By: Lawrence Lock Publisher’s note: Finnish soprano Karita Mattila is a leading opera singer, having debuted in 1985 with the Royal Opera at Covent Garden as Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. Today, Mattila performs regularly at Vienna State Opera, Großes Festspielhaus, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Théâtre du Châtelet, Opéra […]

On Sunday, January 15th and Monday the16th, I had the privilege of spending the evenings in San Francisco at the first official Pitch Perfect Audio Greenhaus. It was Matt Rotunda, owner of Pitch Perfect Audio’s homage to the Monkeyhaus events that John DeVore of DeVore Fidelity has in New York. You may have read some […]

Some of what I have learned. In no particular order……. This hobby is expensive! This hobby leads to very unexpected places both musically, and personally. Price does not always guarantee better sound, though often times it does. It’s all about compatibility. Always keep your grill clothes on in the presence of chimps, children and other […]

I recently purchase an original, top load copy of the Beatles’ The White Album, which has led to this little article. I now own three copies of The White Album, an early stereo version, a latter stereo version, and this mono copy. This was one of my favorite albums of my teen years and it […]

It was about late in 2010 that Constantine brought me the Miyajima Premium BE mono cartridge back from the RMAF. It was my privilege to listen to music through this exceptional phono cartridge as well as reviewing it. When I found out that William Demars of Beauty of Sound was sending me the Ikeda IT-407CR1 […]

Introduction My introduction to Eficion speakers happened by chance as it was one of the rooms that I was assigned to cover at the second annual California Audio Show last August. I had never heard of Eficion prior to the show and I certainly had no idea what they were all about. Of course, that […]

For some, high-end after market interconnects and speaker cables seem to be no more than a simple math equation or nothing more than snake oil. And though cables are built around a scientific foundation, the hours of tweaking, listening, more tweaking, is where the cable goes from being mathematical to musical. But even after all […]

The Accuphase room was sounding warm and lush with the equipment complemented by the excellent Focal Scala Utopia Speakers. The Vandersteen room was touting Richard Vandersteen’s latest creation, the entry-level Treo. These sounded very well balanced and threw a huge soundstage. The AMG Benz turntable from Musical Surroundings that was playing in this room was […]

Kondo The Kondo Audio Note room is one of the highlights of my CES visit. There is something very mystical about the Kondo sound. While many other manufacturers pride themselves with engineering accuracies, Kondo prides itself in the creation of art. Their company slogan is the “Reincarnation of Dormant Art”. The Kondo sound is not […]

Kingsound paired up with Bob Carver and yielded the sweet, sweet sounds of the Kingsound King II electrostatics through the Bob Carver Black Beauty 305-watt vacuum tube monoblocks, and Purity Audio Design’s Silver Statement preamplifier. Indeed, this system was one of the best sounding at the show. Also on hand was the gorgeous 200-watt-per-channel Bob […]

Tube Technology Tube Technology is a new name for me. The race car engine-like “Synergy Carbon” amplifier is 100% hand build in the U.K. The Synergy is a single-chassis dual mono preamp, power amp, and remote control system. It is available in two formats: Synergy PPS – single chassis remote control Pre-Power system (Integrated amp) […]

Lew Johnson’s room was producing some nice sounds with Conrad Johnson’s all-new Art Stereo amplifier along with the top-of-the-line GAT preamplifier and their all-new USB DAC, HD3. Completing the system were the British NEAT Ultimatum XL 10 speakers which are equipped with EMIT ribbon super tweeters. Brett D’Agostino debuted his new Class A monoblock amplifier […]

The 2012 Consumers Electronics Show is the 6thshow for me, but it is the first time that I am representing Dagogo. Every year when I pick up my press batch at the registration office, I was told every year that year’s CES was the biggest ever, including the post-financial crisis 2009 CES which was ultra […]

Roger Sanders of Sanders Sound Systems Laurence Borden: Roger, welcome to Dagogo. Please begin by telling us how you first got interested in audio. Roger Sanders: My parents introduced me to music when I was a child. I grew up playing in school bands and later in symphony orchestras and big band jazz orchestras. I […]

LB: Doug, welcome to Dagogo. Please begin by telling us about your extensive background in electronics and physics. DH: Both of my parents were scientists and it seemed that a career in science was inevitable for me. I did my undergraduate studies at Johns Hopkins where I concentrated on physics and mathematics and made friends […]

In a recent interview here on Dagogo, Yoav Geva of YG Acoustics said, “the rigid approach prevails and for good reason. The logic is that whereas a musical instrument must resonate to have its characteristic sound, these resonances are already included in the signal as recorded by the microphone, and therefore are already included in […]

Constantine recently reminded me that I had my own column, something I hadn’t contributed to in some time. Well, I thought I would share with the readers my concoctions for dirty records. When I say dirty, I really mean it. Mold (the biological organism), food, fingerprints, etc., will not be removed by some vinyl washes. […]

There is surely a diversity of opinions when it comes to the design of audio cables. There is even more diversity of beliefs about how they work, if they work, how they should be used, and maybe most of all, how much they should cost. In the last 10 years I have owned several great […]

History Isamu Ikeda was born in 1929 in the Koto district of Tokyo. His pursuit of a perfect analog sound is a legend, which began in the 1940s. Dissatisfied with the production at a previous audio company in 1964, he decided to form his own company, the now-legendary and world famous Fidelity Research Inc. Its […]

I met Dave Belles, owner and designer of Power Modules, earlier this year in at the 2011 AXPONA show in Atlanta. Mr. Belles is not exactly an unknown in the audiophile world: He has been designing amplifiers for over 30 years, beginning with the Belles ‘A’ Class A power amplifier. Today’s extensive line-up of Power […]

No Gain, No pain. And No AC! Gary Dodd began, as have many audio designers, as a do-it-yourselfer (“DIYer”). As word of his products spread, he began commercializing them, though to this day the Texas-based Dodd Audio remains a small enterprise. Although he does have some pricey “statement” products, Gary prefers to focus his efforts […]

LB: Yoav, welcome to dagogo. Please begin by telling us how you first became interested in audio. YG: Thanks for the opportunity to address Dagogo readers! To your question, I come from a musical family: My father is a bass-guitar player, my brother an opera singer, and I play keyboards; so music was a big […]

For the 2011 holiday season our dear publisher ran a survey on Dagogo, asking how much you planned to spend on equipment during the holidays. Well, I fell into the 20%+ who said “NOTHING”, but that didn’t mean I had no plan to spend some money on the hobby during the holidays. For me, it […]

I first received an early production Merrill Williams R.E.A.L. 101 turntable System from George Merrill for evaluation in June of this year. It did not take much time for me to realize three things: This turntable represents a complete re-think in belt-driven turntable design, This is no re-hash or derivative of the famous Merrill Heirloom […]

Madeleine Peyroux “Standing on the Rooftop” Double 180 Gram Vinyl Mastered at Sterling Sound Musicians: Madeleine Peyroux, vocals Christopher Bruce, guitars Charley Drayton, drums John Kirby, keyboards Meshell Ndegeocello, bass Glenn Patscha, keyboards Maruo Refosco, percussion Marc Ribot, guitars Jenny Scheinman, violin Allen Toussaint, piano Patrick Warren, keyboards This is Madeleine Peyroux’s fifth solo album […]

My visit to the Aaudio Imports this year marks my fourth annual excursion to this wonderland that is also home to Brian and his lovely wife Debra and daughter Sarah. Each year, Brian injects new excitement into this hobby by demonstrating products that sets a precedence in performance and uniqueness. The highlights of my past […]

As I listen to my 6-year-old and 10-year-old boys fight over nothing for the 100th time today, I think of the many coffee commercials that promise to whisk you away to some calm, still and quiet enclave. For me, it is my stereo. When firing on all cylinders, my rig can whisk me away from […]

Publisher’s note: The MSRP of the 47 Labs 4730 “Midnight Blue” series tuner was increased, due to the higher exchange rate, from $1,300 to $1,500 after the conclusion of this Review. Comments expressed by the reviewer in this Review are based on the previous MSRP of the 47 Labs 4730 tuner. Nonetheless, the author of […]

  Initial Encounter   I must confess at the outset that my audio purchasing decisions are not always based upon elaborate research or listening tests. Aesthetics alone are often times enough to entice me to pull the trigger. The DaVinci Grandezza tonearm is a good example, the McIntosh C1000 Tube preamp is another. At audio […]

  42 drivers, 13 linear feet and 450 lbs. It should get your attention. The size and scope of the LS9 speaker are serious. It’s ambitious and implies a confident, experienced designer. Very few builder/designers would dive into something this big in scope without knowing that it would be a success. But, ambition doesn’t guarantee […]