The systems that most attracted me at RMAF this year were those based around highly efficient speakers driven by electronics with very short, simple circuit paths, almost always single-ended triodes driven by choke coupled tube power supplies. I was also quite taken with a number of turntables, particularly Steve Dobbins’ “The Beat”. This is not […]

The Cable Company (retailer) Music Interface Technologies This year, Gavin Fisher of MIT and his colleagues continued educating audiophiles of the difference between MIT and generic cables. In a system comprising the Electrocompaniet EMP-1 SACD/DVD-A/CD player ($9,990), the EC4.8 preamplifier ($4,990), a pair of the AW400 monoblock amplifiers ($6,250 each) and the Chapman T8 floorstanding […]

As audiophiles many of us have products we have a very particular appreciation of. It could be a beaten up old valve amp found in a parent’s attic that utterly transforms music or a long desired component that can only be obtained by mortgaging the family home. Although some take this interest a step too […]

It’s been my pleasure to own and review several of Allen Wright’s Vacuum State GmbH products. Some of his most famous products have been his upgrades for the early Sony SACD models, the SACD-1, SCD-777 ES, and DVP- 9000ES. A Level 7 upgraded SCD-777 or SACD-1 with a Uber Clock may be the best digital […]

There are very few components that cross over from archiving/professional to high-end audio. The most used cartridge by archivers and restorers is probably the Stanton 500. Yet, you rarely find anyone “serious” about audio using them in a high-end system. A similar line in the sand applies to the turntables used by DJs and archivists. […]

It isn’t often one gets to review a nearly complete system and I jumped at the opportunity to do so, and there is good reason. Reviewing a single component, a speaker, a CD Player, an amplifier, etc. involves certain guess work, and that magic touch it brings to one system might not appear in another. […]

The great audio hobby is not like any other. Yes, it can very easily deplete your lifelong savings and drive you mad in finding the best that you can afford, but it is also the only hobby I know of that can induce a state of nirvana via beautiful sound and heavy use of electronics. […]

I have spent 41 of my 56 years looking for an audio system that sounds so much like music that I rarely think about how it sounds, but find myself immersed in the music I am listening to. I have often put together systems that do some things exceptionally well and thus you find yourself […]

My interest in the Ypsilon DAC 100 from Greece stemmed from several factors. First, its primary technological makeup was very similar to that of the $49k Audio Note UK’s DAC5 Special, my reference for over seven years. For instance, the Greek DAC uses the 24-bit Burr Brown PCM1704K, a chipset from the late 90s and […]

Xact Audio (retailer) In this room permeated with the all-alluring Allnic tube electronics, such as the H3000V variable LCR phono ($13,900), the L3000 Linestage ($10,900), and the M3000 140-watts monoblocks ($12,900/pair), one gets the sense of extraordinary bandwidth via the tubes. The MBL 111F ($39,500/pair) featured the radial tweeter that complimented the unusually resolving Allnics […]

Sinatra and Sextet Live in Paris Mobile Fidelity 180g No. of Discs: 2 Tracks: 1. Introduction – Charles Aznavour 2. Goody Goody 3. Imagination 4. At Long Last Love 5. Moonlight in Vermont 6. Without a Song 7. Day In – Day Out 8. I’ve Got You Under My Skin 9. I Get a Kick […]

Introduction Cable reviews are a very tricky endeavor. In the best of situations, a well-chosen and placed interconnect or power cord can provide that touch of magic to a system in order to bring it to new heights of musical enjoyment, or just simply provide that extra measure of quieting to bring a system to […]

Inevitably, the choices made by a cable designer, conductor type, dielectric, spacing, geometry and shielding, and how these are balanced, determine the electrical properties and thus the cable’s sound. Stage III Concepts has been designing and meticulously hand crafting audio cables since 1996. My initial experience with their cabling was the purchase of one of […]

I should take a moment at the start of this review to explain the name change of the Allnic preamp formerly known as the L4000. It is now called the L3000. According to David Beetles of Hammerton Audio, Allnic’s North America importer, the name change was to facilitate product price grouping and natural mating. Allnic […]

Speaker design is like rocket science; really, I’m being serious! The most failed high-end endeavor has got to be speakers. From the extremely inefficient and difficult-to-drive, to classic and avant-garde horns, speakers are all over the design map and price points; and, all have failings. Because we have such wildly differing rooms, hearing, prejudices and […]

The Company In my review of their speaker cable I said, Auditorium 23 was not “founded”, in the common sense of the word. Rather, it just sort of came into being through the principals’ enjoyment of music in the early 80s. They started with a journey into the past where they learned much about what […]

Editor’s Note: This article continues the discussion from Part 1. Enjoy! 15. The literature describes, “…a second response that exists well below the -3dB down corner frequency. This seems to be the measurable response which is being called the Articulation Response. It appears to be well below 1 kHz. So, would it be accurate to […]

[Note as of 3-24-11: Over the course of months spent with the Eastern Electric Minimax DAC the review below turned into a major project with a second article. These articles introduce the EE DAC and the practice of Opamp rolling, while a new, third article is a technical discussion of Opamp rolling and listing of […]

Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin Numbered, Limited Edition of 5000 copies! 180g Vinyl Gatefold jacket Features 12 ReImagined Classics & 2 New Collaborations Selections: 1. Rhapsody in Blue (Intro) 2. The Like In I Love You 3. Summertime/ I Loves You Porgy/ I Got Plenty O’Nuttin’/ It Ain’t Necessarily So 4. ‘S Wonderful 5. They Can’t […]

If you read my review of the Blacknote CDP300 player, you know that I found it to be a terrific player that made the most of the redbook standard. When Hiram Toro, the U.S. importer for Blacknote, spoke with me about the DSS 30i Tube, he made a point of emphasizing that I should not […]

My introduction to Pass Labs dates back to some time in the early 1990’s. Back then, there was plenty of “buzz” in the audiophile circle regarding this small solid-state amplifier that actually sounded like tubes. I eventually got to hear the diminutive monoblock amplifier running a pair of Chartwell LS3/5a’s. The all class A operation […]

Description and Design Goals On his web site, Mr. Park says he sets out to reproduce music in the same way it was cut into the vinyl. Just like all LPs are produced on a cutting lathe’s cutter head; he believes that vinyl should be reproduced by a cartridge and stylus made as close as […]

Who is Our Mystery Guest? It doesn’t plug into the wall. You don’t plug anything into it. You don’t run any current or electrical signal through it. It doesn’t use any batteries and doesn’t run on solar power. It has a front and a back, but has no “top” or “bottom”. It doesn’t need to […]

Introduction EMM Labs is hardly a newcomer to the world of digital. They have been building digital equipment since 1998 and Ed Meitner, the owner, has been designing professional digital gear much longer. In fact, much of the digital software available today was mastered using analog-to-digital converters designed by Meitner using algorithms very similar to […]

Here comes another one Here it comes again Here comes another one When will it ever end? I know whatever it is I’ve not seen one before But here comes another one And here comes a bunch of ’em Here comes another one Thank God I’m not having lunch with them – from Monty Python’s […]

Remember the simile/metaphor for an ideal amplifier: the “straight wire with gain”? It was always silly to say that such-and-such product was so close to a “straight wire with gain”, that you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. Really? Has there ever been more obscene marketing hyperbole? Okay, well, “perfect sound forever” must rank […]

Loggie Audio Equipment: Acapella High Violoncellos II speakers; Ypsilon Aelius Hybrid Mono Amps, PST 100 Mk II preamp, and VPS 100 phonostage; Stage III cables, Weizhi power conditioning, Bergman Sindre Turntable and integral straight line tonearm with an Ortofon A-90 cartridge. This is what I personally consider to be the state-of-the-art with respect to what […]

Normally, when you read about the first year of any event, you expect apologies for what the writer hopes will develop over time into something interesting. In this particular case, that would be a major mistake. CAS was many things, but clearly not something which requires an apology. It was widely successful, easily exceeding the […]

One of the really fun things to do at this show, if you could get a seat, was to go to the Blue Coast World room for one of the live performances/recordings. Each day at 11 and 4, award-winning sound engineer Cookie Marenco was presenting live acoustic recording sessions with a host of different performers. […]

There were some great sounding systems that were using analogue sources. In the Design Interaction (retailer)-JBL Exhibit, they were using Project’s newest turntable. It looks rather plain, but it is using a magnetic bearing for the platter and sounded very good at the show. In The Lotus Group Exhibit, they were using the Hanns Acoustics […]