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By far, the most common blind spot that most audiophiles I have met and chatted with seem to have, is the lack of awareness of the importance of the quality of power that they feed into their audio system. I have encountered audiophiles that have spent high six figure amounts on their system but have... 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 »

Intro - Some New Toys at Stu's It's been a while. Over two years by my reckoning. There's been a lot going on in my world, but hidden away, deep in my audio bunker, I've been doing a lot of modifying, tweaking, and after doing much careful listening, I've even picked up a few new... Read More »

PREMIERE The Japanese company TiGLON was founded in 2008. Initially named Kryna Pro, it changed its name to TiGLON in 2010. Its founder and chief designer is Mr. Kentaro Okino. We are testing its latest product, an AC power cable with the illustrative name Azure Dragon. This is its WORLD PREMIERE. TiGLON celebrated its 15th... Read More »

David W. Robinson in Jerusalem, 2022 (portrait by John Robinson; image processing by Ye Olde Editor himself) The Furutech Lineflux XLR NCF The Furutech Lineflux NCF XLR interconnect (image courtesy of Furutech) Furutech. A front-rank, top o' the heap high-end audio headquartered in Japan. I've followed their products for many years now, and for very... Read More »

As a reviewer, I'm accustomed to switching gear in and out of my system for evaluation purposes, but it's not often that I fundamentally change the overall configuration of components. Owing to this, I've been able to optimize the selection and placement of ancillaries to support my specific needs. Recently, however, I repositioned my rack,... Read More »

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 works if you're rigorous about... Read More »

Dean Waters at Pacific Audio Fest 2023 (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) Serious listeners of high-end and high-resolution audio generally agree that cables matter. When spec'ing the various components we look to buy and install, we also give consideration to the cables that will connect it all together. We tend to focus... Read More »

Image courtesy of Audio Sensibility I've been writing professional (i.e., paid) audio reviews for 12+ years. I've auditioned hundreds of different wires from audiophile cable companies and written dozens of power cord articles. For me to keep any A/C cable longer than a year or two, said cord must deliver either: a), state-of-the-art sound; or... Read More »

I was chatting with an exhibitor at last year's tiny NY Audio Show 2022 and mentioned I found the treble in his room had too much bite. I got no argument: "I like that. That's what I hear at concerts." Hmm…his comment made me pause before I continued with the rest of my list: boomy... Read More »

Dynamic Design AV is a Chicago based cable company that was established in 2000. Frankly, I was surprised that I had never heard of Dynamic Design prior to this review. Since Dynamic Design AV has been in business for 22 years, they must be doing something right. I was given the opportunity to review a... Read More »

Ye Olde Editor lighting one up, Happy Valley, OR, 2021 (Photograph and image processing by John Robinson) I've said it before, and I'll say it again:  Very few high-end audio products require (or deserve!) a The Brothers Karamazov treatment. Or Melville. Or Proust. Or Solzhenitsyn. Very few. And logorrhea is no virtue. Piles of hyperbole,... Read More »

Dirk Sommer, Birgit Hammer (photography). This review is quite unusual: Audioquest's "LowZ/Noise-Dissipation" mains power technology, implemented in cables and power conditioners, which has recently received the Statement in High Fidelity award, has to show in the CSM mastering studio whether it has there just as positive an influence on the sound as in a HiFi... Read More »

When the Monet power cables from Crystal Cable were offered for review, first thing I went online for a look-see. The photos suggested a slimmed down cable with no surplus parts, nothing more than the elemental hardware required for the task at hand. The Monet is the thinnest power cables in the new Art series... Read More »

My last foray in the fiefdom of iFi focused on fixing a pair of power problems that plague too many audio setups: ground loops and DC offset. The diminutive GND Defender and DC Blocker elegantly address that annoying rattle and hum—and at the most un-audio-extortionate prices. As I mentioned in that review HERE, the two... Read More »

The first inkling something outrageous was approaching came abruptly with the email teasers. Soon a conversation ensued (or, more accurately, a monologue) with Brian Ackerman, the Stage III Concepts distributor and proprietor of Aaudio Imports, about a product so far beyond the pale—a power cord weighing 35 lbs, essentially equal to three individual Stage III... Read More »

Roger Skoff writes about one of High-End audio's truly basic questions. Full disclosure:  Roger Skoff is the former founder and CEO of XLO Cables, and is now the same for RSX Cables. His writing in this essay focuses on the notion of high-end power cables having an effect on turntables, his surprise at that possibility,... Read More »

Back when I went to public school, everyone took band. If you had no preference, they gave you whatever instrument needed players to fill a section—that's how a dented, silver trumpet wound up in my lap. Most of us consumed the hour by chilling out, with the exception of a small coterie of trumpet players... Read More »

Wouldn't it be nice if we could all agree what neutrality means? Webster's definition may be clear, but in the dialect of HiFi, we don't get off so easy. Is it a binary—either present or not—or a sliding scale with degrees of the quality? And consider that it is a loaded term carrying a positive... Read More »