Co-author: Earl Weed The EMM Labs XDS1 SACD Player has now been in continuous production for ten years.  It created a stir when released and has received many favorable reviews, including one from me. Unfortunately, technology never stands still and at some point, the XDS1 began to show its age. About two years ago, the […]

Trenner & Friedl was started by two friends, Andreas Friedl and Peter Trenner, in the mid-1990s in Graz, Austria. If you spend some time reading about them on the Internet, you will discover that their goal is a little different from most high-end companies. In a review on TNT-Audio, Andreas Friedl says, “One of our […]

Tannoy/Steven Lester Co. In part 2, I will be covering some of the best budget rooms and components. Budget is relative of course, so these are rooms where the loudspeakers were priced at under $10,000. All of these speakers and systems sounded very good and it is sometimes difficult to separate one as being a […]

I’d like to start by saying that the overall sound of this edition of the California Audio Show has been the best yet and that several attendees mentioned to me that they felt it was the best sounding show across the board that they have heard. Perhaps being an airport hotel the construction to reduce […]

Von Schweikert Audio/Valve Amplification Company – California Room, Bldg IV. Best sound of the show in my opinion was the Von Schweikert Audio statement loudspeaker in a large ballroom shared with VAC. The massive Ultra 11 ($300,000/pair) cast a huge and convincing image all the way to the rear wall nearly twenty feet back.  vonschweikert.com  […]

Design History This is the fourth product I have reviewed from Margules. The quality and value of these products make me continue to question why they are not better known in the overall audiophile world. Julian Margules of Margules Group has been an audio manufacturer for over 40 years and is well known in Mexico […]

Publisher’s note: This is a part of a series of pre-CAS7 articles we have prepared for our readers. Enjoy! Questionnaire created by Dan Rubin, copy editor. Respondent: Leif Swanson of Von Schweikert Audio.   What’s the “elevator pitch” description of your company? With a history spanning more than 40 years, Von Schweikert Audio is a […]

In the last installment, I opined on the perceived general demise of the audio arts, recorded music, high end audio, the world as we know it, life, the universe and everything by my brethren and fellow audiophile…. all, so it is said, “Soon to be extinct.” You may also recall me commenting that as they […]

Read KingKo Audio KA-101 integrated amplifier Review.   Richard Austen (RA): Please tell the readers about your background in technology and audio? King Ip (King): I began working as an R&D engineer, designing circuits and repairing and maintaining machines for Carlsberg (Carlsberg is now only an office) for seven years. I also worked as a […]

Also read: Interview with founder King Ip. “I think music in itself is healing. It’s an explosive expression of humanity. It’s something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we’re from, everyone loves music.” – Billy Joel. The audiophile industry has seen prices rising dramatically over the last few decades and many individuals […]

Publisher’s note: This is a part of a series of pre-CAS7 articles we have prepared for our readers. Enjoy! Questionnaire created by Dan Rubin, copy editor. Respondent: Carolyn Counnas, Zesto Audio.   What’s the “elevator pitch” description of your company? Zesto Audio is a “Made in California” manufacturer of fine analog electronics specializing in modern […]

Publisher’s note: This is a part of a series of pre-CAS7 articles we have prepared for our readers. Enjoy! Questionnaire created by Dan Rubin, copy editor. Respondent: Mike and Neli Davis, Audio Federation. (Boardroom V)   What’s the “elevator pitch” description of your company? We are internationally known wife-and-husband audiophiles and a high-end audio dealership, […]

Publisher’s note: This is a part of a series of pre-CAS7 articles we have prepared for our readers. Enjoy! Questionnaire created by Dan Rubin, copy editor. Respondent: Alan Fong, Syncopation. (Boardroom I)   What’s the “elevator pitch” description of your company? The products I choose for my company have to move me emotionally.  Voice and […]

I took up my position on the elliptical machine at the health club in the front row, the one that catches the morning sunlight. For twenty years I ran outdoors year-round and always enjoyed heading into the first rays of the day. Especially on cold winter days the sun’s warmth on the face was welcome. […]

Read Part 1 Average Crazy Joe Audiophile’s take on Magico Q5 Time flies. I’ve been around this hobby for over 26 years. I still remember the first time I read a little digest magazine filled with brand names that I did not recognize around 1991. That was a very different time. Internet was getting invented […]

I consider myself an average joe living in the Silicon Valley under the shadows of high income techies. I studied Architecture in college, and decided to move home after graduating because I realized I would not survive on my own living in New York City with my meager entry level salary working in an architecture […]

History, Theory and Design KEF (Kent Engineering & Foundry) is synonymic with cutting edge loudspeaker development. For more than fifty years the company has been producing loudspeakers. According to Dipin Sehdev, KEF American Brand Relations, “KEF has been making some of the most iconic speakers of their time. We have been consistently raising the bar […]

True and consistent with his minimalist design philosophy of “Only the simplest can accommodate the most complex,” Junji Kimura of 47 Labs develops his products to have the highest performance possible with the fewest parts; and he does it in such a perfectionist stance that it’s often accomplished at the detriment of user conveniences. For […]

Arrival and Set-up No matter how hard you try, receiving new gear is always problematic, particularly interfacing with the shipper. Some months ago, I contacted Audio Note (U.K.) about the possibility of getting an Audio Note M10 Signature for review. Later, I received an email from Audio Note (U.K.) that they had completed a review […]

If you spend any amount of time in on-line audio forums, you’ll quickly realize that there are some things you just don’t talk about. One of them is the use of cables in high-performance playback systems. Sure, they’re necessary; however, opinions on how or even if different cables can differ in sound quality are all […]

A view from the retail mainstream Streaming is quickly becoming the next big thing in audio these days. My intent in writing this article is to give a brief description of each of the major players in today’s market. There are three approaches to streaming. The first is from those companies whose products are compatible […]

The following is a tale of my dad’s remarkable home brew hi-fi project and a unique audio artifact. It’s also homage to a father who was a tinkerer and audio pioneer who implanted in my siblings and me a deep regard for music and lived a do-it-yourself life. Hi-fi in the Fifties My Dad was a […]

  OPPO Digital of Menlo Park, California continues to amaze me with the build quality and sound performance of their products, for ridiculously inexpensive prices. From their very first DVD players, their products have been overachievers and they’ve caught everyone off guard with how good the audio sections of the players sound. Want to know […]

Sitting on the plane coming home from a great audio weekend in Chicago, namely Axpona 2017… and with too much to digest at the moment, so I digress! Earlier this year another CES come and gone. CTA (nee CEA) promoted the 2017 Las Vegas show as the most expansive ever, boasting 2.5 million square feet […]

Publisher’s note: This is a part of a series of pre-CAS7 articles we have prepared for our readers. Enjoy! Questionnaire created by Dan Rubin, copy editor. Respondent: Jeff Haagenstad, EXOGAL.   What’s the “elevator pitch” description of your company? EXOGAL was created to bring audiophile products to customers in totally new demographic groups. These are […]

Publisher’s note: This is a part of a series of pre-CAS7 articles we have prepared for our readers. Enjoy! Questionnaire created by Dan Rubin, copy editor. Respondent: Gary Leonard Koh, Genesis Advanced Technologies.   What’s the “elevator pitch” description of your company? Genesis makes high-end luxury equipment for music-loving families.   What makes your company […]

Jeff Wells used to own a retail shop named Audible Arts in Campbell, CA, about fifty miles southeast of San Francisco. As brick-and-mortar audio stores withered in the onslaught of online commerce, Jeff capitalized on his retail experience and formed Wells Audio, a manufacturer of amplifiers. (See the 2015 Dagogo interview with Jeff.) After developing […]

Emotion in a Silver Jewel Box Many months ago I was asked about reviewing the Esoteric Grandioso C1 preamp and M1 monoblocks. I had just started to remodel my home, including the listening room, so the review had to wait. I was about 3 weeks away from being done with the project when Scott Sefton […]

  (Publisher’s note: This was a CAS7 article originally.)  Respondent: Brian Zolner, Bricasti Design, Room 5203.   What’s the “elevator pitch” description of your company? We make some of the finest modern audio products, all made in the USA at our own manufacturing facilities near Boston, even own and run 4 CNC machines to do […]

The memories of many past audio shows still ever so faintly echoing, “AXPONA” and the Dagogo presented “CA Audio Show” looming, this seems the perfect time for thoughtful reflection on who we are, what we’ve come from and were we might be heading and where we might alternately choose to be going, together! And at […]