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Acoustic Geometry Small Curve: $399.99 ★
Medium Curve: $449.99 ★
Deluxe Curve, Walnut Frame: $549.99 ★
Deluxe Curve, Red Oak, Stained Black Frame: $549.99 ★
Acoustic Geometry's Curve System comprises Diffusors, Absorbers, and Corner Traps, each 42" high and available in a number of fabric choices. Each model is built on a wooden frame with a wedge-shaped cleat for hanging the product from a matching piece attached to the wall. Diffusors include a Mass-Loaded-Vinyl (MLV) membrane and are intended to control low- and midbass frequencies;…

Chord Hugo M Scaler: $4650
The Chord Hugo M Scaler is a digital processor but not a digital-to-analog processor, its purpose being the upsampling—referred to in the UK as upscaling—of incoming data. When connected to a Chord DAC via BNC connectors, the M Scaler can upsample up to 705.6kHz or 768kHz, but with non-Chord DACs the upper limits become 176.4kHz and 192kHz. (In all cases, incoming DSD data is converted to PCM, with a 6dB reduction in level.) JA used the M Scaler with Chord's DAVE D/A processor, and with his own PS Audio and Mark Levinson DACs. In…

Getting to AXPONA 2026 is half the adventure. My direct flight from Bangor was canceled hours before departure, and the airline routed me through Philadelphia. Somewhere between home and gate, I lost one of my brand-new AirPods—not both, just one, which is somehow more annoying.

When Stereophile editor Jim Austin, en route himself, texted to ask if I was "planed" (don't try this at home—we journalists are trained professionals who can turn any noun…

Ken Micallef and Miguel Barrio welcome one and all to our upcoming in-depth AXPONA 2026 coverage. Ken, Miguel, and Rogier van Bakel will be conducting show interviews and showing us lots of great new gear from the show in the days ahead, so stay tuned!

Permit me a brief thought experiment. Let's imagine that your long-lost uncle from El Paso, the one who did a little legal work for the Sinaloa Cartel, suddenly left you a car trunk full of cash. After getting over the shock, you apply this tax-free windfall toward renovating your kitchen or putting a child through college, but before long you visit an audio salon. Armed with some f *ck-you money, you can now afford a f *ck-you…

The design, reminiscent of a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle, is far more complex and ingenious than it might at first appear, and while the SG1.1 superficially resembles a few other turntables now on the market, those took…

Within each category, products are listed by class; within each class, they're in alphabetical order, followed by price, a review synopsis, and a note indicating the issues in which the review and any subsequent follow-up reports appeared. "Vol.48 No.11" indicates our November 2025 issue, for example. "WWW"…

The most malicious response to this music came from DownBeat's John Tynan, who called the music, Eric Dolphy's solos in particular, "musical nonsense being peddled in the name of jazz" and "a horrifying demonstration of what appears to be a growing anti-jazz trend." Apparently, Tynan had overdosed on Mitch Miller or Dave Brubeck and his…

On Friday, I entered a Schaumburg hotel room that, it's safe to say, looked like no other at AXPONA. The first thing tipping me off that this would be special was that exhibitor Tony Crocker (shown above), the man behind Swan Song Audio, greeted me with a good-natured "Hello! Come to see the freakshow?"

Once inside, it was hard not to be impressed. Make that amazed. Delighted. In front of me stood a pair of loudspeakers that looked like honest-to-god rockets. I don't mean they were vaguely cigar-shaped and pointy. I mean that right there arose (if you will) two 3D-printed…

The Western Electric room at AXPONA 2026 (room 464) is one of those rooms that make you feel you have traveled in time the moment you see it.

Charles Whitener, tube expert and Western Electric CEO, was in the room, among the company's newest creations: the WE 203C CD player ($12,000), 91E preamplifier ($8000), 100E monoblock amplifiers ($150,000/pair), and A2 speakers ($140,000/pair). Absolutely stunning in construction, scale—and specifications!—were the new 100E…