LATEST ADDITIONS

For me, one of the biggest surprises at Munich High End 2024 was the performance of Constellation’s new Revelation 2 stereo amplifier ($30,000), preamplifier ($25,500), and phono stage ($29,000). I’d expected refinement, but not this level of clarity; previous Constellation gear had sometimes struck me as a little dark. In Munich, the sound was beautifully illuminated, with wonderful colors and an ideal amount of brightness in the treble.

Sylvie Courvoisier and Mary Halvorson: Bone Bells; Branford Marsalis Quartet: Belonging; François Couturier and Dominique Pifarély: Preludes and Songs; Noah Preminger: Ballads; Jim Snidero: Bird Feathers.

Bryce Dessner, David Chalmin: Electric Fields; John Field: Complete Nocturnes; Mahler: Symphony No.3; Stravinsky: Pulcinella; Le baiser de la fée—Divertimento, K.-M. Murphy: Curiosity, Genius, and the Search for Petula Clark.

In front of a passive hallway display in the lobby of the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center, Mark Henninger and I caught up with TJ Goldsby, AXISS Audio's vice president of sales and dealer relations, and Takaya Inokuma, senior management director, Accuphase Laboratory. Together, we chatted about the first showing of the brand-new, entry-level Accuphase E-3000 integrated amplifier ($8975). Accuphase's new class-AB integrated outputs 100Wpc into 8 ohms.

“It’s Luxman’s 100th Anniversary,” Stereophile Editor Jim Austin told me in passing. “You’ve got to hear how good the sound is in the Rhythm Distribution room that Luxman shares with Marten and Jorma.”

Persistence Pays Off: Audio Research's Best and Sonus faber's jewels Sound Fabulous with dCS, Clearaudio, DS Audio, Innuos, Kubala-Sosna, and Critical Mass

No fewer than five Stereophilers visited Fidelity Imports’ Utopia-D room during AXPONA 2025. I focused on the Audia Flight Strumento No.8 monoblocks ($34,999/each) that had joined forces with Audia Flight’s Strumento No.1 EVO preamplifier ($29,995), an FLS 20 SACD player/streamer ($21,999), and a Flight Phono ($6999).