Blue Note Records has announced the 2026 line-up for the Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series. The acclaimed series is produced by the “Tone Poet” Joe Harley and presents definitive audiophile quality vinyl reissues that are mastered all-analog directly from the original master tapes by Kevin Gray of Cohearent Audio, pressed on 180g vinyl at Record Technology Inc. (RTI), and packaged in deluxe tip-on jackets. The Tone Poet Society subscription service also... Read More

It’s almost a Hollywood cliché…promising young band signs to a major and comes out the other end pummeled, singed and largely indistinguishable. In 1983 The Dream Syndicate tumbled into bed with A&M Records, which helped cushion their fall with a $150K recording budget for sophomore outing Medicine Show. The songs were just as solid as their Indie debut (The Days of Wine and Roses) but something had broken in the process.“We’d come out the other side of the... Read More

Disguised in Kabuki-esque makeup and looking imposing in studded leather uniforms, KISS was the grotesque footnote of a musical subset on the verge of being submerged by disco that deafened and blinded the musical landscape. Their brand of unadulterating hard rock, delivered with on-stage theatrics, wooed audiences across the United States, often upstaging the headliners they opened for. Sustaining a live reputation conflicted with the timid nature of their album... Read More

Put yourself in my place: you've unboxed the AFI Flat.Duo and it's time to try flattening a warped record and give the "relax" a record feature a whirl. But at the same time a manufacturer is doing a turntable installation that will take some time, so rather than delay the audition, you do it during the install, so he's witness to the whole thing.That's how the original review in the hyperlink above went down and the results were as... Read More

I spent all of day 3 at the Golden Tulip and Sobieski hotels. Golden Tulip has the bigger rooms but far fewer systems, located in the hotel's second floor exhibition space. This year there were many show highlights at the Golden Tulip including the "thumbnail" photo showing the Danish Zikra Audio room featuring the company's mono single-ended triode tube amps, preamp and Technics SP-10 based turntable. Company founder Michael Zingenberg brought his... Read More

Get the full breakdown on what promises to be a landmark series of classical vinyl reissues from the legendary DECCA label.

press release: (November 5, 2025 - Los Angeles, CA) One of the most ambitious albums in rock history, Yes’ Tales from Topographic Oceans arrives February 6 from Rhino as a Super Deluxe Edition boxed set.The massive collection spans 12 CDs, 2 LPs, and a Blu-ray and features a newly remastered version of the original double album on both CD and vinyl; rarities; previously unreleased studio and live recordings; and several new mixes by Steven Wilson, including a Dolby... Read More

(Press release)-- Studio Confidential - a new intimate, on-stage discussion series - will make its NYC debut this February, bringing together a group of music luminaries behind the boards for music’s most iconic recordings from Neil Young, James Taylor, Johnny Cash, Van Morrison, Timbaland, Jason Isbell, The Mavericks, George Michael and many more. Through candid, and often hilarious personal reflections, these legendary engineers and producers offer audiences an... Read More

New York City's Innovative Audio hosts a "Meet the Innovators" event this Friday November 7th at its East 58th Street store featuring TechDAS's Motofumi Hirata, who will spin vinyl on an Air Force One Premium turntable fitted with the new Air Force 10 Radial air bearing tonearm. Also on display will be the Air Force III Premium and Air Force V turntables.Maier Shadi of The Audio Salon, Santa Monica, California will also be on hand to talk TechDAS... Read More

(press release): Los Angeles – November 3, 2025 – UMe, the centralized global catalog division of Universal Music Group, is proud to announce the launch of Vinylphyle, a new audiophile vinyl reissue series dedicated to presenting essential albums across multiple genres with uncompromising sound quality and packaging. Billed as “A premium vinyl experience for people who love vinyl,” the series will debut on November 14 with four landmark titles: The Velvet Underground... Read More

This spring I visited the home of Los Angeles-based art dealer Stefan Simchowitz who, after building a somewhat controversial, yet undeniably successful contemporary art empire, has turned his eyes and ears to high end audio. This manifested most clearly in his sprawling Pasadena estate that functions as both a residence and multipurpose gallery space. The difference is that with each room of the house I toured, not only were they filled with various paintings,... Read More

Sweet, sweeping strings, fluttering flutes, melancholic trombone, soft bass line and an insistent bossa nova beat tapped out on a snare rim, back the then little known performer but well known composer Antonio Carlos Jobim on his first studio album (though his songs had previously appeared on a 1958 João Gilberto album and of course of Stan Getz's Jazz Samba). Jobim plays rhythm acoustic guitar and taps out on one finger piano the melodies to a dozen of his most... Read More

I just got a report from show organizer Adam Mokrzycki about last week's record breaking show. According to Adam, the show attracted 14,881 unique visitors. Counted as they are at the Munich and AXPONA shows that would be around 19,000 attendees as those shows count a single visitor going all 3 or 4 days as 3 or 4 visitors. In addition, the Warsaw show had 230 exhibitors--an all time high, exhibiting in 188 rooms another all time high. 71 members of the... Read More

(Press release): Newark, N.J. (October 24, 2025) – Today, renowned hi-fi brand, Technics, debuts the ultimate version of the SL-1200/1210G model. This sets a historical and quality milestone for the globally acclaimed series of turntables. “First introduced in 1972, the SL-1200 turntable series is widely regarded as one of the most iconic in the world,” said Bill Voss, Business Development Manager at Technics U.S. “Over the decades, it has continuously evolved,... Read More

Yesterday, October 29th, Acoustic Sounds announced pre-orders for a new selection of reissue titles from the RCA Living Stereo catalog scheduled to ship in early 2026. This marks the first new releases in this series of reissues from Analogue Productions since 2018. These 25 titles will be released as double 45rpm pressings housed in gatefold jackets.The majority of these titles will be pressed from metal parts owned by Acoustic Sounds from its buyout of the Classic... Read More

A new Technics turntable—the SL-1200GME, a new Aspire from Polish turntable manufacturer J.Sikora, and a new Doshi Audio designed J. Sikora Reference phono preamp are this video's highlights—as far as new audio gear is concerned. There was also a graphic exhibit from Zbigniew M. Bielak, the artist responsible for all of the fantasmagoric album covers for the Swedish metal group Ghost. Mr. Bielak was there and I interviewed him as he walks us through the exhibit.... Read More

DALI’s Kupid is a small, relatively affordable ($750/pair) two-way passive loudspeaker, with a 4.5-inch paper-and-wood-fiber woofer and a one-inch soft-dome tweeter, in a cabinet measuring 9.3” H x 5.5” W x 7.7” D. Each loudspeaker weighs 12.8 pounds. The Kupid is ported at the rear. The crossover frequency is stated as 2,100Hz.

This year's just ended Warsaw Audio Video show was by far the best yet—at least among the dozen or so I've attended. The crowds at all 3 venues were large, enthusiastic and skewed young to middle-aged, with many girls and women attending—and not necessarily stringing along with their husbands. When I did spot couples, they were sitting together, listening and commenting to one another. This was refreshing!This year at the sports stadium, show organizers... Read More