I’ll just say right off the bat that the VAC Statement 452iQ is the finest example of any high-power, vacuum tube power amplifier I’ve had the pleasure to hear. Physically imposing in its vertical-styled form […]
Recently, while taking a break from reviewing two-channel gear, I became fascinated by the goings-on in the headphone community. This is part story, part review of how this happened. As much as my time permits […]
In ancient Hebrew, Zion is a sanctuary or refuge. I can certainly attest to the musical experience created when a pair of Ampsandsound Zions power my system; a space of refuge is created. A sanctuary […]
Like my recent attendance at the Toronto audio show, I didn’t go to the 2022 Capitol Audiofest on an official show report mission for Part-Time Audiophile. I went to have some fun and laughs with […]
Toronto Audiofest 2022 For a long time, my day-to-day work in music production was all I needed to escape the constant turmoil of current events worldwide. Lately, those events are more than just concerning, they’re […]
Some hi-fi components take a while to reveal their strengths. Some gear makes me fall in love immediately. For me, the VAC Master Preamplifier (website) fell in the latter category. Over time as preamplifiers of […]
Ever since PTA’s Grover Neville hipped me to Ampsandsound founder Justin Weber’s world of small wattage vacuum tube amplifiers, I’ve been extremely curious. When Justin offered, I jumped at the opportunity to have some seat […]
I enjoyed my listening time with the Credo EV Reference One speakers (website) very much. It’s yet another example of the attention to detail and precision-engineered ethos that I’ve experienced in reviewing other “made-in-Switzerland” audio […]
I consider part of my job in reviewing an audio component as a search for the truth–while knowing full well there is no absolute objective truth. There is only my subjective truth, in my listening […]
Journey To Ixtland When I first started writing for Part-Time Audiophile, Scot Hull and Marc Phillips asked me if I wanted to do some cable reviews. I replied something like, “I’m not a believer. Since […]
I am all too guilty of jumping right into the audio science portion of the meal to explain in very detailed ways what I’ve heard, mainly because it’s so ingrained in me from years at […]
Big Kids Toys I recently attended an audiophile event at one of my favorite local hi-fi haunts, Big Kids Toys AV, in Greensboro, North Carolina. Shop owner Mike Toomey was one of the first folks […]
In my earliest listening days, I used to think that power amps sounded more similar than different. Sure, there were tubes and some exotic topologies that had a markedly different vibe, but mostly it was […]
Florida Audio Expo 2022 Instead of writing-up these Florida Audio Expo rooms individually (something Eric Franklin Shook is known for) I’ve decided to write round-up specifically about the rooms I liked in the larger, 2nd […]
After reviewing the TIDAL Audio Prisma preamplifier in 2020 (linked here) and hearing Doug White (of The Voice That Is) do his jaw-dropping TIDAL Audio system demos at two Capital Audiofests, I jumped at the […]
“I’m using some big ass mono amps, the Pass Labs XA-200.8. Ya know, the Class A ones.” Whenever I say that, in answer to a question from another audiophile, I get an interesting range of […]
This was my second visit ever to Capital Audio Fest, my first being in 2019 in the “Before Times.” The 2021 show, if not quite as large as the previous one, was very well attended, […]
The story of the McGary Audio SA-1E power amplifier starts with a somewhat chance meeting. Knowing of my obsession with all things vinyl, Mark Sossa of Well Pleased AV informed me that I should meet […]
Qln Prestige Five: They’ve Done It Again As I listened to the latest offering from the Swedish speaker manufacturer—the Qln Prestige Five, or P5 for short—I struggled a bit thinking about how to describe their […]
[Editor’s Note: While brainstorming how to best tell the story of our road trip to The Audio Company, Dave and I (Eric Franklin Shook) considered drilling down into the specific sound of each room, but instead […]
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