Piccolo Zero is a transimpedance headamp designed to operate low internal impedance MC cartridges in current mode (zero input impedance). This mode is desirable for its improved tracking ability resulting in lower distortion and well controlled sonic presentation. The Piccolo Zero offers four internal switch selected gain levels and plugs into any MM phono stage. It joins the voltage based Piccolo in the Hagerman line. Read More

Portland, OR - January 8, 2024 – AV Options recently introduced its new interconnect cable lineup, which benefits from years of experience working with Naim Audio and exhaustive testing using Naim Audio Systems reference kit. AVO claims its interconnect cables offer a significant performance improvement for all eras of Naim gear, as well as being an excellent value/performance option for all other audio brands.The SIGNAL range interconnect cables are designed for use... Read More

Chicago, IL 12/12/2023 – Music Hall, the well-known audio brand recognized for offering high-quality yet affordable audio components and turntables, announces a change in ownership. Turntable USA, a new venture led by industry veterans James Davis, Norbert Schmied, and Jonathan Derda, has acquired the Music Hall brand. This transition secures Music Hall's mission started by founder Roy Hall, delivering high-quality audio to music lovers at fair prices. Roy Hall... Read More

The first ever international convention dedicated to disk recording and mastering was held in Halkidiki, Greece, in the summer of 2023. Among those that attended the event was the CEO of the Polygram pressing plant in Greece, one of the mastering engineers from the Columbia facility in the country (the first pressing plant in this region of the world, which started in the 1930s), mastering engineers and the head of mastering from Abbey Road Studios in London, UK, lathe technicians and service engineers from England and the USA, record label executives and mastering engineers from various cutting rooms from around Europe, as well as several people currently involved in manufacturing essential components to keep record cutting lathes around the world in operation.

Manufactured in Ann Arbor, Michigan in "small batches" to assure "the very highest level of quality control" the new Allen Perkins designed MoFi MasterDeck turntable packs high tech construction concepts and a rich feature set sure to attract vinyl fans desiring more than just a basic platter spinner but who don't want to invest five figures in new turntable.Design features include a three-phase brushless DC motor housed in an isolated... Read More

Rhino High Fidelity today announced the next two releases in its series of limited to 5000 copies, $39.98 reissues, again coupling one rock and one jazz title, this time with Herbie Hancock's Crossings (1972) and The Doobie Brothers' The Captain And Me (1973).Kevin Gray cut AAA lacquers directly from the original analog stereo master tapes. The 180g Optimal-pressed record are packaged in laminated Stoughton Press "Tip on" jackets and feature scans... Read More

Romanel, Switzerland – Thursday November 2nd 2023. Following more than four years of R&D efforts, Nagra’s new ambitious phono stage is finally in production and first units are shipping worldwide.The HD PHONO is the ideal companion to the Reference turntable and Reference MC cartridge and when all three are combined they form the ultimate analog source. Nagra, the reference in analog tape reproduction now offers a reference playback solution for LP lovers.It is... Read More

Vertere founder and chief designer Touraj Moghaddam recently introduced two new cartridges that he says represent "significant improvements" over their predecessors, which will still be available and are priced below the two new ones.The $6499 XtraX MC (pictured at the top) explained in the press release bullets:The body is precision CNC machined from solid aluminium alloy and hard anodised.Threaded body to accept the supplied stainless steel thumb screws... Read More

The three new Pick it models are the MC3, the MC9 and the Pick it Pro Balanced—a unique "True Balanced" MM design. Parts are sourced in Japan with the cartridges built in Europe. The MC9 uses a Pro-Ject specific "Special Elliptical" stylus and a cryogenically treated cantilever plus a "Telar 57 pure iron square cross coil around which is wound 6N linear crystal copper wire. Output is .35mV, with 1.8g optimal tracking. The body is black... Read More

Analog Solutions SL, Fuerteventura, Spain, October 16, 2023- Analog Solutions SL (formerly Swedish Analog Technologies AB) is thrilled to announce it has chosen MIBS Distro NA to manage all aspects of SAT's distribution, marketing and brand management in North America, effective immediately.SAT is among audio's most coveted and exclusive brands. Since the introduction of its original Pickup Arm in 2015, SAT has cemented its place at the pinnacle of the audio... Read More

Clint J. Holley III's Well Made Music mastering studio opened in Cleveland, Ohio in 2010 and began cutting lacquers. In 2021 the company moved from the birthplace of Rock 'n' Roll and home of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, to Bristol, Virginia, known as "the Birthplace of Country Music". The studio currently cuts on two restored Neumann VMS-70 lathes (the number refers to the year of manufacture). Both have been in service since the early 1970s. One was obtained in 2009 from somewhere in New Jersey. The second was shipped over in 2013 from The Netherlands.

Schiit Audio's new $399 Skoll MM/MC phono preamp features fully discrete, differential Class A zero feedback gain stages and a fully passive RIAA network. No op-amps are in the circuit. Skoll’s gain stage is a compound JFET-BJT pair running on "massive" 64V rails for enhanced linearity and freedom from overload. The result is over 100dB signal to noise ratio for 40dB of gain, and up to 70dB of gain available.Additional features are relay switched inputs... Read More

Here's the press release: FORT LAUDERDALE, FL — Wireworld Cable Technology, a long-standing leader in the audiophile and professional A/V cable industry, recently announced the release of four new cables for turntables with RCA plug connections. These four cables, named Solstice 8, Eclipse 8, Silver Eclipse 8 and Platinum Eclipse 8, feature Wireworld’s patented DNA Helix conductor geometry and Silver Tube RCA plugs, along with ultraquiet COMPOSILEX 3 insulation... Read More

At a hotel adjacent to company headquarters, Bill Voss, Technics' American Business Development Manager, introduced the new $2199 "next gen" SL1200GR turntable featuring a revolutionary new Delta Sigma drive control technique said to produce smooth, accurate rotational stability and a new power supply similar to the one used in the top of the line SL-1000R, said to produce an exceptionally low noise floor. Based on the informal listening session... Read More

Technics just unveiled its "next gen" direct drive turntable, the SL-1200GR2 (silver) and the SL01210GR2 (black). According to the press release, the new turntable "...features a revolutionary new drive control technique for smooth, accurate rotational stability and a new power supply for an exceptionally low noise floor. "The newly upgraded turntable is equipped with standout audio and design features, including: · A new Delta-Sigma-Drive and a... Read More

This press release lists prices in Euros only so not sure if this launch is simultaneously in Europe and the USA but it's newsworthy nonetheless. At Munich High End 2023 Pro-Ject Audio Systems launched an extensive "EVO" line of new tonearms in both standard and premium versions that occupied a rather large sized wall. This photo shows only some of the arms on that wall.Pro-Ject EVO arms at Munich High End 2023The lineup includes 9",10" and... Read More

(Photo credit: Sarah Beastman Hamilton [Lebeast Photography of Vancouver, BC, Canada])Greece-based Agnew Analog, recently introduced the Agnew Analog Reference Instrument Type 612, a brand new disk mastering lathe, now available to order. It's the first new "from the ground up" lacquer cutting lathe to be introduced in since 1966 which is when Neumann introduced its VMS 66 (L.J. Scully began making them in the 1930s for 78rpm record manufacturing). The... Read More

Online used record seller AudioPhileUSA offers a few accessories on its website including Mobile Fidelity Original Master Sleeve, but until now, the company, which was founded in the U.K. decades ago by online record selling pioneer John Turton, who brought it to America before selling it to the current owner Mark Hoover, didn't offer record cleaning accessories. That's now changed with the introduction of the GrooveWasher record cleaner line.While the basic... Read More