There’s something to be said for 240 lbs of digital-active loudspeakers (analog gain & filtering featuring proprietary Meridian Class-A discrete amplification – 600 watts/speaker) with built-in DSP, and DACs, that can pretty much be put […]
Any time, any Transfiguration Low Output Moving Coil (LOMC) cartridge is perched on the end of a tonearm, and dragging it’s nail head through a filthy trough of vinyl grooves, I get a little excited. […]
I occasionally have friends say to me, “Hey, you write for an audio magazine. How can I get a good hi-fi system without spending as much as you have?” These are the folks who are […]
The unassuming, and slightly rumpled dude in the corner of a Colleen Cardas Imports room at Newport Beach looked aloof, smart, and slightly bored as he scrolled through the screen on his smartphone. I immediately […]
Baron Timothy de Paravicini is a name I instantly associate with exquisite-sounding audio gear. He was involved with legendary brands like Luxman, Quad, and Musical Fidelity – works closely with a number of high-end recording […]
“Two channel with attitude” is what it says at the top of the Highwater Sound room’s gear listing page that Jeffrey Catalano handed me at T.H.E. Show after I had crawled around the room like […]
Some rooms at a hi-fi show you walk into, and you just instantly go “Ahhhhhhh…” The Brigadiers room was like that, and when I darted into the GamuT room, I got the same vibe. That […]
Many audio system demos take place in dimly-lit rooms. I think sales reps feel this adds some mystique to the gear being auditioned, and maybe allows the listener to better focus on the sound and […]
I usually come away from every audio show with at least one piece of gear that I am seriously smitten with. Normally that feeling, after a closer look at my bank statement, quickly fades away. […]
In the 1990s, it seemed that Madrigal Audio Laboratories’ Mark Levinson brand could do little wrong. Even though the company’s namesake founder no longer was involved, the remaining team continued to bring to market a […]
Gordon Burwell, president and founder of San Francisco-based Burwell & Sons, recently saved a load of vintage burl walnut from becoming firewood. Instead, the material wound up being used for a smokin’ new pair of […]
Back at RMAF 2013, I got to experience the MSB Analog DAC. It was their entry level DAC priced at $6995. 2 minutes into listening, it was clear…. I wanted to hear more and more of […]
Last year, ahead of the California Audio Show, I made a visit to Brian Berdan’s brick-and-mortar store, Audio Element, in Pasadena. I entered the shop, located in a thriving entertainment district on Union Street, and […]
Visitors to Sanders Sound Systems’ small, second-floor room at T.H.E. Show in Newport encountered a demo that could have made a fascinating episode of the Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters. Among the commonly held beliefs easily disproved […]
I recall being 9 years old, breaking the seal on my dad’s fresh LPs, giving them a clean and accidentally spilling LAST cleaning fluid everywhere with that darn dropper, then copying them to audio cassettes for […]
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