Jason Victor Serinus

My Back Pages

From 78 to 24/384

Jason Victor Serinus Mar 27, 2020

When I was 11, my father brought home the voice of tenor Enrico Caruso (18731921) in a three-LP box set whose faux leather cover and sepia-tinted photos I admired over and over. When he put on the Sextet from Lucia di Lammermoor, I exclaimed, "Daddy, I've heard that before!"

"Yeah, you broke it when you were 2," he replied.

News

Music Matters Returns to Definitive Audio Seattle

Jason Victor Serinus Mar 15, 2020

With the COVID-19–related cancelation of Munich High End and the postponement or cancelation of other national and regional audio shows, smaller, local events such as Seattle’s 15-year old Music Matters event, which returned to Definitive Audio Seattle on March 5–6, have gained importance—at least as long as they are able to avoid being shut down.

News

Montreal Audiofest Reschedules for May, Previous Munich Dates

Jason Victor Serinus Mar 13, 2020

In a press release issued just a few minutes ago, the organizers of the Montreal Audiofest announced plans to reschedule their postponed show for 15–17 May, the original dates of the now-canceled High End Munich show.

News

AXPONA 2020 Postponed until August

Jason Victor Serinus Mar 09, 2020

Monday, March 9, 2020 AXPONA, the largest audio expo in the Western hemisphere, has moved its dates at Chicago’s Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel and Convention Center to August 7–9.

News

High-End Munich Canceled

Jason Victor Serinus Feb 28, 2020

(February 28) High End 2020, aka Munich High End, has been canceled “due to the current worsening trend with respect to the spread of the novel coronavirus.”

CD Player/Transport Reviews Digital Processor Reviews

Métronome Technologie AQWO SACD/CD transport and D/A processor

Jason Victor Serinus Feb 21, 2020

In an era when polar opposites compete as absolutes, it can be a challenge to acknowledge the different and equally valid ways in which audiophiles approach musical truth. But the reality is that our perceptions of how reproduced music should sound are determined, to a large extent, by how we approach the live experience.

Audacious Audio Solid State Preamp Reviews

Dan D'Agostino Master Audio Systems Momentum HD line preamplifier

Jason Victor Serinus Jan 29, 2020

I thought I knew what a preamp could do. But when the Dan D'Agostino Master Audio Systems Momentum HD preamplifier ($40,000) arrived for review, all my expectations flew out the window.

Recording of the Month

Recording of February 2020: Farinelli

Jason Victor Serinus Jan 17, 2020

B>Cecilia Bartoli: Farinelli
Cecilia Bartoli, mezzo-soprano; Il Giardino Armonico, Giovanni Antonini, cond.
Decca 4850214 (24/96 download). 2019. Arend Prohmann, prod. and editor; Philip Siney, eng.
Performance: *****
Sonics: ****

When I first heard mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli in person some 29 years ago, at her West Coast debut in the "Cal Performances" series at Berkeley's Hertz Hall, she was just 24 years old. Along with the rest of the audience, I was astonished at her ability to ally phenomenal coloratura technique with an out-of-the-box range of expressionunheard since the prime of Maria Callas. It was clear why Decca had already signed her and released her first recording the year before, when she was just 23.

Jason Victor Serinus

Some Joy for the New Decade

Jason Victor Serinus Dec 28, 2019

As the decade draws to a close, many of us choose to gather with people we love so that together we can celebrate and give thanks for our blessings. In that spirit, I offer a new hybrid SACD/Download of a perennial favorite, Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor. Op. 125 “Choral” (BIS 2451), whose memorable finale celebrates the joy of oneness with humanity and the divine.

Audacious Audio CD Player/Transport Reviews Digital Processor Reviews

Gryphon Ethos CD player-D/A processor

Jason Victor Serinus Dec 19, 2019

What kind of creature is this? Gryphon Audio Designs' new Ethos ($39,000)pronounced EE-toss by its Danish manufacturersis marketed as a CD player and digital-to-analog converter. It's decidedly au courant in that it includes two 32-bit/768kHz ES9038PRO Sabre DAC chipsone for each channelwith each holding eight individual DAC chips; offers optional upsampling to either 24/384 PCM or DSD128; and decodes up to 32/384 PCM and quadruple DSD (DSD512) via its USB input, or up to 24/192 (and no DSD) via AES/EBU or S/PDIF.