Features
SoundStage! Australia’s Favourite Exhibits at High End Vienna 2026
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- Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer
- Category: Features Features
- Published: 15 June 2026 15 June 2026
Oh Vienna… music, art, literature, architecture, a universe of culture. Mozart, Schubert, Strauss. Frankl, Freud, Schrödinger. Syrupy Kleine Brauner coffee and golden Ottakringer lager (downed a few of both), delicious Kaiserschmarrn, decadent Sacher torte and crispy Vienna schnitzel. Need I go on? Sensory overload aside, yeah, I’m sure the High End Society had to sail through stressful prep waters prior to the big day. Actually, the big days. The festival of high-end hi-fi’s first notes sang out on Thursday June 4, with the last tunes finally waning away at closing time on Sunday June 7. Date adjustment, thanks Eurovision. Yet, despite the pre-fest challenges, the high-end audio industry’s crowning event will, I’m confident, be universally praised, or at the very least, widely acclaimed for what ended up being a seamlessly-staged show.
High End Vienna Coming June 4, 2026
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- Written by News Editor News Editor
- Category: Features Features
- Published: 25 May 2026 25 May 2026
High End Munich is moving to its new home in the “City of Music” for the inaugural High End Vienna 2026, set to take place at the superbly appointed and centrally-located Austria Centre Vienna.
Dealer Visit – Pura Sound Opens New High-End Audio Showroom in Melbourne
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- Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer
- Category: Features Features
- Published: 15 May 2026 15 May 2026
In a bold move away from its nascent origins in Brisbane back in 2017, where Pura Sound kicked-off its retail and distribution operations, the company has opened a new bespoke showroom. There, Australian audio enthusiasts can discover and experience a handpicked array of sought-after niche high-end audio, showcased in a spacious and acoustically tuned demonstration studio. Clearly, proprietor Robert Campbell has curated a product selection that is bound to stimulate, and indeed satiate, the appetite of any music lover worth their salt.
SoundStage! Lead-In Video: Gryphon Antileon Revelation: First Listen—The Next Class-A Giant
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- Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer
- Category: Features Features
- Published: 15 April 2026 15 April 2026
In this episode of SoundStage! Australia Lead-In, Edgar Kramer previews Gryphon Audio Designs’ new Antileon Revelation stereo power amplifier—a fifth-generation evolution of one of high-end audio’s most iconic class-A designs.
SoundStage! Lead-In Video: First Look: JBL’s New Summit Makalu Flagship
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- Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer
- Category: Features Features
- Published: 15 April 2026 15 April 2026
In this SoundStage! Australia Lead-In, editor-in-chief Edgar Kramer delivers his first impressions of the new JBL Summit Makalu loudspeaker before the full written review arrives on SoundStageAustralia.com.
SoundStage! Lead-In Video: LS-2 + S-200: Why Tubes + Solid-State Still Work
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- Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer
- Category: Features Features
- Published: 30 March 2026 30 March 2026
In this SoundStage! Australia Lead-In episode, editor Edgar Kramer previews his upcoming review of Audio Research’s LS-2 tube preamplifier and S-200 solid-state power amplifier. More than just a product introduction, Kramer explains why this hybrid approach—tubes up front, transistors for power—has remained a cornerstone of his reference system for years.
Accuphase Laboratory Event at Audio Connection
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- Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer
- Category: Features Features
- Published: 13 March 2026 13 March 2026
In the intro to my Accuphase Laboratory factory tour feature story (read here), I began by reflecting on the extraordinary loyalty the company commands from ardent believers across generations. Yes, the reverence is well-earned given Accuphase’s consistent excellence across its entire manufacturing output. Plus, it’s the company’s ethos of steadfast commitment to its unmistakeable identity across generations of products that is somewhat rare in the high-end audio space. As a newly appointed stockist of this great Japanese brand, Audio Connection, downtown Leichhardt, hosted an event where three of the company’s leaders, including Accuphase founder, were the honoured guests.
Listening Sessions With Famed DJ Gilles Peterson
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- Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer
- Category: Features Features
- Published: 01 March 2026 01 March 2026
The Penthouse, a VIP area at Sydney’s flashy Ivy nightclub, was the setting for an invite-only gathering of 200 guests who linked-up with Gilles Peterson, renowned DJ, record label founder and broadcaster, for an evening of music and his favourite cuts. The sound system? A premium audio system curated by Bondi’s own Atlas Gouverneur from Atlas Harmonic.
SoundStage! Talks Australia Video: AudioQuest Founder Bill Low: Music, Cables, and a Lifetime in Hi-Fi
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- Written by News Editor News Editor
- Category: Features Features
- Published: 22 January 2026 22 January 2026
In this in-depth conversation, SoundStage! Australia’s Edgar Kramer speaks with AudioQuest founder Bill Low about music’s influence on his work, the early days of AudioQuest, his long pursuit of better cable design, and how the modern high-end audio industry took shape.
The SoundStage! Australia Products of the Year Awards 2025
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- Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer
- Category: Features Features
- Published: 15 December 2025 15 December 2025
Am I getting on, or is some alternate parallel universe compressing our dimension’s linear timeline? Has it really been a year already? Get out! It feels like only weeks have passed since I was sifting through products for last year’s awards… and now here I am once again, compiling the shortlist for SoundStage! Australia’s Products of the Year 2025. It’s a process that, once finalised, bestows recognition to this year’s most remarkable designs while celebrating products that signal the very best performance, innovation, and creativity in high-end audio.
Factory Tour – Accuphase Laboratory
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- Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer
- Category: Features Features
- Published: 15 November 2025 15 November 2025
Let’s talk obsessive-level loyalty. As far as audio goes, there are perhaps… ten brands, at most, that make audio enthusiasts go weak at the knees. I’m talking fervent admiration and unwavering devotion. Near the very top of that select list sits Accuphase Laboratory. Yes, the quintessentially Japanese success story, widely revered for its uncompromising quality, bulletproof reliability, and intelligent engineering. Then there’s that trademark gold finish and unmistakably elegant industrial design. Yes, I too have admired Accuphase over the years, so what a privilege it was when I was asked to visit the company’s headquarters in Yokohama. And now? I get it. Come join me.
Factory Tour – DS Audio
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- Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer
- Category: Features Features
- Published: 06 November 2025 06 November 2025
In just a few short years, relatively speaking, Japanese company DS Audio has stimulated the imagination of analogue-loving audio enthusiasts from around the world with its reinvented optical cartridge. While the optical cartridge is said to be first conceptualised back in the 1940s, with Toshiba launching a moderately successful working model in the 1970s, the technology has flourished in the last couple of decades thanks to Digital Stream Corporation’s (AKA DS Audio) refinements using modern LED innovations. Since that crucial step in its evolution, the optical cartridge, as perfected by DS Audio, has climbed to the upper echelons of audio desirability. What’s more, DS Audio stands alone as the sole major manufacturer of optical cartridges worldwide. I visited the company’s factory following the Tokyo International Audio Show 2025 (feature here). Here’s what I discovered.
