In Part 6 of her High End Munich 2025 show report, Julie Mullins gives us the lowdown on the new Chord Electronics Ultima Phonostage phono preamp, which was seen amplifying the signal from a Bauer Audio dps 3 turntable fitted with an Ortofon MC Cadenza cartridge. . .

Mark Smotroff takes us through the many on-vinyl highs of the rich recorded life of Brian Wilson, the visionary pop composer who passed away at age 82 on June 11, 2025. Read on to see which Beach Boys records and Brian Wilson solo LPs are worth surfing through again and again on vinyl. . .

In Part 5 of her Munich 2025 show report, Julie Mullins gets a firsthand explanation for why Polish manufacturer Unitra wholly embrace direct-drive turntables, and sees/hears one of their latest tables in action to illustrate the point. . .

We’re always up for seeing whatever cool accessory ideas emerge from the mind of Sublima Audio Research founder Alessandro “Alex” Cereda, and his latest foray into this realm is called Shelly. Read on to see how S.A.R.’s newest accessory, which is made from 300-year-old Italian olive wood, has been designed to be quite the proper tonearm headshell. . .

Call it a case of, shall we say, “capitol gains.” The capitol spelling there is quite deliberate, for it relates to the Washington, D.C., hometown locale of the notable ethereal goth-rock band Strange Boutique, who are finally back on the scene with their first new album in 31 years, Let the Lonely Heart Sing. The LP was released yesterday, June 10, 2025, in a pair of limited-edition color vinyl options by The Circle Music, a Greek label. Read on to see why you should procure either/both versions of Strange Boutique’s stunning new LP ASAP. . .

When it comes to starting points, Victrola knows how to bring people into the analog realm — and to that end, today, June 10, 2025, the company is announcing the official availability of their Harmony Bluetooth Turntable System with Shelf Speakers. Read on to see how the Harmony system has the right amount of zen to pass along to those just getting into our analog field of interest. . .

Here in Part 4 of her Munich 2025 show report, Julie Mullins is all about Pro-Ject and the wide array of products they had on display in Halle 3, including new X Series turntables, tonearms, cartridges, travel sets, and special-edition turntables galore. . .

Several iconic, pop-rockin’, punk-adjacent artists from the late 1970s and early 1980s new-wave era have new albums out now — and there are also a number of encouraging audiophile-oriented reissues as well. For this somewhat thematic Short Cuts installment, Mark Smotroff zeros in on a mixture of both by exploring a pair of fun new releases from The Vapors and Peter Holsapple, plus an AAA reissue of a Violent Femmes album we suspect many of us overlooked at the time of its original 1984 release. . .

The assignment for High End Munich 2025 was simple, and direct: “Show me turntables. Lots and lots of turntables.” And who better to carry out such a focused task than our go-to, table-loving main product reviewer for AP, the always estimable Ken Micallef. Click the link below to see Ken’s 11½-minute Munich 2025 video diary, which features a wide swath of turntables — plus a few tonearms and cartridges to boot — from the likes of TechDAS, Clearaudio, Klaudio, Kronos, Kuzma, Dual, Muarah, and many, many more. . .

Take me to the box set, and drop me in the vinyl. And what we mean by that is to announce Talking Heads’ second studio album, July 1978’s More Songs About Buildings and Food, will be getting the Super Deluxe Edition 4LP treatment from Sire/Rhino on July 25, 2025. Read on to see what rarities and live material are also included in this must-have collection (and how to get those four bonus 45s too). . .