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Hungary for Audio - the Audio Hungary Qualiton A75 Integrated Amplifier

When I receive a review component, I start with no tweaks and plunk it beside the component it is replacing. Trying for a tabula rasa, I just plug it in and listen like a cello string, what resonates, what does the component bring, what insight does it provide? Does it...

Trumpet MC Phono Stage from Hagerman Audio Labs

Robert H. Levi

This third incarnation of the Trumpet MC Phono Stage is a musical blockbuster. With an amazing purity combined with near reference definition, the listener will be transported to the event as close as the vinyl allows. Very flexible and versatile, the Trumpet heralds a breakthrough performance similar to my reference stages at...

Cen.Grand DSDAC1.0

John Hoffman

Digital playback technology is now commonly viewed as a mature field, where groundbreaking discoveries have already occurred, and the consumer can expect a higher level of performance, more features, and a lower price tag as the industry moves forward. After all, the first digital PCM recording was created in 1971...

J. Sikora 12" Tonearm

Wojciech Pacuła

The J. Sikora company was established in 2007. That's when its first turntable, the standard, was presented. It took as many as seven years to prepare the next model. When it came to it it was the top-of-the-line reference, which was introduced in 2014. In 2018 the company revealed its...

AES 2023 New York Convention

Scott Dorsey

The Audio Engineering Society has a big event every year that alternates between the east and west coasts of the US. What makes it interesting is that it's both a big trade show upstairs and an academic conference with papers downstairs. This makes it much more interesting than most audio...

The Pass Labs HPA-1 - a Superb Headphone Amp to Grow Your System Around

Juan C. Ayllon

The Pass Labs HPA-1 Headphone Amplifier seen here is accompanied by the iconic Artemide Tizio Desk Lamp For many—especially those in their teens through their 20s—headphones are the preferred mode of listening to music, and when it comes to a quality sound experience, they offer them their biggest bang for...

Divine Acoustics Galileo Anti-Vibration Feet

Wojciech Pacuła

Premier Divine Acoustics is a Polish specialized company, founded in 2003 by Piotr Galkowski. It’s core business are loudspeakers, but the lineup also includes an anti-vibration platform, anti-vibration feet and loudspeaker cables. Divine Acoustics products are in-house developments, significantly different from other products of those kinds available on the market....

Taking Stock of the Da Vinci Power Cable from Crystal Cable

Marshall Nack

For many years I scoured the fleas and thrifts, scarfing up cheap classical and, to a lesser extent, jazz LPs. The getting was good and the leaning towers behind my speakers mushroomed, inevitably forcing the zero sum rule of collecting: if something comes in, something else goes out. It only...

NEO iDSD 2: iFi’s new sensation

Positive Feedback

Sporting a host of upgrades and industry ‘firsts’ including lossless Bluetooth, iFi’s NEO iDSD 2ultra-res DAC/headphone amp is every music lover’s perfect housemate Southport, England – Since its inception in 2012, iFi audio has been at the forefront of DAC technology for home and portable use, delivering exemplary sound with...

Topping E70 Velvet DAC: Bringing Delta-Sigma Playback of Native DSD to a Higher Level

Tom Gibbs

Back in February, I received a series of unsettling emails from Dalibor Kasac, my contact at Euphony Audio in Croatia, telling me about a discovery they'd made concerning how ESS Pro delta-sigma DAC chips process native DSD. And that Euphony had gotten a couple of the new Topping E70 Velvet...

Impressions: The ModWright Analog Bridge...a Rave!

David W. Robinson

Robinson with cigar. Munich, 2018 (photograph by Bill Parish; ink outline image processing by Robinson) Last summer at the first Pacific Audio Fest, I heard a product that I really liked, first take and all. While in the ModWright/Seattle HiFi/Cardas Audio/Revel/SME/Ortofon/Solidsteel room, I got to hear Dan Wright's newest design....

AXPONA 2023 - Several Highlights and a Few Observations

Robert S. Youman

What a wonderful weekend at AXPONA 2023! The weather was quite lovely for this time of the year in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs—sunny and in the 70s and 80s. There was a certain sense of excitement and energy in the air, even beyond last year's 2022 event as 2021...

Florida Audio Expo 2023 - Part 4

Tom Gibbs

During my show experience at FLAX, I basically live-posted capsules on Facebook from notable rooms I visited each day, saving my full coverage for after the weekend was over. Little did I know when I posted from the Focal Naim America room that I was opening a tempest in a...

Audio Ramblings and the Telos GNR 5.1 Plus+ Active Grounding Box

Dave Clark

Telos has been around for quite some time. I reviewed their active grounding unit in 2016 after hearing it being demoed ion the Positive Feedback Hospitality room at THE SHOW. Impressed by what it did to the music being played, I ended up buying the demo unit and we have...

Wolf von Langa WVL 12639 SON Loudspeaker System

Tim Aucremann

The SON also Rises The name Wolf von Langa (WVL) is known in Germany as a manufacturer of high-end audio speakers. Unless you are up on the European speaker scene, the brand may be new to you. Here's a little background about Herr von Langa, the man: After making his...

On the Road Again: Featuring Greg Weaver's Home Audio System

Editors at Positive Feedback

With this article, Positive Feedback continues its content-sharing relationship with Enjoy the Music where Maurice Jefferies visits the home of Greg Weaver, also known as the Audio Analyst Dr. David W. Robinson, Editor-in-Chief The New Apartment Lounge's Maurice Jeffries visits the Audio Analyst at home for the third time. Report By Maurice Jeffries...

Impressions: More of My 2022 Brutus Awards, Part the First

David W. Robinson

The Absence of the Presence. Happy Valley, OR, 2022. Photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson. About my Brutus Awards… For years I have reiterated what our PF Brutus Awards represent. This is especially for the benefit of new readers who are unfamiliar with what we have in mind...

Sikora KV9 Max Zirconium Series 9" Tonearm

Marek Dyba

One of the few Polish audio brands that conquered global markets, highly acclaimed among both users and reviewers around the world, J. Sikora, after several years of consolidating its market position, prepared premiere products for the last Audio Video Show in Warsaw—new, improved versions of their fantastic tonearms. For this...

World Premier - Zesto Audio Eros 500 Select Class A Monoblocks