First, the sound of the system. There was color—loads of color. "The silence is beautiful," I wrote, "and the system radiates color and light." Music glowed on a 24/44.1 file of Morten Lauridsen's recording of Magnificat, albeit with a touch of brightness in the treble. I would have liked far more volume on…
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No sooner had I finished listening in the Audiophile Zone room than ATC's Leland Leard corralled me into the AGD room. There, Alberto Guerra, AGD President and CEO, introduced me to his AGD/Ocean Way system and discussed the rationale behind his "tube" GaN MOSFET class-D amplifiers.
It has been too many years since I last encountered Von Gaylord Audio's Ling and Ray Leung of West Sacramento, CA. Celebrating 25 years in business, the couple now sells their equipment direct at half their old prices.
Lovely warmth and excellent transparency distinguished a system that was a joy to listen to. On CDs of The Holly Cole Trio performing "The Tennessee Waltz," Amanda McBroom singing "The Rose," and Three Blind Mice Vol.1 romping through "Aqua Marine," the system acquitted itself wonderfully. The entire range of cello proved captivating, bells had a special delicacy, electric…
T.H.E. Show VP Emiko Carlin (left) with Pandora Pang of On A Higher Note (right)
As one of the first US audio shows to reopen as the pandemic seemed to be winding down, T.H.E. Show's attendance figures had no way to go but up. Thanks to some good PR and the excellent choice of a new venue, The Hilton Costa Mesa in Southern California's Orange is the New Red County, attendance exceeded expectations. Saturday, for example, was so packed that I couldn't get into a number of rooms on floors 2 and 3.
Attendance also exceeded initial logistical preparedness. Early arriving attendees…
Dave Lombardo: Rites of Percussion
Ipecac IPC-265 (Auditioned as LP). 2023. Lombardo, prod.; Lombardo, David A. Lombardo, John Golden, engs.
Performance ****½
Sonics ****½
Ipecac IPC-265 (Auditioned as LP). 2023. Lombardo, prod.; Lombardo, David A. Lombardo, John Golden, engs.
Performance ****½
Sonics ****½
In Greek cosmology, the ancient philosophers theorized that the universe is comprised of four elements: fire, water, earth, and air. As these elements interact, matter and life are created. Dave Lombardo, though, needs only himself and some drums to construct fully articulated worlds.
Lombardo is, without hyperbole, one of the most accomplished drummers ever to sit behind a kit. He marries…
Many family-owned hi-fi companies have experienced generational leadership transitions over the last few years: Wilson Audio, Von Schweikert Audio, PS Audio, and VPI Industries, to name a few. In two of those cases, the founding father is still around. One of those is VPI Industries.
Harry and Sheila Weisfeld founded VPI in 1978. A succession plan? "Initially there really was none," VPI President Mat Weisfeld (above), who took over for his father Harry, told me. "They'd hoped to work to the last of their days. Unfortunately, my mom's days were cut short."
As Mat was growing up, he…
The Stereophile crew at AXPONA 2023, minus Herb Reichert (L–R): Jason Victor Serinus, Rogier van Bakel, Michael Trei, Jim Austin, Ken Micallef. Photo by David James Bellecci-Serinus.
At AXPONA 2023, I saw teenage besties cruising rooms together. I saw fashion-conscious 20-somethings listening in sweet spots, and young parents with younger children. Yeah, there were a few gray boomers like me, but only a couple were wearing Hawaiian shirts. AXPONA 2023 vibed like a tribal conference at a sacred pilgrimage site, and I've never enjoyed an audio show this much before.
I attended…
Over a lifetime of involvement in audio, I have had standmount speakers—bookshelf speakers, as they were called back then—only twice. My very first loudspeaker was a vinyl-wrapped fiberboard bookshelf box with no name. It lasted barely a year and was replaced with a two-way system I built with a 12" RCA woofer in a floorstanding bass-reflex cabinet. My second bookshelf system was a Weathers "Book" speaker lashed up to a University dual-voice-coil woofer. I was determined to try that new thing, stereo.
Since then, I've had only floorstanders, home-made and manufactured, and I never…
Weiss Engineering D/A processors are widely known for their high quality, in both home-audio and pro-audio circles. Over several Stereophile reviews, they have always measured well. Oh, and did you know they'd won a Grammy Award? Weiss Engineering founder and chief designer Daniel Weiss won the 2021 Grammy Award for Technical Merit for his pioneering work during the '80s and '90s designing digital equipment for mastering studios. Daniel is in good company: Another winner of the same award is Thomas Edison—though, unlike Daniel, Edison won it long after he was dead.
Daniel is one of those…
Innuos's Nuno Vitorino introduces the new Nazaré streamer-server. (Photos by Michael Trei.)
It was supposed to be so simple, a well-trod path I've followed almost every May for the last decade: A six-day trip to Munich to attend the final Munich High End Show before it decamps to Vienna next year.
I see any trip to Europe as an opportunity to replenish my personal stash of Anthon Berg Danish marzipan bars, a childhood favorite with a crack-like addictive pull. My flights and hotel were booked months in advance. I was ready to go.
Then Jim Austin, my esteemed editor, asked…
Ever since I became interested in—nay, obsessed with—high-quality music reproduction, my goal has been to attain the experience of being at a performance. Some audiophiles target the recreation of the event in their room—a "they are here" experience. Yet, it's obvious that the ensembles, orchestras, and choruses I enjoy would not fit in my room, and so it would be foolish to try to reproduce them as if they were.
In the early days of component hi-fi, all was mono. Not until the emergence of stereo was there any hope of creating the auditory illusion of an acoustic space—a performance…