Enjoy the Music.com High-End Audio Review Magazine, Hi-Fi Audiophile Equipment And Gear Articles

High-End Audio / Audiophile Equipment Reviews And Think Pieces

December 2020

Enjoy the Music.com's Schiit(y) Holiday Giveaway!
Say farewell to 2020 and win a Schiit Lyr 3 with Multibit DAC option valued at $699!
With hopes of bringing great-sounding music (and humor) to cap off 2020, Enjoy the Music.com's Schitt(y) Holiday Giveaway offers one winner a Schiit Lyr 3 with Multibit DAC option ($699). To improve on the company's Lyr 2, they had to completely reinvent the unit with two key new technologies while also making it a modular design. The Schiit Lyr 3 can be configured with a DAC as within this contest, or a MM phono preamplifier just like their Jotunheim. Within this contest, we're including Schiit's Multibit DAC (a $200 upgrade!).
---> Enter Enjoy the Music.com's Schitt(y) holiday giveaway.

Great Audiophile Gift Ideas For The 2020 Holiday Season
Enjoy the Music.com celebrates our 15th annual gift ideas to give your audiophile!
Enjoy the Music.com proudly presents our 15th annual Great Audiophile Gift recommendations! We all love gifts, yet getting that something special for an audiophile can be quite a challenge. Enjoy the Music.com's annual Great Audiophile Gift wish list brings you some truly spectacular ideas for music lovers. There are so many wonderful products we recommend! All recommended gifts this year are very reasonably priced too! We have gifts that will make your vinyl junkie smile, plus a few surprised along the way!
---> See Enjoy the Music.com's our Great Audiophile Gift 2020!

Reflecting Back On 2020
High-end audio and the music industry experiences impressive growth.
Editorial By Steven R. Rochlin
I've spoken to many manufacturers and distributors during 2020, and without a doubt the saying "May you live in interesting times" holds true. While that saying is an English expression that is claimed to be a translation of a traditional Chinese curse, the point is very valid for 2020. On one hand, both high-end audio and the music industry experienced impressive growth. On the other hand, we also missed seeing one another during shows. More hi-fi blogs and YouTube videos have been produced during 2020 than perhaps any other time.
---> Reflecting Back On 2020.

Wanna Have Some Musical Fun?
Roger Skoff writes about another way to enjoy the music.
Article By Roger Skoff
I have 14 different recorded performances of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, 23 of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, 11 of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 15, and at least 8 of his Waltz No. 2. I also have multiple live and studio performances of all kinds of rock and pop music, either performed by the same artists at different venues and times or with the same principal performer(s) and different support personnel — ranging all the way from just different backup players or singers to a full symphony orchestra (Deep Purple "In Concert with The London Symphony Orchestra" 1999, for example).
---> Wanna Have Some Musical Fun?

Music And Mindfulness For Stress Reduction
Mindfulness is very real and it provides a powerful change in perspective.
Article By Gideon Waxman Of Drum Helper
Mindfulness is an incredibly liberating practice; one that has exploded as a recent phenomenon in the western world. Interestingly, us moderns are the last people on the planet to uncover the wealth of treasures it has to offer. Music and mindfulness are indeed complementary practices. Music and sounds make a wonderful object of focus for the mind, with mindful listening proven to boost our overall well-being and reduce stress significantly.
---> Music And Mindfulness For Stress Reduction.

Mindfulness In Music
John DeVore talks about mindfulness in this crazy world... plus a few musical suggestions.
Article By John DeVore Of DeVore Fidelity
John DeVore, Founder of DeVore Fidelity, has a wonderful two-video series about mindfulness in music. DeVore Fidelity is based in Brooklyn New York where for twenty years they've been designing and building beautiful speakers capable of communicating the power and scope as well as the intimate nuance of music in order to bring you closer to your music than ever before. Within John's two video series, he talks about mindfulness in this crazy world.
---> See John DeVore's Mindfulness In Music video.

Home Theater Fanatics SVS Prime Wireless SoundBase
Audiophile-grade technology to power any speaker.
Video By Jiles McCoy Of Home Theater Fanatics
This video shows you how to handle SVS' Prime Wireless SoundBase installation, configuration, and DTS Play-Fi app install instructions. Home Theater Fanatics is a retailer based out of Colorado and offers wide variety of videos featuring products they sell. SVS' Prime Wireless SoundBase brings high-resolution wireless audio streaming, advanced connectivity and smart control to conventional speakers. Using its line level output is also available. This enables you to create a smart wireless music zone with your AV receiver or two-channel stereo system.
---> Home Theater Fanatics SVS Prime Wireless SoundBase video.

10 Questions For High-End Audio Manufacturers
Francis Chaillet, AudioNec's Fonder And CEO
During Enjoy the Music.com's very special 25th Anniversary we're asking various high-end audio manufacturers to answer the same ten questions. Their answers may surprise you! This month we're featuring Francis Chaillet, AudioNec's Fonder and CEO. At AudioNec, they developed new technologies for their speakers in order for them to accurately reproduce the concert experience. Their commitment is to provide products that can transport you through time and space and create that magical moment.
---> 10 questions for Francis Chaillet, AudioNec's Fonder And CEO.

10 Questions For High-End Audio Manufacturers
Featuring Zoltán Bay, CEO And Designer For BAYZ Audio
During Enjoy the Music.com's very special 25th Anniversary we're asking various high-end audio manufacturers to answer the same ten questions. Their answers may surprise you! This month we're featuring Zoltán Bay CEO and designer for BAYZ Audio. The founder, Zoltán Bay has been obsessed with audio equipment and devices that offer high-end sound quality for more than 30 years. Zoltán is an engineer who strives for perfection, a technical creator who, as a music lover, also plays the piano. During his career, he has developed numerous technical innovations and special technical solutions, several of which have been patented.
---> 10 questions for Zoltán Bay, CEO and designer for BAYZ Audio.

10 Questions For High-End Audio Manufacturers
Featuring Frank Malitz, Former CEO And Co-Founder Of Bob Carver Company
During Enjoy the Music.com's very special 25th Anniversary we're asking various high-end audio manufacturers to answer the same ten questions. Their answers may surprise you! This month we're featuring Frank Malitz, Former CEO And Co-Founder Of Bob Carver Company. Robert W. (Bob) Carver is an American designer of audio equipment based in the Pacific Northwest. Educated as a physicist and engineer, Bob found an interest in audio equipment at a young age. He applied his talent to produce numerous innovative high fidelity designs since the 1970s.
---> 10 questions for Frank Malitz, former CEO and Co-Founder of the Bob Carver Company.

10 Questions For High-End Audio Manufacturers
Featuring Andy Kerr, Director Of Product Marketing & Communications At Bowers & Wilkins
During Enjoy the Music.com's very special 25th Anniversary we're asking various high-end audio manufacturers to answer the same ten questions. Their answers may surprise you! This month we're featuring Andy Kerr, Director of Product Marketing & Communications at Bowers & Wilkins. The story of Bowers & Wilkins starts with one man: John Bowers. Even some 30 years after his death, his passion and drive still pulse through the lifeblood of the company he founded. Bowers' dream of producing the perfect loudspeaker has driven the company from its humble beginnings behind an electronics shop in Worthing to becoming a global leader in audio.
---> 10 questions for Andy Kerr, Director of Product Marketing & Communications at Bowers & Wilkins.

10 Questions For High-End Audio Manufacturers
Featuring Dan Clark, Founder And CEO Of Dan Clark Audio
During Enjoy the Music.com's very special 25th Anniversary we're asking various high-end audio manufacturers to answer the same ten questions. Their answers may surprise you! This month we're featuring Dan Clark, Founder and CEO of Dan Clark Audio, Inc (previously known as MrSpeakers). Dan Clark Audio (DC Audio) is proud to produce some of the best sounding, most comfortable headphones in the market today. Their headphones are all hand-crafted within the company's San Diego factory. Over the past eight years DC Audio has been in business, they've been thrilled by the support from our community of enthusiasts.
---> 10 questions for Dan Clark, Founder and CEO of Dan Clark Audio.

10 Questions For High-End Audio Manufacturers
Featuring Eli Gershman, Founder And Chief Designer Of Gershman Acoustics
During Enjoy the Music.com's very special 25th Anniversary we're asking various high-end audio manufacturers to answer the same ten questions. Their answers may surprise you! This month we're featuring Eli Gershman founder, Chief Designer And Co-Owner Of Gershman Acoustics. Gershman Acoustics is a designer and manufacturer of high-end audio loudspeakers since 1993. The combination of the world best technology and art for the discriminating audiophiles and music lovers!
---> 10 questions for Eli Gershman, Founder, Chief Designer, and co-owner of Gershman Acoustics.

10 Questions For High-End Audio Manufacturers
Featuring Daren Orth, Rotel's Chief Technology Officer
During Enjoy the Music.com's very special 25th Anniversary we're asking various high-end audio manufacturers to answer the same ten questions. Their answers may surprise you! This month we're featuring Daren Orth, Rotel's Chief Technology Officer. Since 1961, Rotel audio products are known worldwide for their quality, reliability, value, and, above all, exceptional sound reproduction. There is no substitute for experience.
---> 10 questions for Daren Orth, Rotel's Chief Technology Officer.

10 Questions For High-End Audio Manufacturers
Featuring Max Townshend, CEO Of Townshend Audio
During Enjoy the Music.com's very special 25th Anniversary we're asking various high-end audio manufacturers to answer the same ten questions. Their answers may surprise you! This month we're featuring Max Townshend, CEO of Townshend Audio. For nearly five decades, the team of highly qualified engineers at Townshend Audio have been working towards building the hi-fi system of your dreams. Their quest is to find the best solution for every problem in the audio replay chain and build the ideal high fidelity music reproduction system is guided by common sense and sound engineering practice. To create this system Townshend Audio had to re-visit almost every component, from source to speaker.
---> 10 questions for Max Townshend, CEO Of Townshend Audio.

Kimber Kable Naked Interconnects Review
Let's go skinny dipping... with an impressive leap in cabling technology!
Review By Paul L. Schumann
Ok, we've all done it. We've swum in the water in our birthday suits. It may have been in a swimming pool, maybe in a lake or stream, maybe even in the ocean. I don't want to know your details, and I'm sure you don't want to know mine. But one way or another, we got naked outside and took the plunge. And no matter the outcome, it was a memorable experience. Such as with the Kimber Kable Naked Interconnects. My familiarity with Kimber Kable goes back further than I like to admit. Back then I was still a novice to the world of high-end interconnects. It was 1997 and I just upgraded my CD player.
---> Read our Kimber Kable Naked Interconnects review.

World Premiere Review!
Winter Tweakfest 2020!
Featuring many Great Audio Tweaks Including:
Audio Magic CE Generators (Donuts)
Captive Power Cord Conversion Male AC Plug
Herbie's Audio Lab Way Excellent II Turntable Mat
Soundeck Record Weight
Block Audio C-Lock Duplex Outlet Cable Support
Furutech NCF Clear Line Mini Power Conditioner
Review By Rick Becker
With the 2020 election behind us, we still face the battle of Covid-19. From what I hear from manufacturers, many audiophiles have turned to music to fill their isolation and the audio industry had not evaporated. In fact, many high-end companies are doing quite well. Those individuals who have maintained their professional careers in one form or another have continued to upgrade their equipment, even in the absence of new product introductions at shows that never materialized in 2020. Those working from home and minimizing social interactions and errands have likely saved thousands of dollars in travel expenses. In my case, we've downsized from two cars to one with little inconvenience.
---> Read our Winter Tweakfest 2020 review.

Pass Laboratories INT-25 Solid-State Integrated Amplifier Review
A fantastic sounding Class A stereo amplifier!
Review By Tom Lyle
Lest one think that this review is simply not only more evidence that I have somehow formed an untoward relationship with Pass Laboratories, I'd build my defense around the fact that every time I reviewed one of their high-end audio components, I was "assigned" the task. Sure, the fact that I use not only the power and preamplifier but also the headphone amplifier I use as references, must not help my case. The next thing I know I'm asked to review their INT-25 integrated amplifier. It's tough work, but someone has to do it. Yes, I'm grateful for my problems.
---> Read our Pass Laboratories INT-25 stereo integrated amplifier review.

AGD Productions The Audion Monoblock Amplifier Review
New GaN technology that brings Class D amplifiers into the upper echelon of performance.
Review By Michael Zisserson Of Positive Feedback.
What's new in audio? Not much in the past 40 years or so. When was the last technological shake-up in audio? Compact Disc, maybe? From there, digital technology has spawned endless formats of claimed resolving power that is rarely capitalized on. What I have had a hankering for is not another format war, rather, HARD technology. Like the birth of the solid-state transistor that knocked vacuum tube amplifiers on their heels. To my surprise, such a technology flashed into existence a couple of years ago, that is truly revolutionary, and I have been oblivious of its existence until now.
---> Read our AGD The Audion mono amplifier review.

Noble Sultan In-Ear Monitor (IEM) Review
A beautiful treasured piece of IEM art.
Review By Frank Iacone Of Headphone.Guru
When Jim Moulton contacts me and asks me to personally review a Noble IEM I know I am in for an exciting adventure into John Moulton's newest creation. The nickname Wizard, as John is known as, is well and truly justified, so when the good doctor works on a creation it is almost guaranteed to be groundbreaking in design and sound spectacular.... The new Sultan with its lustrous coverings is a beautiful treasured piece of art designed in the typical Noble handmade fashion created one at a time for the most discrete and select listener.
---> Read our Noble Sultan in-ear monitor (IEM) review.

The Intro
Editorial By Art Dudley
Passions run high among music lovers. We vilify "bad" musicians (the ones we dislike), and we elevate marginally functional savants with a couple of 2-minute singles and some album filler under their belts. When it comes to more unique and productive figures like Phil Spector, Jimi Hendrix, Wilhelm Furtwängler, John Cage, or [insert your own heroes and villains here], music fans either revere them as gods or dismiss them as meaningless. Sometimes there are shades in between, but perspective is at a premium. This tendency to paint things black or white spills over to the equipment we use to play back our favorite recordings.
---> Read Art Dudley's intro article from Listener magazine.

Try A Screen Driven Driver Stage
Article By Rikard Berglund
From Sound Practices Issue 8, Winter 1994/1995
Some output tubes (211 and 845) need a very high drive voltage with low distortion. Some tube freaks have used the 300B tube as a driver but it is very expensive. Others have tried to use a triode connected EL34 but it is not linear enough. A pentode driven on the screen grid is very linear. I have tried this concept in a new driver stage, as shown on the accompanying schematic. The first two tubes V1 and V2 form an asymmetrical mu-follower. V3 is a screen grid driven pentode. Adjust the potentiometer R9 to 350V DC at the plate of V3. You can use many different tubes for V3.
---> Read Try A Screen Driven Driver Stage article.

Rare Birds
Listening impressions of some collectible equipment.
From VALVE Volume 2 Number 6 June 1995
There, I hope that helps keep anyone from getting to upset, because I'm going to be honest about what I thought of some very highly touted equipment. Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to audition a Marantz 7 preamp and 8 power amp which were consigned to me. Both pieces were in excellent electronic shape and very good to excellent cosmetic shape. The preamp had been checked out and a new filter cap installed by Audio Classics, the guys in New York who sell all the Mac stuff for huge prices.
---> Read Rare Birds from VALVE magazine.

Metronome Le Dac Review
...and the Technicolor Dream.
Review By Paul Schumann
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Legendary Performance Awards 2020
Enjoy the Music.com celebrates our 25th Anniversary reviewing high-end audio gear.
Enjoy the Music.com's Legendary Performance Awards 2020 celebrates the incredible achievements by high-end audio manufacturers since we've been reviewing gear for over the past two decades. Unlike our annual Blue Note Awards, Enjoy the Music.com's Legendary Performance Awards is a once every 25-year event, so you know it is something very special indeed! We tasked our extensive staff in choosing products they felt earned an extra-special mention, which in turn shows the greatness of these legendary pieces of high-end audio equipment.
---> See Enjoy the Music.com's Legendary Performance Awards 2020.

Allnic H-7000 Vacuum Tube Phono Preamplifier Review
Bringing you closer to the musical performance.
Review By Tom Lyle
I've been lucky enough to be able to review a variety of excellent preamplifiers during the last few years, from the more affordable to the quite extravagant. As with the Allnic H-7000 vacuum tube phono preamplifier, as reviewed here, I'm hoping that these different types of phono preamplifiers that I've reviewed might help some audiophiles make a decision as to which phono preamp might be best for their system's analog set-up. Since not everyone is looking to purchase a new phono preamp, I also hope that audiophiles and maybe even a few non-audiophiles (or soon to be audiophiles), have found that these reviews fun to read!
---> Allnic H-7000 vacuum tube phono preamplifier review.

Audeze LCDi3 Portable In-Ear Headphones Review
Incredible portable audio any way you want it!
Review By Peter Pialis
I absolutely loved the iSine20 when I reviewed them a few years ago. I found them to really shake things up in the portable market space with their full-sized headphone sound and transparency. Well, never to rest on their laurels, Audeze has just released their follow up; the LCDi3. This new product is a big step up from their iSine20 predecessors with the same magnesium housing and grill from their flagship in-ear headphones; the LCDi4. As well, you now get a plethora of options to use these in-ear headphones. Everything from a Bluetooth option to a Lightning Cipher Cable to a standard 3.5mm TRS stereo cable is included with them and as a result, you should have all of your portable audio bases covered.
---> Audeze LCDi3 portable in-ear headphones review.

EMM Labs DV2 Integrated DAC Review
A truly magical musical machine!
Review By Phil Gold
It's many years since I've owned a standalone DAC. When your CD Player is from EMM Labs it not only contains a world class DAC, but that DAC keeps improving sonically with regular free firmware updates. On top of that, EMM Labs has updated the XDS1 CD Player to V2 and now V3 with new physical components for a reasonable update charge. Without doubt today's XDS1 V3 shows remarkable improvements over the initial model I first reviewed in 2010. But this new DV2 DAC ($30,000) costs more than a new XDS1 ($25,000) even without a transport section. It is the finest DAC EMM Labs has ever made, adding a variable output, MQA support and other refinements to the otherwise similar DA2 ($25,000).
---> EMM Labs DV2 Integrated DAC review.

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Great Audiophile Gift 2020 December

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