Loading...

This is not 1999 anymore. Flash forward 25 years and most loudspeakers from any reputable manufacturer are far more than a few speaker drivers in a cabinet with basic filtering. The finest loudspeaker companies are leveraging advancements in materials, complex software, precision manufacturing practices, Digital Signal Processing (DSP), finite element analysis (FEA), and a whole... Read More »

Mention Crystal Cable in an audiophile conversation, the adjectives that likely come to mind are thin, elegant, top-drawer fabrication, and expensive. With an unflinching eye on aesthetics, the color scheme has always featured silver, often accented with gold—the regal metals—in a visual palette resembling the colors of a painting. The association with luxury goods has... Read More »

Photo by Bryant Larsen The Quadratic Audio MC-1 was influenced by a triumphant tradition that rose from the Great War's ashes to avant-garde and worldwide influence that continues today.  It was 1919 in post-World War I Germany when, under Berlin architect Walter Gropius' leadership, the Weimar School of Applied Arts merged with the Academy of... Read More »

Dean Waters with Cigar:  a Portrait. (Photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson.) The Merrill Audio ELEMENT 110 Monoblock Amplifier (image by Dean Waters) As we continue our never-ending journey towards audio bliss, one of the things we look for is transparency. That is to say, music presented without colorization or modification by the... Read More »

McIntosh MC830 Solid-State Amplifier (courtesy of McIntosh) McIntosh amplifiers are the type of ultra high-end audio components that cause fist fights at estate hearings. When the opportunity to review a pair of McIntosh's MC830 solid-state amplifiers, ($8000 per pair) arose, I was quite excited to begin listening. Product Description Each MC830 single channel amplifier is... Read More »

Perhaps the principal joy in attending audio shows is sitting and auditioning insanely expensive speakers, many with six-figure price tags. As long as I live, I will never tire of it. If nothing else, it puts everything in the audio world into some sort of perspective. At the most recent AXPONA, I heard plenty of... Read More »

I live on the fourteenth floor of an apartment building on a busy avenue in NYC. Even this high up with the windows closed, the sounds of the city—automobile horns, pulsating boom boxes, people arguing—filter in. It's annoying, especially when I'm having a session. Unexpectedly, though, I found it sets up a good test. If... Read More »

Bob Levi:  a moment at the LAOC AS Board Banquet. Los Angeles, CA, 2023. (Photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) I have been listening to and testing cables and other connectivity from UIT for about a decade, and have marveled at their progress. Their Perfect Music Purifier technology has improved and propelled their... Read More »

I've been working with John Soriano of Apos Audio on a number of recent equipment reviews, and through our regular contacts, I discovered a few months ago that Apos would soon be marketing their own line of self-branded premium vacuum tubes. That news excited me to no end, especially when I learned that among the... Read More »

Quite possibly, if you were to ask my non-audiophile friends, their perception of me would be one of a guy who is on the cutting edge of technology. They walk into my home and are usually overwhelmed by all the whiz-bang gadgets adorning my listening spaces. However, the truth is I was slow coming into... Read More »

One approaches writing cable reviews with a bit of trepidation, especially about digital cables, and doubly so for those circling around the kilobuck range (as the Audience AV cables under consideration here do). After all, cheapo generic—even freebie—digital cables either work…or they don't, so you just toss 'em, right? We've all heard the bits-is-bits arguments.... Read More »

The Bag End ISUB2-18 18" Infra Self-Powered Subwoofer System sits in repose in my listening and A/V room Have you ever wondered what it would be like to use the top-notch equipment renowned musicians like Tom Petty, Chick Correa, and Prince have used to produce and/or perform their hits? Long recognized by discerning artists and... Read More »

I don't really know how to pronounce Nag-a-ok-a. Or is it Nag-a-woka? I wish I could find a video on YouTube or something from the actual company where someone says it correctly. Unfortunately, they don't really do much marketing or publicity, though I'm not sure it matters. Brochure copy can be especially unhelpful where the... Read More »

When my review for Vera-Fi Audio's Main Stream™ went live a few weeks ago, Vera-Fi mainman Mark Schifter was only able to supply me with a single device for evaluation. Which according to Mark was at that point the only alpha unit presently in the field! I was really keen to first check out its... Read More »

Dean Waters with cigar at the Pacific Audio Fest 2023: a portrait. (Photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) I recently submitted an article reviewing the Alberto Guerra Designs (AGD) Duet monoblock amplifiers (HERE). They are in a word, wonderful. Since then, I've been reviewing the Duet's big brothers, the AGD Solo Limited Edition... Read More »

A few months ago, I was pleased to write about the KECES Audio Ebravo Streamer Transport. In that review, I noted that the Ebravo, "Elevated the sound in many subtle, but easily recognizable ways." This was all to the good, of course, and that kind of discernible difference is what makes so many of us... Read More »

For almost two decades now, my reference preamplifier was the Bryston BP-26 powered by the Bryston MPS-2 DC regulated power supply. I was perfectly happy with the performance of this combination and the vast connectivity options that it offered. When Bryston introduced its new BP-19, I was impressed by its specifications, and I have to... Read More »

Early this year, Vera-Fi Audio main-man Mark Schifter messaged me to gauge my interest in a new product line he was then representing from Thai manufacturer Puron. I'd told Mark that even though I had a pair of AudioQuest Niagara Low Z, AC power conditioning units in place at the new home in South Carolina,... Read More »

Back in February's Issue 132 (HERE) I wrote about the remarkable improvement in my system from replacing a couple pricey audiophile fuses with first one, and then two Swiss Digital Fuse Boxes. At that time there remained a couple of unresolved issues—first was the impending arrival of a rhodium-plated tellurium copper "Super-Duper-Sluggo" (the actual metal... Read More »