No.4 will not be the final video from High End Vienna 2026. There's more to come. In this video you'll see the new compact Boulder 808 phono preamplifier, the new 12" The Wand tonearm, the Mavis phono preamp from Vietnam, and one from WestminsterLab making its European debut.Pear Audio's Odar turntable has a new configuration that puts the arm on an outboard platform, JMF will inboard transformers on its PH 7.2 phono preamp, Korf Audio introduced a... Read More

Wow. This is the 3rd 1/2 hour video from High End Vienna and there's so much more to be edited and posted. In this one you'll see the debut of a new $54K Constellation Performance phono pre, the new circa $7500 Wattson Madison phono pre available for MM, MC or DS Audio optical cartridges, the Thales Reference TT featuring a mechanical speed regulator, and Magnifier preamp/phono preamp, the new Dr. Feickert Virgo S and Virgo SE turntables, two new Dynavector... Read More

Though Pro-Ject turntables are manufactured in the Czech Republic, Vienna is home to Pro-Ject's founder Heinz Lichtenegger, who pulled out all the stops to create a major impression at this first Vienna High End show. Covering everything new from Pro-Ject and Heinz's other acquisitions takes up a great deal of this video, but of course there's far more and it will require additional videos to cover all that's new in analog this year. There was even... Read More

Vienna High End 2026 was an incredible success. Record-setting consumer attendance and speaking of records and vinyl playback, so many new analog-related products debuted at the show it will take many videos to cover them all. This first video begins with a look at the new Audio-Technica AT-MCD1 cartridge featuring a one-piece diamond cantilever/Shibata stylus assembly. Unlike the previous AT MC2022, this new one will have unlimited production. Cost is steep—$11,000... Read More

At High end Vienna, Ortofon, Audio-Technica and TechDAS introduced new products sure to be of great interest to all Tracking Angle readers, even if they are unaffordable. There are brand new "flagship" cartridges from A-T and Ortofon. At a well attended press conference Ortofon introduced the new Vertex MC cartridge featuring a diamond cantilever and a new diamond stylus that replaces the Replicant and is not bonded to the cantilever as in previous MCs.... Read More

The final Axpona 2026 video covers some loudspeakers and more. The more includes a few turntables, a R2R tape recorder, some cables and the usual show entertainment. Loudspeakers covered include new ones from Ø Audio, Bricasti, Dynaudio, Alvalos, ELAC, Magico, MJ Acoustics, ATC, Western Acoustics, Franco Serblin, and others.Ø Audio YMIRATC EL50 In an earlier video I covered the new Acora Acoustics MRC 5.2 and the circa $60K MRC 5.2D featuring a diamond vapor... Read More

Okay, it's not all tube gear, but I tried to put all or most of the tube gear at Axpona 2026 in this video. I'm sure I missed some rooms that had tube gear because I was there mostly looking for turntables and phono preamps—no great surprise—but there were many rooms with tube gear. Some of it was in the first video. Here you'll see more detail about the Audio Research Ref 20 that made its debut at this show, and other new Audio Research gear.... Read More

As I've already written in the written coverage, AXPONA 2026 was the biggest and best AXPONA ever with spill-over crowds each day and a demographic that skewed younger than ever. It was more like the Warsaw or High End Munich shows and that's good for the high performance audio industry! And that's despite the economic uncertainty. Show organizers included car audio and headphones aimed at a younger crowd but from what I saw, the youngsters were... Read More

The final tally wasn't required for anyone and everyone in attendance at AXPONA 2026 to know that this show was the best attended AXPONA ever and by a considerable margin. The crowd was 15% larger than last year and the younger demographic—a 52% increase in Gen Z passes—fueled a high energy vibe that began Friday morning and continued throughout the show's three day run.(lead photo show YG Acoustics/Moon Audio big room)The crowd was younger and more diverse,... Read More

The third and final video from last month's Florida International Audio Expo 2026 covers SUPATRAC, Hana, Clearaudio, Aesthetic, Magnepan, Döhmann, Elekits, Audio Note U.K. AGD, Prodigio, Innovo, VOLTI, Border Patrol Benchmark, Altai, Grimm, Wireworld, ArgentPur, Perfect 8, Clarisys, Pink Faun, MSB, and Pass Labs. There's in-depth coverage with the people running the rooms and an interview with Border Patrol's Gary Dews. Not much in the analog world... Read More

The Florida Audio Expo 2026 traditionally marks the unofficial beginning of the new audio show season. Held each winter in Tampa, it has become something of a welcome refuge for attendees traveling from colder parts of the country to trade snow boots for sunshine while spending a few days immersed in music. After the holiday rush, the show also offers audio enthusiasts a chance to refocus and reconnect with the passion that first drew them to this hobby: the pursuit... Read More

Somehow, this "small" show produced so many great video moments, so much to see (and hear) that this second 1/2 hour video will not be the final one nor probably will the third one be. And I've tried to tightly edit these. On this video you'll see the big Acora room, the Avid Relveo turntable, and Audio-Technica's complete cartridge lineup. In the Geshelli Audio segment you'll find low cost, well-engineered, versatile, and cost-effective... Read More

The Florida International Audio Expo held last weekend in the Tampa-St. Pete Brandon Sheraton Hotel caught many seasoned show vets by surprise. New and important products made their debuts, the show truly was international, there were products at every price point, youth was served. Polish loudspeaker manufacturer Pylon made its American debut at the show. It's a wide ranging line I've seen for more than a decade at the Warsaw show and it's a line sure... Read More

The third and final video coverage of the Capital Audio Festival 2025 features mostly "room walk ins" plus a few interviews. You'll walk into rooms featuring Acora, VPI, VAC, ,EMM Labs Credo, Aequo, Trilogy, Burmester, Audience, Martin Audio, Luxman, Estelon, Vitus, Crystal Cable, Sonorus, SAT, Lyra, Lampizator, Tidal, REL, Turnbull, C.A.T., Göbel, EMM Labs, Revox and THRAX.Because of technical issues related to a truly stupid function on the DJI Pocket... Read More

Capital Audio Festival Part 2 coverage begins with the final room I visited on Sunday thanks to a tip from Stereophile's Herb Reichert. A chance lobby encounter had Herb going on about the goings on on the 8th floor in the La Dolce Audio room. Herb's tastes run to esoteric tubey stuff, just as he insists mine are towards "oligarch" products. I plead guilty, though I also try to review affordable stuff. Fortunately I took Herb's word for his... Read More

Capital Audio Festival 2025 was the largest ever and perhaps the most unusual, starting with a manufacturer greeting me by grabbing my junk. Not kidding. I've been described as being "a handful", but this was too literal for my liking. I didn't give him the pleasure of a reaction. Just glad to be wearing my Tommy Johns, which put everything in a neat package. Ok, enough of that. This was the largest Cap Audio Fest ever in terms of manufacturer... Read More

The British prime minister Harold Macmillan, who was known as Supermac during the 1950s, once famously declared, “you’ve never had it so good.” Something similar could be said about vinyl lovers. As several listening events at Innovative Audio, a carefully curated store located underground in midtown Manhattan, demonstrated over the past several days, vinyl has returned to the heart of the high-end audio hobby.The first event featured two stars in the vinyl firmament,... 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