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That aphorism has few fans among people shopping for cancer drugs, contact lenses, GPS receivers, and laptop computers, all of which seem to get better with each passing year. Hell, even I know that.

It earns a more positive reply from anyone who's shopping for an oriental rug, or a fly rod, or a tweed jacket, or a musical instrument—people who will tell you that their fond response to the market for vintage examples of such goods is motivated by two things: older products were better made than their newer counterparts (better designs,…

I was about to add my usual, polite qualifier: It all depends on whether those performance parameters are important to you. But screw that. The fact is, contemporary audio consumers are even worse than contemporary audio designers when it comes to letting go of the things they think they know, in an effort to…

Until the completion of renovations to our future music room, my reference system would have to be my desktop system, built around a pair of Dynaudio Focus 110A powered loudspeakers,…

Description: Two-way rear-ported, powered, stand-mounted loudspeaker with remote control. Drive-units: 1.1" (28mm) soft-dome tweeter, 6.7" (170mm) one-piece, magnesium-silicate-polymer (MSP) cone woofer with 3" (75mm) pure-aluminum-wire voice-coil. Crossover frequency: 2500Hz. Crossover slope: 18dB/octave. Adjustments and calibrations: Treble, +1/0/–1dB; Input Sensitivity (Analog In), +6/0/–6dB (1/2/4V RMS); Speaker Position, Neutral/Wall/Corner (continuous adjustment); Channel Mode, Master/Slave/External; Wireless In via Dynaudio Connect, up to 24/96 to 1 zone…

Digital Sources: Apple MacBook Pro laptop computer with Intel i7, SSD, 8GB RAM; Apple iMac desktop computer with 3.4GHz Intel Core i7, 12GB RAM; G Drive 4TB external hard drive; Oppo BDP-93 NuForce Edition universal BD player; Benchmark DAC-1 USB DAC. M2Tech HiFace 192kHz Digital Audio Interface.
Loudspeakers: Dynaudio Focus 110A.
Cables: Digital Interconnect: Nordost Odin 1 (BNC with RCA adapters). Analog Interconnect: Nordost Heimdall 2 (USB) & Odin 1 (RCA). AC: Nordost Odin 1 & Odin 2 & Valhalla.
Accessories: Nordost Thor power…

I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Dynaudio Focus 200 XD's frequency response in the farfield; and, for the nearfield frequency responses, an Earthworks QTC-40, which has a ¼" capsule and thus doesn't present a significant obstacle to the sound.

I measured the Dynaudio at its analog input. As the Focus 200 XD is a powered speaker, my estimate of its voltage sensitivity can't be directly compared with those I publish for conventional speakers. But with a pink-noise input at 115mV RMS, the 200 XD's rotary…

It can be a spontaneous, self-generated hybrid of black shapes, brushed metals, and varying wooden finishes. You need not limit yourself to a single component or a single manufacturer. Whatever comes to mind first, really.

Got it?

Now picture the exact opposite of that.

That, reader, is Oswalds Mill Audio.

I first learned of Oswalds Mill Audio's (OMA's) existence a couple months ago, when I received an email from Jonathan Weiss (founder & CEO of OMA) inviting me to visit their showroom in Dumbo (…

John Atkinson reviewed GamuT's RS7 loudspeaker a year ago and was impressed by what he heard. Space will be limited, so call (707) 595-2020 to RSVP or via Facebook for Friday or for Saturday.

Last year, Michael Fremer reviewed Bel Canto's nearly all-digital Black amplification system, which comprises one ASC1 Asynchronous Stream Controller (essentially a…