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Antipodes Oladra server/streamer: $29,000
This expensive server/streamer/reclocker from New Zealand is designed for precise clocking, low noise, and high bandwidth. The Oladra can serve as a Roon Core and can be operated with Roon or with another player app like HQPlayer, MPD with MinimServer, or with "Squeeze," Antipodes' own customized version of the Logitech Media Server. The Oladra can access audio files stored remotely on a NAS and stream music from Qobuz, Tidal, and other streaming services. Users can also add up to 24TB of internal storage—…

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Acoustic Signature TA-7000 NEO: $19,999 for 12" Silver, $17,999 for 9" Silver
The TA-7000 uses 4N silver internal wiring, a gimbaled ball/race bearing system, and a carbon-fiber armtube with an internal lattice structure that adds stiffness and damping. It is available with SME or Rega-type mounts and in 9" and 12" versions. The model reviewed was the 9", which conforms to the standard Rega geometry. It pays to be cautious when adjusting arm height, MF advised, as the pillar goes, in a hair-turn of the grub screw, “from rock-solid secure to dropping like a pound…

In the old days, this column would have covered last May's High End show in Munich and T.H.E. Show Newport Beach. Today, live online blogging renders obsolete magazine reports that arrive in your mailbox months after the events. It also makes life difficult for a monthly magazine columnist. I wasn't home a good part of the month, so how much serious listening do you think I managed?

But what a month!

Colleen Murphy's Bowie Fest
…

Within each category, products are listed by class; within each class, they're in alphabetical order, followed by their price, a review synopsis, and a note indicating the issues in which the review, and any subsequent follow-up reports, appeared. "Vol.48 No.9" indicates our September 2025 issue,…

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Audiovector R8 Arreté: $78,800/pair includes Freedom Grounding Cables
Optional grounding cable adds $3850. (Vol.44 No.9 WWW)

Bang & Olufsen Beolab 90: $211,800/pair ★
(Vol.40 No.1 WWW)

Bowers & Wilkins 801 D4 Signature: $60,000/pair
(Vol.47 No.3 WWW)

Dutch & Dutch 8c: $14,950/pair (stands necessary) ★
(Vol.42 No.8, Vol.43 No.4 WWW)

Dynaudio Confidence 30: $24,000/pair
(Vol.44 No.8 WWW)

EgglestonWorks Viginti: $46,998/pair ★
(Vol.41 No.6 WWW)

Estelon Forza: $186,…

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Ampsandsound Red October SE: $14,000
Ampsandsound Red October XL SE: $18,000
See Headphones and Headphone Accessories. (Vol.47 No.11 WWW)

Anthem STR Integrated: $4999.99 ★ $$$
Anthem's solid state STR integrated amp offers 200Wpc (into 8 ohms) of class-AB power, along with seven analog inputs—one balanced, four single-ended, and two phono (one MM, one MC). It also offers a 32-bit/192kHz D/A processor with six digital inputs—four S/PDIF (two RCA, two TosLink), one AES3 (XLR), and one USB. A subwoofer output is provided,…

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J.Sikora Reference: $48,000 w/o tonearm
This Polish company’s top-of-the-line turntable is a nonsuspended, high-mass design, weighing 253lb. The dynamically and statically balanced platter alone weighs 40lb! Drive is with four square belts spun by four Papst DC motors. MF found that the plinth was immune to knuckle raps and motor start-up noises and wrote that the Reference was very quiet. He decided that this J.Sikora ’table had been superbly tuned to extract deep, well-controlled bass free of overhang or excess. The measured speed accuracy was impressive, as…

AcousTech The Big Record Brush: $36.95
With grounding wire: $52.99
This large-handled brush has soft bristles of both natural hairs and conductive synthetic fibers, and makes dusting LPs nearly foolproof. The 5.5"-wide bristle area easily spans the width of any LP's grooved area. Version with ground wire ($52.99) does "a pretty effective job of dissipating static electricity," Mikey said. (Vol.31 No.9)

Acoustic Signature Load S record weight: $899
The Load S is made from aluminum alloy, weighs 1.6lb (715gm), and uses five of Acoustic Signature's…

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ampsandsound Bigger Ben: $5600
See “Integrated Amplifiers.”

Audeze LCD-5: $4500
The open-back LCD-5 is the successor to Audeze’s well-regarded LCD-4 and, like its predecessor, uses planar-magnetic drive units, which feature proprietary, single-sided Fluxor neodymium N50 magnet arrays and a voice-coil concept called Parallel Uniforce. The idea is to vary the width of the conductor to match, or counter, variations in the magnetic flux to achieve uniform force across the membrane. The 90mm diaphragm is just 0.5 microns…

Analysis Plus Silver Apex Interconnects: $1219.99 (1m pair)
The Analysis Plus Silver Apex uses as its conductor an oxygen-free copper "stabilizing strand" covered with pure silver, in an arrangement the manufacturer describes, somewhat elliptically (haw) as "a hollow oval cable inside a hollow oval cable inside a hollow oval cable," said to be double shielded and thus quiet. And MF found it to be so: In his words, the Silver Apex is "highly recommended!" (Vol.42 No.5)

Audio Art Cable IC-3 Classic: $140/1m pair (RCAs), $160/1m pair (XLRs)
The IC-3—available…