Welcome to another grab bag post, the second in my continuing effort to save the people who wouldn’t remember me if they stepped on me the indignity of having to take anything I say seriously.

Prana Fidelity

Steven Norbert deserves more cred. I’ve been hitting his rooms for a full year now, and, every, single time, I walk away thinking “that was surprisingly good.”

I should probably make more time to listen to them. That’s not easy to do, though. His rooms are always packed. It’s easy to see why.

Manger & Lindemann

This room was a real glimpse of the future. The Manger MSMs1 active speakers approached Quad 57 heights of delicacy and detail, while Lindemann’s new MusicBook:25 ($5500) provided a competent and rewarding front end from something smaller than a Harry Potter book.

Unfortunately, Manger currently lacks US distribution. That’s something that needs to get fixed. Based on what I heard here, I’d say that it needs to get fixed fast.

Mojo Audio

Mojo Audio brought their $1500 Mystique dac to bear on a system made from scavenged organ amplifiers and bargain-basement, DIY, full-range speakers. The dac is a marvel of clear thinking, with insane levels of attention paid to the power supply and regulation. Was the system HiFi? Probably not. Was it as musical as all get out? Undoubtedly.