Cage match Budget audio is like a cage match, with manufacturers pitted against each other in a battle to be declared the best value in audio. Two perennial loudspeaker contenders are Vandersteen and Magnepan, and for the sound quality each presents, they deservedly reap their share of customers. The principles at each company must breathe […]

Consider yourself sequestered, consider yourself quarantined, consider yourself one of us. Music can make the time go … Until things return to a degree of relative normalcy all the weekly selections shall be bolded. The groupings of New Releases, Re-issues, Re-masters and Miscellany shall stay the same. Within Miscellany one might find all manner of […]

Consider yourself sequestered, consider yourself quarantined, consider yourself one of us. Music can make the time go … I have BOLDED those selections which caught both my eye and ear this week. The groupings of New Releases, Re-issues, Re-masters and Miscellany shall stay the same. Within Miscellany one might find all manner of live performances, […]

  (Designed for use with PureAudioProject speakers) Could your audiophile life use a little spicing up? Care to go where no lazy audiophile has gone? Want some mid-Winter fun? How about a speaker system that caters to adventure with an adjustable active crossover? In this article I focus on my first month with the PureAudioProject […]

So much, too much going on. Releases from here, from there, everywhere. I have BOLDED those selections which caught both my eye and ear this week. The groupings of New Releases, Re-issues, Re-masters and Miscellany shall stay the same. Within Miscellany one might find all manner of live performances, as well as archival/historic recordings.   […]

  So much, too much going on. Releases from here, from there, everywhere. I have BOLDED those selections which caught both my eye and ear this week. The groupings of New Releases, Re-issues, Re-masters and Miscellany shall stay the same. Within Miscellany one might find all manner of live performances, as well as archival/historic recordings. […]

  Last year I gave a very positive review of the Ortofon MC1 Turbo, a high-output moving coil phono cartridge ($240). During the review I compared it to the popular Ortofon 2M Red moving magnet cartridge ($99). I found the MC1 Turbo to have a nice, relaxed sound, whereas the Ortofon 2M Red was very […]

NARP, the New Album Releases Project, got its start at NAR, New Album Releases, and back then – January 17,  2018, I had no idea that it would evolve into a project and be still going strong just about two years later. A proper backgrounder can be read here: https://www.dagogo.com/what-is-nar/ In light of NARP’s longevity […]

Imagine if you will a record cleaning panel gone wrong. It slipped its gears and from most if not all accounts went off the reservation. This is what was relayed to me by a number of sources about such a panel at RMAF 2019, so much so that certain members of the panel and others […]

NARP, the New Album Releases Project, got its start at NAR, New Album Releases, and back then – January 17,  2018, I had no idea that it would evolve into a project and be still going strong just about two years later. A proper backgrounder can be read here: https://www.dagogo.com/what-is-nar/ In light of NARP’s longevity […]

Allo’s USBridge Signature, introduced about this time last year, supersedes the original USBridge. I was keen to evaluate this new unit as I was so impressed with the original, and up until this new product was announced the original design was my go-to recommendation for those looking for such a solution. The earlier USBridge was […]

NARP, the New Album Releases Project, got its start at NAR, New Album Releases, and back then – January 17,  2018, I had no idea that it would evolve into a project and be still going strong just about two years later. A proper backgrounder can be read here: https://www.dagogo.com/what-is-nar/ In light of NARP’s longevity […]

Also read Benny Goodman’s Kingdom of Swing, Part 1 of 2 Combos, Maturity and Legacy In the late 1930s the innovative Swing combos of Benny Goodman http://www.jazzhotbigstep.com/45801.html (1909-1986) shaped a new small-band Jazz format.  His trios, quartets and sextets introduced sophisticated combo jazz to a broad popular audience.  Goodman did for clarinet what Louis Armstrong […]

I met up with Dave Cope of Old Forge Marketing and Old Forge Studio at the California Audio Show (CAS) in July 2019.  Dave is the US importer for Pure Audio, a line of audio equipment amplification from New Zealand. After listening in the room Dave had set it up it was very clear to […]

NARP, the New Album Releases Project, got its start at NAR, New Album Releases, and back then – January 17,  2018, I had no idea that it would evolve into a project and be still going strong just about two years later. A proper backgrounder can be read here: https://www.dagogo.com/what-is-nar/ In light of NARP’s longevity […]

NARP, the New Album Releases Project, got its start at NAR, New Album Releases, and back then – January 17,  2018, I had no idea that it would evolve into a project and be still going strong just about two years later. A proper backgrounder can be read here: https://www.dagogo.com/what-is-nar/ In light of NARP’s longevity […]

[Publisher’s note: This article is presented by Dagogo Senior Reviewer David Blumenstein.] Always Learning Having been a self-taught mastering engineer for the last 22 years (among other things), I’ve had the chance to learn some simple things independently which are not necessarily the same as what you would receive with formal training. Much of this […]

For the past three years, my favorite phono cartridge has been the Hana EH, which I have listened to  almost every day for hours. The Hana is a high-output moving coil cartridge, so, unlike moving magnet cartridges, the stylus is not user replaceable after it wears out. Since I don’t have a high powered microscope […]

You’ve just bought a new sound system or maybe you’re just moving the one you have. You’ve brought it home and now you can’t wait to get it set up and ready to play. Here are a few tips to help you get the most out of your stereo system. Where you put your components […]

NARP, the New Album Releases Project, got its start at NAR, New Album Releases, and back then – January 17,  2018, I had no idea that it would evolve into a project and be still going strong just about two years later. A proper backgrounder can be read here: https://www.dagogo.com/what-is-nar/ In light of NARP’s longevity […]

[Publisher’s note: This article is presented by Dagogo Senior Reviewer David Blumenstein.] Why do a lot of us audiophiles (and casual listener types) prefer the sound of records more than the same music released digitally? It’s something about the inferiority of digital right? Vinyl can be noisier, has side length limitations, inner groove distortion, but […]

There are several gushing reviews of the original Kinki Studio EX-M1, the precursor of the component on review. The EX-M1+ adds a few twists in terms of functionality, and that is what I will explore here. It can be dangerous to make a presumption in regards to a follow up product when the introductory model […]

NARP, the New Album Releases Project, got its start at NAR, New Album Releases, and back then – January 17, 2018, I had no idea that it would evolve into a project and be still going strong just about two years later. A proper backgrounder can be read here: https://www.dagogo.com/what-is-nar/ In light of NARP’s longevity […]

Advertisement NARP, the New Album Releases Project, got its start at NAR, New Album Releases, and back then – January 17,  2018, I had no idea that it would evolve into a project and be still going strong just about two years later. A proper backgrounder can be read here: https://www.dagogo.com/what-is-nar/ In light of NARP’s […]

[Publisher’s note: This article is presented by Dagogo Senior Reviewer David Blumenstein.]   Jerry Seinfeld, on his show, once said that “Florida was the place old people go to die”. While there are parts of Florida that have a big retirement population, lower Southwest Florida has a younger, more family-oriented demographic. I moved to the […]

This is an article I’ve been wanting to write for some time. I’ve spent the past 51 years working as an audio professional and have witnessed or been directly involved in a great deal of loudspeaker innovation and engineering during that time. I hope you will find this article instructional and entertaining. What is a […]

Advertisement What kind of speaker will you choose if you could afford anything and you had a dedicated listening room with a twenty feet ceiling? What kind of music would you play in the system you choose and in such vast venue? Not many of us have the privilege of tackling such tacky issues, so […]

Kenny Dorham, A Texan trumpeter born in 1924, was arguably one of the most underrated trumpet players of the bop Jazz era.  An amazing band leader and natural talent, he was also one of the busiest side men of his time.  He recorded with Monk, Rollins, Blakey, Hank Mobley, Oliver Nelson, Max Roach and host […]

Early Years and Becoming King of Swing Benny Goodman and his Orchestra were the most popular dance band of the Swing era.  His music became a definitive statement of American popular culture in the 20th Century.  This article and audio clips are based on the award-winning four-part Jazz Rhythm radio program, Benny Goodman’s Kingdom of […]

MartinLogan, founded by Gayle Martin Sanders and Ron Logan Sutherland in the 1980s, made its mark with electrostatic speakers. I remember listening to their Aerius speakers for the first time in 1992 and being very impressed. The Motion 60XTi floorstanding speaker, the subject of this review, is the flagship of the MartinLogan Motion series. The […]