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Gramophone DreamsPhono Cartridge Reviews
Gramophone Dreams #90: Collecting Phono Cartridges, Hana, MoFi
Herb Reichert  |  Oct 24, 2024
In a video on his YouTube channel Jazz Vinyl Audiophile, Stereophile contributing editor Ken Micallef asks Jeffrey Catalano of High Water Sound how he manages to be so consistent—how his rooms wrangle "top 2% sound" at every audio show. The first words out of Jeffrey's mouth are "I know how to listen."

"It's one of my greatest strengths. I know what music sounds like. I just go inside the music and let it tell me how it's supposed to be alive, how it's supposed to live in that space. I know that sounds simplistic and maybe somewhat esoteric, or pretentious even—but it's not.

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Toronto Audiofest 2024
Marantz - Toronto Audiofest 2024
Robert Schryer  |  Oct 24, 2024
The Marantz product that was under press embargo? A speaker! Actually, two speakers: the Marantz Horizon and its larger sibling, Marantz Grand Horizon. The speakers are intended for single-speaker wireless playback.
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Warsaw Audio Show 2024
Warsaw: The Calm Before the Show
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Oct 23, 2024
As I leisurely strolled through the lobby of Warsaw’s Radisson Blu Sobieski two mornings before the start of Audio Show 2024, it seemed impossible that, shortly after I awoke on October 24, truckloads of gear and audio show personnel would descend on the hotel. What now was a very quiet lobby and restaurant—I rarely rode the elevator with anyone else in it—would soon be packed with distributors, dealers, company heads, press, and visitors.
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Toronto Audiofest 2024
Wynn Audio: Børresen Acoustics, Aavik Acoustics, Ansuz Acoustics - Toronto Audiofest 2024
Robert Schryer  |  Oct 23, 2024
Some systems are sleepers in the unassuming sense. They don't come in big parts, or take up a lot of space, or use a dozen components to pass the signal through. So you sit down to listen to them, expecting something good but forgettable, and boom!
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Revinylization
Revinylization #59: Takin' it from the (ZZ) Top
Robert Baird  |  Oct 23, 2024
Before the beards, before the fuzzy spinning guitars, before the "Legs" video, there was an electric blues trio, that little ol' band from Texas, ZZ Top. In five years in the 1970s, they made their finest albums and found their first success. They came, they conquered, and gargantuan blues riffs—not to mention the concept of the power trio—were never the same.

Anthologized and reissued many times since their release—Tres Hombres alone has been reissued on vinyl three times just since 2006—the band's first five albums have been reissued again in an impressive, limited-edition boxed set from Rhino called From the Top: 1971–1976.

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Toronto Audiofest 2024
Corby's Audio 2: Coherent Loudspeakers, Saturn Audio, Kuzma, Tektron, Allnic, Tough Nut Audio - Toronto Audiofest 2024
Robert Schryer  |  Oct 23, 2024
I saw a real live frilled lizard at the Audiofest! It was wide-spanning and awe-inspiring and finished in Santos Rosewood. And instead of spitting saliva, it projected music!
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Toronto Audiofest 2024
Kennedy Hi-Fi: Audiovector, Fezz Audio, Eversolo, Kimber Kable - Toronto Audiofest 2024
Robert Schryer  |  Oct 23, 2024
The Kennedy Hi-Fi room was showing another product at the show that was creating a buzz: the Audiovector Trapeze loudspeaker ($25,000/pair), another product from Denmark, a country rich in high-end manufacturing. A 3-way floorstanding design, the Trapeze features a proprietary 12" high-power mid/bass driver, a 5" high-speed midrange, and an AMT (Air Motion Transformer) tweeter.
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Toronto Audiofest 2024
Audio Note - Toronto Audiofest 2024
Robert Schryer  |  Oct 21, 2024
I’ve met Daniel Qvortrup, son of Audio Note founder Peter, a few times, and what I know of his music-listening side is that he’s a diehard music fan with very eclectic tastes in music. I’m not using the word “very” lightly here. He’s the type to listen to Tibetan monk throat-singing. So, I was not entirely surprised when the first thing he played for me in the Audio Note exhibit room was a 78 RPM recording made in 1931 of a woman yodeling.
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Toronto Audiofest 2024
Star Electronics: Yamaha, Weiss Audio, Luna Cables - Toronto Audiofest 2024
Robert Schryer  |  Oct 20, 2024
Toronto retailer Star Electronics's room was offering some substantial sound, and by substantial, I mean thick toned, resoundingly harmonic, with solid, well-defined bass. Being demoed was gear by Yamaha, but this was not your daddy’s, or your youngers self’s, Yamaha, when the manufacturer’s audio products were entirely targeted to the mainstream market.
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Toronto Audiofest 2024
Bliss Acoustics: Nagra, Pilium, Kroma Atelier, Synergistic Research, Hemingway Audio, WAY Cables, Modulum Audio - Toronto Audiofest 2024
Robert Schryer  |  Oct 20, 2024
Now that’s what I call truth in advertising, because bliss was served! What sound! What grandeur! What an exquisite example of the best that sound reproduction can offer. Retailer Bliss Acoustics’s room was presenting one of my favorite demoes at the show, proving to me, at least—and this despite the fact that I’m not immune to sometimes feeling resentful toward gear I can’t afford—that the really expensive stuff can be worth the money. It just sounds better. It sounds expensive, in the sense that you know there’s no way you can get this level of performance at a discount.
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