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News
Masterdisk Offer Lets You Give the Valentine's Day Gift That Keeps on Giving
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 03, 2014  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  6 comments
New York City based Masterdisk has come up with a unique Valentine's Day gift.

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Features
Jazzhaus Presents On 180 Gram Vinyl First Wave of Heretofore Unreleased Post WW II Jazz Recordings
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 29, 2014  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  8 comments
During the late 1940s, ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s American jazz musicians and groups toured Europe and the world, usually to greater appreciation and acclaim than they received back home. Sad but true. Some moved overseas where they were treated with greater respect than they received at home but that’s another story.

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Can I Have My Money Back?
"I'm Appalled at the Way You Treat Your Readership"
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 29, 2014  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  56 comments
Rabbi Fremer says: The Peter, Paul & Mary file comparison story has created quite an uproar. Most of you took it for what it was—an informal but reasonable comparison of two unidentified files that could have been the same or different. 79% of you thought they were different files. 21% though they were the same file posted twice.

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Can I Have My Money Back?
Why I Hate The Felice Brothers' Cover of "This Magic Moment" in the Dell TV Commercial
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 26, 2014  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  36 comments
Even if you are an infrequent TV viewer, chances are you've seen the Dell commercial that uses as a music bed a cover of the great Doc Pomus/Mort Shuman song "This Magic Moment" originally performed by Ben E. King and The Drifters and later covered by Jay and The Americans among others. The only ads running more frequently are the ones that say "your erectile dysfunction is a matter of blood flow".
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Turntable Reviews
The Pro-Ject Xtension10 Turntable— More Than a "Lifestyle" Product!
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 25, 2014  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  14 comments
Just as moving downhill is easier than going up, scaling down an expensive design is far easier than building upon a modest one.Yet Pro-Ject, which began in1990 with a homely, grey/black Soviet-era Czech Republic-made “people’s ‘table”, has managed quite well to both upgrade its budget offerings and to produce mid-priced ‘tables of distinction.
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News
Ending the Peter, Paul & Mary Mystery!
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 23, 2014  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  65 comments
Thousands have read the story and more than one hundred of you have voted. No doubt had the story run longer, more would have participated but there's no need to continue because the results already speak for themselves and in fact did so early on.

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News
New York City's 92nd Street "Y" Celebrates 50 Years of The Beatles in the USA
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 22, 2014  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  5 comments
Peter Asher, Donovan, Billy J. Kramer and others will take part in an evening of intimate conversation on Thursday February 6th, 2014. 50 years earlier to the day The Beatles were preparing to leave London for their first visit to America. They arrived at New York's Idlewild Airport to thousands of screaming fans and held a now famous press conference.
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Vote
Same File? Does "A" Sounds Better? Or Does "B" sounds Better?
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 21, 2014  |  36 comments
This is a test. Had it been a real emergency two files would have been posted here. Wait! They have been posted here!

These two files, "A" and "B", contain the same short snippet of the song "If I Had My Way" by the Reverend Gary Davis, sung by Peter, Paul & Mary on their 1962 eponymous debut album (Warner Brothers WS1449). It's a fantastic sounding recording by engineer Bill Schwartau that puts each singer, closely miked in his or her own space. Mary appears in the "phantom center channel".

These two files are either identical (same file repeated) or two different files with one variable changed for the second recording. Don't let the slightly different lengths throw you off. Each was edited to a different length but they still could be the identical recording. Or not!

So please download the 96/24 AIF files and listen carefully. Then vote "same" or if you hear differences, vote for the one that sounds better and feel free to explain your votes in the "comments" section.

Good luck! And remember: the future of high quality audio is now in your hands.

Here are the two files:

File "A"

File "B"

Same File? Does "A" Sounds Better? Or Does "B" sounds Better?
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Phono Preamp Reviews
Second P.S. Audio NuWave Phono Converter Brings Some Sonic Relief
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 18, 2014  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  7 comments
A second NuWave Phono Converter sample arrived the other day and after swapping the two back and forth a few things became sonically obvious. One is that the second sample was not as hard, bright and mechanical-sounding as the first one. And the other was that like the first sample, the second NuWave's lower midrange and bass were less than fully fleshed out.
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Can I Have My Money Back?
"Geek Squad" Road-Rage Madness!
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 17, 2014  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  47 comments
So I'm driving back from Washington D.C. where I'd gone to install an Etna cartridge in an AMG Viella turntable for a friend. His politics are 180 degrees diametrically opposed to mine. In fact, he's a consultant to "those people". But you know what? Politics stops for me at the lead-in groove.

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