Part-Time Audiophile

07/22/2024

There was a surprising focus on CD playback at this year's California Audio Show in Emeryville. Weather this was the result of a clear preference for the format, nostalgia, necessity or a combination of all of the above, the sound coming from said format was really able to shine at the audio event over the weekend. This was perhaps no more apparent than in the Audio Cafe, Clarisys and Westminster Labs room....

Hi-Fi news, gear reviews, and interviews

07/22/2024

One of the many themes for the California Audio Show in San Francisco this year was "big and small". Many things were uniquely big, some things were uniquely small. In the case of the Sound Lab room on the main lobby floor, the big was on display. Good thing for attendees, the sound was also correspondingly big, not just is size, but resolution, finesse and fun lovin' staging....

Hi-Fi news, gear reviews, and interviews

07/22/2024

One of the "high-end" sounds of the California Audio Show in Emeryville was a well stocked room hosted by Gestalt Audio and the Lotus Group. The Wolf von Langa speakers were a fun sight to see, and managed to really pump out the jams all weekend long. The open back, full range driver assembly was one of a kind at the show, and the creative selection of CD and vinyl options made for a good time and a fair demonstration of the system's capabilities....

Hi-Fi news, gear reviews, and interviews

07/21/2024

True Life Audio Supreme Series Electronics – The SSP-1 linestage and SSA-350 monos I admit to having been hard-smitten from my very first exposure to the Supreme Series of electronics from Greece’s True Life Audio, the SSP-1 dual mono linestage, and the SSA-350 hybrid monoblocks, in the fall of 2022. The fact is that I’ve been continuously spoiled by my time living with them since they were installed as my reference electronics a year ago last May....

Hi-Fi news, gear reviews, and interviews

07/20/2024

The California Audio Show is by no means a typical, massive audio show. In fact, it would be accurate to say that this is one of the easiest shows for me to cover in terms of sheer room output. But the lower room count didn't seem to dampen the joy and love for HiFi for any of the retailers or manufacturers, and certainly not for the delighted attendees that I crossed paths with on Friday....

Hi-Fi news, gear reviews, and interviews

07/19/2024

In Greek, Orto fon means "correct sound." The new Ortofon 2MR Black phono cartridge certainly meets that standard. Ortofon knows a thing or two about cartridges. Their first cartridge was produced in 1948, the moving coil Mono-A. At that time, and for the decades thereafter, they also made mono and stereo cutter heads for the recording industry. The SPU (Stereo Pick-Up) cartridge was released in 1959 and is still being sold today, with technological improvements along the way....

Hi-Fi news, gear reviews, and interviews

07/18/2024

Technical Audio Devices, also known as TAD, has just announced the new TAD-M1000TX power amplifier, which replaces the M1000 that Graig Neville reviewed a few months ago. Here's the official press release on the TAD-M1000TX: - Technical Audio Devices Laboratories, Inc. (TAD Labs, TADL), today announced the TAD-M1000TX two-channel power amplifier as the newest addition to its Evolution Series of hi-fi audio components. ...

Hi-Fi news, gear reviews, and interviews

07/17/2024

One more Prime Day deal to share, the OD Stone by Focal. One of the best sounding outdoor speakers we've heard. $639 down from $800 per. Link in comments.

07/16/2024

New review of the Naim Uniti Nova PE Streaming Amplifier.

Full review of the Naim Uniti Nova PE. Summary and observations of the all-in-one amplifier vs some class AB variations of the Uniti Line.

07/16/2024

Just picked up a custom Les Davis Audio LP mat. Pretty snazzy, huh?

07/16/2024

One of the favorite headphones from Focal is on sale for Amazon's Prime Days - the Celestee closed back - down from $1k to $699.

Celestee is a set of high-end headphones combining elegant design and remarkable sound performance. They incorporate the latest Focal technologies: 15/8" (40mm) Aluminium/Magnesium ‘M’-shaped dome full-range speaker drivers and acoustic treatment within the earcups to prevent resonance. Celestee...

07/16/2024

At this year's High End show in Munich, we were able to see--but not hear--the new TIDAL Audio Sunray G3 loudspeakers. That was a static display, of course, but it was no less impressive. The TIDAL Audio Sunrays are very tall speakers that still command attention in any room they're in, even when they're quietly sitting in a corner of the room at the MOC....

Hi-Fi news, gear reviews, and interviews

07/14/2024

It's been a long time since I've had a DeVore Fidelity loudspeaker in for review, maybe fifteen or twenty years. I had the Gibbon Super 8s at my home for six months, followed up with the Gibbon 9s for another six, and I really wished I had the cash at the time for either one because I would have pulled that trigger....

Hi-Fi news, gear reviews, and interviews

07/12/2024

The MonAcoustic PlatiMon VC One loudspeaker review was originally supposed to be completed by me last year, with the smaller MonAcoustic SuperMon Mini going to Scot Hull for his series, The Desktop. Before I knew it, I had three MonAcoustic speakers at the house--two versions of the Super Mini (they had released a newer version, and I compared both) and the PlatiMons....

Hi-Fi news, gear reviews, and interviews

07/07/2024

I have to admit, when it comes to a new iteration of a piece of gear I’ve already become familiar with and admired, I get the audiophilic shakes, atremble with the Kierkegaardian fear that this could be better, this could be great, this could eclipse what I know. So, when Marc Phillips, editor-in-chief of Part-Time Audiophile, wrote a few months ago and asked if I’d be interested in reviewing the Pass Labs XP-32 linestage, I said “Yes” immediately, as I was curious what changes Wayne Colburn, chief engineer of all of Pass Labs’ preamps, had made in the design since the XP-30 that I knew well....

Hi-Fi news, gear reviews, and interviews

07/05/2024

If I look back at my show notes from 2023, a strong pattern emerges: I like what Acoustic Energy is doing with their entire range. So when I was told about a new flagship floorstanding speaker from this British manufacturer, I was obviously excited. After hearing the Acoustic Energy Corinium loudspeakers for the first time at Capitol Audiofest, I asked very nicely if I could take the show pair home for a more in-depth listen and review....

Hi-Fi news, gear reviews, and interviews

06/30/2024

I had no idea science fiction and hi-fi would meet when I started my review of the Michell Gyro SE turntable. Michell, pronounced Mi-shell, like the girl’s name, is another Cinderella story of an unsatisfied and very talented model builder who decided to make something better. The Michell story skirts believability in a few aspects. First, John Michell designed and repaired a fair bit of audio kit back in the '60s and '70s, always supporting other companies....

Hi-Fi news, gear reviews, and interviews

06/28/2024

Reviewing the Döhmann Audio Helix RC1 Mk.III record clamp brings up some audio memories, like the time I almost destroyed a $40,000 Döhmann turntable by moving it from one equipment rack to another. The Döhmann was brought into my exhibit room as part of the Down Under Audio room share. I didn't know about the Minus-K suspension, which requires the transport safety bolts be installed before it can be moved....

Hi-Fi news, gear reviews, and interviews

06/26/2024

A few years ago I went completely bonkers for an album of electronica from a Swiss label--Rasmus Kjaer's Turist. It sounded like the proverbial breath of fresh air because keyboardist Kjaer was so adept at finding unusual sounds that fit together, like a puzzle, in order to produce a completely original sound. (I tend to love music that sounds like nothing else out there.) Well, Kjaer is back with…...

Hi-Fi news, gear reviews, and interviews

06/23/2024

There's a GaN FET revolution goin' on, if you haven't noticed. GaN, of course, stands for gallium nitride, which is a semiconductor material that increases the speed and efficiency of switching amplifiers, aka class D. Is a GaN MOSFET better than a silicon one? That's up for debate over the next few decades, of course, but I'm seeing these amps everywhere lately--at high-end audio shows, mostly....

Hi-Fi news, gear reviews, and interviews

06/21/2024

How did I wind up taking the JMF Audio factory tour in France in the days following Munich 2024? Last year, when I was in Munich, I made the mistake of telling Laurent Fusilier of JMF Audio, "Your amplifiers are my favorite solid-state amplifiers in all of high-end audio right now." "Why solid state?" he replied and we both had a laugh, but he's not wrong....

Hi-Fi news, gear reviews, and interviews

06/19/2024

There is perhaps no voice bigger than Michael Lavorgna's in the digital HiFi space. Michael has traversed the web and print from Stereophile's Audiostream to his own current venture Twittering Machines. His resume speaks for itself, and his latest observations come with a much broader reach of product categories - speakers, amps and really all sorts of HiFi gear to hear and review from his personal listening space dubbed "The Barn"....

Hi-Fi news, gear reviews, and interviews

06/18/2024

It's been over three years since A Winged Victory for the Sullen's most recent release, 2021's Invisible Cities. What've AWVFTS's Adam Wiltzie and Dustin O'Halloran been doing since then? Droning? Orchestrating? Bumming around their adopted home bases of Belgium and Iceland? Working on solo albums? Well, yeah, that. The Sullen duo released their first extracurricular affairs in years in late March, 2024....

Hi-Fi news, gear reviews, and interviews

06/17/2024

Some of my favorite jazz albums aren't really jazz at all. Sometimes they're classified as jazz because they don't fit anywhere else. This music might be heavy on improvisation, heavy on extended jams, but light on melody and structure, and then boom! It's considered jazz even though it's more akin to something else. Kinema from the Akku Quintet, a jazz ensemble led by drummer Manuel Pasquinelli, qualifies as one of these albums....

Hi-Fi news, gear reviews, and interviews

06/16/2024

Peter Madnick, longtime veteran audio engineer, has designed the new MoFi Master Phono (MSRP $5,995), a piece of gear that not only has a distinctive look, but also revives and improves upon a kind of circuit not much employed in today’s full galaxy of phono preamps. I have to confess, this specific aspect of phono design was something new to me, although it is an approach already familiar to many audio cognoscenti....

Hi-Fi news, gear reviews, and interviews

06/14/2024

Maybe it’s my engineer brain or maybe I bumped my head too many times as a kid, maybe both, but I like complexity, nuance, details. That’s probably why most of my hobbies are complicated. Being an audiophile is not about just listening to the music and enjoying it for what it is – there’s the gear, the listening room, the recording, et al, …...

Hi-Fi news, gear reviews, and interviews

06/09/2024

Welcome to the Best Audio Accessories from the Part-Time Audiophile Buyers Guide for Summer 2024. We're not saying that these are the best audio accessories or that these choices somehow overrule anyone else's favorites. We're saying that these are the products we've reviewed, owned, or have had extended experience when it comes to performance and sound quality. This is the gear that we, the staff of…...

Hi-Fi news, gear reviews, and interviews

06/09/2024

Welcome to the2024's Best Grounding, Power Management and Cables section of the Part-Time Audiophile Buyers Guide for Summer 2024 We're not saying that these are the best grounding, power management and cables or that these choices somehow overrule anyone else's favorites. We're saying that these are the products we've reviewed, owned, or have had extended experience when it comes to performance and sound quality....

Hi-Fi news, gear reviews, and interviews

06/09/2024

Welcome to the Best Headphone Audio section of the Part-Time Audiophile Buyers Guide for Summer 2024. We're not saying that these are the best headphone audio products or that these choices somehow overrule anyone else's favorites. We're saying that these are the products we've reviewed, owned, or have had extended experience when it comes to performance and sound quality. This is the gear that we, the staff of…...

Hi-Fi news, gear reviews, and interviews

06/09/2024

Welcome to the Best Digital Audio section for the Part-Time Audiophile Summer 2024 Buyers Guide. We're not saying that these are the best digital audio products or that these choices somehow overrule anyone else's favorites. We're saying that these are the products we've reviewed, owned, or have had extended experience when it comes to performance and sound quality. This is the gear that we, the staff of…...