Oppo’s latest Blu-Ray player, the BPD-105 has been in my home for the last 12 months. It has mainly seen duty as a video player and to stream Netflix movies and TV content. It’s a truly Universal player so I’ve also used it occasionally to play my collection of DVD-Audio discs and high-rez downloads from […]

Strange how a casual encounter can on occasion develop into a lasting friendship. Encinitas Jim contacted my editor several years ago to request my contact information. At that time, he owned Wilson Alexandria X-2 Series 2 speakers, Levinson electronics and Transparent cables. The Alexandria’s, after a time of optimization with Nordost Odin wires and the […]

This review began with an introduction to Sony’s “Senior Acoustic Evangelist,” Motoyuki Sugiura, informally known as “Yuki”. The use of the term “evangelist,” on his business card is not typical parlance among audiophiles. Have you ever heard of an Acoustic Evangelist? The term, native to the New Testament, refers to the dissemination of the Good News, or […]

If you are a regular reader of Dagogo you know of my love for the sound of the Western Electric 300B vacuum tube. My Wavac EC300B is decked out with two NOS WE 300Bs, two NOS Sylvania 6L6GC driver tubes and a pair of NOS WE 435As. A few months ago it seemed it was […]

For those of us, like me, who have spent countless hours trying to figure out the best way to get the dirt out of the grooves of our favorite “ancient” LP’s with the amazing variety of fluids, enzymes, hyper-distilled water, brushes and vacuums out there, the Audio Desk RCM has not rendered your past labors […]

Mr. Tom Vu at Triangle Art has been keeping himself quite busy since introducing his first product a few years ago. I met Tom at the 2013 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest a few months back and was mighty impressed with the sound he was getting in his room, most of which were components of his […]

When presented with the opportunity to review the Esoteric K-05, I was hardly in a position to say no. My Behold front end had failed and I had to fill in the gap quickly. I had my reservations however. The K-05 CD/SACD player is the mid-level one-box solution from Esoteric. Like many audiophiles I strive […]

An audio gargantua (with homage to Rabelais) One of the venerable giants of home audio, the British company KEF recently celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 2011 as a loudspeaker manufacturer. Founded by Raymond Cooke in 1961, the company was first housed at Kent Engineering and Foundry, or KEF for short. From the beginning Cooke had […]

It’s just a puff of smoke, a wisp, a few particles, so what can it do? Nothing, right? Wrong, it can take your house down and overturn your life – that’s what an atmospheric disturbance can do when it reaches the nth degree. It starts out innocently enough but writhes into a twister, a whirlwind […]

Legends Live Albert Mangelsdorff Quintett Audimax Freiburg June 22, 1964 Jazz Haus 101-727180 GRAM VINYL + FREE DIGITAL DOWNLOAD Recorded live at Freiburg on June 22,1964 Side a: • Now Jazz Ramwong • Set ‘em up Side b: • Raknahs • Burungkaka • Theme from Pather Panchali Albert Mangelsdorff (trombone), Heinz Sauer (tenor and Soprano […]

Laurence Borden:  Thom, welcome to Dagogo.  You were one of the original members of the team that set out to build a turntable based on the published plans of Thomas Scheu in Germany.  I know it’s a long and complicated story, with enough drama for a made-for-TV movie, but perhaps you give us the short […]

A Fantasy Come True Ohhh My God… Explosively Dynamic. Lightning Fast. Incredibly Articulate. Highly Extended. Insanely Detailed. Organically Coherent. Tonally Natural. Chameleon-like with all music. Take your pick. I guess you can probably tell I liked the Vivid Giya G1. A lot. Ok, let me take a pause from hyperventilating and give you some background. […]

Devices which deal with system noise can typically be divided into one of two camps, (1) those which seek to isolate the equipment from external vibrations and those which seek to dissipate any energy produced by the equipment itself and (2) those which seek to shield the component from noise. The first group consists of […]

Be (B) My (M) Component (C) With fast ongoing technical and production improvements in the past few years, the sound and build quality of digital audio components has taken a large step forward.  These improvements not only cover the state-of-the-art, but advances have also trickled down to include moderately priced models as well.  Thanks Reaganomics, […]

Rogue is a small but well known American audio company that is known for building affordable all-tube components. They have grown into a true high end company with products like the Apollo dual mono tube amplifiers that retail for $10,995 for the pair. Now Rogue also offers hybrid amplifiers, the newest being the Sphinx which […]

Back in the 80’s, I befriended an audiophile and classical music aficionado named Dave, who has since passed, I’m sorry to say. We did several record-buying and orchestra-listening trips back East together, and under his influence, I managed to hear all of the Big Five orchestras in their own halls over a 2 -3 year […]

About a year ago, our Executive Editor, Laurence Borden, reached out to me to discuss the possibility of reviewing a pair of satellite speakers with dedicated subwoofer from this little-known company called Dupuy Acoustique. Wanting to expand my scope of things I was reviewing I agreed to speak with designer Rudy Dupuy about his speakers […]

As mentioned in a prior review of the Dupuy Bongo Speaker System, I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Rudy Dupuy and his associates at the 2013 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. At that time, Rudy introduced me to his latest product offering, the Daisy Reflector. There was actually little time to explore what the Daisy […]

The first time I heard of Burwell & Sons was at the 2012 California Audio Show. I walked by  its room, and outside the door sitting on an end table was one of the most beautiful wooden loudspeaker horns I had ever seen. The sign next to the speakers said “Burwell & Sons Loudspeakers,” and […]

Shades of Chet 45rpm 180g 2LP Limited Edition of 496 copies Pure Analogue Recording and cutting, One-Stage Pressing Process Musicians: Enrico Rava, trumpet, flugelhorn Paolo Fresu, trombone Stefano Bollani, piano Enzo Pietropaoli, bass Roberto Gatto, drums Selections: LP 1 1. Doodlin (Horace Silver) 2. My Funny Valentine (Rodgers – Hart) 3. Anthropology (Charlie Parker) 4. […]

Listening Biases If you have been following my writings on Dagogo you have a good idea what my listening and equipment biases are. Still I think it would be worth my time and yours to talk about these biases. Let’s start with listening biases. The most important thing for me in an audio system is […]

A Magnetic Personality Line Magnetic is a relatively new brand to North America but have been in business in China restoring Western Electric tube amplifiers and serving as an OEM for a number of brands for many years.  I became interested in Line Magnetic after auditioning their stunning LM 219Ia integrated amplifier driving ATC SCM […]

Back in 2010 I was introduced to Linn audio products when I reviewed the Majik DS-I, an integrated amplifier and digital streamer. At that time I first began to learn about Linn’s audio philosophy and the highly creative thinking that goes along with it. In 2011 I reviewed the Akurate DS digital streamer and found […]

For the last year plus I have had the privilege of reviewing and using the High Fidelity Cable CT-1 and CT-1E Enhanced, and the CT-1U Ultimate Reference cable systems. Although in those reviews I gave the best technical explanation I could, they are for the most part way beyond my understanding. Still, I will try […]

There are few sure things in audio and even fewer certainties in the cables used for audio systems. Perhaps the only absolute which the consumer can count on is that the signal will flow when a new wire is connected, at least nearly always. I have had some instances where a just opened cable has […]

Background The Tri-Planar tonearm has a long and rich history. In fact, the Tri-Planar actually traces its origins to the 1980’s and to a tonearm designed by the late Herb Papier of Wheaton, Maryland, aptly named the Wheaton Music tonearm. The tonearm remains visually quite similar even today, nearly thirty years later. However, Herb Papier’s […]

While I perused the Lenehan Audio site in preparation for this review I saw the following statement, ”The mission of Lenehan Audio is to provide high end audio leadership through the development of quality products that is value driven. These five words at the top of this page are the unwavering goal of Lenehan Audio!” […]

Each year I attend CES I tell myself that this trip will be the last, but when the following January rolls around I again find myself drawn to Las Vegas. This year was a bit different as I was already in San Diego staying with a friend with whom I made the trip and the […]

It is difficult not to get carried away with excitement when you have an encounter with a wonderful sounding audio component, especially when it is affordable. If the sound is engaging it is easy to make sweeping conclusions, euphoric exclamations of the superiority of the product and one’s complete contentedness. Sound familiar? Most of us […]

I have recently reviewed some very, very expensive power distribution products, including three from HB Cables ranging in price from $4,000 up to $9,000; I have also had in for review the wonderful Audience adeptResponse aR6-TSS power conditioner at $6,000. So I was excited when I saw Alex Sventitsky at the 2013 4th California Audio […]