April 2026 Jazz Record Reviews
Out Of/Into: Motion II; Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers: Strasbourg 82; Bijan Taghavi: Cactus Sessions.
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Thomas Conrad
April 2026 Rock/Pop Record Reviews
Zach Bryan: With Heaven on Top; Counting Crows: Butter Miracle, The Complete Sweets!; The Damned: Not Like Everybody Else.
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Auris Luminis at AXPONA 2026
Ken Micallef speaks with Upscale Audio's Kevin Deal about the Auris Luminis 300B integrated amplifier at AXPONA 2026.
Onkyo Icon Series A-50 streaming integrated amplifier
There are craftspeople and companies in high-end audio doing admirable work. Those at the cost-no-object end of the business are pushing performance limits and doing new and better things with new and better materials. The ones I especially admire, though, are in the high-value end of the business, making extraordinary equipment at approachable prices.
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Seen and heard at AXPONA 2026, the all-new Jones and Cerreta Troubadour speakers are Andrew Jones's mic drop
Rogier van Bakel speaks with renowned speaker designer Andrew Jones about his all-new Jones and Cerreta Troubadour loudspeakers at AXPONA 2026.
Brilliant Corners #37: A Lejonklou System
The more I listen—to gear I'm reviewing as well as other people's hi-fis—the more I believe in intangibles. One of these intangibles is the art of system building.
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Revinylization #74: You Can Never Have Too Much 'Trane on Vinyl
As I listened to the newly remastered edition of John Coltrane's Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings, I read through some critics' takes, which make it apparent just how far critics tend to trail the musicians they cover, the great ones at least.
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RAAL 1995 headphones at AXPONA 2026
Miguel Barrio checks out a pair of RAAL 1995 Immanis headphones at AXPONA 2026, and has quite a transformative listening experience.
Treble Clef Audio and Vinnie Rossi at AXPONA 2026
Miguel Barrio checks out Treble Clef Audio's TCA-M Signature active speaker; a new, as yet unnamed Vinnie Rossi phono preamplifier; and a Vinnie Rossi Brama preamplifier at AXPONA 2026.
Rocket Man: Swan Song Audio shoots for the moon at AXPONA 2026
Rogier van Bakel recounts his visit to a Schaumburg hotel room that, it's safe to say, looked like no other at AXPONA 2026—the Swan Song Audio room.