Analog sources: Benny Audio Odyssey turntable, Benz Micro Gullwing cartridge.
Digital sources: Tascam CD-200iL CD player, HoloAudio May DAC.
Preamplifiers: Shindo Labs Allegro (line), Manley Chinook (phono).
Power amplifiers: Air Tight ATM-1 SE, Elekit TU-8888 monoblocks, Rogue Audio Stereo 100.
Loudspeakers: Volti Audio Lucera.
Cables: Interconnects: Auditorium 23, Triode Wire Labs Spirit II (RCA), "Spirit 75" S/PDIF (RCA/BNC). Speaker: AudioQuest William Tell Zero (10') Auditorium 23 (8').
Accessories: Pro-Ject VC-S2 ALU,…
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital sources: dCS Lina DAC with Master Clock; HoloAudio Spring 3 KTE, LAiV Harmony µDAC, Denafrips Terminator Plus; TEAC VRDS-701T CD transport.
Preamplifier: HoloAudio Serene.
Power amplifiers: Linear Tube Audio Z10e, First Watt SIT4, Parasound A21+.
Loudspeakers: Voxativ Hagen2, Falcon Acoustic Gold Badge LS3/5a.
Headphones: Beyerdynamic DT 880, HiFiMan Susvara Unveiled, Grado HP100 SE.
Headphone amplifiers: Pass Labs HPA-1, LTA Z10e.
Cables: Speaker: Cardas Clear Beyond. Interconnects: Cardas Clear Beyond, AudioQuest Black…
It only took 40 years, but I think digital can now compete one-on-one with analog for exciting, satisfying sonics and user satisfaction. It took a long time to happen, but I think it was worth the wait. By their very nature, analog and digital sound different, but I don't think a cogent argument could be made today that recordings sound more or less musical in one format or the other. While I'm comfortable in either format, I like some of the features that digital enables, such as AI suggestions of "similar" recordings. Lately, when it's late and things get dark and cozy, I like to curl up…
Silver platters and I began divorce proceedings over a decade ago. The separation began when the husband and I contemplated liberating ourselves from crime-ridden East Oakland and moving to placid Port Townsend (where anarchist deer, rather than Norteño gang members, wreak havoc on our daily lives). There was no way I was going to haul 55 big boxes of CDs 846 miles and have no place to put them.
I refused to part with my vocal CDs. Ditto for my LPs and 78s, though my only turntable was destroyed in transit. All that media plus eight large boxes of CDs and SACDs that inexplicably slipped…
Photo by Rettrogers
In October 2022, a notable group of accomplished musicians including Lyle Lovett, Jason Isbell, Kacey Musgraves, Steve Earle, Bob Weir, Valerie June, Dwight Yoakam, and others gathered at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville to perform and record the soundtrack for the film You Got Gold: A Celebration of John Prine. The concert film, which began limited screenings across the US in May 2026, will continue to make the rounds of galleries and arthouse screens until its final dates in New York City leading up to the Christmas season.
Along with playing Prine's music…
Photo by Jay Blakesberg
Few bands are as, shall we say, onomatopoetic as The Claypool Lennon Delirium. The Delirium is the umbrella under which bassist/vocalist Les Claypool (Primus, Fearless Flying Frog Brigade) and guitarist/vocalist Sean Ono Lennon (The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger) gather occasionally and combine their creative forces to make some of the weirdest, wildest, wackiest soundscapes imaginable. Their latest—The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy (Prawn Song/Chimera Music/ATO), a double album three-plus years in the making—includes 14 songs that hammer home the…
Sidebar: The Grateful Dead Catalog in Modern Times
The Grateful Dead's recordings have been released so many times, in so many formats, that the rainbow of bears should be dancing in the shape of the international recycled symbol. Warner Music and Grateful Dead Enterprises are nothing if not persistent in monetizing their assets. Whatever new format or medium comes along, the Dead will always be a "content provider."
Just in the past decade, Workingman's Dead has been…
At Audio Advice Live 2026, Fidelity Imports' Eric Smith talks about the gear in this room at the show, which includes a Cambridge Audio streaming amplifier, integrated amplifier, and active bookshelf speakers, in an interview with Ken Micallef that's now posted on our YouTube channel.
Playing the larger system in this Fidelity Imports room at Audio Advice Live 2026, I was impressed at how the components refused to dress up bad recordings—or put lipstick on a pig.
Vintage '80s prog rock sounded one-dimensional and flat, while modern country and jazz…
Photo by Chloe Weir Photography
The Grateful Dead ushered in an era of open-minded experimentation and endless touring that paused occasionally but never really expired until its participants did. It follows that saying goodbye to cofounding Grateful Dead guitarist/vocalist Bob Weir, who passed away at age 78 on January 10, 2026, truly signifies the end of an era.
That phrase—the end of an era—gets thrown around too much when musicians of a certain stature die. But when it comes to Weir, one of the last, strongest, most direct connections to the mid-1960s migratory music movement…
Jim Snidero: Best of the Trio Recordings
Snidero, alto saxophone; Peter Washington, bass; Joe Farnsworth, drums
Savant Records SLP 2240 (LP). 2026. Snidero, Barney Fields, prods.; Ken Heckman, Dave Darlington, engs.
Performance ****
Sonics ****
Snidero, alto saxophone; Peter Washington, bass; Joe Farnsworth, drums
Savant Records SLP 2240 (LP). 2026. Snidero, Barney Fields, prods.; Ken Heckman, Dave Darlington, engs.
Performance ****
Sonics ****
This LP, which compiles material from two earlier Savant Records CDs, arrived the day before Sonny Rollins died. Even though Snidero plays alto, it reminded me of the great tenor player.
Why did it remind me of Sonny? I wasn't sure myself. I thought about it. The first reason, I think, is the ensemble sound. This is a…