The philosophy promoted by many mainstream stereo magazines (and thus often the belief of the general public) is that one should spend a minimum amount of one's hi-fi budget on electronics and front ends, and a maximum amount on loudspeakers. Since all electronics sound alike and it's the loudspeaker that really produces the sound, the highest overall performance is obtained by putting expensive loudspeakers at the end of a chain of inexpensive electronics. Cables? Don't waste your money.

Contrast this view, taken by Peter McGrath as we headed to dinner at show's end, with that of the mobbed staircase at the opening bell…

Thank goodness the handsome new Pathos gear came with English-language literature…

It was high concept yet wonderfully honky tonk.

The possibility exists that whoever bought this record did so sight unseen!

The day after my husband was plied with hard liquor in a desperate attempt to get me all the way into the Tidal room, I returned.

I never cover shows with the intention of citing "Best Of"…

Jon Reichbach of Sonic Studio/Amarra displayed the latest Amarra sQ+ 2.3 inline DSP processor. The software can equalize music's entire range, if desired, before sending it along for playback…

At the head of the system was the brand new Bergmann Galder air-bearing turntable (€15,000): the only table in Bergmann's line that's sold without an arm…

While Bowers & Wilkins' new 802 D3 Diamond loudspeaker, reviewed by Kalman Rubinson, takes pride of place on the cover of the June Stereophile, to judge from the many comments posted to our recent story on MQA, it will be Jim Austin's review of the MQA-capable Meridian Explorer² on page 102 and John Atkinson's technical evaluation of MQA on page 108 that readers will turn to first. . .