September - October 2022
Audio Discourse
Impressions: Ansuz Hits a Home Run...Stop the (Virtual)...
Ye Olde Editor with pipe: a portrait by John Robinson Hold the phone! Every now and then I run across a new audio design whose virtues are so obvious...
Hi-Fi Weather? Roger Skoff Writes About Something You May Not...
Do you know what a "bad hair day" is? No, it's not just something for women to worry about; anybody can have one, even—at least figuratively—your...
Experienced Listening
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...
From an Editor's Notebook: Gold Note Celebrates its 10th...
I have been publishing periodic updates from Gold Note, an Italian high-end company whose products have really caught my eye and ear. As I've been...
A Positive Feedback EXCLUSIVE: My Dinner with [André] MFSL's...
My Dinner with André MFSL’s Herb Belkin Herb Belkin (second from left), with members of the band Genesis circa 1974. Atlantic Records/ATCO Author's...
Greg Weaver's the audio analyst YouTube Interview with Andreas...
Greg Weaver of the audio analyst and I have been working to extend our readers/viewers understanding of DSD at all levels, including the use of DSD256...
Downsizing Journey Update: Four Years with the Playback Designs...
We started our downsizing journey four years ago. I've written about that journey in four parts beginning HERE. I thought that after four years of...
Impressions: The Pacific Audio Fest 2022, a Photo Essay, and my...
Ye Olde Editor contemplating... Tiberias, Sea of Galilee, Israel, 2022. (Photograph by John Robinson; image processing by Ye Olde himself.) We're in...
Analog Tweaks, Tools, Tips, and Hacks-Under $50!
Analog is resurgent, what with newbies discovering turntables and seasoned audiophiles revisiting reissued vinyl from their ill-spent youth. Digital...
Impressions: The Pacific Audio Fest 2022, a Photo Essay, and my...
Onwards to Part the Third of my Pacific Audio Fest 2022 Photo Essay and Audio Oasis! Awards report... Genesis/Merrill Audio In the Genesis/Merrill...
YouTube Video from the Audio Analyst: Mobile Fidelity and the...
The ocean swells of the recent controversy about Mobile Fidelity and its unannounced (until now) use of DSD256 continue to roil, whether useful or not....
Impressions: The Pacific Audio Fest 2022, a Photo Essay, and my...
Ye Olde Editor with some very fine coffee. Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2015. (Photograph by Lila Ritsema.) Time to continue my Pacific Audio Fest 2022...
Book Alert: The Perfect Sound: A Memoir in Stereo by Garrett...
Did you happen to know that one of Planet Earth's great writers, Garrett Hongo is also a music lover and audiophile? That's right, Garrett Hongo is...
Impressions: The Pacific Audio Fest 2022, a Photo Essay, and my...
Robinson reflecting… (portrait by John Robinson; image processing by Ye Olde Editor) Prologue… At long last, after 2.5 years of pandemic...
Load Factor and Agility Factor: Proposed Additions to the...
A special Positive Feedback guest editorial from John Marks, J.D. and James Tuomy, AES John Marks has been a longtime audio friend of mine, and a...
Reviewing Reviewing: Roger Skoff Writes About the Things We...
In the early days of our hobby, one reviewer reigned supreme. From his first "test report," in 1957, until his retirement in 1998, Julian Hirsch is...
Chris Sommovigo…the Passing of Gifted Audio Designer and a...
Chris Sommovigo, sharing a beer with me at AXPONA 2019 (Photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) Chris Sommovigo passed away at his home...
Hardware Reviews
Grado Labs Statement Series 3000x Headphones
GS3000x Wooden Grado Headphones I want to make it clear that the now discontinued wood body Grado Statement Series 3000e was my favorite go-to...
Nordost QNET Ethernet Switch
The natural order of things is to start low and aim high. Buy a low-cost product; get acquainted with it, even as you scan the horizon checking out...
Rogue Audio Pharaoh II Integrated Amplifier
A new King is crowned! Review By Ric Mancuso With this article, Positive Feedback continues its content-sharing relationship with Enjoy the Music...
The Arya Labs RevOpod Damping Foot
Audiophiles are a compulsive bunch. They will try just about anything and everything when it comes to improving the sound of their systems. One very...
Dynamic Design AV Cables
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...
Escapism with the Sendy Apollo Headphones
I have very little need for escapism. I live in a very peaceful area, surrounded by lakes, trees, and very little traffic. My listening room is in my...
Wireworld Eclipse and Aurora Cables
If you look at my past reviews, you will notice certain names show up on a regular basis, Wirewold is one of those names and the subject of this...
HIFIMAN EF400 DAC/Headphone Amplifier
One of the more commercially successful combinations in the audiophile sphere, over the past decade, has been the amplifier/digital to analog converter...
Mobile Fidelity StudioTracker Phono Cartridge
Would it be damning this cartridge with faint praise to simply call it nice? I hope not, because that's precisely what the entry-level model from...
Stage III Ckahron Interconnect
Six years have passed since Stage III Concepts introduced their Medusa Speaker Cable, which the brand distributor claimed to be the world's first with...
Vibration Issues with Your Turntable? Try A/V RoomService...
Concerned about vibrations in your home negatively impacting your vinyl listening experience? If you're like me, you want to extract every bit of...
SVS 3000 Micro Subwoofer
Sonic dynamite in a small package. Review By Maurice Jeffries With this article, Positive Feedback continues its content-sharing relationship...
ampsandsound Red October Amplifier
Black on Black Red October with Western Electric 300Bs and U52s ampsandsound continues to surprise and delight me. Last year it was with the Rockwell,...
Say Yes To No! A Breakthrough Class D Design, The Aavik I-580...
Now that Covid has settled down and the supply/demand challenges for components and parts have been shown some relief, it seems that I will have...
Matrix Audio X-SABRE 3 DAC/Streamer
The world of digital audio progresses through a perpetual cycle of change, with a continual improvement process occurring that allows a listener to...
Music Streaming with Fidelizer - the Nimitra2 Server + Nikola2...
When something is not as advertised, I have no problem calling it out. So it was when music streaming came along. I read reviews, heard the demos, and...
LUMIN U2 Mini Music Streamer
You can have your cake and eat it too. Review By Paul Schumann With this article, Positive Feedback continues its content-sharing relationship...
Interviews
Interview with Bert van der Wolf of Northstar Recording
The following is an interview with recording engineer Bert van der Wolf, chief recording engineer, producer and founder of Northstar Recording...
Music - SuperSonic Recordings
Top 500 SuperSonic List - Part 33
This is an ongoing project by Claude Lemaire of Soundevaluations 201. Elvis Costello with Burt Bacharach, Painted From Memory. Mercury – 314 538...
Music Reviews
Chick Corea The Montreux Years
Chick Corea, The Montreux Years. Double Album Set - Music Spanning Seven Years of Chick Corea at Montreux. BMG Records CAT583DLP If you are a jazz...
Sonny Rollins Saxophone Colossus in Pure DSD256
Bob Witrak at HDTT has done it again—a superb new release in Pure DSD256. This is the superlative Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus. And it sounds...
Orchestral Masterpieces from Iván Fischer and Jared Sacks
How best to present several of the outstanding orchestral masterpieces found in the Channel Classics catalog? My choice is to start with selections...
Billie Holiday's Lady in Satin in Pure DSD256 from HDTT
Grab onto the sides of your chairs so you don't fall over like I did when you hear this superb new transfer of Billie Holiday's Lady in Satin. The...
More Treasures from Eudora Records in Pure DSD256
Gonzalo Noque's recordings continue to mesmerize and delight me. I'm sitting at the moment just stunned having listened to a preview copy in DSD128 of...
Ella Fitzgerald in Pure DSD256 from HDTT
Whenever I see a Pure DSD transfer from HDTT, I know they've found an excellent source tape that is in great condition. And these are always wonderful...
More Superb RCA Living Stereo Albums from HDTT
Thus far in 2022, HDTT has given us three new and outstanding transfers of well known, and well loved, performances from the RCA Living Stereo catalog....
Miles Davis' Kind of Blue in Pure DSD256 from HDTT [Update...
This will be the best sounding digital reissue of Kind of Blue in your collection. There. I said it. No waffling around. This reissue is stunningly...
Notes on Recent Finds, No. 3 from NativeDSD
This issue of Notes on Recent Finds includes a mix of recordings found at NativeDSD. Several albums are from the quite remarkable Sono Luminus label,...
Cala Records, Ravel
RAVEL: Orchestral Works, volume 2. The Philharmonia/Geoffrey Simon. Cala CACD 1005. TT: 75.42 Rapsodie espagnole. Le gibet (orch. Goossens). Five...
Now Playing - Part 3
James Gang, Bang, SD 7037, ATCO Records, 1973 By the end of the 1960s, following the emergence of such dynamic UK-based trios as Cream and the Jimi...
Notes on Recent Finds, No. 2 (All Jazz! From HDTT)
Time for another article about recent finds that I think you may enjoy. These are once again albums from HDTT and this time they're all jazz—hope you...
Four Superb Recordings from Bert van der Wolf, Northstar...
Bert van der Wolf is one of the best recording engineers in the business today. His recordings have only gotten better and better over the years as...
A Formidable Voice: Experiencing Chantal Chamberland's Soirée
Chantal Chamberland's Soirée. Evosound (HERE) A re-issue is always an interesting temporal situation. As listeners we are invited to experience the...
New Old Stock - Articles from Our Days in Print
Von Schweikert VR-4JR MkII loudspeakers - A Speaker of Many...
This article by John Zurek originally ran in Issue 31, May/June 2007, so while we call this section "New Old Stock - Articles from Our Days in Print"...
Our Friends at HIFI Statement
Raidho TD1.2 Bookshelf Speaker
Die dänische Marke Raidho ist weltbekannt für ihre High-End-Lautsprecher. In der Topreihe TD ist die TD1.2 das „kleinste“ Modell. Gehen Sie mit.... . . Read More »
Our Friends at High Fidelity
SoulNote P-3 Special Edition Line Preamplifier
SoulNote is a Japanese company, founded in 2004 by the ex-director of Marantz Nippon, an engineer, Mr. Norinaga Nakazawa. It specializes in the...
Show Reports
Pacific Audio Fest, Part Four
Continuing on with our coverage of the Pacific Audio Fest. Songer Audio, Whammerdyne. Images below. Simply stunning products. Clearly "not another...
