Anthony Cordesman
I've been reviewing audio components since some long talks with HP back in the early 1980s. My first experiences with the high end came in the 1950s at the University of Chicago, where I earned part of my tuition selling gear for Allied Radio and a local high-end audio dealer, and worked on sound systems for local night clubs, the Court Theater, and the university radio station. My professional life has been in national security, but I've never lost touch with the high end and have lived as a student and diplomat in Britain, Belgium, France, Germany, NATO, Asia, Iran and the Middle East and Asia. I've been lucky enough to live in places where opera, orchestras, and live chamber and jazz performances were common and cheap, and to encounter a wide range of different venues, approaches to performing, and national variations in high-end audio gear. I currently hold the Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and my open source analyses are available at that web site. What I look for in reviewing is the ability to provide a musically real experience at a given price point in a real-world listening room, and the ability to reveal the overall balance of musical sound qualities that I know are on a given recording. Where possible, I try to listen on a variety of systems as well as my own reference system.
Articles
2022 Golden Ear: Legacy Wavelet II Processor
Legacy Wavelet II Processor $7950 Yes, I gave the original […]
- by Anthony Cordesman
- Dec 02nd, 2022
2022 Golden Ear: Technics SU-R1000 Reference Class Integrated Amplifier
Technics SU-R1000 Reference Class Integrated Amplifier $9499 Having said this, […]
- by Anthony Cordesman
- Oct 28th, 2022
PS Audio FR30 Loudspeaker
I must admit to a certain amount of bias in […]
- by Anthony Cordesman
- Oct 25th, 2022
2022 Golden Ear: PS Audio FR30 Loudspeaker
PS Audio FR30 Loudspeaker $28,500 I’d quietly sworn to myself […]
- by Anthony Cordesman
- Sep 13th, 2022
Audio by Van Alstine DVA M225 Monoblock Power Amplifier
Sometimes reviewers need to pay close attention to all the […]
- by Anthony Cordesman
- Jun 09th, 2022
Legacy Audio Valor Loudspeaker and Wavelet 2 DSP Processor
One of the pleasures of being an audio reviewer is […]
- by Anthony Cordesman
- Feb 17th, 2022
Mark Levinson No 5101 Network Streaming SACD Player and DAC, No 5206 Preamplifier, and No 5302 Power Amplifier
It’s a bit unusual to review three highly sophisticated components […]
- by Anthony Cordesman
- Jan 25th, 2022
Thrax Enyo Modular Integrated Amplifier
It’s all too easy for Americans to forget just how […]
- by Anthony Cordesman
- Sep 27th, 2021
Technics SU-R1000 Integrated Amplifier
Let me begin this review with my conclusion: The new […]
- by Anthony Cordesman
- Sep 03rd, 2021
2020 Golden Ear Awards: Anthony H. Cordesman
Avantgarde Acoustic Loudspeakers I have not been a fan of […]
- by Anthony Cordesman
- Oct 22nd, 2020
Using Your “Second System” For Surround Music
The years have not been kind to high-end surround sound. […]
- by Anthony Cordesman
- Mar 06th, 2020
Dan D’Agostino Master Audio Systems Progression Stereo Amplifier and Preamplifier
I know somewhere, deep in my heart, that the physical appearance […]
- by Anthony Cordesman
- Jan 08th, 2020
