Introduction I received the Curious Cables USB a few months back and postponed this review until I was able to compare this venerable cable with at least a dozen other USB cables. We all know it’s a fantastic cable, but how does it fare against the giants of today? So over the course of a…
High Fidelity Cables Trinity Go Headphone Module Review
Introduction When I first heard about High Fidelity Cables’s magnetic conduction technology, my first thought was a mixture of snake oil with unicorn tears. After listening to their offerings on my own setup and a few others, I’ve capitulated. They even made it on the Discovery Channel. Now, I own many of their power products and…
Chord Blu Mk. 2 M Scaler CD Transport Review – Digital Dressed in Analog
Morning Blu I received a call a few mornings ago from Ken Davis from Brooks Berdan in Monrovia, California. He said he had a surprise for me: A Chord Blu Mk. 2. As far as I’m aware, Brooks Berdan is the first dealer to have a Blu MKII in their listening rooms. This highly anticipated device…
VOVOX textura Gourmet High-End Cables Review
Introduction Admittedly, I didn’t hear about the VOVOX products until I was searching for SOtM cables on High-End Audio PC and Crux Audio. There seems to be some implication of synergy between the two products but I didn’t think much of it. A few months ago, Jürg Vogt, the founder of VOVOX, asked if I wanted…
Purist Audio Design Diamond Edition Dominus AC Power Cord Review
When you’re listening to an entire system, whether at a trade show or demo room at a shop, it’s difficult to isolate which component you’re actually hearing. One set of components, however, has a more weighted and substantial impact on the overall sound. These are the power-related components. They unequivocally determine what the limitations are as…
Linkin Park Singer, Chester Bennington, Dead at 41
Chester Bennington, the lead singer of the multi-chart-topping Linkin Park, took his own life by hanging today. Uncoincidentally, on the day of his good friend Chris Cornell‘s birthday. Bennington performed at Chris’s funeral and dedicated this tribute to him a few months ago: A quote from a recent interview with Chester regarding aging as a musician: I think…
1MORE MK802 Wireless Bluetooth Over-Ear Headphone Review
1MORE is a Taiwan-based audio company and they’re making huge moves in audiophile-land. Their quad driver IEM recently won the Los Angeles Audio Show 2017 Alfie Awards in the Personal Audio category. If that wasn’t impressive enough, they also have the backing of musician Jay Chou. Their goal is to produce uncompromising quality (both in sound…
UpTone Audio ISO REGEN Review
Introduction I’ve written quite a bit about the sonic benefits of various USB conditioners. The UpTone Audio USB REGEN was my first USB conditioner and I was blown away by its performance. It probably had the most natural timbre and tone out of the ones I’ve tested but came off a bit flat and fuzzy…
SOtM iSO-CAT6 Special Edition: The Flavors of Audiophile Ethernet
Introduction When I hesitantly (due to the $500/1.5m price tag) reviewed the SOtM dCBL-CAT7 ethernet cable back in March, I realized the importance of having a high-quality ethernet cable in the chain. Now I have a dCBL-CAT7 running from my modem to my router and two more for my actual source components. I felt the…
Audio-Technica ATH-DSR9BT Bluetooth Headphone Review
Introduction Audio-Technica’s new flagship wireless headphone is finally here and it’s bringing something new to the table. Most bluetooth headphones have a DAC built into the cups/buds themselves but the new Audio-Technica ATH-DSR9BT ($550) and DSR7BT ($300) both use Pure Digital Drive, a DAC-less technology. Basically the digital signal from your laptop/phone goes directly into a…