It’s been a while since my last installment of The Smoking Jacket, thanks in general to the pandemic, but I wanted to remind everyone that one of my favorite parts about smoking cigars is the […]
Jazz guitarist Jackson Potter certainly has that young Chet Baker, who’s-the-kid vibe, and his debut album Restless is certainly is one of those calling cards where the performer gets a chance to play a little […]
Today is officially the last day of summer, and the cooler and possibly rainy weather here in the Pacific Northwest today almost feels celebratory. We’re talking about a summer where on the hottest day here […]
You know how I used to start off each of my integrated amplifier reviews with an opening paragraph on why I love integrated amplifiers? Yes, I made a promise not to do that ever again, […]
My favorite 2L Recordings albums tend to be those that feature the human voice, such as in a choir. The reason is simple–there’s something gloriously pure about the sound of a human voice, as found […]
I’ve been going on and on about the wonderful and daring Swiss and Russian jazz albums I’ve been receiving, and how their distinctly European takes on simple trios and quartets has re-energized my enthusiasm for […]
This week’s international jazz surprise comes, once again, from Russia. My Story from Ilugdin Trio isn’t as esoteric as some of these other albums I’ve been reviewing–even from fellow Russians such as LRK Trio. Instead, […]
The Allnic Audio H-5500 phono preamplifier forced me to ask myself a serious question—am I still a tube guy? Just a few weeks ago I stood in front of my ever-evolving reference/review system and wondered […]
To understand why Part-Time Audiophile is taking another crack at reviewing the Hana Umami Red, especially just a few weeks after our own Mohammed Samji reviewed it in conjunction with his Technics SL-1210GAE feature, you […]
Saxophone player Kenny Shanker and his new album, Beautiful Things, act as quite the polar opposite to the Swiss and Russian jazz that has dominated my review schedule over the last few weeks. These international […]
On the international jazz front the Swiss are still winning, but the Russians are suddenly catching up with a duo of fascinating releases. I’m referring to the increasingly wonderful fact that I’m getting these magnificent […]
The Jeff Rowland Design Group Capri S2-SC preamplifier and Model 125 amplifier are soooooo tiny. How tiny are they? When the boxes arrived at my front door, I said “This can’t be right. These boxes […]
I can’t pick out a specific genre for the music played on Dimitri Monstein Ensemble’s Landscape, and yet it’s so familiar, like something I used to hear all over the place many years ago. Monstein, […]
I’ve mentioned the influx of European jazz that’s suddenly arriving in the mail, especially from Switzerland, but here’s a CD from Russia that made quite a surreptitious entrance. I saw the little customs labels all […]
In all my years of being an audiophile, of being a high-end audio importer and distributor, of being an audio reviewer, I had never seen a pair of loudspeakers get split up in a shipment […]
The juggernaut that is Japanese avant-garde pianist Satoko Fujii continues unabated. I received quite a few of her astounding and strange albums from Libra Records over the last few months, and I even let the […]
I don’t have a story about Hagerman Audio Labs from the old days, other than the fact that they offered a product I found intriguing—an affordable tube phono stage called the Trumpet that sounded […]
The arrival of Fadenschlag, from Swiss jazz guitarist Mareille Merck and her trio Larus, reminds me that there was a time a few months ago that I said yes to a record label from that […]
Of all the audio gear I came close to buying over the last forty years, I probably got closer to a pair of LS3/5as than anything else. I’m reminded of that constantly in the presence […]
Take one look at the title of the new album from guitarist Alex Martin, and you’ll probably have a pretty good idea of what kind of music is contained within. Probably folk songs arranged through […]
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