November - December 2020
Audio Discourse
Alt-USB Cables: The Missing Ear Candy
Yes, I know. It's traditional to cite recordings used in an equipment review (and illustrate them with the cover art), but featuring even some of the...
Quickies: Minimum Reviews for Maximum Audiophiles
I have three great products to bring to your attention at the end of 2020. Listen up! Amazing Vacuum Tube Alert: GE 6189 (12AU7) JAN NOS The...
Tim de Paravicini - The Passing of a True Giant in the Audio...
Photograph by David W. Robinson, copyright © 2020, all rights reserved. Photograph may not be used or republished without the express written consent...
Impressions: Robinson's Brutus Awards for 2020, Part the First
Ye Olde Editor in days collegiate, presenting the goods. Corvallis, OR, 1972 (photograph by Dr. John Hull) Thoughts at this end of the first year of...
High End Head Scratchers: Why You Need Fancy Wires for Your Subs
This curious tale of low-end wires in a very high-end system to be filed in the "Things I Can't Explain" folder, is directed at keen observers with...
Devialet D-Premier Upgrade to Expert 250 Pro
The Devialet D-Premier is sure to go down in audio history as a game changer. When it was introduced in 2010, little did we know that the D-Premier...
It's Happened Again!
Roger Skoff writes about audiophiles and double-blind testing. Yup, I was on Facebook, browsing one of the audiophile groups (you'll probably know...
Impressions: The Warwick Acoustics Aperio Reference Headphone...
...with comments on the Synergistic Research MiG SX Isolation Feet. This is a story long in the coming. Long, long, long. Ye Olde Editor in...
The 17th 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...
Jared Sacks and Channel Classics - Transparent Recordings with...
The consistent excellence of Channel Classics' recordings has rapidly made this label our "go to" resource for modern recordings of both long-standing...
The Audio Note (UK) CD 2.1x/II Red Book CD Player: A CD Player...
In my article about the Audio Note (UK) Oto Phono SE Signature Integrated Amplifier for Positive Feedback (Issue 108 HERE) I discussed how impressed I...
A Little "Light"...
Roger Skoff writes about how systems really work, and why that can be a problem Roger Skoff (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) Many...
Moonriver Audio Model 404 Stereo Integrated Amplifier
Once again, our great friend and music lover, John Marks, Editor of The Tannhauser Gate, has favored us with his reflections...this time on the...
Point of View Depends on Where You Sit
Or what do the audiophiles sit on "First of all, audiophile doesn't listen to. He assesses." source: Bartek Chaciński, Wyż nisz, Kraków 2010 ⌋...
Impressions: The Raidho TD 4.2 Loudspeaker
The Raidho TD 4.2 Loudspeakers, with a Stillpoints Aperture first-reflection-point panel and stand, and a two-high stack of Ryan Tinsel Rack-It LP...
Hardware Reviews
Clarus Duet Power Conditioner
Power is king. Throughout my years in audio this one thing has become clear. Power supply quality shapes the sound of a component. In order to achieve...
ALT-USB: Cables Curious, Unique, Magic, and Lush
Seriously? A review of four idiosyncratic USB cables? Didn't some sage audio scribe opine back in the MP-3 days that USB meant "Usually Sounds Bad"?...
Astell&Kern SR25 - Incredible Transparency Weds Wondrous...
In the late 1990's, prior to Apple's creation of the iPod, the company, IRIVER, had been manufacturing consumer electronic products and some of the...
The Volti Audio Razz Loudspeaker
In 2018, Volti Audio's Greg Roberts offered me the opportunity to review his wonderful Rival Loudspeakers (HERE) I'd never heard a horn speaker in my...
Thöress EHT Amplifiers
Hybrid a thing made by combining two different elements; in biology: the offspring of two plants or animals of different species or varieties; a...
FiiO Q3 - A Powerful, Little Musical Engine!
If you think about it, every musical instrument has its birth, grows its shape, as it chooses its skin—metal, wood, glass, reeds—and develops its...
Kimber Kable Naked Interconnects
Let's go skinny dipping... with an impressive leap in cabling technology! Review By Paul L. Schumann With this article, Positive Feedback continues...
Andover Audio Model-One Turntable Music System
With their Model-One Turntable Music System, MA based Andover Audio has achieved the seemingly impossible by creating a stylish all in one turntable,...
Simaudio MOON 600i v2 Integrated Amplifier
As I've grown older, and presumably, wiser, I've come to appreciate more the significance of anniversaries. Whether they be personal, such as birthdays...
The REL No. 25 Subwoofer - Operation Coup de Main
Definition from Oxford Languages coup de main /ˌko͞o də ˈman/ noun: a military attack that relies on surprise, speed, and concentrated strength to...
Bakoon AMP-13R Integrated Amplifier
Soon after I received the Soundkaos VOX 3f speakers for review, I was given the opportunity to listen to a very interesting amplifier along with these...
Alta Audio Alyssa Loudspeakers
My appreciation for ribbons goes back to my earliest days with high end audio. As a university student, I rode public transportation across the city...
Obravo EAMT-2C IEM - Breathtaking Musicality, Transparency, and...
We review products across a relatively narrow band, a niche, if you will. And our niche is dichotomous, generally, in that it supposes that great...
Stage III Kraken Power Cords
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...
McGary SA 2 Stereo Amplifier
Readers might remember my review of the McGary Audio SA1 in 2018 (HERE). It was a wonderful amp and highly recommended. It made the PF Writer's Awards...
KECES Sphono Preamplifier and Sphono Power
What if I told you there is a two box phono preamp with one box being the outboard power supply and the other box contains the dual mono balanced phono...
MEZE Audio 99 Classic Headphones - "You've Got the Music in
I have become quite familiar with Meze Audio, born in the city of Baia Mare at Romania's northwestern border. Their flagship headphone, the Empyrean,...
AGD Productions - The Audion Monoblock Amplifier
What's new in audio? Not much in the past 40 years or so. When was the last technological shake-up in audio? Compact Disc, maybe? From there, digital...
iFi hip-dac - A Smooth, Musical Operator!
The Streaming Houses—Spotify, Apple, Amazon, Qobuz, Tidal, etc.—that provide access to, literally, millions of albums at home or On-The-Go (OTG),...
Gingko Audio Sextet Speaker System
Enjoying everything the Gingko Swarm has to offer with many options available too! Review By Brett Rudolph With this article, Positive...
Fiio FH5 - A Beautifully Detailed and Musical IEM!
That so much transparency—detail, macro/micro-dynamics—and music lies within these small and, relatively, inexpensive IEMs is, no doubt, a wondrous...
Final Sonorous III Headphones - "Fun, Fun, Fun, Til Her Daddy...
This review of the Final Sonorous III represents, per my directive, bringing those products to light that continue to distinguish themselves...
Soundkaos VOX 3f Loudspeakers
It is an aardvark; it is a platypus. That was my first impression when I took the Soundkaos VOX 3f speakers out of their shipping crate. First, these...
VISION EARS EVE - Astounding Musicality, Transparency, and
The In-Ear-Monitor (IEM) company VISION EARS was founded by Marcel Schoenen, a former guitarist and singer for the band SUIDAKRA (folk-metal), and Amin...
Rosson Audio RAD-0 Headphones - A Breathtakingly Musical,...
Alex Rosson, as many may know, was one of the founders of the Audeze line of planar magnetic headphones, which instigated quite an audio revolution at...
Linear Tube Audio's microZOTL MZ3 Headphone Amplifier
Linear Tube Audio has a delicious solution for our headphone amplifier needs—the microZOTL MZ3. We love it! Let me tell you why it now has a...
iFi Audio's Zen Can Headphone Amplifier
Six months ago, I was an infrequent headphone user. At best I listened to an old set of ear buds with balance armatures while riding the elliptical...
Lamm Industries LP2.1 Deluxe Phono Preamplifier
In the year 2002 the CD era was in full swing. CDs made up 93% of all recorded music sales—a huge slice of the pie. Vinyl record sales were 2/10ths...
Interviews
A Q&A with Estelon - A Decade of Loudspeaker Excellence
The Estonian based loudspeaker company, Estelon, has helped shape the past decade of top-tier loudspeakers. To celebrate their tenth anniversary,...
The Editors Series 30 - Dave Clark of Positive Feedback
Positive Feedback is an American audio magazine. From 1990 to 2002 it had been printed, but then it started to be published online only; it is one of...
Music - SuperSonic Recordings
Top 500 SuperSonic List - Part 23
Battle of the Big Bands! This is an ongoing project by Claude Lemaire of Soundevaluations The late-1930s to mid-1940s—it was the height of the big...
Music Reviews
Cat Stevens - A Classic LP Reimagined
Yusuf/Cat Stevens, Tea For The Tillerman 2, Island Records (33 RPM LP) At 72 years old, Yusuf Islam continues to entertain and delight his fans. Born...
Craft Recordings' Record Store Day 2020 LPs
Record Store Day—or RSD as it's commonly known among aficionados—typically takes place twice a year, generally around April and October. RSD piques...
Vince Guaraldi: A Charlie Brown Christmas (70th Anniversary LP)
The first Peanuts comic strips from cartoonist Charles Schulz appeared in newspapers in October, 1950, and Craft Recordings is celebrating 70 years of...
Anna Fedorova - With Magic in the Air
Do you recall certain artists whose new releases you eagerly awaited? Anna Fedorova is that artist for us these days. We only recently discovered two...
Rachel Podger's Joyful Ventures With Bach
Rachel Podger is a joyful music maker, regardless of her choice of composers. And she is one of the best artists performing today on baroque violin and...
André Previn - A Fresh Voice on RCA With Supporting Cast From...
Circa 1967, that is… Imprints on music are lifelong influences. Among my early imprints that I continue to cherish are the recordings made by André...
A Fantastic Carnaval from Nicolas van Poucke and TRPTK
Nicolas van Poucke: The Schumann Collection, Vol. 1, TRPTK. (2020 (DXD) (HERE) What a pleasure to listen to this quite extraordinary pianist, Nicolas...
Nickel Creek 45 RPM LPs from Craft Recordings
Nickel Creek formed in 1989, at a point when all three members were under the age of thirteen. They actually went by the moniker "The Nickel Creek...
La Fille Mal Gardée - A Delicious Guilty Pleasure from HDTT
Lanchbery-Herold: La Fille Mal Gardée, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, conducted by John Lanchberry, HDTT. (1962 Decca (Pure...
Decca Legend Kenneth Wilkinson at High Definition Tape Transfers...
Bob Witrak's High Definition Tape Transfers (HDTT) is a treasure house for DXD and DSD256 downloads of some of the best recordings from the golden age...
Sacred Trance Music from Taos Mountain
Sacred Trance Music from Taos Mountain, Habib Chishti, Michael Rosell, Salman Hanuman Lee, Shawnina Good Road Woman. Yarlung Records. (DSD256) (HERE)...
Creedence Clearwater Revival's Cosmo's Factory 50th Anniversary...
Craft Recordings continues their 50th anniversary celebration of the founding of Creedence Clearwater Revival with this new LP reissue of their seminal...
From Heaven on Earth - Lute Music from Kremsmunster Abbey
From Heaven on Earth - Lute Music from Kremsmunster Abbey, Hubert Hoffmann. Challenge Classics | Northstar Recording (DXD) (HERE) A beautiful and...
Between the Buried and Me: Alaska, 20th Anniversary...
2020 marks the 20th anniversary of the formation of progressive / hardcore / metalcore band Between the Buried and Me, and Craft Recordings continues...
Jane Ira Bloom: Wild Lines - Improvising on Emily Dickinson
Jane Ira Bloom: Wild Lines - Improvising on Emily Dickinson. Anderson Audio (2017, Audiophile Edition 2020 (DXD) HERE Jane Ira Bloom is an acknowledged...
This is Big, Bold, Exciting Handel
Handel: Concerti Grossi, Op. 6 and Op. 3, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. Pentatone (Three Albums 2019, 2020 (DXD) [HERE] This is big, bold, exciting...
New Old Stock - Articles from Our Days in Print
Kora Explorer 90SI Integrated
This article, as reviewed by Larry Cox, Carol Clark, and Victor Chavira originally ran in Issue 3, October/November 2002, so while we call this section...
Our Friends at HIFI Statement
Auralic Aries G2.1
Für mich überraschend schnell löst Auralic den Aries G2 durch den G2.1 ab. Der ist höher, schwerer und knapp zehn Prozent teurer als sein.... . . Read More »
Buchardt a500 Active Speaker
Der HiFi-Markt erfährt aktuell einen Generationswechsel. Während aktive Lautsprecher im Studiobereich seit Jahrzehnten gang und gäbe sind, ziehen.... . . Read More »
Our Friends at High Fidelity
MITSUBISHI ProDigi Digital Reel-to-Reel Recorders - From X-80 to...
It is the story of birth of digital audio, as well as a journey through the 1970s and 1980s, the best period in the history of digital recorders, and...
The Editors Series 30 - Dave Clark of Positive Feedback
Positive Feedback is an American audio magazine. From 1990 to 2002 it had been printed, but then it started to be published online only; it is one of...
SPEC Designer Audio RSA-V10 Integrated Amplifier
SPEC Corporation is a Japanese company founded by Mr. Shirokazu Yazaka, a former chief engineer at TEAC and Pioneer, to achieve one goal: to deliver...
Show Reports
A Look Back at Klipsch Pilgrimage, 2017
Robert Schryer and Dave Mallette report: A Story about Speakers, People, and Hope. Read about it HERE
