Over the years, I've listened to many headphones, beginning with the Grado SR60s I bought with my first paycheck. Since then, I've been lucky enough to sample many exotic cans, but I always return to the admittedly controversial realization that I happen to prefer ... earphones.

Audio Vision San Francisco will host a two-day "Experience the Future of Sound" event on Saturday and Sunday, October 18–19, 2025, from 12–6pm at 1628 California Street in San Francisco, with seminars, system demos, and a giveaway drawing.

The largest regularly scheduled choral singing event in the world is the Estonian National Song Festival, or Laulupidu, which comes around about once every five years in Tallinn, Estonia's capital city. The numbers are pretty mind blowing.

There have been venue owners who have been larger than life—Hilly Kristal (CBGB) and Doug Weston (Troubadour) come to mind—but few live-music club owners have ever lived in and for the music the way that Clifford Antone has.

Simaudio has introduced a streaming network streamer/integrated amplifier, the Moon 371, the first product in a new, more affordable series called Compass. Why Compass? The name evokes the name of the higher-end North series, introduced in 2023. "Compass guides you North," a Simaudio rep said at a press event in Boucherville, across the river from Montreal.

Those of us who review audio equipment, and even audiophiles who don't, often talk about our reference systems. The term implies a certain level of consistency. If you are changing components every week, your system probably lacks the stability to be a true reference. In the case of reviewers, this presents an irony . . .

Every product listed here has been reviewed in Stereophile. Within each category, products are listed by class; within each class, they're in alphabetical order, followed by their price, a review synopsis, and a note indicating the issues in which the review, and any subsequent follow-up reports, appeared.