Loading...

We've all bought albums for the hit song that we heard on the radio, or for that one incredible sounding demo cut we heard at an audio show. Because of this, vinyl nuts, like me, who've been collecting records for decades, always wind up owning lots of albums that have only one good cut. I... Read More »

The Pass Labs X150.8 Stereo Amplifier, seen up front atop a 1/4" steel plate on A/V RoomService EVP Equipment Vibration Protectors. In the back to the left is one of my reference Usher Audio ML-802 Loudspeakers.  As a longtime Chicagoland resident and audio enthusiast, the Pass Labs X150.8 conjures Scottie Pippen's impact on the 1991-1998... Read More »

Recording engineer Bert van der Wolf's releases are eagerly awaited in our household. The reason is a combination of three factors: (1) the audio quality he achieves is easily in the top ranks of what is possible today, and he's constantly pushing the envelope to achieve even better sound; (2) I like his choice of... Read More »

Another year, another Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society Gala weekend. Early December once again. Been doing these for a long time, now...over the past number of revolutions around the Sun, chairing the LAOC Audiophile Recording of the Year Awards (ARYA). 2024 was another trip to LA for this event; my photographs and brief... Read More »

I threw everything but the kitchen sink at this relatively affordable Darth Vader-looking contraption in terms of upgrades. Not because it's bad, but rather, because it's very, very good. It sounds and feels more like a $2500 product than something priced at $1649, including cartridge. Could a few, well-chosen and easily installed swaps make it... Read More »

Good headphones immerse you in an aural cocoon, delivering remarkable soundscapes that allow you to escape the noise and stress of daily life. Whether I was listening to Steely Dan tapes with their low-grade hiss on an AM/FM radio cassette player over Koss "Stereophones" back in 1979 at my college dorm room, or savoring a... Read More »

Before we explore the exceptional performance and remarkable value that the moderately priced Mobile Fidelity MasterPhono Phonostage represents, the historian in me wants to make sure you understand why it is so noteworthy. Since Mobile Fidelity's humble beginnings as an independently owned audiophile recording company by recording engineer Brad Miller in March of 1958, it... Read More »

This article by Dr. Sardonicus originally ran in Issue 77, 2015, so while we call this section "New Old Stock - Articles from Our Days in Print" you are also going to see some articles from our early days of going online.  The Aging Audiophile … a Tale of Sorrow and Redemption (sort of) I... Read More »

Bob Katz at work wearing the Audeze CRBN 2 Headphones, a portrait. (Photograph by Mary Kent.) Introduction Today I'm reviewing two remarkable products, both of which represent a new audio paradigm and a veritable redefinition of the state of the art! I know, this is an old audio cliché, but in this case I think... Read More »

The J.Sikora company was established in 2007 in Lublin. Its first turntable offered the same year was called Standard. It took as many as seven years to prepare the top design, Reference, which was introduced in 2014. In the following years, it was joined by the lower-priced Initial turntable, followed by tonearms. The Standard Max... Read More »

Impex Records continues to honor the legacy of celebrated guitarist Al Di Meola with a new 180 gram LP reissue of his 1977 jazz fusion classic, Elegant Gypsy. The album sold a half-million units in the year of its release, peaking at the number 5 position on Billboard's jazz album charts while earning Guitar Player... Read More »

The Audio Engineering Society show has been going on for many, many years, and for a long time was the only audio engineering show in the world. Because of its history, it has a number of unique features that you won't find at NAMM or the Tonmeistertagung. It's split between a scientific conference with papers... Read More »

Roger Skoff: a moment. Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society Gala. Buena Park, CA, 2024 (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) Roger Skoff writes about glad tidings from HiFi Land...  Happy Holidays! Now's the time to enjoy family, good food, good friends, and good music, played in great sound. But, even now,... Read More »

Craft Recordings continues to drop great late-year releases, and I have four more here you'll definitely want to check out! These albums criss-cross the genres of classic jazz, alternative pop, post-grunge hard rock, and jazz fusion, and feature reissues of rare, long out-of-print, and hard-to-find classic and noteworthy LPs. Including a new Miles Davis compilation... Read More »

This is an ongoing project by Claude Lemaire of Soundevaluations 246. ABC, "The Look of Love (USA remix-dub version)"/ "The Look of Love (part 3 dance version)". Mercury MDS-4023, Mercury 6400 751 (1982), 12" 45 rpm. Genre: synth-pop, dance-pop, new romantic, alternative. Hailing from Sheffield, England, minimalist electro-new wave outfit Vice Versa started back in 1977. The... Read More »

More than three years ago, I introduced you to the Ansuz PowerSwitch D-TC Supreme and the matching Digitalz Ethernet cables on this site. This combo surpassed everything I had encountered in this field so far, not only in terms of sonic performance, but unfortunately also in terms of expenditure. In the meantime, Ansuz went on to develop the new Gold Signature line.