The Flat.Duo's outstanding warped record flattening ability was the highlight of the previous Flat.Duo video. The noise added to two records I "relaxed" using the Flat.Duo's "Relax" mode's standard settings were the lowlights. Naturally, the manufacturer in Germany and the importer were disturbed by the results and who could blame them? Both said that customers (including some industry insiders I know) had no such experience and they... Read More

On January 7th at this year's CES Technics introduced the EAH-AZ100 flagship Bluetooth earbuds but I got to experience them a month earlier in Japan. When the invite arrived in my inbox I really didn't know what to make of it. Earbuds? Me? Japan? Sign an NDA? Sure, but was Technics really flying me to Japan for a headphone launch? Until I got there I thought maybe the trip was really about a new top end turntable and they were just making sure I didn't... Read More

Here's how I produce a 42 pound lasagne every Christmas "from scratch" (bad word to use around records, I know)—and it's related to this channel's mission: vinyl records. How's that? But first: you might want to attempt this recipe. It's incredible. Back in 1997 I got a phone call from the wife of United Federation of Teachers founder Albert Shanker (referenced in Woody Allen's movie "Sleeper"). Shanker had recently... Read More

When my friend Robin Wyatt (Robyatt Audio) and I decided to release this live performance on vinyl we vowed to produce it "cost is no object" and we didn't do it to make money—not that we are against making money and we actually did make some. I sent as a gift to the about to retire Bob Ludwig what I thought were the finished, ready to be cut to lacquer files but he got back to me and insisted that he'd like to master it and have his name on it... Read More

Somehow, it’s already the end of November, which means that the holiday season is upon us. “Finding good gifts for picky vinyl obsessives can be hard,” goes our gift guide intro year after year. Thus, Michael Fremer and Malachi Lui (with the consideration of other writers’ most enthusiastic reviews this year) have compiled a list of recommended records, gear, and accessories. All products are independently selected. We hope this helps at least someone.iFi Zen Phono 3... Read More

Veteran music journalist, author, Zelig-like scene schronicler Harvey Kubernik has seen it all, (or at least much if not most of it) and over the decades has managed to be the man on the ground for the most momentous events in rock history. The genre may be fading but interest in it, and its history has not, as the excitement surrounding this new documentary that covers the same time frame as the recently released The Beatles 1964 US Albums in Mono box... Read More

Photo credit: TalmyEnterprises. The legendary and influential record producer Shel Talmy passed away yesterday (November 14th) from a stroke at age 87. Talmy arranged and produced the Kinks recordings 1964-1967, My Generation by the Who, and hit singles by the Easybeats, Manfred Mann, Chad & Jeremy, and worked with the Creation and Pentangle. He produced early sessions for a young David Bowie.

I needed a box of It All Comes Down to Mood—Patrick Leonard's new double LP—to sell at the Capital Audio Festival, which starts this Friday November 8th. I asked Patrick to UPS down a box but he said he and his pilot wife Anna would instead fly them down in their plane and take me for a tour of Manhattan. They arrived this Sunday morning well before the New York City Marathon would close off some airspace. I put the records in my car and off we went in the Cirrus... Read More

The San Francisco Audiophile Foundation invited me to speak about whatever I wanted to talk about, in two, two hour long sessions held at the most fascinating and packed with cool radio and hi-fi gear, California Historical Radio Society. No, those are not my legs. Mine are actually better. Those two records are part of a multi-record set issued by Riverside Records in which they cut up a single long shot into three or perhaps four album covers. The records were part... Read More

On June 10th, 2019 Newvelle Records hosted an event at world famous Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs New Jersey where "reluctant/later bloomer" pianist Billy Lester performed for a small audience of friends, family and press. A film about Lester was also screened. The thumbnail photo is of Newville's co-founder and a pianist himself, Elan Mehler. The jazz label had just issued Lester's album From Scratch on vinyl, with Lester performing in a... Read More

If you are in the New York metro area, on September 19th Innovative Audio is hosting an album release party for Patrick Leonard's new album It All Comes Down to Mood. Patrick will be there and following playback of the entire album on the big Wilson Chronosonic XVX speakers Patrick Leonard and I will talk about it's creation, the musicians like Tony Levin, Martin Barre and others who participated and if there's time, Patrick's incredible... Read More

Newvelle's Elan Mehler was kind enough to give Tracking Angle an exclusive on this press release and offer. Since there are but 500 copies pressed, here's the story: The legendary Little Freddie King returns to Newvelle Records with a stripped down - and decidedly different - sound. The blues titan appears here just a few years following his acclaimed release Going Upstairs but now in raw, unadorned form. Paul DeFiglia on upright bass and Bobby Lewis on harp... Read More

Patrick Leonard and his wife Anna stopped by today (she piloted her plane to Teterboro airport) to discuss promotional plans for the soon to be available album It All Comes Down to Mood, which debuted July 26th on Apple Music and is available for pre-order at Acoustic Sounds, Music Direct and Elusive Disc. The couple also got a chance to hear the album on my system.After playing most of side two of the four sides, Patrick said he wants to mix his next record here. He... Read More

Would you like to attend a recording session at Rudy Van Gelder's legendary Englewood Cliffs studio featuring saxophone great Joe Lovano? Of course you would! I was lucky enough to attend one—the only invited journalist—last May 19th, four days after returning from Switzerland following High End 2024. Here's the story. The old audiophile riddle "How do you make $1,000,000 in the audio business? Answer: "start with $2,000,000" didn't... Read More

125,000 views of Steely Dan's "Gaucho" played back on Wilson-Benesch's GMT One turntable made clear that people enjoy listening to top quality vinyl playback, even degraded as it is by YouTube's meh bit rate audio. So here's another one: David Bowie's "Fashion" from his 1980 album Scary Monsters, Super Creeps from an original U.K. Townhouse mastered pressing. The record is not a "minty" copy but it still sounds... Read More

Before returning the Wilson Beseech GMT One turntable I recorded a few additional tracks including this one: "Walk on the Wild Side" from an original American pressing that I've owned and played since 1972. Mick Ronson's arranging skills played a significant role in the success of this record, musically and commercially. It was recorded at Trident in London and the sound is superbly natural. When those backup gals do their "do do do...."... Read More

These 1959 European tour recordings have often been bootlegged with Rollins not getting royalties. This box rights that wrong and presents the piano-less trio in the best possible sound. It's not "audiophile" quality but it's decent enough mono, professionally recorded and not the result of a microphone hung from a ceiling.There's something rock'n'roll about sax, bass and drums, especially when Rollins leads the trio and this trio is... Read More

The Impex 1Step Getz/Gilberto review included 30 second hi-res "snippets" of seven different pressings: an early original, the 1994 Mobile-Fidelity, the Speakers Corner mastered by Kevin Gray, two George Marino mastered versions (45rpm released 2011 and the 33 1/3 issued in 2020), the Supersense lacquer and of course Impex's 1Step double 45.And here's which was which:1. MOFI2. Speaker’s Corner3. OG4. Impex 5) AP 45 6) lacquer 7) AP 33And there you... Read More

Thanks to everyone who listened to the Blackbird/SAT files and weighed in on which they thought sounded better. If you read through all of the comments you found that opinions varied, which is to be expected. That one arm costs around $3500 and the other more than $50,000 tells you how fine (and surprising) is the Blackbird's performance. Over the next few weeks three more arms will be put to a similar test—two are from Pro-Ject and one is from Ortofon. So stay... Read More