As the former owner of an Aragon 8008 power amplifier, I was curious to see how the company’s products have evolved. I used to admire the amp’s V-shaped heatsinks and felt lucky to own it. It was the second high-end amplifier I bought, and a major upgrade over the bright-sounding Adcom that came before it.

First unveiled in passive display at Munich High End 2024, the new D’Agostino Pendulum Integrated amplifier made its US consumer audio show debut in two places at AXPONA 2025: a hallway setup—where listening was possible only at close range—and in a room sponsored by Innuos.

In two adjacent rooms on the 14th floor of the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel, Innuos launched its latest Stream1 and Stream3 devices. Conceived as “the gateway to high-performance music,” the Stream series works with the Innuos Sense app. The app’s latest additions include a portal to the IDAGIO classical-music streaming service, Spotify Connect, Qobuz Connect, and more.

Justin Weber of Ampsandsound greeted AXPONA with the world premieres of two products hand-built in his Aliso Viejo, California, factory: the Black Pearl XL SE 300B amplifier and the horn-loaded Sasquatch three-way speakers.

Steve Mishoe of True Source Audio Distribution originally introduced me to Shindo Laboratory and DeVore Fidelity—brands that shaped my listening sensibility and critical framework. His colleague Steve Cohen often assists with system setup and calibration. In fact, he helps with every review I write for Stereophile, fine-tuning gear and speaker placement and acting as a sounding board.

Treehaus: The name conjures bark and birdsong, but its products are pure Klangbildvergrößerungsmaschinen*. Rich Pinto of Treehaus Audiolab creates gear that fuses sonic beauty with sculptural woodwork and the control of a practiced hand. All circuitry and internal construction are the work of Radu Tarta, a designer known for his meticulous builds.

Charlotte de Witte’s Sanctum, my current techno obsession, was already spinning when I stepped into the Audio Note UK room. Sales exec Adrian Ford-Crush stood nearby; across the room, founder Peter Qvortrup — the company’s resident iconoclast — paged through Kate Crawford’s Atlas of AI, a scathing look at the environmental and ethical costs of artificial intelligence. But then the music took over, as it always does in this room.

Last month's column looked at the hi-fi industry's struggles with recruiting and retaining qualified staff. For that article, Specialty Sound and Vision's Anthony Chiarella, also director of sales and marketing for Gryphon Audio and Brinkmann Audio, made a comment that bears repeating here: "If we're going to have a future in hi-fi, we have to make it worthwhile to make a career in hi-fi." How might that be achieved?

Achieving that key objective requires achieving another one: How do we make more people aware that our industry exists?

It was during a visit to my music room by five members of the small Off-Islanders Audio Society that the magic of the dCS Varèse Music System ($267,500 as reviewed; $305,000 with CD/SACD transport) became clear.

One member had requested the 24/192 version of "Splendido Sundance" from Saturday Night in San Francisco (24/192 FLAC, Columbia-Legacy/Qobuz), performed by Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, and Paco de Lucía and recorded live in the Warfield Theatre on December 6, 1980. I'd attended the unveiling of the LP remastering of this recording, presented by the album's co-executive producer, Abey Fon, in the Audio Reference room at High End Munich 2024. The system, which was first class, included a VPI Titan turntable, D'Agostino Relentless preamplifier and Relentless 800 mono amplifiers, a VTL TP-6.5 Series II Signature phono preamplifier, Wilson Audio XVX loudspeakers, Nordost cabling, a Stromtank power generator, and an unheard three-piece dCS Vivaldi APEX music system.