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Reviews of Attainable Hi-Fi & Home-Theater Equipment

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Details: Written by: Dennis Burger; Created: 01 August 2026

A few months back, I was in the shower, listening to an electronica playlist or radio station on Apple Music—I honestly can’t remember which—and had my mind absolutely blown by a song I’d never heard before. It had the textures and tones of, say, an Alon Mor composition, just a lot more fun and, dare I say, danceable. As soon as I finished bathing and toweling off, I scrolled back through my recently played tracks, made a mental note to remember this mysterious new musical revelation, and as you might be able to tell from my lack of specifics here, I promptly forgot to do so. I even managed to delete my entire listening history in Apple Music when I went digging a few weeks later in a vain attempt to find that track again.

Read more: Find Your Anti-Algorithm

Details: Written by: Dennis Burger; Created: 15 July 2026

’Tis the season, it seems, for sequels to popular audio components. For last month’s review, I dug into the Vincent Audio SV‑500MK hybrid integrated amp, which adds HDMI and Bluetooth capabilities to the beloved SV‑500 (at the expense of some analog connectivity). This month, I’m digging into the new Emotiva BasX TA2+ stereo receiver/preamp/DAC/tuner (US$1299, CA$1750, £1099, €1248), which adds a whole heck of a lot more than that to the template established by the original TA2.

Details: Written by: Dennis Burger; Created: 01 July 2026

The short answer to the question posed in the headline is, “No. No, you can’t. Nothing about computers is affordable anymore in this era of AI market manipulation and speculation.”

Details: Written by: Dennis Burger; Created: 15 June 2026

Vincent Audio’s updated SV‑500MK hybrid integrated amplifier (US$1699.95) took a circuitous route to my reference two-channel system, originally arriving at a time when I had a pretty big backlog of review gear on hand, only to take a quick side quest to Chicago for AXPONA before being shipped back my way. But to be fair, you’d never know any of that from looking at the outer shipping carton.

Details: Written by: Dennis Burger; Created: 01 June 2026

It’s funny how human brains work, isn’t it? You can spend your entire life viewing the world through one lens, only to swap it for a wholly different paradigm after you’ve wrapped your brain around a new concept with explanatory power. Your entire habitus can get flipped on its head simply by fully understanding a framework that you either weren’t familiar with before or, by contrast, wrote off as so universal as to have little theoretical utility.

Details: Written by: Dennis Burger; Created: 15 May 2026

One of the most exciting developments in hi‑fi in recent years—at least for me—has been the evolution of Onkyo as a newly ascendant brand. Given that most of the other big household names in audio (the ones your dad has heard of, I mean) are slowly being gobbled up by Samsung/Harman, I’m just happy to see another major player challenging that hegemony. If there’s anything I hate more than unsweet tea, it’s monopolies. We need diversity.

Details: Written by: Dennis Burger; Created: 01 May 2026

A few months back, some of us SoundStage! old-timers published lists of our favorite albums, as well as essentials for any music collection. As I polished off my final list, I was so proud of myself for having included an album released in the past decade—even if just barely. That pride was soon diminished when managing editor Gordon Brockhouse kindly pointed out that although we’d all assembled some darned-fine lists, weren’t we “showing our age a little? Not that there’s anything wrong with that. [But] how about asking our teenage, 20-something, and 30-something children for their recommendations—albums that they think their elders should be aware of?”

Details: Written by: Dennis Burger; Created: 15 April 2026

I’ve had people write me and ask why I’m always going on about size and scale in my unboxing blog posts and reviews. After all, the argument goes, people generally understand how big a disc player is, or a two-way bookshelf speaker, or an integrated amplifier.

Details: Written by: Dennis Burger; Created: 01 April 2026

It’s February 23, 2026, as I write this, a fact that I mention not necessarily because of the temporal delays inherent to publishing, but more because anniversaries resonate with me a lot these days. In May of last year, I lost my dear friend Michael Gaughn, formerly of The Absolute Sound, The Perfect Vision, Wideband, Stereo Review, Sound & Vision, Rayva Roundtable (where we started working together), and finally Cineluxe (which was our baby until its unceremonious end, although he never gave up hope of reviving it).

Details: Written by: Dennis Burger; Created: 15 March 2026

These days, most of the review pitches I receive aren’t accompanied by much in the way of editorializing. “Here’s a thing. Here’s how much it costs. Here’s when we can get it to you. Interested?” I’m paraphrasing, of course, but that’s the way it goes for the most part. The industry just assumes that a new product is worth reviewing because it’s a new product.