At Capital Audiofest 2025, a small book on a table in cable manufacturer M101’s exhibit caught my eye. Titled Passport to Sound, it’s a children’s book that explains the principles of audio components and systems by means of a treasure hunt that guides young listeners through the exhibits at an audio show. What a wonderful idea, I thought. For as long as I can remember, the audio industry has been wringing its collective hands about the need to interest a new generation of audiophiles. And in my hand was evidence that someone, M101’s May Anwar, was doing something about it.
As I was reading through Passport to Sound, I found myself thinking, “this book isn’t just for kids.” Even long-time audiophiles would enjoy it, and for newbies, it’s a fun way of being introduced to the basic concepts of audio. There are chapters on learning how audio components work, on hunting for specific gear at shows, and even on learning about different types of cables and accessories. It’s all presented in a way that makes it fun for budding audio enthusiasts to learn more.
And the 32-page book is not just for kids. As May told me, “I was honestly surprised by the age range of people who wanted to learn about the audiophile world through it.”
Well, I wanted to learn more, so I talked to May Anwar. Our conversation veered off into some unexpected paths, but that often happens in the process of learning.
M101's May Anwar and a young audiophile in a mentorship moment at Capital Audiofest 2025.
Frank Doris: Before delving into the book, can you tell people a little bit about M101 the company and how it got started?
May Anwar: My husband (Lubomir Dostal) and I have backgrounds in academia. We're both scientists and I'm still in academia. During COVID – I think a lot of people went through COVID reflecting on what they were doing, and [asked themselves], are they really enjoying it or not? He was an audiophile. So, pursuing it was his passion. Of course, I was a bit worried [about changing careers to found M101]. It was a huge change. But the thing is, I believe that if you're passionate about something, especially the work that you're doing, that's a huge factor. And he's really happy doing this. It's been almost four years, so we are relatively new.
FD: So what inspired you to create Passport to Sound?
MA: [At audio shows] we stream music in our room. When children would accompany their parents into the room, I would give them the iPad to [let them] pick out a song of their choice. You love the look on their faces. You give them the best spot and tell them they are in control.
You would see the transition [in their attitude], like, “oh wow, now I am enjoying this show!” And the children would pick this mainstream music, like Taylor Swift, and you would see [the older] people in the back disappear. And I felt so bad, because I did not know how to include these children. [But] they're part of the show. At [Florida Audio Expo] we had a lot of children in the room.
So I figured there had to be a better way for these children to be included in the show and not feel like they're being dragged by parents. And to be honest, I know what it was like to be an outsider. I have loved music throughout my life, and I was shocked when I [started to accompany] my husband to these shows, and people are using all these terminologies like “soundstage.” What did they even mean by that? And I felt so stupid. And so I was like: here I am. I've always loved music, and I didn’t even know this industry existed, and I felt an outsider looking in. So I could feel that [learning about audio] was something that needed to be simplified, [to allow] everybody to be included. And there was nothing for me to learn from.
Sample pages from Passport to Sound.
FD: Why did you create this as a children's book instead of, say, a textbook? Although I have to say, I have a lot of those kinds of books in my library, but if you expect someone, especially a child, to learn about our industry from reading these, forget it, or at best it could be boring. I don’t want to insult all the audio writers out there – including me! – but in reality, to reach a young person and especially a child, you have to make the information accessible to them.
MA: It helped that I’m an educator. I designed the book so that it's a scavenger hunt for audio shows. If I had designed the book for children to read on their own in their homes…nobody's going to do that.
FD: Especially in today's world of instant gratification and social media.
MA: Absolutely. I teach college level, and honestly, the trend is literally instant gratification. They want the least number of sentences to read. They just want a concept [to be] right there, spell it out as easily as possible.
FD: Your book is not a textbook. It’s fun and it draws you in.
MA: Thank you.
FD: There I was, I’m 70 years old and I'm reading through it going, “this is really cool.”
MA: I had adults [at the show] take the book because they wanted to learn from it. They could hold the book and, without having to ask anybody, they could learn about the systems and how they are all set up, without feeling intimidated. I was surprised by those adults who actually had the courage to even to approach me and say, “Hey, I'm not a child, but can I take one?”
You don't have to be a child to benefit from Passport to Sound.
FD: And you’ll have them at the upcoming Florida Audio Expo? [Editor’s note: Florida Audio Expo will take place February 20 – 22, 2026 at the Sheraton Tampa Brandon hotel in Tampa, FL.]
MA: I am going to. Capital Audiofest was a small test run. Are you familiar with Steven Rochlin from Enjoy the Music?
FD: I've known him since forever. We're good friends.
MA: I took the idea [for the book] to him, and he was the one who said, “Go for it.” He's been really helping me with this idea.
Another thing I’ve come across: I was worried [because] I see the trend with new generation going towards headphones and iPods, and they do not want to be sitting inside a room by themselves [listening to music]. They want to travel. They don't want to buy homes, because they want to work remotely, they want to travel. And so this whole audiophile world that we know of as of right now does not align in their world. So for me, that’s also been a concern, because if we’re losing these people, what does this say about this industry?
FD: For as long as I can remember, ever since 1984 when I started writing record reviews for The Absolute Sound, people have been complaining that the industry is aging out. It gets tiresome to me because I think fundamentally people want to hear good sound. Is good audio equipment going to go away once the Baby Boomers are no longer around? I don’t think so. Most of the people I know who got into the audio industry got into it for the same thing – because they wanted to hear their favorite music sound as good as possible.
MA: Most of the people that I’ve talked with, [when I’ve asked], “how did you get into this?” They had an uncle or somebody in the family, or there was somebody they came across who was an audiophile and they heard their system and realized, “Huh, this is what music is supposed to sound like!” [But] I worry that we are on a trend where things are getting really expensive, it's turning exclusive. And music should be for everyone.
FD: I wonder how much of the emphasis on expensive equipment is an overemphasis. Yeah, if you want to buy a watch, you can buy a Patek Philippe or whatever, but not everybody who needs a watch has to buy one, and expensive watches aren’t the only ones that can tell time. At Capital Audiofest the DC HiFi group demonstrated three budget systems starting at under $600, and this was a system you or I could enjoy for the rest of our lives. On the other hand, you can’t build state-of-the-art speakers for a low price; it’s just not possible in terms of what goes into them. And I admire the state of the art. But I also admire speakers like ELAC or Audioengine desktop speakers. I think some people will buy the Patek Philippe and others will buy Apple watches, and some will buy Wilson Audio speakers and others will get ELAC speakers, and that’s how it’ll play out.
MA: Another thing is…all those different parts of [an audio] system…it gets really confusing as to what is what, right? People who are in [the industry] forget what it’s like to be an outsider and that there’s a bit of a learning curve.
FD: Yeah. Even for me, things like computer audio and complex digital audio setups can be difficult. People want simplicity, and that includes me! And as you mentioned, most people want instant gratification today. Sure, audiophiles enjoy tweaking and upgrading and spending time with their systems, but it’s essential we reach out to a new generation who doesn’t want to do all that stuff.
Back to the book: how did you decide what level of detail you wanted to go into?
MA: Because you are a writer, you know this too. We have to know our audience. And as an educator, I have to constantly change the way I teach the material that I teach. People think that once you have the material ready, you're constantly using the same material. It's not like that. You always have to adapt accordingly. It takes work. But that is what makes a teacher effective.
So with [Passport to Sound], the idea was that if I turned it into a simple book that is available for anybody to buy online, yes, I will sell the book, but it's not going to serve its purpose. Nobody is going to read it once [they’re] home. So I thought, the best way to [use the book to] learn was to be at an audio show where you have access to everything right there, all set up for you. And you can go around and can pick [what you want to learn about]. What are amps? What are they doing? What is a preamp? What is a phono stage? So how do you put it all together where one is not getting lost?
This youngster marks her progress at Capital Audiofest 2025.
FD: Reading the book brought back my perspective of what it was like to discover high-end audio. I’m still enthusiastic, but reading through the book, it reminded me of the fun of discovery. I think if you ask every single person in the industry, or every audiophile, about when they first heard a really good audio system, they have a vivid memory of it, and they flipped out when they heard sound like that for the first time.
MA: Did you read the story at the back of the book regarding the bunny? That actually happened at AXPONA.
FD: I wasn't sure whether you just made that up as a fairytale. That really happened?
MA: This young girl had a pet bunny named Potato, and she was on a mission to help her dad. The bunny had chewed through one of her dad’s cables, and she was on a mission to help him find a new one. She started asking questions like, “are these cables safe from rabbits? Are they OK to use?” So she was thinking about how to make the [audio system] fit into her world.
FD: So that’s how you got the inspiration for the book.
MA: That is how it all started.
I will add one more thing to the question that you asked regarding why the book is written at the level that it has been. There are 100-level courses that are the basic courses, and then 200, 300…When I entered academia as an educator, it was kind of known that the higher up you go in your [career], the more challenging it gets to teach 100-level courses, because it's difficult to put yourself in the shoes of students who have absolutely no background. So [I tried to do that]. And I believe that once you give them a foundation, they are more prone to going outside and researching and adding the extra information themselves. You have to focus on building the foundation. If you overwhelm them, you lose them.
FD: This brings up an interesting point. There was a time when I was first starting out in the audio industry, and I didn't want people to know how little I knew...
MA: I went through that. I didn't want to look dumb. When I went to my first audio show and I was going from room to room, the [exhibitors] were asking me, “OK, what do you want to know?” I felt really stupid that they were asking me all about all these things and I had no clue what the equipment was.
FD: Well, you know what? I'm not a trained engineer. I know a lot because I've been in the industry a long time, but I'm the first one to admit, when I see a lot of really technical stuff, it doesn’t sink in. Once I get to calculus-level math, you throw equations at me and I’m lost. But I'm at the point in my life where I realize that nobody's going to think I’m an idiot if I say that I don’t understand something. Well, at least I hope not!
But maybe that reluctance to admit you don’t know something is something that a lot of audiophiles feel, but they don’t want to show it.
MA: So yes, the book was written for children, but I was also hoping that it would be used by others as well, who are older.
There are a couple of other things I would like to share with you. Right after Capital Audiofest, I Googled “Passport to Sound” to see if anything came up. And [I found] this audio forum, and my husband explained to me that they're very skeptical. The book was not [even] out and they were already criticizing it, saying that it was a marketing gimmick because it was associated with a cable company. It was very discouraging, but I'm trying to get a very thick skin when it comes to online comments and things like that.
FD: I felt the same way when I started as editor of Copper. I had to moderate the comments, and some of them were pretty nasty. And as you can gather, I'm not a nasty person. I got really upset and defensive. And then I realized that there are people who are just going to be negative and contrary, and I needed to just shake it off. People will make negative comments about products they’ve never heard, just because they don’t agree with the idea of it, so they’re literally speaking from a position of ignorance. So I went through that exact same thing that you did, and it still kind of bothers me, but not as much as it used to.
MA: Ultimately it's up to the person. When you build a system, you're building it based upon what you like, not what you think other people would like.
FD: And if they don't like it, that's OK. And that's one of the fun things I like about the audio industry, that there are so many approaches to getting good sound. You have small tube amps, big solid-state amps, analog, digital, big budgets, small budgets. I think there's something for everybody. But your perspective can get lost, especially when you start thinking about some of the higher-priced gear. You’ve reminded me of why we all got into this in the first place, which is that we want to hear the…
MA: Music.
Now the challenge is how to keep this going.
FD: Well, the next time I hear somebody say, “Oh, high-end audio is dying! We’re getting old,” I’ll say, “Here, look at this book. Give this to your kid. Take your kid to an audio show.”
MA: You are keeping it going!
FD: Well, so many of us are in this for the same reason.
The enjoyment of music and audio is a journey!
All images courtesy of May Anwar.
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