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Remastering - Esoteric Sound Works


Remastering is a technique applied to improve sound quality. It can be done in digital or analog domain. There are few audio manufacturers who also release their own recordings. One of them, and probably the most interesting, is the Japanese Esoteric, which remasters classical music from the world's best labels. Esoteric is a brand owned... Read More »


Weiss DAC502 Mk2 DAC


Weiss was founded in 1985 in Uster, Switzerland by Daniel Weiss, previously an employee at STUDER, where he specialized in designing frequency converters used in its digital recorders. Until 2000, he specialized in digital devices for mastering studios, and later he proposed D/A converters for audiophiles. We are testing its top D/A Converter designed for... Read More »


The Editors Series No. 35 - Andrija Curkovic of Hi-Fi Media


The Editors is a series of interviews with audio magazine editors from all over the world—both printed and online magazines, and portals. It started on January 1st, 2012, and 34 interviews have been published so far—the one below is No. 35. Our aim is to make our readers more familiar with the people who usually... Read More »


GHOST Impera


GHOST is a Swedish band playing a genre of hard rock, formed in Linköping in 2006. In 2010 the band released its demo and then a complete album entitled Opus Eponymous. Since 2013, their album covers have been designed by the Polish graphic designer Zbigniew Bielak. We are reviewing the Japanese version of their latest... Read More »


SoulNote P-3 Special Edition Line Preamplifier


SoulNote is a Japanese company, founded in 2004 by the ex-director of Marantz Nippon, an engineer, Mr. Norinaga Nakazawa. It specializes in the construction of solid-state amplifiers, phono preamplifiers and digital sources from the middle and upper price range. We are testing its P-3 Special Edition linestage. Mr. Norinaga Nakazawa, co-founder of the SoulNote brand,... Read More »


What's a Journalist For?


At the 18th High Fidelity Anniversary In the past, before I started to work as a journalist, I heard several times from one of the audio distributors that audio magazines were "leeches" and "parasites." He said it deadly serious and pissed off. Which did not prevent him from partying, having fun, laughing and joking with... Read More »


Crosszone CZ-8A Headphones


Crosszone is a specialized audio company, founded in 2016 in Japan by the Taiwanese company Asia Optical Inc., a manufacturer of lenses and optical systems. It is headed by Mr. Robert Lai, and the first product was the CS-1 headphones. We are testing its latest product, the CS-8A headphones. The headphone selection on the market... Read More »


Grandinote Supremo Integrated Amplifier


WORLD PREMIERE The Italian company Grandinote was established in 2005. Its founder and chief designer is Massimiliano "MAX" Magri. Their first product was the A Solo amplifier, and the most important technology they use is called Magnetosolid. We are premiere testing their largest integrated amplifier, Supremo. If you look at the Grandinote's lineup, you will... Read More »


Audio Note Cobra Integrated Tube Amplifier


Audio Note is a company founded in 1976 (company site says October 1979) in Japan by Hiroyasu Kondo. The first products hit the world markets in 1989. In 1997, the company split into two parts, Kondo Labs, focused on the Asian market, and Audio Note UK, responsible for Europe and the rest of the world.... Read More »


The Editors Series № 34 - Roy Gregory


The Editors is a series of interviews with audio magazine editors from all over the world—both printed and online magazines, and portals. It started on January 1st, 2012, and 33 interviews have been published so far—the one below is No. 34. Our aim is to make our readers more familiar with the people who usually... Read More »


Octave Jubilee PRE Preamplifier and MONO SE Amplifiers


Octave Audio is a German company founded in 1968 by Karl Heinz Hofmann; initially it produced transformers. In 2000, his son, Andreas Hofmann took over the business, and from then on it has been called Octave Audio. We are testing the top Jubilee system. Although the first Octave amplifiers were made in 1975, and since... Read More »


RADAR Recording Technique - Part 2: MUSIC


RADAR – Random Access Digital Audio Recorder. The first fully functional HDD non-linear recording system Or how album recorded using RADAR sound like DIGITAL SOUND RECORDING  – method of preserving sound in which audio signals are transformed into a series of pulses that correspond to patterns of binary digits (i.e., 0's and 1's) and are... Read More »


Acoustic Revive RGC-24K - Artificial Round Conditioner


Acoustic Revive is a Japanese company that was set up in 1997, run by Mr. Ken Ishiguro-san. It specializes in connectors and anti-vibration products, but also offers innovative devices, most often the brainchildren of the University of Tokyo. We are testing one of the company's products that filter ground interference—the RGC-24K. The artificial ground, or—as... Read More »


A Reference System as a Source of Heartache or Joy


A reference system is a fundament of audio reviewer's work. It is his working tool. It turns out, however, that although we all want the same thing, and we want to capture the nature of the tested product or the reviewed album as best as possible, the way to achieve it can very significantly. It... Read More »


The Editors Series 33 - Jim Austin of Stereophile


№ 33 of High Fidelity's "The Editors Series" of interviews. "The Editors" is a series of interviews with editors of audio magazines from all over the world—both printed ones, as well as online magazines and portals. It started on January 1st 2012 and 32 interview records have been published so far—the one below will be... Read More »


Krakow Sonic Society Meeting 132 - Siltech Classic Legend


Krakow Sonic Society  is an informal group of music lovers, audiophiles, friends, meeting to learn something new about audio products, recordings, music, etc. The idea for KTS was born in 2005 and this is now its 132 meeting. Many steps led to the 132 meeting of the Krakow Sonic Society—bigger and smaller, but necessary ones.... Read More »


RADAR - The First Fully Functional HDD Non-linear Recording System


Part 1: TECHNOLOGY Or why a recording is not a document and what does it mean DIGITAL SOUND RECORDING  – method of preserving sound in which audio signals are transformed into a series of pulses that correspond to patterns of binary digits (i.e., 0's and 1's) and are recorded as such on the surface of... Read More »


Acoustic Revive RTS-30 and RKI-5005 Turntable Sheets and Anti-vibration Pads


WORLD PREMIERE Acoustic revive is a Japanese company founded in 1997 and run by Mr. Ken Ishiguro-san. It specializes in connection cables and anti-vibration products, but offers also  innovative products, the ideas of which are most often sourced from the University of Tokyo. We test its products containing a mineral called Kiyoh-stone. The use of minerals... Read More »


Krakow Sonic Society Meeting 130 - Impex Records' S1TEP Patricia Barber, Café Blue 


Krakow Sonic Society is an informal group of music lovers, audiophiles and friends who meet to learn something new about audio products, records, music, etc. The idea for the Society was conceived in 2005. This is already its 130th meeting. It took both Impex Records and High Fidelity a while… And it started as usual:... Read More »