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Cookie Marenco of Blue Coast Records and Dominique Brulhart of Merging Technologies at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, 2014 (Photograph and processing by David W. Robinson) [By way of introduction, Cookie Marenco just recently took David Pogue, a long-time mainstream audio/technology writer, and now at Yahoo, to task for his evident cluelessness about high-resolution audio.... Read More »

Yes, I've used the same Linn LP12 turntable since 1984. It was a big deal for me, buying it back then, for a few reasons: At $1370, including the Ittok arm and Valhalla power supply, it was fairly expensive at the time. It certainly was a lot of money for me, being just four years... Read More »

Been awhile since I have had either the time or the desire to sit down and write about audio—let alone even spend much if any time listening to music. Too many personal and other things have happened this past year or so that have consumed all my time and energy. So most days my music... Read More »

"A smile like the cartoon, tooth for a tooth you said that irony was the shackles of youth you wore a shirt of violent green, uh-huh I never understood the frequency, uh-huh" —"What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" by REM As Slim Pickens' character says in the film Dr. Strangelove, "Well, I've been to one world fair, a... Read More »

Everyone takes the limits of their own vision for the limits of the world. – Arthur Schopenhauer DEDICATION To J. Gordon Holt and Harry Pearson, who regrettably missed out on beholding their own antecedents, which both would have so enjoyed reading. Our modern times have been blessed with a copious amount of writing about music reproduction.... Read More »

Petra and Dan D'Agostino are two of the rare ones. Yes, Dan's legacy is firmly locked in place after Krell Industries and now his Dan D'Agostino Master Audio product lines. To say the least, Dan is an industry Icon, but he is much more than this and has much more to do. I think he... Read More »

ALO's Studio Six has been an integral part of the heart-and-soul of my beloved Sonic Satori Personal Audio Lab since its inception. What the hell is the SSPAL? For the un-initiated: I've been working on a range of headphone systems that, IMHO, reproduce some of the most musically-engaging, excitable, and sonically addictive music playback experiences I could find.... Read More »

Most regular readers of Positive Feedback know of my long-time passion for vacuum tube electronics. I've enjoyed the musical prowess and sonic chops of contemporary artisan-designed single-ended amplifiers with various output tubes, like the EL84, 45, 2A3, 300B, F2a, and 845 output valves; as well as inspired push-pull amplifiers using KT88, EL84, KT66, EL34, KT90 outputs, and... Read More »

This article was published recently by our good friends at NativeDSD.com (see HERE). In it, Ted Brady makes some useful distinctions and clarifies some definitions about DSD. Given the growing interest in DSD, and the excellence of Ted's commentary, it is our belief that this article will benefit the readers of Positive Feedback. His remarks are presented... Read More »

Clothes may make the man, but what do loudspeakers make you? Sure, we all wish the fashion police would drape a hazmat pancho over that ratty Dynaco Dynamite! T-shirt stretched tight as tube top on your audio buddy. But who is in charge of equally egregious audio disasters like the ear-shredding "faithful to the source" experiment? What... Read More »

We can't hear the absolute absolutely. Our ears are organic matter evolved over generations of overlapping genes. No two are exactly alike, including our own, just as no two ears located at the slightly lopsided extremities of a bumpy skull are diametrically synchronized. Add to that that both can't be equally sensitive to sound or deteriorate at... Read More »

The Walker Audio Proscenium Black Diamond Level V Reference Turntable Slow train comin'… First things first. Those of you who haven't already read my extensive review of the Audionet reference system elsewhere in this issue (HERE) need to stop right here, go to that essay, and complete it before going on with this one. It... Read More »

A couple of years ago, I promised Positive Feedback readers that I'd tackle a few topics on which I was less than proficient. As an audiophile and audio writer, I've learned an amazing amount in the past 15 years, yet I am inexperienced in a few subsets of high-end audio. And even though I've been listening to... Read More »

Forget the obvious "fairies" wisecrack for a moment, and think about this: Although the internet is thick with guys out there playing the "Troll", there are no "Anti-trolls" at all―not even one "Blue Fairy." If, like me, you enjoy sharing your thoughts with other people on the internet, whether on Facebook, on Twitter, in some... Read More »

The Pass Labs XA30.5 vs. XA30.8: A Classic Matchup! [In my best Michael Buffer ring announcer voice] Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Pass Labs Class A Lightweight Ch(amp)ionship of the World! In one corner, weighing in at a svelte 62 pounds without cardboard, the reigning champion, XA30.5! In the opposite corner, weighing in at 106 pounds boxed... Read More »

CEntrance has established itself as a leader in the personal audio community/industry over the last decade. They've managed to position themselves at the top through constant innovation in their own products, while providing USB and other digital solutions for other high-end audio audio industry leaders such as Playback Designs, McIntosh, Benchmark, Wadia, and Lavry, to... Read More »

I stopped writing about equipment quite some time ago. I blamed it on a number of things that were absolutely true … old man, heavy boxes; crazy distributors, the clamor of other things in my life. While this was the truth, it wasn't the whole truth. Like many men in their sixties, my hearing is... Read More »

If you frequently read high-end publications or Internet audio chat boards, then Audioengine is not new to you. Their finely engineered audio components and speakers have been recognized and lauded by publications around the world for great sound and high value. I had only heard Audioengine products at AXPONA, and even under show conditions their... Read More »

Damn. How does this happen? Every year, I work hard to compile my list of Brutus Award winners for the end of the year; every year I promise myself that I'll complete this award article way ahead of the curve; and every year, this deadline bushwhacks me. Bloody hell. You'd better appreciate it amigos…you'll never... Read More »