Ever since I became interested in—nay, obsessed with—high-quality music reproduction, my goal has been to attain the experience of being at a performance. Some audiophiles target the recreation of the event in their room—a "they are here" experience.

Klipsch willl introduce a Red Oak finish option for its Heritage Forte IV and Heresy IV loudspeakers at Audio Advice Live 2025. The finish, paired with gray heathered grilles, marks its first public appearance.

Seeing Bruce Springsteen perform live in the 1970s and early '80s, pre–Born in the U.S.A., could be a life-changing experience. Bruce was the hungry leader of a relentless, turn-on-a-dime R&B band. A burning star streaking across the rock'n'roll sky, he threw his fiery young self into maximum shows full of urgency (to invoke one of his best rhymes) and those wordy, anthemic pleading/strutting urban fairy tales. He was leagues beyond almost everything and everyone else in those days.

It was supposed to be so simple, a well-trod path I've followed almost every May for the last decade: A six-day trip to Munich to attend the final Munich High End Show before it decamps to Vienna next year.

During the past decade and a half, the trips I've taken have tended to be for magazine stories. I love to travel, but as a New Yorker living on a writer's income, I figure it makes more sense to do it on someone else's dime and stay in nicer places than I could afford otherwise. The downside is that these trips don't feel like vacations, or even particularly restful: My time tends to be taken up with interviews, overly elaborate meals eaten (or tasted) in the company of chefs and winemakers, weeks when I sometimes stay in four hotels, and (gratefully infrequent) run-ins with publicists.

Musical Fidelity has announced the B1xi, a new integrated amplifier that marks the debut of its reimagined B-Series. Drawing inspiration from the original B1 released in the 1990s, the B1xi features a fully discrete class-A/B design and omits displays and wireless streaming in favor of analog simplicity.

AudioQuest has announced Brave Heart, a new ZERO-Tech speaker cable positioned below its Mythical series in price but incorporating many of the same materials and design principles.

Stereophile readers are surely aware of the tariff situation under the current administration—a situation that has changed rapidly, often daily. The tariff penalty—and arguably even more, the lack of economic stability resulting from tariff volatility—has a major impact on buying, pricing, and corporate strategy in the hi-fi industry. Hi-fi is just one of many industries experiencing the impacts of increased costs and uncertainty.