The last few years has seen a bounty of great audio components coming through for review. The Pass Labs XA200.5 mono amplifiers, Triangle Arts Signature turntable, and the D’Agostino Momentum Integrated to name a few, have made indelible and long lasting impressions. The countless hours spent pouring over these great examples of the alchemy of […]

I remember my first audiophile-grade CD player like it was yesterday. A Rotel of some early vintage as I recall. It was a fun little player that sounded odd, but that was par for the course back then. While my Rotel plugged along and my obsession with audio bloomed I spotted an ad for the […]

Each show venue has its own quirks and issues, and the Westin O’Hare Chicago/Rosemont was no different. The bugaboo was a rather noisy ventilation system, which in some rooms manifested itself nearly as a low howl. Some of the main and lower floor larger rooms were affected. Still, I would rather work with that background […]

Axpona 2015 was chilly outside, but warm inside, where the audiophile masses and industry insiders mingled in a comfortable atmosphere of semi-seriousness and heart-felt devotion to the art of audio. Here are some memorable moments from the show as I experienced it. My time was quite limited, as I lost most of Saturday due to […]

Part 1: Audio Store & Wiring Part 2: Trials A new twist, amp comparisons I haven’t said much to this point about the amps used because this is where the ABX testing got downright weird. Though I was able to differentiate between all other components and speakers with some assurance, if not absolute precision, I […]

Read Part 1: Audio Store & Wiring Read Part 3: New Twists & Conclusion The components and speakers used I completed the listening sessions for ABX testing by building four distinct systems, using two at a time and separating two large blocks of listening sessions over several days by a few weeks in between. The […]

A note to the reader: This is a lengthy and technically oriented article, with much discussion of setup, wiring and ABX testing conditions. I attempt to keep my articles accessible to the average audiophile, but admit that this will be too much for some. If you find yourself uninterested in the mechanics of setting up […]

This article was published in the 2010 California Audio Show’s Official Directory originally.   If you are attending Dagogo’s California Audio Show and are reading the show’s program, two things are self-evident truths; 1. You love music; and 2, you have more than a passing interest in the gear that is necessary to listen to […]

47 Labs Midnight Blue system: Lens II Speaker: $3,250 (read Review) Midnight Blue Integrated Amplifier Model 4736: $2,500 Midnight Blue CD Player Model 4735: $3,250 (read Review) *Midnight Blue Tuner Model 4730: $1,500 (read Review) 47 Labs OTA Cable Kit Model 4708: $800 Also read the 47 Labs Model 4733 Midnight Blue headphone amplifier/preamplifier/USB DAC […]

Only two things are certain in life: death and taxes. So, apparently, said Benjamin Franklin. To which he might have added (if he had been feeling particularly far sighted that day) “Loricraft record cleaning machines.” Loricraft machines are everywhere. I even encountered one in a London lending library a couple of years back – legacy […]

This article was published in 2004 originally. When I first became interested in this hobby I was, like most aspiring audiophiles, quite enamored of soundstaging and imaging. In a scenario that will probably resonate with many readers, over the ensuing years I spent countless hours positioning and re-positioning speakers, an inch here, a millimeter there, […]

Billie Holiday/Buddy DeFranco Quartet Live in Cologne 1954 180g 2LP Musicians: Billie Holiday, vocals Buddy DeFranco, clarinet Carl Drinkard, piano Sonny Clark, piano Red Mitchell, bass Gene Wright, bass Elaine Leighton, drums Bobby White, drums   I am so thrilled that more and more people are getting into mono recordings. I discovered how great mono […]

So often, people talk like vintage audio equipment in today’s market was more for the average Joe than it is, but there has always been a market for very expensive audio equipment. For example, let’s start with the E.H. Scott company, not to be confused with H.H. Scott stereos. From 1924 to 1945, Earnest Humphrey […]

Well it’s happened. Frankly I was not expecting it, and certainly not with a pair of solid-state monoblocks made in China and pitched at not a lot more than a bargain-bin price point. But there you go. What’s happened was a recalibration, an overturning of prejudices, a recognition that contrary to the usual pattern in […]

This article was originally published in November, 2006. This is my first of what I hope will be a monthly column where I share my 40 plus years of loving music, and yes, I admit it, equipment too. It’s been a great journey so far, and I look forward with great expectation to where it’s […]

I should start this review with a confession: For reasons unknown I love box sets. So even though I already owned all these LPs, I bought this box set. The plan was to then give my LPs away. In the early ’90s, Johnny Cash signed with Rick Rubin’s American label and began releasing the American […]

Are speakers the most critical element of the audio chain? That’s certainly the view of a lot of audiophiles, and it’s almost universally the view of speaker vendors. Myself, I’ve a feeling that to place the speakers alone at the top of the system tree is perhaps to miss a crucial point: speakers live and […]

Originally published in June, 2004. “High-end audio gear is all over-priced.” “When it comes to audio equipment, price has no bearing on performance.” “These speakers are as good as others costing twice as much.” It seems as if rarely a week goes by without our hearing one or more of these statements in the audio […]

Who could have guessed that some 20 years after my first experiment with upgrading my radio shack wire with some entry level MIT Cables (Music Interface Technologies Cables) that I would still be investigating the effect of different wire on my ever evolving system. Even on my modest system of the time, the positive effects […]

Read Sadurni Acoustics Staccato speakers Review, Part I: Setup The Sound Remember back to the time you heard your first high-end audio system? If you are like most of us, it was a magical experience. Suddenly, the musicians were there in the room with you, and you forgot you were listening to a recording. You […]

We audiophiles tend to be highly opinionated about pretty much everything, but I daresay in no area is that more true than horns, about which everyone seems to have a strong opinion. Over the years I’ve noticed that many opinion about horns are held by individuals who have very little — and sometimes none whatsoever […]

Preliminary discussion: This review is related to the previous articles I have written regarding the Eastern Electric Minimax DAC series. I encourage those who wish to gather background information regarding the new DACs reviewed here to consult those articles. I also have spent considerable time opamp rolling these devices, and have written articles on rolling […]

Also read Part I, Part II   I never really planned for there to be a Part III of this review; I didn’t even plan to review it in my reference system, but it came before the Wayne Picquet’s Restored Quad ESL 57 and I wanted to break the XA30.8 in before the Quads showed […]

I love the sound of 45 RPM LPs. I know you have to get up and change them more often and I wish no company were issuing one-sided 45 RPM LPs. Still, I love the wonderful way they sound. I find them seductive in a way that is similar to the sound of reel-to-reel tapes. […]

The longer I am in the Audiophile game, the more I appreciate the particular capacity of cables to finish a fine rig. Having explored many and finding some exceptional ones, including Clarity Cable and Silent Source, I have made room in systems for a lovely “sleeper” cable named Silnote. As with so many of the […]

Let me start with saying it would be helpful to read my last Beatnik Column, Beatnik’s Pet Peeve #3 Modern Bass. Now, on to the introduction. After living with the Quads from the time I was 18 until I was in my late 20s(some of that time with stacked Quads) my expectations of what an […]

I will start this review of the Bricasti Design Model 1 USB DAC by taking out all of the suspense. The M1 is one of the best DACs available on the market at any price. In fact, when used in the right system it is actually a bargain, since it allows you to eliminate a […]

  The gushing regarding “all that” headphones is at a fever pitch lately, I thought as I read Arnie Nudell’s review of the Audeze LCD-X Headphones, wherein he said the LCD-X could compete with all of the very best high-end loudspeakers. By that he summarized the headphones had below 20Hz to beyond 20kHz response, very […]

In the last few months I’ve reviewed the Pass Labs XS300 monoblocks, the Tannoy Canterbury GR speakers, and the Bricasti M1 Stereo DAC (review to come). In some cases these different components’ reviews overlapped one another, and for a short time all three were used together. The constants during all these reviews, however, were the […]

Pass Labs XA30.8 Review, Part II: “Driving the Quad ESL”   I shared in Part I of the Pass Labs XA30.8 review that the reason for getting the stereo amplifier in was because I knew I had a pair of Wayne Picquet’s restored Quad ESL (the 57) coming in to listen to. So I was […]