By On February 11, 2026, FutureAudiophile.com and a select group of its most generous partners are scheduled to donate a studio-quality audiophile system to the Shelemay Audiolab at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Under the leadership of John Pax, PhD., the students at Harvard have been learning about the emotional power of listening to music via a high-resolution music playback system via various formats, ranging from MP3-level streaming to vinyl and HD digital sources and beyond. These budding audiophiles are about to get a major sonic upgrade.
The christening of this stunning audiophile system will be done at a private event that will include a hand-picked group of Harvard students, as well as a curated selection of mainstream press who are set to experience this once-in-a-lifetime event.
The Audiophile Experience at the Harvard Event Will Include …
- Career Guidance for Students from FutureAudioiphile.com publisher Jerry Del Colliano – Del Colliano’s career in the world of high-end audio first thrived when he was a student at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music. Back in the early to mid-1990s, he sold uber-high-end audiophile equipment at Christopher Hansen Ltd. in Beverly Hills, as well as the world’s most expensive audiophile and screening room systems at Cello Music and Film Los Angeles while being mentored by industry icon Mark Levinson. Del Colliano will share modern opportunities and real-world examples of how young people today are making deep six-figure livings involved in the world of high-performance audio.
- An Insider’s Look at Audiophile Formats from Marc Finer – Finer launched the Compact Disc for Sony in the early 1980s and has been involved with nearly each and every consumer digital music standard since then. Finer will present a history of music media from legacy formats to today’s most high-resolution recordings, as only someone with his vast experience can.
- Everyone will get to experience “The Audiophile Pepsi Challenge” with Recording Engineer Gus Sinkas – Sinkas co-developed the Sonoma System, which is the go-to recording platform for Sony’s Super Audio CD format and DSD technology. Sinkas has worked on a number of famous projects and will be bringing a Sonoma System, loaded with master quality files of well-known recordings, to the event.
- The audience will have an opportunity to hear, in explicit detail, the sonic differences between the same track (volume level-matched) on formats ranging from MP3 files to pristine vinyl on a high-end turntable and HD streaming via Qobuz and be able to compare today’s best audiophile-grade formats with their actual digital masters. All of these details and dynamics will be experienced
How is This New System Configured and What Audiophile Products Will Be Used?
The Shelemay Music lab will get an entirely new full-range audio system donated by FutureAudiophile.com and its generous partners in this philanthropic project.
Here is the current list of gear that will make up the new system:
VPI: Avenger Turntable
T+A DAC 200: Digital to Analog Converter
SVS Ultra Evolution Pinnacle Loudspeakers
(2) SVS SB-17 Ultra Subwoofers
Qobuz HD Streaming
The total retail value of the system being donated is over $100,000. The equipment will be installed permanently in the Shelemay Audio Lab after the event. The students will be able to schedule private listening sessions to test their own mixes and recordings on this new system and more. Lots of research goes on at Harvard and the new equipment will help those efforts.
Why is This Event So Important to the Audiophile Community?
The mission statement of FutureAudiophile.com (read it here) is an ambitious one. As the current generation of audiophiles continues to age, the need for new, younger and more diverse enthusiasts to join this hobby has never been more pressing. Enthusiasm for studio-quality music with generations of young people who were born into a digital world that easily provides unlimited access to this is at an all-time high.
This exclusive FutureAudiophile.com program will be an invitation-only event, mainly due to limited space.
“Thanks to the overwhelming positive feedback from this event, we are already looking at other universities and organizations that we can work with in the near future to repeat the pending success of this event” says Jerry Del Colliano. “We plan to try to build on this and other similar projects to bring new and more diverse people into the audiophile world.”
Photos and a full report will be published soon after the event for FutureAudiophile.com readers to read.
Contact Jerry Del Colliano at 310.860.9988 or jerry@FutureAudiophie.com for more details or to ask any questions.
While I think this is a great idea and study. I really don’t think Harvard needs anything donated to it. Why not an institution that needs this type of equipment?
Very Interesting. Gus’ Sonoma System was created by Andreas Koch of Playback Designs, the Anerican DAC manufacturer.
I dont think it gets any better. On my end, we donate systems to end users that cant afford high end audio, but are very passionate about music !