Introduction Many will approach this review with an expectation that these amps will, of necessity, sound like a classic 300B single-ended triode design, in other words, will present with a harmonically rich midrange and upper bass but suffer from serious flaws at the frequency extremes. This would, however, involve a substantial underestimation of the capabilities […]

It was after eight in the evening and darkness had fallen. I settled in my chair, tapping into the reserve two hours of brainpower to be applied to the craft of reviewing. There came a sharp knock at the front door. Opening it, I saw a silhouetted figure in the darkness (the blasted front light […]

The M75 mono block amplifiers are a little deceiving on the surface. With the champagne colored metal work and the acrylic windows, it suggests that it might be a “hi-fi” sounding amp, full of sound and fury. Under the skin though, it proves to be a pragmatic design, and might be the most practical power […]

A Little Luck Along the Way Without a doubt this has been one of the most fascinating and educational products, or might I say “system of products”, that I have ever reviewed. Reviewing is a lot more work than most readers would ever guess, but every once in a while you hit pay dirt and […]

Design Goals 3 Dimension Audio was formed by a couple of engineers who love music and had worked for years in the high-end audio industry. Alex Dondysh was the hardware engineer, and he shared freely about the design of his DACs. After I had already turned in my review, I asked him about his design […]

Disclaimer Let me start by saying that I know this is the kind of product that would be safer for my reputation if I didn’t review it. It does border on the kind of thing I just won’t try, because over the years I’ve become less and less of a tweaker. Add to that all […]

A Brief Introduction to the Philips TDA 1541 Chipset Finally – the dust has settled on the long winded, exasperatingly drawn out ’war’ between the rival digital formats of Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, and it’s all aboard the Blu-Ray express for manufacturers and studios alike who waited on the sidelines, while the marketing men of both […]

*Editor’s Note: Dagogo always provides an edited draft of articles to the importers for fact-checking before publishing. We received the following information from Joe Cohen of Lotus Group USA on 2/23/09: “Phillip Holmes did not hear the All Permandur Field Coil, but the Type II in which the plate and pole piece are Permandur but […]

The Plinius is the integrated amp for music lovers, even vinyl lovers. Plinius Audio Systems begin in August of 1980, and their first amplifiers were designed for the New Zealand market. It wasn’t until the 1990s that they began to be discovered in the USA. The Plinius 9200 integrated is based on Plinius separates, and […]

Editor’s note: Dagogo’s editorial seeks to propagate the passion of the audio hobby. It neither endorses nor refutes any Philosophy of Life, and it believes our lives are all the more enriched by persons of all backgrounds and walks of life. We admire those with deep convictions, and we do not believe it is necessary […]

I’m always on the lookout for low-cost tweaks, and I have had some experience with CD mats in the past, such as the Marigo 3-D Stabilizer Tuning Mat that I experimented with in 2002. I thought it was OK, but not enough to keep using it after I heard some scuttlebutt about it getting caught […]

For the Dagogo readers unaware of Blue Circle Audio and its founder and Chief Architect, let me fill you in a bit. Gilbert Yeung founded Blue Circle Audio approximately 20 years ago in Innerkip, Ontario, Canada. Upon meeting Gilbert you will find a very dedicated audio engineer who takes his craft very seriously. He is […]

For the first many years of my involvement in audio, you had but two sources – FM radio and vinyl or records. I continue to prefer vinyl and have had numerous turntables, tonearms, and cartridges. One of the first turntables I had was a Garrard 301. I forget what tonearm I had with it, but […]

The Millennium M-LP-Mat Carbon LP Mat is a .3 mm laminated carbon-fiber disk with one side having a velvet-like surface where the record’s recorded surface rests. The other side is smooth. Either side can be used against the record surface, which evidentially was not anticipated to be of a benefit, but the instructions on the […]

It may have been Monday November 24, 2008, but I felt like a time traveler to 1939 as we landed in Long Beach, California. I disembarked down a ramp and out the back of the plane straight out onto the tarmac, and leisurely walked into the terminal. I went upstairs to the “Airport Restaurant and […]

I’ve been cleaning records for over 35 years and I have tried a lot of different treatments and cleaners. I will not list them, but the strangest was a bright red plastic vacuum with brushes on each side. You simply set the dry LP into it and vacuum both sides at once. The strange thing […]

And now there are five… there had been four entries in the Flight of the Mini-monitors series. By the way Constantine, how many minis does it take to make a flight? With wine it’s usually between 3 and 5, but can be up to 50. Well, if they keep sounding as good as these I […]

How did I get so lucky? Lindemann. Its one of those audio names I first heard of in 2002, when it was one of the first companies other than Sony to offer a high-end SACD player that also read HDCD discs. I had a Cary 306/200 at the time which read HDCD discs, and I […]

The Isoclean line of AC products has been imported into the U.S. market by Aaudio Imports of Parker, Colorado for nearly four years now, and it has been the one component constant in every one of AI’s Acapella speaker-based show exhibits, along with two of the $3,500 PT-3030 II Power Isolation Transformers, the $4,200 80A3 […]

This version of the Helix review contains predominantly technical information related to the design and operation of the Helix Speaker system. In the PHILOSOPHICAL VERSION, I discuss the topic of Origins. Readers wishing to enjoy that additional commentary are welcome to read that version. It contains all the technical information in this article. For those […]

This portion of Dagogo’s 2008 RMAF Coverage by Jack Roberts “Other interesting stuff at the 2008 RMAF” Part 2 of 2 ▼Reel-to-reel. ▼ModWright system. ▼Antique Sound Lab amplifications. ▼Manley 250 monoblock. ▼Einstein system. ▼Artemis Labs system. ▼Soundsmith system. ▼Ayon / Lector system. ▼Electrocompaniet system. ▼DODD Audio amplifier. ▼VTL and Friend. This portion of Dagogo’s 2008 […]

This portion of Dagogo’s 2008 RMAF Coverage by Jack Roberts “Other interesting stuff at the 2008 RMAF” ▼Two hours before show time… ▼My Favorite Room. ▼Let’s clean some LPs… ▼…and lift some cables, too. ▼A treasure chest of Purist. ▼Atmosphere amps were out in several rooms. ▼deHavilland Audio’s soon-to-be-released Interstage Driven Triode Monoblocks. ▼The PLAYBACK […]

We were all young once, but we never had the drive and ambitions of one Cole Hatfield of Nawrocka Distribution, U.S. Importer of Aaron Electronics, Neeper Acoustics (loudspeakers) and Sovereign system (electronics, loudspeakers). The word “Nawrocka” is the maiden name of Cole’s beautiful wife, Ania, who he met in her homeland of Poland. Think of […]

by: Phillip Holmes & Gary Lea Tom Vu of K.T. Audio has become the new U.S. distributor for GamuT and Musical Life, and Dagogo spent an evening during 2009 CES & T.H.E. Show at the Alexis Park Resort Exhibit, savoring the gourmet food while listening to music. In attendance from Dagogo were senior reviewers Gary […]

Day three began with a highly anticipated trip to Peter Ledermann’s SoundSmith room. I’ll admit to not keeping up on the latest audiophile news. I wasn’t aware of Peter’s DirectGrace Records. I wasn’t aware that he was a recording engineer, and that he could cut direct to disk on his own lathe. More germane to […]

Well, I am back from a very chilly trip to Chicago that fell right on the heels of CES, so I am now ready for the second installment of my 2009 CES experience. As I continued to wind my way through the high-end exhibits at CES, I also had the opportunity to talk to some […]

Most Monumental: Ypsilon Electronics and Rockport Technologies ▼ Two solid performers, the Ypsilon and Rockport combo was stunning. The word prodigious comes to mind recalling the prodigious nature of the Rockport Altair. The Altair struck me as monumental sounding, even though its cabinet appears sleek enough to disguise the fact that it is a hefty […]

Numerous posts on audiophile message boards start with the phrase, “What’s the most…?” Virtually any termination to the sentence can be constructed, such as, “powerful amp,” or “tube-like cdp”. Most affordable, most involving, most reliable – the inquiries never end. I thought I would do my share of adding to the ever growing list of […]

The only true competitor for biggest vacuum tube at the show was the KR Audio T1610. The KR Audio room was playing the Kronzilla DX, using two of the monstrous T1610 in parallel per mono amp. I spoke at length with the rep from KR Audio had found out that the T1610 is a huge […]

“Mos Eisley Spaceport. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.” Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope As we were pulling up to the Venetian, my host, chauffeur for the day and fellow Dagogoan Gary Lea says: “oh, just to warn you, the porn […]