Yes, it's an audio show, but I'd rather cover what was new there to see rather than how the gear sounded in hotel rooms. Sure, some rooms made pretty compelling music and it wasn't necessarily based on cost, but when I hear equipment at shows that I've had at home or own, it never sounds as good in a hotel room or a hotel ballroom. So I don't think it's of much value to tell readers about the "great sound" in any good sounding... Read More

“…. It’s on to Chicago and AXPONA 2025, where the show is large, the atmosphere is more businesslike, and there's always a sense of urgency. While I enjoy the big shows and the variety of products I encounter there, I'm already looking forward to SWAF 2026 and another trip to Dallas.” That was the closing paragraph from my SWAF 2025 show report as I prepared to head to Chicago and subject myself to the mentally and physically overwhelming experience known... Read More

AXPONA 2025 Video 4 has plenty of analog but it also spotlights the miniaturization trend on display—at least among a few companies. In the Sound Organization room (Rega, Chord importers) you'll see the new miniature Chord Suzi modular system featuring a very small yet powerful stereo amplifier into which you can plug a preamp, or a DAC or a phono preamp total size that of shoe box. Sound Org also showed the new Rega Mercury preamp and Solis power amp—as Rega... Read More

The beautiful J. Sikora turntable shown in the thumbnail below is not included in this video (it was featured in Video 1) but it's too beautiful to not feature so here it is. Video 3 isn't the final Tracking Angle video shot at AXPONA 2025. There's at least one more, perhaps 2. This video begins with the "exploded" version of Mo-Fi Electronics MasterDeck turntable. Designer Allen Perkins is on hand to explain what's been revealed in... Read More

The second of who knows how many videos it will take to cover AXPONA 2025 includes big news about the return of Koetsu cartridges, the world premier of the Alieno Phono Preamp from Italy, premiers of SME's new Model 8 and Model 35 turntables, the new Thales Reference turntable and Phono preamplifier American premiers, the first American presentation of the Supatrac Nighthawk tonearm and Revox's B77 MkIII and the special Alice Cooper model.This video also... Read More

With Sonic Presence microphones around my ears I dove into AXPONA 2025 expecting to capture binaural sound in every room. Unfortunately, Shure's Motiv app that worked beautifully at FLAX didn't work at all at AXPONA. Could have been an iPhone upgrade but with so many rooms to visit there was no time to find out!AXPONA 2025 was an extremely well-attended show. It was crowded all three days from morning through closing. The demographic skewed younger and there... Read More

The Southwest Audio Fest returned to Dallas, hosted at the beautiful Hotel Anatole . Both media representatives and manufacturers I spoke with were looking forward to a repeat of last year's successful SWAF, which I reported on here. Overall, show organizers Lou Hinkley and Gary Gill have been successful in their efforts, and they announced that the SWAF will return in 2026, albeit with a significant change in date format. Instead of the usual Friday through... Read More

I don't believe anyone has ever before done this! Using the Sonic Presence binaural microphone system—it creates a "dummy head" with a microphone adjacent to each ear—I recorded the room sounds at the Florida International Audio Expo. You will experience a remarkably close facsimile of what I and other attendees heard at the show in each of the rooms.You must wear headphones to appreciate the binaural effect and to fully hear the tonal balance. The... Read More

Get your headphones ready because at around 44 minutes into the video embedded below, there's a binaural recording using Sonic Presence "on the ear" microphones, in the Vienna Acoustics, Java Hifi, Esoteric Playback Distribution room in which I had them play a 96/24 file I brought of the Classic Records special 78rpm pressing of part of Reiner/CSO "Pictures at an Exhibition". You'll really get to hear the room sound and why I thought it... Read More

If you missed the Florida International AUDIO EXPO (Feb. 21st-23) this video takes you there. Sorry it's taken me a week to get this video edited and ready for YouTube viewing. Many new products were introduced and many familiar ones were on display as well. A new, larger venue—The Sheraton Tampa Brandon made for a much bigger and better show. Attendance was strong throughout and everyone involved seemed happy with the results. According to show organizers... Read More

While most of the luxury speaker brands don't participate in CAF, Stenheim and especially YG Acoustics made points of being seen and heard this year. YG especially made a play for the ears and hearts—not to mention the wallets—of Capital Audio Festival attendees by demoing a wide range of its speakers from the lower priced to the next to the top XX model. Despite the small rooms in which they showed, the sound was exceptional in every room, but for my ears, it... Read More

Part 1 of Tracking Angle's Capital Audio Festival 2024 coverage is an hour plus long video mostly highlighting turntables and tonearms but also a few other interesting features including an interview with composer/musician/HD Tracks entrepreneur David Chesky's 17 year old son Lucca who introduced a new $995/pr loudspeaker. You're sure to enjoy the interview I conducted with him.The top photo show a The Wand turntable fitted with a newly designed arm... Read More

While driving home from the Capital Audio Festival this past Monday, as I crossed the Millard E. Tydings Memorial Bridge that spans the Susquehanna River between Havre de Grace and Perryville, Maryland I realized I'd left something behind at the Hilton Hotel, Rockville Maryland that I'd not be able to turn around and retrieve, and that is coverage of Doug White's room containing a significant trove of analog gear I'd planned for weeks to be sure to... Read More

Day three began with a return visit to the PGE Narodowy stadium to visit a few big rooms I was unable to access day one, including the big Avant-Garde G3 speakers driven by Kondo electronics sourced with Kondo's turntable and phono preamp and a Studer A80 tape deck.In another big room Magico demoed for the first time ever at a show the big M7s driven by Pilium Cronus mono blocks and sourced via an MSB DAC. I hit the room twice and both times the music being... Read More

I spent day two at the Radisson Blu Sobieski hotel where most of the Polish manufacturers displayed and demonstrated their products. Others were there too of course, including some of the bigger players who took the larger first floor rooms. Aavik, part of Audio Group Denmark, debuted a major $60,000 phono preamp at the show that Michael Børresen demoed and explained in a detailed interview (photo at the top). That starts the video. It has multiple inputs including... Read More

This year's Warsaw Audio Video Show was well attended as always and because the biggest crowds show up on Saturday I spent almost all day Friday covering the stadium exhibits, which are mostly, but not all, the larger corporate participants like Technics, Pro-Ject, JBL, Marantz, Denon, McIntosh, Senheiser, Focal, Yamaha, etc. plus many smaller "high end" brands like Hegel, Pro-Ject, Transrotor, Dali, Unison Research, Clearaudio and many others... Read More

Last weekend's Warsaw Audio Video Show was a great success: well-attended by the industry and consumers alike. There was a lot to see, hear, and if you were there to shop for records, so much to buy at very reasonable prices. Big international brands displayed at the sports stadium, smaller Polish and other nationality brands unfamiliar to American audiophiles showed at the Radisson Sobieski Blue Hotel, while a few of the larger, more established brands were... Read More

Our man in Japan, whose website is Rice Field Records took in the recent Tokyo Audio Fair and produced this video report. The show always has a great vibe. Attendees are respectful and most often want to hear classical music and good jazz. The presentations are useful too. Enjoy! Read More