AudioStream

04/19/2020

Totaldac offers 80 per cent Money Back

Vincent Brient, the man behind the totaldac brand, is offering new totaldac owners a unique service in these difficult financial times – anyone ordering a DAC, streamer or driver between the 1st April 2020 and the 31st August 2020 will be able to return it and get 80 per cent of the cost back (excluding shipping costs) up to 12 months after purchase.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/totaldac-offers-80-cent-money-back

04/17/2020

Songs For Self Isolation

I never thought my time spent as a reclusive artist would turn out to be a survival skill.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/songs-self-isolation

04/15/2020

AXPONA 2020 Livestream Friday at 10 a.m. CST – The (Virtual) Show Goes On

AXPONA 2020 organizers have partnered with 25 hi-fi industry heavyweights to bring you a content-rich Livestream this Friday, April 17th, at 10 a.m. Central Standard Time via the AXPONA page.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/axpona-2020-livestream-friday-10-am-cst-%E2%80%93-virtual-show-goes-0

04/14/2020

Art Dudley, Stereophile Legend, Passes Away

A legend in the world of high-fidelity authorship, a man of gentle spirit and uncommon bonhomie – Art Dudley, long-time editor, mentor and parser of words, passed away this morning from cancer.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/art-dudley-stereophile-legend-passes-away

04/13/2020

JCAT Announces Xtreme Edition USB Audio Card and Low-Noise DC-Output PSU for Computer Audio

While many in computer audio have embraced all things dedicated or small when it comes to streamers and servers, or combos thereof, for those audiophiles who use a dedicated PC or laptop rig for their digital needs, JCAT is listening.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/jcat-announces-xtreme-edition-usb-audio-card-and-low-noise-dc-output-psu-computer-audio

04/10/2020

Aqua Acoustic Quality Introduces LinQ Digital Network Interface

Aqua Acoustic has launched a digital network interface focused on audio-first connection principles – the LinQ. A company with a focus on longevity in its products, Aqua designed the LinQ to adhere to a precise idea of an streamlined, long-life platform with network bridge modules, focused on sound quality and audio playback functions above all else.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/aqua-acoustic-quality-introduces-linq-digital-network-interface

04/08/2020

Hi-Fi and Record Store Heart – Support Your Local

As someone who has built up lasting relationships and friendships with high-fidelity manufacturers, distributors and local shop owners, just like many of you out there, I’m seeing firsthand the devastating financial affect that covid-19 is having on them.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/hi-fi-and-record-store-heart-%E2%80%93-support-your-local

04/06/2020

Naim Updates Control App with New Features

Owners of Naim streaming platform music players such as the Uniti Atom, Uniti Star, Uniti Nova, ND5 XS2, NDX 2 and flagship two-box ND 555 will benefit from improved end-user functionality through the Naim Control Application thanks to an update from the company.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/naim-updates-control-app-new-features

04/04/2020

Qobuz Waives Download Revenue Share for Two Weeks – All Monies Passed to Rightsholders

France-based music streaming and download service Qobuz has launched a ‘giving back’ initiative named Gimme Shelter to help artists who’s livelihoods have been impacted from covid-19.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/qobuz-waives-download-revenue-share-two-weeks-%E2%80%93-all-monies-passed-rightsholders

04/03/2020

Linn Announces Software Update to Enable Wifi and Bluetooth for Selekt DSM

Linn has proved once again they think ahead of the curve. Owners of Linn Selekt DSM models should be thrilled to learn the company used some hi-fi stealth tech by quietly embedding the company’s latest network music player architecture/wireless board to the main processing board during the initial design process.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/linn-announces-software-update-enable-wifi-and-bluetooth-selekt-dsm

04/01/2020

Audiophile Sumo: Separates Can Offer Listening Lessons

“Unnnnnnggggg…” I hissed and cursed softly under my breath, shifting my stance, pulling harder. The amplifier barely budged. My one-year-old daughter sat passively watching me like I was a documentary television program from her perch on the love seat several feet away.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/audiophile-sumo-separates-can-offer-listening-lessons

03/28/2020

Sonore opticalModule Review

Some people might say that I’ve gone to extremes to minimize noise and maximize resolution. I, however, feel that I’ve only done what’s necessary.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/sonore-opticalmodule-review

03/25/2020

Audiophiles: How Did You Go Digital?

Switching to digital meant I spent less time in record shops and more time at home with a cold beer or whisky while I data-mined TIDAL’s catalog into Roon playlists and sat besotted with happiness listening to what felt like endless music.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/audiophiles-how-did-you-go-digital

03/23/2020

Linn Klimax DSM preview

The Linn Klimax DSM is the Scottish company’s highest-specified digital music source/integrated pre-amplifier.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/linn-klimax-dsm-preview

03/20/2020

Ethernet Cable Shootout: Comparing Network Cables from $5 to more than $1,000 USD

There are many music lovers out there putting together network-enabled, digital-based sound systems who wonder silently or aloud in the darkness of their listening rooms, “Do ethernet cables make a difference?”

https://www.audiostream.com/content/ethernet-cable-shootout-comparing-network-cables-5-more-1000-usd

Why on Earth do I do this? I rolled my eyes, sat back, listened and shook my head. I sighed. The midrange had tightened, with the close-mic’d acoustic guitar gaining tonal and timbral definition as well as more perceived weight to the wooden body the softly-plucked notes were emanating from. This ...

03/20/2020

Bandcamp Waives Revenue Share NOW for 24 Hours to Help Artists

Listener-supported digital music download and LP purchase website Bandcamp whose revenue-sharing model of online sales help support musicians directly, is waiving its cut of the profits for 24 hours (right now!) to put more money directly into the pockets of artists affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/bandcamp-waives-revenue-share-now-24-hours-help-artists

Listener-supported digital music download and LP purchase website Bandcamp whose revenue-sharing model of online sales help support musicians directly, is waiving its cut of the profits for 24 hours (right now!) to put more money directly into the pockets of artists affected by the Covid-19 pandemic...

03/16/2020

This Is a Test: Analog Music For Evaluating Audiophile Gear

With the other mixes I’ve done for AudioStream and InnerFidelity having run the range of musical genres, there is of course a contingent of readers who have an aversion to electronic music. I felt inclined to offer something of a course correction for the classic audiophiles who proudly hold their ground.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/test-analog-music-evaluating-audiophile-gear

With more and more of us keeping to ourselves during these difficult health circumstances, what better way to spend some alone time than with a high-quality music mix based on an all-analog song set. My thanks, as always, to our resident DJ and music expert Scott Eastlick for coming through with suc...

03/14/2020

Devialet Expert 440 Pro Dual Integrated Digital Amplifier Review

Creating a radical, future-forward digital-platform/power-supply/chassis design born in the crush of 21st-century electronic advancement that still resonates with futurists and traditionalists alike 10 years on is no easy feat.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/devialet-expert-440-pro-dual-integrated-digital-amplifier-review-0

It was strange to realize that even though I was constantly using it, I was never actually touching it. Yet, as the weeks went by, the more it seemed to become an extension of my body – like a hand or an arm: it simply became a part of every day physical machinations I completely took for granted ...

03/11/2020

Undercurrents No.6: No Toques la Uni-Q!

Our daughter Veronica, who turns one next week, is gaining more balance and growing more curious by the second. She likes to turn the volume k**b on our Arcam A19 integrated amplifier – always up, never down.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/undercurrents-no6-no-toques-la-uni-q

Our daughter Veronica, who turns one next week, is gaining more balance and growing more curious by the second. She likes to turn the volume k**b on our Arcam A19 integrated amplifier – always up, never down. She enjoys tugging on my AudioQuest Rocket 33 speaker cables. And, most alarmingly, she r...

03/09/2020

AXPONA 2020 Postponed

Organizers of North America’s largest audio show have today announced that AXPONA 2020, which was originally scheduled for April 17–19 at the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & Convention Center in Chicago, will be postponed to August 7-9, 2020.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/axpona-2020-postponed

03/07/2020

Avoid Coronavirus: Listen to Music

The only place I can seem to find solace from the impending viral menace is when I’m streaming music, or dropping the needle in a groove.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/avoid-coronavirus-listen-music

Coronavirus. It’s everywhere I turn, and it doesn’t look like escape from exposure is happening anytime soon. On my phone, or laptop, when I read the New York Times it has surpassed Trump in snatching headlines and column inches. I have a TV, but don’t have television per se, instead ceding LE...

03/06/2020

AudioQuest Niagara 3000 Announced

As I sat and watched my one-year-old daughter desperately try to prise out a plastic AC-outlet blocker so she could jam a chopstick into it, I was reminded of audiophiles and their relationship with all things power related.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/audioquest-niagara-3000-announced

As I sat and watched my one-year-old daughter desperately try to prise out a plastic AC-outlet blocker so she could jam a chopstick into it, I was reminded of audiophiles and their relationship with all things power related. Much like my youngest girl, audiophiles too, have an urge to smite the AC r...

03/02/2020

Cambridge Audio EDGE NQ and CXN V2 now Roon Ready

Modern software and hardware handshakes have a firm grip in hi-fi as manufacturers like Cambridge Audio continue to recognize the importance of Roon Labs as the music player of choice for streaming cloud-based digital audio or accessing local-area high-resolution files.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/cambridge-audio-edge-nq-and-cxn-v2-now-roon-ready

Modern software and hardware handshakes have a firm grip in hi-fi as manufacturers like Cambridge Audio continue to recognize the importance of Roon Labs as the music player of choice for streaming cloud-based digital audio or accessing local-area high-resolution files.

02/28/2020

High End 2020 Cancelled Due to Coronavirus Fears

What has undoubtedly become the largest and premier high-fidelity and audio trade show in the world – High End Munich – has been formally cancelled by High End organizers over fears of worsening health conditions amid the outbreak of the coronavirus.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/high-end-2020-cancelled-due-coronavirus-fears

What has undoubtedly become the largest and premier high-fidelity and audio trade show in the world – High End Munich – has been formally cancelled by High End organizers over fears of worsening health conditions amid the outbreak of the coronavirus. This could have repercussions for other large...

02/27/2020

Pass Labs with totaldac, Cambridge Audio and Lescop

The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
By lady, I mean my lower back. By protest I’m referring to the dull ache radiating from said area. It was not happy at the end of this week after the uncrating and moving of several 100-pound plus components as I mix things up at AudioStream’s winter liar situated on the periphery of Desolation Sound.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/pass-labs-totaldac-cambridge-audio-and-lescop

The lady doth protest too much, methinks. By lady, I mean my lower back. By protest I’m referring to the dull ache radiating from said area. It was not happy at the end of this week after the uncrating and moving of several 100-pound plus components as I mix things up at AudioStream’s winter lia...

02/24/2020

Digital Music and the Requisite Price of Evolution

I freely admit that I have rarely loved a digital album as much as the analog ones I would take an hour-long bus ride to find and then spend all of my money on to buy. As deeply as I lament this romantic lure, this selective purity shouldn’t nullify the value of having access to an infinite amount of music with a minimal amount of effort.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/digital-music-and-requisite-price-evolution

After reading my recent post waxing on how listening to vinyl, CDs or cassettes simply does not equate neurologically the same way in my brain as streaming music does, AudioStream resident DJ and music expert Scott Eastlick penned a response to my call. Here it is. – Rafe Arnott

02/20/2020

SVS Prime Wireless Soundbase Review

A couple of years ago, to get all the technology that the $499 USD SVS Prime Wireless Soundbase packs into its chassis you’d be spending considerably more

https://www.audiostream.com/content/svs-prime-wireless-soundbase-review

A couple of years ago, to get all the technology that the $499 USD SVS Prime Wireless Soundbase packs into its chassis you’d be spending considerably more. Today, the availability of high-resolution wi-fi/Bluetooth streaming and Class-D amp modules has brought future-fi technology to not only hi-f...

02/17/2020

Could you be Loved? Coveting LPs and CDs in a Dematerialized Music Age

“I hope you know that this will go down on your permanent record…” The rhetorical wail of Gordon Gano brings a smile to my face every time I hear “Kiss Off,” the second cut on side one of Violent Femmes, the self-titled debut album that the band cut on Slash Records in 1983.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/could-you-be-loved-coveting-lps-and-cds-dematerialized-music-age-0

“I hope you know that this will go down on your permanent record…” The rhetorical wail of Gordon Gano brings a smile to my face every time I hear “Kiss Off,” the second cut on side one of Violent Femmes, the self-titled debut album that the band cut on Slash Records in 1983. I love that LP...

02/14/2020

Aurender W20SE Preview

Improving on a product that already deeply impresses with its performance capabilities can be a daunting proposition for a company, but when a manufacturer decides that the time has come to improve on a lauded design – and not in some incremental manner, rather – with a full-blown re-tool from the ground up, it’s hard not to take notice.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/aurender-w20se-preview

Improving on a product that already deeply impresses with its performance capabilities can be a daunting proposition for a company, but when a manufacturer decides that the time has come to improve on a lauded design – and not in some incremental manner, rather – with a full-blown re-tool from t...

02/11/2020

Linn Records: Vinyl to Digital – the Song Remains the Same

The year is 1973, the place is Glasgow, Scotland and Igor Tiefenbrun and co. are spinning professional test LPs on a freshly-turned Sondek LP12, only to deduce the quality of the albums are total rubbish. So, why not start a record label and do it proper?

https://www.audiostream.com/content/linn-records-vinyl-digital-%E2%80%93-song-remains-same

*The research into turntable companies and models I conducted of late, plus my continuing interest in writing about the music and mastering/recordings which smaller record labels such as the Electric Recording Co., Naim Records, Reference Recordings, and ECM are involved with led me to connecting wi...

02/07/2020

An Analog Reference for Digital Reviews

I reference a lot of things in the course of a day. In life, I often find myself needing a point of reference to either carry on a conversation with an individual, or to make sure I’m getting where they’re coming from.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/analog-reference-digital-reviews

I reference a lot of things in the course of a day. Wikipedia is probably my top go-to when I’m looking for definitive, fact-based information on a piece of technology, a company’s history, or to help with an individual’s biography – just to name a few things I use the online encyclopedia fo...

02/05/2020

Undercurrents No.5: The Steig Connection

I am an audiophile, which means I exhibit certain tendencies that might be considered compulsive. I can purchase one, three, five, or even 11 records at a time, but never two or four or 12, for instance.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/undercurrents-no5-steig-connection

Because my wife works in children’s book publishing, it’s never a surprise to find children’s books piled around the apartment. But it was a surprise to find one titled Shrek! written by someone named William Steig.

01/31/2020

Reference Recordings: Prokofiev, Alexander Nevsky – Lieutenant Kijé Suite

Any Russian composer who got through the Great War and the revolution, then received permission to leave the Motherland and work abroad for more than a dozen years before returning home to acclaim… is a composer I’d loved to have had the opportunity to talk with while we washed down rye bread with cold vodka sitting on a blanket overlooking the Volga.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/reference-recordings-prokofiev-alexander-nevsky-%E2%80%93-lieutenant-kij%C3%A9-suite

Any Russian composer who got through the Great War and the revolution, then received permission to leave the Motherland and work abroad for more than a dozen years before returning home to acclaim… is a composer I’d loved to have had the opportunity to talk with while we washed down rye bread wi...

01/28/2020

D1-driver for totaldac d1-direct DAC Arrives at AudioStream

The driving four-on-the-floor beat and overdubbed hand-clapping of Santa Esmeralda’s 1977 12-inch version of the Nina Simone classic “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” hung abruptly in the air like the pre-echo of a rung bell as I hit pause.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/d1-driver-totaldac-d1-direct-dac-arrives-audiostream

The driving four-on-the-floor beat and overdubbed hand-clapping of Santa Esmeralda’s 1977 12-inch version of the Nina Simone classic “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” hung abruptly in the air like the pre-echo of a rung bell as I hit pause.

01/17/2020

Naim Uniti Atom and Uniti Core Review

Deciding to take an extended high-fidelity journey with one brand, while exciting, can also cause trepidation in some audiophiles.
It’s the whole commitment thing. If there’s ever been a group of people less interested in long-term relationships I’ve yet to meet them.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/naim-uniti-atom-and-uniti-core-review

Deciding to take an extended high-fidelity journey with one brand, while exciting, can also cause trepidation in some audiophiles. It’s the whole commitment thing. If there’s ever been a group of people less interested in long-term relationships I’ve yet to meet them. I mean, do you know any a...