Part-Time Audiophile

Latest News

September 15, 2017 in Announcements // Devialet & The Lost Recordings: Ella Fitzgerald Live at the Concertgebouw – 1961
September 13, 2017 in Announcements // McIntosh Labs announce new MAC7200 Receiver, MA7200 Integrated Amplifier
September 7, 2017 in Announcements // T.H.E. Show that wasn’t – Anaheim cancelled until 2018
September 6, 2017 in Announcements // Bowers & Wilkins announce new 700 Series loudspeakers at lower price
September 4, 2017 in Announcements // MQA and Deezer announce partnership

The Newest Thing

DVL Audio Album of the Month for September – Cheap Trick

by Rafe Arnott in Canada

This is the third in a monthly series of album reviews I will be doing for DVL Audio here in Canada. I’ll be heading out to a local record store in Vancouver, digging through the bins, and coming up with an intriguing LP to discuss here on Part-Time Audiophile. I’ll never go out with something in mind beforehand, and there is no criteria for whether it’s a new album, an old album, an out-of-print LP, electronic, classical, jazz, punk – whatever – it just has to sound good to [...]

3 Comments

DVL Audio Album of the Month for September – Cheap Trick

September 16, 2017 // 3 Comments

This is the third in a monthly series of album reviews I will be doing for DVL Audio here in Canada. I’ll be heading out to a local record store in Vancouver, digging through the bins, and coming up with an intriguing LP to discuss here on Part-Time Audiophile. I’ll never go out with something in mind beforehand, and there is no criteria for whether it’s a new album, an old album, an out-of-print LP, electronic, classical, jazz, punk – whatever – it just has to sound good to [...]
Review: Audio Research VT80 Foundation Series power amplifier

9 Comments
Review: Aurender A10 digital music server and DAC

8 Comments
Revisited: PS Audio DirectStream DAC and Memory Player

2 Comments
Review: DeVore Fidelity Gibbon X

18 Comments

LA Audio Show 2017: Rafe’s wrap up on California

August 4, 2017 // 1 Comment

While this may have been the inaugural Los Angeles Audio Show, it had an air of familiarity about it that made for an easygoing experience. Everything seemed to run like a well-oiled machine, and the venue – the Sheraton Gateway Hotel – had plenty of space, and it’s forked-path hallway set-up (lamented by many, but not me) made it easy to take in a large number of rooms per floor without feeling like you were being squeezed out a tube of toothpaste like some long-hallway shows can. [...]
LA Audio Show 2017: Wrap-Up and John Stancavage’s Best of Show

3 Comments
LA Audio Show 2017: Ryan, Auralic create vivid soundscapes

1 Comment
LA Audio Show 2017: The Voice That Is launches a Tidal wave

2 Comments
LA Audio Show 2017: Wyred 4 Sound, KEF offer attainable sonic bliss

2 Comments
LA Audio Show 2017: Raidho D1.1 speakers create big sound from small box

1 Comment
LA Audio Show 2017: ATC brings pro sound into your home

2 Comments
LA Audio Show 2017: Rethm, Audio Hungary, Aqua create pleasing sound at attractive price

3 Comments
LA Audio Show 2017: Nola Gold 2s play music like ringing a bell

1 Comment

Review: Audio Research Reference Phono 3

August 6, 2017 // 5 Comments

By Richard Mak Closer to the master tape In the world of high end audio two of the most revered names in the industry are McIntosh and Audio Research. McIntosh, founded in 1949 by Frank McIntosh and Audio Research in 1970 by William (Bill) Johnson, represents two of the oldest U.S manufacturers still in operation. Their coveted and fiercely loyal customer base can only be matched by the loyalty of their employees, many of whom have been with the company for over 30 years Together, McIntosh and [...]
Review: McIntosh MP1100 Phono Preamplifier, digging into your vinyl grooves

11 Comments
Turntable manufacturer sees sales surge 400% to keep up with vinyl numbers

6 Comments
Review: Dynamic Sounds Associates Phono II

5 Comments
Five turntable mats: An audiophile shootout

23 Comments

Review: Aurender A10 digital music server and DAC

August 26, 2017 // 8 Comments

by John Richardson I come from a do-it-yourself type family. To the best of my knowledge, this handy trait started out with both of my grandfathers and got handed down from there. One was a country boy who liked to build stuff for his own use just for the fun of it. He used to build wooden boats for both work and pleasure, well, just because. His son, my father, took the do-it-yourself concept to a new height out of some in-grown sense of thrift. As I was growing up, that man could pinch a [...]
Revisited: PS Audio DirectStream DAC and Memory Player

2 Comments
Review: Clones Audio HOST Music Server

4 Comments
Review: BorderPatrol USB Digital to Analogue Converter (SE Version)

19 Comments
Review: Roon, Tidal and totaldac – Part Two – delving into Roon

0 Comments

Review: DeVore Fidelity Gibbon X

August 19, 2017 // 18 Comments

The following is a transcript after a late night session down in the listening room, recently. Me. “That’s not quite right, is it?” Him. “No, it’s off. Listen – hear that? Sounds a bit thicker. The shimmer is missing.” Me. “Nah, it’s not missing. It’s just subdued. The decay disappears too soon.” Him. “Yeah, all right. I’ll buy that. Just like it wanders off for a bit, like it has somewhere else it needs to be.” [...]
Mini-Review: Zu Audio Dirty Weekend Omen Version II

15 Comments
First Listen: Wilson Audio Alexia Series-2 takes my breath away

2 Comments
Review: Fritz Speakers Carrera 7 Be Loudspeakers

5 Comments
Review: Harbeth Super HL5 Plus loudspeaker

9 Comments

Review: Fostex TE100 IEM headphones

July 15, 2017 // 1 Comment

IEMs? Where would we be without their high propensity for mobility and discreet listening sessions? It’s like a personal private eye, hired for some deep investigative work. In the case of the masses vs. Fostex TE100 ($1,200 USD) the undiscovered back story is a fairly rich one. Fostex is known for its OEM work as well as a myriad of partnerships over the years (you can check out some more of their history from our other review HERE), and one of the more recent meet ups came at a crossroads [...]
Review: Fostex TH-610, Massdrop TH-X00, and TH-X00 Ebony

3 Comments
Review: SPL Phonitor X headphone amplifier

7 Comments
Dr’s Orders: Study anatomy (hands on with the Metaxas Marquis Memento Mori headphone amp)

5 Comments
Review: Pass Labs HPA-1 headphone amplifier

3 Comments

Review: CH Precision L1 Dual Monaural Line Preamplifier, and M1 Reference Power Amplifier

September 3, 2017 // 4 Comments

Complaints. I had many complaints with this system. Not from me, from my neighbours. You see, this was one of those systems that just begged to be played ridiculously loud. It was the sense of scale, it was the musicality, it was the tone, the timbre… the bass. The CH Precision L1 Dual Monaural Line Preamplifier, ($32,975 USD/$40,870 CAN) and M1 Reference Power Amplifier ( $51,000 USD/$63,960 CAN) being fed Redbook Tidal, and high-resolution local files (a mix of 24/192, and DSD) via a [...]
Pass Labs launch new XA Series Class-A power amplifier

4 Comments
Hanging Out Down at the Pass: Pass Labs INT-60 Integrated Amplifier review

4 Comments
Review: Linear Tube Audio MicroZOTL2.0

7 Comments
Vinnie Rossi interview: The man behind LIO, PURE-DC-4EVR, and the iMod

4 Comments

PS Audio P10 Power Plant Regenerator: An impressive start

June 23, 2017 // 1 Comment

PS Audio very kindly provided me a P10 Power Plant Regenerator for review back in March, and after having the unit in my reference system for last few months, I have to say that I’m deeply impressed with it’s capabilities. I had been skeptical for some time back in my early audiophile-teen days about the difference cables, sockets, or AC-treatment could ultimately offer when it came to audible sonic benefits, but as the old saying goes: The proof is in the pudding. The more I [...]
Review: Triode Wire Labs is All American

3 Comments
AudioQuest and the holistic cabling approach to reference reviews

0 Comments
Review: Audioquest Niagara 7000, Elevating the Art of AC Power Conditioning

9 Comments
The Missing Link: the Stereolab Digit 75 SPDIF

8 Comments

DVL Audio Album of the Month for September – Cheap Trick

September 16, 2017 // 3 Comments

This is the third in a monthly series of album reviews I will be doing for DVL Audio here in Canada. I’ll be heading out to a local record store in Vancouver, digging through the bins, and coming up with an intriguing LP to discuss here on Part-Time Audiophile. I’ll never go out with something in mind beforehand, and there is no criteria for whether it’s a new album, an old album, an out-of-print LP, electronic, classical, jazz, punk – whatever – it just has to sound good to [...]
DVL Audio Album of the Month for August – Julius Lester

0 Comments
DVL Audio Album of the Month for July – Toshiko Akiyoshi Trio

5 Comments
Music Review: Sara Lov, Some Kind Of Champion

0 Comments
Review: Lyn Stanley’s Potions and Interludes on Analog Tape

0 Comments

The Smoking Jacket: Pablo’s Boutique

July 23, 2017 // 0 Comments

By Marc Phillips As an agnostic progressive, I’ve learned to keep my own counsel when herfing with strangers or casual acquaintances. I don’t want to perpetuate any stereotypes about knuckle-dragging cigar smokers, but I also don’t want to get my butt kicked in the back alley of a cigar lounge for suggesting that La La Land and Moonlight are far superior to the latest Jack Reacher film. With my regular herfing buddies at Tismart Cigar Shop in Brewerton, New York, everyone knows where I [...]
Spirited Away: Basil Hayden’s, Four Roses Single Barrel, Michter’s US*1 Unblended American Whiskey

4 Comments
“Affordable high-end” — is that like “jumbo shrimp”?

11 Comments
Six books on record stores, collecting, and vinyl obsessions

4 Comments
The Smoking Jacket: The Ballad of El Gordo

0 Comments

Cables from Audiomica Laboratory

Cables from Audiomica Laboratory

The end is nigh. I've read the news and it sure looks bad. Hurricanes, forest fires, eclipses! Oh my! Oppression, discrimination, bigotry! Oh no! Chaos and bedlam are consuming the entire world. UV light waves are only the beginning. We have an inch of topsoil left. And what about the irreversibly progressive depletion of the... Read More »

Impressions: The GamuT Lobster Chair for Audiophiles

Impressions: The GamuT Lobster Chair for Audiophiles

The GamuT Lobster Chair in the sweet spot at the PF listening room in River City. "And now," said Monty Python, "for something completely different!" When planning, setting up, or upgrading their listening rooms, audio folks don't usually spend too much time considering furniture. After all, loudspeakers. Electronics. Turntables. DSD. RTR tape. Racks. Cables. For... Read More »

Notes of an Amateur: Goerne Sings Bach; Two New Penderecki Releases

Notes of an Amateur: Goerne Sings Bach; Two New Penderecki Releases

Johann Sebastian Bach, Cantatas for Bass. Matthias Goerne, baritone. Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. Gottfried von de Goltz. Harmonia Mundi HMM 902323. If dark power is what you want in Bach's cantatas for bass—and you surely should—then Matthias Goerne is the answer to your prayers. Eloquent darkness is not always what we get from true basses, but... Read More »

A Second Visit to Distinctive Stereo

A Second Visit to Distinctive Stereo

The coincidences were uncanny. Exactly a year ago to the date we first visited Distinctive Stereo. Plus two weekends before that we had gone to Mezzrow, a small jazz club in the West Village, to hear clarinetist Ken Peplowski. Guess where we were and who we saw two weekends before this year? The outing was... Read More »

Transrotor JR Tamino MC Cartridge

Transrotor JR Tamino MC Cartridge

With its top-of-the-range models, Transrotor plays a prominent role internationally in the highest league of analogue playback. However, to date there hasn't been a cartridge matching the high-end turntables in the company's portfolio. The JR Tamino now has come to change this. Of course, the analogue specialists from the traditional region of the so-called Bergisches... Read More »

PrimeSeat Launches DSD 11.2MHz Streaming Audio

PrimeSeat Launches DSD 11.2MHz Streaming Audio

PrimeSeat Presents the NHK Orchestra in DSD 11.2 MHz (Photo: PrimeSeat Software) While many were celebrating Independence Day this 4th of July, a different celebration was happening in Japan and on the Internet. July 4, 2017 was the launch date of 11.2MHz DSD (also known as Quad DSD or DSD 256) Streaming Audio from PrimeSeat. ... Read More »

THE Show Anaheim is Postponed Till 2018

A Press Release sent out to Exhibitors on 7/6/17 Hello Exhibitors, It is with deep regret that I must report to you that I have decided to postpone T.H.E. Show @ Anaheim for 2017 and move it to a new date in 2018. This was not an easy decision for me and the great team... Read More »

The Far Corners: The 2017 Gibraltar Audio Show Report

April 1, 2017 // 4 Comments

By Modest I. Predlozheniye One of my favorite places to visit in all the world is Gibraltar since it is the intersection of so many different cultures. Where else can you [...]
The Far Corners: Getting Deep into the Groove with the Spoltaire Phono Cartridge

February 1, 2017 // 1 Comment

By Modest I. Predlozheniye “If you knew you could play your favorite album or the most valuable record in your collection and have it sound more beautiful than you have [...]
The Far Corners: The Skin Effect and Albania’s Organike Cables

September 20, 2016 // 2 Comments

By Modest I. Predlozheniye I love visiting the Albanian coast in early summer. From the alluring scent of tangerines and olive oil that permeates the islands of Ksamil to the [...]
Far Corners finds Hot Treasures: Svecheniye 12AX7 Vacuum Tubes

August 21, 2016 // 1 Comment

By Modest I. Predlozheniye It is easy to get caught up in the latest trends in audio, especially when you travel the world as I do. I see a lot of new technology applied to [...]

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