Editor’s Note Right now the FOCAL Chora 806 speakers and 806 Stands are on are on promotion at 20% off. FOCAL Chora 806s–$399.20 each or $798.40 pair FOCAL 806 Stands–$231.20 pair We’ve been on a […]
Tag Archives: nan pincus
July of 2021—was indeed a hell of a month, if not the best July in years, for Part-Time Audiophile. Many cool things have happened in the last month at PTA. Some of them are new […]
Tom Sachs‘ marvel of visual and auditory senses—an art installation—Space Program: Rare Earths opens at Deichtorhallen Hamburg on September 19th, 2021 and will be on view until April 10th, 2022. Deichtorstraße 1 20095 Hamburg, Germany […]
Hello my dear readers! Again I have been negligent in keeping up with my audio travels but I think if you watch Channel One you know exactly why it is important not to visit your audiophile friends all over the world right now. I have been spending time at home and I continue to listen to great music on my vintage system. The days are long but the music is still flowing like a breeze from the Caspian through my humble abode in the exclave. One exciting development in my recent life started with an unexpected phone call from a very old and now very famous audiophile friend from my old neighborhood named Vlad. Back in the 1990s I used to call him Puddy because he had a secret passion for watching Seinfeld and in the original English if you can believe it. Now he has been working in a top position in the government for over 20 years so he doesn’t allow anyone but me to call him this. (The nickname stuck not because Puddy resembles the recurring character on the television show but because his voice starts to sound like the beloved American actor Patrick Warburton when he becomes […]
When approaching Primephonic (website), one of the few high-res (24-bit/192kHz) streaming services devoted to classical music, I was interested to see if they could go beyond the existential questions of survival that tend to dominate any discussion of the genre. Working a fundraiser at a classical radio station, I was once told by a listener making a donation that she also gave to endangered species protection funds. This well-intended listener revealed that the questions of survival are pervasive and exist at every level of the classical ecosystem from the local symphony and radio station, to agencies and record labels. As I logged into Primephonic for the first time, I was hoping that this angst would lead to genuine creativity in the streaming platform rather than just be a streaming platform without all that pesky stuff known as other genres of music. I was also hoping that it would advance the conversation in classical music, moving from the yes/no question of “will we survive?” to the broader question of “how will we survive?,” and maybe to provide part of the answer. After listening for several months now and seeing continuous updates to the platform, I feel like Primephonic is taking major […]
Does everyone remember the seats of mid-to-late ’90s Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs as fondly as I do? I believe it was Road & Track or possibly several auto-mags of the day that deemed those seats to be the most comfortable of the automotive century. As for the audio systems that came stock in those mid-to-late ’90s GC’s, they left plenty to be desired. Myself installing a few aftermarket systems in them for friends and friends-of-friends around that time. But times change, and industry catches up with culture. Music matters, and is now more than ever considered a hallmark trait of the luxury auto experience. With that, McIntosh Labs has become the new music source for that ultimate comfort Jeep GC’s are known for. More in the press release below. Press Release Below 2021 Jeep® Grand Cherokee Ushers in Luxury Sound by McIntosh® An Exclusive World-Class Audio System for the World’s Most Awarded SUV BINGHAMTON, NY (January 7, 2021) – The new 2021 Jeep® Grand Cherokee, now with three rows of seating, will debut with the auto industry’s only sound system made by the legends in luxury home audio, McIntosh Laboratory. Available first in the 2021 Jeep® Grand Cherokee L, the […]
The story begins with my coverage of the Sonner Audio (website) Legato Unum at hi-fi shows, and what I found accompanying the brand. Touring the hi-fi show circus circuit I often found myself face-to-face with many of the audio industry’s most interesting characters. The bulk of them are pleasant and interesting people. A select few are extraordinarily engaging and charming. Gunny Surya, the President of Sonner Audio, easily fits into all of those aforementioned descriptions. If you care to explore our past show coverage of Sonner Audio loudspeakers, those articles can be found here, here, here, and here. Words and Photos by Eric Franklin Shook I feel very comfortable around people like Gunny Surya. His personality is not an act. The idea of him having a facade seems totally unfathomable. There is no artifice with him. Whether it’s the genuine passion he expresses for his company, or the earnest way he treats others with the same respect often reserved for long-time friends and family. It’s these little actions and details that collectively tell the same story: Gunny is true to himself and to those around him. He cares about what’s really important in life and so he guides Sonner Audio […]
I don’t listen to headphones like the Focal Stellia (website). Okay, let me back up—I listen to headphones all the time, just not for pleasure, but rather to check my work in the studio and occasionally to make eq decisions on a master. Words by Dave McNair and Nan Pincus When Eric Franklin Shook asked me if I wanted to review some headphones, I said “Uh, I don’t think so.” “Wait, these are special ‘phones—the Focal Stellia AND their killer headamp the Arche,” he says. “Okay, I’ll give it a shot,” I reply since I know Eric to be the best at deciphering the fake news you can trust. Dave McNair’s Take So here I am with these gorgeous, French-made beauties. The Focal Stellia headphones look like they’d be at home on location at the season’s showing of the new Chanel or YSL line. Not too blingy but a certain unmistakable French elegance in fit and finish. After I whipped up a batch of Coq au Vin and got out a bottle of vintage Bordeaux, I sat down to listen to some Serge Gainsbourg. Tonight, the headphones will deliver you the words I can’t say The first thing I did […]
This is the story of the Audeze LCD-1 and my emotional rejuvenation. As the pandemic pushed me into a bit of a social lull, I turned to the arts. Days began to fly off the calendar like confetti. Before long, I noticed that I was feeling less and less. When I stop feeling the music is when you know I’ve stopped feeling. By nature I’m a people person. I need human interaction to breathe and think. I need to hear human voices, and see the eyes of someone friendly looking back at me. Don’t get me wrong, music is a powerful thing, but it could never supplant my need for intimacy and connection. Still, amidst my pandemic blues, I feared that music was also losing its potency and emotional currency. Words and Photos by Eric Franklin Shook Listening to music is such a large and consistent part of my life, and has always been fuel for my emotional fires. Countless days have been spent in front of my stereo system, reflecting on my life and relationships. In each therapy listening session, I am going through my emotional inventory, and feeling them one by one as a parade of artists seemingly […]
When it became clear that I wasn’t going to be hitting the Halloween parties this year, I was still eager to participate somehow in the ritual. I decided to let a season of quiet isolation at home intersect with fulfilling a longtime ambition: posing my dog, Winter, as Nipper, the RCA dog made famous in the Francis Barraud painting “His Master’s Voice,” which was used promotionally first by the Victor Talking Machine Company, and then by its acquirer Radio Corporation of America. Words and Photos by Nan Pincus Let me give a little background on Winter first. When I finished graduate school in 2016, I felt like a grown up who was ready to adopt a dog from a shelter or rescue and give her a loving home in exchange for the steady companionship, knowing looks, and forced stability of habits that a dog requires. I ended up adopting Winter when she was four months old and fairly quickly I realized that despite not having any fox terrier ancestry, she had a great resemblance to Nipper. Winter is a fairly typical dog, partial to chamber music, squirrel watching, and rambling through the woods with me, her foolhardy human. She prefers […]