Ogden, Utah. October 2012.  Hi-fi isn’t just about boxes and wires – it’s about people. Meet Christian Drecksel: paint shop guru and tour guide of Zu Audio’s factory floor. I’m here to talk Union, a new loudspeaker that’s pitched sonically closer to Zu’s A-game Soul Superfly (right) than their entry-level Omen (left). I’m keen to see the build process from

If you find yourself in need of urgent refreshment – both in conversation and in blood flow – go pay Roy Hall a visit. Alongside Leland Leard, he’ll be demo-ing the following whisky in Room 29-319 at The Venetian: Lagavulan 16, Lagavulan 16 Double Matured Glenburnie 18, Macallan 15 Fine Oak. Springbank 15, Talisker Distilers Edition Double Matured Ardbeg 10

When I stop by the Wyred4Sound room, EJ Sarmento had that familiar cheeky grin going on. He looked like he was on the cusp of launching something new…soon, but not this weekend. On show was the new Mini-Pre ($1099) pushing into two of the same half-width mAmps ($899 each). Right-hand man Clint Hartmann tells me the Paradigm Signature S8 speakers

Little surprises Part 1. Over on the far side of the CanJam area is the Digizoid table. Made in Scottsdale AZ, their ZO2 ‘personal subwoofer’ is a portable headphone amplifier with hot sauce. Hook it up to your laptop or iDevice and you get 32 user-selectable sound signature profiles from the scroll-wheel on the side. The glow-light moves from green to

First stop.  New DeVore Orangutan 93…93db. $8k-ish.  Sumptuously seductive.  John DeVore is spinning some Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy.  Lovely. Further information:  DeVore Fidelity NAD M50 Music Player ($2500) and NAD M52 Music Vault ($2000) for CD ripping and playback. …but Paul Barton’s new powered desktop speakers. PSB Alpha PS1. $300.  Fruity.  They ship in a handy re-usable box for easier portability. Further information:

It’s not how she looks; it’s her personality that counts. That’s both a cliché and a half-truth – a relationship falls as much to physically attraction as it does to emotional and cerebral nourishment. And so it goes with hi-fi gear. There will be folks lining up with disingenuity to tell you that it’s not how it looks, it’s how

I’m starting to feel that I might not be a true, dyed-in-the-wool audiophile. I dig Momus and Built To Spill. Boards Of Canada and Neil Young. Animal Collective and Sufjan Stevens. Plastikman and Bright Eyes. Peter Gabriel and Talk Talk. If Newport Beach taught me one thing: most exhibiting audiophiles don’t dig too much of this kind of music. Is

One could rarely argue that hi-fi isn’t an indulgence; a life luxury. Some rooms were keener reminders of this than others. The Triangle Art room won out in terms of sheer decadence – so much gear packed into one small room. Just look at those turntables: works of (err) art. AND they were playing opera. Check it: The best budget

The Newport Beach show is more relaxed than the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest.  Things just aren’t as intense as they are in Colorado.  A cool breeze continually wafts through through the lobby of the Hilton Irvine. On the upper levels there’s room to manoeuvre and the hallways don’t get quite as jam-packed as in Denver.  With so much exhibitor demand, the

The Victorian arm of Audio Addiction (run by James Hornby) will host an informal open day this coming April. It’s an opportunity for interested parties to hear products from WLM, Red Wine Audio, Trafomatic and Hoyt Bedford; what Audio Addiction refer to as ‘emotionally involving audio’. “Both James and I get no greater joy than selling a piece of hi-fi

One of the newest kids on the Melbourne hi-fi block is Addicted To Audio. This retail space is the first in a run of quasi-office spaces in Woodlands Avenue, Kew.  From the outside it doesn’t look much like a hi-fi store but one can’t miss A2A’s striking blue signage. Inside, the office-y vibe continues but doesn’t detract from the hi-fi

Being a Sydney resident, I’ve often wondered what it’s like inside a Melbourne hi-fi store.  After all, Melbourne is often heralded in some quarters as Australia’s hi-fi capital – are stores more bountiful down south?  In December 2011, I took my camera to Victoria to find out.  First stop: Tivoli Hi-fi in Hawthorn East. Upstairs, two listening rooms with the