It is with great sadness that Stella Inc. and Zephyrn inc. announce our

mentor, colleague and former-CEO Hideaki Nishikawa passed away on the

morning of 28th June, 2023 surrounded by his loving family. Hideaki was

81 years old. He had been receiving medical treatment after suffering

from respiratory failure. We extend our deepest sympathies to his family.

Hideaki was a very accomplished designer and a visionary and talented

entrepreneur. He co-founded Stellavox Japan (current Stella Inc.) as an

importer/distributor of high end audio components to Japan in 1989. In

2001, he established Zephyrn inc. and then started a house brand

TechDAS in 2010. Under the TechDAS brand, he developed and designed a

number of award-winning analog turntables, acclaimed Air Force

turntables across the world. Especially the Air Force Zero premiered in

2019 was his statement of analog audio, fulfilling his lifetime dream of

the ultimate record reproduction, where he devoted all his energy and

decades of accomplishments.

He had a profound knowledge and experiences of audio, and pursued the

way towards the absolute excellence in audio driven by passion, without

any compromise. He devoted himself to bringing his goal to fruition,

with superior sensitivity, creativity and insight about everything. His

energy and ambition always inspired and encouraged us to work toward the

same goal.

At the same time, he was very cheerful and open-minded with generosity

and warmth in nature. He loved traveling to meet a lot of friends in the

audio community across the world to inspire each other. Spending time

together with friends always gave him great pleasure. He was loved and

respected by his friends and everyone of us. We feel it was a great

privilege to work closely with Hideaki.

We would like to take this opportunity to extend our sincere thanks for

your long standing support and friendship for Hideaki.

Hideaki's vision for the company will be continued by everyone of

Stella Group, led by Tsutomu Horikawa, CEO of Stella Inc, and Kohei Ando,

CEO of Zephyrn inc.

Sincerely yours,

Stella Group

(Stella Inc. / Zephyrn inc. / TechDAS)

Contact:

Motofumi Hirata