January - February 2024
Audio Discourse
Stu's Place - Ice Age Audio Power Cords, Interconnects and...
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...
Simplicity Offers a Lot of Possibilities
About the fact that what is simple is better than what is complex. But also about the fact that thoughtless simplifying is a mistake. Listening to...
the audio analyst© Episode 160: Vienna - Chasing Beethoven
My fascination with and appreciation of Beethoven's work began even before my relatively formal introduction to his vast body of work and influence on...
Impressions: Portraits from AXPONA 2023, a Gallery
As I explained many months ago last May in Issue 127, my 2023 show impressions for both AXPONA and Pacific Audio Fest were derailed and terribly...
Is It Really All BS? Part 1
Roger Skoff, President of RSX Technologies, at the LAOC Audio Society Gala, December 2023 (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) Roger...
Waters on the Hardware: The Vivid Audio Kaya 45 and Kaya 90...
Dean Waters with cigar: a portrait at Pacific Audio Fest 2023 (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) The Vivid Audio Kaya 90...
Power Is No Longer So Simple
Norman Varney of AV RoomService Ltd. has joined Positive Feedback as a Senior Technical Editor as of Issue 113. His expertise in his field of audio...
Audio Art Cables -The Loom Effect
When we left off (HERE), I had just contacted Rob Fritz at Audio Art Cable about possibly getting set up with a loom of cables for both my digital and...
First Impressions of the Audio Art Cables
I've always believed in the importance of well-constructed audio cables, and my systems of the last five or so years have been built around expensive...
The Bottom Line
Roger Skoff at the 2023 Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society Gala (portrait and image processing by David W. Robinson) Roger Skoff writes about...
Dave and Carol Clark's Brutus Awards for 2023
Here we are at the end of 2023 and again, not a lot has passed through our doors for review. Why? Neither of us are just not interested in reviewing...
Network Acoustics' muon pro Streaming System
Network Acoustics is probably best known for their ENO Ethernet Filter (HERE), but they also offer a line of Ethernet and digital cables as well as an...
Hardware Reviews
Quad Revela 2 Loudspeaker
For the last few years I've been audio lucky. Fat and happy while discovering new music on Qobuz augmented by the convenience of Roon, or listening to...
Topping A90 Discrete Preamplifier/Headphone Amp Offers...
Mid last year, I reviewed the Topping E70 Velvet DAC, which is a Delta-Sigma design that in my view offered astounding performance at a surprisingly...
Richard Gray's Power Company RGPC 1200 Custom Solution for Max...
We've all heard horror stories of stereos destroyed by electrical storms and events. Towards that end, many of us use surge protectors or power...
Puron AC Power Conditioners, Now with Worldwide Distribution by...
There are two recent observations I've made in high-end audio: 1) There are plenty of relatively inexpensive devices that can add significantly to your...
Aidas Mammoth Gold Moving Coil Stereo Cartridge
Phono cartridges, like musical instruments, use their body's resonance to influence the unique character of their sound. The cartridge body holds the...
Vera-Fi Audio's Vanguard Caldera 10 Subwoofer
Back in 1984, before all the cool old independent hi-fi shops started vanishing into oblivion, there was a nice older dealer in northwest Atlanta...
Estelon Aura Loudspeakers
Having been in the audio world for going on 30 years, I've been keen to the rise and fall of many brands. Names like Classe, Apogee, Wadia, Thiel, and...
Hungary for Audio - the Audio Hungary Qualiton A75 Integrated...
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...
Krell K300p Phono Stage
One of the hooks that grabbed me when I first fell for high end audio was that it totally aligned with my need to obsess over whatever brand of gizmo...
Audiomica Cristal Silver Signature Speaker Cables and Veroni...
In the 36 years that I have been reviewing high end audio components, I have steadfastly held the notion that when it comes to cables, most mechanical...
Trumpet MC Phono Stage from Hagerman Audio Labs
This third incarnation of the Trumpet MC Phono Stage is a musical blockbuster. With an amazing purity combined with near reference definition, the...
Audio-Technica AT-VM750SH Phono Cartridge
Ten-plus years have passed since I reviewed Audio-Technica's AT150MLx cartridge (HERE), a flagship moving magnet model without the flagship price: just...
Cen.Grand DSDAC1.0
Digital playback technology is now commonly viewed as a mature field, where groundbreaking discoveries have already occurred, and the consumer can...
The Usher Audio UA-50 Anniversary Three-Way Monitor Loudspeakers
Photo courtesy of usheraudio.com.tw Suppose high-performance three-way monitors with a retro 80s vibe, a lush midrange, an updated curved chassis, and...
Interviews
A Conversation with Jared Sacks, Channel Classics
Republished from January - February 2021 I wrote about Jared Sacks and Channel Classics this past fall, focusing on several recordings which I find...
Music Reviews
Violent Femmes 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition on 180 Gram LPs...
On March 1st, Craft Recordings is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the eponymous debut record from folk/punk pioneers Violent Femmes with a new box...
Collective Soul's 7even Year Itch: Greatest Hits 1994-2001 now...
Craft Recordings celebrates the 30th anniversary of southern alternative rockers Collective Soul with their reissue of the band's 7even Year Itch:...
Calcutta! by Lawrence Welk
It's time for a confession: I enjoy the album Calcutta! (Dot DLP 25359) by Lawrence Welk (1903-1992). Honestly, there's an awful lot to like on this...
Notes on Recent Finds, No. 19 - HDTT Adds New Bundles of Joy
Bob Witrak of HDTT keeps mining the hills for superb vintage recordings on both tape and LP to release in high resolution digital. And new recordings...
A Six Pack Of Superb LP Releases From Analogue Productions,...
Dire Straits, On Every Street. Mofi (45 RPM) Highly underrated and one of my favorite Dire Straits studio albums, On Every Street was released in 1991...
The Youngbloods - Elephant Mountain, Finally Reissued on a...
Impex Records has just released a newly remastered LP reissue of Elephant Mountain, the 1969 RCA label neglected classic from folk-rock group The...
Jimmy Namaro Trio
Mexican-Canadian pianist, vibes player, and band leader Jimmy Namaro (1913-1998) isn't the best known name in music. The only reason I know him is...
Craft Recordings' OJC Reboot Continues with a Trio of Classic...
Craft Recordings continues their Original Jazz Classics relaunch with three superb new reissues, featuring Tony Bennett and Bill Evans together on The...
Notes on Recent Finds, No. 18 - More Bert van der Wolf
If you've followed along with some of my other articles, you may have picked up on how much I admire the recordings made by Bert van der Wolf of...
As Good As It Gets - Music from Tonian Labs
Is your system where you want it to be? How would you know? There are a number of "test records" for you to get a sense of your progress that feature...
Bud Shank's Barefoot Adventure: A Lost Classic Rediscovered by...
Clifford Everett "Bud" Shank (1926-2009) was an American sax player and flautist regularly mentioned as being one of the preeminent exponents of the...
Wes Montgomery's The Complete Full House Recordings Reissued on...
On what would have been his centennial, Craft Recordings has releasing the complete recordings of jazz guitarist extraordinaire Wes Montgomery's...
Hot House: The Complete Jazz At Massey Hall Recordings on three...
Craft Recordings has just released Hot House: The Complete Jazz At Massey Hall Recordings, which is an expanded reissue of the original album, The...
The Yes Album: Super Deluxe Edition from Rhino
Rhino Entertainment has released The Yes Album: Super Deluxe Edition (SDE) in a stunning new multi disc package that includes media choices to suit all...
What We Hear With DXD 32-bit Files (Free Sample Downloads)
I've written here and there about my preference for listening to 32-bit PCM versus 24-bit PCM files (either 352.8kHz or 384kHz). When there is no Pure...
Notes from Recent Finds, No. 17 - Releases from NativeDSD
I'm excited about this most recent group of Recent Finds, all released over this past year at NativeDSD. Included are a great new album from Carmen...
Another Bench Mark from IMPEX Records. The New 1STEP 35th...
It's been five years since I organized and posted a shootout on this title. Click HERE if you would like to read that article. After several requests...
The Music of Eddie Layton
As far back as can I remember, organ music has brought me pleasure. Whether it's the sound of a small pipe organ in a small church, an electronic...
DVOŘÁK, Symphony 6; Husitská Overture
DVOŘÁK, Symphony 6; Husitská Overture. Milwaukee Symphony/Zdeněk Mácal. Koss Classics KC-1001. TT: 57.59 I was looking forward to hearing...
Jennifer Warnes' Famous Blue Raincoat, Better Than Ever on 1STEP...
Impex Records is celebrating the 35th anniversary of Jennifer Warnes' groundbreaking Famous Blue Raincoat with a three-LP, 45 rpm, 1STEP reissue of...
The Gift of Great Sound and Great Music - Eudora Records' New...
Cartografía del Mar (Maps of the Sea), André Cebrián, Pedro Mateo Gonzalez. Eudora Records 2023 (Pure DSD256) HERE I am in love with this stunningly...
A Glorious New Release from HDTT of One of the Great RCA Living...
Prokofiev Lieutenant Kije, Stravinsky Song of the Nightingale, Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra. HDTT 1958 2023 (DSD256, DXD) HERE One of the...
New Old Stock - Articles from Our Days in Print
From Our NOS Files: "The Higher End – SACD: Mic Feeds and...
From Positive Feedback, Volume 8, No. 1, late winter 1998/early spring of 1999... For the record, I have not changed my appraisal of DSD and SACD...
An Evaluation of Vinyl Re-issues and the Companies Doing Them...
New Old Stock - Articles from Our Days in Print but you are also going to see some articles from our early days of going online. Original text and...
If it Sounds Good, it IS Good
This article by Dan Wright of ModWright originally ran in Positive Feedback ISSUE 4 December/January 2003, so while we call this section "New Old...
Our Friends at High Fidelity
TiGLON MS-DR20A Azure Dragon AC Power Cable
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...
Mola Mola Lupe Phono stage
The Dutch company Mola Mola was founded in 2012. Its founders were Bruno Putzeys and Jan-Peter van Amerongen; both knew each other from their work for...
J. Sikora 12" Tonearm
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...
Show Reports
Capital Audiofest 2023
It's that time of year again and the Capital Audiofest has come around and an awful lot of people went to it. An awful lot of people; it was just...
