Source components included a VPI Industries Avenger Direct turntable ($36,000) mounted with a VPI Shyla MC cartridge ($2000), into a VPI Voyager phono stage ($2500), and an Esoteric N-01XD DAC/streamer ($22,000). Analog and digital signals fed a VAC Master preamplifier with phono option ($42,000), and VAC Master 300 iQ monoblocks ($42,000/each), driving Gershman Acoustics 30th Anniversary Black Swan speakers ($95,000/pair). A pair of Gershman Acoustics 30th Anniversary Grand Avant Garde speakers ($19,000/pair) also held court.…
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Ofra Gershman brought an exceptional system to FLAX 2025.
In one of Joe Parvey and House of Stereo’s five rooms at FLAX, the Jacksonville, Florida dealer presented horn-loaded speakers and tubed electronics. Be still my beating heart!
In Brandon 1—presented in conjunction with Oz Turan of High End by Oz—the room was painted completely black. I kissed the floor, and it kissed back. Oops, wrong song, wrong venue.
A Wolf Audio Systems Alpha 3 SX Pure Digital Edition Music Server ($9295) was coupled to a Viva Audio Numerico DAC ($26,000), which fed a Viva Audio Linea preamplifier ($32,000), and a 10Wpc Viva Audio Solista MK III integrated…
Jeff Joseph's room is the hottest ticket at every show. Securing a seat is a yearly battle, driven by the sheer, undeniable magic of his and Nick Doshi's reel-to-reel system.
This year at FLAX was no different. The room’s system consisted of a Studer A810 reel-to-reel with extended response heads, Doshi Evolution Series Tape Preamplifier ($22,000), Doshi Evolution Series Line Preamplifier ($22,000), and Doshi Evolution Series Monoblock amplifiers ($45,000/pair), driving Joseph Audio Pearl Graphene Ultras ($52,000/pair).
Digital got its due via an Aurender N30SA media…
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.
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,…
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…