In 2009 two headphone enthusiasts founded Audeze with the lofty ambition to make the best cans on the planet. Manufacturing planar magnetic headphones of the highest quality the firm has, in just six years, established itself as a beacon amongst both monitoring professionals and consumer audiophiles. Their range includes the standard-setting LCD-2 (£799) and more […]
When my memory serves me well, and on audio related topics it usually does, the two best phono stages I have had at home were equipped with LCR RIAA EQ networks. So when I noticed that Remton Audio of the Czech Republic was making one I immediately contacted UK distributor BD-Audio. A little explanation of […]
Arcam has gone through a few changes since its heyday in the eighties and nineties. Once an independent run by its founder and chief engineer John Dawson it is now owned by Canadian conglomerate Jam Industries and run by a dedicated managing director who leaves John to get on with the interesting stuff. He appears […]
Space has been more expensive than stuff in this part of the world for some time now and that has had quite a severe effect on the world of stereo systems, hi-fi, call it what you will. The popularity of headphones is not merely linked to the the quantity of music you can keep on […]
Many years ago I discovered that products built for the professional market work well in domestic systems as well. This is especially true for D/A converters and loudspeakers, maybe less so for 19” rack mount amplifiers (except Bryston and ATC). In a studio loudspeakers are often in the walls, however you always find a pair […]
Can this Musical Fidelity integrated with onboard DAC sound as good as it looks? Réne closes his eyes and lets the music work its magic. When I was asked to pick a Musical Fidelity amplifier for a review I was attracted to the beautiful silver front and the quietly shining LEDs of the M3si, but […]
René didn’t like class D amplifiers but that has all changed now that he’s heard this remarkable pairing from NAD. High resolution, power and features, what’s not to like?Several years ago I considered New Acoustic Dimension, NAD for short, to be a high profile manufacturer specializing in mid-fi that also tried its hand in the […]
Leema's least expensive phono stage may be small but it's capable of very big things when attached to a tip top turntable. Jason Kennedy finds out just how essential it really is for a vinyl lover. Leema started out in loudspeakers but quickly established a good foothold on the hard fought turf of the British […]
I don’t know about you but Elipson’s spherical Planet loudspeakers are among the most attractive in the business, the timeless geometric design has been in production for decades and deservedly so. I guess it was inevitable that one day they would come to the conclusion that some matching electronics might not be such a bad […]
Like father, like son is certainly true for Paul and Scott McGowan of PS Audio. Scott developed his own amplifier under the name of his father’s company but financed it with crowd sourcing website Kickstarter. It’s a totally different amplifier to anything PS Audio has yet made, both in looks and technology. The Sprout is […]
Naim's qutest streaming amplifier is 2 and for its birthday the engineers in Salisbury gave it a new antenna and access to more music than you can shake a baton at. Why review this 2014 revamp of Naim’s most affordable streaming amplifier now? Because alongside the rest of the Uniti range it recently gained two […]
Rega’s latest integrated fills a gap in the range with yet another highly entertaining and engaging amplifier that combines more musicality and precision than most of the competition can muster. We are big Rega fans here at the Ear so when the company introduced the new Elex-R integrated it didn’t take long to get hold […]