November 2015

The Show Cannot Go On

November 14, 2015 Editorial Staff 1

The outrage, passes. In its place, sadness. Today, we mourn with Paris.

DACs have been hot for a few years now and the rate of improvement seems to be at least constant, if not actually improving. Apart from the conversion methods themselves (commercial DAC chips), obscure chipsets from non-audio […]

RMAF 2015: Jeff Rowland puts it altogether

November 13, 2015 John Stancavage 1

There’s no mistaking Jeff Rowland Design Group products. For years they’ve sported his trademark impressively thick, artfully machined aluminum faceplates. But the units always have been more than audio jewelry, producing some of the best […]

Warsaw 2015: Goldmund, Hyper-ACTIVE

November 12, 2015 Norman Williams 5

by Norman Williams A quote from Adam, the Show boss says it all: “DSP equalised, fully active with analog amps driving all drive units separately — Goldmund may have a point here.” Goldmund has proprietary […]

The Reluctant Sommelier: Napa Valley (and other) 2011 Vintage California Wines

November 12, 2015 Editorial Staff Comments Off

by Nina Sventitsky I’ve posted before about vintages. On the West Coast, 2011 was a challenging vintage, because the Spring and Summer were cold and wet. What does this do for grape development? If you […]

Warsaw 2015: Reunited and it feels so good!

November 11, 2015 Norman Williams 12

by Norman Williams Warsaw upped the ante in 2015. My second visit here and as impressive as 2014 was, 2015 a big pleasunt positve surprise. Show boss Adam touted: “2 hotels (Sobieski Radisson Blu and […]

RMAF 2015: Legacy casts a big shadow

November 11, 2015 John Stancavage 8

While some speaker manufacturers develop ever-smaller models to try to fit into the “lifestyle” market, at Legacy Audio the rallying cry after three decades still is pretty much “go big or go home.” Legacy typically […]

RMAF 2015: Tonearm porn, or Pete Riggle shows off his Woody in Denver

November 10, 2015 Rafe Arnott 2

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Pete Riggle is a bit of a legend in the tonearm industry for his contribution to easy VTA adjustment for owners of Rega tonearms. And since […]

RMAF 2015: VK Music for the tube-loving everyman

November 9, 2015 Rafe Arnott Comments Off

Victor Kung is a sweet, soft spoken guy, who hails from my hometown of Vancouver (OK, it’s really COQUITLAM), British Columbia. He is VK Music, and you should check out his gear. It’s just some […]

RMAF 2015: Well Tempered Labs, Sony and Kimber Kable

November 8, 2015 Rafe Arnott Comments Off

Simplicity is beauty to this humble audiophile. And the Well Tempered Labs Amadeus GTA is nothing if not simplicity. I’m an aesthetic snob, I make no apologies for having a certain taste and being turned […]

RMAF 2015: Exemplar Audio gets back to BASS-ics and combs hair straight back

November 8, 2015 Rafe Arnott 2

Many of you may not be familiar with Pacific Northwest rap lyricist Anthony Ray, better known as Sir Mix-a-Lot, but I’m going to invoke one of his better-known ditties to help convey how I feel […]

Review: HiFiMAN HE1000 flagship headphones

November 7, 2015 Editorial Staff 10

by John Grandberg The proliferation of really-high-end headphones is undeniable. Back in the day, a $500 headphone was considered expensive, and the few thousand-dollar-plus models in existence were typically limited-edition rarities. Nowadays? Not so much. […]