As the third live streaming show by Joe N Tell, they celebrate the audio community in having an excellent high-quality online show resource for 2021! The HiFi Summit, produced by Joe N Tell (Joe Mariano), brings modern features that are expected when showcasing the best in high-fidelity audio and home theater gear. Excellent seminars and group chat are joined by questions from viewers within Discussion and YouTube live stream. Unlike Facebook, Instagram, and other types of live streaming, Joe N Tell's The HiFi Summit videos are available worldwide on YouTube both for live viewing during their event and for on-demand viewing too! This is what high-end and home theater online streaming should be in 2021.

"Defenders of the music business's decision to license a lower-price tier of HD audio at Apple and Amazon might point to the fact that these higher-price options simply weren't proving sufficiently popular... Music rightsholders might also suggest – and I'm guessing here – that some useful covert horse-trading has been going down, with Amazon or Apple somehow subsidizing or compensating the loss of a higher-price HD tier by other contractual means."
-- Tim Ingham, Founder of Music Business Worldwide

The same pair of Sound Lab loudspeakers have been my reference for about 15 years. The reason I acquired them is simple: Back in the day, I heard a pair of Sound Lab A-1's in a friend's large system, and fell in love. To this day, these speakers are the best I've ever heard of any type, as they produce a sonic hologram of the recording that I can visualize with my ears. But I didn't immediately go out and purchase a pair of A-1s. This was not only because they cost much more than I could afford at the time, nor was it because they weighed nearly 200 pounds. It was because of their size. The massive Model A-1's are over seven feet tall, three feet wide, and at their base about two feet deep. Our living room at the time, which was also our listening room, in no way could accommodate them. Eventually the planets aligned, and I purchased a pair of Sound Lab speakers. Fortunately the Sound Lab Majestic 545 electrostatic speakers as reviewed here bring things down to size nicely.

The University of Huddersfield offers a variety of very useful resources including Virtual Hemispherical Amplitude Panning (VHAP), 3D Microphone Array Recording Comparison (3D-MARCo), and now offer their Huddersfield Universal Listening Test Interface Generator (HULTI-GEN V2). This is a new version of HULTI-GEN as the Max-based tool features a number of new improvements over the previous version, including the addition of psychophysical testing methods (e.g., 2I-2AFC, ABX, Yes-No, etc. in adaptive and non-adaptive procedures) to the existing ITU methods; playback of multi-channel stimuli (up to 64 channels). There's also a SOFA-based, real-time binauraliser with headphone equalization filters, statistical-analysis-ready results files, and an open-source framework for experimenters to modify the existing tests or design their own test methods for HULTI-GEN.

Nagra is a Swiss company that has a well-established reputation as a leading manufacturer of professional recording equipment. They were founded about 60 years ago, but it wasn't until 1997 that they also started making high-end audio equipment for home use. I was already afflicted with the audiophile bug back when Nagra introduced their first components for the high-end market, and it was then that I knew that I wanted to own one, or, at the very least hear one. I finally have a Nagra component in my system, their very attractive looking Class A vacuum-tube powered Classic Preamp. Of course, this isn't Nagra's first preamp. In fact, they say that used their previous preamplifier model, the JAZZ, along with Nagra's HD DAC as a reference to ensure that the newer preamp outperformed the older models. And so here it is, the latest preamplifier from Nagra.

HIFICRITIC's June 2021 issue features:
Roy Gandy -- Rega's Founder
Stan Searches For The Ultimate Speaker
Vertere Techno Mat Review
Vertere SG-1 Turntable
Wilson Audio Sabrina X
Dali Oberon 7C
Naim Uniti Atom Headphone Edition
KEF KC62
High-End Focal Clear Headphones
Kerr Acoustics KC300 Mk3
Rotel Michi X3
KEF LS50 Wireless MkII
Kudos Cardea C10 Speakers
Rogers E20A/II Valve Int. Amp.
Dynaudio Special Forty Anniversary
...And much more!

Exhibitors at T.H.E. Show 2021 in California are ready to demonstrate the very best high-end audio gear during this weekend's event at the Hilton Long Beach from today through Sunday. This event is already almost at capacity for advance ticket sales, so please don't wait! An impressive seminar schedule is planned as well featuring Dr. Mark Waldrep, Jiles McCoy, Emiko, Merge Creative, David Solomon, Wayne Carter, Mr. Julian Margules, and Leonard Dodd. Food trucks will be on site daily to provide a variety of delicious dishes for everyone. Designed to connect music, entertainment, tech aficionados, trade professionals, and media from around the world in an integrated state-of-the-art exhibit, this event will showcase the latest products and innovations from industry-leading brands. Experience a variety of sounds ranging from $500 headphones to the $500,000 stereo setup.

As I said at the beginning of my previous review, the Synergistic Research Tweakfest, my original plan was to review a bunch of speaker mods that would negate the need for a $10,000 to $20,000 speaker upgrade. Surely a couple of thousand dollars-worth of tweaks could bring my speakers up to acceptable standards? In light of the crippled economy during the COVID 19 pandemic, what could be a more noble effort — short of making face masks and providing PPE to hospitals and meat processing plants? Given that I can barely pour scotch on the rocks, much less come up with a vaccine, the best I can do is self-isolate and not become part of the problem. So here are some findings that may lead you to musical bliss in these tough times or at least give you something to think about until times get better.

Densen Audio Technologies, founded in 1993 in Esbjerg (Denmark), has been sold to Casper Reinhold and Ditlev Leth. Company founder of the Densen brand, Thomas Sillesen, has been seeking a buyer of his high-fidelity audio company and has sold it to two new partners. The sale includes all IP rights from Densen. Ditlev Leth has worked for Thomas Sillesen for a number of years, while Casper Reinhold is a perennial Densen fan and owner of the EMS company Tridane, who have an extensive expertise within electronics development and manufacturing. "The ambitions for Densen are large, and the ideas for the future are many," says their press release, "but the old virtues of Densen are not forgotten in the past. Densens trademarks with incredibly well-build amplifiers, and the idea of a 100% Danish brand with everything developed and build in-house in Denmark, will not be changed – Densen will be kept a 'made-in-Denmark' brand."

For the last few years, I've been cleaning my records by using a VPI 16.5 wet/vacuum record cleaner. My record cleaning liquid of choice has been for quite some time a simple solution of distilled water and a surfactant (the surfactant reduces the solution's surface tension, making it spread more easily on the surface of the record). Before the VPI, I used a Nitty Gritty record cleaner, and before that, an Audio Advisor record cleaner. With those machines I've tried countless solutions sold by many different companies. None were worthy of a review. A couple of months ago, a variety of record cleaning solutions arrived at my doorstep made by a brand called Chisto. Chisto also makes products they call "Digital Care" for CDs and DVDs, solutions to clean the cabinets of audio/video gear, as well as a product that reduces static-electricity on one's audio and video components. Chisto is manufactured in Ukraine. In Russian, "chisto" means "clean."