Wednesday April 24 and Thursday, April 25, starting at 5pm, Denver high-end audio retailer ListenUp (685 South Pearl Street, Denver, CO 80209, (303) 778-0780) is presenting its Music Matters 2019. Titled "Mastering the Art of Sound," the event will celebrate what's next in sound and the keynote speaker will be Stereophile's erstwhile Editor and now Technical Editor John Atkinson.

It hit me not long ago: I need more Mac in my life! I promptly purchased the current production version of McIntosh Laboratory's time-honored MC275 tubed amplifier, to mate to the Mac C2300 tubed preamplifier I already owned. The recently reinvigorated debate in these pages comparing solid-state and single-ended tube designs got me to thinking. One thing led to another, and voilà! McIntosh's latest solid-state stereo amplifier, the MC462 Quad Balanced ($9000), arrived, bolted to a shipping pallet and encased in two big, heavy, nested boxes. All that packaging weighs 33 lb—the amp inside weighs 115 lb. If you want to lift it onto a rack, you'll need two people, a serious handcart, and a strong, deep shelf.