Axpona 2023: Just Days Away & Some Gear Premiers
200+ listening rooms. 500+ brands. 3 days. Even with the new math, this does not compute. To fully cover a show like Axpona, the largest consumer hifi show in North America, you’d need a troupe of...
View ArticleAxpona 2023: A Few More Gear Premiers
News of the new at Axpona 2023 keeps on coming! Here are a few more I’ve added to my “To Listen To” list. The new Bel Canto Black DAC ($40,000) will be singing in Room 402 along with the Bel Canto...
View ArticleAxpona 2023: HiFi Gear Highlights
A HiFi Show is many things to many people. There’s business being done between businesses, consumers consume, gawkers gawk, scribes scribble, YouTubers pan, photographers shoot, and listeners try to...
View ArticleAxpona 2023: My Favorite Rooms
There’s that word again—favorite—which stands in stark contrast to Best if we take care in the words we use and their meaning. I prefer referring to Favorites when talking about hifi because there’s no...
View ArticleAxpona 2023: A Closer Look In Pictures
Along with sounds, the sights of Axpona 2023 are, for me, of equal value. Pictured up top: Dr. Feickert BlackBird Turntable w/EMT and Kuzma Tonearms DeVore Fidelity O/baby Loudspeakers Qualiton a75i...
View ArticleCapital Audiofest 2023 Approaches
My favorite ‘local’ HiFi show, the Capital Audiofest, kicks offs on November 10th at the Twinbrook Hilton in Rockville, Maryland. This year’s CAF will be my 4th time covering the goings on in Rockville...
View ArticleSome of What’s New(s) at Capital Audiofest 2023
Emails with news of the new for CAF 2023, which begins this Friday!, are floating into my Inbox like autumn leaves filling our gutters. Audioshield Distribution will be showing the new 180 lb., 330...
View ArticleCAF 2023: Standout Products
I knew a guy, a reviewer, who walked into a room at a hifi shop, sat in front a system he’d never heard before and within moments turned to me and said, “Great phono stage.” I won’t share my exact...
View ArticleCAF 2023: In Pictures
You’re wonderful to see, You oughta be in pictures, Oh, what a hit you would be. Pictured up top is the Wadax Atlantis Reference DAC ($166,420) in the Bending Wave USA room. The Alare Labs Remiga 2 Be...
View ArticleCAF 2023: Standout Rooms
Here are a few of my favorite rooms from CAF 2023, rooms that stood out because they made me connect to the music being made even in the less than good, forget about ideal, conditions of a hifi show....
View ArticleAxpona 2024: Just a Week Away
200 listening rooms + 600+ High-End audio brands + 9,000+ attendees = 10,000 reasons to go! Axpona is, as Ed Sullivan used to say, a big show. A really big show. Taking place over three days and a...
View ArticleTreehaus Audiolab’s New ‘A/Machines’ 300B Amp to Debut At Axpona 2024
That’s a lot of amp. The new Treehaus Audiolab “A/Machines” 300B Amplifier is based on the company’s existing 300B amp simply called “The Amplifier”, which is inspired by the work of the legendary...
View ArticleAustin AudioWorks to Premiere Their Headphone Amp & Phono Preamp at Axpona 2024
Austin AudioWorks is a new company with a rich hifi history. How’s that work? Barry Thornton, Founder and CTO, started out in the hifi business in the 1960s and has designed products for SAE, ESS, and...
View Articleampsandsound Rolls Out Their “House Sound” For Axpona 2024
By “House Sound,” ampsandsound’s Justin Weber means the Black Pearl 300B-based stereo amplifier, the Yellowstone preamplifer, and the Hudson 3-way loudspeakers. A complete ampsandsound system. The true...
View ArticleGryphon’s EOS 5 Loudspeakers & Diablo 333 Integrated Make Their US Debut at...
While we’ve been hearing about the Gryphon EOS 5 speakers and Diablo 333 integrated amp for a while, Axpona 2024 attendees, like me!, will finally have a change to hear ’em! The EOS 5, big brother to...
View ArticleCredo Audio Switzerland to Debut New Premium Finishes at Axpona 2024
Finishes? If you care about how the things you put into your home look, I do, then you can appreciate a nice finish. I reviewed Credo’s EV 1202 Ref. Loudspeakers back in 2022 as well as a complete...
View ArticleVinnie Rossi Reveals the 2nd Generation Brama Collection
Vinnie Rossi’s Brama Collection is some fine looking kit. Fine. The Brama Collection is comprised of the Brama Integrated Amplifier (pictured up top), Brama Preamplifier, and Brama Monoblock Power...
View ArticleQln to Debut the Flagship Reference 9 Loudspeaker at Axpona 2024
Sweden’s Qln Acoustics was founded in 1977 by Nils Liljeroth and Lars Quicklund which is, if you’ve been keeping track, a long time ago giving Qln a long history in hifi. I reviewed the Qln Prestige...
View ArticleMoFi Electronics Unleashes the SourcePoint 888 for Axpona 2024
With Axpona only days away, I was wondering when I’d hear about a new Andrew Jones-designed speaker from MoFi. And here she be: the SourcePoint 888. The aptly names 888 finds MoFi’s SourcePoint 8 stand...
View ArticleAxpona 2024 Coverage: Preamble
My approach to covering a show the size of Axpona 2024 is the same way I approach a meal at an all-you-can-eat buffet. I’m selective. Which is also to say I’m not all inclusive so let me apologize up...
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