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John Marks is a multidisciplinary generalist and a lifelong audio hobbyist. He was educated at Brown University and Vanderbilt Law School. He has worked as a music educator, recording engineer, classical-music record producer and label executive, and as a music and audio-equipment journalist. He was a columnist for The Absolute Sound, and also for Stereophile magazine. His consulting... Read More »

  David Fung, Evening Conversations. Yarlung Records 2006 2025 (Pure DSD256) HERE  Edit Master Sourced I found myself talking recently on the phone with my friend Bob Attiyeh, the creative founder and visionary of Yarlung Records. I'm always intrigued by these occasional calls with Bob. One never knows whence they may wander. That day, Bob... Read More »

Last year Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab began releasing six of Joni Mitchell's most iconic albums, making them all available not only as hybrid SACDs, but also in MoFi's ne plus ultra analog statement format, their UltraDisc One-Step 180 gram LP set. The series began with Ladies of the Canyon (1970), then moved to Joni's deeply... Read More »

Bob Witrak has been busy these past months with additions to the HDTT catalog. The biggest news is that the International Phonograph Jazz recordings are back! See my earlier note about this great news, HERE. Below are some of the new reissues (not IPI) that have caught my ear in recent weeks. Witches Brew, Alexander... Read More »

Record Store Day typically always takes place on the third Saturday of April in any given year, but for 2025, that date fell on what is a bank holiday across much of the globe, so the date was pushed forward to April 12. Rhino is again offering a broad selection of 47(!) limited edition LPs... Read More »

Craft Recordings again offers an interesting mix of collectible, limited-edition, rare, and long out-of-print LPs for Record Store Day 2025 (RSD) that's happening on Saturday, April 12. Record Store Day typically always takes place on the third Saturday of April in any given year, but for 2025, that date fell on what is a bank... Read More »

Automotive journalist, amateur endurance-car racer, musician and music lover Jack Baruth challenged our mutual friend John Marks to come up with a list of the most frequently over-programmed pieces for symphony orchestra. And then, for each "War Horse" composition, come up with a "Delightful Discovery, Dark Horse" piece. John's answers ran in two articles published... Read More »

It was back in 2015 that I decided to get into a digital audio source that was not based on either a CD Player or a Transport/DAC combo. I'm really having a hard time wrapping my head around just how long ago this was. In the 2015 May/June issue of PF—now in the archives—I wrote... Read More »

Talk about poor timing. Just as I had this review sealed up, the tariff wars erupted. All politics may be local, but high-end audio sings to the tune of a global economy, in ways great and small. Headquartered in Germany, but manufactured in China, Vincent Audio has long offered excellent performance at an affordable price.... Read More »

Let there be rejoicing among fans of Pure DSD recordings—transfers from the IPI analog master tapes to Pure DSD256 are back at HDTT! They disappeared for a while when IPI owner and recording engineer Jonathan Horwich decided to retire and withdrew them. But now the International Phonograph, Inc., catalog is returned to HDTT. These albums... Read More »

Lee Scoggins at the 2017 LA Audiophile Show. Los Angeles, CA, 2017 (portrait and image processing by David W. Robinson) It's hard not to love the Tampa show. Always great weather, and the people running the show, including Bart Andeer and team, really care about the experience people are having. This year the show moved... Read More »

As an owner of the Parasound JC5 stereo amplifier, I was intrigued to review the mighty JC1+ mono amplifiers in my system. As many of you know, the JC5 was John Curl's attempt to distill as much of the JC1 amplifiers into a single stereo chassis as he could. As good as the JC5 stereo... Read More »

Dean Waters enjoying a fine drink at Munich 2024 (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) As lovers of clean, pure, wonderful audio, we spend much time and effort in regard to equipment, power, and cabling, among other things. When it comes to networking, we tend to not give it much thought other than... Read More »

I unabashedly love listening to early music, from medieval to renaissance. And much of this music is for voices. Not all, by a long shot, but there is a lot that is a cappella. Early music will be the theme of today's Recent Finds because this is what has consumed much of my recent listening.... Read More »

Roger Skoff writes about your system and the state of our hobby I was talking recently with a friend of mine (also a HiFi Crazy, also in the Industry) about the future of our hobby, and we came to one of those "forehead-slapper" moments—you know, when something finally occurs to you that should have been... Read More »

k.d. lang, Ingénue. Because Sound Matters, 33 RPM One-Step. $99.98 The k.d. lang, Ingénue One-Step reissue from Because Sound Matters has been an absolute delight from the first day that it arrived! It is clearly my favorite reissue so far this year! I was unfamiliar with this title, yet it has been on constant rotation... Read More »

Ye Olde Editor enjoying a cigar and Single Malt at Tiberias, Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret), Israel, 2022. (Photograph by John Robinson; image processing by Ye Olde Editor himself.) A keyboard can be a piano. "It is the artist who, more than other men, is able to create something out of nothing. A whole artistic work... Read More »

A couple of nights prior to performing this finger workout on my keyboard, I had a craving for some vinyl with a male vocalist. I wasn't in the mood for Joe Cocker, Jim Reeves, or Frank Sinatra. I wanted something frothy, and free from deep thought. I just wanted to be swept away by blissful... Read More »

The Karan Acoustics Master Collection POWERa Stereo amplifier is Milan Karan's new masterpiece stereo amplifier. The Master Collection is Karan's accumulation of over 30 years of audio engineering and design experience, replacing the entire previous product line. He began designing his Master Collection 10 years ago. Karan's goal was to make the best sounding amplifier... Read More »