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Details: Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider; Parent Category: BloggingOnAudio BloggingOnAudio; Created: 16 September 2013 16 September 2013

Attention to Detail: Crystal Cable

It's as sad as it is surprising that too many people at hi-fi companies don't "get it" when it comes to selling. They charge exorbitant prices for their products -- sometimes in the tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars -- yet their packaging and presentation are more appropriate for something being sold at Costco or Walmart. Can you imagine buying a Rolex watch and having it handed to you in a dirty, cheap cardboard box or the equivalent of a Ziploc bag?

Details: Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider; Parent Category: BloggingOnAudio BloggingOnAudio; Created: 12 September 2013 12 September 2013

Landslide: EMM Labs' DAC2X Arrives Too!

Just when I thought everything that I had coming to me for the fall review season had arrived, something else did -- the EMM Labs DAC2X DAC. I received the DAC2X because I already had the Meitner Audio MA-1 DAC, which I wrote about previously, on hand. That originally arrived as a result of my discussion with Ed Meitner himself at CES 2013; after our talk, the folks at his firm wanted me to hear his gear. Ed founded both brands, but of the two, the EMM Labs brand features the pricier stuff, which is built to a higher standard.

Details: Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider; Parent Category: BloggingOnAudio BloggingOnAudio; Created: 05 September 2013 05 September 2013

Better Late Than Never: Ayre’s VX-5 Arrives

When it comes to audio reviewing, sometimes things don't happen as quickly or easily as you'd like. Take the Ayre Acoustics VX-5 stereo amp for example: we covered it at CES 2013 in January, Ayre sent a review sample to Bascom King for measurements in April, Bascom returned it to Ayre later that month so it could be forwarded to me, and then it sat at the company because the folks at Ayre and I were working on other things. After that, time sort of flew by.

Details: Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider; Parent Category: BloggingOnAudio BloggingOnAudio; Created: 30 August 2013 30 August 2013

And Now for Something Completely Different: Aurelia’s Cerica

Walk into my listening room and you'll see something that resembles a Hong Kong hi-fi shop -- there's equipment everywhere. What's more, the sheer amount of it, particularly loudspeakers, seems to be growing by the week, if not by the day. This week I already blogged about the arrival of Magico S5 and Polymer Audio Research MKS speakers, and now I'm going to add the Aurelia Cericas to that list.

Details: Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider; Parent Category: BloggingOnAudio BloggingOnAudio; Created: 27 August 2013 27 August 2013

The $2900 Tweeter in the 275-Pound Loudspeaker

If you haven't heard of Polymer Audio Research yet, don't feel too bad -- the company is fairly new. I caught wind of Polymer a few years ago, but they flew off my radar until this year when their founder, Daniel Khesin, contacted me in order to reintroduce himself. Daniel was also the founder of DK Design Group, which was most famous for the VS.1 Reference integrated amp, something I reviewed back in 2005. The VS.1 was a pretty good piece for the price, but shortly after I reviewed it he sold DK off to someone else, which is mainly why we lost contact.

Details: Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider; Parent Category: BloggingOnAudio BloggingOnAudio; Created: 22 August 2013 22 August 2013

The Magicos Have Moved In

Several years ago I vowed to review far fewer products and have the rest of our writers review more. That didn't work, but it's not because I was hogging any gear. As the SoundStage! Network grew, so too did the amount of equipment we review, so today our writers review more than ever, but so do I!

Details: Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider; Parent Category: BloggingOnAudio BloggingOnAudio; Created: 31 May 2013 31 May 2013

Simaudio's New Moon Neo Series

I make it a point to visit as many companies as I can to see what's brand new, and to report it to our readers whenever I can. So on Thursday, May 30, I drove to the east side of Montreal, Canada, to a place called Boucherville, in order to visit Simaudio's factory. It was there that I met with Simaudio's VP of marketing, Lionel Goodfield, who guided me through the assembly area where they were making their new Moon Neo-series products.

Details: Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider; Parent Category: BloggingOnAudio BloggingOnAudio; Created: 06 May 2013 06 May 2013

No Sleep till Munich

In 1987 the Beastie Boys released the song "No Sleep till Brooklyn" on their Licensed to Ill album. Whenever I travel, I think about that phrase. Overseas traveling to a show like High End isn't as hard as it used to be in the old days, but it still isn't easy, particularly when you live in a place where there are hardly any international flights, so everywhere you go requires a connection, and no matter what you do, you can't sleep on a plane.

Details: Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider; Parent Category: BloggingOnAudio BloggingOnAudio; Created: 23 April 2013 23 April 2013

Today's Inspiration, Courtesy of Paradigm

Here's what I was thinking earlier today: The life of a full-time audio writer can be pretty great because of all the cool gear we review. What's more, you actually look forward to the doorbell ringing because chances are it's UPS, FedEx, or some other delivery service dropping off something new. The only downside to this gig is that you have to unpack and repack this stuff, which can be a hassle. But that's a small price to pay, particularly when a day is as inspiring as mine was today.

Details: Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider; Parent Category: BloggingOnAudio BloggingOnAudio; Created: 21 April 2013 21 April 2013

Speaker-Measuring Day!

Measuring speakers properly takes time, effort, an SUV (or truck), and quite a bit of money. All of these came into play on Thursday, April 18, 2013, our latest speaker-measuring day.

Details: Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider; Parent Category: BloggingOnAudio BloggingOnAudio; Created: 07 April 2013 07 April 2013

Coming Soon After a Very Long Time: JE Audio's VM60 Mono Amps

"Blogging on Audio" allows us to give a behind-the-scenes view of the reviewing process, which is an ongoing thing around here and sometimes has some hiccups along the way. This entry is about the JE Audio VM60 mono amps that I just finished writing the text for, which will be published on May 1 on SoundStage! Hi-Fi. They sell for $6400 USD per pair. The review has been a long time coming; in fact, way too long.

Details: Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider; Parent Category: BloggingOnAudio BloggingOnAudio; Created: 05 April 2013 05 April 2013

Once Every 15 Years: My Speaker-Cable Change

If you've read my reviews closely over the last 15 years, you might have noticed one relatively important thing: my speaker cables rarely changed. I received a set of Nirvana S-L speaker cables for review in 1997, and I bought them shortly after that. Since then, I'd wager that they were in my system for at least 90% of the reviews I've written. They have been my reference speaker wires.

Details: Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider; Parent Category: BloggingOnAudio BloggingOnAudio; Created: 26 March 2013 26 March 2013

Meitner's Music Machines

When we finished the recent redesign of SoundStage! Global, we realized something important: we had created not only a better site for our show reports and factory tours but also an ideal place for blogging about audio. This would allow us to provide additional content that we knew our readers would enjoy, and that wouldn't fit well anywhere else. As a result, a few of us are now blogging. I'm obviously one of them, and Jeff Fritz and Garrett Hongo are the other two. In time there will probably be more.

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