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System 1: This system's presentation in the Altitudo Audio Room at Montreal Audiofest 2026 sounded huge, with gobs of energy, a holographic soundstage teeming with microdetail (even at low volume), and dynamic swings that could be startling. The system played loud without any hint of compression or distortion—just clean, unfatiguing, balanced sound all across the frequency range…

I heard both digital and analog setups here in the Atelier Audio room at Montreal Audiofest 2026, and analog edged out digital in image palpability, tactility, texture, resolution, lifelike presence, and, most of all, tone. I'd go so far as to say it delivered the best tone I heard at the show. My goodness, that sax. Those vocals. The double bass. I couldn't remember hearing them depicted so deep, exposed, and lifelike—and that…

To me, the class-A/B Moon 371 integrated amplifier is one of the most significant products of this past year, largely because it fulfills what we, as audiophiles, hope for in a full-featured, all-in-one (including streaming) product: a combination of new technology and functional convenience married to the kind of superlative sound we'd expect from separates. [Editor's note: I attended the launch event…

Analog source: EMT Pure Black, Kuzma CAR 30, and VPI Goldy MC phono cartridges.
Preamplifiers: Ampsandsound Yosemite, Rogue RP-7 (line); Tavish Audio Design Adagio, Manley Chinook, Allnic H-5500 (phono).
Power amplifiers: Air Tight ATM-1 2024 Edition, Rogue Audio Stereo 100.
Integrated amplifiers: Unison Research S6 Black Edition, AVM Evolution CS 5.2.
Loudspeakers: DeVore Fidelity Gibbon Super Nine.
Cables: Interconnects: AudioQuest Pegasus and Firebird, Triode Wire Labs Spirit II (RCA). Speaker: Auditorium 23, AudioQuest William Tell…

The two units' back panels are not simple. To attempt to detail every connector would induce a soporific state in most readers and certainly this writer, so we'll just publish a photo and focus on the basics. On the back panel are two sets of speaker cable binding posts to facilitate biwiring, single sets of RCA, BNC, and XLR inputs, balanced XLR analog outputs for amplifier chain connection, an earth-ground socket, a ground-lift switch (footnote 2), and a signal-ground socket. And more.

The power supply's rear panel is simpler and less crowded. It includes a main power switch,…

"And how long have you felt this way about audio components?" my therapist asked. His pen scratched on his notepad.

"Gosh, it seems like forever. My mother told me I would nurse only if she sat down with me next to Dad's old Garrard record changer while it churned through a stack of LPs."

"Hmmmm." He paused, then resumed writing.

"Hey, Doc? Is there anything to drink around here?"

Sometimes I think audiophiles are crazy. If the point of it all is our love of music, we often forget that the brain is where it happens—not…

If you dare stack the two units one atop the other (I had no choice in my modest-sized music room), each stack proclaims might and—given the front panel's minimalist Swiss styling—refinement.

On the levels of sound and music…

In common with CH Precision's M1.1 amplifier, the M10 includes the facility to adjust feedback on the fly via the company's intuitive app. In the M1.1, feedback could be adjusted to the nearest 10%; in the M10, the adjustment has 1% increments. Of course, the "0% feedback" setting does not really mean "zero compensation" as there's always sufficient local feedback to manage the bandwidth, gain and stability of the M10's input and output stages.

Digital sources: dCS Varèse five-piece music system, Rossini CD/SACD transport; EMM Labs DV2i DAC, Innuos Nazaré Music Server and PhoenixNET network switch; Small Green Computer Sonore opticalModule Deluxe (2); Broadcom/Avago AFBR-5718PZ 1GB SX-SFP, Gen 5 Fiber Optic modules (2); Nordost QSource linear power supply (2); Sonore Audiophile Linear Power Supply; Synology 5-bay 1019+ NAS with Ferrum Hypsos linear/switching hybrid power supply; ASUS AX6000 and RT-AX88U Pro mesh routers and Netgear Nighthawk modem; Apple 2023 iPad Pro and 2025 MacBook Air.
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Just like last year, I saved retailer Audiophile Experts' room for last. I stopped by their room at the 5pm closing hour on Sunday, as the crowd headed home and exhibitors started dismantling their setups. That's because Stacy and Mathieu, proprietors of Audiophile Experts, like to cap off my harried show reporting with a soulful, uninterrupted musical performance, usually from an analog-fronted rig.

This year's source was a B77 MkIII reel-to-reel machine by Revox, for which Audiophile Experts is the exclusive Canadian dealer. The system also included an Accuphase C-3900S…