The memory of the sound of the Audio Research 330M monoblock amplifiers ($90,000/pair) at AXPONA 2025 is so vivid I can still recall what I heard and felt. I sat front and center in a room sponsored by Quintessence Audio . . . The sound was so colorful, rich, and effortless—the images so convincing in size, weight, and timbre—that I felt my eyes open wide in amazement.

I've watched the DeVore Fidelity factory develop from its humble start as an early tenant in the Brooklyn Navy Yard—once a sprawl of crumbling ruins, now a sleek high-tech hub—into a thoroughly professional facility housing a cabinet shop, assembly, and R&D. It is also the legendary Monkeyhaus, where late-night listening sessions and pizza feasts are a tradition.

The new MC X-series moving coil cartridges appear to have jumped the fence and broken free of what I long perceived as Ortofon's traditional Scandinavian style. This month, I'm auditioning the top of the X series, the MC X40, which costs $1150 and sounds almost Japanese.

A hi-fi dealer's son, Matt Alterman has been in or near the business almost all his life. His dealership, Crescendo Audio, is coming full circle as he opens a new location in Boulder, Colorado, the town where he launched his first store 13 years ago.

Following a video interview for Stereophile's video channel (watch it below and subscribe here), Audio Note UK's Adrian Ford-Crush played tunes from a Level 4/5 system that included the brand's TT Three Reference turntable ($63,000), which debuted at T.H.E. New York International Audio Show.