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Familiar faces, new form.

Before me stood a pair of stand-mounted Dynaudio Confidence 20 active loudspeakers, complete with DSP ($24,000/pair). Larger, higher-quality cousins to the Dynaudio Focus 10 active loudspeakers I reviewed a little over two years ago, the Confidence 20s sounded notably more refined and more convincing. That tracks: Each driver is powered by its own dedicated amplifier. While both models share the same DSP room correction protocol, nearly everything else is an upgrade.

Leonard Cohen’s “Nevermind” delivered exactly what I’d hoped for:…

We’re turning up the volume on excitement! Here’s your chance to win the Morel Biggie—a powerhouse of wireless sound engineered for those who crave deep bass, rich detail, and bold design in every beat.

Crafted by audio perfectionists at Morel, the Biggie redefines what a portable speaker can be. Whether you're on the move or making moments at home, this is the speaker that goes all in—just like you.

This isn’t just a giveaway—it’s your gateway to legendary sound. Enter now for your chance to win.

At the heart of the BIGGIE portable speaker lies precision-…

One benefit of distributing a range of high-end products is that you can build complete systems using only brands from your own portfolio. AXISS Audio did just that, presenting full-stack systems across multiple rooms and floors.

From the first solid, properly pitched bass impact, the AXISS Audio system in room 1628 won me over. Vocal colors were beautiful. A 16-bit/44.1kHz track of Victory Boyd’s “Against the Wind” sounded so soulful, with ideal image size and air, that I resolved to listen to it on my reference system once I got home.

In a stroke of good fortune, my next…

Special guests include, Amadeus Meitner (EMM Labs and Meitner), Elliot Goldman (Bending Wave/Göbel), OJ Whatley (Second Time Fine Watches) and Trevor Doyle (Massif Audio Design). We offer a special opportunity for attendees—in-person only!—to receive an EMM Labs PRE preamplifier (MSRP $25,000 USD) at no charge when purchasing an EMM Labs…

When singer/fiddler Alison Krauss was a teenager with a solo album under her belt, she teamed up with some fellow musicians to form Union Station. Starting in 1989, Rounder Records released the band's albums regularly—seven of them including the soundtrack to Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?—ending with 2011's Paper Airplane. Although they continued to play together, most notably in a 2014 tour with Willie Nelson,…

Following Kalman Rubinson's review and John Atkinson's testing, which were published in the April 2025 issue, the Charcoal Black Technics SC-CX700 streaming amplified speaker system was shipped to me (footnote 1). I checked out some of the features Kal described, dug into the underlying tech with Technics's Bill Voss, and spent a few dozen hours listening, especially to the system's phono circuit.

In the room where I did most of my listening, I set the speakers up on generic 24"-high metal stands. The centers of their coaxial drivers were a bit below my ears; they might…

I almost missed Audio Research and Acora’s pairing in the “Living Room” area of the mezzanine, adjacent to where people dined and lounged. I waited to stop by until first thing on Sunday morning, when music wasn’t blasting and people were in a far mellower mood than on eager-beaver Friday or crowded Saturday.

I was delighted to meet three of the central members of Audio Research’s refreshed team: Craig Myers, the electrical engineer who served as head designer on the LS2 preamplifier described below; Les Robinson, co-general manager at Audio Research and the mechanical…

In my partner's tiny wood-framed garage, revving an engine with racing headers and no mufflers was a Level-6 noise event that made…

ZMF
At the end of the day Saturday, I met up with my peeps in ZMF's large double room, where a young woman in stylish black-and-white checkered pants was gathering up 121 tagged-and-numbered ZMF headphones that had been set out for attendee listening. Each of the large room's tables featured at least one DAC and two headphone amplifiers. That's a lot of wires and metal boxes and people shuffling about playing musical chairs, listening to their own choices of music. ZMF was giving head-fi aficionados access to their complete…