Loading...

A couple of years ago (wow, make that like 3 years and you can read it HERE) I had the pleasure of reviewing the Vandersteen Audio Quatro Wood loudspeakers here in our home. Yeah, we both fell head over heels for the speakers with the review being as positive as one could ever expect. Shortcomings?... Read More »

David W. Robinson, with John Tucker Winston Ma at his garden:  A portrait. Bellevue, WA, 2001. There seem to be a number of passings in 2016 already. Sure, that's always true, statistically. But this has already been a bad year for notable music figures dying…David Bowie, Prince, Natalie Cole, Glenn Frey, John Berry, Merle Haggard,... Read More »

"The more things change, the more they remain the same." - Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr What a load of crap! Sometimes, when things change, they seriously change, and things are nowhere nearly the same as they were! What I'm referring to here is my personal situation, where, in the space of a couple of months, we bought... Read More »

In which our hero meditates… Some plaudits where plaudits are due I have several items that have been accumulating in my notebook for a couple of months now. One was a notion for a full review that didn't need to be done, since another PF reviewer (Marshall Nack) did the main lifting; the others were candidates for... Read More »

So if you have been following my ramblings over the years (of which I tend to ramble—hence the title of my column) it is obvious that one of my goals with our system is to minimize noise. Not my music per se, since much of it is noise, but the noise that rides in the... Read More »

Standing behind him, Michaelis saw with a shock that he was looking at the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, which had just emerged, pale and enormous, from the dissolving night. "God sees everything," repeated Wilson. "That's an advertisement," Michaelis assured him - Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby They look like eyeballs to me. At first, they... Read More »

Many PF readers will be as surprised by finding this as I was. It's properly academic (in the more pleasant sense of the word), but also very au courant with political and cultural thinking and teaching in American universities. For whatever that's worth. Now have at it. Their opening salvo: Sounding Out!/ is a weekly... Read More »

For a number of months, I've been jamming to the sounds of the Benchmark Media Systems DAC2 HGC D/A converter and AHB2 stereo amplifier. While a bit late to the review party; I am anything but a groomsman, because listening to this gear is the ultimate reward for my time. BM builds serious professional equipment;... Read More »

Yes, what you see is what you get (if Santa Claus really likes you, that is): A Bricasti M1 Digital-to-Analog Converter with gold-plated casework. United States Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price, $15,000. (Why do I hear echoes of Auric Goldfinger gloating, "No, Mr. Bond; I expect you to die!") Bricasti is a Massachusetts, USA company that... Read More »

So the news got out early, and we goofed by not having the right day nor time to attend the Press Event at The Source AV in Torrance, but in the end everyone has either read somewhere that, yes Focal is now making headphones. Well they were already doing that, but the news is that... Read More »

And, now, a quick audiophile word association game. What comes to mind when you read the following? Belt drive turntables Quad DSD Marantz Model 9 Electrostatic loudspeakers High End Cables  If you're like me, all of those items produced definite responses, most likely shaped by plenty of articles and opinions like the one you're about... Read More »

I have had a long acquaintance and friendship-at-a-distance with John Marks of John Marks Records, and, until recently, a contributor to Stereophile. Music lover, producer, writer, reviewer, audio designer, and a very cogent, trenchant thinker, John is a person that I have a very great deal of respect for. I first encountered John around the time of... Read More »

"Hey, check this out," Dave said as he pulled a sleek silver and black gizmo from a sturdy little nylon sleeve. "It's a RIVA portable speaker," he said, tapping a glowing touch-button. A rich, whirly arpeggio emanated with a surprising bit of rumble to it. He rattled off some technical-sounding descriptions that were over my... Read More »

The Ayon Audio Scorpio is a heavy, Class A integrated amplifier made of high grade aluminum and powered by gleaming KT88 and 12AU7 tubes. One look and listen, and you know it's textbook audio, the perfect answer to your friends when they say, "So how's a high end amplifier any different from my Yamaha?" Like... Read More »

(Not) Another $18,000 Challenge, or:  "Whoa! This system costs how much?!" "I like Downbeat, you know?" This was the first sentence Graeme Humfrey said to me, after I'd introduced myself as a PF writer. Graeme is the proprietor of the latest audio shop to be handed my unsolicited musical challenge. "I mean, it's still great what you're doing," he... Read More »

"Take him hence; to the rack with him! We'll touse you Joint by joint, but we will know his purpose." William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure The Stillpoints ESS Reference Rack with Grid Shelves (image courtesy of Stillpoints) Fine audio reviewing can be great, with passion driving you through the work and all the costs that... Read More »

In part two, I cover the balance of my Audio Oasis! Awards for AXPONA 2016. As I said in part one, these notes are presented in no particular order, and so there is no greater or lesser in the sequence. Read on… ModWright/Ryan Loudspeakers/Aurender/PS Audio/Cardas/Shunyata/Massif Audio/GIK Acoustics/Audioquest room A portrait of Dan Wright of ModWright,... Read More »

Jenna Mammina and Alex de Grassi (Photo: David Pappas) On April 21st, a bit of music history was made as singer Jenna Mammina and guitarist Alex de Grassi performed an hour long concert that was broadcast live over the Internet in Direct Stream Digital (DSD) 5.6 MHz Stereo. The concert was the first of its... Read More »

Sony STR-DN1070 AV Receiver with 5.1 Multichannel DSD 5.6 MHz Playback Sony Electronics has expanded their DSD series of High Resolution Audio products with the release of the new STR-DN1070 Audio Visual receiver. Sony describes the STR-DN1070 as a 7.2 Channel Home Theater AV Receiver with High-Resolution Audio and Video plus Native Multichannel Native DSD... Read More »