Home » Archives for March 2013
Schiit BiFrost USB and Modi DACs Sweepstakes
Register to win a Schiit BiFrost USB and Modi DAC (MSRP $449 Bifrost; $99 Modi) we are giving away. According to the company: Bifrost:...
Gibson To Buy Majority Stake in TEAC
It was announced Friday March 29 that guitar manufacturer Gibson was to buy a majority stake in Japanese company TEAC, which manufactures audio components...
Pass Laboratories XP-30 line preamplifier
It was the strangest thing. In the fall of 2008 I was comparing Ayre Acoustics' then-new KX-R line preamplifier with no preamplifier at all—I was...
Ypsilon Aelius monoblock power amplifier
I knew nothing of Ypsilon when I first saw its products in a room at an overseas audio show. Even though the speakers in this system were complete...
Payday Albums: 3/29/13
Today’s payday. I bought just one title. But it’s a 6-LP box set. The Transcendental Waterfall: Guitar Excursions, 1963–1967 collects John Fahey’s...
Luxman does DSD
Saturday, March 30, 2–5pm: Audio Revelation (2630 Pirineos Way, Carlsbad, California) and On A Higher Note will host an open house featuring...
A Nice, Normal Dude Wins the V-Moda M-80 Headphones
Hey everyone. Meet Zach. Zach “The Attacker” Packer is the happy winner of our recent V-Moda M-80 on-ear headphone sweepstakes. Packer, a New...
There's No Business Without Show Business
Cole Porter: An All-Star Tribute (DVD, VAI) includes outtakes of the great Ethel Merman filming for TV, in 1960, a performance of Irving Berlin's...
Passion of the Hi-Fi: Part II - Dimensions
At the end of April, it will be time to renew the lease on my quaint Kensington duplex. Over the past three years, a cast of typical New Yorkers...
News Flash: Oppo now plays DSD files
There has been a lot of buzz lately generated by show demonstrations of DSD recordings played directly from files and as the opportunity to download...
When Saints Go Machine: "Love and Respect"
The strange trembling vocals, warm synth sounds, and chamber pop movements of Konkylie, When Saints Go Machine’s full-length debut, appealed to...
Sarah Vaughan: "Tenderly"
Sarah Lois Vaughan was born on this day in 1924, in my hometown: Newark, NJ. In this clip, taken from a 1958 performance, she sings “Tenderly.”...
Too Many Shows?
Are there too many audio shows? With the Chicago AXPONA having been held two weeks ago, the Montreal SSI having just concluded, and the New York...
People Watching at the Coup de Foudre Party
One of the by-invitation-only events of SSI is the party held by Montreal high-end retailer Coup de Foudre—the invitees being personnel of their...
The new TT Two
Audio Note has long been a believer in high-torque turntables, having brought to market a number of belt-drive designs that use multiple motors (à...
Bisson, free
One doesn’t normally think of a private concert by a gifted recording artist as a particularly bad way to start the day, but. . . On Saturday...
From the Gutwire
When in London, do take in the British Museum, where you’ll find the uncannily well preserved human remains that have come to be known as Lindow...
Sonus Faber's Aïda
Not being fully up on the names of the various Sonus Faber speakers, I asked one of the reps the name of the giants on demo. "Ida" was his answer....
The $5000 System
The management of SSI requested exhibiting manufacturers, distributors, and retailers to set up—in addition to whatever equipment they wanted to...
Live at Leedh
Despite its unfortunate physical resemblance to an electric shoe-shine machine, the Leedh E loudspeaker sounded open and airy during my visit to...
Lars at large
Lars Kristensen of Denmark’s Raidho Acoustics, who has yet to overcome his shyness, presented the Raidho/Rowland system with all of the good cheer...
Night Sky Courtesy of Blue Circle Audio
Blue Circle Audio first came to prominence (or perhaps notoriety) with whimsical products like an amplifier in a shoe and a preamplifier in a purse....
Great Value from Cambridge Audio
In a very different financial world than the Wilson/VTL and Magico/Constellation offerings below—and a world that, frankly, I'm much more comfortable...
Gift from a flower to a garden
Here’s Philip O’Hanlon of the California-based distribution company On a Higher Note, looking like he just stepped out of a Donovan album. His system...
