In 1987 Arcam paved the way for the consumer DAC industry with the release of their Black Box, the very first outboard D/A converter to target this market. Somewhat ahead of their time, another 23 years would pass before Arcam returned to what is now a fiercely competitive sector, and a concerted effort has clearly […]
It’s not every day that I am invited to listen to a truly high-end system so when the Dutch Distributor of MBL, Orpheus Lab and TARA Labs asked me over to hear a very nice system I took a day off work to make the most of it. He had the Orpheus Lab Heritage amplifiers […]
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 […]
2014 was a good year for new kit, both René and I struggled to narrow our selection down to three piece each and many fine products were discovered that didn’t make the cut. But the six products below were the cream of the crop, the components that made our music sound more compelling than all […]
An almost cubic DAC with a knob on it, from Bulgaria, with my reputation? Not half. Turns out that Antelope Audio has its origins in the US but all the R&D and marketing comes from Sofia, so Bulgarian enough then. I tried the first Antelope converter (now dubbed Zodiac 192 kHz) when the digital streaming […]
The mu-so is Naim’s first foray into the world beyond separates hi-fi. An all in one wireless sound system designed to sit on the sideboard of music lovers who want quality without clutter and the ability to play tunes straight from their mobile phones. It’s a brave move for a company that’s steeped in less […]
A long, long time ago I had a teenage urge to become a DJ and built myself a mixing console. Unable to work with electronics I made a passive version with some sliding pots, I was too young to understand that a passive preamp or console changes more than the volume when moving the sliders. […]