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Malachi Lui’s August 2019 “Current Spins” Playlist
Malachi Lui  |  Aug 06, 2019  |  31 comments
Have you been wondering what music I’ve been listening to lately? Probably not, but I’m telling you anyway! And maybe now that I’ve brought it up, you genuinely would like to know what AnalogPlanet contributing editor Malachi Lui currently spins in heavy rotation. Below are embedded playlists from Tidal, Spotify, and YouTube along with comments on the songs and/or mini-reviews of their associated albums that I unfortunately don’t have enough time to extensively cover.

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Features
Vanatoo Transparent Zero Loudspeaker Review Follow-Up
Malachi Lui  |  Jul 24, 2019  |  26 comments
In my review of the $359/pair < a href=https://www.analogplanet.com/content/vanatoos-transparent-zero-speakers-offer-great-convenience-satisfying-desktop-sound>Vanatoo Transparent Zero desktop speakers, I noted that while playing Kanye West’s “I Am A God,” the active speaker produced a high-pitched whistle/screech noise. After we published the review, Vanatoo co-founder Gary Gesellchen suggested that instead of the cause being a design flaw, the noise was an artifact of an air leak due to loose screws. He recommended sealing the air passages by taking off the active speaker’s handle and tightening the screws all the way in.

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Features
AnalogPlanet Tours darTZeel Factory in Geneva, Switzerland
Michael Fremer  |  Jul 18, 2019  |  17 comments
If you search Stereophile's website under darTZeel founder Hervé Delétraz's name you'll find his multi-part "DIY" story posted in 2000. Since his "DIY" days, Mr. Delétraz has gone on to design and manufacture a series of sonically stunning and visually distinctive high performance darTZeel audio products.

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Features
The 9 Year old Marantz SR8001 7.1 A/V Receiver Gets Better Over Time
Caleb Attaway  |  Jul 16, 2019  |  20 comments
Meet our newest reviewer, 17 year old Caleb Attaway. Caleb lives northwest of Atlanta, Georgia and is going into his senior year of high school at Living Science Home Studies, Inc., which is half home school and half private school. In the future Caleb will review records and new audio gear.

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Features
Vanatoo’s Transparent Zero Speakers Offer Great Convenience & Satisfying Desktop Sound
Malachi Lui  |  Jul 10, 2019  |  3 comments
Today’s budding audiophiles have more introductory options than ever. Available and (fairly) affordable are introductory turntable systems, great headphones, headphone amps, DACs, and… desktop speakers?

Enter the minds of Vanatoo, the company founded by experienced audio enthusiasts Gary Gesellchen and Rick Kernen. Gesellchen’s background includes decades of speaker designing and building, while Kernen has worked for over 35 years in micro-processing. Their speakers are aimed at those who “care about music, want something that sounds good, and also understand that they shouldn’t be forced to sacrifice convenience for quality,” Gesellchen told me in an email exchange. Vanatoo’s speakers though intended for desktops, can also be used in home theaters as well as in full room stereo systems.

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Features
AnalogPlanet Visits CH Precision in the Heart of Swiss Watch Making Country
Michael Fremer  |  Jun 30, 2019  |  18 comments
Following "Making Vinyl Berlin" and a week before "High End Munich 2019" AnalogPlanet editor Michael Fremer visited high performance Switzerland-based electronics manufacturer CH Precision (among others). This is the first posted video from that trip.

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Features
EISA (Expert Imaging and Sound Association) 2019 Highlights
Michael Fremer  |  Jun 05, 2019  |  1 comments
Founded in 1982 by the editors-in-chiefs from five European photography magazines to select the "camera of the year", EISA has grown to international stature and now includes groups covering Hi-fi, home theater, mobile phones, in-car electronics and other categories

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AAA VinylFeatures
"Spirit & Time", Blue Note Review Number Two is Musical and Packaging Perfection
Michael Fremer  |  May 17, 2019  |  4 comments
The first bi-annual Blue Note Review may have been a somewhat tentative and ill-focused project as label head Don Was worked to re-establish with a younger generation the Blue Note brand identity and “community”, yet few who purchased were disappointed (the set sold-out) other than in the digitally mastered Blue Mitchell album and its grade B jacket.

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AAA VinylDiscographiesFeaturesRecord Buying Tips
100 Recommended All-Analog LP Reissues Worth Owning
Michael Fremer  |  Apr 03, 2019  |  82 comments
Here's 100 recommended all-analog LP reissues worth owning. The video runs two hours so unless you are masochistic, you might want to watch in shorter segments but covering 100 LPs took time! Plus there are the usual fun stories interspersed throughout. Okay, I got wrong the The Who's "Tommy"'s original issue date (I said November '68, was May '69) otherwise all of the information should be correct. Yes, too many superlatives, but that’s video!

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Features
Newvelle Records Hosts Special Attended Recording Session At EastSide Sound Studios
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 24, 2019  |  2 comments
The subscription based vinyl-only jazz label Newvelle Records, which just finished production of its fourth season's recorded offerings (the first title, Noah Preminger's Preminger Plays Preminger shipped last week), held a special event a the label's "home base" studio: EastSide Sound in NYC today, March 23rd.

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Features
Double "Unboxing": Analogue Productions UHQR "Axis: Bold As Love" MONO & Blue Note Review #2
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 08, 2019  |  22 comments
Here's a double dose for AnalogPlanet readers (and YouTube viewers) who like "unboxing videos": AnalogPlanet editor Michael Fremer unboxes the not yet released Analogue Productions UHQR Clarity Vinyl mono issue of Jimi Hendrix's classic "Axis: Bold As Love" and the second edition of the deluxe "Blue Note Review" box #2"—this one a tribute to jazz drummers, particularly Art Blakey.

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Features
Cooking With M&M
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 21, 2019  |  17 comments
A shared love of music especially when engraved in vinyl forged a friendship between Michael Fremer and Malachi Lui. Later they found out both also love to cook and the youngster has a sophisticated palate (not surprising). So they decided to cook something together when Malachi next visited, which was last week.

Here's a one camera edited video of the two cooking, talking music, records and sound. Oh, yes, and some politics to which some may object.

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Features
AV Options ULTRA-HBL 6 Outlet Power Strip with 6 Foot AVO Deep Cryo Cord
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 03, 2019  |  13 comments
In a modern high-performance audio system running out of A.C. jacks is easy, especially if you have only a single-ganged wall jack. But even with a dual jack you’ve only got four-plug A.C. access. So, what’s the solution? If you believe in power conditioning (which is hardly controversial since every recording studio in the world does, though some audio fools don’t), you can add additional jacks with one of those.

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Features
AnalogPlanet Visits Manley Laboratories
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 31, 2019  |  9 comments
In late December AnalogPlanet paid a long overdue visit to Manley Labs' Chino, California headquarters. "Long overdue" because the last visit was at least fifteen years ago—before you could record a factory tour in high-definition.

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Features
Two Weeks With ZVOX’s VB20 VoiceBud
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 31, 2018  |  11 comments
An elderly gentleman wearing a pair of high tech digital hearing aids accompanied his wife to a kennel club meeting at my home a few years ago. He had little interest in the dog doings upstairs so I invited him downstairs into my listening room. It allowed me to conduct an experiment of sorts. Did he like music? Yes. Had he ever heard or seen a big high performance audio rig? No, he hadn’t. Would he like to hear some music on it? Yes he would: jazz or classical. I obliged, curious to find out what exactly he heard listening through digital hearing aids to a high-resolution audio system. The look on his face told me he was hearing plenty.

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