Good old-fashioned American chauvinism notwithstanding, Munich is by consensus the world’s most important high-end audio show, replacing CES as the place to do business—that is, if doing business in Europe and the Far East are ...

Simaudio’s Moon 310LP is a highly articulate phono preamp. By which I mean that here is a design that can take, say, the maddeningly intricate fingerwork of a Glenn Gould—many examples abound, but let’s settle ...

The 32-year-old Canadian firm Simaudio is one of those few companies with a decades-long track record of marketing nothing but great-sounding and beautifully made products at competitive prices. Although Simaudio isn't an entry-level brand by ...

Some three-and-a-half years ago now, my wife Kathy and I traveled to Bern, Switzerland, to visit audio engineer Peter Brem and his companion Jolanda Costa, the co-proprietors of DaVinciAudioLabs—makers of the AAS Gabriel turntable and ...

Not since 1994, when the Summer CES stopped camping out yearly along Michigan Avenue and Lake Shore Drive, has the Windy City played annual host to a large high-end audio show. That situation will certainly ...

Aesthetix Rhea/Rhea Signature $4500/$7000 With three inputs, variable cartridge-loading—adjustable at the listening chair via remote control—and a front-panel display of gain and loading, the Rhea is the Swiss Army Knife of phonostages. Although it has ...

Synergistic Element Series Interconnect: Element Copper, $1200/1m, Element Tungsten, $2000, Element CTS, $3600. Speaker (8' pr.): Element Copper, $1700; Element Tungsten, $2800. Element CTS, $7500 The Element Series represents Synergistic’s innovative and costly Galileo System ...

The 2012 edition of the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest revealed a well-oiled and established show, and one that has achieved a comfortable equilibrium of size and attendance. Frankly I was concerned how well it would ...

Those of you who’ve read Robert Harley’s review of Constellation Audio’s Reference Series Altair linestage preamp and Hercules monoblock power amps in our September issue already know that our Mr. H.—a man not given to ...

About a month ago, Warren Gehl, the Golden Ear at Audio Research Corporation who has done the voicing of ARC’s latest (and top-to-bottom superlative) line of electronics, called me up with some bleak news: “You ...

Ron Sutherland has a thing for phonostages—or more specifically, as he recently told me, for records and all things associated with vinyl playback. His considerable talent lies in paring products down to their essence, creating ...

The Vincent Audio PHO-8 is a well finished and appointed dual-chassis phono preamp that belies its entry-level price. Sporting attractive 10mm-thick faceplates, it bears a striking resemblance to Vincent Audio’s Premium Series components. The phono ...

The ARC Reference 2—William Zane Johnson’s statement phonostage and only the second ARC phono preamp to be designated a “Reference” product in this decade—arrived about three weeks ago, replete with new features never before seen ...

There are times when I think this strange hobby of ours borders on the insane. I feel this way every time I read an ad that promises miracles from an accessory that clearly defies the ...

As most of you know, I’m a tube guy at heart—particularly when it comes to preamps. But if I were in the market for the state of the art in analog, I’d make a big ...