My first day at TAVES began with a rather interesting encounter with an attendee. He was giving me the evil eyes and asked me to refrain from taking pictures of gears. Given the number of audio knockoffs from the Far East, he probably thought that I was a spy trying to steal designs. Thankfully, he […]

TAVES is not just the first of its kind in Toronto; it’s also the world’s first ever show to require balletic skills from attendees for the lucky draw! Devialet and Focal: high-tech combo from France Keith Monks: Still by far the world’s most revered record cleaning machine Class A integrated amps from Italy’s Mastersound Gutwire […]

TAVES – Toronto Audio Video Entertainment Show 2011 Towards the end of the 2010 Montreal Audio show, formally known as the “Salon Son et Image”, a bunch of us audiophiles from Toronto gathered at the “Hurley’s Irish Pub” on Crescent Street. It was over a couple of pints of beer which allowed Simon Au (appearing […]

Now they say that there is a subatomic particle which can travel faster than the speed of light. If confirmed the laws of Physics will have to be re-written. I find particular delight in such new scientific evidence, since humans have a tendency to pontificate when they think they know absolute truth. All it takes […]

Chad Kassem, founder of Acoustic Sound, has chosen Tea for the Tillerman as the very first title to be released from his new “Quality Record Pressings.” The ads for this new release got me to thinking about my love for Cat Steven’s music. I’ve been a Cat Steven’s fan for 40 of the 57 years […]

The prospect of reviewing something from a new company is exciting for most honest reviewers. We’d rather “discover” something new, than walk a path already cleared. It’s an ego trip, I suppose. Speaking for myself only, I’d rather collaborate with someone who could use a “leg up,” than with someone who is either jaded or […]

At $2000 there are a variety of entry level high end speakers that are acceptable. A quick tour of the last California Audio Show demonstrates this point. Though every speaker at that price presents some compromise, this may not be a bad thing. In fact, I’d argue it is easier to select preferred characteristics from […]

The iPad has made me green. It has almost replaced all of the print magazines and newspapers I used to subscribe to. It has, in a way, similarly reinvented the way I experience music, enhancing the experience with large beautiful graphics and liner notes from an album, bringing them to life with intelligence and interactivity. […]

The name “M’inenT” peaked my interest when a review of these speakers was first suggested by our publisher, Constantine Soo. I was hoping that by the time I finished this review I’d find out the origin and meaning of the name, but I was so enthralled by the sound of these great speakers that it […]

I’ve been holding this review now for several months, not because it was hard to write – in fact, it’s a short review – but because I’ve been unclear about what exactly to say. And I’m not unclear what to say because I didn’t like the X-Link – I liked it right off the bat […]

Publisher’s Note: This Commentary is first published in the Offiical Directory of the 2nd (July 15 – 17, 2011) California Audio show. Audiophiles in 2011 have it REALLY EASY. Back in the early days of what would now be considered “high-end” audio, choices in the world of high performance component audio were extremely limited. In […]

Publisher’s Note: This Commentary is first published in the Offiical Directory of the 2nd (July 15 – 17, 2011) California Audio show. When most people think of stereo systems they contemplate the music emerging from them. When I think of stereo systems, I consider the assemblage of gear and contemplate the effects of that arrangement […]

Publisher’s Note: This Commentary is first published in the Offiical Directory of the 2nd (July 15 – 17, 2011) California Audio show. Our dear ole publisher asked us to write a short article about “The Joy of High-end Audio.” I’m more than glad to do this, but I must say that I don’t like the […]

Publisher’s note: The TubeTrap™ is a product of Acoustic Science Corporation. Art Noxon, president of the company, hosted three sessions of seminar at the recently concluded 2nd California Audio Show. Art has compiled his seminars into a single article, which he has graciously given to Dagogo for publishing. We are very grateful for the privilege, […]

I’m going to be like several of our politicians and claim credit for something someone else did. About 16 months ago, when I was writing my review of the Qsonix Q105, I told Mike Weaver, President of Qsonix, that they should remove the DACs from the Q105 and sell it as though it was a […]

Finding What You Weren’t Looking For When we first began hunting for a home shortly after getting married, my wife and I had an idea of the kind of house we wanted. As we searched one consideration led to another and instead of purchasing the home we conceptualized we ended up in a small Cape […]

The current state of the music and consumer electronics industry is pretty much total chaos. I stopped keeping tabs on which digital format was “best,” or which digital connection was “best,” or the infighting between factions (rearranging the deck chairs). I’ve probably missed entire formats after I stopped caring about “state of the art” hardware […]

Introduction For many years I was one of those equipment owners who was driven by owning the latest and greatest equipment. Strangely enough, about the time that I passed the age of 55 and started to think about grandchildren and retirement, I became somewhat less obsessed with the equipment I owned and more focused on […]

Early in 2010 I wrote a review entitled “A Flight of Lowthers”. After that review I decided to purchase the pair of Teresonic Magus that had the Lowther Alnico Silver Drivers. I use them in my video and digital system. This driver paired with the Magus bookshelf cabinet became Teresonic’s production model known as the […]

The second California Audio Show by Dagogo has come and gone with great success. This year the show was held close to the San Francisco International airport which, from what I over heard, was very convenient for both attendees and manufacturer/distributors. The show was spread across all five floors of the hotel and all the […]

The first two segments of my show report (Part V, Part IX)considered rooms which were assigned to me for coverage. I now turn my attention to systems which inspired or surprised me. Size and price of the system was not the ultimate determinant of which were the most worthy of comment. When you walk out […]

There are systems you never forget for good reasons, and there are systems you never forget for other reasons. The Music Lovers Audio/Musical Surroundings room I’ll never forget for one reason, it had the most stretched soundstage I’ve heard at a show from a non-panel speaker setup; the only system I recall sounding wider was […]

Music Lovers/Musical Surroundings (Redwood Room) System included Ayre DX-5 Universal A/V Engine, K-5xe preamplifier, and V-5xe power amp; Wilson Audio Sophia Series 3 speakers; Clearaudio Ovation Turntable, Concept MC Turntable, Talisman v2 Gold Cartridge; Fosgate Signature Vacuum Tube Phono PreAmp; Tesla Series cables, power cell, Acoustic ART and Galileo Cables; and Grand Prix Audio Core […]

LB: Jacob, welcome to Dagogo. Please begin by telling us a bit about your early exposure to music while growing up in Asia. Jacob George: Larry, thank you for taking the time to do this interview with me. A great pleasure. I was born and did all my schooling in Singapore, and came to New […]

Every once in a while I hear someone say, or even read online that a certain audio system actually sounds better than live music. I am amazed at how often people ask the wrong question. This would have to be one of the more obvious examples. I’ll try to explain what I’m saying at the […]

Janis Ian Between The Lines Limited Edition “BOXSTAR” 180g Vinyl Remastered by Kevin Gray from Original Analog Tapes Lacquers cut using Acoustech’s all-analog system Pressed at RTI Tracks: 1. When the Party’s Over 2. At Seventeen 3. From Me To You 4. Bright Lights and Promises 5. In the Winter 6. Water Colors 7. Between […]

Audio Federation Tel. 303-546-6503 URL: http://www.audiofederation.com/ Email: mike&neli@audiofederation.com CD’s used for Test Purposes Brothers in Arms – Dire Straights (XRCD 548 3572 Universal) Rosa Passos & Ron Carter (Chesky Entre Amigos SACD 291) This is K2 HD Sound (FIM K2 HD 078) Solveig Slettahjell – Silver, ACT 9715-2 – acts 1-&5 Kelly Blue – Wynton […]

Let’s talk about synergy. It’s a term that’s discussed on a regular basis in the audiophile community. It seems an ill-defined concept applied to all manner of systems without regard for a technical definition. I spent half an hour punching search terms into my browser, such as: “audio terminology”, “audio glossary”, “audio glossary synergy”, “audio […]

I have had the great fortune over the years of meeting several gentlemen who are truly passionate about the art of analog record playback. Each of them embarked on his own journey in turntable design. Tom Vu is one such recent acquaintance. Last year we met over the phone and ended up discussing vintage and […]

Introduction Over the past 12 months or so, I have had the pleasure of auditioning four unique families of cables. Each cable design is quite different from the others in terms of finished product, but each gives unique insight in their interpretation of the sonic truth. The focus of this review is the Tel Wire […]