Rediscovery of TEAC as a serious audiophile brand was one of my highlights of 2024. The moderately affordable VRDS-701 Preamp/DAC/CD Player (the actual name is longer, so I have shortened it) and accompanying CG-10M-X Master Clock Generator set a new standard in preamplification and CD playback in my system and opened my eyes to the […]

Major Classical/Romantic Era composers of the 17- and 18-century such as Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, etc., published piano solo pieces that are the gems of culture and civilization. Retrospectively, there are a few notable names that perused the symphonic form almost exclusively in addition to the occasional opera, such as Richard Strauss. […]

The South Korea-based Aurender manufacturers high-end digital playback systems, several of which have been reviewed by Dagogo, including the $3,300 N100SC caching music server and streamer, the $16,500 A20 reference analog output network player, and the $13,750 N20 ultra high performance digital output network transport. The company established its reputation early on with its cache […]

My ears continue to tell me that vinyl, at its best, can present the most realistic and satisfying portrayal of a musical event when compared to other formats, with the possible exception of open reel tape.  My use of the qualifier “at its best” is very important here; I recognize that high resolution digital is […]

It’s nearly a case of six degrees of separation. Considering my involvement with speaker brands that he has designed for, it was only a matter of time before Kevin Malmgren and I would meet. As a speaker designer, he has worked with Egglestonworks, a speaker brand that I have admired from a distance and has […]

  I am watching four needles dance against a Mountain Dew (or is it Mellow Yellow; audiophiles might be divided) hued illuminated background, and I am happy. McIntosh this is not, and that’s a good thing. The blue meters of the venerated company are ubiquitous but, like Harley Davidson, are getting long in the tooth. […]

Introduction I recently sent my EMM Labs PRE back to the factory for an update, which involved a complete rebuild to match current specifications.  Quite honestly, I really was at a loss to know what to expect.  Amadeus, Ed Meitner’s son and production head, rightly recommended the upgrade.  If you have seen my recent review […]

  The Colibri’s chirp Few people have more interest in the name of this speaker than me. I am a Christian, a Creationist and Intelligent Design proponent, and have written extensively on novel features in nature that are extremely improbable for a material process to make. The Colibri, a type of hummingbird, is a marvelous […]

This will be a short show report, as it consists of one room and one image. I have not written show reports for a few years now. I found that they did not appreciably affect my success in procurement of equipment for review. Further, after several years, they tend to blend – I’m only being […]

A unique recording of the Beethoven Violin Concerto was made on August 8, 2020, during a live performance at the Musikverein in Vienna. Recorded in 24-bit 96K Hz resolution, the concerto was played by the period instrument ensemble Orchester Wiener Akademie, founded in 1985 by conductor Martin Haselbock. Soloist Benjamain Schmid, in an unconventional move, […]

In 2022, Fred Crowder and I travelled to California to hear a cost-no-object system, from which came Fred’s article, “One Man’s Dream”.  It was a celebration of one man’s journey through audiophilia toward an incandescent experience of recorded music. Fred’s own journey was similar, even if not involving quite the same cash outlay, and the […]

  Read the 2015 Pass Laboratoriess XA200.8 Review The first quarter of 2025 has proven to be most interesting thus far. Class D amplification has finally come of age with the release of a $2,499 analog class D monoblock amplifier, the Orchard Audio Starkrimson Mono Ultra Premium, which I reviewed last month. There are uber […]

  The first part of this review was sweeping in its perspective and discussed the larger topic of the efficacy of using a pair of integrated amps, specifically ones with DAC/pre/D topology. This segment will explore tuning that system configuration with the associated cables, especially HDMI cables used for transmission of the I2S signal favored […]

  The New Jersey-based Orchard Audio has a compact class D monoblock amplifier that outputs 500 watts continuous and 1,000 watts peak into 4 ohms, costs $2,499 each, and it is an analog switching amplifier. The Starkrimson Mono Ultra Premium monoblock, the subject of this review, employs the latest Gallium Nitride field-effect transistors (GaNFET), with […]

A pair of the nine feet tall Sound Lab Majestic 945PX electrostatic panel speaker system costs $60,000, and it is the flagship model in the Majestic series. The ”945” nomenclature denotes the panel being nine feet high in a 45-degrees curving radiating surface. It is essentially a large canvas of mylar diaphragm stretched inside a […]

  A little more than six years ago, I reviewed and subsequently adopted the Pierre Lurne record clamp as my reference after a rather exhaustive search for a clamp/weight that would enhance the sonics of my Rockport Sirius turntable.  Initially, I would have said, if asked, that given that the Rockport has a well-designed vacuum […]

If you are anything like me, the acquisition of McIntosh and Sonus Faber by Bose Corporation was a shock. As a long-time audiophile and devout believer in maintaining the quality and standards of the Audio Specialty industry, this move was tantamount to seeing a cherished artisanal craft risk being absorbed into the world of mass […]

  Read: Part 2. The PS Audio Stellar Strata Mk2 Integrated Amplifier is one of the most important components I have handled, but not for the reason you may think. In the process of reviewing this and one other integrated amplifier, I have reached what many would consider controversial conclusions regarding two channel audiophile system […]

Publisher’s note: Heaven 11 has notified us that the MK2 has been discontinued at the time of press, making way for the launch of the MK3 in February, 2025. Follow-up Review forthcoming. Here comes this curious integrated amp that I spied at AXPONA 2023 as it was playing through a pair of PAP Trio10 Heil […]

A Revelation When I receive an updated version of a product that I have previously reviewed, the changes are more often evolutionary rather than revolutionary.  By this, I mean that the designer has in fact improved areas in which the product was already strong while weaknesses remain.  This clearly is not the case with the […]

Variety for the budget audiophile Let’s say you have $3K to spend on speakers. What will you buy? One of the hundreds of OK sounding box speakers? Maybe a Vandersteen or a dipole speaker like a Magnepan? I have owned the Vandersteen 1B and 2CE, the Magnepan MMG and 1.6QR (and reviewed the .7i; see […]

We put bits of electronics, wires, and drivers together to create something ephemeral which we hope will also be ethereal. Digital bits seem a strange way to conjure music, but they are no stranger than the coded structure of our being. Someone wrote that code, just as someone wrote the code that operates the PS […]

SHOW REPORT 8/16/2024 Constantine Soo Colin King of Gestalt Audio and Joe Cohen of Lotus Group once again teamed up for a second year at CAS, and attendees were treated to another field-coil speaker system driven by a meticulously design and set up analog gig, featuring a new and improved Fuuga cartridge on a $30,000 […]

  Audio Note UK operates a little differently than the rest of the industry in the home stereo world. The company creates a complete array of components for stereo systems from cartridges to loudspeakers down to making the internal parts including transformers, resistors, capacitors, cables, solder, etc. Furthermore, company owner Peter Qvortrup insists upon complete […]

  HighResHiFi, U.S. Distributor of FINAL Electrostatics, Netherlands will demonstrate all new electrostatic panel speaker line-up in both multichannel and stereo configurations. 2024 California Audio Show – Final (final-audio.com) System 1 –  stereo & multichannel music audiophile: Final model 35  pair @ $27,000 BREAKING: Final to present it’s top of the range Model 35 at […]

SHOW REPORT 8/14/2024 Constantine Soo The Audio Note UK room was presented by dealership True Sound, and it was packed just like last year. Lee Chen of True Sound counted 85 new visitors by Saturday afternoon! Many of them sat for an hour or longer. The AN-E/SPx Ltd field-coil speaker system, the star of the […]

SHOW REPORT 8/12/2024 Constantine Soo Clarisys Audio debuted the Piccolo, its full-ribbon panel speakers with yet the smallest dimensions. On hand to walk us through the juicy tidbits of the desing was Ron Resnick of Audio Cafe, Beveryly Hills, CA. Electonics support were by Gary Leeds of WestminsterLab. Sitting at the center in the first […]

SHOW REPORT Constantine Soo 8/8/24 Dr. Phil Ducote and Dan Rosca of cables manufacturer Audience AV demonstrated a pair of the latest version of the $4,000 ClairAudient 1+1 mini-monitors, now in version 5. On the 30-inch Skylan stands and driven by a pair of famed OTL tube amplification company Atma-Sphere’s latest class D monoblocks, coined […]

  SHOW REPORT Constantine Soo 8/8/24     Sound Lab was represented by its Japanese distributor, Christopher Stubbs of Sound Lab Electrostats Japan in the Lobby Gold Ballroom. He was joined by Jose Ramirez a.k.a. Dr. Vinyl, and Todd Garfinkle of MA Recordings. Two pairs of new Sound Lab panel speakers were positioned on a […]

Note to the reader: In this article I am not claiming to have found a method in which affordable equipment performs at a SOTA level, but rather, a method of system building that has elevated my digital front end and offers flexibility to optimize any system I build and elevate the performance of speakers I […]