July 1st, 2024
Joe Lovano Records at Van Gelder Studio and You Are Invited to Attend—A Tracking Angle Exclusive! well, I was and here's the videoBy: Michael Fremer
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
June 24th, 2024
Listen to the Wilson-Benesch GMT One Turntable Play David Bowie's "Fashion" Listen to me, don't listen to me....By: Michael Fremer
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
May 6th, 2024
"Walk on the Wildside" OG Played On Wilson Benesch GMT One Turntable been playing this record for 50+ years!By: Michael Fremer
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
April 19th, 2024
Sonny Rollins "Freedom Weaver" —A Last Minute RSD "Must Have" late arrival among the essential RSD 2024 jazz titlesBy: Michael Fremer
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
March 10th, 2024
Supatrac, Lyra Atlas Lambda SL/ SAT CF1-12, Lyra Atlas Lambda SL Reveal with an asteriskBy: Michael Fremer
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
It is only fair to give you an "apples to apples" comparison. So, here's the same Bill Cunliffe Live at Bernie's Direct-to-Disc track recorded twice: once with the SAT CF1-12/Lyra Atlas Lambda SL combo into the just reviewed van den Hul The Grail SX and again with the Supatrac Blackbird/Lyra Atlas Lambda SL combo into the van den Hul The Grail SX.The only variable this time is the tonearm. It's now "C" and "D".BUT: This... Read More
March 4th, 2024
A Year With KLAUDIO's KD-CLN-LP200T Ultrasonic Record Cleaner it's been a very clean yearBy: Michael Fremer
About a year has passed since publication of the KLAUDIO ultrasonic cleaning machine review so now's a good time to tell you how it's been working and how well it cleans records. Also, this is a good time to again cover some basics because there's so much online nonsense and misinformation, though it's also true that well-informed opinions sometimes differ.This machine has had, as you can imagine, a great deal of use. Daily use. Not... Read More
March 2nd, 2024
The Supatrac Kleos SL/SAT Atlas Lambda SL "A/B" Reveal a more fair test coming up!By: Michael Fremer
This comparison was more for entertainment value than anything especially since the cartridges mounted in each arm were different! Let's start there. The comparison was between a $4395 cartridge and one costing $14,295 and an arm costing around $3700 versus one costing around $60,000. The phono preamp was the the $28,995 van den Hul The Grail SX (review will shortly be published). I could not use the CH Precision P10 because it is across the way installed for use... Read More
February 18th, 2024
Tracking Angle Visits Japan's New "Technics café KYOTO" Technics serves up a high-end vinyl listening space (and sandwiches)By: Jonti Davies
Opened just the other month, Technics' new café in downtown Kyoto is a minimalist space dedicated to the pleasure of listening to records on the company's latest and greatest equipment. Join us for a quick tour.
Read MoreDecember 26th, 2023
Win This Rega Planar 3 50th Anniversary Edition! no purchases necessary, but one obligationBy: Tracking Angle
Win the Rega Planar 3 50th Anniversary Edition recently reviewed on this website! According to importer Sound Organization, this is the last one made available to them, though there may be one or two lurking at dealers. Tracking Angle is giving it away to a lucky reader, one string attached. Read on!Here are the contest rules:1) you must join our mailing list to enter the contest. It's free and easy to do—just click on the Mailing List Signup" rectangle at... Read More
December 16th, 2023
Christmas Is Real Train Time Too! a rare 1996 steam ride on New Jersey Transit Commuter linesBy: Michael Fremer
Model trains are a Christmas tradition. But a real steam train traveling on the New Jersey Transit commuter line at almost 80 MPH is a rare and amazing thing not likely to be repeated but it did happen back in the fall of 1996 and I was lucky enough to take the trip from Hoboken to Port Jervis with my late father in law who worked on the railroads as a kid during the Depression. Half way through the ride to Port Jervis soot clogged the camcorder microphone so for this... Read More
November 26th, 2023
Tracking Angle’s 2023 Holiday Gift Guide Analog gifting made easyBy: Tracking Angle
The holiday season is here, though finding gifts for picky vinyl obsessives can be difficult. To help, we’ve compiled a list of records, gear, and accessories that demonstrate why yes, you do carefully listen to your loved one’s rants about fancy reissues and record cleaning supplies. Without further ado, here’s the 2023 Tracking Angle Holiday Gift Guide, independently selected by Michael Fremer and Malachi Lui based on personal opinions and experiences with each... Read More
October 21st, 2023
Listen to the Opening Track From "Rufus Reid Presents Caelan Cardello" transcribed from the 180g QRP vinylBy: Michael Fremer
I probably should have included a track from "Rufus Reid Presents Caelan Cardello" in the video the other day announcing the release but better late than never so here's the opening track taken from the record. Read More
October 12th, 2023
Meet The Writers! okay, what we lack in diversity (working on that) is more than compensated for by talent!By: Michael Fremer
At the bottom of every page is the site's "housekeeping" and indexing area where you can select and go directly to content columnized into "Features", "Music" and "Equipment". The contents are further broken down beneath each header. It's all there neatly segmented as hyperlinks. A newly added link under "Tracking Angle Information" takes you to the Meet the Writers page. In case you don't often head... Read More
October 10th, 2023
Turntable Comparison Video Yields Hundreds of Fascinating Comments new "if someone tells you that, show them this" feature on trackingangle YouTube ChannelBy: Michael Fremer
A new video on the TrackingAngle YouTube channel has gotten thousands of views in a few hours. It lets viewers hear the same record playing back on two different turntables using the same arm, cartridge and phono preamp. The goal was to put an end to "all turntables sound alike" trolls it certainly did that! The turntables are the OMA K3 prototype I own and a TechDAS Air Force III Premium both fitted with the same SAT CF1-12 arm and Lyra Atlas Lambda SL... Read More