Herb Reichert

Digital Processor Reviews Gramophone Dreams

Gramophone Dreams #69: Trance Dancing on Maxwell Street & the Rotel DT-6000 "DAC Transport"

Herb Reichert Jan 24, 2023

Everyone knows I'm a lucky guy. I was born in Chicago in nineteen-hundred and forty-nine, and as far as I can tell, that was the perfect year to be born. I missed the war, plague, and Depression horrors of the first half of the 20th century, and I witnessed the art, music, and cinema inventions of the second half.

Gramophone Dreams Tube Power Amp Reviews

Gramophone Dreams #68: Lab12 Mighty power amplifier & Pre1 preamplifier

Herb Reichert Dec 28, 2022

In my realm, the most sophisticated, intelligent, difficult thing anyone can do is create something mysterious. It could be a poem, a photo, a movie, a song, a symphony, or a piece of painted wood. What's most important is the mysteryand that experiencing the mysterious creation inspires in the observer a desire to probe its hidden realms, to somehow figure it out. Human cultures are founded on mysteries: Mysteries incite art, inspire science, and facilitate dreaming.

Integrated Amp Reviews

Rogue Audio Pharaoh II integrated amplifier

Herb Reichert Dec 09, 2022

This morning, I received an email from John, my DIY friend in Europe, saying how happy he was. He had just finished building a new power amplifier using two UcD250LP class-D amplifier modules. He described the results as "quiet, clear, clean, effortless class-D power," adding, "What more could I ask for?"

Gramophone Dreams Phono Accessory Reviews Phono Cartridge Reviews

Gramophone Dreams #67: Grado Platinum3 and Goldring Eroica H phono cartridges; Herbie's Way Excellent II turntable mat

Herb Reichert Nov 22, 2022

In last month's Gramophone Dreams, I explained why doing any sort of empirical study of high-quality digital sources was extremely difficult. That any success I might achieve as a reporter would boil down to my ability to employ metaphors to describe a DAC's clarity and dynamic personality. Concocting metaphors for DAC reviews is risky because it assumes readers will be familiar with the sound of my amplifier and speakers and, ideally, with one of the DACs I'm using in the comparison. That's a lot to assume.

Digital Processor Reviews Gramophone Dreams

Gramophone Dreams #66: Audio-GD R7HE MK2 D/A processor

Herb Reichert Oct 26, 2022

Whenever I install a new, in-for-review DAC, after some amount of spaced-out not-listening listening I find myself just sitting there, being happy I got the damn thing working. Once I recover from the stress of installation, my brain begins, without prompting, to examine the character of sound coming out of my speakers.

Turntable Reviews

Music Hall Stealth record player

Herb Reichert Sep 29, 2022

The earliest direct-drive record player I've discovered is Garrard's Model 201 from 1930. It only played 78s. In their advertising, Garrard claimed the 201 was the world's first "transcription turntable." It employed Garrard's latest in a line of what they called "prestige" motors: an AC-induction "Super Motor." Garrard described the 201's platter as "plush covered" and said it was "popular with HiFi enthusiasts and used by the BBC." The 201 was superseded by the 201A, which rotated at both 78 and 33 1/3 rpm. The venerable Garrard 301 that followed was an idler-drive design.

Gramophone Dreams Phono Preamp Reviews

Gramophone Dreams #65: Music Hall Analogue A3 phono preamplifier

Herb Reichert Sep 20, 2022

If I hear it, is it real?

If your ears see,
And your eyes hear,
Not a doubt you'll cherishHow naturally the rain drips
From the eyes!Bujutsu Sosho

The more audio gear I review, the more fascinated I become by the fact that as I listen to recorded music, I can close my eyes and see musicians on the stage at Carnegie Hall, or djembe drummers in a desert by a tent, or a bass note penetrating the Milky Way. What a gift of consciousness. And what a great hobby it is that focuses my attentions in this manner.

Gramophone Dreams Headphone Reviews

Gramophone Dreams #64: Meze Audio Elite headphones & HeadAmp GS-X mini Balanced headphone amplifier

Herb Reichert Aug 30, 2022

I have a peephole in the door to my first-floor apartment. It looks down a straight hall to a glass wall framing the front door of my building. For 13 years, its job has been to let me see who is ringing my buzzer and who is making a racket in the hall.

Cable Reviews Gramophone Dreams

Gramophone Dreams #63: Cardas Beyond interconnect & loudspeaker cable

Herb Reichert Aug 11, 2022

I was born an obsessive reader and a compulsive tinkerer. During the '60s, I subscribed to Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, Hot Rod, Car Craft, Motor Trend, Road & Track, and (of course) Stereo Review and High Fidelity. Every one of those magazines presented articles discussing the importance of upgrading stock wiring to better-quality "premium" wires, citing improved electrical performance and greater reliability.

Stand Loudspeaker Reviews

Genelec G Three active loudspeaker

Herb Reichert Jul 20, 2022

My review samples of Genelec's G Three powered loudspeaker came with a little hand-sized green and tan cardboard card featuring a poem in bold black letters dated 1898:

At the cottage window a little bird sang.
And the light of the window did flicker.
And look. The roof up it sprang and the cottage became a house bigger.
Look. Into a world the cottage grew and the vast and wide too and filled with song was the air and like new was the sun's flare.