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 […]

I have heard so many wonderful things about the products from Pass Labs, that I was very intrigued, to say the least. I have heard from many sources, that their products sound excellent, are very well designed, are beautifully built and that they are extremely reliable. I’ve also heard great things about the company’s main […]

Anne Bisson Tales From Treetops 180-gram LP pressed at RTI Tracks: Side 1 I live in a Treehouse I miss my love Lilac Blooms Your Smile Side 2 Everybody’s Kissing in Paris Dry my tears Da Unten im Tale Love’s Philosophy Op. 370 I Do   Anne Bisson herself said, “I feel Tales From The […]

Very few people like a speaker that has fat, flabby sounding bass. More people nowadays seem to like fast, tight bass with lots of slam. People also seem hung up on how low speakers play bass. There are speakers which can place bass down to the low 20 Hz regions that don’t have satisfying bass. […]

It seems that as fast as I can conduct a thorough assessment of an iFi Micro device, the company has released another moving the product up in terms of performance. I am putting the finishing touches on a brief discussion of the iFi Micro iDSD USB DAC, and I see there is already an “octa” […]

  There are two economic worlds for audiophiles, the Extreme and the Budget and ne’er the two shall meet – at least in theory. In reality, these two rub shoulders more than hobbyists may think. Trickle down of technology happens to a greater or lesser degree in all manufacturers that produce more than one line […]

I first met Tony Chipelo at the 2014 California Audio Show. He was sharing a room with Fritz Speakers and it was the best I had heard the Fritz speakers sound at a show. Electra-Fidelity is a boutique high-end audio company in Las Vegas, NV. It was founded by Tony Chipelo in 2010. In addition […]

A Brief History of the Tannoy Prestige Line It doesn’t go all the way back to the time that Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales, but Tannoy is an audio company with a long and illustrious history. In 1948 Ronald Rackham of Tannoy (which had already been in existence for 22 years) invented the dual-concentric speaker, […]

When I first approached Pass Labs to conduct a review of the XA160.5 class A monoblock amplifiers I learned that Pass Laboratories, by virtue of influence from Nelson Pass, was a fun-loving, relaxed company to work with. Consider that Nelson was building a wild amplifier at the time entitled, “The Beast with a Thousand JFET’s”. […]

A Survey of Upper-Echelon DACs Part 1: Empirical Audio Overdrive® SE USB DAC/PreDAC (and Short Block USB Filter)   This is a follow-up to Ed Momkus’s March 2011 review of the Empirical Audio Overdrive DAC, Pace Car Reclocker, and Monolith Battery Supply. Introduction I am one lucky guy: For the past few months I have […]

  International union–a confluence of four countries for the sake of high-end audio Question: What do you get when you have Dutch, Chinese, American and Italian joined together? Answer: Mighty good eating if I’m referring to international cuisine. But since I’m writing about food for the soul, the new PrimaLuna DiaLogue Premium HP power amplifier […]

VIP 14 Exclusively For My Friends Vinyl In Print from………… The MPS Oscar Peterson Solo Recordings EAN:4029759094784   My first exposure to real jazz (meaning, not “dance band music” which is thoroughly composed) was How Long Has This Been Going On?, a 1978 Pablo Sarah Vaughan release, produced by Norman Granz, and featuring an Oscar […]

Interview with Christian Thielemann Date: November 13, 2014 Location: Semperoper, Dresden The year 2014 marked the 150th anniversary of the birth of Richard Strauss (1864-1949). In mid-November I traveled to the “Strauss city” Dresden to immerse myself in the fabled Semperoper’s presentations of some of the German composer’s most celebrated operas. The Semperoper serves the […]

Having made a British designed and made pair of horn speakers the subject of my first review for Dagogo, I subsequently attended the UK National Audio Show at Whittlebury Hall, just up the hill from the British Grand Prix circuit of Silverstone. Curious to discover other European manufacturers taking a horn-based approach I visited LW […]

Just in August of 2014, Doug Schroeder wrote a three-page rave review of this passive, transformer-based line stage. At the California Audio Show one of the most popular rooms and one of my top five, maybe the top, was the one with Music First, TriangleART, and Audio Note UK. This room was set up by […]

How many manufacturers of audio products do you know announce on their website, “New shipping requirements… no longer requires HAZMAT shipping designation!” None, right? That’s about to change; Let me introduce you to TEO Audio, maker of the Liquid Preamp. You read that right – liquid preamp, complete with ingredients such as Gallium, Indium and […]

This review is about the fabulously over-the-top Pass Labs Xs 300 monoblock amplifiers – although how can you even call them “monoblocks” when each channel comes in two hulking metal enclosures? Pass Labs calls them “Dual Chassis Monoblocks”, but that doesn’t come close to fully describing this 298-pound-per-side power plant. So, how did I get […]

  In my review of the First Watt SIT-1 mono-blocks, I said, “If you’ve been an audiophile as long as I have, Nelson Pass is probably nearly a legend to you. I remember in my early twenties drooling over the Threshold amps. In the mid 80s he designed the real bargain amp of the day, […]

We have a winner! I won these headphones at a KEF drawing during the New York Audio Show, held recently at the Brooklyn Marriott hotel. KEF neither solicited nor was I obligated to review the M500, but since I have really enjoyed listening to them for the past few weeks I thought I would let […]

Some may think it’s odd for me to be reviewing such an inexpensive turntable. Last Christmas I was looking for a turntable for my 29-year-old daughter-in-law who wanted an inexpensive turntable for her Christmas present. After she got her turntable, I’ve had a lot of people her age looking for entry level tables. So, I […]

As we come to the end of 2014, to me the biggest story in the audio community this year is that “HP” is no longer with us. I’m not one who sees HP as the founder of “High-end Audio” but he surely brought my generation to understand a kind of sound our stereo systems could […]

Raven Audio is a new and unique company as far as I know in that the electronics are designed in Korea and built in Texas. Dave Thomson and SE Han are the men behind Raven Audio. SE Han designs all of the circuits for Raven Audio. Raven Audio builds all the products in the tiny […]

Christmas LPs I’ve Been Listening to this Time of Year. Willie Nelson Pretty Paper Tracks: Side A: 1. Pretty Paper 2. White Christmas 3. Winter Wonderland 4. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer 5. Jingle Bells 6. Here Comes Santa Claus Side B: 7. Blue Christmas 8. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town 9. Frosty The Snowman […]

This had been a pretty sleepy summer. I spent more time with my two boys for which I am eternally grateful but I feel I have lost a bit of my edge in the process. Daddy brain they call it. The thought of getting clever and deep in the audio realm seemed a touch out […]

The exaSound Audio Design e22 is the company’s third generation USB DSD256 DAC with preamp compatibility for headphones and audio systems. Improvements over the previous e20 include a 82fs Femto-Master-Clock, a headphone amplifier twice as powerful, lowered noise and distortion levels, a 12V Trigger Output, USB 2.0 input, and heavy duty RCA connectors. In addition […]

A Unique Audiophile Learning Experience – What exactly is the Sonorus Audio ProximitySub Controller? The older I get, the more resistant I become to change. Sometimes it takes a collision with something that your belief system cannot explain to cause you to re-examine those beliefs. For me this was occasioned by my recent visit to the […]

  More zeros and ones I have had the pleasure of auditioning and reviewing several good sounding digital-to-analog converters this year, ranging in price from a low of $189 (iFi-audio Nano iDSD, iFi-audio Micro iDAC, $299, iFi-audio Micro iTube/Pre-amplifier, $299) to a high of $1,790 (B.M.C. PureDAC). I can now include the $849 Teac UD-501 […]

Lyn Stanley Potions (From the 50’s) 180g 45rpm 2LP Mastered by Bernie Grundman Recorded and mixed by Al Schmitt Pressed at RTI Tracks: 1. Lullaby of Birdland 2. Cry Me A River 3. Fly Me To the Moon 4. Hey There 5. I’m Walkin’ 6. You Don’t Know Me 7. In the Still of the […]

I met Dr. Robert Spence at the 2013 California Audio Show. He had come out with Rick Schultz of High Fidelity Cables. This was the first time I had heard of Essence of Music. The Essence of Music is a product designed to reduce laser read errors, caused by bi-refraction, and the jitter caused by […]

Having enjoyed a taste of the BMC Pureline products such as the PureDAC and PureUSB1 Cable, I was primed to accept an invitation from Brian Ackerman of Aaudio Imports, the North American distributor for BMC, to review the PureVOX speaker. He unabashedly made some claims of outstanding performance of this floor standing monitor speaker, and […]