Julie Mullins

6 days ago | analogplanet.com | Julie Mullins

AXPONA 2025 Part 9: Børresen, Aavik, Linn, DS Audio, DeVore, Leben, Well Tempered Lab Hello and welcome to Part 9, the final installment of my AXPONA 2025 show report series. One of the more surprising — or maybe the more accurate term is unexpected — items I saw and heard at AXPONA this year was something that Michael Børresen designed, the new flagship Aavik R-880 phono preamp ($70,000) that made its North American debut at the show.

1 week ago | analogplanet.com | Julie Mullins

AXPONA Part 8: MoFi Electronics, Thales, Clearaudio, Yukiseimitsu Audio Welcome to Part 8, the penultimate installment of my AXPONA 2025 show report. In the Schaumburg B Room, MoFi Electronics previewed their latest phono preamp, the MoFi Ultra Phono PRO, as a preproduction prototype on passive display. Well-known hi-fi electronics designer Peter Madnick, who created their MoFi MasterPhono phono preamp, is also the mind behind the forthcoming MoFi UltraPhono PRO.

1 week ago | analogplanet.com | Julie Mullins

Hello and welcome to Part 7 of my AXPONA 2025 show report. Once in a while when attending a hi-fi show, I receive a compelling invitation to hear something special — or at least out of the ordinary. At AXPONA 2025, I was invited to listen to a lacquer of a forthcoming vinyl release of pianist Marco Arcieri’s Chopin at Home Vol. 2, on VDM Records. It’s the followup installment of pianist Arcieri’s Chopin at Home Vol. 1, which was released in 2024 on VDM.

2 weeks ago | analogplanet.com | Julie Mullins

Welcome to Part 6 of my AXPONA 2025 show report series. You know, it’s generally a good sign to enter a demo room where listeners are smiling and sitting at rapt attention. It’s even better to go in one and see a company rep/exec dancing about and headbanging to AC/DC. AirTight’s Yutaka (a.k.a. Jack) Miura was doing just that when I stopped by Room 1129.

2 weeks ago | analogplanet.com | Julie Mullins

Hello and welcome to a new week, and to Part 5 of my AXPONA 2025 show report series. In addition to what I saw in the Monarch Systems Distribution setups in Room 434 in Part 4, I also came across another SME turntable, the Model 12 MKII, in the Treehaus Audiolab room (Room 1420), where it held court ahead of a stack of classic, old-school tube gear modeled after the spirit of traditional Japanese audio-design approaches.