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Exploring The Wharfedale Denton 1S By John Klima The Wharfedale Denton 1S traces its lineage back to 1967, when Wharfdale introduced a small, affordable speaker to work within smaller modern living spaces. The Denton 1, 2, and 3 evolved through various two and three way configurations, and were introduced between 1971 and 1974. The Denton name was revived in 2012, has been used with several anniversary editions, and leads us to the Denton 1S.

What makes the best top party speakers? The answer involves more than simply finding the biggest cabinet, the most powerful amplifier or the loudspeaker with enough bass to reorganize everything on your shelves. A proper party speaker needs to play loudly without losing its composure, fill a room beyond the narrow confines of the traditional listening chair and, perhaps most importantly, keep the music enjoyable for hours.

For Season 14, Episode 10 of The Occasional Podcast, host Brian Hunter sits down with John Siau, Director of Engineering at Benchmark Media Systems, for a wide-ranging conversation about digital audio, amplifier design and preserving fidelity from the studio to the listening room. The episode runs 53 minutes and covers Benchmark’s work across professional and consumer DACs, analog-to-digital conversion and modern hi-fi electronics.

Sony has added a new entry point to its pro audio catalog with the IER-M500, a $119.99 in-ear monitor designed for both critical listeners and producers who need practical listening on-the-go or on-stage without drifting into custom IEM pricing. Noise isolation is perhaps one of the most common features often overlooked in the IEM category, and certainly in the entry level options by Apple.

The search for the best speakers of 2026 begins with an inconvenient truth: there is no single loudspeaker that works for every listener, room, amplifier or bank account. The best reviewers and the audiophile press can do is point in the write direction. In S14E9, Marc Phillips and Brian Hunter return to one of the show’s most popular formats: the annual ranking of the top 10 best-sounding speakers.

The relocation of HIGH END from Munich to Vienna was always going to be more than a change of address. For many in the industry, HIGH END Munich was not just a trade event, it was the annual checkpoint for the state of the high-end audio world. New products launched there. Distribution deals started there. Rumors took on mass there. HIGH END Vienna is where the hobby is one of the events where the HiFi hobby as a whole doesn’t appear as small as one might initially think.

AudioQuest Dragonfly Copper is the newest version of their longtime DAC/amp dongle series. AQ was one of the first audiophile companies to take a stab at the dongle market, which has been subsequently flooded with options from most major players in the space. The Dragonfly models have represented a solid cross section of HiFi know-how laid over a budget-friendly, compact form factor.

Dan Clark Audio has announced the AEON CORE, a new closed-back planar magnetic headphone priced at $899.99 and positioned as the direct successor to the AEON 2. The AEON line has long served as the company’s most accessible entry into serious planar magnetic listening, sitting below the flagship STEALTH, EXPANSE and CORINA models while carrying some of the trickle down tech. With AEON CORE, Dan Clark Audio appears to be keeping that role intact, but with a fairly meaningful refresh under the hood.

This week on The Occasional Podcast, a very special conversation with Julie Mullins, a longtime voice in the audio press whose byline has appeared across Stereophile, Analog Planet and a healthy stretch of high-fidelity publishing history. Her career has crossed audio journalism, arts writing, freelance reporting and the sort of deadlines that can make a turntable setup look relaxing by comparison.

The Schiit Vestri Dongle Is Here. Schiit Audio has really made a name for itself at the $99 price point like no one else has in the HiFi market. Even after years of growth and inflation, Schiit Audio announced this week that they will indeed be entering the small form factor/dongle market for headphone amps/DACs – with a $99 cost to boot. The new dongle is called Vestri, after one of the mythical Nordic dwarfs who held up the sky.