Greetings friends, I hope you are doing well!

It's a nice evening on the HiFi front, and I'm being amazed by the music I'm listening to, so I thought I'd check-in and tell you about the latest goings on.  

Check out my latest Today's Fresh Catch post about the Acoustic Revive "Active" Analog Stabilizer PS-DBLP HERE. "Active" is my addition to the name.

Record weights used to be things that had mass and held your record down securely on the mat.

Not anymore. Now they're "active" devices, like this PS-DBLP, and they do more than just hold your record in place. 

I've been casually listening to the PS-DBLP across a number of different albums this evening and I'm impressed.

The difference in performance with the PS-DBLP is rather remarkable, with an increase in the sense of openness being the first thing I noticed, and it seems I’m hearing more low-level musical nuance as well.

I’ll give it a full workout and come up with a complete set of impressions and report back. 

Now let me add another dimension to this story ... with the Audio Note (UK) Io I moving-coil cartridge, AN-S8 SUT, and M8 RIAA phono preamp delivering the signal (review HERE) to the Tomei 211 SET integrated amp that is driving my big West's, the performance is just out of this world!

I know, I know, it's out of my price range too, but oh my, I'm so grateful to have heard a vinyl front end and SET amplifier combo that can play at this astonishing level of performance.

It's a match made in heaven for my Duelund-ized West's, and I have tremendous respect for what Peter Qvortrup and his team have done in creating these audio masterpieces. 

I started listening to Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, then cued up Fiddle-Faddle with the Boston Pops (above) for some HiFi fun & games, then got out an Analogue Productions test pressing of Gene Ammons' Soulful Moods of Gene Ammons that I bought thirty years ago now, in 1996. 

They all sounded so incredible that I just sit back and think how amazing the new golden age of HiFi we are in is. Really incredible. 

Now I'm listening to Dianna Krall's All for You and I'm blown away all over again. Truly amazing performance.

Oh, and before I forget, before too much longer a legendary Ongaku 211 integrated amplifier will be making its way towards me. Gasp! I'm in heaven. 

I'm almost afraid to hear what it can do. Going up a performance level in the Audio Note (UK) product lines is a big deal. The performance improvement can be rather shocking.

If that wasn't already enough, the IO Ltd. field-coil cartridge (above) with its outboard power supply (below) will be coming to visit too.

I'm amazed. You know how it is, life smacks you in the head in triplets, then something nice happens. This is the something nice. I'll look forward to telling you all about it. 

On the digital front, Positive Feedback just published my review of the Gold Note DS-10 EVO high-resolution streaming DAC and PSU-10 EVO high-performance power supply (below) HERE. 

It's amazing what can be done with digital these days, and this streaming DAC has a "Chameleon mode" that can literally mimic the sound of other equipment if you're patient enough to work through its various EQ settings. 

I'm a newbie to high-resolution streaming, and this was a challenging review for me, as there's so many things going on with Red Book digital, high-resolution PCM and DSD, and the DAC's Chameleon mode, meaning that it was like writing three reviews about three different components that can be voiced in different ways. To complement them I reviewed the DS-10 EVO in three different audio systems, so I could get a more complete view of performance. Cool stuff. 

Yazaki-san is back with his latest article, “Adventures in Real Sound” with Yazaki-san: Alan-san’s New GEC PX25A (DA30) Monaural SET’s – Part 7 (HERE). 

In this article Yazaki-san and his good friend, Alan-san, are sharing with us about their "Adventures in Real Sound," along with some very personal and heartfelt autobiographical life experiences from Yazaki-san.  

It's a great story, and as always, Yazaki-san has so many ideas on how to improve performance, which he talks about with his first WE310A-PX25A (DS30) monaural amplifiers that he was recently reunited with after the passing of his friend, Ookubo-san.

I'm sorry to hear of the loss of your friend, Ookubo-san, Yazaki-san, but I am pleased to hear the story had a happy vacuum tube ending. 

There's lots of good things to tell you about coming up in the not too distant future, so be sure to stop back by for a visit.

As always, thanks for stopping by, and may the tone be with you!