Inés Adler's contagious passion for audio is built right into her components, and it makes every Voxativ visit a blast. At this year's High End Munich, Adler showed two new products: the Voxativ Streamer/DAC with FM-DAC technology ($16,000), and the Hagen2 Monitor Compact full-range loudspeaker with AF-2A AlNiCo driver ($6900/pair), the first iteration of which Herb Reichert recently reviewed for Stereophile.

No joke. Epaminondas Gaveras of Greece's hARt Lab and Joakim Juhl of Denmark's OePhi Audio joined forces to deliver a sound that wasn't just loud and forceful, but joyous—igniting both mind and body. These two lesser-known brands deserve your attention. They certainly demanded mine.

Having previously reviewed Simon Brown's The Wand 9.5"-tonearm for Analog Planet, I was eager to experience the Wand 14-4 Master turntable ($7500), equipped with the world-premiere Wand Dark Light Tonearm ($7550, or $13,675 for the package) and a My Sonic Lab Eminent EX MC cartridge ($3995).

Guess who's back from the brink of existence? It's Onkyo, the storied Japanese audio brand that filed for bankruptcy in 2022. Like Mark Twain's rumored demise, reports of its death were greatly exaggerated. In Munich, Akihisa "Alec" Watanabe, project leader at Onkyo Technology, and Dave Gans, VP of Marketing & eCommerce at Premium Audio Company (Onkyo's U.S. distributor, which also handles Klipsch) convinced doubters that the brand is alive and well.

Avantgarde Acoustic provided a close look at its latest offerings, including a new compact subwoofer, the Twin Sub (price not yet announced).

"Immerse yourself in extraordinary acoustics and thrilling inspirational insights," trumpeted the JBL "Summit of Sound" press release. Present at the event were Harman Luxury Audio top brass Dave Tovissi, Jim Garrett, and Paul Neville, with Harman's David Glaubke moderating.

My last stop of the show was a real highlight. The only Kondo Audio Note equipment I'd heard up till then was at a friend's home in New York City. His setup included a Kondo Ongaku integrated amplifier, a Kondo KSL-SFz SUT (step-up transformer), Kondo silver interconnects (KSL-LPz and Ls-41), and Kondo KSL-SPz silver speaker cables. The sound was consistently beautiful, very natural, with a touch of romanticism.

If it's large and yellow, it's got to be Tonar! The European analog-accessories giant showed up in full force at Munich, its towering yellow signage and jam-packed booth instantly switching my brain into consumer overdrive.

The why behind most artist-owned labels tends to be a thicket of motivations. They have more adventurous tastes. They are more artist friendly. They are anxious to be the ones in charge of the money for a change. For jazz trumpeter Charles Tolliver, co-founder of the record label Strata-East, the motivation was a combination of all these factors and more.

During a break in the hectic schedule that preceded the April 2025 release of 32 reissues from the famed Strata-East catalog—including the work of Charlie Rouse, Pharoah Sanders, and Cecil McBee—I caught up with Tolliver and his son Ched, who's now in charge of the label's rebirth.