Metrum Acoustics makes a small but remarkably well formed range of digital to analogue converters, but that is not all that sustains the company. The All Engineering production facility behind the brand makes ‘all’ kinds of electronics for different customers at its base in Zeewolde, Holland. Cees Ruijtenberg, founder of Metrum Acoustics (audio products) and […]
In 1983 Peter Lyngdorf founded DALI, the Danish Audiophile Loudspeaker Industry, to supply the Audionord Group in Scandinavia with its own brand of loudspeakers. After few years they moved to a small town called Norager where the factory is based today. This was my second visit to DALI in nine years and it has grown […]
It would seem that iFi and Chord Electronics were ahead of the game when they released their respective Nano iDSD and Hugo hi-res portable DACs last season. Japan and latterly the US and Europe are seeing new, hi-res portable DAC/amps appear on the market on an almost weekly basis. Sony and Denon have both launched […]
Once upon a time when history was in its infancy and nostalgia didn't yet exist, hi-fi fanatics had very little to be perplexed by or snobbish about. They pined for a thing that had a hole in it centre, rotated at either 33 or 78rpm and made sound through a single speaker, life was good. […]
I met up with Steve Silberman of AudioQuest a couple of months back and as well as extolling the virtues of his Ethernet cables he showed me JRiver’s software player for the PC and Mac. At the time he pointed out the many features and great flexibility of this programme, explaining that it can route […]
Forget world hunger, forget the everlasting state of war and poverty all around us, forget the corruption of the great and good! Cast your mind to matters far more important, for instance consider the matter of managing your audio files and routinely transferring them to a mobile device of one kind or another. Now there […]
Some years ago, whilst going through an obsessive period with hi-fi, I got onto the Naim track. Once I tuned into the grip and rhythm of Naim gear nothing else came close. Starting with a Nait integrated amp, I eagerly upgraded through the range as soon as funds would allow. Relishing every incremental improvement to […]
Ken Betts explains what possessed him to convert a stereo cartridge into a mono one and the steps he took in the process. One to try at home, if you have a steady hand and a keen eye. Building a moving coil cartridge is not the first thing that comes to mind when I wake […]
Scott Berry of CAD (Computer Audio Design) describes how to build a digital transport out of a computer and shares his tips getting started in computer audio. The biggest issue in computer audio is the perceived complexity. One of the things I am trying to show people is that this does not need […]
I am not a climate change zealot, nor a great fan of the Renewable Obligations imposed on power-generating companies by the previous Labour government. I am however alarmed by recent price hikes in electricity bills, partly the result of Renewable Obligations, and threats of more to come. During a lifetime spent fiddling with music systems […]