From swing-era surveys to streaming farms, the Billboard charts have tracked musicโs biggest hitsโand biggest controversiesโfor over 80 years, navigating shifts in technology, taste, and transparency with every note.
Two years after downsizing seemed inevitable, Tom Gibbs finds himself retired, mortgage-free, and surrounded by two dream audio roomsโone digital, one analogโwhere Maggies, KLH Fives, and top-tier gear turn every listen into an event.
Metallicaโs 72 Seasons may not reinvent thrash, but it refines it with maturity and muscle. With Greg Fidelmanโs production and standout tracks like โInamorata,โ the band delivers their strongest album since Death Magnetic.
In the final part of his candid interview, Michael Fremer defends good digital, champions honest reviews, praises his 17-year-old protรฉgรฉ Malachi Lui, and reflects on how far vinylโand his own journeyโhas come.
Reel Sound Distribution announces exclusive North American distribution of renowned Metaxas & Sins Hi-Fi audio equipment. FORT LAUDERDALE, FL โ May 2023 โ Florida-based Reel Sound Distribution Inc. is now the exclusive distributor of the world-famous line of hi-fi audio products from Metaxas & Sins, following a partnership agreement with designer Kostas Metaxas. The Metaxas…
After decades in hi-fi retail and personal loss, Greg from Boise rekindled his passion for audio with a system built for emotional connectionโnot status. Now, it’s music, not specs, that moves him.
Acora Acousticsโ founder Val Cora shares how his love for both stone and sound led to creating the granite-bodied VRC speakerโearning acclaim at shows for their transcendent sonics and redefining what speaker cabinets can achieve.
Robert Schryer recounts the Canadian launch of Esoteric’s Grandioso M1X monoblocks, where Focal Scala Utopia speakers and jaw-dropping dynamics delivered a โgrandiosoโ performance marked by explosive realism and lush musicality.
MoFiโs remaster of Iron Butterflyโs acid rock landmark “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” breathes new life into the 1968 classic, delivering thunderous bass, refined detail, and an intimacy lost in reverb-heavy earlier pressings.
Trent Suggs of Audio Research defends hi-fiโs future, citing surging interest from younger listeners and the runaway success of the $5K I/50 amp. With expansion plans underway, heโs betting on loyalty built early.
After a decade-long journey optimizing his system, Paul Bowes claims 30โ40% of sound quality is often lost due to factors like poor source components, room acoustics, EMI, and subpar cablesโbut that much of it is recoverable.
In Part 2, Norman Varney dismantles audiophile mythsโfrom misunderstood power upgrades to the flawed logic of spikesโarguing that true sonic improvement begins with the room, not the gear.
Trent Suggs recounts his emotional, improbable journey to buying Audio Researchโa story of passion, perseverance, and a vision to make high-end audio more accessible without compromising the brandโs iconic hand-built legacy.
Scientist and audiophile Paul Bowes kicks off PMAโs new โMake your system sound better NOWโ column by sharing game-changing, hands-on tipsโfrom speaker leveling to torque tuningโthat could dramatically elevate your systemโs sound.
At High End Munich, Norman Varney of A/V RoomService boldly claims most audiophiles hear less than half their systemโs potentialโblaming neglected acoustics, misguided retailers, and habitual upgrade cycles chasing flaws room treatment could fix.