November - December 2016
Audio Discourse
Roon Headless on a NAS with the microRendu: Initial Forays
Anyone who might have read any of my recent babblings here is probably aware that I'm in the process of building a new house that will have a large-ish...
True Tales from the Dungeon, Part 2
When this journey/adventure/ordeal started in June, I never imagined in a million years that we'd still be here in the Dungeon in mid-December. To...
Impressions: Robinson's Brutus Awards for 2016, Part The Second
Gather around, audiosports fans! It's that time of year again…Positive Feedback's Brutus Awards season. Here is 'Part The Second' of Robinson's...
Christmas Music Part 3: "A String Quartet Christmas"
Finally, the third and last of John Marks' Christmas recommendations for us. Delmoni... a String Quartet Christmas...a real treasure to us all. Thanks...
Christmas Music Part 2: "Carols of the Nativity"
Herein, John Marks Christmas Music 2: "Carols of the Nativity". Thanks to John for these musical gifts during this holiday season! Dr. David W....
Christmas Music Part 1: Nat King Cole, "Christmas Favorites"
'Tis the season! John Marks leads us into Christmas time with a trio of short essays on three different artists and albums, together with samples from...
Impressions: Robinson's Brutus Awards for 2016, Part The First
Gather around, audiosports fans! It's that time of year again…Positive Feedback's Brutus Awards season. You can find Part The Second HERE and Part...
The Ghost Town, or Corriganville, Old Tucson, and Bodie
The Ghost Town, or Corriganville, Old Tucson and Bodie [Once again, my longtime compadre of creativity, Dan Zimmerman combines text and his superb...
Audio Ramblings - The Sutherland DUO Phono Stage
So for the past few months I have had the pleasure of using Ron Sutherland's DUO phono stage as the means of taking this from my Transrotor Leonardo...
Audio Ramblings - Cables from Triode Wire Labs
So I have already touched on the AC cords from Triode Wire Labs in my review of the PS Audio BHK preamplifier and DirectStream DAC (as did Steve Kozle...
The 13th Annual Positive Feedback Writers' Choice Awards for
Beginning at the end of 2003, PF established its first annual awards for fine audio. The Brutus Award was established for the best that David Robinson...
The Neoteric Listener - The Luxman M-200 Stereo Amplifier and...
Ever been burned by an audio purchase? Yep, me too. Although a lifetime of short-term gratification ensures that I'll never have to worry about blowing...
Impressions: A Reference System from TIDAL Audio
No. Not the streaming media service. Turns out, there's a major high-end audio company in Germany, TIDAL Audio, which is joining the ranks of...
Astell & Kern AK70…FTW!
Perhaps the Astell & Kern AK70 is better suited for young people who know what the acronym ftw means. It's small, affordable, and holds a lot of...
Really Reel: Greg Beron on Tape, Part 1
[By way of introduction, Greg Beron has become well known in the world of high-end tape recorders for his outstanding Phasexx series. I was extremely...
The Plastic Business
Roger Skoff writes about HiFi and the Music Business Many a long year ago, when I was still in school (Frankly, I don't remember whether it was high...
The Duelund Coherent Audio DCA16GA Premium Tinned-Copper...
Frederik Carøe in Denmark knocked me out with his amazing Duelund Coherent Audio CAST capacitors, inductors, resistors, and autoformers that I wrote...
The Wild, Wacky World of Walker: Audio Humor with a Twist!
Try it now! I found a new grounding point!
Audio Ramblings - The TELOS GNR Active Grounding Box
An issue or two back, I wrote enthusiastically about the grounding units from Entreq (HERE), and how these passive grounding boxes allowed me to hear...
The 12.5-Inch Woody SPU Tonearm™ from Pete Riggle Audio...
The 12.5-Inch Woody SPU Tonearm™ from Pete Riggle Audio Engineering. If Gustav Stickley (1853 – 1942), the renowned figure of the Arts &...
Rushton Paul: My DIY Approach to the Ultrasonic Cleaning of LPs
Rush Paul is an audio friend of mine, who happens to share my passionate love for LPs and Lloyd Walker's wonderful Walker Audio Proscenium Turntable,...
Hardware Reviews
Graham Slee Accession Phono Stage
The humble phono stage is the unsung hero in most analog systems, yet many hobbyists overlook its importance and often allow it to become a bottleneck....
Esoteric K-01X SACD/CD Player
The Esoteric K-01X SACD/CD Player It has been an interesting couple of years while ramping up on my knowledge and experience with computer audio and...
Sophia Electric Coke Bottle KT88-ST Tubes
Since the modification to my solid-state Reference Marantz integrated amplifier more than a few years ago, my tube amplifiers have been gathering dust....
Notes on the van den Hul 3T The Rock Hybrid Interconnects
van den Hul 3T Rock Interconnects I have been most curious about Van den Hul interconnects as they have a sterling reputation, but a lesser following...
Redefining Neutrality - The Stealthy Silnote Audio Orion-M1...
For several months, the superb Silnote Audio Orion-M1 Master Reference XLR interconnects have anchored my reference system. The time spent testing...
Auralic Altair Wireless Streaming DAC
For the second time this year, I've had the good fortune to report on an exciting new digital product. This time it is Auralic's latest digital to...
Lamm Industries LP1 Signature Phono Preamplifier - The Voice of...
Tempus Fugit but Some Things Stay the Same Three nearly identical, "old school," black chassis took up position on my rack. It would be a stretch to...
The Parasound Halo Integrated Amplifier - Raising the Bar for...
The world of high-end audio is wondrous, but can easily reach the realm of unrealistic indulgence for all but the very wealthy. I have been fortunate...
Transmission Line Revelations: The Intriguing Role Audio...
Sometimes bigger, I mean longer, is better! Straight out of the box, one can't help but notice that the Role Audio Starship SE speakers look a bit...
The Legacy Audio Signature SE Loudspeaker, by Wolfgang Kemper
[Note that this guest review is by Wolfgang Kemper of HiFi Statement, our affiliated journal in Germany, edited by good friend Dirk Sommer.] The...
Into the 'Looking Glass' - Wells Audio's AC Conditioner
Sometimes we come to the reality that a certain product in our system is not the be all and end all we thought it was. Take for instance the "built-in...
Bigger Isn’t Necessarily Better: The Diminutive Lumin D1...
Navigating the New Digital Highway with the Lumin D1 Audiophile Network Music Player For the past year or so, I have grown increasingly frustrated...
Stage III Concepts Analord Master
One evening in the vacant space of my commute home, I contemplated phono cables. (Yes, too much free time on my hands.) Specifically, wouldn't the...
Ayon Audio Triton III Integrated Amplifier
I have always been a fan of Ayon products. While many of their offerings are not for the faint of heart from a cost perspective you can generally count...
Furutech NanoFlux Power Cords, NanoFlux Speaker Cables, and NCF...
As an engineer, I find it very gratifying when I review products that apply science to great success in delivering outstanding sound—a difference you...
Teddy Pardo MB100 Amplifiers
The Israel-based company Teddy Pardo, which shares its founder's name, has accomplished quite a feat. It has birthed the Teddy Pardo MB100, a 100-watt...
Grado Statement Series GS2000e Headphones
"Be careful what you wish for" says the old proverb. Oh yeah. In this case, I am glad I did! When I reviewed the limited edition Grado Heritage Series...
PS Audio DirectStream Junior DAC
The PS Audio DirectStream Junior DAC is another member of the class of audio components that exudes pride of ownership from the time it lands on your...
Music Hall MMF-9.3 Turntable
How many times have we all heard the left-handed compliment about an audio component when someone says it sounds "really good for the money?" The...
The Kondo-AudioNote Japan System: Single (ended) and All Tube...
There are tube electronics and then, there are tube electronics. In the wonderful world of tubes, the most popular, reliable and successful amplifier...
Devore Fidelity Gibbon 3XLs Loudspeakers
I spent over (3) years with the smallish, floor standing Devore Super 8's in my home as my go to reference speaker. Leading up to that time, I had...
Rogoz Audio 5SMX12/BBS Anti-vibration Audio Rack
This is probably not the first and neither the last time you shall read a similar introduction to the review of this type of product from Rogoz Audio....
Acuhorn 15 Loudspeakers
Wojtek Unterschuetz rarely shares information on a new product in Acuhorn's range, but when he does he always has something truly interesting to offer....
totaldac d1-single-mk2 Digital to Analog Converter
Language is a very imprecise tool. But also thanks to it the evolution of apes resulted in an Aristotle, Michelangelo and Fangor. Still, however, we...
Interviews
The Editors Series - Edgar Kramer of Audio Esoterica
The audio domain is a field which combines a few spheres of human activity, i.e. music, the art of recording and reproducing it. The most important...
Music Reviews
Nessun Dorma: The Puccini Album
Nessun Dorma: The Puccini Album It's happened again. I'd read several years' worth of pro-and-con about Ian Bostridge before hearing the fellow, on a...
John Marks on the Music: The Emerson Quartet, 'The Art of the...
Who can gainsay Bach? Like Mozart or Beethoven, he is a towering figure. I don't know exactly how many recordings that I have of The Art of the Fugue...
Miles + MoFi = Magic
Miles Davis - Nefertiti, Miles in the Sky, and Filles de Kilimanjaro How time flies! Twenty five years almost to the day after Miles Davis passed...
Marc Phillips on the Music: CIKADA & Oslo Sinfonietta,...
CIKADA & Oslo Sinfonietta: Maja S. K. Ratkje's And sing… (2L Recordings 2L-124-SABD, available in various formats at...
Guest Record Review: Analogue Productions 'Johnny Hartman: ...
Johnny Hartman - Once In Every Life Reissued by Analogue Productions APJ 105 originally released in 1981 by Bee Hive Records BH 7012 A very difficult...
John Marks on the Music: Michael Franks, 'Sleeping Gypsy'
I've been on the road for nearly three weeks now, and that's meant an interruption to the republication of John Marks' fine contributions to the...
Notes of an Amateur: Dover Quartet Plays Mozart; Colin...
Dover Quartet Plays Mozart Quartets K.589 and K.550; and Quintet K.406. Cedille CDR 90000 167. Listening to new recordings of Mozart is often difficult...
Michael Vamos, Music Lover: Talk Talk – 'Laughing Stock'
Many know Talk Talk's first three albums, which had hits like "It's My Life" and "Life's What You Make It." But Talk Talk made five albums, each one...
Marc Phillips on the Music: Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam – 'I...
Hamilton Leithauser, I Had a Dream That You Were Mine (GlassNote GLS021001) 2 LPs, $19.98, purchased at The Sound Garden, Syracuse NY Hamilton...
New Old Stock - Articles from Our Days in Print
Simaudio Celeste P-5003 Preamplifier
This article, by Carol Clark, Victor Chavira, Larry Cox, and Larry Fisher, originally ran when audioMusings was in print - Issue 9, 1999. When was the...
Our Friends at HIFI Statement
Diapason Astera Loudspeaker
Ich habe mich – zumindest gefühlt – seit Jahrzehnten nur noch mit Standboxen beschäftigt. Dementsprechend war auch der Test eines.... . . Read More »
Auris Adagio 300B SE Integrated Amplifier
Eine 300B Single Ended Triode muss ins Haus! Whatever it takes (Mario Draghi). Wobei sich die Kosten im Fall des Auris Adagio weniger in Draghischen.... . . Read More »
Digital cable by Goebel Audio
Den famosen Lautsprecher- und Signalkabeln von Göbel-Audio konnte ich nicht widerstehen. Die Netzkabel habe ich vorsichtshalber nur kurz gehört und.... . . Read More »
Our Friends at High Fidelity
Rogoz Audio 5SMX12/BBS Anti-vibration Audio Rack
This is probably not the first and neither the last time you shall read a similar introduction to the review of this type of product from Rogoz Audio....
Acuhorn 15 Loudspeakers
Wojtek Unterschuetz rarely shares information on a new product in Acuhorn's range, but when he does he always has something truly interesting to offer....
totaldac d1-single-mk2 Digital to Analog Converter
Language is a very imprecise tool. But also thanks to it the evolution of apes resulted in an Aristotle, Michelangelo and Fangor. Still, however, we...
The Editors Series - Edgar Kramer of Audio Esoterica
The audio domain is a field which combines a few spheres of human activity, i.e. music, the art of recording and reproducing it. The most important...
Show Reports
TAVES 2016
TAVES has been growing exponentially over the past couple of years. In fact last year, it had a growth spurt that would send any teenagers with NBA...
Discoveries at Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2016
October has arrived and for many audio fans on the West Coast that means it's time for the annual Rocky Mountain Audio Fest also known as RMAF. This...
AES 2016 Awards
Best Product in Show Okay, I didn't actually see it in the show, only afterward, but it was in there somewhere. Kenetek is making a direct replacement...
AES 2016 Los Angeles
The Audio Engineering Society puts on a convention in the US every year, and what makes it most interesting is that traditionally it has been both a...
