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I have been interested in human perception almost as long as I have been working in magazines. This sound is something with which everyone in this room will be familiar: a 1kHz tone at –20dBFS.

[Play 1kHz, –20dBFS sinewave tone]

What I'd like you to do now is to imagine the same tone for 10 seconds.

I believe a scan of…

I'd been kicking down doors left and right at AXPONA 2026, demanding rooms spin or stream one of my guilty pleasures that is also one of the better-recorded rock albums in existence: ZZ Top’s 1973 masterpiece, Tres Hombres. More specifically, I wanted to hear "La Grange," or the back-to…

Bonus coverage concludes! Harmonic Audio's demo at Montreal Audiofest 2026—hosted by owner Fabrizio Caprioli, who is also the owner and chef of Barcola Bistro Audio, which is both a fine record shop and fine dining Italian restaurant!—was unconventional.

Held in a narrow passage abutting an escalator, it featured vintage gear, some on…

Bonus coverage continues onward! On vinyl versions of a couple of live Jethro Tull tracks I know quite well, I was surprised by the level of transparency I was hearing on the Planète Haute Fidélité system at Montreal Audiofest 2026. In short, it was into-the-grain textural and big-brother-spying-on-the-crowd revealing.

Bonus coverage continues into the home stretch! The Joseph Crowe system I experienced at Montreal Audiofest 2026 impressed, first by its looks—it was like staring at a forest of gorgeous wood—and then with the scale of the music, the dynamics, the transparency, and the soundstage layering.

In fact, this Joseph Crowe system…

Bonus coverage continues! The Grimm Audio system in this room at Montreal Audiofest 2026 was all about seamlessness, coherence, and balance—all that, and a big rich sound within a spacious, many-layered soundstage that was deep and stable with realistic tone and well-defined imaging throughout. There was also a virility to its presentation that made the music sound confident,…

At AXPONA 2026, Rogue Audio delivered all the warmth, color, and tone that tube aficionados have come to expect from this venerable brand. Coupled to digital sources and the big Maggies (a.k.a. Magnepan's 2.7x speakers), Norah Jones sounded effortless, intimate, and in the room.

Next, The Rolling Stones' “Tumblin’ Dice” shifted the focus to large-scale and loquacious, with…

Bonus coverage continues! This fairly simple system—mainly featuring gear from Rotel and Monitor Audio—that was put together by Kevro at Montreal Audiofest 2026 packed a punch, yet could also play sweetly when called for. It delivered detail, transparency, colorful tone, and rich reverberations, inside a big, well-constructed soundstage. Guitar strings and vocals sounded corporeal, stably…

Joe's apartment is small, like mine, with art,…