Today, we continue onward with our survey of the analog-centric gear being shown at CES 2025 — and who better to focus our eyes and ears on than perennial CES stalwarts Victrola? Read on to see what differentiates their new Automatic, Wave, Stream Onyx, Harmony, and Journey Glow turntable offerings. . .

You can see it in their eyes, but is it really any surprise to learn that we are finally getting the much-anticipated 200g 45rpm 2LP UHQR edition of Steely Dan’s rightly acclaimed March 1975 album Katy Lied on January 31, 2025? Read on to see all the UHQR tech/spec details, plus news regarding the companion 180g 1LP edition. . .

While there isn’t as much analog gear on display at CES 2025 as there used to be, some companies are showing new audio gear of note at the show this year — and the long-respected Swiss manufacturer Lenco is one of them. Read on to see what’s what with their trio of new turntable options and cool light-effect record stabilizer. . .

Our first Short Cuts combo-review entry of 2025 covers six recent blues reissues — five from the Bluesville Series from Craft Recordings, plus one archival release issued on RSD 2024 by Deep Digs/Elemental Music. Read Mark Smotroff’s Short Cuts combo review to see how many of these fine 180g LP offerings from Albert King, Jimmy Reed, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Skip James, Blind Gary Davis, and B.B. King belong in your collection. . .

We here at AP hope everyone had a safe, happy, healthy, and fun holiday season, replete with as much vinyl-spinning as your ears, turntables, and systems could handle! To kick the new year off right, we’re going to look at a cool new piece of equipment that caught our collective eye — namely, the Musical Fidelity M6xTT turntable. Read on to see all that the mighty M6xTT has to offer. . .

When the UK’s largest turntable manufacturer releases new moving magnet (MM) cartridges, analog geeks like us here at AP can’t wait to hear them. Read Ken Micallef’s review to see why Rega’s new Nd3 and Nd5 MM cartridges are both budget bargains worthy of your immediate attention. . .

Samara Joy, a mere 25 years old, has ascended to extraordinary heights in the jazz world — and rightly so. Raised in a family of gospel singers but nurtured on a diet of contemporary pop and jazz, Joy’s vocal prowess is astonishing. Her contralto-to-soprano range — soaring from hushed whispers to clarion calls — is as breathtaking as a hummingbird darting from flower to flower. Read Ken Micallef’s review to see how Portrait, her second LP on Verve, showcases her singular vocal talent on vinyl. . .

The Gruvy Awards are back yet again! An annual event, The Gruvys are given to the best products AnalogPlanet reviewed in the most recent calendar year. This time around, the Gruvys honor the gear we tested in 2024 and subsequently found to possess a combination of high build quality, exceptional sonics, and in the case of less expensive gear, provide great value for the money. Read on to see what products made the 2024 AP Gruvy Awards cut, plus which ones gained Honorable Mentions. . .

Another year of LP acquiring, cleaning, listening, archiving, and spinning, and archiving has come and gone — and not necessarily always in that order, either! — so, naturally, before the big holiday week takes hold of our respective calendars, we here at AP feel it’s the exact right time to determine the best of what we’ve heard on vinyl during the past 12 months. Between the two of us — i.e., 1) Mike Mettler, your intrepid AP editor, and 2) chief LP reviewer, Mark Smotroff — we have listened to multiple-hundreds’ worth of albums on vinyl in 2024 apiece, so read on to see what our 20-plus favorite reissues and new LPs of the year are. . .

We didn’t have a new album from Elvis Costello and T Bone Burnett on our 2024 checklist — but here we are enjoying an unexpected yet long overdue brand-new self-titled 2LP set by their alter-ego personas known as The Coward Brothers. We also get a second, related vinyl gift — a 2024 reissue of Elvis’ masterful February 1986 LP credited to The Costello Show, King of America. Read Mark Smotroff’s combo review to see if both of these Costello/Burnett LP collabs are worthy, right-before-the-holiday-break additions to your collection. . .