Schaumburg, eventually. Dutch & Dutch, thankfully.
Rogier van Bakel recounts the "adventure" of how he finally got to AXPONA 2026—and how brand new, pre-production Dutch & Dutch 15c speakers came to his rescue upon arrival.
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Recommended Components 2026 Edition
Every product listed here has been reviewed in Stereophile. Everything on the list, regardless of rating, is genuinely recommendable. Within each category, products are listed by class; within each class, they're in alphabetical order, followed by price, a review synopsis, and a note indicating the issues in which the review and any subsequent follow-up reports appeared.
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Welcome to AXPONA 2026!
Ken Micallef and Miguel Barrio welcome one and all to our upcoming in-depth AXPONA 2026 coverage. Ken, Miguel, and Rogier van Bakel will be conducting show interviews and showing us lots of great new gear from the show in the days ahead, so stay tuned!
HiFi Rose RD160 D/A processor
Lord knows I try to keep an open mind, but those good-measuring delta-sigma chip DACs rub me the wrong way. Their processing complexity vexes my mind, and there's never been a reconstruction or upsampling filter that I've been a fan of. Nevertheless, I believe that every audio component must be judged by how it sounds and feels in use.
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CH Precision M10 monoblock power amplifier
A mono pair of CH Precision M10s ($210,000/pair as reviewed) declares its presence in capital letters. Each channel consists of two large units, each almost 2' high, linked by a total of four umbilical cords. While the "lighter" amplifier unit weighs almost 117lb, the toroidal transformer–based power supply unit tops out at nearly 172lb. That's a lot of metal.
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Essentia Technology & Michell at Montreal Audiofest 2026
In our latest video interview from Montreal Audiofest 2026, Ken Micallef speaks with Essentia Technology co-founder Leoni Alexander-Tomas, and later with Jonathan Nye and John Rowland of Michell, about the British company's gear they were repping at the show, including the Michell Revolv turntable, Michell Gyro turntable, and Michell TecnoDec turntable.
Audiophile Experts Room at Montreal Audiofest 2026: Revox, Accuphase, Dali, Stable 33.33, Lumin
In his final update from Montreal Audiofest 2026, Robert Schryer caps off the show with his visit to Audiophile Experts Room, where he checked out a system that included a Revox B77 MkIII reel-to-reel machine, Accuphase C-3900S preamplifier, and Dali Kore speakers.
Centre Hi-Fi Room at Montreal Audiofest 2026: Advance Paris, Triangle, Technics, Dynavector, AudioQuest
In one of our late-arriving updates from Montreal Audiofest 2026, Robert Schryer visits the Centre Hi-Fi Room, where he checked out a system that included Triangle Duetto 40th Anniversary speakers, a Technics SL-1300GPK turntable, and an Advance Paris 190Wpc A-I190 integrated amplifier.
Spin Doctor #35: The Supatrac Nighthawk tonearm
When people ask me what I do for a living, I reply that I'm a turntable setter upper. That seems to me like it should be descriptive enough, but it typically results in follow-up questions that have me explaining a whole audiophile subculture that few nonaudiophiles even realize exists.
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Ideon Axiom DAC Introduction
On Thursday April 2nd at Park Avenue Audio in NYC, Ideon Audio introduced their latest and greatest creation, the Axiom DAC. Walter Schofield, Co-Managing Director of the 2WA Group with Walter Swanbon, did the introductions. Miguel Barrio reports.