This means that aesthetics matter. During a recent trip to Japan, I found myself marveling at the many vintage audio…
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One of my favorite things about this pastime is the modesty of its aims. Despite the sometimes-astronomical sums spent on gear, and the small handful of drama queens who populate various corners of this hobby, all we're doing is trying to enjoy recorded music at home. No one here is reversing planetary warming or solving the Riemann hypothesis. The sole purpose of the pursuit we write about in these pages is to please, enlighten, and entertain. I like that about it.
Here's what real influencers do: If you're Carl Perkins, every song on your first LP was covered by Beatles, either together or as solo artists. If you're Muddy Waters, the Rolling Stones named their band after one of your songs and covered the first song on your first LP on their first album. If you're Chuck Berry, you influenced anyone who has ever considered themselves rock'n'rollers. And if you're Johnny Cash, you were the original Outlaw Country artist, and you invented the country-rock nexus. Oh, and your first LP was also your label's first long-player.
Key early albums from these…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Mass-loaded, belt-driven turntable, 14" unipivot carbon fiber tonearm, European BLDC motor, external power supply. Speeds: 33 1/3, 45rpm. Plinth and isolation platform: aluminum and POM. Drive belt: 3mm diameter VMQ. Main bearing: Inverted hydrodynamic journal (aluminum alloy, PEEK sleeve). Shaft type: 15mm hardened stainless steel. Ball type: YG8 10mm sintered carbide. Motor: single BLDC 3-phase, 8-pole 20W, mounted in an external steel case. Speed guidance system: Continuous open-loop feedback speed control using input from Hall sensor. Correction…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: J.Sikora Standard Max Supreme turntable and KV9 Max Zirconium tonearm; Benz Micro Gullwing and Aidas Tru-stone Gold Web phono cartridges.
Preamplification: Manley Chinook, Tavish Audio Design Adagio, Allnic H5500 (phono); Ampsandsound Yosemite.
Power amplifier: Rogue Audio Stereo 100.
Loudspeakers: DeVore Fidelity Super Nine, Volti Audio Lucera.
Cables: Interconnects: AudioQuest Pegasus and Black Beauty, Triode Wire Labs Spirit II (RCA), Spirit 75 S/PDIF (RCA/BNC). Speaker: AudioQuest William Tell Zero (10').
Accessories…
Ola Björling speaks with Hindrek Reiman of Degritter at High End Vienna 2026 about the Fonoteek, the company's new record cleaning station that blends brush and ultrasonic cleaning together in one device, in a video interview that's now posted on our official YouTube channel.
For more with Degritter, see Alex Halberstadt's Brilliant Corners #14.
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Ola Björling speaks with Tiago Novo of Orpheus Lab at High End Vienna 2026 about the company's forthcoming A Four N200 integrated streaming amplifier and their new, gargantuan H Three M1400 monoblock amplifier that weighs 330lb (!), in a video interview that's now posted on our official YouTube channel.
For more with Orpheus Lab, see Rogier van Bakel's listening report from AXPONA 2026.
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Ola Björling speaks with George Ligerakis of Ideon Audio at High End Vienna 2026 about the company's new Nous streamer/DAC that features an optional analog preamplifier section, in a video interview that's now posted on our official YouTube channel.
For more with Ideon Audio, see Herb Reichert's Ideon Audio eos D/A processor review.
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Ola Björling speaks with Martijn Mensink of Dutch & Dutch at High End Vienna 2026 about the company's new 6c loudspeakers, their RoomMatching technology, and their new app for speaker calibration, in a video interview that's now posted on our official YouTube channel.
For more with Dutch & Dutch, see John Atkinson's in-depth interview with Martijn Mensink.
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If you had to describe the kind of audio system that you would like to have, with only one word, what word would you choose? Some would choose the word "quality." In a book titled Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values, from 1974, Robert Pirsig considers the word and concept as a worldview, as a fundamental way of thinking about things that encompasses both reason and feelings, in the pursuit of value, excellence, truth, nobility, perfection, goodness, and beauty. He capitalizes the word throughout the book. I'll do the same here.
Somewhere in the work of the…
Ola Björling speaks with speaks with Isaac Choi of Klaudio at High End Vienna 2026 about the company's new KD-CLN-LP200U ultrasonic record-cleaning machine, in addition to their Magnezar auto-clamping and non-clamping turntables and Tangential tracking tonearm, in a video interview that's now posted on our official YouTube channel.
For more with Klaudio, see Michael Trei's Spin Doctor #34 review of the Klaudio KD-CLN-LP200T ultrasonic record cleaning machine.
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