In Heavy Rotation
June 23rd, 2025
Resolution A/V Hosts a DeVORE Fidelity-Nagra Listening Event our Malachi Lui attended and reports what he saw and heard By: Malachi LuiOn a pier in Red Hook, Brooklyn, an unassuming brick structure sits opposite the drab monstrosity that is the Amazon fulfillment center. Among other things, that brick building houses Resolution A/V, an impressive operation that’s much more than a normal hi-fi dealer. In addition to two showrooms on the edges of their second floor warehouse space, Resolution has several workrooms for diagnosing and repairing vintage gear, as well as designing top-end smart home A/V... Read More
Comments: 0June 19th, 2025
Curtis Prints Set the Scene For This Eclectic Jazz Set Featuring Cheek, Bill Frisell, Tony Scherr and Rudy Royston recorded to tape by James Farber at Power Station NYC By: Michael FremerNature, ecology and jazz have been getting together lately. Last year there was Wadada Leo Smith and Amina Claudine Myer's Central Park's Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens and this year, David Murray Quartet's Birdly Serenade and now Chris Cheek's leisurely jazz paddle down a deceptively lazy river with the scene set by a vintage, iconic Edward S. Curtis print on the jacket front and a desert trek Curtis photo on the rear. What does it... Read More
Comments: 13June 19th, 2025
Battle of the Sonic Blockbusters - The Original Source Goes Nuclear Prokofiev with Abbado vs. Reiner Living Stereo vs. Dorati Mercury Living Presence… Who wins? By: Mark Ward
Claudio Abbado’s searing album of orchestral showpieces by the great Russian composer Serge Prokofiev gets the Original Source AAA makeover, and immediately comes into competition with two long-established audiophile classics: Fritz Reiner’s Lieutenant Kijé on RCA Living Stereo, and Antal Dorati’s Scythian Suite on Mercury Living Presence. How do they compare as performances and sonic spectaculars…?
Read More Comments: 24June 18th, 2025
No, Not The Movie: The Grateful Dead Sling 6-LP “The Music Never Stopped” Compilation One of the least likely people to “get on the bus” buys a ticket, in the form of Rhino’s 6-LP “highlights” compilation. By: Abigail DevoeAside from American Beauty, I’d always seen the Grateful Dead as the worst American rock-and-roll had to offer. Oversaturated, meandering, and uber-merchandised. To me, they weren’t so much a band as they were a brand. It wasn’t until a recent dive into avant-psych statement Anthem of the Sun that I “got it.” Suddenly, I was able to see past the tie-dye and bleary-eyed, syrupy-sweet nostalgia. I’d finally struck gold; the feeling I’d always heard about from Dead... Read More
Comments: 13June 18th, 2025
David Murray Soars with the Birds The great tenor saxman nabs his first major label in 50 years By: Fred KaplanIt’s only taken 50 years for David Murray to record an album for a major label, but here it is: Birdly Serenade, laid down with his current (and sizzling) quartet, on Impulse, which is owned by Universal Music Group—one of the “Big Three,” along with Sony and Warner, and thus about as major as they come.Murray, born and raised in Oakland, was just 20 when, in 1975, he left Pomona College for New York and made an instant splash on the downtown loft scene, the... Read More
Comments: 3June 16th, 2025
Ortofon's MC 90X Further Refines A Groundbreaking Design that "groundbreaker" being the A90 By: Michael FremerOrtofon celebrated its 90th anniversary by launching in 2009 the MC A90 ($4200) a revolutionary moving coil phono cartridge, the first to use SLM (Selective Laser Melting) to 3D "spray" an impossible to machine-shaped body using melted stainless steel powder. The result was a highly rigid, dense, low resonance minimalist body that resembled no other cartridge.The A90 also made use of a newly developed remarkably "dead" elastomer used in the damper.... Read More
Comments: 2June 15th, 2025
Alan Silverman Holds a Mastering Class at NYC's Innovative Audio and our Jacob Heilbrunn was there and files this report By: Jacob HeilbrunnElliott Fishkin, the owner of Innovative Audio, a store located just below Central Park on East 59th Street, has recently hosted several events, including the introduction of the dCS Varese CD/SACD playback system earlier this year, that I very much enjoyed attending. When Fishkin sent a text message a few weeks ago asking whether I would like to attend a session that he was holding on June 12 with legendary mastering engineer Alan Silverman, founder of Aerial Sound,... Read More
Comments: 0June 14th, 2025
Behind-the-Scenes at the Original Source - Your Questions Answered Part 3 Rainer Maillard and Sidney C. Meyer at Emil Berliner Studios Speak! By: Mark WardContinuing this video series produced by Emil Berliner Studios that takes you behind-the-scenes of the Original Source Series.It's been just over two years since Deutsche Grammophon launched its series of AAA vinyl reissues mastered directly from the original 4 and 8-track master tapes of treasured recordings from its 1970s catalogue. In response to collectors' numerous questions concerning every aspect of this important audiophile reissue series, Rainer... Read More
Comments: 3June 13th, 2025
Wilson Audio Specialties Announces New Sabrina V Loudspeaker now features the 7 inch AINiCo (Alnico, Nickel, Cobalt) QuadraMag paper/pulp midrange originally developed for the Chronosonic XVX By: Tracking AngleWilson Audio Specialties just announced the newest loudspeaker in the lineup, the Sabrina V™—a major update of the popular and most affordable floor stander, SabrinaX—that now incorporates the much lauded 7 inch AINiCo (Alnico, Nickel, Cobalt) QuadraMag paper/pulp midrange originally developed for the Chronosonic XVX.The look has been subtly updated..... but more importantly the considerably refined enclosure makes use for its baffle the new "H" material— a... Read More
Comments: 0June 12th, 2025
Working on a Roger Nichols Obit, Then Sly Stewart Died, Then Brian And.... now stopped by inanimate object By: Michael FremerI was working on a Roger Nichols obit. He wrote "We've Only Just Begun" for The Carpenters and so much more. The album on the left was produced by Tommy LiPuma, arrangements by Marty Paich among others, engineered by Larry Levine and Henry Lewy, Bruce Botnick involved along with Randy Newman and Van Dyke Parks. Was going to be interesting.Then Sly Stone died. So I started writing him into it. Such an interesting guy. Aside from all that everyone knows... Read More
Comments: 13June 12th, 2025
The Freight Offloads A Musical Fusion on “Tales of Maybe” An electrifying debut album from Boston’s up-and-coming rockers By: Dylan PegginBoston, a city rooted in rock and roll lore, has served as home base for giants like Aerosmith, The Cars, The J. Geils Band, and of course the aptly named Boston. The Freight is one of the more noteworthy groups on the city’s growing up-and-coming artists roster. The foursome formed in 2020 has an ever increasing New England following and for two consecutive years was nominated for "Rock Act of the Year" by the New England Music Awards. The group has... Read More
Comments: 0June 11th, 2025
"Exodus" at 45rpm, Pressed UHQR Produces an Explosive Mix so many mediocre Bob Marley & The Wailer reissues...this is not one of them! By: Michael FremerThe joke lede was going to be "This is one double 45 UHQR no one is going to complain about having to get up and turn over 3 extra times because once it starts, listeners are not going to be able, or want to sit down!" But that opener's dead because within a few seconds of where I started (side 3's "Jammin'") sitting down and listening became mandatory! More than a few still born Bob Marley & The Wailers reissues have been... Read More
Comments: 10June 11th, 2025
Chopin for the Ages - The Original Source does Pollini Proud A Catalogue Benchmark is given a Formidable Sonic Refresh By: Mark Ward
Take a deep dive into what it takes to achieve superb piano sound on record, from the way an instrument is voiced to how it is recorded. The great Italian virtuoso Maurizio Pollini set down this iconic set of Chopin’s Polonaises in 1976, and with this stellar reissue Emil Berliner Studios have once more set the bar at its highest level for bringing lifelike sound into your listening room.
Read More Comments: 19June 10th, 2025
Van Halen's "Fair Warning" Gets the Mofi One-Step Treatment Spoiler Alert: Michael Anthony is in Van Halen! By: Brian FisherIt’s funny. When you have a large record collection, people always want to hear the obscure, professorial selections when dropping by for an impromptu listening party. And I’m into that for sure. But there has always been a part of my brain that thinks, “Let’s just crack a beer (or several) and listen to Fair Warning!” The problem, as many of you already know, is that Van Halen always sounded way better played over a crappy car stereo or blasting out of Radio Shack... Read More
Comments: 5June 9th, 2025
Japanese Audio Alchemy—The Mactone XX7000 Line Stage Preamplifier production currently paused, but hopefully soon it will again be available By: David HymanThe post-WWII landscape of Japanese high-performance audio represents one of the most fascinating chapters in the story of recorded sound: a remarkable convergence of engineering precision, artistic sensibility, and cultural reverence for craftsmanship. What began as an industrial recovery effort blossomed into something far more profound: a multi-faceted ecosystem where technical innovation and aesthetic refinement achieved rare harmony.The narrative typically begins... Read More
Comments: 5June 9th, 2025
Rhino Reserve Series' "Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul" Is the One to Have mono mix is definitive By: Michael FremerRhino Records' new Reserve series, sold direct from the Rhino online store are cut from original master tapes by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering and pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing in Oxnard, CA. Most are not in the sonic realm of the "High Fidelity" series but most musically surely are, including this one, which can be ordered now but drops this June 27th.They cost $31.98, which, when taking inflation into account, means these sell for... Read More
Comments: 13