For the last six months I’ve been listening to the best solid-state amplifiers I’ve yet heard in my home: the Soulution 710 stereo and 700 monoblock. This gear (coupled with Soulution’s superb 720 full-function preamp ...

I caught my first glimpse of the all-new Amerigo from Sonics by Joachim Gerhard at last years Rocky Mountain Audio Fest and was able to have a further listen at CES. I liked what I ...

Do Hard-Disk Drives Sound Better than CDs? Robert Harley A reader's post of an interesting and relevant question regarding the sound quality of hard-disk-based music servers versus CD (http://www.avguide.com/forums/cd-player-vs-computerserver-system) prompted me to post my experience ...

A lot of exotic turntables were shown at CES 2009. However, there were several new 'tables of note that won't break the bank and promise to offer real sonic value. Following are the most significant ...

Editor's Note: Following is an excerpt from Dick Olsher's CES 2009 Report on new tube gear. Read the full CES report in the current issue of TAS (http://www.avguide.com/theabsolutesound/the-absolute-sound-aprilmay-09) Ripples of the global recession were clearly ...

Just recently a reader with the screen name "blackfly" posted this cogent comment to the thread on the $89k Magico M5 loudspeaker: Personally, I very much like the M5, and would love to own a ...

Thia Sexton is a singer/songwriter with a difference. Rather than tickle a keyboard or strum a guitar, Sexton’s a cellist. And there’s yet another major difference–Sexton straps the cello on sideways just like a guitar ...

This year we limited ourselves to two Golden Ear awards apiece. I’m not going to tell you which two products I picked—for that you’ll have to wait for Issue 193 of TAS—but I am going ...

Inside the YG Acoustics Factory Robert Harley YG Acoustics is a relatively young company (founded in 2002) that has made quite a splash in the upper-end of the loudspeaker market. The firm has attracted some ...

Alright, I’m coming clean. Believe it or not sometimes I just like my audio & video simple. I mean “one box” simple. I don’t want to pull another interconnect, power on three or four components ...

It is my sad duty to report the shocking news that my friend David Steven, Managing Director of dCS, died suddenly and unexpectedly on Saturday February 21, 2009. I spent several days with David and ...

As many of you already know, my musical tastes are wide-ranging. Pop and rock, classical (the occasional opera aria), a smattering of jazz, a dash of musical theater. As a kid growing up in the ...

I received this letter from Koetsu's US distributor regarding the perils of buying Koetsu cartridges from "gray market" resellers. KOETSU BUYER BEWARE Recently, Koetsu has received numerous inquiries about so-called “new” and “cheap” Koetsu phono ...

A $10k Electronic Device for a Penny? Robert Harley Back in 1979, Walter Becker and Donald Fagan (Steely Dan) wanted to store drum sounds in solid-state memory. Their long-time engineer, the great Roger Nichols, set ...

For Magico lovers and the just plain curious, here's a little photo journal covering the delivery of the fabulous Magico M5 loudspeakers. 1) Here they are in their cartons on the delivery truck--about five hundred ...