News

Friday, August 7, 5–9pm, and Saturday, August 8, 10am–7pm: Yamaha and Fillion Électronique will participate in the OSM Classical Spree Music Festival, to be held at Place des Arts (1600 Saint-Urbain Street, Montreal).

Saturday, August 1, 11am–4pm, David Michael Audio (4341 Delemere Court, Royal Oak, MI 48073) will host an event showcasing and demonstrating MSB Technology's DACs and sources, including the new ground-breaking Select DAC (above). Confirmed guests include MSB Technology's Director of sales Vince Galbo and the company's CEO and Managing Director Larry Gullman. Larry has long experience in industrial engineering and digital electronics and has many innovations and patents to his name. Larry and Vince will be demonstrating the MSB Select DAC, explaining its innovative new technologies.

The most refreshing music I encountered at the huge 2015 Munich High End Show was an excerpt from David Chesky's children's ballet, The Zephyrtine, which Paul McGowan played in the PS Audio room. Hence it comes as no surprise that another of Chesky's recordings, his Rap Symphony, has just won the Independent Music Award (IMA) for Best Contemporary Classical Album.

On Wednesday, July 22 (Raleigh) and Thursday, July 23 (Pineville), 5–9pm, Audio Advice (8621 Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh; 11409 Carolina Place Parkway, Pineville) will host its annual Digital Living event, while on Friday, July 24, 6–8pm, Vintage King Audio (2826 Dogwood Place, Nashville) will host an evening seminar with AudioQuest's Steve Silberman, focusing on the tools and resources needed to turn a computer into a true high-resolution music source.

Ayre's 20th-Anniversary edition of its MX-R monoblock stands proud on this 132-page issue's cover. Inside, John Atkinson finds it to be one of the best-sounding amplifiers he's auditioned, while Fred Kaplan enthuses over the sound of Simaudio's Moon Evolution 860A amplifier and Jon Iverson finds much to enjoy with Rega's affordable DAC-R. Loudspeakers from Wilson Benesch, Falcon, and Magnepan are reviewed, with the littlest, cheapest Maggie earning the highest praise from Herb Reichert.

I ran across the poster above in Canada HiFi magazine: an announcement of the launch of a new audio store with an evening of vinyl playback. Located in the town of Orangeville, Ontario (population 30,000, about an hour's drive from Toronto), the store, with the intriguing name of Aardvark Boutique Audio, hadn't opened yet, but the event, taking place in the Orangeville Opera House, promised "Canadian Musicians On Vinyl—In Amazing Hi Fi Sound." I had to go and check it out.

In a major plus for the accessibility of classical music on the web, Google Play Music recently launched its Classical Live initiative. Through an exclusive contract with five major symphony orchestras—Boston Symphony Orchestra and new Music Director Andris Nelsons, The Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director Franz Welser-Möst, London Symphony Orchestra and Sir John Eliot Gardiner, New York Philharmonic and Music Director Alan Gilbert, and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam and Music Director Mariss Jansons—the organizations will offer live recordings for download and streaming exclusively on Google Play for the first six months they are made public.