What if I told you the best linestage I have ever heard in my system wasn’t the $28,000 tube preamp I loved for so long or the incredible $38,000 transistor unit that I recently had in the house” If you have to have an active linestage, these two units are the best I have heard. […]

It’s October 13, 2016 and time for Northern California’s answer to CEDIA. For one day the Oakland Airport Hilton is transformed into a custom installation industry show. I wasn’t sure I would be able to attend the CI Expo this year as 45 hours before I got to the show I was at Kaiser, having […]

MPS Catalog No. : 0210991MSW (reissue of MPS 15267) EAN : 4029759109914 180 gram analog re-mastering from the original tapes. Recorded December 9, 1969 at MPS Studios, Villingen Germany. “Without a Song” (Youmans) – 12:50 “Just One of Those Things” (Porter) – 7:14 “Blues for Duane” (Freddie Hubbard) – 7:32 “The Things We Did Last […]

Read the Exogal Comet DAC Review We are entering a new era in digital audio, the era of the PowerDAC. What is a PowerDAC? It is a digital-to-analog converter that doubles as a power amplifier. It could be called an integrated DAC/amplifier, but PowerDAC sounds portentous. Let your mind trickle over the potential of a […]

11/7/2016 Publisher’s note: Alex Sventitsky just informed us that the correct name of the power cord is Platinum HC and the MSRP is $999 per 6 feet. We apologize to our readers for any confusion. Alex and Nina Sventitsky are two of the most charming people I have met in the audio biz. If you […]

Also read Part 1 – Prologue, Part 2 – Strength.   The HD-PLEX linear power supply I am big on upgrading the little power supplies, but not so much the mongo power supplies that are used to feed the entire system. I have found most system wide power supplies to rob as much as deliver […]

See Part 1 – Prologue of this Review   The strength of the StreamPlayer Gen III The owner is introduced to the thoroughness by which the StreamPlayer III was developed through discussion of its development in the Owners Manual. Jim explains the progression from the first to third generation of StreamPlayer, “The first generation of […]

Publisher’s note: There will be three parts to this Review: Part 1 – Prologue (10/8/16), Part 2 – Strength (10/10/16), Part 3 – HD-PLEX (10/12/16).   My father would regularly intone about vehicles, “Never buy a car in its first model year. It takes a year or two to fix all the problems.” I have […]

I have been using the Pass Labs XA30.8 as my reference amp for the last 14 months. When it came in for review, I was shocked at how good it was. After an agonizing audition period, I decided it had dethroned my $30,000 Wavac EC300B with Western Electric 300B tubes. The Wavac had held off […]

Publisher’s note: Holmes returns on the K&K Audio ST70 modification. Read Part 1 and Part 2.   Pound for Pound….. A few years ago, I started writing about the K&K mods to the ST70.  I went over some various steps I take when building/rebuilding anything, tweaks like rubber shock-mounts, and so on. Here is the […]

I have long been a fan of the AN E series of loudspeakers from Audio Note UK. Having owned the Audio Note K/Spe and as current owner of both the J/Spe since 2003 (reviewed here (https://www.dagogo.com/audio-note-jspe-loudspeaker-review) and the AX two loudspeakers (reviewed here: https://www.dagogo.com/audio-note-uk-ax-two-loudspeaker-review), I now sit in front of the Audio Note E/Lx speakers. […]

The Original HD6 Recently reviewed by Dagogo Senior Reviewer Jack Roberts, the $750 Audioengine HD6 combined an internal amplifier and a version of the company’s B1 Bluetooth Premium Receiver, meaning it received Bluetooth audio wirelessly while accepting Toslink digital signal. If one only has an iPhone, just by adding the Audioengine HD6 and you’d have […]

Several months ago, George Vatchnadze of Kyomi Audio brought over a Lumin network music player for me to audition. When he left the Lumin he also inadvertently left a digital cable. George is an enthusiastic promoter of Stealth Audio Cables’ products, and the digital cable he left was the Varidig Sextet. I substituted the Sextet […]

I’ve used a lot of different vibration isolation devices over the years, probably since mid-seventies. That first device was a slab of synthetic marble from the Discwasher company, on which I placed my turntable. In the ensuing years I’ve used spikes, footers, granite, isolation platforms and many more. The one thing I can tell you […]

Features: • Directly recorded to half inch analog tape • Mastered Using K2 Technology! • Mastered by Tohru Kotetsu at JVC Mastering Studio in Japan Musicians: Mariella Devia, soprano Daniele Callegari, director Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana Selections: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791) Exultate, jubilate KV 165 1. Andante 2. Recitativo 3. Andante 4. Molto Allegro […]

I wonder how many audiophiles get caught on the “power escalator,” by which I do not mean the one at the mall, but the one in the listening room. Did you know you have an escalator in your audio room? Sure you do, if you have over time found yourself seeking an ever more powerful […]

Audience cables and I go back a long way. It all started with a series of interactions on Audio Asylum in early 2003 between Bob Neil and myself. I had been auditioning the original Audience Au24 cables and was sure that my Nordost Valhalla cables had put away another challenger, even though a very nice-sounding […]

Update: 8/3/2022 This is not a pure analog production per revelation from the Commentary: The MoFi predicament. -Pub.   It is well known that the 1959 Miles Davis Kind of Blue is the best-selling jazz album of all time and regarded by jazz musicians as the most influential work of the genre. In the 1990s […]

Technical Highlights: Bass/Midrange Driver: 7″ paper cone revelator features a non-resonant cone and dust cap structure, dynamic linear suspension, SD-1 magnet system, “Grasshopper” cast chassis with maximized air flow and resonance terminating mounting system. Less resonance in all structures, lower compression and higher linearity, faster termination of excess energy and higher sound pressure capability. Tweeter: […]

Vanessa Fernandez – “When the Levee Breaks” Numbered Limited Edition 180g 45rpm 3LP Cut by Bernie Grundman LP 1 Side A: 1. Immigrant Song 2. Black DogSide B: 3. Kashmir 4. Trampled Underfoot LP 3 Side E: 9. Babe I’m Gonna Leave You 10. Immigrant Song LP 2 Side C: 5. When the Levee Breaks […]

Introduction EMM Labs introduced a new stand-alone digital to analogue converter at CES, the DA2.  Within days of the introduction, the first production run had been sold out and a second begun.  Now the second run is also spoken for.  As technology advances, there comes a point when the existing hardware platform will no longer […]

Admittedly, I’m a little late to the game when it comes to reviewing the Oppo BDP-105D. It is Oppo ‘s flagship Blu-ray player or maybe it would be more accurately be described as a digital media player. According to Oppo, “The Oppo BDP-105 is designed from the ground up with components optimized for enhanced analog […]

Description I’ve had a pair of Audioengine A2 powered speakers since 2008. They’ve been with me during vacations, they played music off my iMac, and I’ve always loved them. I’ve recommended the company’s bigger A5+ to friends because of how great they always sounded at Audio Shows and how much I love the little A2. […]

Joan Baez – Diamond and Rust in the Bullring Analogue Productions 200g Virgin Vinyl Mastered from the original analog tape by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio Plated and pressed at Quality Record Pressings Tip-on jacket by Stoughton Printing, Deluxe highest quality jackets and rice paper sleeves   Selections: Side One: Diamonds and Rust Ain’t Gonna […]

There were lots of things at the Newport show that were just plain fun! I want to share just a few of them. The first two pictures are from the Burwell & Sons room. As I was wondering around on press day, I saw this sign in the hall and I told my son, “this […]

Tracks: When I’m Sixty-Four 4:01 Strawberry Fields Forever 4:44 Come Together 4:09 Fixing A Hole 4:33 Can’t Buy Me Love 3:48 Bird Medley (Blackbird/Icarus/Bye Bye Blackbird) 5:56 The Fool On The Hill 4:16 If I Fell 4:17 Julia 5:02 Helter Skelter 3:42 She’s Going Home 3:35   The Beatles’ music has taken such a stronghold […]

All over the forums I keep reading that the mega-systems at the show were nothing special. I sometimes wonder what people are expecting from these systems. I know it’s popular on the internet to talk about how overpriced these uber-expensive systems are. That may or may not be the case but to say they don’t […]

I think everyone agrees that one of the hardest things to do in audio is to get really great sound in a normal-sized hotel room. Another very difficult thing to do is to get really great sound without bringing the speaker way out into the room. Then, there is the most difficult thing of all: […]

It is impossible to know from a name, or from how the founder of the company dresses for that matter, what a component will sound like. If one were to go by appearances only, the attire of James Bongiorno or the garish blue hue of his Ampzilla amplifier might be off-putting. James, now departed, was […]