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Our tribe of dedicated audiophiles and music lovers met up in Dallas Texas the weekend of June 7-9 for the seventeenth Lone Star Audio Fest. LSAF is designed and executed to be different from typical HiFi shows. The emphasis is placed on hosting a low-cost experience encouraging individual audiophiles, DIYers/Makers, startups and smaller companies to... Read More »

I admit to being skeptical. In 2023 when Gary Gill and Lou Hinkley announced their plan to hold a new HiFi show called Southwest Audio Fest in Dallas Texas March 15-17, 2024 my first reaction was "does North America need another high-end audio show?" Apparently, it is not about needs, rather wants. And the Dallas... Read More »

Following my first three episodes from this year's event, these wrap-up event episodes bring you my final three sets of coverage, each addressing three remarkable rooms. Can you say World Premieres? In this episode, I explore the world premiere of the Kronos Discover Phono stage, the Göble Divin Comtesse loudspeakers, and Alon Wolf's Magico S5... Read More »

Ye Olde Editor delivering the goods, Corvallis, Oregon, 1972. (Photograph by John Hull.) Yes, I've always been this way. Munich has come and gone...so has my serious bout with pneumonia...and I'd like to get my AXPONA 2024 Audio Oasis! Awards published before any more time goes by. (These are two big shows that are too... Read More »

To quote an old colloquialism, "I haven't been to an audio show in a minute." I have stayed away from them for various reasons the main one being Covid-19. But time marches on, and the lure of high-end audio is well… very alluring. I finally stuck my toe back in the water for the THE... Read More »

This would be the first time I've seen Aperion Audio at a show, and they were first on my list to visit. I wanted to meet the Millennial team behind this fast-growing company that makes a high value range of stereo and home theater speakers and Class A/B amplifiers. Collin Lybarger, the general manager, was... Read More »

  I found Mark Conti of MC Audiotech and Robert Sears of Shimmer Audiophile setting up their gear in a large conference room at T.H.E. Show on a Thursday night in preparation for a long weekend of demos. Though they were working the kinks out of the system, the sound was already gelling, and I... Read More »

While AXPONA represents the largest hi-fi show in the US, High End Munich, held each May at Munich's monstrous Order Center, is the largest, most well-attended audio show on planet Earth! With the first of my episodes from this year's event, episode 175, I've included a virtual walk from the stairway in front of the... Read More »

New from the audio analyst© for re-publication in Positive Feedback – Virtual AXPONA 2024 If you've never been to an audio show, especially one as large and comprehensive as the foremost, most successful show in the continental US, AXPONA, which is an acronym made from Audio eXPO NOrth America, held annually at the Renaissance Schaumburg... Read More »

Justin Weber of ampsandsound takes a break. 300B amps aren't known for their ability to party hard. More often than not you hear about their sweetness, lucidity, and warm conveyance of Big Tone. But the ampandsound kit, powered by their flagship 300B amp, the Black Pearl, had hip bones fully engaged. The Yellowstone preamp is... Read More »

SCHAUMBURG, IL—Twenty-six years ago, aspiring studio tech and entrepreneur, David Malekpour, launched his Pro Audio Design, Inc. (initially under the banner, Anything Audio, he re-named it in 1993), with Augspurger Monitors that employed Technical Audio Devices (TAD) drivers and components simply because "they were the best." TAD have been tops for years, he says, and... Read More »

Ye Olde Editor, AXPONA 2024 (photograph by Bill Parish; image processing by David W. Robinson) Another year, another trip around the Sun, another AXPONA. Apart from the COVID years, I have been attending AXPONA since Mark Freed first invited me personally to do so in late 2014. 2015 was my first show. So, I've been... Read More »

Some of the most fun to be had at AXPONA was discovering fresh new ideas and technology. Never have I ever encountered a complete 3D printed horn system (with bass cabinets), or software algorithm-controlled tube equipment. Yet, this is exactly what Tony Crocker of Swan Song Audio delivered and more. Who is Tony and Swan Song... Read More »

Manley Labs has always kept its feet planted in two lands. Known for keeping the tube faith on the Pro side of audio—their mic preamps and processors are legendarily for their natural detail, color, and overall juiciness. They are used at many of the best studios and mastering houses. They also make some of the... Read More »

I'm sliding into Northern Illinois on a dreary Thursday in early April. There is a touch of nostalgia and foreboding landing here in the suburbs of Chicago filled with its brutalist architecture and utilitarian brick structures. The daffodils and plum trees are blooming. The grass and clover is already coming out and getting green. It is... Read More »

Ye Olde Editor with cigar and match, 2021 (photograph and image processing by John Robinson) Here's the last set of my Audio Oasis! Awards from PAF 2023, together with the final set of photographs. Focal-Naim The Naim-Focal room I'll admit it:  I was very impressed by the Focal-Naim space. Departing from the usual emphasis on... Read More »

With this episode of the audio analyst©, "Episode 167: Southwest Audio Fest 2024-Best Rooms - High End by Oz," I’m highlighting the remarkable sonic achievements of Room 1401 at that show. It was sponsored by 3mA, a Houston retail establishment, United Home Audio, and High End by Oz. This is the first of several in-room... Read More »

One of my favorite audio events every year is the Tampa show. For the past four visits the weather has been sunny and in the 70s every day. This year it rained straight through the weekend. Yet it totally did not matter. There was a level of energy all four days I was there (Thursday... Read More »

Ye Olde Editor, before the tsunami... Personal tsunami, 2023. Such a strange year for me, one that threw me for a loop right in the midst of the two main audio show that I attended:  AXPONA 2023 and Pacific Audio Fest 2023. Normally, I'm able to issue my considered judgements and Audio Oasis! Awards within... Read More »