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As a reminder to Positive Feedback readers, PF has some very fine content-sharing relationships with a handful of fine audiophile publications. Among this fraternity of online magazines is Copper Magazine, the journal of PS Audio, Paul McGowan's audiophile company. Frank Doris is the current Editor there, and is a good friend, respected due to his many years in... Read More »

Dirk Sommer, Birgit Hammer (photography). This review is quite unusual: Audioquest's "LowZ/Noise-Dissipation" mains power technology, implemented in cables and power conditioners, which has recently received the Statement in High Fidelity award, has to show in the CSM mastering studio whether it has there just as positive an influence on the sound as in a HiFi... Read More »

  Ye Olde Editor, 2022: a portrait in Ink Outline (photograph by John Robinson; image processing by Ye Olde himself). A Study in Synergy There's that word again. As defined online by Oxford Languages, synergy is "the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater... Read More »

Greetings friends, I hope you are doing well! Today's article is about the new Audio Note (UK) Meishu Phono Silver Tonmeister 300B single-ended-triode (SET) integrated amplifier (MSRP $19,300.00 USD, website link HERE). Long time readers know I have a special fondness for high-performance integrated amplifiers, as they represent what I consider to be the value... Read More »

By Harold Tichenor Harold Tichenor:  a portrait. (Photograph by Matt Tichenor.) I encountered Harold Tichenor recently, while looking for a particular box set of the complete Solti Wagner Ring on Decca [recorded in 1958-1959] and issued in 1970, over at discogs.com. Since that time, we have gotten to know each other a bit, and I... Read More »

David W. Robinson making the photograph "Departure." Happy Valley, OR, 2022 (Photograph by John Robinson; image processing by Ye Olde Editor) Pushing ahead with my brief notes on Gold Note from last month, and progressing onwards in my discovery of their company, this month I'll share a couple of very brief videos that they've produced... Read More »

Dr. David W. Robinson: a moment. Vancouver, WA, 2022. (Photograph by Colt Milton; image processing by Robinson) Every now and then in a blue moon it happens. A quick blast about a design that really rocks me, and is reasonably straightforward to bring to your attention. (That's rare; most require a lot of work to... Read More »

I'm not a skier. It's not that I don't know how—I've actually taken a total of three "dry land" ski courses so, if I were to try, I might not crash too often before I actually got the hang of it. I've never tried, though. The cost in time, money, on-site instruction, and unlikely-but-possible injury... Read More »

Dr. David enjoying a fine cigar on the deck of Louis Desjardins' home in Montreal, Canada, 2022. (Photograph by Bill Parish; image processing by Robinson) Just last weekend I returned from a three-day trip to Montreal, Canada. I was there to visit Louis Desjardins of Kronos, creator of the extraordinary Discovery Turntable system. This included... Read More »

Ye Olde Editor, a moment. Happy Valley, OR, 2018 (Photograph by John Robinson; image processing by YOE) Continuing my brief notes on Gold Note from last month, and progressing onwards in their designs, here's the June installment of what's up with this impressive audio company. Combining audio-technical achievements with a fine sense of design aesthetics,... Read More »

It used to be that great things were invented by one great man. Edison, Morse, Tesla, Bell, McCormick, Whitney, Fulton, and countless others all—at least until they became established—worked alone, or with just an assistant or two, to bring their wonders to the world. In most fields, that no longer seems possible. Maybe it's because,... Read More »

Ye Olde Editor, contemplating on a high deck in Tiberias, Sea of Galilee, Israel, 2022. (Portrait by John Robinson; image processing by Ye Olde Etc.) Just yesterday Positive Feedback posted notice of the launch of an audiophile standards group: the Association of International Audiophile Publications. The formation of this new high-end audio association took most of... Read More »

I was on the sidewalk in front of our house in San Luis Obispo. In 1952 it must've been a very quiet place, otherwise it's hard for me now, looking back, to understand why my mother let me go out by myself. I was only four. But she was very pregnant at the time, and... Read More »

Back in the 1980s or maybe earlier, "transparency" became the buzzword in high-end audio. Harry Pearson of The Absolute Sound was a big proponent of the term, and soon many reviewers and sycophants jumped on the idea, to the point where talking about "transparency" quickly became a tiresome cliché. But what does "transparency" really mean? I think most audiophiles... Read More »

Tierkreis by Bruce Friedman, Jeff Schwartz, and Jim McAuley Tierkreis is a collection of 12 short compositions written by Karlheinz Stockhausen, each originally created to be played on a music box. In 2008, Bruce Friedman, a trumpet player based in Southern California, organized a concert of Stockhausen work, part of a global celebration of his... Read More »

Greetings friends, I hope life is treating you well in 2022. Today I have an impressive Red Book CD player to tell you about, the Audio Note (UK) CD 4.1x Red Book CD player (MSRP $14,331 USD). The Audio Note (UK) CD 4.1x CD player is an expensive high-fidelity Red Book CD player with a... Read More »

How does the analog become digital? In 2019, Roland Dietl reported about the current version of the Audiophile Optimizer and shortly after about the combination of the new optimizer with Windows Server. The playback of audio files benefited greatly from this operating system variant. Does the operating system also influence the sound of the files... Read More »

A very brief note, just before departing on a two-week photographic/church trip to Israel and Jordan: Every now and then I encounter a high-end company that really impresses me with the quality of its work. I could make a pretty long list of such enterprises, but it would go fading off into the sunset, music intermingling... Read More »

Roger Skoff writes about how illusions can sometimes be illusory If I were ever asked what one thing about High-End audio was my greatest turn-on, my answer would have to be "imaging": the ability of a great system playing a great recording in a great room to make you feel as if you could actually... Read More »