With Oneiros designers Jerry Bloomfield and Graeme Bridge in the room for in-depth explanations, the system began with the mighty VPI Avenger Direct turntable, featuring a VPI Gimbal FatBoy tonearm mounted with a DS Audio Grand Master optical phono cartridge ($17,500). This fed into the new DS Audio TB-100 tube equalizer ($20,000) and a DS Audio Grand Master PH-001 phono cable ($2500), which in turn directed an Audio Research Reference 6SE line stage preamp ($22,…
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I’ve heard the new Oneiros speaker in three different rooms in New York City and thought I had their sound pegged. I was wrong.
Recently, I found myself in an email correspondence with David Chesky, the musician/composer/entrepreneur behind Chesky Records and HDtracks, which was the world's first hi-rez music-download service. With his brother Norman, David has long run those businesses while engaging with his art. At the time of our correspondence, he was on tour with his jazz trio and busy "writing operas and children's works to keep me out of trouble," as he wrote in an email. Brother Norman, surely, has had much to do with the success of the Chesky ventures—I do not mean to give him short shrift—but it was David I…
Reel Sound Distribution’s Jeff Garshon came fully armed to Tampa, with a Metaxas & Sins system that was both fantastic looking and sounding.
A Tourbillion T-RX reel-to-reel player and power supply ($52,000), atop a Tourbillion custom stand ($8000), traded analog duties with the Perambulator turntable, which features a hybrid solid aluminum/acrylic platter and an external motor ($29,000); it was coupled with a Combobulator tonearm, made of solid titanium with silver internal wiring ($9000).
A Solitaire integrated amplifier (150Wpc, custom color, $41,000) performed tag…
Thomas Kiss (AVLG) and Philip O’Hanlon (On A Higher Note) delivered a startling surprise. Upon entering their room, attendees faced an unsettling ambiguity: fight, flight, or surrender to the experience. Most chose the latter.
Along with a vintage tape deck and top-flight digital components, the room’s Bayz Audio Courante 2.0 loudspeakers look and sound like no other. But first, here are the system details.
A ReVox/Sonorus PR99 vintage reel-to-reel tape machine, Accustic Arts Player III CD player ($14,990), Aurender N20 network transport music server/streamer ($12,500…
Humble Pie: Smokin'
Analogue Productions APP 168 (LP). 1972/2024. The Pie, prods.; Alan O'Duffy, Keith Harwood, Kevin Gray, engs.
Performance ****
Sonics ****½
Analogue Productions APP 168 (LP). 1972/2024. The Pie, prods.; Alan O'Duffy, Keith Harwood, Kevin Gray, engs.
Performance ****
Sonics ****½
A question that gains urgency as more audiophile reissues arrive and prices rise is, are they worth the price? The answer depends on the answer to another question: How much better is a $100-or-more reissue gonna sound than the original, major-label 150gm pressing? Add to this the fact that the word "audiophile" has become an en vogue marketing buzzword, which in the case of the ever-increasing number of European public…
Jazz and film have long sustained an intimate creative relationship. Jazz is a cinematic art form because it is intuitive, improvisatory, and embedded in the moment. The aural imagery of jazz is perfect for insinuating shifts of mood. No wonder jazz is often used in film scores. No wonder there are so many jazz interpretations of movie themes. The three excellent new albums discussed below are cases in point.
Dave Stryker's career spans 40 years and 37 albums. But he has never attempted anything as ambitious as Stryker with Strings Goes to the Movies. It employs 30 musicians, including a…
Joe Parvey of Jacksonville’s House of Stereo and Chris Shaw of Focal Naim America had their sights set on something sleek, a room where listeners could focus on music without lifting a finger, literally and physically. That’s what digital is all about, right?
To that end, a Naim CI-Uniti 102 streamer ($1499) served as the source for a pair of Focal Kanta No.1 standmounts ($3999/each) that looked lonely; they didn’t get much love.
But the large, wireless Focal Diva Utopia loudspeakers ($39,999)—which Mark Henninger and I covered back in NYC—blasted beautiful sounds for…
Hasn’t everyone owned a pair of Triangle speakers? Early in my audio journey, Triangle’s clean, precise, flowing sound won me over. Then the company seemingly disappeared. Well, they’re back, and FLAX 2025 showed them in prime stead, in yet another House of Stereo room.
An international affair, room 419 held a Serbian made Soulines TT42 turntable ($14,500, tonearm and cart not included), Norwegian Electrocompaniet ECP 2 MkII phono stage ($2900), Electrocompaniet ECM 1 MKII High End DAC and streamer ($5700), Electrocompaniet EMC 1 MKV Reference CD player ($6800), Electrocompaniet EC 4.8…
Rhino Records started in 1978 as an eclectic indie label specializing in compilations and offbeat reissues. Its emblem was a scowling rhinoceros-human hybrid with a record spinning on the tip of its horn (footnote 1). Time Warner acquired the label during the 1990s, and today Warner Music uses it as its chief nonclassical reissue vehicle.
As a back-catalog label, Rhino was active early in the vinyl revival—and it continues to be. Rhino quickly learned that a popular older album, when released as a high-quality physical artifact—whether it's an LP, a CD box, a multichannel Blu-ray audio…
At an exclusive event hosted by Manhattan Motorcars in New York City, I had the chance to speak with Walter Schofield, a consultant representing Oneiros loudspeakers. Surrounded by luxury automobiles, our conversation explored why these ultra-high-end speakers fit perfectly into a dealership known for its selection of rare, exclusive, and exotic vehicles.
According to Schofield, Oneiros Loudspeakers aren't merely inspired by Formula 1 technology—they incorporate it. Manufactured in England's "Motorsport Valley," a region famous for producing winning F1 cars, every aspect of these…