Where Measurements and Performance Meet featuring Andrew Jones

Electrocompaniet + Ø Audio at High End Munich 2025

High End Munich: Audio Reference "Most Exclusive System Ever" with Wilson and D'Agostino

Silbatone's Western Electric System at High End Munich 2025

CH Precision and Audiovector with TechDAS at High End Munich 2025

Innuos Unveils Stream3 & Stream1—Modular Server/Streamer Lineup Explained | AXPONA 2025

KLH Model 7 Loudspeaker Debuts at High End Munich 2025

LATEST ADDITIONS

Interviews

Musicians As Audiophiles: David Smith

Ken Micallef Jul 29, 2018

Arriving at David Smith's comfortable Queens apartment, he walks me into what was once a small dining room. Standing upright like a pair of wood-grained phone booths are the biggest speaker cabinets I've ever seen in anyone's homeanytime, anywhere. What?

Measuring a colossal 23" deep by 26" wide by 66" high, each 20 cubic-feet cabinet holds a vintage Altec 604E coaxial driver wired to a Mastering Lab crossover set in Smith's custom-built MLTL cabinets.

Jason Victor Serinus

Schubert's Joy-Filled Octet

Jason Victor Serinus Jul 28, 2018

Got the blues from too much real news about the fake news, and too much fake news about the real news? Harmonia Mundi's recent release of Franz Schubert's Octet (Oktett) in F, D803, on which violinist Isabelle Faust joins a superb ensemble of fellow period-instrument musicians, may be just the scream-saver that the doctor recommended.

Audacious Audio Solid State Power Amp Reviews

Moon by Simaudio 888 monoblock power amplifier

Michael Fremer Jul 26, 2018

Not everyone needs a power amplifier that can deliver 888W RMS into 8 ohms or 1776W into 4 ohms. You could say that no one needs one of theseor two, if you want to listen in stereo. Most household AC systems can't even provide enough current to deliver all that power. But Simaudio does build Moon 888 monoblocks, and people do buy them, whether or not they need an amp that weighs about 250 lb each and costs $118,888/pair.

Art Dudley Listening Integrated Amp Reviews

Listening #188: ASR Emitter II Exclusive

Art Dudley Jul 26, 2018

The Emitter II Exclusive integrated amplifier, from German manufacturer ASR Audio (footnote 1), challenged my idea of what I could expect from a solid-state amplifier and my thoughts of what might be the best amp for driving a pair of Quad ESL loudspeakersrevelations that were more or less inseparable. After hearing my friend and former neighbor Neal Newman drive his own ESLs with a ca 1975 sample of the Quad 303a solid-state amplifier rated at 45Wpc into 8 ohmsand after my experiences, in 2016, driving my ESLs with a borrowed sample of the 18Wpc, solid-state Naim Nait 2, I began to think that Quad-friendly transistor amps are easier to find than their tubed counterparts.

Audacious Audio Solid State Power Amp Reviews

Pass Laboratories XA200.8 monoblock power amplifier

Jason Victor Serinus Jul 24, 2018

It was almost seven years ago that Nelson Pass, whose talks and exhibits I'd covered at many a Bay Area Burning Amp DIY event and audio show, surprised me with a loan of two Pass Laboratories' XA 160.5 class-A monoblock amplifiers. Ten months later, after I'd commented that my system had challenged the XA 160.5s in the bass department, he sent me a pair of XA200.5 monos. I connected those bigger babies to Wilson Audio Sophia 3 loudspeakers and some now-discontinued digital components with Nordost Odin 1 interconnects and speaker cables. Then came my way, toward the end of 2016, the XA200.8 monoblocks ($42,000/pair).

Gramophone Dreams Powerline Accessory Reviews

Gramophone Dreams #23: AudioQuest, Triode Wire Labs

Herb Reichert Jul 24, 2018

Before I spin this 23rd edition of "Gramophone Dreams," I must ask: How many of you are using zip-cord as your speaker cables? RadioShack interconnects? Those black universal 18/3 power cords that come standard with virtually every audio amplifier?

AudioQuest Storm Tornado/High-Current power cord
A few months after I wrote about AudioQuest's Niagara 1000 power-line conditioner ($1000), my friend Sphere asked if I'd ever then removed the Niagara from my system, listened, and still thought it improved the sound.

Jason Victor Serinus

An Enlightening Debut from Duo Noire

Jason Victor Serinus Jul 22, 2018

Duo Noire's debut recording for New Focus Recordings, Night Triptych, covers so many bases, and speaks so clearly to contemporary realities, that it immediately qualifies for several gold stars. But once you hear the sheer musicality of its premiere recordings of six new works for duo guitar, and how wonderfully they are played, you may be tempted to award the album several more.

Turntable Reviews

Merrill-Williams R.E.A.L. 101.3 turntable

Art Dudley Jul 19, 2018

Record players and the average consumer enjoy an on-again/off-again relationshiphappily, at this moment in time, it is very much onbut to high-end audio enthusiasts, the turntable has endured as an object of near-talismanic importance. I think that's not only because the turntable continues to give us so much pleasure, but also because it seems so understandableat its simplest, it's just a motor and a rotatable platter, attached to a board that also has some provisions for fastening a tonearm. End of story. Who among us has not, at one time or another, considered the lot of the turntable designer and thought, I could do that?

Stand Loudspeaker Reviews

Tekton Design Impact Monitor loudspeaker

Herb Reichert Jul 19, 2018

"It was not subtle. The [$2000/pair] Tekton Impact Monitors were doing it all: singing, drumming, shaking the air, drawing me in, and making every CD or LP pure pleasure to listen to. A little soft . . . but not too soft. Imagine a gentle but guiding touch with a most perfect sparkleand then firm and impactful when necessary."

I wrote that last October, after hearing Tekton Design's new Impact Monitor speakers at the 2017 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. I repeat it here because, as I listened to the Impact Monitors, I thought, Yeah, these speakers sound pretty damn good, but those seven tweeters are a gimmick if ever there was one.

Media Server Reviews Stand Loudspeaker Reviews

Apple HomePod smart speaker

Jim Austin Jul 17, 2018

It's after 5pm on Wednesday, and I'm finishing up the listening part of my review of Apple's wireless speaker, the HomePod ($349). On a whim, I've just asked Siri to play me some drinking songs.

I mention this because the HomePod's "smart" featuresits integration with Siri and the Apple Music streaming serviceis a big part of its appeal. In its natural element, the HomePod provides a way of accessing music that, although as old as our century, to me is still new and unfamiliar: Forget your hoary music collection, your Rolling Stones and Beethoven. Decide what kind of music you want to heara genre or a moodthen leave the choice to Siri and her algorithmic minions.