Directly following Munich High End 2024 I drove with a friend to Switzerland and the next day attended along with some of Hi Fiction's international distributors a classical music concert of music by Dietrich Buxtehude performed by a quartet at a small, ancient church hosted by HiFiction's Micha Huber. It was a pleasant respite from the four days of show craziness!The next day at the Turbenthal factory, the company introduced its new Magnifier moving coil... Read More

Japanese conglams re-entering the two-channel audio market have mostly gone with nostalgia-based retro looking receivers. And why not? It’s what they were doing when they exited the market and there seems to be a newfound yearning for them among audio enthusiasts of all ages. Technics makes a few of these too, including the SU-R1000, a $10,000 full featured, "modernized" retro-looking integrated receiver.Technics has gone the opposite route with its SU-GX70,... Read More

Last winter I was asked by the High End Society, organizers of the High End Munich show to assemble and moderate a panel discussion revolving around vinyl playback. We agreed on the topic "Has Vinyl Playback Technology Gone As Far As It Can Possibly Go?" and I got to choose the participants, all of whom agreed to take part. In the photo above, (L-R): Ortofon's Chief Officer of Acoustics and Technology, Leif Johanssen, WAM Engineering / WallyTools... Read More

In Part 3 of this special Memorial Day weekend celebration of Benjamin Britten's timeless anti-war statement, we tell the story of how Decca revisited the master tapes and used the latest technology to bring this historic recording back to life for a new generation of listeners on vinyl and CD/SACD.

In Part 2 of this special Memorial Day weekend celebration of Benjamin Britten's timeless anti-war statement, we tell the story of the Decca sessions - led by producer John Culshaw and engineer Kenneth Wilkinson - which created one of the acknowledged classics of the gramophone.

By Sunday most everyone is beat to a pulp and ready for the show to be over but go on it must! For those covering it there's never enough time. As I began assembling day four's videos I realized I'd missed some key ones that should have been posted on days one, two and three, so in addition to what I managed to get on day four, you'll find some earlier coverage. This one begins on the show floor with Audio Research's Dave Gordon who runs us... Read More

From the moment it was released in 1963, Decca's recording of the War Requiem with the composer conducting was hailed as a supreme achievement of the gramophone. It sold over 200,000 copies in a few months, and is universally acknowledged as a classic. Marking Memorial Day weekend, we tell the story of its composition, recording, and assess the new vinyl and CD/SACD remasterings.

One would think The Lemon Twigs were captured in a time capsule from the ‘60s and brought into the 21st century. Consisting of brothers Brian and Michael D’Addario, the duo craft retro-sounding rock with influences derivative of baroque, indie, glam, and power pop. It is ludicrous for any modern artist with an obvious trace of influence from decades past to be dubbed as “passé.” The Lemon Twigs manage to take every cliche of the genres they explore into one giant... Read More

Day Three included two breaks in the normal convention coverage flow: first in the A.M. I moderated a seminar titled "Has Vinyl Playback Technology Gone About As Far As It Can Go?" with participants Mark Dohmann (Dohmann Audio), Craig Milnes (Wilson-Benesch), Leif Johannsen (Ortofon) and J.R. Boisclair (WallyTools/WAM Engineering). All over the past decade have advance the art and science of vinyl playback, so their take on the question was interesting and... Read More

Day two's coverage begins and ends with visits to the main floor mayhem where you can find newly minted dreamers as well as veterans who do well selling accessories, records, inner and outer sleeves, etc.I stopped by Rega, Thorens, where the finished edition of its big turntable was on both static and active display, Acoustic Signature, which showed a new Tango Apex NEO phono preamp and a new €50,000 TA 10000 NEO tonearm. The 50K tonearm price point has become a... Read More

LOS ANGELES — Rhino High Fidelity (Rhino Hi-Fi) returns with the latest additions to its acclaimed limited-edition, high-end vinyl reissues. Black Sabbath’s Self-Titled (1970) debut and Devo’s Freedom Of Choice (1980) are available today exclusively at Rhino.com and internationally at select WMG stores. Each release is limited to 5,000 individually numbered copies priced at $39.98.

New product debuts abounded at High End Munich. I was trying to cover products in the analog domain—turntables, cartridges and phono preamps—and found many each day, but while I was at it I came upon many other new and exciting products you'll see in this day one coverage. All prices are approximate. The day started with a curious coupling of Technics and Lamborghini. It seemed that Lamborghini wants some vinyl playback caché and Technics wants some luxury to rub... Read More

"Vertere's new high-end tonearm is designated the SG-II PTA, as it looks—at a brief glance—similar to the SG-1 PTA tonearms. However, looks can be deceiving, as the SG-II only shares three parts with its junior siblings: the fine tracking force weight, the lift lower mechanism, and the silicon nitride triple bearing assembly. The SG-II-PTA HB will sell for £13500, €16998, and $16995. It will be available from July.

After spending my previous article gushing over Barenboim’s sonically thrilling Bruckner 4, we’re left with the three remaining Original Source titles for this month, which are some of the most “meat and potatoes” repertoire we’ve seen so far. Any decent classical record collection is going have a copy of these three works: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, Brahms Symphony No. 1, and Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra. They are frequently recorded and performed cornerstones of... Read More

Pro-Ject always has a big presence at High End Munich, but this year the company had its biggest display, taking up a large section of Hall 3's center space. The Pro-Ject "booth" (the word hardly suffices) includes Pro-Ject, E.A.T. and Musical Fidelity. Though there were many new products launched by all 3 companies within the Pro-Ject umbrella, and some were fairly costly, the most significant may well have been the launch of the new T2 entry level... Read More

In September 1968, The Doors embarked on a European tour, performing two sets per night (twelve shows total) over fourteen days across five countries. Things were off to a solid start with two consecutive nights at London’s legendary Roundhouse, followed by a stop in Frankfurt. Matters got hairy in Amsterdam when Jim Morrison went on a drug binge and was hospitalized, leaving the group to carry the shows out as a trio. Morrison recouped well enough for Copenhagen two... Read More