Cayin Soul-170HA headphone-speaker amplifier Among the longer-established Chinese audio product vendors is Cayin, a name that many readers will recognise for combining serious audio engineering expertise with the often typically low retail prices common to products from the region. The company’s new Soul-170HA headphone-speaker amplifier will make value-hounds go weak at the knees at the […]
Viva Solista MkIII integrated tube amplifier Italians have a real passion for tube amplifiers and a flair for design so it’s not surprising that the Viva amplifiers come from that part of the world, specifically Camisano near Padua. The company was started by brothers Amadeo and Giampietro Schembri in the mid nineties and builds a […]
Fell Audio Amp integrated amplifier New audio companies appear all the time. Every time Munich rolls around, we’re usually treated to one or two newcomers aiming to take on the established order with a product that is usually enormous, wildly ambitious and extremely expensive. The product you see here is rather different though. Fell Audio […]
Roksan Caspian 4G integrated amplifier This reviewing malarkey never ceases to amaze me. Our esteemed editor will ask if I am interested in reviewing a product and I will agree, usually without getting into a lather awaiting the ring of the doorbell by the courier. Other times I cannot wait to get my hands on […]
Project Audio Stereo Set E1 system I have been listening to music via digital mediums exclusively since the mid-nineties. Prior to this, I was an avid record collector, albeit on a schoolboy budget. My migration to CD was forced by circumstances, namely that until recently I had neither the space nor suitable room in which […]
Cambridge Audio EXA100 integrated amplifier Cambridge Audio’s marketing slogan proclaims, Sounding Great since 1968 and shows just how long the brand has been around. Originally a division of Cambridge Consultants, its first product was the 20W/ch P40 integrated amplifier (one of the first to use toroidal transformers). The firm became Cambridge Audio Labs based in […]
The Ear’s reviewers pick the best hi-fi of 2024 If you want to know the best hi-fi of 2024, the audio products that really wowed our reviewers this year look no further. These components that made a lasting impression, they are the ones reviewers would have held onto if they could and sometimes did. There […]
Sugden Audio Masterclass IA-4 integrated amplifier Sugden are survivors. There aren’t very many independent British electronics brands that have been around since the ark and Sugden go back further than Linn, Naim and Rega, all of the older brands have been bought up by international operations. Last year Sugden encountered a major set-back when MD […]
Circle Labs A200 integrated amplifier Circle Labs will be a new name to many, yet this Polish manufacturer has been producing high-end audio products since the latter part of the twentieth century. The two guys behind Circle Labs, Krzysztof Wilczyński and Krzystof Lichoń, took the company, whose core business is in the design and manufacture […]
Musical Fidelity A1 integrated amplifier “Have you fried an egg on it yet?” asked an industry friend upon spying the new Musical Fidelity A1 amplifier. Well you could. Mine reached just short of 73°C, more than the 70°C needed to cook an egg properly. Even for Class A that’s hot. The original A1 was based […]
Luxman L-509Z integrated amplifier My first introduction to the venerable Japanese audio brand Luxman was way back in 1981, when I could finally afford my first ‘proper’ hi-fi system. A very good salesman at a shop in Tottenham Court Road, London, the name of which has long since disappeared from my over-crowded memory bank, recommended […]
Enleum HPA-23RM headphone amplifier Brands seldom hit the big time with their first product but Enleum’s AMP-23R integrated amplifier that Kevin Fiske reviewed in 2021 immediately earned the respect of hi-fi and head-fi enthusiasts alike and is no less revered three years on. Such an achievement is rarely the result of happenstance and the apparent […]