For the past decade or so, I haven't been using a preamplifier. The D/A processors I have been using all have volume controls, so I have been feeding their outputs directly to the power amplifiers. It would seem logical that having nothing in the signal path would have less of a degrading effect than a preamp's input and output sockets, switches, volume control, printed circuit-board traces, and active and passive parts, not to mention an additional pair of interconnects. However, with some of the preamplifiers I have auditioned in my system, there was no doubt that the sound quality improved compared with the direct connection from the digital processor.

The most recent of these preamps was the MBL N11 that Jason Victor Serinus reviewed in July 2021, which was preceded by the Pass Labs XP-32 I reviewed in March 2021, the Benchmark LA4 Kalman Rubinson reviewed in January 2020, and going back even further, the Ayre Acoustics KX-R Twenty I reviewed in December 2014, which was one of the products Ayre released to celebrate its 20th year of operation.

I am now reviewing the KX-8 line preamplifier, which costs $6500 in basic form.

At AXPONA 2025, Jonathan Halpern of Tone Imports and Matt Rotunda of Pitch Perfect Audio teamed up in room 2025. Very au courant. I first met Halpern and speaker designer John DeVore years ago, when both worked at Steve Mishoe’s In Living Stereo, a high-end store in New York. Their careers have long intersected—and so has their gear.

It was good to catch up with Eelco Grimm and John-Paul Lizars before sitting down to hear the Grimm Audio LS1c two-way active speaker system with SB1 motion-feedback subwoofer ($38,000–$44,150/pair, depending on finish and tariffs).

Mark Sossa of Virginia-based distributor Well Pleased AV brought a sweet lineup to Chicago, including the world-premiere Merason Mountain DAC ($20,000).

The Innuos ZENith Next-Gen ($20,700 as equipped) does what streamer-servers do: store music files, read them into memory, and send them on to a D/A converter to make music. In Innuos's complex (yet logical) lineup of streamers and streamer-servers, the ZENith Next-Gen sits just below the flagship Statement and above the ZENith Mk.3. The ZENith Mk.3 remains in the Innuos lineup for now but will be replaced at AXPONA shortly after this issue hits mailboxes and newsstands.

Though similar in many respects, with a very similar appearance, these two products—the ZENith Next-Gen and the ZENith Mk.3—are very different beasts. There is one rather obvious difference: a CD slot on the Mk.3 (with, of course, a CD drive inside), which makes it easy to rip CDs to the server's internal memory. This feature is absent from the more purist ZENith Next-Gen. But with the Next-Gen you can have your cake and eat it: Attach any USB CD ripper to one of the USB ports, and it will work just the same as the built-in ripper on the Mk.3. The other differences between the Mk.3 and the Next-Gen are less obvious, but those differences go much deeper; see the Details section in this review.

Angie Lisi of American Sound Distribution exhibited several systems in multiple spaces. Room 1620 showcased gear from Grimm Audio, Wadax, Analog Relax, Avantgarde, Phasemation, and Rethm; Room 1642 offered a more compact setup focused on the latter three brands.

Rogue Audio’s Bill Magerman and Nick Fitzsimmons introduced the RP‑3 at AXPONA 2025—a new preamp that’s tube-equipped and unmistakably Rogue. The RP‑3 ($3495) is a feature-packed machine with two 12AU7 tubes in a mu‑follower design, a remote control, home-theater bypass/unity-gain inputs, three sets of RCA inputs, and two pairs of XLR inputs. Also on-board: a mono button, a tube-based high-power headphone amp, linear power supplies, and a three-year warranty. Like all Rogue gear, it’s made in the USA.