sosna Emotion USB, and... Read More »

Located between the Emotion and Elation! series of Kubala-Sosna Research cables comes the brand new Sensation Interconnects. A pricing of $5600 per meter does not exactly fall halfway between their $3000 and $6000 per meter cost, respectively, but musically the Sensations eclipse the best of the best I have heard to date. And, as a... Read More »

Plug-In Speaker Bullets (Crystal Series) The very cool looking Bybee Bullets, handmade to perfection of aluminum, gold, and other special metals, are Jack Bybee's best efforts and thinking in decades. Easy to install by just attaching the wire spade to the bullet, the integrated banana plug then fits securely into the speaker post. Jack Bybee... Read More »

Have I got great news for you! The development of the brilliant, new Epoch $12,000 Grado Lineage Series Cartridge (see my review of it in PF Issue 92 HERE), incorporating unique and inventive engineering galore, caused the design team headed by John Grado himself to rethink the entire cartridge line-up! This includes their entry-level cartridges.... Read More »

Having known the legendary John Curl's work since he did the JC2 Preamplifier for Levinson in 1972, a ground-breaking design for solid-state, and every bit as competitive as the tubed ARC SP-3a-1 of the era, I fearlessly replaced my current mega phono gear, both tube and solid-state, with the Parasound Halo JC 3 Jr. Phono Preamplifier, costing just... Read More »

Chopin's Last Waltz, Robert Silverman pianist, Kimber Kable ISOMIKE 5606, LP. Producer: Ellen Silverman Editing: Aaron Hubbard Mastering: Chad Kassem, Aaron Hubbard Recording Engineers: Aaron Hubbard, Ray Kimber Mastering Engineer: Kevin Gray, Cohearent Audio, LLC Recorded using the ISOMIKE RECORDING TECHNIQUE recorded at DSD256 and edited in that format without any compression or equalization other than... Read More »

Yuko Mabuchi Trio; Yuko Mabuchi piano, Bobby Breton drums, and Del Atkins bass; Yarlung Records 80161 CD, pressed in Germany on high definition special composite materials. Available in PCM and DSD on HDTracks, and NativeDSD.com up to DSD256 (Quad DSD). 2017. Recorded before a live audience at the Brain and Creativity Institute’s Cammilleri Hall.   Yuko Mabuchi plays a Steinway Piano. Recording... Read More »

Many of our readers will have read my earlier rave review of the Unique Innovation Technology (UIT) interconnects back in Positive Feedback Issue 92. With some 18 meters of UIT Interconnect included in my two systems, I can now further report on the extraordinary performance of this under-$1000 per meter  interconnect development for audiophiles and music lovers. I... Read More »

The Bybee iQSE (photograph courtesy of Bybee Technologies) iQSE Disks or Quantum Signal Enhancers by the legendary Jack Bybee is quite a tweak at an affordable $150 per 4 inch x 2 inch disk. You can read a full report on these from Larry Cox in Positive Feedback. I found all new uses for these that I feel... Read More »

Exciting news! Astell & Kern has some really great new headphones that you need to know about. They're the A&K T1p, and I think they're terrific! Extravagantly made for A&K, the T1p is a modified German beyerdynamics Tesla Gen. 2 headphone that are hugely popular in Great Britain and the EU. The A&K T1p, which are Cartier-like beautiful and... Read More »

Legrand Jazz, Impex Records LP Reissue, Stereo. IMP 6028 of Columbia CS 8079 It is about time Legrand Jazz, this historic jazz LP—or shall I say "hard bop"—was reissued properly. The Impex LP is the 36th LP version of Legrand Jazz in the world, and the best, I think, by a country mile. Made from the Columbia session tapes... Read More »

The Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York has a slogan. "The improbable will be done right away. The impossible takes just a little longer." The Astell&Kern A&ultima SP1000 Series High-End Music Player (or Digital Audio Player – DAP) took just a little longer to develop, but the impossible has been achieved. This sonic and technical tour... Read More »

The Grado Epoch Phono Cartridge has become available this August, 2017, and takes its place as Grado's supreme cartridge offering. With my hands-on experience using the Grado Statement 1 and Statement 2, the Statement 2 being one of my five current references, cartridge advances are speedily continuing, and most advances mean more expensive. The Statement 2... Read More »

Great news! John Grado and Grado Labs have come out with a brand new reference Grado cartridge, and were kind enough to send me a review sample for me to try and to report to our readers worldwide here at Positive Feedback.  The Grado Epoch Phono Cartridge premieres in August, 2017 and is a cartridge of firsts! ... Read More »

At the recent LA Audio Show packed with manufacturers—many known to me, but also many surprises—I noticed a table loaded with sharp-looking cables and manned by a gentleman I knew: Mitch Ko. His previous company, INEX, built the most fascinating and unusual cables on the planet:  they were made of fiber optic cable and battery powered.... Read More »