January 12th, 2023
The Fixed Coils In Soundsmith's Paua Mk II Phono Cartridge Will Move You a cartridge caught in the electrical twilight zone between MM and MCBy: Michael Fremer
Moving Iron is the Rodney Dangerfield of cartridge technology. It gets no respect. Analog enthusiasts regularly debate “moving coil or moving magnet?” but rarely is moving iron part of the discussion. It’s true that “moving iron” is a type of moving magnet cartridge, but companies that manufacturer them, (Grado, Goldring and Soundsmith are today’s main players, though in the past ADC, Sonus, B&O and probably others did as well) make it a point to distinguish their... Read More
Comments: 17January 12th, 2023
Blue Note Announces New 2023 "Tone Poet" Series Line-Up acclaimed all-analog mastered from original tape 180g series produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin GrayBy: Tracking Angle
Blue Note Records just announced the upcoming 2023 line-up for the Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series, produced by "Tone Poet" Joe Harley and mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio. RTI manufactures the records, which are packaged in deluxe gatefold tip-on jackets. Once again, Harley handpicked the titles, which include include acknowledged treasures from the Blue Note catalog as well as underrated classics, modern era standouts, and albums from... Read More
Comments: 2January 11th, 2023
Kevin Gray's New Analog-Tube Driven Recording Chain Stars In New Video see what goes in before you hear what comes outBy: Tracking Angle
Last year mastering engineer Kevin Gray built a living room recording studio adjacent to his Cohearent Mastering suite. He's been working on an all-analog recording chain to go with it and now he's ready in this video to show it off. (Photo: L-R: Audio-Fidelity/DCC Compact Classics founder Marshall Blonstein, Fremer, Kevin Gray at Cohearent mastering session for TRON soundtrack album.) Read More
Comments: 6January 10th, 2023
A Solo Bass Album From a "Stand Up" Guy the pandemic wrung the blues from a formerly busy bassistBy: Michael Fremer
Might I interest you in a solo bass album? I hope so. Bassist Rick Rosato has been living in New York City since 2007 and touring worldwide (he's featured on vibraphonist Joel Ross' 2022 double LP The Parable of The Poet and on many other records). Then Covid hit and like many other musicians he found himself without gigs and spending a lot of time at home.For his first album as leader, Rosato decided to go solo, inspired by his home alone pandemic... Read More
Comments: 0January 6th, 2023
Technics SL-100C Is a Grand Bargain a "Premium Class" 1200 variant for $1000By: Michael Fremer
Technics couldn’t have better timed its 2015 re-entry into the audio enthusiast turntable market. Interest in vinyl took off that year, growing 30% from around 9 million sold in 2014 to 12 million in 2015. Skeptics and naysayers credited Adele and Taylor Swift for that year’s boost but each year since, and without a “big” record, sales continued growing until in 2021, unit sales, not just dollar sales surpassed those of CDs. Vinyl was victorious. Sales grew 22% in the... Read More
Comments: 11January 5th, 2023
SME Updates Turntable Lineup to MK2 Editions new generation A.C. synchronous motor drive systemBy: Tracking Angle
Buffalo, NY, January 5, 2023—Bluebird Music, SME's North American distributor announced today the immediate availability of the all-new SME MK2 series turntables. The SME product range now includes: Model 12 MK2, Model 15 MK2, Model 20 MK2, Model 30 MK2 and Synergy MK2. The main photo is of the Model 15 MK2.According to Bluebird, the primary feature of the MK2 editions is a "highly sophisticated new generation drive system consisting of an A.C. synchronous... Read More
Comments: 0January 5th, 2023
Karen Dalton's Time May Be Now Light in the Attic reissues deluxe double 45rpm edition of cult faveBy: JoE Silva
If you didn’t know anything about Karen Dalton when you dropped the stylus on one of her records, you’d quickly get the sense that her life probably hadn’t been an easy one. Mournful, and sung in a voice that parsed the terrain between Billie Holiday and Janis Joplin, the songs on the 50th Anniversary Edition of the singer’s second and final long player can be a tough listen. But thanks to multiple reissue campaigns, her work has filtered on down through five plus... Read More
Comments: 0January 4th, 2023
Tracking Angle Interviews World Famous Record Holderupper Dizzy! Dizzy came to Tracking Angle studios for this rare interviewBy: Michael Fremer
Dizzy, the Internet's most prolific and self-important record holderupper paid a visit to the Tracking Angle studios and I interviewed him! Nothing more needs to be written. Dizzy speaks for himself, or doesn't. Read More
Comments: 4January 3rd, 2023
PS Audio Sprout 100 Does Everything But Take Up Space updated from original Sprout, the 100 is likely getting another upgrade next yearBy: Michael Fremer
This review is late, a victim of job change-related delays (among other things) but better late than never, even if PS Audio's updating history indicates a newer edition might be on the way—the Sprout100 replaced the original Sprout, which began life as a Kickstarter funded project back in 2014. The Sprout100 came about five years later so the "next gen" Sprout if there is to be one, might come next year.For now though, there's the Sprout100, which... Read More
Comments: 3January 3rd, 2023
Le Dernier Message De Lester Young (The Last Message Of Lester Young) Sam Records reissues the last Lester Young album with bonus 10 inch LPBy: Joseph W. Washek
In April 1958, Lester Young moved into the Hotel Alvin, a seedy hotel at the corner of Broadway and Fifty-Second street in New York City, which, because it was cheap, was home to many musicians. Lester owned a house on Long Island in which his wife and two children lived but the Alvin was directly across the street from Birdland, and that was where Lester wanted to be.Lester wasn’t playing at Birdland or any of the other major clubs in Manhattan. His chronic... Read More
Comments: 6January 2nd, 2023
A Musically Satisfying Mendelssohn Octet in E Flat Major Demo Disc From Chasing the Dragon lets you compare analog vs. digital, 33 1/3 vs, 45, 1/2 speed to normal, tube vs. transistor micsBy: Michael Fremer
Mendelssohn completed his Octet in E Flat Major when he was 16 years old. Good thing he started composing brilliant pieces while young because he was dead at 38. After completing the piece, dedicated to his violin teacher Eduard Rietz, Mendelssohn gave him the score as a birthday present on October 17, 1825. Rietz copied out all of the parts and it was quickly performed in an informal family gathering. Rietz lived an even shorter life. Tuberculosis got him at age 30.... Read More
Comments: 3January 1st, 2023
TrackingAngle Visits darTZeel Audio, Geneva Switzerland a move into a much larger manufacturing facility in the heart of watchmaking heavenBy: Michael Fremer
Last summer, while visiting Geneva to attend the Montreux Jazz Festival and produce a Nagra factory tour I also visited darTZeel Audio's brand new manufacturing facility. The company had just moved from its old funky loft location into this brand new, modern cooperative facility and CEO Hervé Delétraz was anxious to show it to me. The Lake Geneva photo was taken from the air as my plane approached the airport.Delétraz had arranged with his friends at Nagra to... Read More
Comments: 0December 29th, 2022
Do These Guys Look like They're Counting Down to Ecstasy? the Dan's second album was recorded "...in a desultory, haphazard fashion."By: Michael Fremer
Other than Donald Fagen, the boys hanging in the studio control room in the back jacket photo look either pissed (Denny Dias), mildly bemused and/or disgusted (Walter Becker), or completely stoned and/or exhausted (Jeff "Skunk" Baxter). Drummer Jim Hodder, too far from the camera to read and noticeably isolated physically from the others, would soon exit the band after being pushed out of the drummer seat by Jim Gordon and Jeff Porcaro on the third album... Read More
Comments: 12