Recent content by Bob Rapoport

The Essence April Newsletter is now live. This issue brings together the themes that are driving real response for Essence right now: modern HDMI sources, serious stereo, high-performance amplification, enduring loudspeaker quality, and music worth owning on Blu-ray. The early response has...

You will love this show.

Click on the cover for the full show Concert: :5stars: Video: :4stars: Audio: :4.5stars: Final Score: :4.5stars: At a Glance The verdict: This acoustic set is one of the most satisfying Hall & Oates releases ever put on disc. Not because it recreates the polished studio hits exactly, but...

ATI AT522NC Advanced Class D Power Amplifier In a small listening room with a low ceiling, an AVR rated at 100 watts per channel is usually adequate. But in medium to large rooms, especially those with high ceilings, 100 watts per channel often falls short of the dynamic headroom needed for...

Essence March 2026 Newsletter Is Live – Your Audio System Isn’t Obsolete. It’s Waiting. The March edition of Breaking News from Essence for Hi-Res Audio is now live worldwide. This month’s theme says it plainly: Your Audio System Isn’t Obsolete. It’s Waiting. Waiting for better content...

Click to watch the trailer Concert: :5stars: Video: :4stars: Audio: :5stars: Final Score: :5stars: When a rock and roll band takes full flight, an intense and emotional experience awaits. On this night in Paris, U2 doesn’t just perform — they connect, reflect, and lead. This is not a...

February 2026 Essence Newsletter — New Articles & Insights This month’s Essence newsletter continues an ongoing theme I care about: separating long-standing audio myths from what actually matters today, based on real-world listening, modern sources, and decades of experience. The focus isn’t on...

Your Audio System Isn’t Obsolete. It’s Waiting. If you own a great audio system from 10, 20, even 30 years ago — one that still sounds right to you — you’ve probably heard this line: I hear it all the time from customers. They walk back into the dealer who sold it to them — a $2,000 AVR, a...

Click the jacket to see the trailer Concert: :5stars: Video: :5stars: Audio: :5stars: Final Score: :5stars: Some performances feel designed to impress. American Utopia feels designed to connect. From its first moments, it’s clear that David Byrne isn’t presenting a concert so much as...

Before separating fact from fiction, it’s important to understand what SACD actually is, why it was created, and how we arrived at today’s formats. Much of the confusion surrounding SACD exists simply because very few people were paying attention as digital audio and video evolved in real time...

Debut of Alta Audio's Geo Mk II Compact Reference Monitor Upgrade Your Legacy AVR to HDMI 4K Video and Hi Res Multichannel Audio; Legendary AE1 40th Anniversary Edition Wins Multiple Awards; Blu-ray Concert Review SADE Bring Me Home 2011 Introducing a small-footprint loudspeaker that delivers...

Concert: :5stars: Video: :4stars: Audio: :5stars: Final Score: :4.5stars: A Work of Art in Motion Some concert films document a tour. Others document a moment in time. Bring Me Home is something rarer still: a fully realized work of art that fuses music, image, light, movement, and intent...

Every once in a while, something happens that makes you stop, step back, and reflect on what you’ve built—and why you built it. When ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and Claude—three independent AI-based data analysis tools that I increasingly think of simply as digital agents who work for...

I found out from customers who checked both platforms before ordering, ChatGPT in March, then Gemini in November. In both cases the customers owned vintage systems with 4K TVs and sources like Apple TV4K and Blu-ray with HDMI outputs. This is exactly the situation with Travis who reviewed the...

t by Bob Rapoport For AVNIRVANA When two of the largest and most advanced AI platforms in the world — ChatGPT and...