Analog
Pure Fidelity Eclipse Turntable Review
Pure Fidelity Eclipse Turntable Review: Total Eclipse of the Art, as originally seen in The Occasional Magazine. […]
Articles by Rafe Arnott
Occasional Magazine
The Occasional Magazine – Spring 2018 Edition
DOWNLOAD YOUR COPY OF OUR BRAND NEW SPRING EDITION HERE It’s June, it’s back and it’s better than ever… I’m talking about 120 pages in the Spring Edition of The Occasional magazine. It is chocked full […]
AXPONA 2018
AXPONA 2018: Benchmark stays smooth with Martin Logan
Audiophiles like smoothness. Audiophiles don’t like rough edges, bumps or dips in frequency response, falloff in off-axis listening, hot treble, or exaggerated bass. Linear playback without attention being drawn to any particular part of the […]
Announcements
McIntosh Labs launch new MS500 Music Streamer and MCD600 SACD/CD Player
Binghamton, New York is a very busy place based on the number of announcements that come across my desk regarding McIntosh Labs product launches. The most recent salvo fired across the digital frontier from the […]
AXPONA 2018
Munich High End 2018: Fern & Roby make it feel like the first time
Christopher Hildebrand of bespoke high-fidelity manufacturer Fern & Roby showed off some impressive pieces of kit at AXPONA a few weeks ago, and when I spoke with him there he related his excitement at attending […]
Analog
Review: Kondo Overture II integrated amplifier and GE-1 Phono Amplifier
This is an article that first appeared in our new online PDF, downloadable magazine The Occasional this February in our Winter 2018 edition. We’ll be rolling out articles from it over the next several weeks in anticipation […]
Munich 2018
Munich High End 2018: totaldac shows off d1-twelve DAC and new USB GIGAFILTER
For those who’ve followed my path meandering through digital audio, and streaming in particular with Tidal Hi-Fi, the name totaldac might be a familiar one. I’ve been hooked on Vincent Brient’s designs for more than […]
Munich 2018
Munich High End 2018 preview: Von Schweikert rolls thunder from the mountain
High End at Munich (May 11-13) is peeking over the horizon this week, so I’m continuing coverage – after a fashion – of what’s happening there this year, without my actually being there. I had […]
Munich 2018
Munich High End 2018: The show that all shows want to be?
MUNICH. Have you seen the 2005 Academy Award® historical thriller by Steven Spielberg? If you haven’t let me just say it’s intense. I bring it up because if you have been to the High End […]
Canada
Vancouver Audio Festival 2018: Wrapping up with Igor Kivritsky
The 2018 Vancouver Audio Festival (VAF) had a charm about it that most shows lack, and that’s not because AXPONA, or RMAF don’t have style or class, or great people, vendors, and attendees… it’s strictly […]
Show Report
AXPONA 2018: Wynn Audio – and interviews with Metronome, Kiso, Zensati, Thales
Wynn Wong of Wynn Audio out of Toronto, Ontario is always pushing the boundaries of high-fidelity preconceptions in some way or another. He likes to mix things up at audio trade shows with his presentations. […]
AXPONA 2018
AXPONA 2018: Triangle Arts stays golden with Eggleston Works
Every time I see one of the big gold Reference-level ‘tables by Triangle Art the theme song from the Sean Connery film Goldfinger starts playing in my head. It’s not even a conscience effort on […]
Canada
Vancouver Audio Festival 2018: Gryphon Audio turns up the heat with Diablo and Pantheon
For those attending Hi-Fi Centre‘s Audio Festival this year, there were some familiar brands to hear new gear from, new brands with new gear to hear from, and then there was Gryphon Audio who’ve never […]
Announcements
Sumiko updates cartridge line with six new models
Longtime Japanese moving-magnet, and moving-coil cartridge manufacturer Sumiko has announced a full-scale assault on the state of their art with six new pick-ups being launched. Having heard their Blue Point No.2 , and Blackbird cartridges […]
Announcements
SME acquires legendary Garrard turntable rights, and Loricraft Audio
It sounds like legendary Garrard 301 and 401 turntables could be put back into production after UK tonearm giant SME announced that they had acquired the rights to the Garrard audio brand along with Garrard […]
Music
Jimmy Smith: DVL Album of the Month for April
This is a monthly series of album reviews I will be doing for DVL Audio here in Canada. I’ll be heading out to a local record store in Vancouver, digging through the bins, and coming up with […]
Canada
Vancouver Audio Festival 2018: Bryston meets with Sonus Faber
Sonus Faber is an Italian loudspeaker brand with a storied history, and designs which have been lauded as timeless classics. Bryston is an award-winning Canadian high-fidelity manufacturer with decades of experience in amps, pre-amps, speakers, […]
AXPONA 2018
AXPONA 2018: PS Audio unveils new DSD waveform-generation P15 and P12 Power Plants
The Renaissance Schaumburg played host to a number of announcements at AXPONA this year, of particular interest to me was PS Audio‘s room on the ground floor in the Journey/Creation suite right before you entered […]
Canada
Vancouver Audio Festival 2018: McIntosh Labs and YG Acoustics
Walking into this room at the Vancouver Audio Festival was a bit like turning the fairy tale Beauty & The Beast into a visual audiophile metaphor. Scoping out the massive McIntosh Labs MC 1.25KW mono […]
Show Report
Vancouver Audio Festival 2018: Devialet energizes with Bowers & Wilkins
Some think they’re beautiful, others feel they emulate what artificial intelligence will look like in the far future. I’m in the former camp, and have always admired what Bowers & Wilkins do design-wise because the […]