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High End 2022 Sights and Sounds: Monitor Audio, Roksan

Details: Written by: Edgar Kramer; Category: High End 2022; Created: 20 May 2022

Approximate system cost: TBA.

High End 2022 Sights and Sounds: Living Voice, SJS, Kuzma

Details: Written by: Edgar Kramer; Category: High End 2022; Created: 20 May 2022

Approximate system cost: £275,000.

High End 2022 Sights and Sounds: Absolare, Rockport Technologies

Details: Written by: Edgar Kramer; Category: High End 2022; Created: 20 May 2022

Approximate system cost: €350,000

High End 2022 Sights and Sounds: Nagra, Wilson Audio

Details: Written by: Edgar Kramer; Category: High End 2022; Created: 20 May 2022

Approximate system cost: if you have to ask . . .

High End 2022 Product Coverage: Gryphon Audio Designs, SVS, Goldmund, Aavik Acoustics, Penaudio, and Verity Audio

Details: Written by: Jeff Fritz; Category: High End 2022; Created: 20 May 2022

Diversity rules this installment of the SoundStage! High End 2022 product coverage. With prices that range from $699 to over $500,000 (USD), it’s hard to believe that, at High End, there are customers for both of these price categories and everything in between. It serves to remind us that the hobby of high-end audio and listening to music in the home is an attractive proposition for a wide swath of us. Prices for the products below are in US dollars, euros, or Swiss francs (CHF).

High End 2022 Product Coverage: Rockport Technologies, VPI Industries, Audio Research, Göbel High End, and Marten

Details: Written by: Jeff Fritz; Category: High End 2022; Created: 19 May 2022

The two COVID years prior to 2022 meant no High End show in Munich, Germany. Two missed years were two too many. The pent-up creative energy at work in high-end audio was unleashed at High End 2022. And it was glorious. Anyone remotely interested in audio gear and fine music reproduction was in for a treat in terms of new product introductions and systems singing away. And there were some doozies. All prices below are in euros or US dollars.

High End 2022 Product Coverage: System Audio, Hegel Music Systems, Electrocompaniet, Gryphon Audio Designs, and Perlisten Audio

Details: Written by: Doug Schneider; Category: High End 2022; Created: 19 May 2022

If someone asked me a year ago if High End 2022 could be successful, I likely would’ve said, “I have no idea if it will even go on, let alone be a success.”

How Going Half Deaf Made Me Stop Worrying and Love the Beatles in Mono

Details: Written by: Dennis Burger; Category: Dennis Burger; Created: 23 April 2022

Perhaps the scariest thing that can happen to an audio enthusiast and journalist is sudden and near-complete hearing loss.

Ask me how I know.

SME Model 60 Flagship Turntable Launch!

Details: Written by: Jonathan Gorse; Category: Product Debuts; Created: 03 April 2022

Steyning, West Sussex, England, 26th March 2022

On the weekend of the 26th of March, 2022, a small contingent of the world’s top audio journalists and distributors were invited to witness the launch of a new SME flagship turntable, the first such launch in over 30 years. As if that weren’t enough to warm the cockles of even the most jaded hi-fi hack, we would be hearing the turntable in perhaps the most famous listening room in the world—the room custom-built by Alastair Robertson-Aikman, the legendary founder of SME, as an extension to his delightful Sussex home. Make no mistake: this is holy ground, the audio equivalent of being invited to Balmoral for a weekend of grouse-shooting with the Queen. Since his passing in 2006, even SME hasn’t used the room for listening tests, so its re-opening really was a once-in-a-lifetime event. Alastair, or A-RA as he was affectionately known, was not a man to settle for second best, and his pursuit of audio excellence led to the creation of a hi-fi dynasty revered the world over.

New Noise #4: Little Box #2

Details: Written by: Jason Davis; Category: Jason Davis; Created: 31 March 2022

Sometime after the last Leo’s Stereo closed, my father would take me to The Wherehouse on Saturday mornings to shop for CDs. When that chain of stores folded, he moved on to Target or Best Buy or Sam Goody at the local shopping mall. That one could own music, a tangible thing for personal enjoyment, shaped my upbringing. What we didn’t know then was that store shopping—seeing the newest displays, rifling through plastic letter dividers and name placards—was an endangered endeavor.

Montreal Audiofest 2022: Product Coverage 3 (Mini Analog Round-up)

Details: Written by: Doug Schneider; Category: Montreal Audiofest 2022; Created: 27 March 2022

I’m going to begin this part of the coverage with a confession: I almost didn’t write this article. That’s because, although I got my feet under me to do the second part of the coverage more efficiently, I’ve seen so many products and talked to so many people at Montreal Audiofest 2022 that, as I’m typing this, I don’t feel like writing more—I’m spent.

Montreal Audiofest 2022: Product Coverage 2

Details: Written by: Doug Schneider; Category: Montreal Audiofest 2022; Created: 26 March 2022

As I mentioned in the first round of show coverage, I was feeling a little overwhelmed by being the only SoundStager here covering the show. But by staying up late on the first show-day night and sorting through my photos and notes, I got my feet under me and was better prepared for the next day of coverage. Below you’ll find more of what I witnessed at Montreal Audiofest 2022, with all prices in Canadian dollars, except for the product described at the very end.

Montreal Audiofest 2022: Product Coverage 1

Details: Written by: Doug Schneider; Category: Montreal Audiofest 2022; Created: 25 March 2022

For the first time in a very long time, the first day of Montreal Audiofest 2022 had me feeling a bit overwhelmed. Not long after I got off the escalator that took me to the lower level, which had the largest rooms and the most exhibitors, I knew that there would be more new and/or interesting products than I originally thought might be at the show. This was just like Florida Audio Expo 2022, which I’d covered in February—it wound up exceeding my expectations. But unlike at Florida Audio Expo 2022, where I had Jason Davis to help me cover it, I decided to go to the first Montreal Audiofest since 2019 alone—we usually have two or three people at this event.

Montreal Audiofest 2022: PS Audio’s Aspen Aspirations

Details: Written by: Doug Schneider; Category: Montreal Audiofest 2022; Created: 25 March 2022

I was initially going to include the PS Audio Aspen FR30 loudspeaker in the regular product coverage, but when I realized that I wanted to write far more than a regular show-coverage caption, I thought it deserved to stand as a story on its own. The speaker was, without question, one of the most interesting new products at Montreal Audiofest 2022—and it was something I really wanted to hear because I’ve been wondering about it since about the beginning of this year.

Montreal Audiofest 2022: KLH and Motet Distribution Kick Off the Show Talking about Acoustic-Suspension Speaker Designs

Details: Written by: Doug Schneider; Category: Montreal Audiofest 2022; Created: 24 March 2022

I always arrive at shows at least a day early to get going on our coverage, but I get disappointed if no company is set up or there’s no one to talk to, because there ends up being nothing to do. But when I walked into the Hotel Bonaventure Montréal, which is home to Montreal Audiofest 2022, at about 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 24, I immediately ran into Lily Luo, owner of Motet Distribution, who said, “The guys from KLH just arrived. We hope you can make it to our dinner in fifteen minutes. It’s a casual thing.”

The Reavon UBR-X200: One of the Few Available High-End Universal Disc Players

Details: Written by: Roger Kanno; Category: Roger Kanno; Created: 19 March 2022

If you’re like me and use your audio system to both enjoy stereo music and watch films with multichannel audio, you’ll appreciate a high-quality, universal disc player. Optical disc players are still the best way to watch movies with 4K Ultra HD video and uncompressed Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks, and there are also some audio enthusiasts who still like to play SACDs, CDs, and even DVD-As. Granted, there aren’t many audiophiles whose main systems do double duty like mine, and with the proliferation of streaming services for both music and movies, optical disc players in general, let alone universal disc players, aren’t as highly sought after as they once were.

Going Places with Harley-Davidson and Rockford Fosgate

Details: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: Jason Thorpe; Created: 05 March 2022

SoundStage! isn’t my only side hustle. Through the spring, summer, and fall here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, I also moonlight as senior editor of Inside Motorcycles, a Canadian print magazine. My duties at IM mirror those here at SoundStage!—I test stuff and write about it. I test motorcycles, helmets, clothing, and parts, and I write touring travel articles. But mostly I test motorcycles.

What’s Fresh at the Florida Audio Expo? Loose Ends . . .

Details: Written by: Jason Davis; Category: Florida Audio Expo 2022; Created: 21 February 2022

Alex Sound Technology

The room hosted by Alex Sound Technology—a newcomer on the Florida distributor scene—was packed all weekend. From the hallway, on multiple visit attempts, I glimpsed a handsome pair of Blumenhofer Acoustics Genuin FS MK 2 loudspeakers (starting at $21,050 per pair, all prices USD) wrapped in a striking Makassar ebony veneer. I’m a sucker for big-cone two-ways, and the Genuin FS MK 2 filled the bill: high-efficiency, 12″ paper woofer, floor-ported bass-reflex design, and a horn-loaded compression driver mounted atop the cabinet.

Florida Audio Expo 2022: Product Coverage, Part 3

Details: Written by: Doug Schneider; Category: Florida Audio Expo 2022; Created: 20 February 2022

In my previous product-coverage articles, I tried to include a broad range of product categories. For this third and final installment, I’m keeping it mostly to loudspeakers, since I came across several interesting ones. But I also added one amplifier into the mix because I felt that it was important to include in the coverage. All prices are in US dollars.