Loading...

Rhino Entertainment has an impressive slate of limited-edition LPs available for the upcoming Saturday, April 20th celebration of Record Store Day 2024 (RSD). Rhino's extensive offering of rarities and specialty releases are only a few of the hundreds of exciting albums that will be available from both online sources and at independent record stores everywhere.... Read More »

I'm sliding into Northern Illinois on a dreary Thursday in early April. There is a touch of nostalgia and foreboding landing here in the suburbs of Chicago filled with its brutalist architecture and utilitarian brick structures. The daffodils and plum trees are blooming. The grass and clover is already coming out and getting green. It is... Read More »

Craft Recordings is offering another cool slate of limited-edition LPs for the upcoming Saturday, April 20th celebration of Record Store Day 2024 (RSD). Craft's selection of rarities and specialty releases are only a few of the literally hundreds of exciting records that will be available online and at independent record stores everywhere. For RSD April,... Read More »

Jazz Dispensary is a specialty imprint of Craft Recordings that's dedicated to mining the riches of parent company Concord Music's vast catalog of labels. The label employs what they call "sound sommeliers" to search the archives to find the finest original sources there for underappreciated masterpieces of funk, soul, jazz, and all the related genres... Read More »

Craft Recordings has announced the latest group of reissues from their Contemporary Records Acoustic Sounds series, which features twelve LP reissues along with high-resolution digital files that will be released periodically throughout 2024. The exciting roster of Contemporary Records artists chosen for the current installment of the series includes classic titles from Art Pepper, Shelly... Read More »

The Cars, Candy-O. Rhino High Fidelity Series (33 RPM) The Cars first album entitled The Cars, was released in 1977 on the Reprise label and was a huge success, with a long list of hit singles and a tremendous amount of attention by the press. Their second album entitled Candy-O was released in 1978, also... Read More »

I have been waiting with great anticipation for the new IMPEX 1Step Getz/Gilberto reissue to arrive, but that was no problem. I have learned long ago that patience more than pays off when it comes to IMPEX Records. This label never fails to amaze and delight! The excitement began to build after I experienced the... Read More »

High Definition Tape Transfers has released/reissued many superb albums over the couple of months since I last posted an update, and I keep being reminded of earlier releases I've not shared with you. So, here are a dozen I highly recommend. Some may wonder why I continue a focus on HDTT for music. To those... Read More »

As David Robinson and I were discussing a couple of weeks ago, we truly are living in the golden age of recorded music and home audio—both in the equipment available to us and, most importantly, in the wealth of wonderful performing artists and recordings. You may note that many of the recordings I recommend are... Read More »

Utter transparency. Abundant detail. Extreme delicacy and nuance. A soundstage to die for. Unrestrained dynamics and immense power. This is a recording to cherish, a recording to celebrate. Homeland - Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor and De Falla's Noches en los Jardines de España (Nights in the Gardens of Spain), Judith Jáuregui (piano), Kaspar... Read More »

Roger Skoff of RSX Technologies at the LAOC Gala, 2023 (portrait and image processing by David W. Robinson) Roger Skoff writes about doing the right things the wrong way You wouldn't do that, would you—eat soup with a fork? Or paint your house with a Q-tip cotton swab? Or run a cement mixer in a... Read More »

Nobody talks about Vaughn Monroe (1911-1973) anymore. That's sad, because Monroe was a very good singer. It's pretty clear to me that it's his unusual voice that places him in obscurity. Nothing sounds like his baritone voice. By today's standards, and even by my own retro standards, he sounds a little usual. His voice is... Read More »

Ye Olde Editor with cigar and match, 2021 (photograph and image processing by John Robinson) Here's the last set of my Audio Oasis! Awards from PAF 2023, together with the final set of photographs. Focal-Naim The Naim-Focal room I'll admit it:  I was very impressed by the Focal-Naim space. Departing from the usual emphasis on... Read More »

Rhino Entertainment has announced their cleverly named Start Your Ear Off Right series, which features a slate of eighteen limited edition LP releases, with most of them are being offered in cool colored-vinyl variants. The releases criss-cross a multitude of genres and artists, ranging from rock (The Grateful Dead, The Doors, The Velvet Underground, Stevie... Read More »

PREMIERE Fezz Audio is a company specializing in tube amplifiers. It is the audiophile branch of toroidal transformer manufacturer, Toriody.pl, also for audio applications. Fezz Audio was founded in 2014, and its first product was the Laura integrated amplifier. We are testing its Equinox digital-to-analog converter. This is its first test in the world. The... Read More »

For a man who still retains spontaneity, truth will always remain a great word, at the sound of which the heart beats more vividly. W. F. Hegel, Lectures on the history of philosophy I don't know if you have noticed, but since the beginning of High Fidelity, we have tried to operate according to principles... Read More »

Craft Recordings' has just released the sixth installment in their premium Small Batch audiophile LP series with a reissue of Isaac Hayes' 1969 sophomore effort, Hot Buttered Soul. Long considered a landmark release of Sixties soul music, Hot Buttered Soul created the template that would serve as the launching pad for Isaac Hayes' future successes... Read More »

Siltech is one of the three brands that make up International Audio Holding BV. Founded in 1983 in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, it specialized in silver cabling. In 1992 it was bought by Edwin van der Kley Rynveld, an electronics engineer, who introduced it to the exclusive world of high-end. We are testing an RCA analog... Read More »

Sony Music Entertainment, Columbia Records, and Legacy Recordings have just reissued Alice In Chains' classic 1994 EP Jar of Flies in a 30th Anniversary special edition. Jar of Flies, despite only being an EP, was one of Alice In Chains most important releases, and included several of their biggest hits from the 1990s. The EP... Read More »

Frank Doris is a valued colleague at Positive Feedback, a Senior Associate Editor here, as well, and Editor of Copper magazine, the publication of PS Audio. We republish the best of Frank's writing, with the kind permission of Copper. This reflective essay was first published on October 16, 2023, in Copper, Issue 199, as his "Frankly Speaking"... Read More »

Impex Records has just released another of their incredible 1STEP 45 rpm LP box sets, this time featuring the classic Bossa Nova album Getz/Gilberto. Impex's 1STEP process is fairly labor-intensive, in that it requires cutting a new set of lacquers for every pressing run of 500 LPs. This nearly insane level of precision guarantees that... Read More »

With this episode of the audio analyst©, "Episode 167: Southwest Audio Fest 2024-Best Rooms - High End by Oz," I’m highlighting the remarkable sonic achievements of Room 1401 at that show. It was sponsored by 3mA, a Houston retail establishment, United Home Audio, and High End by Oz. This is the first of several in-room... Read More »

Who the heck was Bill Snyder? Based on the scarce info I could find, William P. Snyder (1916-2011), from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, was America's most recorded light music pianist during the 1950s. Unfortunately for Bill's legacy, today's music lovers don't listen to the dim lit sound of light pianists, especially on mono LPs from... Read More »

One of my favorite audio events every year is the Tampa show. For the past four visits the weather has been sunny and in the 70s every day. This year it rained straight through the weekend. Yet it totally did not matter. There was a level of energy all four days I was there (Thursday... Read More »

Silvestrov, Postludium No. 3. Matt Haimovitz, cello; Nadia Shpachenko, piano. Pentatone Music PTC5187305 (digital single). TT: 4.53. It's been two years since Russia invaded Ukraine, and Pentatone has chosen to mark the date with this single track of music by Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov. (To have labelled the release as "A Celebration of Ukrainian Culture," however, is... Read More »

Roger Skoff of RSX Technologies at the LAOC Audio Society Gala, December of 2023 (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) Roger Skoff writes more about the weirdest thing about our hobby. In Part 1 of this article, I wrote how some people who claim to be audiophiles seem to be constantly on the... Read More »

I've had the immense pleasure of being able to evaluate a number of Impex Records' excellent LP releases over the last year or so, with results that have been uniformly superb. That list includes unexpectedly great albums, like Barbra Streisand's triumphal Live at the Bon Soir and the truly magnificent Al Di Meola/John McLaughlin/Paco De... Read More »

Norman Varney of AV RoomService Ltd. has joined Positive Feedback as a Senior Technical Editor as of Issue 113. His expertise in his field of audio acoustics and experience in the field makes him a helpful voice in our creative community for the audio arts. As has been our wont from the beginning of PF, we do welcome... Read More »

This article by John Pearsall originally ran in Positive Feedback ISSUE 3 October/November 2002, so while we call this section "New Old Stock - Articles from Our Days in Print" you are also going to see some articles from our early days of going online.  The Twentieth Century and the Birth of Audio Technology: Some... Read More »

My old friend and former roommate, Dave, suggested that I write about my Leni Okehu record. What a cool idea. The music is a boatload of fun, it's beautifully recorded, and Dave and I used to love the way it sounded on his ADS L880 speakers. The album's title is Hawaiian Holiday (International Award Series... Read More »

PREMIERE Flow by Allegro is a Hungarian company, founded in 2018, specializing in audio amplifiers. Its founder and designer is Mr. Bela Teleki, but it's a family business—50% is owned by his wife, Mrs. Andrea Ohar. We are testing its smallest amplifier, the Flow Three model. Flow by Allegro is a small company based in... Read More »

Craft Recordings has announced the first group of new titles for 2024 in their Original Jazz Classics (OJC) reboot, featuring three albums that were released within months of each other in 1962. Those include the classic Cannonball Adderley with Bill Evans session, Know What I Mean?, along with the equally classic Art Blakey & the... Read More »

The Rhino High Fidelity Premium Vinyl Series continues with the release of two new titles, and as with the previous group of offerings, the selections are eclectic. The one constant is that Rhino has again chosen both rock and jazz titles, featuring Marquee Moon (1977, Elektra Records) from art-punk darlings Television and avant-garde saxophonist Ornette... Read More »

This article is republished from Copper Magazine, edited by Frank Doris, and was written by him. Frank is also a Senior Associate Editor here at Positive Feedback, where he is a valued member of our editorial community. Enjoy! I first heard about the Slambovian Circus of Dreams, aka the Slambovians, a few years ago, from the guys... Read More »

Ye Olde Editor, before the tsunami... Personal tsunami, 2023. Such a strange year for me, one that threw me for a loop right in the midst of the two main audio show that I attended:  AXPONA 2023 and Pacific Audio Fest 2023. Normally, I'm able to issue my considered judgements and Audio Oasis! Awards within... Read More »

A great new listening experience for this well loved performance, perhaps the greatest performance of Mahler's Third Symphony in the catalog. Mahler Symphony No. 3, R. Strauss Death And Transfiguration, Jascha Horenstein LSO, recorded by Jerry Bruck. HDTT 1970 2024 (24/192k 4.0 Surround and Stereo) HERE We all know this famous Horenstein Mahler Third Symphony... Read More »

This is an ongoing project by Claude Lemaire of Soundevaluations 231. André Hodeir, American Jazzmen Play André Hodeir's Essais. Savoy Records – MG 12104 (mono 1957), 33 1/3 rpm. Genre: cool jazz, third stream. French composer, arranger, violinist, and musicologist André Hodeir had two album releases signed under the Savoy label—this is the first, the other being... Read More »