This week · 14–20 SeptemberSeoul · Music, rooms & makers
From the listening chair
Begin with Springsteen’s “The Ghost of Tom Joad” at Damino, then follow the music into the room, the system and the choices behind the sound.
Listening session
This week · 14–20 September
Bruce Springsteen’s hushed narrative at Damino joins Elyan’s dark orchestral recasting of a familiar song at SELekt—two different ways to ask how musical scale carries meaning.
Why we listen
We listen for the music first—and for the rooms, systems and ideas that help us understand how it reaches us.
Join us for carefully documented listening sessions and unhurried conversations with the people who shape sound.
Recently published
Read story →Springsteen’s hushed 1995 title track puts narrative weight before spectacle. At Damino Sound Technology, the same system heard in an earlier HFI session opens a different question through Schiit’s choke-input monoblocks and Canton’s three-way floorstanders.
Read story →Elyan’s 2026 single keeps the familiar songwriting credit while declaring an epic, dark, gothic orchestral frame. At SELekt, HFI pairs that musical question with the load-matching figures behind a Kharma and Halcro system.
Read story →Joni Mitchell closes a twelve-song romantic arc by returning to one of her earliest compositions. At KD Sound, HFI records the orchestral version through Göbel Divin Majestic loudspeakers and a CH Precision system.
Read story →Lady Gaga carries the Film Version until Bradley Cooper’s voice returns in a closing flashback. At GLV, HFI records this farewell through a Melco, Aurender, MSB and YG Acoustics system.
Read story →Miles Davis begins in a hush and John Coltrane carries the line outward. A 2024 Mobile Fidelity mono pressing turns on the Titan Acoustics Tx100 in HFI’s December 2025 session.
Read story →Frank Zappa’s Hot Rats opener brings Ron Selico’s drums and Shuggie Otis’s bass into a densely built instrumental, replayed through the Sohgom system HFI recorded in December 2025.
Read story →A May 1958 Campoli–Boult performance reaches this HFI session on a 1969 London stereo pressing, through Vertere, Allnic, Plinius and Avantgarde components at Kumkang Audio.
Read story →Decca placed the familiar song early in an audience-facing Capitol Studios set; this HFI session follows Reinhart, Goldblum and the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra through a CH Precision–Göbel system.
Read story →A rock landmark finds a looser acoustic stride in the 1992 Unplugged performance, heard through Laufer, MSB, Halcro and Kharma at SELekt.
Read story →John Lees turned a dismissive comparison into a song of his own, heard here from vinyl through a clocked Grandioso source and Göbel Divin Comtesse loudspeakers.
Read story →A song from the Breakaway years arrives through a later Rolling Stone Original source, inviting a fresh listen to the path from guarded verses to an open-throated chorus.
Read story →A 1969 Atlantic LP returns to the song’s Groove Sound session, while a Transrotor and Hana vinyl front end gives the familiar Electrocompaniet–Piega system a different starting point.
Read story →Blue Note’s account of a first take that became the album version opens a quiet route into the song, while HFI’s KD Sound recording gives a pair of CH Precision M10 amplifiers in monaural mode a clearly defined role in the system.
Read story →The fourth track on Side One of The Dark Side of the Moon moves from clocks to a measured rock pulse, heard through a Laufer, MSB, Halcro and Kharma system at SELekt.
Read story →Paganini closes an East-to-West programme as Chloe Chua, Mario Venzago and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra meet the Master Fidelity, Vinnie Rossi and Tidal system.
Read story →A 1979 Warner Bros. LP puts Mark Knopfler’s song and the Compass Point sessions before Linn’s LP12 front end and the familiar McIntosh–Sonus faber chain.
Read story →Bill Evans, Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian turn an Irving Berlin standard into trio dialogue through the Laufer, MSB, darTZeel and Kharma system.
Read story →A 1982 BBC Records LP moves through Thorens’ anniversary turntable and HSE’s Masterline 7 before meeting the familiar Ypsilon and Peak system at Submarine Music & Audio.
Read story →Aurender hardware lead Jeon Jin-woo traces a path from wireless communications to power, clocking, isolation and the user feedback that shaped the NH10.
Read story →A live 1986 Proms performance brings the Tenth Symphony’s compact second movement into a Piega, Electrocompaniet and MBL system at Saem Energy.
Read story →A Baroque ensemble closes its oboe programme with Piazzolla’s quiet farewell, heard through a Kharma, Halcro and MSB system at SELekt.
Read story →A 1991 Elektra LP opens through Clearaudio’s Da Vinci V2 and Innovation, followed by Fjord Audio’s A100, C100 and P150. This session follows the path from a cartridge-level signal to line control and one power amplifier per channel.
Read story →A compact live interlude from a 23-track concert album turns attention to pulse, exchange and anticipation through a Goldmund and Métronome system.
Read story →Seong-Jin Cho, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons meet in Ravel’s G major concerto, while Part 6 moves from three repeated windows into six and a half minutes of continuous musical development.
Read story →A song first issued on Leonard Cohen’s Various Positions returns in a 2006 four-singer live recording, played through a 3.5-way Kharma, Halcro and MSB system at SELekt.
Read story →Chopin’s catalogue dates the C-sharp minor work to 1834 and brackets Op. 66 as Julian Fontana’s numbering; Valentina Lisitsa’s 2022 performance meets a 3.5-way Sonus faber Amati G5 system at ROYCO.
Read story →Daniel Rothman, Dot Major and Hannah Reid share the writing credit on a song from London Grammar’s debut album, heard through a GLV system whose YG XX loudspeakers divide eight drivers across four frequency ranges.
Read story →HFI returns to the 1985 Dream into Action version that preceded the better-known remake, through a system that places ATC’s combined CD/DAC preamplifier between a Volumio network player and Schiit mono power amplifiers.
Read story →Clem Burke remembers an unexpected Australian hit that began on the reverse of “X Offender”; HFI’s KD Sound recording pairs the early Blondie song with a CH Precision and Göbel system whose published sensitivity and impedance figures reward a two-number reading.
Read story →Harold Faltermeyer’s composition opens the Top Gun: Maverick soundtrack through a studio team of programmers, producers and electric guitarists, while HFI’s GLV recording gives its compact return cue a five-driver YG Sonja 3.3 system.
Read story →Joe Morello revisits the Paul Desmond tune he first recorded with the Dave Brubeck Quartet, while HFI’s HzProject session moves from repeated passages into a longer rotating sequence of one NH10, two NH10s and two NH10s with the MC10 clock.
Read story →“Enter Sandman” grows from a bare guitar figure into a precisely layered studio event. This SELekt session follows the riff as drums, bass, guitars and voice expand its scale and tighten its tension through a Kharma, Halcro and MSB playback chain.
Read story →Peter Foster starts with the opening of “Piano Man”: not as a stock test track, but as a reminder that pitch relationships, decay and timing become more legible when the listener already knows the music.
Read story →On Settle’s guest-rich first side, “F for You” is the first track to hand the lead entirely back to Disclosure. HFI’s vinyl session gives phono gain, line control and bridged-mono power their own clearly defined stages.
Read story →A four-note SNCF announcement heard at Aix-en-Provence became David Gilmour’s opening signal. HFI’s 96 kHz/24-bit Live at Pompeii source meets two Antipodes Oladras, a Rockna Wavedream Reference, Riviera amplification and Klinger Favre STUDIO 20 at Sohgom.
Read story →Josh Haden’s song closes Charlie Haden and Pat Metheny’s first duet album, with a 2014 Verve/Universal LP and Vertere, Allnic, Plinius and Avantgarde Mezzo G3 components documented for HFI’s Kumkang Audio session.
Read story →John Paul Jones and Robert Plant’s co-written song shifts the focus toward voice and keyboards, heard through a Mark Levinson analog chain and JBL Summit Makalu at its launch event.
Read story →HFI follows a line preamplifier, its separate transformer box and a pair of 805-tube monoblocks as they emerge from three shipping crates, looking at the design choices already visible before listening begins.
Read story →Billie Eilish engineered her own vocal while FINNEAS built the track’s spare instrumental bed. Part 4 uses two repeated 30-second return loops before the song moves forward across the three Aurender states.
Read story →Eric Woolfson’s lead voice and Wurlitzer hold the center of a carefully layered studio ensemble in HFI’s SELekt system recording.
Read story →Bobby Timmons’s call-and-response theme turns a blues phrase into collective momentum, heard through a CH Precision chain and Göbel Divin Noblesse loudspeakers.
Read story →A two-and-a-half-minute rush of riff, voice and momentum meets an all-Grandioso vinyl chain and Göbel Divin Comtesse loudspeakers.
Read story →A song of departure stays deliberately unhurried as Shawn Colvin’s voice and guitar move through YG, MSB and Aurender at GLV.
Read story →Beethoven sends a fugue racing through the Guarneri Quartet, heard through MBL, Electrocompaniet and Piega at Saem Energy.
Read story →“Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough” moves from repeated comparison windows into a full-song sequence with one NH10, two NH10s and the MC10 clock.
Read story →Voice, piano and double bass turn a standard into an intimate exchange, heard through MSB, Halcro and Kharma at SELekt.
Read story →George Harrison’s song becomes a conversation between voice and guest guitar, replayed through CH Precision and Göbel Divin Majestic in Seoul.
Read story →Four distinct voices share Leonard Cohen’s song through Tidal Akira, Vinnie Rossi Brama and Master Fidelity at Chess Audio in Seoul.
Read story →Al Di Meola and Paco de Lucía turn two joined compositions into one live exchange, heard through Sonus faber Stradivari G2 and McIntosh at ROYCO in Seoul.
Read story →Peter Foster explains how Halcro approaches difficult loudspeakers, RF-heavy systems and power-factor-corrected supplies.
Read story →The same musical passages return across one switch, two switches and an external clock, inviting listeners to settle in and compare each return for themselves.
Read story →A rapid acoustic duet recorded at SELekt, where picked lines, body percussion and shared pulse travel through MSB, Halcro and Kharma.
Read story →Dominique Fils-Aimé layers voice, bass and studio texture through a Kharma, darTZeel and MSB system at SELekt.
Read story →Anda, Schneiderhan and Fournier meet in Beethoven’s compact slow movement, played through Kalista, Ypsilon and Peak Consult.
Read story →Peter Foster links independent power supplies, shielding and a future phono stage to an unlikely lesson from cardiac monitoring.
Read story →Dominique Fils-Aimé’s voice returns through three clearly labelled Aurender configurations, with the same passages available for a calm, repeatable comparison.
Read story →Dan Forrest’s arrangement sets sustained choral lines against an articulated orchestral drive, heard through MSB, Halcro and Kharma.
Read story →Peter Foster describes Halcro’s democratic design process, its preference for long-form listening and the engineering ideas carried into Equinox.
What we explore
Step inside listening rooms, hear remarkable systems and discover the small choices that help the equipment disappear.
Meet the designers and explore the ideas behind amplifiers, digital sources, loudspeakers and the rooms around them.
Spend time with records, performers and places—with music always at the centre.
How we work
We name the room, system, music and any sponsorship behind each story. HiFi Immersion keeps editorial control, and every subtitle and localization is reviewed before publication.
