The Anti-separate When I was growing up, my parents had a fancy Telefunken console audio system. It was an all-in-one system: speakers, AM and FM tuners, preamp, turntable and amp. My very first stereo was similarly an all-in-one unit. However, as I began to progress down the path of the audiophile, or should I say […]

This is the tale of a failed early stereo album that would have been the premier recording by a legendary San Francisco revival jazz group, Bob Mielke and The Bearcats Jazz Band, although it never issued a record. Recent recovery of the original master tape makes possible presentation of the extraordinary two-microphone “mid-side” stereo artifact […]

Eficion Another room that I quite enjoyed was Room 5205 using Eficion F250 speakers ($9,950), Plinius SA103 power amps ($10,150), Exemplar Audio eXception SE preamp ($5495), Oppo UPD-205 4k Audiophile disc player ($1,299) and Line Magnetic LM-502CA DAC ($1,800). I happen to own this DAC which sadly will soon be discontinued. This system had a […]

This commentary is a review of remarkable new technology from Jack Bybee. But it’s also a sketch of his intriguing concepts and the rarely profiled man behind them. I first met Bybee more than twenty years ago, adopting his AC filtering in the mid-1990s. I’ve followed his work with keen interest ever since, acquiring several […]

At some point after my Audio Note M10 review is written, a reviewer has to make the decision whether to purchase the review sample or return it to the manufacturer. For me, this is generally a fairly straightforward process as, other than with respect to digital pieces, I seldom make changes to my system. In […]

Spatial Audio/Vinnie Rossi Continuing with coverage of rooms with speakers under $10,000 that I feel offer good sound for the money, here is the Spatial Audio/Vinni Rossi room. This system generated a nice sweet sound with no bass issues. Unfortunately, they did not have a CD player which left me without the ability to play […]

Veritable books have been written about the Magnepan speaker company and its Magneplanar speakers. I’m not going to reiterate that history here. Instead, I will relate my particular experiences using the latest iteration of the sophomore model, the .7. The Magnepan .7 Quasi Ribbon planar speaker retains the tidy appearance of a field of speaker […]

This review is my subjective impression as a delighted new owner of an evolving audio classic, the Legacy Focus SE ($10,600/pr). A large floor standing loudspeaker, the Focus SE has won numerous awards and been widely reviewed positively, including in Dagogo, 2008. The Focus SE, like its better-known sibling Aeris, is compatible with Legacy’s Wavelet […]

Average Crazy Joe Audiophile attends CAS7 After a year of hiatus, the California Audio Show (CAS) returned to the Bay Area for its 7th iteration. The venue moved from hotels across the bay near San Francisco Airport (SFO) to the Hilton Oakland Airport, literally across the street from the Oakland airport (OAK). I’ve attended many […]

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 […]