The scrutiny that audiophiles face in music appreciation is unlike in any other passion. For one, there are those who purport being an audiophile automatically excludes qualifications as a music lover. In the world of art hobbyists, never has one been ostracized similarly. If you claim to be a lover of romantic painting, your qualification […]

Introduction (Earl Weed) “I remember the first time I heard the Beatles Abbey Road.  I would have been 15 years old in 1969, when it came out.  One of my friends played in a band with a guy who had a reel-to-reel tape machine in his bedroom, and that fellow also had a reel-to-reel copy […]

There are numerous recordings of the Schubert “Ave Maria”, some with tenor instead of soprano, others with chamber music and even solo piano accompaniments, and these elicit seemingly monastery backdrops and thus religious affirmation to various degrees, but the Leontyne Price rendition with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under Herbert von Karajan in the Decca recording […]

Tracks: I. Vorspiel 4:55 II. Das Rheingold 2:05 III. Nibelheim 2:36 IV. Walhall 3:53 V. Die Walküren 3:49 VI. Feuerzauber 3:44 VII. Waldweben 2:24 VIII. Siegfrieds Heldentat 6:49 IX. Brünnhildes Erwachen 6:36 X. Siegfried und Brünnhilde 4:58 XI. Siegfrieds Rheinfahrt 5:40 XII. Siegfrieds Tod 5:25 XIII. Trauermusik 6:18 XIV. Brünnhildes Opfertat 8:13 Extra: V. Die […]

There will be plenty of reviews of the Billie Amp Mk3, but none like this. In addition to using the Mk3 in a standard system configuration, I will report on using it in my Faux Mono Integrated Amp configuration, in which two stereo integrated amps are used together in a horizontally bi-amped system. Why do […]

La Belle Epoque Weiyin Chen, pianist Released: March 13, 2026. Duration: 65 minutes Tracks: Boulanger, L: Trois morceaux pour piano 1. D’un vieux jardin 2. D’un jardin clair 3. Cortege Schumann: Papillons, Op. 2 Introduzione. Moderato 1. Waltz 2. Waltz. Prestissimo 3. Waltz 4. Waltz. Presto 5. Polonaise 6. Waltz 7. Waltz. Semplice 8. Waltz […]

The following is an introduction from Audio Technology Switzerland SA, followed by a full press release at the bottom.  A New Way to Experience Nagra at Home Audio Technology Switzerland SA Introduces the Nagra Compact Player   Audio Technology Switzerland SA is pleased to introduce the new Nagra Compact Player, a complete high-end digital source combining […]

Having been suitably impressed by the Magnepan 2.7i, I began to wonder what Magnepan could offer at about half the price, what tradeoffs would be involved, whether those tradeoffs would be significantly mitigated by adding Magnepan’s “x” modifications (which are now available for all models), and how the modified MG 1.7x compared with the previously […]

2/6/2026. The following is a press release from Audio Note UK. The legendary Oto SE receives its first major technical revision in decades, featuring bespoke in-house components and a redesigned power supply. WEST SUSSEX, UK – Audio Note (UK) is pleased to announce the release of the Oto SE 35, a significant update to one of […]

Art, in its highest form, empowers us to reach deep into our psyche and re-experience that part of us that is innocent, peaceful and without trepidation. There exist some film soundtracks that are a joy to listen to for its own sake; occasionally also comes one that stands above most. Composer Ennio Morricone’s (1928-2020) soundtrack […]

Many audiophiles have at one time or another owned Magnepan speakers.  When my children were still in school, I purchased an early set of MG-3A’s and later replaced them with a pair of Tympany IV A’s which I owned for a number of years, eventually replacing them with Crosby modified Quad EL-63’s/Entec subwoofers.  In retrospect, […]

Rediscovery of TEAC as a serious audiophile brand was one of my highlights of 2024. The moderately affordable VRDS-701 Preamp/DAC/CD Player (the actual name is longer, so I have shortened it) and accompanying CG-10M-X Master Clock Generator set a new standard in preamplification and CD playback in my system and opened my eyes to the […]

Major Classical/Romantic Era composers of the 17- and 18-century such as Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, etc., published piano solo pieces that are the gems of culture and civilization. Retrospectively, there are a few notable names that perused the symphonic form almost exclusively in addition to the occasional opera, such as Richard Strauss. […]

The South Korea-based Aurender manufacturers high-end digital playback systems, several of which have been reviewed by Dagogo, including the $3,300 N100SC caching music server and streamer, the $16,500 A20 reference analog output network player, and the $13,750 N20 ultra high performance digital output network transport. The company established its reputation early on with its cache […]

My ears continue to tell me that vinyl, at its best, can present the most realistic and satisfying portrayal of a musical event when compared to other formats, with the possible exception of open reel tape.  My use of the qualifier “at its best” is very important here; I recognize that high resolution digital is […]

It’s nearly a case of six degrees of separation. Considering my involvement with speaker brands that he has designed for, it was only a matter of time before Kevin Malmgren and I would meet. As a speaker designer, he has worked with Egglestonworks, a speaker brand that I have admired from a distance and has […]

  I am watching four needles dance against a Mountain Dew (or is it Mellow Yellow; audiophiles might be divided) hued illuminated background, and I am happy. McIntosh this is not, and that’s a good thing. The blue meters of the venerated company are ubiquitous but, like Harley Davidson, are getting long in the tooth. […]

Introduction I recently sent my EMM Labs PRE back to the factory for an update, which involved a complete rebuild to match current specifications.  Quite honestly, I really was at a loss to know what to expect.  Amadeus, Ed Meitner’s son and production head, rightly recommended the upgrade.  If you have seen my recent review […]

  The Colibri’s chirp Few people have more interest in the name of this speaker than me. I am a Christian, a Creationist and Intelligent Design proponent, and have written extensively on novel features in nature that are extremely improbable for a material process to make. The Colibri, a type of hummingbird, is a marvelous […]

This will be a short show report, as it consists of one room and one image. I have not written show reports for a few years now. I found that they did not appreciably affect my success in procurement of equipment for review. Further, after several years, they tend to blend – I’m only being […]

A unique recording of the Beethoven Violin Concerto was made on August 8, 2020, during a live performance at the Musikverein in Vienna. Recorded in 24-bit 96K Hz resolution, the concerto was played by the period instrument ensemble Orchester Wiener Akademie, founded in 1985 by conductor Martin Haselbock. Soloist Benjamain Schmid, in an unconventional move, […]

In 2022, Fred Crowder and I travelled to California to hear a cost-no-object system, from which came Fred’s article, “One Man’s Dream”.  It was a celebration of one man’s journey through audiophilia toward an incandescent experience of recorded music. Fred’s own journey was similar, even if not involving quite the same cash outlay, and the […]

  Read the 2015 Pass Laboratoriess XA200.8 Review The first quarter of 2025 has proven to be most interesting thus far. Class D amplification has finally come of age with the release of a $2,499 analog class D monoblock amplifier, the Orchard Audio Starkrimson Mono Ultra Premium, which I reviewed last month. There are uber […]

  The first part of this review was sweeping in its perspective and discussed the larger topic of the efficacy of using a pair of integrated amps, specifically ones with DAC/pre/D topology. This segment will explore tuning that system configuration with the associated cables, especially HDMI cables used for transmission of the I2S signal favored […]

  The New Jersey-based Orchard Audio has a compact class D monoblock amplifier that outputs 500 watts continuous and 1,000 watts peak into 4 ohms, costs $2,499 each, and it is an analog switching amplifier. The Starkrimson Mono Ultra Premium monoblock, the subject of this review, employs the latest Gallium Nitride field-effect transistors (GaNFET), with […]

A pair of the nine feet tall Sound Lab Majestic 945PX electrostatic panel speaker system costs $60,000, and it is the flagship model in the Majestic series. The ”945” nomenclature denotes the panel being nine feet high in a 45-degrees curving radiating surface. It is essentially a large canvas of mylar diaphragm stretched inside a […]

  A little more than six years ago, I reviewed and subsequently adopted the Pierre Lurne record clamp as my reference after a rather exhaustive search for a clamp/weight that would enhance the sonics of my Rockport Sirius turntable.  Initially, I would have said, if asked, that given that the Rockport has a well-designed vacuum […]

If you are anything like me, the acquisition of McIntosh and Sonus Faber by Bose Corporation was a shock. As a long-time audiophile and devout believer in maintaining the quality and standards of the Audio Specialty industry, this move was tantamount to seeing a cherished artisanal craft risk being absorbed into the world of mass […]

  Read: Part 2. The PS Audio Stellar Strata Mk2 Integrated Amplifier is one of the most important components I have handled, but not for the reason you may think. In the process of reviewing this and one other integrated amplifier, I have reached what many would consider controversial conclusions regarding two channel audiophile system […]

Publisher’s note: Heaven 11 has notified us that the MK2 has been discontinued at the time of press, making way for the launch of the MK3 in February, 2025. Follow-up Review forthcoming. Here comes this curious integrated amp that I spied at AXPONA 2023 as it was playing through a pair of PAP Trio10 Heil […]