Imagine if you will a record cleaning panel gone wrong. It slipped its gears and from most if not all accounts went off the reservation. This is what was relayed to me by a number of sources about such a panel at RMAF 2019, so much so that certain members of the panel and others […]

NARP, the New Album Releases Project, got its start at NAR, New Album Releases, and back then – January 17,  2018, I had no idea that it would evolve into a project and be still going strong just about two years later. A proper backgrounder can be read here: https://www.dagogo.com/what-is-nar/ In light of NARP’s longevity […]

Allo’s USBridge Signature, introduced about this time last year, supersedes the original USBridge. I was keen to evaluate this new unit as I was so impressed with the original, and up until this new product was announced the original design was my go-to recommendation for those looking for such a solution. The earlier USBridge was […]

NARP, the New Album Releases Project, got its start at NAR, New Album Releases, and back then – January 17,  2018, I had no idea that it would evolve into a project and be still going strong just about two years later. A proper backgrounder can be read here: https://www.dagogo.com/what-is-nar/ In light of NARP’s longevity […]

Also read Benny Goodman’s Kingdom of Swing, Part 1 of 2 Combos, Maturity and Legacy In the late 1930s the innovative Swing combos of Benny Goodman http://www.jazzhotbigstep.com/45801.html (1909-1986) shaped a new small-band Jazz format.  His trios, quartets and sextets introduced sophisticated combo jazz to a broad popular audience.  Goodman did for clarinet what Louis Armstrong […]

I met up with Dave Cope of Old Forge Marketing and Old Forge Studio at the California Audio Show (CAS) in July 2019.  Dave is the US importer for Pure Audio, a line of audio equipment amplification from New Zealand. After listening in the room Dave had set it up it was very clear to […]

NARP, the New Album Releases Project, got its start at NAR, New Album Releases, and back then – January 17,  2018, I had no idea that it would evolve into a project and be still going strong just about two years later. A proper backgrounder can be read here: https://www.dagogo.com/what-is-nar/ In light of NARP’s longevity […]

NARP, the New Album Releases Project, got its start at NAR, New Album Releases, and back then – January 17,  2018, I had no idea that it would evolve into a project and be still going strong just about two years later. A proper backgrounder can be read here: https://www.dagogo.com/what-is-nar/ In light of NARP’s longevity […]

[Publisher’s note: This article is presented by Dagogo Senior Reviewer David Blumenstein.] Always Learning Having been a self-taught mastering engineer for the last 22 years (among other things), I’ve had the chance to learn some simple things independently which are not necessarily the same as what you would receive with formal training. Much of this […]

For the past three years, my favorite phono cartridge has been the Hana EH, which I have listened to  almost every day for hours. The Hana is a high-output moving coil cartridge, so, unlike moving magnet cartridges, the stylus is not user replaceable after it wears out. Since I don’t have a high powered microscope […]

You’ve just bought a new sound system or maybe you’re just moving the one you have. You’ve brought it home and now you can’t wait to get it set up and ready to play. Here are a few tips to help you get the most out of your stereo system. Where you put your components […]

NARP, the New Album Releases Project, got its start at NAR, New Album Releases, and back then – January 17,  2018, I had no idea that it would evolve into a project and be still going strong just about two years later. A proper backgrounder can be read here: https://www.dagogo.com/what-is-nar/ In light of NARP’s longevity […]

[Publisher’s note: This article is presented by Dagogo Senior Reviewer David Blumenstein.] Why do a lot of us audiophiles (and casual listener types) prefer the sound of records more than the same music released digitally? It’s something about the inferiority of digital right? Vinyl can be noisier, has side length limitations, inner groove distortion, but […]

There are several gushing reviews of the original Kinki Studio EX-M1, the precursor of the component on review. The EX-M1+ adds a few twists in terms of functionality, and that is what I will explore here. It can be dangerous to make a presumption in regards to a follow up product when the introductory model […]

NARP, the New Album Releases Project, got its start at NAR, New Album Releases, and back then – January 17, 2018, I had no idea that it would evolve into a project and be still going strong just about two years later. A proper backgrounder can be read here: https://www.dagogo.com/what-is-nar/ In light of NARP’s longevity […]

Advertisement NARP, the New Album Releases Project, got its start at NAR, New Album Releases, and back then – January 17,  2018, I had no idea that it would evolve into a project and be still going strong just about two years later. A proper backgrounder can be read here: https://www.dagogo.com/what-is-nar/ In light of NARP’s […]

[Publisher’s note: This article is presented by Dagogo Senior Reviewer David Blumenstein.]   Jerry Seinfeld, on his show, once said that “Florida was the place old people go to die”. While there are parts of Florida that have a big retirement population, lower Southwest Florida has a younger, more family-oriented demographic. I moved to the […]

This is an article I’ve been wanting to write for some time. I’ve spent the past 51 years working as an audio professional and have witnessed or been directly involved in a great deal of loudspeaker innovation and engineering during that time. I hope you will find this article instructional and entertaining. What is a […]

Advertisement What kind of speaker will you choose if you could afford anything and you had a dedicated listening room with a twenty feet ceiling? What kind of music would you play in the system you choose and in such vast venue? Not many of us have the privilege of tackling such tacky issues, so […]

Kenny Dorham, A Texan trumpeter born in 1924, was arguably one of the most underrated trumpet players of the bop Jazz era.  An amazing band leader and natural talent, he was also one of the busiest side men of his time.  He recorded with Monk, Rollins, Blakey, Hank Mobley, Oliver Nelson, Max Roach and host […]

Early Years and Becoming King of Swing Benny Goodman and his Orchestra were the most popular dance band of the Swing era.  His music became a definitive statement of American popular culture in the 20th Century.  This article and audio clips are based on the award-winning four-part Jazz Rhythm radio program, Benny Goodman’s Kingdom of […]

MartinLogan, founded by Gayle Martin Sanders and Ron Logan Sutherland in the 1980s, made its mark with electrostatic speakers. I remember listening to their Aerius speakers for the first time in 1992 and being very impressed. The Motion 60XTi floorstanding speaker, the subject of this review, is the flagship of the MartinLogan Motion series. The […]

List of Opamp articles by Doug Schroeder (reverse chronological): Eastern Electric MiniMax tube  DAC Supreme: Discrete opamps Survey (June, 2015) Audio Blast: Eastern Electric Minimax DAC Plus – discrete opamp rolling (April, 2012) Audio Blast: Eastern Electric Minimax DAC Opamp Rolling (March, 2011) Audio Blast: Eastern Electric Minimax DAC – Upgrading Op-Amps (January, 2011) It […]

[Publisher’s note: Dagogo is excited to present Dave McNair’s following new article to its readership. Thank you, Dave! This article is presented by Dagogo Senior Reviewer David Blumenstein.] About the author: Dave has been a professional recording engineer, mixer, producer, audiophile and for the last 20 years, a mastering engineer. Since his earliest days, music […]

[Publisher’s note: Dagogo is excited to present Steve Turnidge’s following new article to its readership. Thank you, Steve! This article is presented by Dagogo Senior Reviewer David Blumenstein.] About the author: Steve Turnidge is a noted mastering engineer at UltraViolet Studios with hundreds of albums and thousands of music tracks to his credit. With over […]

[This article is co-authored by David Blumenstein] Bit-Perfect Playback…and why you should care David Snyder: By the time you read this, the new Amazon Music HD streaming service, promising “High Definition” audio to the masses, will have been available in the US and several other markets for a month or two. The initial subscription offering […]

The Musings of one David Michael Blumenstein, audiophile, bon-vivant, world-traveler Some of my perspectives on the industry, any one or all of which I can expound upon in person: December 7th, 1941, a day that shall live in infamy, but not the only day that the Japanese hit our shores. July 1st, 1979, Sony introduced […]

When I worked as a Certified Public Accountant, I would return to my office tired and stressed after a long day spent at a client’s office. The best way for me to relax was to listen to my office stereo playing music. I installed a stereo system featuring a pair of Magnepan MMG (Mini Magnepans) […]

Introduction – Audio Note U.K. re-thinks the venerable Western Electric 300B Many of you will be familiar with Audio Note (U.K.) and their plethora of tubed products. While these products, at least for me, represent the pinnacle of what can be achieved through thoughtful design and scrupulous choice of parts for their sonics when cost […]

My first encounter with Paradigm was in 1992, about ten years after the company made its start just outside of Toronto, Canada. I wanted an inexpensive but decent sounding pair of bookshelf speakers for a second system that would go in a bonus room office above the garage. So I did what audiophiles usually did […]