Anyone who likes Jethro Tull or follows the remastering genius of Steven Wilson must listen to Stand Up: The Elevated Edition. Wilson has done it again with his amazing 5.1 mix of a music classic. Stand Up, first released in 1969, was Jethro Tull’s second
Portable high resolution audio (HRA) players range in price from the Pono or the Questyle at under $600 to the flagship Astell & Kern at just under $5,000. Selecting the right player at the right price has been confusing to the point of creating consumer
Audience recently announced three new AC power cords — the Au24 SX powerChord, Au24 SE-i power Chord, and powerChord SE-i. Incorporating its latest advancements in materials and engineering, Audience promises to again revolutionize high-performance audio systems. Audiophiles who understand the difference that power cords make in a high-end
At some point they will run out of live King Crimson to remaster and re-issue, but for now there are still many performances to share and treasure. The newest deluxe box set, On (and off) the Road, features 19 discs and covers all of the
People have started to figure out that the reason digital music does not sound as good as vinyl has less to do with the studio mix burned digitally as 1’s and 0’s, and more to do with the “timing” of the playback of those 1’s
Anyone who has had to return to their CD collection and rip it for a second or third time knows that CD’s are not dead. Hard drives are not forever. When they age they will inevitably become corrupted and the information on them may be
AXPONA (Audio Expo North America), the high-end consumer audio show held last weekend at the Westin O’Hare in Rosemont, Il, is one of the best events of the year for audiophiles. While this is only one of about a dozen national high end audio shows,
Synergistic Research has become a market leader of innovative audiophile products. While teaks of all kinds find no shortage of skeptics, the Grounding Block from Synergistic Research is a tweak based on solid science and it works. It has always been known that a well-grounded
DJM electronics has made the first Ethernet noise filter that might be helpful for an audio signal. It is called the GigaFOILv3 Ethernet Filter and it is currently priced at $1,000. It is commonly accepted that EMI causes Noise in power cables. When that
One of the most popular vibration control tweaks, and probably the one that most audiophiles use in their systems is the Stillpoint Ultra SS. The Ultra’s are priced at about $300 each and you need at least three of them. Stillpoints have been around for
Vibration control is a good area for a tweak because not all components absorb vibration efficiently. Rather than add to the cost of the component, manufactures often ether ignore vibration or deal with it as cost effectively as they can to keep the component in
When it comes to high-end power cables, Shunyata is the king. So every time Shunyata replaces their top of the line cable with a new model, “attention must be paid.” In 2009, the King Cobra CX by Shunyata was their flagship power cable. Priced at
The Chord Hugo is simply the best portable amplifier/DAC on the market. Whether you use it with your computer or with a portable transport to carry when you are out and about, the Hugo has no equal. Perhaps the $2,500 retail price is steep for
The Recording Academy Producers & Engineers Wing recently announced the creation of a series of Hi-Res Audio Production Guidelines. The new guidelines are a key step to ensuring that real high-resolution music is produced and sold to the public. While the Recording Academy Producers &
In order to make a noticeable improvement in sound quality with a power cord you should expect to pay not less than $500 for a 1 meter cord. Cords to consider at this price point are the Audioquest NRG 10, Audience PowerCord SE or a
In his notes on the 2014 remix, Steve Wilson said, “I think that A Passion Play is a historically underrated work of art that deserves to be reevaluated.” Thanks to his remix in 5.1 Surround Sound to celebrate the album’s 40th anniversary, Jethro Tull’s masterpiece
Forty years after its initial release, the 5.1 Surround Sound Blue-ray audio re-master of The Who’s, Quadrophenia, may well be considered the definitive final version of this rock classic. After giving this disc a listen you will conclude that it is un-improvable. By the end
In addition to a standard definition of high resolution audio (HRA), in June, 2014, the music industry also agreed on standard labels they will use so music lovers can identify the source of the high resolution digital recording they are buying. As previously reported in
From records and reel-to-reel tapes to cassettes to eight-track tapes to CD’s to SACD and DVD-audio, the next generation of music delivery is digital. The standard for High Resolution Audio, the best quality digital sound available, has finally been set. After a long period of
Audio components on a rack pick up sonic vibration carried by the air in the room where the music is played. They also carry actual vibration from their own electrical movement and from the other components in the rack, which ultimately affects sound quality. Manufacturers
While the prices of high end connector cables often exceed the price of the high end components they are attached to, the cables that carry the analog signal noticeably improves the sound quality of your system. Just like adding a good power cord, a high
Savant Systems has won many awards as a smart home operating system but it will never win an award in any audiophile sound publication. If you care at all about the quality of the sound coming from your audio system then do not use Savant
