An engaging journey of the mind and heart In high-end audio, less is more when there is less electronic transition and digital processing of a performance during recording and mixing. In the case of this Opus 3 SACD, How Deep Is The Ocean by female jazz vocalist, Yamina, we’re told the original DSD128 file had […]

I own an Oppo BDP-105D. The D stands for Darbee which takes a standard hi-def picture and adds contrast where needed to give the picture a very “alive, you are there” look. The picture is very real and three dimensional-looking with no artifacts or problems. I have yet to find a DVD player at any […]

The WyWires Exogal Umbilical is a $199 upgrade I strongly suggest any owner of the Exogal Comet DAC pursue. The upgraded power supply of the Exogal Comet is outboard necessitating an umbilical to supply power to the DAC. Improvement in the quality of power cable is instrumental in the elevation of performance of the Comet. […]

Today marks the halfway point for the show. I headed back to the Venetian Hotel. My first stop was Rogue Audio. Rogue is a US based tube electronics company that has always built great sounding gear at super competitive prices. But best of all very reliable. They were showing their new RP-1 preamp ($1695) that […]

Most equipment supports, whether cones, small squares of wood, or pucks of visco-elastic material, are referred to as isolation devices; however, this represents a misunderstanding of the problem. While some mechanical energy may originate in the environment, the most harmful energy does not enter from the outside but is instead generated internally by the audio […]

Morning was cool and clear and I was fully rested and looking forward to what the day would bring at the High End exhibits. I have to admit I really haven’t spent any time looking into Emotiva, probably because they have been a factory direct product line, so my visit with them was rather eye […]

If you have been to any audio shows in the last few years or if you read show reports then you have seen the room with all the bling in it. Even after so many shows when I walk in the TriangleART room I am always overwhelmed by all the chrome; the other thing that […]

Before I get on with the show, I would like to acknowledge Pete Schumacher, who is, along with Ryan Scott, a principal of Vapor Audio. I will not be discussing Pete much in this article, as it is largely a recounting of my experience in the build out and purchase of the Joule White 3 […]

When I first saw the Thales TTT-Slim Turntable and Easy Tonearm, my first thought was, “my word, a new version of the Garrard Zero 100.” The truth is only the tonearm reminds me of the Zero 100. If you’re not familiar with the Zero 100, it was built in the early 70s. It was advertised […]

One early January afternoon, Constantine, our publisher, dropped by to spin some tunes. I asked him if he was in the mood for something a little different and got out the four Peter Gunn LPs seen in the Picture. I had no idea if he would like these LPs but before he left he made […]

Morning was slightly overcast and a little rainy in Las Vegas as my companion and I headed over to the Venetian Hotel to start the show. Since we needed to stop by the Consumer Technology Association office at the Sands (which is all connected), we decided to wander the Halls of the Tech Innovations Hall […]

I really shouldn’t complain about the three and a half hour delay getting to Las Vegas — after all we need the rain in California. Even with this latest weather front we are only at about 1/2 the rainfall average for this time of year, but it did play havoc at SFO. I won’t comment […]

Star Wars attack High End Audio There’s a new actor in the high end audio amplification field – THX.  The company is a technology spin-off from Lucasfilm, which originated the Star Wars movie series. THX has patented a novel amplifier design, THX AAA TechnologyTM and Benchmark Media Systems has turned it into a new power […]

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 […]