The sound was as arresting and three-dimensional as the physical set-up. Alive, open, layered, perfectly tuned, glowing, flowing, and free, every note beamed life. It was the kind of sound that created silence and respect, as though entering a hallowed space where power and delicacy were honored equally. This was one of the finest…
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When everything arrives intact and Jeffrey Catalano has the time to create a set-up as stunning visually as it was aurally, High Water Sound’s systems invariably earn accolades as a Best of Show. This one certainly won my vote, as well as my applause and heart.
Photo: D. Darr
Sasha Matson: Good morning from Cooperstown, home of baseball. Do you follow baseball?
Charles Lloyd: I played first base. I'm left-handed.
Matson: Does this new album, The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow, feel special to you?
Lloyd: It does indeed.
Matson: Tell me a little about how you view the sound.
Lloyd: My dear friend and mentor Joe Harley is always around me, and he's been my sound mentor for years. I started out on Heathkits and graduated to Marantz. He's a wonderful sage. He's always there for the music. He's a sound seeker…
What a nice little system. The LP version of Paul Simon’s “Something So Right” sounded exactly that on TSO’s system, with an exceptionally smooth midrange and lovely bloom to the sound. After I heard Sarah Janosz and friends perform “Book of Right-On,” I declared, “The sweetest small-scaled system I encountered on Day 1!” And that was with no power conditioning to tame the noisy electricity in the huge Schaumburg Hotel.
Heading the lineup was the new flagship Rega Reference NAIA turntable with Aphelion 2 cartridge ($16,995). It’s the first five-figure table from the legendary turntable…
One of my coolest radio-related experiences happened just a few months ago, when, churning through FM stations in my car, I encountered a country-inflected male voice singing "Fast Car," the Tracy Chapman song. Rolling Stone dubbed "Fast Car" the 168th best song of all time. It has audiophile cred because its simple sonics (predominantly voice and acoustic guitar) and good engineering made it an important test track, used, eg, by Harman for listening tests and by others for assessing compression artifacts in MP3s.
I have written before—and it's inarguable—that nearly every aspect of…
Over a long career, thinker and audio designer Barry Thornton has carved his own paths and formed his own opinions, broad views about how the universe works and how one thing connects to another. He applies scientific principles broadly, too: From action comes reaction, though it may not always be predictable. "Do something, and everything else starts to occur," he said of his endeavors. Longtime readers and seasoned audiophiles will recognize Quintessence Audio Group, a maker of hi-fi electronics in the 1970s and '80s. Thornton founded the company and served as its main designer. He has…
Gryphon Audio supercharged HIGH END Munich 2024, Atrium 4.1, Room E120, presenting the world premieres of three products: Gryphon’s Apollo Supreme Reference Turntable with Apollo 12.1" DLC Tonearm, and new Black Diamond DLC Supreme Reference MC Cartridge with DLC ("Diamond-Like Carbon) coating ($149,800 total including cartridge). Also new, the Siren Supreme Reference Phonostage with external PSU (four inputs (3 XLR, 1 RCA), $69,800).
Gryphon Audio’s stately finish and bold lines were repeated throughout the system, which also included the Commander NPS Supreme Reference…
Zeiler Audio’s Ralf Zeiler took a stellar rig to AXPONA. I was very curious to hear his room at High End Munich.
The turntable was a “simple Garrard 401,” Zeiler wrote prior to the show. I didn’t recognize the tonearm or cartridge.
Amplification consisted of Zeiler’s unusual looking, low-profile Zeiler Audio PR-01 Preamp ($37,000) and PA-01 Power Amplifier ($37,000), each with tubes mounted horizontally. A Zeiler Audio SUT ($4500) was also used.
Zeiler debuted his new SP-01 Loudspeakers (matte: $35,000/pair; gloss: $42,000/pair).
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Bad me. For the past two or three years, knowing that it would run too late, I’ve begged off the evening Göbel press dinner / factory visit. From what I understand, it was my loss. According to Adam Mokrzycki, the mastermind of the Warsaw Audio Show, Oliver Göbel’s factory set-up is among the most impressive he’s ever heard. I stand chastised, Oliver and Adam.
This is not to suggest that Göbel’s more modest set-up (by Göbel standards) at Munich High End, headlined by the world premiere of Göbel’s smallest floorstanders, the High End Divin Comtesse loudspeakers (€59,000/pair…
Less than a week after visiting the Innuos factory in Portugal—report and video forthcoming—I had the opportunity to audition their products again in Munich. This time, the speakers were more full-range and superior in quality, and the associated electronics all top-level.
To get the best it could out of its servers and streamers, Innuos’s Nuno Vitorino and Amelia Santos powered all front-end components with two Stromtank S-2500 Quantum MK-II power regenerators that supplied pure, computer-regulated battery power. Nor would I discount the effects of an Artesania Exoteryc Pro Rack and…
“MBL always sounds great at shows” is an axiom so often repeated that it could serve as an audiophile mantra, but it accurately describes the experience of hearing a full-range, air-filled presentation that, in Munich, was open, alive, and just plain fabulous. For this, no small thanks are due Jeremy Bryan of MBL-North America and Jürgen Reis, the MBL engineer praised by John Atkinson and a host of other industry people who know quality when they encounter it.
MBL’s systems at Munich and AXPONA both dared to mix the new Cadenza "entry-level," Roon Ready C41 Network Player with volume…