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June 2026 Rock/Pop Record Reviews

Avalon Emerson: Written into Changes
Dead Oceans DOC369CD (auditioned as CD). 2026. Bullion, Rostam Batmanglij, prods.; Keivon Mehdi Hobeheidar, eng.
Performance ****½
Sonics ****

Avalon Emerson built her reputation crafting immersive deejay sets in Berlin's most vital clubs and on festival stages like Coachella, where she threaded together house, techno, and punk with nary a seam. Those sets were unpredictable and intuitive.

When the pandemic brought that world to a halt, Emerson, like everyone else, turned inward, writing and recording her own material at home. Her…

June 2026 Classical Record Reviews

Lutosławski: Concertos for Cello and Orchestra
Bloch: Schelomo
Jean-Guihen Queyras, cello; Luxembourg Philharmonic, Gustavo Gimeno, cond.
Harmonia Mundi HMM 902714 (reviewed as 24/96 WAV; available on CD). 2026. Polyhymnia International B.V., prod.; Karel Bruggeman, Marko Schneider, engs.
Performance ****½
Sonics ****

This fine recording, distinguished by copious color, excellent bass, and a deep if edgeless soundstage, showcases two phases of Lutosławski's compositional career. The Concerto for Orchestra was composed when he was in his early 40s; the far more "…

Recording of July 2022: <I>Growing Up</I>

The Linda Lindas: Growing Up
Epitaph (16/44.1 stream, Qobuz). 2022. Produced, engineered, and mixed by Carlos de la Garza.
Performance *****
Sonics ****½

When your uncle is an award-winning producer and engineer, a band formed by you and your cousins has a higher-than-average shot at going somewhere. But even that family advantage can't explain the immediate success of the Los Angeles–based Linda Lindas; they've earned their accolades through talent, hard work, and ingenuity. Their first album, Growing Up, offers proof of their worth and the promise of a stellar musical…

Zen & Quality Audio

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…

Audio Group Denmark makes its mark at High End Vienna 2026

Ola Björling speaks with Emil Kristensen of Audio Group Denmark about the company's new Børresen A-Series speakers and BM2 subwoofer, as well as the Aavik U-301 Unity amplifier that also incorporates streaming and DAC capabilities in one chassis, in a video interview that's now posted on our official YouTube channel.

For more with Audio Group Denmark, see Miguel Barrio's report on their setup at AXPONA 2026.

Klaudio comes clean at High End Vienna 2026

Ola Björling 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.

MSB Technology displays a titanic trio of DACs at High End Vienna 2026

Ola Björling speaks with Frank Vermeylen of MSB Technology Europe about the company's formidable, crafted-in-California DAC lineup that includes the brand-new Palisade, the Cascade, and the Sentinel, in a video interview that's now posted on our official YouTube channel.

For more with MSB Technology, see the Stereophile online archive.

The End of an Era: John Atkinson Retires

The July issue is a milestone in Stereophile's history: It's the last issue in which John Atkinson will be performing the measurements for our equipment reviews (footnotes 1 & 2). As a start toward digesting this momentous event, I asked JA1 some questions.

Jim Austin: Over your 50 years as an editor in the hi-fi industry, you've left a big mark. But let's start by recounting your history. You started at Hi-Fi News & Record Review in 1976, working under John Crabbe, then becoming editor of that magazine in 1982.

John Atkinson: I was working as a professional musician when…