I was pleased again to cover the California Audio Show for 2019. The last time I covered the show was 2017 and due to scheduling issues I missed the first day of the show and thus was unable to spend much time in each room. This year I had the opportunity to cover each room. […]

The 2019 California Audio Show, “CAS9” as it unfolded, as it was and is destined to be in its past, present and future incarnations. CAS shall always be an intimate affair, not by design, not as artifice, but by its very core principles. It truly is a family affair. All one need do is look […]

Zesto Audio shines again in every category.  The sinuous beauty of their industrial design consistently blends yin and yang with dazzling élan. Through Joseph Audio speakers with Tchaikovsky playing from vinyl, Zesto’s glorious electronics display exemplary dynamics.  The overall sound is engaging and enveloping with reliable placement cues and strong ambience retrieval.   Tiny size […]

It had been several years since I attended the California Audio Show, as a particular Midwest show has grown quite large and I can attend without having to fly and stay in a hotel. However, Constantine Soo, Publisher of Dagogo.com and the producer of the CAS, was keen on having many of his reviewers present […]

California Audio Show 2019 Oakland Hilton Airport July 26th through July 28th, 2019 Produced by Dagogo California Audio Show 2019 took place at the Hilton Oakland Airport July 26th through July 28th, 2019 and judging by the packed rooms and hallways it was an astounding success.  I have enjoyed attending many California Audio Shows as […]

I was honored by Constantine Soo, Publisher of Dagogo.com, to jointly moderate with him a Q&A seminar with Dr. Roger West of Sound Lab, which has produced distinctive electrostatic speakers since 1978. It was an honor, since the speakers are legendary, and I had the pleasure of reviewing for Dagogo the Ulitmate 545 last year. […]

IN MEMORIAM JEREMY KIPNIS 1965 – 2019 The audio industry mourns the passing of Jeremy Kipnis, member of the press for EnjoyTheMusic.com, The High Fidelity Report, Positive Feedback, Theo’s Roundtable and Widescreen Review. Jeremy was also the record producer at Epiphany Recordings Ltd. and CEO at Kipnis Studio Standard. Jeremy is survived by his wife, […]

From Constantine’s Desk (Official Directory edition) Dear Attendees and Exhibitors of CAS9, Welcome to the ninth annual California Audio Show! Music is a conduit to the inner beauty of us all. Through music, we connect beyond religions, politics and social divides. Through music, we are all elevated to the apex in human spirituality. Indeed, music […]

Respondent: John-Paul Lizars, Aurender America, Boardroom 2, Boardroom 1, Room 5109, 2019 California Audio Show.   What’s the “elevator speech” description of your company? Aurender builds music servers of uncompromised sound quality with a superior user experience. By developing both the control application and the hardware, Aurender delivers exceptional stability, reliability and predictability of operation. […]

Respondent: Phil Marchand, Marchand Electronics, Room 5218, 2019 California Audio Show. What’s the “elevator speech” description of your company? Marchand Electronics is Phil’s hobby that got out of hand. His main interest is designing analog electronics for audio.   What makes your company and products special – how do they stand out from the pack? […]

Readers who own the Exogal Comet have some very good options recently. I have written previously of the sensitivity of the Comet DAC and the Ion PowerDAC to power cords. Earlier today I swapped power cords on both units for an effective sea change in sound quality associated with running the Legacy Audio Whisper DSW […]

Margules Audio While vacationing in Mexico City with my wife Martha, I had the opportunity to visit Margules Audio, one of the premier manufacturers of fine audio equipment. This is a family owned business run by a tight knit family.Julian Margules is the president and chief audio designer while his wife Laura is the business […]

In this award-winning production, the life, music and career of early Jazz piano player James P. Johnson are explored with musical examples and audio clips from the radio series, Jazz Rhythm. Actor Peter Coyote reads from Johnson’s recollections and Mark Borowsky expertly traces his career, sharing insights gleaned from a lifetime studying this overlooked American […]

About this time last year, I received what EMM Labs referred to as the Reference PRE. The only identification that appears on the preamp are the letters PRE, which I find a bit confusing, given that the earlier design was called the PRE2. While I really did not expect drastic improvements from the PRE over […]

  Location recordings, live broadcasts and transcriptions of Duke Ellington and his Famous Orchestra 1940-63 reveal performances distinctively different from their studio sound.  This column presents music from dances, live shows and the legendary 1940 Fargo, North Dakota concert.  Freshly restored broadcast tapes from Duke’s Birthday Sessions recorded in Portland 1953-54 are also heard.   Heat […]

Long weekends…really long weekends. It comes as no surprise. Their hype and advance marketing make their impending … a foregone conclusion. For the attendee it is a chance to get away, embrace the hobby, and marvel/revel in all that is on offer for 3 days. For the industry: manufacturers, distributors, dealers and members of the […]

Publisher’s note: Every product comes with an Owner’s Manual to familiarize the customer with its operations. These documents are often written in a dry style and to the point. But once in a while, we come across vast sections in Manual that reads like a smooth presentation of ideas and juicy description of brilliant technologies, […]

Also read Doug’s Exogal Comet DAC Review (2015) and Exogal Ion PowerDAC Review (2016) When my Dutch friend and ski instructor, Marty, taught me downhill skiing I was quite intense and asked him to take me to successively more challenging slopes. Starting at age 27, in three brief seasons I went from novice to skiing […]

Debuting its UIA-2 Platinum loudspeaker system at the 2018 California Audio Show, Unisinger is registered in California while its speakers are engineered and made in Dalian, a port city in northeastern China. Dr. Rong Zhang, Unisinger CEO in charge of operations and direction of the company, is a Stanford Ph.D. in Chemical Physics (1990), and […]

Publisher’s note: Bolden opens on May 3rd in select theaters. This column marks the release of the motion picture Bolden, directed by Daniel Pritzker with music by Wynton Marsalis.  Like them, I’ve gone in search of the true story of the first known jazz man and his legend.   The First Jazz Celebrity Buddy Bolden […]

Publisher’s note: Announcing a new Series, “Reign of the Mini-Monitors.” Loudspeaker systems pressurize the space between the speakers themselves and the listener. Placing large, multi-driver speakers in a small room curtails the system’s potential, while forcing a pair of small speakers to play in a large room exposes their limitations. Using the right size of […]

Respondent: Rick Craig, Selah Audio, Room 5108, 2019 California Audio Show. What’s the “elevator pitch” description of your company? We design and manufacture speaker kits and assembled systems for home audio and theater. What makes your company and products special – how do they stand out from the pack? Selah Audio speakers are custom built […]

Also read The Real Billie Holiday, Part One – 1930s Also read The Real Billie Holiday, Part Two – 1940s This profile of Billie Holiday is presented in three chapters covering the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s respectively.  She’s quoted from interviews and her famed autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues.  Representative recordings, podcast clips and readings […]

Also see Part 1  

Also see Part 2  

It was bound to happen. Eventually I would be my own man and stop being a slave to my preconceptions and long held beliefs. Stubbornness can only go so far until it’s simply no longer viable, no longer enviable, and no longer attractive. What was I thinking? For too long I held that the inclusion […]

REALITY ‘I am not a Starfleet commander, or T.J. Hooker. I don’t live on Starship NCC-1701, or own a phaser. And I don’t know anybody named Bones, Sulu, or Spock.’ – William Shatner After a certain number of encounters with rabid fans blurring the line between reality and fantasy, it becomes necessary to set the […]

At the eighth annual (2018) California Audio Show, Benjamin Zwickel, founder of Mojo Audio, enjoyed discussing the technologies he incorporated into his products at his ‘quiet room’ booth in the HeadMasters Auditioning Room. The level of energy he imparted was palpable and infectious. For attendees who crave details and industry insider insights, Ben was the […]

Also read The Real Billie Holiday, Part One – 1930s and Part Three – 1950s This profile of Billie Holiday is presented in three chapters covering the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s respectively.  She’s quoted from interviews and her famed autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues.  Representative recordings, podcast clips and interviews add detail and perspective to […]

2018 was a year where, between my law firm, my ailing parents and my not-for-profit activities, I was working 75-hour weeks and I had little time to write reviews. However, I never stopped checking out new components to try and further improve my system. I’ve recently started a phased retirement, and am finally able to […]