It’s Thursday and the first week of November. Hardly the time of year one would expect a Consumer Electronics Show, yet last month in Texas CEDIA1 (Custom Installation Design and Installation Association) held the CEDIA EXPO, which is one of the big shows for the Custom Installation section of the Audio Industry. The CEDIA Expo […]

This last year was one that had three significant surprises from the products that passed through my listening room. The biggest surprise of the year was that there was any amplifier that would make me willing to part with my beloved Wavac EC300B, much less a transistor amp. The next biggest surprise came the way […]

Let’s be honest, most Christmas music isn’t very interesting musically. This Christmas, I took my seven-year-old granddaughter to see the full Nutcracker Ballet, not the kiddie version where someone narrates the story. About twenty minutes into the performance, she whispers to me, “Papa are there no words?” The good news is, even with no words; […]

It’s kind of tough to begin the review of a wire line up as expensive as the MIT Cables Oracle V1.5 HR. I can be clever and try to slip the tally by you, but I’m afraid there is no way around the $51,999 price for the speaker wire, 2 pairs- $13,999 1.5 meter interconnects […]

Over the last 15 years my system has been on an ever-upward trajectory of both performance and unfortunately, price. Needless to say, $50k here, $50k, and we’re talking real money. Along with these expenditures has come a pretty refined level of performance, to the point where I have lost the upgrade bug and have spent […]

Read A Pass Labs Experience, Part 1, also 10th Anniversary Review (2025) For the past five years I have used the Pass Labs XA100.5 monoblocks on various loudspeaker systems, and have come to rely on their beautiful, refined tonalities and their ability to exert dominance over all loudspeakers I put to them. Confidence in its […]

In late September of 2015, I visited Nelson Pass at his Sea Ranch residence and he was busy designing new prototypes. Nelson is exploring new directions in circuit topologies continuously, for both Pass Labs and his hobbyist company, First Watt, which he founded in 1998. When asked First Watt’s purpose of being, Nelson answered that […]

Audion is a name in Audio that many people have heard of, though most haven’t heard their amps. The company was established in 1987 by David Chessell and Erik Anderson. The concept for Audion in those early days was to allow people to get an insight into audiophile high end without sacrificing their home or […]

Santa came early this year After wrapping up my review of the PrimaLuna DiaLogue Premium HP power amplifier and my subsequent purchase of the loaner, I emailed importer Kevin Deal to discuss the merits of using the KT150 output tube in PrimaLuna amplifiers. While I like the KT120 mentioned in the review, I feel there […]

Do you find yourself absolutely in love with the midrange purity and three-dimensional soundstage that are the hallmark of low power, single-ended triode designs, but wishing for more power or more extension at the frequency extremes or even a lower noise floor? If so, then you may want to consider Ed Meitner’s newest creation, the […]

Flat conductor audio cables have a certain mystique, and for that reason in 2007 I reviewed Magnan Cables, which I found to be quite pleasant. The awkward but smooth sounding cables were winsome by their ability to tame gear having less than state-of-the-art sound quality. Now in 2015, I find myself once again working with […]

I reviewed the Audience ClairAudient 1+1 loudspeakers, now called V1, in June this year. Just after I returned the speakers, John McDonald of Audience called and said there were two updated version of the Audience ClairAudient 1+1, namely the V2 and V2+. I have heard both and each is a major improvement over the originals […]

Gershwin Rhapsody In Blue & An American In Paris, 200g Limited Edition Vinyl 33 1/3rpm Pressed at Quality Record Pressings Plated by Gary Salstrom Mastered by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound Earl Wild, piano on “Rhapsody In Blue” Boston Pops Orchestra on “An American In Paris” Arthur Fiedler, conductor on “An American In Paris”   […]

Exo-galaxy When I first heard the name “Exogal,” I associated it with the host of Marvel Comic superheroes being made into movies. It seems the list of characters that haven’t been immortalized in film is growing thin, as evidenced by the recent addition of Ant Man. Exogal conjured in my mind some waif in an […]

The absolute best for the best price isn’t something we talk about much in the audio world. We talk a lot about the best real world priced or bargain priced equipment. I don’t see much written about how to get the very cutting edge state-of-the-art for the best price. So, I would like to share […]

Audio Reference Technology (A.R.T.) was founded by Luigi Basagni in 1983 in Firenze, Italy. According to Basagni, realizing that there were myriad external factors that interfere with the transmission of audio signals, their main purpose was to pursue a way to get “the real sound” from audio systems. A.R.T. is not a big company, with […]

Finally, after two very frustrating years of poor planning and an airport stranding courtesy of Jet Blue Airlines, I actually made it back to the California Audio Show.   ASC First and foremost, I would like to begin my report by saying that many rooms sounded really fantastic. One really good reason for this high […]

    Laurence Borden interviews Paul Kaplan of Waveform Fidelity Cables (formerly Kaplan Cables) Laurence Borden: Paul, welcome to Dagogo. Please begin by telling us about your background. Paul Kaplan: My formal education was in mathematics and physics. Over a career spanning 40 years, I have applied quantitative techniques in a variety of settings and […]

Esoteric K-01X-The Silver Disc lives on! How we consume recorded music has been evolving steadily over the last 40 years. From analog records and tapes to the CD and now coming into its own, wireless streaming, from which I have found great success in the form of the Krell Connect streamer. While it is true […]

Earlier this year I was approached by the North American distributor of Harmonix, Wynn Wong of Wynn Audio, to review the Reimyo KAP-777 Stereo Power amplifier and CAT-777 Mk-II Vacuum Tube Control Amplifier. Reimyo is the name given the audiophile stereo electronics line created by the Japanese firm Combak of Harmonix fame. That fact alone […]

The Don Ewell Quartet Yellow Dog Blues and Other Favorites 200g LP Side A: 1. Michigan Water Blues 2. Atlanta Blues 3. Tishomingo Blues 4. Georgia Bo Bo Side B: 1. New Orleans Hop Scop Blues 2. Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gave To Me 3. Ole Miss 4.  Yellow Dog Blues   Musicians: Don Ewell, […]

The third floor had the most interesting stuff on it, maybe not the best, but the most interesting. Like last year, the most fun room was the Burwell and Son’s room. This year, they shared the big corner room on the third floor with Bottlehead and Tape Project. The source was The Tape Project’s Otari […]

Morning greeted me with a sunny warm morning in Sonoma County. As I got ready for my day at the Westin Hotel by SFO (that is San Francisco Airport for those who don’t know), I look forward to a day of complete immersion into audiophile bliss. But first an hour and a half of San […]

Let’s face it; there are a lot of things in life that don’t seem fair. Certain advantages are to be gained by those with the means to obtain the finer things in life. Some rail against the few who have access to the finer things. The phrase “one percent,” has become ubiquitous with advantage, but […]

The rooms of the first floor and one on the second floor fall into this category. They are much bigger than any room you would find in a normal house. Then, there were five other rooms on the second floor and two on the third that would be considered large rooms in an average American […]

This was the sixth California Audio Show and during that time the world of Audio Shows has changed. To begin with, there are a lot more of them, and the California Audio Show have become more of a local manufacturers and dealers show. I know that attendees would like more rooms of equipment, and vendors […]

Introduction Reviews sometimes assume a life of their own. This review or at least the idea for this review began when a friend (Sherri) brought a number of Nordost QKOIL models (QV2/QK1) to my home one afternoon so that I could hear them in my system. I had previously visited her home for a demonstration […]

For the past three years in my reference system, I’ve been using the AMG Viella V12 turntable and their wonderful AMG 12J2 tonearm. This table and arm combo along with the HRS platform sells for a little over $17,000 and is still the best bargain in truly high-end turntables. I have had turntables in my […]

Publisher’s note: This Review was published in January, 2012 originally. The Moon is a cold, sterile place. Well, at least the side facing away from the sun is cold; the side facing the sun bakes in approximately 107 degree Celsius sunlight. Have you heard about the new restaurant on the Moon? The food is out […]

Design and Description After reviewing the Margules U280-SC 25th Anniversary Stereo Tube Amplifier in my reference system, I added their preamp to it. For some history and info on the company itself, please read the amp review. The SF220.15 preamplifier is designed so that its output is a very low impedance, designed to drive any […]