LATEST ADDITIONS

Alex Halberstadt  |  Mar 28, 2024  |  4 comments
Ever notice that the language we use to talk about sound can be pretty aggressive? Reviewers often write about amplifiers "taking control" of a speaker, possibly "ironfisted control," especially if the amplifier in question happens to be a "juggernaut." In this particular linguistic trash fire, we also find "razor-sharp transients," "hair-raising dynamics," and that ickiest of descriptors, "bass slam." If words could smell like hair gel and drugstore cologne, these might.

All this verbiage is describing brute force, which we might use to push open a heavy door. But there's another kind of force that we encounter in the world, and consequently in audio, captured in the expression "life force." It denotes a sense of vitality and presence that isn't readily perceived by the senses—something lingering just out of reach of our rational minds. This force can be experienced in the terse saxophone solos of the young Sonny Rollins, the eerie abstract paintings of Mark Rothko and Pat Steir, and the deceptively quiet poems of Elizabeth Bishop. If you've ever been drawn in by one of the squat, gouged, lopsided jars made by a traditional Japanese potter, you know what I'm talking about.

Rogier van Bakel  |  Mar 27, 2024  |  17 comments
The late Ken Fritz discusses his legendary audio system, from the YouTube video One Man’s Dream

When Ken Fritz died, many people wondered what would become of his stereo system. Fritz's rig was the stuff of legend. The audiophile from Chesterfield, Virginia, had built much of it with his own hands, including line-array speakers too tall to fit in most people's homes. They took 5400 hours to complete and were appraised at more than $200,000. He also designed and built a three-arm turntable that sat on a unique 1500lb antivibration platform. Fritz felt that his "Frankentable" rivaled or bested record players costing well into six figures.

That was just the beginning.

Robert Schryer  |  Mar 27, 2024  |  1 comments

What can you get for $4750? A lot, apparently.

Robert Schryer  |  Mar 27, 2024  |  2 comments

Audio Note exhibiting at the Montreal audio show? Nothing new. Audio Note exhibiting an all-Audio Note system? Again, nothing new. Audio Note speakers that are not placed in the corners and are on tall stands? That's out of the ordinary.

Robert Schryer  |  Mar 27, 2024  |  0 comments

Hearken Audio always comes to the Toronto and Montreal Audiofests with a trove of gear, much of it exotic to me either because I've never heard of it or rarely see it anywhere else. It is invariably intriguing from a purist-artisinal standpoint and usually superlative sounding.

Robert Schryer  |  Mar 27, 2024  |  1 comments

Soltanus Acoustics from Hungary and Brooklyn Audio from Nova Scotia [corrected] served up a seductive system consisting of a pair of electrostatic Soltanus Acoustics ESL Virtuoso Mkll speakers ($24,999/pair), an Auralic Aries G2.2 streamer ($8199), an Auralic Vega G2.2 DAC ($10,699), a Zesto Audio Leto Ultra Mkll preamplifier ($15,580), a mono/stereo Hegel H30A amplifier ($23,995), and a Synergistic Research router ($3000). Filling out the system were a variety of AudioQuest cables (various prices), an AudioQuest Niagara 5000 power conditioner ($7500), and a Quadraspire SVT audio rack ($3000).

Robert Baird  |  Mar 26, 2024  |  0 comments
By all accounts, Eunice Kathleen Waymon, aka Nina Simone, who passed in 2003, was a troubled person and a brilliant artist. Why she was not more acclaimed during her lifetime is a question several recent film projects have tried to answer. Did her fierce stand on civil rights lose her fans? Or was it, as the films have implied, a case of self-sabotage driven by mental illness? Whatever the answer, her inimitable work continues to resonate with ever more force and depth.

A mix of tracks left over from sessions Philips recorded in 1964 and 1965, Wild Is the Wind has been reissued on 180gm vinyl by Universal Music and Acoustic Sounds. Remastered by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound and plated and pressed at QRP in Salina, Kansas, the record sounds warm and evocative, capturing the nuances of Simone's complex vocal powers.

Robert Schryer  |  Mar 26, 2024  |  3 comments

The first time I heard a pair of standmount Kii Audio Three speakers, a few years back at a Montreal Audiofest, I immediately got them—their sound, their purpose, their futuristic, polished look. I was infatuated by these strange, complex, almost entirely self-sufficient sound-reproduction devices, so unlike anything else I'd seen they may as well have been from outer space.

Robert Schryer  |  Mar 25, 2024  |  2 comments

Hegel hosted a few rooms. In this one, the Norway-based company’s setup included its brand-new 150Wpc H190V streaming integrated amplifier with MM phono stage ($4899, projected release: May), a pair of Andrew Jones–designed MoFi Sourcepoint 8 speakers ($4399 with stands)—the model's 8 designation refers to the size of the concentric driver—AudioQuest cabling (various prices), and a MoFi Ultradeck turntable with factory-aligned Mastertracker MM cartridge ($3999), wasn't in use during my visit.

Robert Schryer  |  Mar 25, 2024  |  2 comments

"I could live with a system like this," I thought, as I sat beguiled by what I was hearing and seeing in the room co-hosted by Luna Cables, Thöress, AudioNec, The Wand, and Wattson Audio. At that moment I wasn’t thinking only of the system’s sound quality but also of the artisanal, passionate, old-values aesthetic these companies represent. Certainly those components—those values—were making beautiful music together, music with touch, tactility, air, pure tone, expressive delicacy, vocal purity, solid bass, transparency, and informational fullness.

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