Ken Micallef

Triode Lab 2A3 EVO integrated amplifier
Integrated Amp Reviews
Ken Micallef  |  Jun 27, 2024  |  6 comments
For 16 years, I bled jazz. Countless hours alone in my practice shed, honing technique, recording myself for brutal self-analysis, dissecting and transcribing master drummers' solos note for note. My dream was to transcend technique, to exist in a state of pure reaction among musicians in perfect communion, where improvisation flows as effortlessly as thought.

The years melted away—George Lawrence Stone's sticking variations, Benjamin Podemski's concert drum solos, dog-eared "Real Book" charts, college big band concerts, smoky jam sessions, a basement practice routine that nearly deafened Mom. Once I was in NYC, there were classes at Drummer's Collective.

With intense application, playing became rote. But in rare moments of surrender, it wasn't me playing the music anymore. The music played me—ideas transmitted effortlessly, without thought, guided by some unseen force: maybe the woman in the third row, maybe the ghost of Tony Williams. In such moments, when fatigue stilled the mind, instrument and music intertwined, a single entity responding not to conscious thought but to some unknown, unknowable force. What ensued was beyond my mental reach.

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Triode Japan
Munich 2024
Ken Micallef  |  Jun 11, 2024  |  3 comments
Triode Japan premiered two products at High End Munich: the Triode Evolution Pre Preamplifier and the Triode Evolution Musashi Integrated Amplifier ($10,830). The latter runs in class AB in a push-pull configuration, outputting 100Wpc into 8 ohms. It uses four KT 150 and four 12AU7 tubes for its power and pre stages, respectively.
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Straight2Tape / 2inch Records
Munich 2024
Ken Micallef  |  Jun 11, 2024  |  2 comments
I followed the throng towards the Straight2Tape booth. A darkened entryway beckoned, promising access to a hidden music haven. But as I neared, the illusion shattered. The passageway was a masterfully crafted cardboard facade, complete with lifesize musicians frozen in mid-performance, a gleaming microphone outstretched, and a realistic pop filter catching the nonexistent light.
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Tune Audio, Trafomatic, Rockna, WoodYard
Munich 2024
Ken Micallef  |  Jun 10, 2024  |  4 comments
In the Tune Audio/Trafomatic room, the Tune Audio Marvel (€15,840/pair), a 97dB, 8 ohm nominal, two-way, horn loaded loudspeaker, stood sci-fi bold and fantastic looking in slate gray with a candy apple red horn. The Marvel’s single 8" full range driver joined to a folded back-horn was paired to a 1" compression driver given expression by an epoxy compound tractrix horn.
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Lansche Audio, Thrax Audio, Hachidori, Inc., Dyrholm Audio
Munich 2024
Ken Micallef  |  Jun 10, 2024  |  0 comments
This large system employed a reel-to-reel deck and a DAC for sources, abetted by a new product designation, at least for me, a combination tape/phono stage.
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More stuff from Munich: Q Acoustics, Cambridge Audio
Munich 2024
Ken Micallef  |  Jun 10, 2024  |  1 comments
I get excited when a room showing “budget" gear knocks me for a loop. As is sometimes the case, a well-curated, carefully set up budget system can make music in spades, hitting the high notes of tone, staging, and dynamics.
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Voxativ Ampeggio 2024 loudspeaker
Floor Loudspeaker Reviews
Ken Micallef  |  May 30, 2024  |  24 comments
Evaluating a loudspeaker that would become Stereophile's 2011 Product of the Year, Art Dudley, at the time the magazine's editor-at-large, wrote, "The Voxativ Ampeggio went beyond sounding good: More than once, with too many records to mention, I found myself stopping to marvel at its brilliantly good pitch certainty. In terms of being able to simply nail a note, whether in isolation or tucked within a whole string of the little bastards, I've heard few other speakers this accomplished. And while it's one thing to focus on such a characteristic for a moment at a time, it's quite another to bask in it subconsciously—and the Voxativs allowed me to do just that."

"I've now encountered a single-driver dynamic speaker I could live with," Art concluded. "In most audio reviews that's faint praise, but in this one it's a revelation."

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Genuin Audio
Munich 2024
Ken Micallef  |  May 30, 2024  |  First Published: May 29, 2024  |  5 comments
High End Munich is a global stage for established audio brands, already heavily covered by the international press. How do smaller manufacturers get noticed in this crowded, high-profile event? I made it a mission to seek out hidden gems and share my discoveries.
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hARt Lab
Munich 2024
Ken Micallef  |  May 28, 2024  |  1 comments
High End Munich continued to unveil new (at least to me) names in the world of hi-fi; amplifier manufacturer hARt Labs was another fascinating discovery.
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Luphonic Labs
Munich 2024
Ken Micallef  |  May 28, 2024  |  0 comments
Manically energized after watching Dua Lipa’s “Illusion” video on repeat for all nine hours of my flight from Newark to Munich, I was ready for some calming turntable action. The off-white colors of Luphonic Labs’s turntable line caught my attention, their curvy design aesthetic and retro appeal comforting my jet-lagged brain.
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