My last Far East trip

First comes the anticipation, that initial jet of warm water, that miraculous searching, finding the sweet spot, then heaven on earth as it cleans and caresses.

Riding the Common Wave

In the e-commerce era, brick-and-mortar dealerships must give customers compelling reasons to stop by. Los Angeles hi-fi dealership Common Wave's owner Wesley Katzir keeps customers coming through the door with a simple idea: that music matters in our everyday lives and that what he enjoys, other people will enjoy, too.

Mind Games to the bottom of the rabbit hole

After a wild decade in the biggest pop music group ever, John Lennon's post-Beatles years were spent in protest, in various kinds of therapy, in immigration court, and in search of a new musical identity.

Trane meets the Motor City

Detroit became a destination for migrating African Americans early, starting with the Underground Railroad; the city's proximity to Canada was convenient for those seeking to escape Southern slavery.

Vital art never rests

At this late date, it seems impossible that there could still be \"lost\" albums lingering in the vaults by musicians as important and successful as Johnny Cash and Paul McCartney.

DUKE IN 10

TO COMMEMORATE THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF DUKE'S DEATH, ROBERT BAIRD SELECTS A DOUBLE HANDFUL OF EXEMPLARY TRACKS FROM PERHAPS AMERICA'S GREATEST MUSICAL GENIUS.

Piega Coax Gen2 811

It's funny how we discover some music in unexpected, twisting ways.

Pass Laboratories XP-27

One of the pleasures of reviewing-and also using-products from Pass Laboratories is an encounter with Nelson Pass's writing, which can usually be found in the owner's manual and is always competent, insightful, and sometimes funny.

EMT 928 II

Modern turntables are a paradox.

Dynaudio Contour 30i

Ah, Denmark. Land of the Vikings and blue-eyed, blond-haired folk with faces sculpted just so.

Dan D'Agostino Relentless

In Serinusland, smooth sailing has never been guaranteed. Some months back, for reasons not yet determined, my Stromtank S 2500 Quantum MK II power regenerator¹ began to hum mechanically-sometimes steadily, sometimes with a pulse-whenever I turned on battery mode.

Dos Locos buenos

Ron Sutherland makes a strong case for being crowned the king of all phono preamps, though I expect he would blush at any such suggestion.

Adventures in Schwabylon

\"Schwabing isn't a neighborhood, but a state of being,\" declared the Countess Fanny zu Reventlow, an early feminist who scandalized German society by parenting out of wedlock, carrying a revolver, and practicing what today tends to be called ethical nonmonogamy.

Let the music transport you

It's the late 1980s, and I'm soldering tube amplifiers on a plywood bench. I decide on a whim that it's time to break down and buy a CD player to supplement the Dynaco tuner and Dual cassette deck in my workroom music system.

RABBIT HOLES

The best Christmas gift in history was George Bailey being shown what the world would be like without his being born, courtesy of Angel Second Class Clarence, in the classic 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life.

REVINYLIZATION

As one of the first live albums to be recorded in the hallowed space that is New York City's Village Vanguard, Sonny Rollins's A Night at the Village Vanguard (recorded November 3, 1957, released in 1958) set the template, proving that recording in the odd, triangular club could not only work but could also produce distinctive, satisfying sound.

AURAL ROBERT

Recording music is complicated, and without the crucial assistance of producers and engineers, a lot of great records-not to mention successful musical careers would not happen.

Linear Tube Audio Aero

This paragraph from Linear Tube Audio's website description of their new Aero DAC sets the tone for the story I'm about to tell.

PrimaLuna EVO 300 Hybrid

Hybrid\" technology-specifically, mixing tubed and solid state in the same amplification device-stirs a deep desire for many enthusiasts.

SPIN DOCTOR

There once was an ugly duckling

BRILLIANT CORNERS

Stereo is the most successful audio gimmick of all time. While dashboard record players, quadraphonic LPs, and MQA have gone the way of Ron Popeil's hair-in-aspray-can infomercials, stereo remains king. And I am guilty of loving it.

Franco Serblin Accordo Goldberg

As founder and chief designer of Sonus Faber, Franco Serblin designed and manufactured many loudspeakers of acclaimed high quality, mainly in box form.

Grimm Audio MU2

For several months, my wife and I had been living in a cozy studio apartment in New York's Financial District while our apartment underwent substantial renovations.'

GoldenEar Technology T66

Loudspeaker company GoldenEar Technology was founded in 2010 by audio industry veteran Sandy Gross¹ after he left Definitive Technology.

T+A R 2500 R MULTISOURCE RECEIVER

The hi-fi receiver has been many different things.

AURAL ROBERT

Another \"outlaw\" country artist

Nina Simone: Wild Is the Wind

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?

Vintage hi-fi, old and new

Many audiophiles and serious music lovers are passionate about vintage. Vintage has become a popular \"way in\" to the hobby, especially popular among younger folks.

Tekton Moab Be

LOUDSPEAKER

ARCAM Radia A25

INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER