A few short years back, some large Japanese global conglomerate poured its vast engineering resources into creating three components; the first, a D/A converter that would be the envy of all, one that decodes all known codecs, and performs at equivalent level as others’ flagship designs. Then it turned its attention to the creation of one of the world’s finest preamplifiers, performing on par with competition costing over $10,000, equipping it to accept multiple XLR and RCA inputs, and arming it with one of, if not the most advanced and powerful phono cartridges loading and capacitance AI th ..read more

  Several months ago a local dealer, Timbre Audio, hosted an open house featuring the principals of the company Computer Audio Design: Isabel Whitley and Scott Berry. CAD designs and manufactures passive external grounding boxes, among other products. Although I had heard of the company and had even read one or two reviews, I was highly skeptical with respect to what an external grounding box could do for systems that were already properly star-grounded to earth. The open house event demonstrated the CAD grounding equipment on a system comprised of Vandersteen 7XTRM speakers, VTL S-400 ..read more

Read: Audio Note UK IO Ltd field-coil cartridge system Review   I group audio engineering kung-fu into 3 main categories: Concepts which have a solid theoretical basis. Concepts which have a plausible, but tenuous or inadequately researched theoretical basis. Pure Magic, based on intuition and experimentation! What we are talking about here, the sound of magnets, I would class in the second group. I am sure you have heard and read many times something along the lines of: ‘The flux is 1 Tesla, it doesn’t matter whether it’s from a ceramic, alnico, neo or field coil’. If you ask a guitar ..read more

Nearly six years ago in May 2018, then 38-year-old Russian violinist Lisa Batiashvili stepped onto the stage in the Berliner Philharmonie to play the Sibelius Violin Concerto with Paavo Jarvi conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker and the rest is history. The Sibelius work is known for its strenuous cadenzas and flowing passages that are incomparable in beauty and deadly to the soloist. In a rare moment, the camera captures the intricate interplay between the soloist and the second violin that is uncommon in violin concertos. Stream the concert from the Berliner Philharmoniker Digital Concer ..read more

The initial article regarding my search for a new digital front end concluded with a recommendation of the Aurender A20 (see review) as an excellent choice for those wishing to obtain great sound for a streamlined HiFi featuring a digital front end. This past week I spoke with an older industry insider who a couple years ago began downsizing. He started by selling his big Harley Davidson cruiser. This year he downsized from 200+ pound, six-foot-tall speakers and large monoblock tube amps to one component, an integrated streamer, preamp, and amp, which feeds his new bookshelf speakers and sub ..read more

  Benchmark Media is known for its small-footprint digital-to-analog converters such as the discontinued DAC2 and current-production DAC3 series, as well as analog-to-digital converters. The AHB2 bridgeable stereo amplifier, a pair of which being the subject of this review, was first introduced in the fall of 2014, and was the topic of a recent discussion between American electrostatic panel speaker manufacturer Sound Lab’s president, Dr. Roger West, and me. Dr. West knows well of my choice of reference amplifiers for driving the company’s Majestic 645 electrostatic panels in my home ..read more

TICKETS & PRIZES 2024 California Audio Show Quantity: Day Price: Description: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 3 Days, 7/19-7/21 30.00 USD Friday, Saturday, Sunday 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Friday, 7/19 20.00 USD 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Saturday, 7/20 20.00 USD 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Sunday, 7/21 20.00 USD Pick up your tickets at the CAS Registrar on day of event   Each ticket qualifies as one entry. No maximum ticket limit. All tickets eligible to win. Winning ticket to be drawn at 1pm on Sunday, 7/21/2024 at the CAS Registrar. Winner need not be present to win, and will be notifie ..read more

This past September I had the opportunity to attend the Nelson Pass Amp and Speaker Camp, which is held each year in Sebastopol, California. The camp has been going on for some years and has grown in popularity. This was my first time and I found it to be a fun day out. I don’t get the opportunity that often to spend the day with a group of like-minded audiophiles. I spent the morning building a pair of Nelson Pass’s Open Baffle Speaker designs and the afternoon building a pair of his 8-watt Class A mono-block designs. One of the highlights of the day was sitting across from Nelson at lunch ..read more

From now until December 11, 2023, Presto Music is offering Deutsche Grammophon HiRes FLAC music at MP3 prices. 24 bit 96 kHz lossless files that was $14.50 is now available at $8.25, for instance. New release from September, 2023 are excluded from this offer. What catches your fancy? Share your purchases in the comments. The post Presto Music Deutsche Grammophon promotion appeared first on Dagogo ..read more

CAS10 (2023) Show Report CALIFORNIA AUDIO SHOW 2023Hilton Garden Inn,  Emeryville, CA September 22nd through the 24th, 2023 Produced by Dagogo   Exhibitors at this year’s California Audio Show, held from September 22 through 24 at the Hilton Garden Inn, Emeryville, CA, showcased extraordinary electronics and speakers to the San Francisco Bay Area audiophiles. Hundreds of attendees came to the show, resulting in rooms constantly filled. Belmont-based Blue Coast Music president Cookie Marenco held a large booth with Australian pianist/singer Fiona Joy Hawkins and singer/violinst Rebec ..read more