Last year I spent quality time with the Armónico cable from Fono Acustica. The wires left a lingering impression of intense musicality, along with a desire to audition more of their products, including the top-of-the-line Virtuoso model. Felix Avalos, the proprietor of Fono Acustica, teased me along with, "The Virtuoso is a whole different cable... Read More »
Whenever I write about cables I always feel the need to include a disclaimer as they're such a hot button topic. Especially when it comes to high dollar interconnects such as the Audience frontRow cables reviewed below. What I can tell you from personal experience is that cables matter. There is a clear difference in... Read More »
The Mythical Creatures first appeared among the power cords. Then we spotted them among the speaker cables, and more recently, my colleague Wolfgang Kemper tracked down a few HDMI cable specimens. Now, Richard Drees, Sales Director for Germany, and Rob Hay, Marketing Director for Europe, released the NF cable variants directly into my listening room.... Read More »
Krakow Sonic Society is an informal group of music lovers, audiophiles, friends, meeting to learn something new about audio products, recordings, music, etc. The idea for KTS was born in 2005 and this is now its 132 meeting. Many steps led to the 132 meeting of the Krakow Sonic Society—bigger and smaller, but necessary ones.... Read More »
This article, as reviewed by David Robinson originally ran in Issue 3, October/November 2002, 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. Yowzah! Cables Again! The world of cable/interconnect reviewing is a... Read More »
My highlight of 2019 was visiting with Peter Qvortrup (below) and the Audio Note (UK) 'family' in Brighton, England. Meeting Peter Qvortrup, Daniel Qvortrup (Peter's son, below), Andy Grove, and Darko Greguras was a real treat. Peter and Daniel walked me through the Audio Note (UK) operation, and told me about some of the exciting... Read More »
I love cables. I hate cables. There, I said it. Cables—from an audio perspective—are that step-brother no one really knows how to engage at the annual Thanksgiving bash. Everyone knows he's part of the family, everyone knows he generally has a nice guy image, but no one really knows how to properly befriend him. Let's... Read More »
For those Audiophiles that have been around a while, the name Siltech conjures images of high-end esoterica and rarified audiophile air. Edwin van der Kley Rynveld, an electrical engineer with very high level experience at Exxon and Phillips, acquired the company in 1992. Since the acquisition, Edwin has propelled Siltech into the ranks of the... Read More »
If there was a robust market for high-end audio cables back in 1983, I wasn't aware of it, but that's when Siltech joined the fray. In 2018, they commemorated 35 years with a limited edition series. It's now 38 years! That's a long time in any business. The 35 Year Anniversary series is comprised of... Read More »
Hecho a Mano When I first visited the Fono Acustica site, my attention was drawn to the repeated use of the words artisanal and hand-crafted. These are loaded words to the contemporary ear. As we move from the first machine age into the age of intelligent machines, they stimulate nostalgia for a bygone time when... Read More »
At the turn of the twentieth century, Igor Stravinsky rocked the classical firmament with scores such as Song of the Nightingale. One hundred years later, the work is still so fresh as to pull you up short, mouth agape, wondering, "Where did that come from?" I always go back to the Fritz Reiner / Chicago... Read More »
Let's go skinny dipping... with an impressive leap in cabling technology! Review By Paul L. Schumann With this article, Positive Feedback continues its content-sharing relationship with Enjoy the Music. Paul L. Schumann shares his thoughts on the Kimber Kable Naked Interconnects. Dr. David W. Robinson, Editor-in-Chief Ok, we've all done it. We've swum in the water in our... Read More »
Fred Hersch's hands frozen in transmission What are the Options? On a late summer day in August, I reflect on how little has changed since last I wrote. Cultural institutions remain shuttered as mandated, while trying to stay relevant by improvising online teasers. They initially responded to the Covid-19 lockdown with live streams via the... Read More »
When I first relocated to NYC from Chicago in 1994, I was deep in the boil of my audio obsession. The timing of my move couldn't have been better. I had exhausted nearly all the audio salon's salesmen in Chicago, and needed a fresh batch of victims to torment. One of my first visits was... Read More »
As I sit back, listening to Melody Gardot on my Hifiman HE1000SE, things just sound right. While my system has always sounded great, and I have an excellent system consisting of a Chord Dave / M Scaler, custom built tube amplifiers from ampsandsound, and a plethora of excellent headphones to choose from, I always felt... Read More »
Finding True Value in the Audiophile world If you look back at my history as a reviewer for Positive Feedback, you will quickly see that I have reviewed a number of different cables. I have reviewed everything from headphone cables to interconnects, USB cables, BNC cables, and even power cords. I have a love hate... Read More »
Wireworld Platinum Eclipse 8 My first high end aftermarket cable was the Wireworld Nano Eclipse headphone cable. It was reasonably priced, had a unique cable geometry, and sounded excellent. This early success caused me to buy other Wireworld products well before I became a reviewer. All of my power cables are Wireworld, and for a... Read More »
File this one under "Cables Matter." Fair warning, if you're someone who believes cable design, composition, and build quality have no impact on sonic presentation, you may want to skip this and move on to one of my other non-cable related reviews. Now that the lamp cord contingent has left the room, let's talk about... Read More »
FTA cables are extremely luxurious Some of you may have have seen my Final Touch Audio Callisto USB cable review (HERE). If not I suggest going back in time and giving it a read. The short summary is that the Callisto USB cable changed my thinking about if a USB cable could actually have a... Read More »