Ken Kessler

Investigation
Top 20 albums from 1956
Ken Kessler, ,  |  Apr 27, 2026  |  Published: Jun 01, 2026  |  0 comments

From orchestral symphonies to rock ’n’ roll, musicals to jazz, Ken Kessler, Steve Harris and Christopher Breunig bring you 20 landmark releases from the year HFN was born

If hi-fi began in the 1950s, what did it sound like? Judging from the popular albums and recordings of 1956, perhaps not much different to how it sounds now. Yes, the stereo LP was still one or two years away, CDs and streaming were decades off, and no one had heard of punk or electronica, but the staple genres of any audiophile’s collection – rock ’n’ roll, jazz and classical – were established. Billboard’s Top 100 had launched in 1955, albeit as an evolution of earlier forms of ‘best-seller’ lists. Many of the artists who scored high in the charts in 1956 remain major names in hi-fi and music today, finding new fans and listeners through vinyl reissues and streaming releases.

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Audiophile Digital
Audiophile: Digital, June 2026
Ken Kessler  |  Apr 27, 2026  |  Published: Jun 01, 2026  |  0 comments

This month we review: Daryl Hall/John Oates, Andy Smythe, Van Halen, Yes

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Audiophile Vinyl
Audiophile: Vinyl, June 2026
Ken Kessler  |  Apr 27, 2026  |  Published: Jun 01, 2026  |  0 comments

This month we review: Joe Pass, Joan Baez, João Gilberto, Emerson, Lake & Palmer

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Audiophile Digital
Audiophile: Digital, May 2026
Ken Kessler  |  Apr 08, 2026  |  Published: May 01, 2026  |  0 comments

This month we review: John Coltrane/Ravi Shankar, Alanis Morissette, Tina Turner, and UFO

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Audiophile Vinyl
Audiophile: Vinyl, May 2026
Ken Kessler  |  Apr 08, 2026  |  Published: May 01, 2026  |  0 comments

This month we review: Carl Perkins, Terry Callier, The Doobie Brothers, and Van Halen

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From the Vault
EAR Yoshino V20
Ken Kessler  |  Apr 08, 2026  |  Published: May 01, 2026  |  0 comments
hfnvintageThe latest integrated amplifier from engineer Tim de Paravicini puts the humble ECC83 tube to thrilling use, discovers Ken Kessler

Leave it to Tim de Paravicini to come up with something so deliciously twisted that no tube crazy can resist it. The new EAR Yoshino V20 integrated amplifier, despite costing a not-unreasonable-by-today’s-standards £2495, looks like nothing else and sports a quantity of tubes rivalled by few. Hell, the only items I can think of off-hand with similar numerical appeal – more tubes than any sane person would deem necessary – are high-enders like the GRAAF GM200 OTL with its 16 output tubes per channel, and the recent Silvaweld design with 48 per monoblock.

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Investigation
Top 20 Miles Davis vinyl releases
Ken Kessler  |  Apr 08, 2026  |  Published: May 01, 2026  |  0 comments

As the jazz world celebrates Miles Davis’ centenary, Ken Kessler brings you 20 recent vinyl releases that showcase him at his best – and the artists that he influenced

It will not go unnoticed by the jazz community nor the record industry that 2026 marks Miles Davis’ centenary. Leading up to it, Mobile Fidelity, Craft and other labels have been rewarding audiophiles with beautifully remastered LPs from all points in his career, among them stunning box sets from 1950s sessions, major albums reissued in One Step form, live recordings, Davis’ forays into rock/fusion and much more. He produced – according to the best sources – over 60 studio albums and at least 35 live albums. The actual amount of his output is a conundrum, like the man himself.

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Audiophile Digital
Audiophile: Digital, April 2026
Ken Kessler  |  Mar 10, 2026  |  Published: Apr 01, 2026  |  0 comments

This month we review: The Beatles, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Joni Mitchell, and Van Halen

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Audiophile Vinyl
Audiophile: Vinyl, April 2026
Ken Kessler  |  Mar 10, 2026  |  Published: Apr 01, 2026  |  0 comments

This month we review: Stevie Nicks, James Brown, Catalyst, and Katie Spencer

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Disc PlayersVintage
Meracus Imago transport
Ken Kessler  |  Mar 07, 2026  |  Published: Apr 01, 2026  |  0 comments
hfnvintageMounting its disc mech beneath a motorised cover, this German-made transport appeals to Ken Kessler’s sense of style. But how does it sound?

No, I don’t know what ‘Meracus’ means, and I stopped playing around with anagrams after I reached ‘rum case’. How about ‘US Cream’? No way: Meracus is so decidedly, unabashedly a German company that it couldn’t possibly apply. If you’ve ever studied a hi-fi magazine from the Fatherland or visited the Frankfurt or Berlin audio shows, you’ll know what I mean: staggering build quality, weird shapes, bold colours, lots of glass, wholly unique operational procedures. And the £4000 Meracus Imago is almost deliberately ‘unexportable’, because the customer has to be on some Teutonic wavelength to get to grips with it. Study the photos. You’ve never seen another CD transport like it, right?

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