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Bring Home Eversolo Play – Your All-in-One Music Hub

Good news!

You now have the chance to win the Eversolo Play—an all-in-one HiFi hub that seamlessly integrates a streamer, DAC, and amplifier, and is the proud winner of the EISA Best Value Streaming Amplifier 2025–2026 award.

With its minimalist design, smart interactive experience, and exceptional high-fidelity sound, Play redefines the way you connect with your music.

This is more than just a giveaway—it's your ticket into the world of Hi-Fi audio.

The Eversolo Play features a CNC-machined aluminum chassis paired with a 5.5-inch…

GT Audio Works, LampizatOr, Sonore, and Small Green Computer in Giulietta Bellissima Debut

Greg Takesh's GT Audio Works Giulietta Bellissima planar ribbon speakers and OB subs, in their US debuts, are handmade in upstate New York, where he even makes his own drivers.

His CAF system consisted of a Small Green Computer sonicTransporter i9 music server ($4000); a Sonore Signature Rendu SE Deluxe music streamer ($5350); a LampizatOr Genya DAC ($18,995); a Trafomatic Audio Tara 30A SET amplifier ($79,000); and WestminsterLab Rei class-A monoblocks ($37,900/pair), accompanied by an AnTek BP-1300 Balance Isolation Power Supply ($388) and assorted Magnan Audio cables. Oh, and the…

Six systems, six rooms: Fidelity Imports and The Listening Room go big

In years past, Fidelity Imports filled room upon room with the hi-fi equipment they distribute. This year, New Jersey dealer The Listening Room shared the load. Fidelity and The Listening Room compiled six systems in six—um—listening rooms full of hi-fi goodness.

In room 753, a Gyro SE turntable ($6499) with a Cusis cartridge and Rega RB3000 tonearm ($2445) fed a Grimm PW1 phono preamp ($5800) leading to a Grimm MU2 streamer/preamplifier ($20,600). The MU2's output passed—all connections were made with Viablue cabling—to a Kora TA 480 Class AB stereo amplifier ($19,999), which drove…

Audience AV pairs ClairAudient Bellare loudspeakers with Atma-Sphere power

San Marcos, California's Audience debuted its new Audience ClairAudient Bellare Loudspeakers at T.H.E. New York International Audio Show in New Jersey last month. Here they were again in Rockville, with essentially the same system.

As Audience's John McDonald noted after the New York show, "The Bellare represents something new and very special when you consider all factors together, including the absence of disparate drivers and a crossover network in the ultra-critical 2.5kHz range where most speakers cross over. The drivers are both resolute like an electrostatic (or more so) as well…

American Sound Distribution: Avantgarde Mezzo G3 loudspeakers and Wadax Studio Player

Angie Lisi of American Sound Distribution always brings components that make my pulse race. Tube amps. Horn speakers. Turntables. What more could a music playback nerd ask for?

In the Regency suite, a Perpetuum Ebner PE 6060 turntable ($6500) was paired with an Analog Relax EX500 cartridge ($5500). Analog was RIAA-corrected with an Esoteric E-02 phono stage ($9500). A Wadax Studio Player ($40,800) made digital music.

An Esoteric Grandioso C1X preamplifier ($45,000) and the 25Wpc Synthesis Roma 96DC mono amps ($8400/pair) drove Avantgarde Mezzo G3 horn loudspeakers ($…

La Dolce Audio showcases DIY open-baffle loudspeakers and Allegro tube amplifiers

"Here, we believe in challenging the status quo," states the landing page on the La Dolce Audio website. "We believe in thinking differently to create new ways of accomplishing the musical experience. We believe everyone should enjoy the best musical experience in their own home."

La Dolce makes tube amplifiers, Open-baffle kit speakers, "LDA Baby Baffle" speakers, current-drive amplifiers—whatever that strikes their unique fancy. Their Capital Audiofest (CAF) room was one of the most distinctive I saw and heard. "Audio Gear for Blue Collar Audiophiles," they call it.

The…

BorderPatrol and Triode Wire Labs feature New Zola DAC and Living Voice speakers

Gary Dews of BorderPatrol Audio Electronics and Pete Grzybowski of Triode Wire Labs are old hands at audio shows, yet they bring the zeal of energetic newbie pups. Then again, there's nothing "newbie" about Dews's new BorderPatrol Zola DAC ($3950).

"The Zola DAC features the vintage Analog Devices AD1865 R-2R chip (often called the analog chip)[footnote 1], operating in non-oversampling, no digital filtering (NOS) mode," states the website. The AD1865 was discontinued in 2009, but it's still widely used, for example, in some Audio Note DACs. "The DAC features a tube output stage that uses…

US debuts for Torqueo Exclusive turntable and Zeiler SP-01 speakers in the High Water Sound suite

As a frequent visitor to the High Water Sound rooms of Jeffrey Catalano, I know to look at the records even before I look at the rig. Catalano always brings records I don't know but must own after hearing them in his room.

Catalano's records at CAF included variants on jazz, electronic, and world beat such as Jazzanova's Mixing, Simon Popp's Trio, Wojtek Mazolewski Quintet's Live Spirit I, the Paul Brändle Trio's Paul, Rick & River, Casimir Liberski's The Legend of Zelda, and H.A.N.K.'s The Big Melt.

Catalano's gear is usually fascinating, too. He brought two US…

Songer Audio refines its field-coil formula with A3 SET amplifier and PS1 SE

"Songer Audio is pleased to return to the 2025 Capital Audiofest this weekend, where we will present two exciting premieres," the press release stated. "The show marks the East Coast debut of our A3 single-ended 300B amplifier, a design that unites the timeless beauty of early high-fidelity engineering with modern technical refinement. The A3, in concert with our S1x field-coil loudspeakers, delivers an effortless and deeply engaging musical presentation—a culmination of our pursuit of uncompromising performance."

The second premiere was a redesign of the field-coil power…

Robyatt Audio Debuts Simco ONE Horn Loudspeakers with Miyajima and VPI

Robin Wyatt is also a purveyor of unusual and exceptional sound systems. His showing at CAF was—um—no exception.

The highlight here was the Simco ONE loudspeakers ($15,950/pair) in their US debut, Rounding out the system was an Eversolo DMP-A6 Master Edition streamer/DAC ($1295), a VPI "In The Can" DD turntable ($15,500) equipped with a second tonearm, a Bokrand DZT SAK ($5895). Cartridges were a Miyajima Destiny stereo ($7750) and an Infinity Mono ($3550). Amplification was all Miyajima, an MC-2 tube head amp ($7950), a Wo-1 preamp ($21,750), and a pair of Model 2020 OTL amplifiers ($…