Electrocompaniet EC1M MkII streamer & DAC The ECM 1 MkII is not a new product but my attention was drawn to it by someone whose ears I have come to trust, namely Rich Trussel of Network Acoustics. Rich has a pretty fancy system with Vivid G2 speakers and a Soulution power amplifier, he must be […]
Jico Clipper headshell and cartridge Who has most fun with hi-fi? Not, I suspect, those for whom building the perfect system through the application of ever escalating funds is the destination. While potentially hugely satisfying, the process probably has more in common with an episode of television’s Grand Designs than the joy of casually messing […]
Avid Altus V2 and Nexus V2 tonearms Without pick-up arms, where would we be? Unable to play and enjoy our favourite records. And without well-engineered and high quality pick-up arms we’d never be able to enjoy the huge amount of analogue information stored in those minute grooves. Inevitably, any looseness in the mechanical retrieval system […]
Melco S1 network switch “That’s a lot of money for a switch” is the most common response when I mention the figure, and it is, but network switches are critical to the performance of any streaming system, more so than many realise. They are the gatekeepers for any streamer and have to get the signal […]
Bricasti Design M11 R-2R Classic DAC When Madrigal Labs folded in 2004 and the Mark Levinson brand they worked for was sold to Harman, Brian Zolner and Casey Dowdell combined their names with a little bit of Italian flare to create Bricasti Design. These guys are audio engineers to the core, not the sort of […]
Mutec REF10 SE120 master clock The REF10 SE120 is just one product, not two, and quite a compact one at that. It is a 10MHz master clock, the £5,200 flagship design from Berlin-based Mutec. Not so long ago such a device would be regarded by most audiophiles as professional exotica to be found only in […]
Luphonic R2 turntable & arm The vinyl revival is in full swing and turntables sales are on the up. If you needed evidence, just look at how vinyl and indeed turntables have suddenly been given front-of-house status in HMV stores with CDs relegated to the back of the showroom, if you can find them at […]
Bluesound Node Icon streamer A dealer friend recently told me that a streamer’s success is highly dependent on the quality of the control app assigned to it. Looking at the impact made by brands such as Auralic at the higher end and Wiim at the budget end suggests that this theory is a valid one. […]
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 […]
Dynavector DV-20X2A moving coil cartridge It never ceases to amaze me how technology and processes used to good effect in other industries can be adapted to hi-fi applications to achieve improvements in the sound quality of a product. A great example is the annealing process applied by Japanese manufacturer Dynavector to the key iron parts […]
Rega Planar 3 RS Edition turntable, arm & cartridge The turntable market is pretty well supplied with offerings at almost all price points, so why did Rega feel the need to create the Planar 3 RS Edition? I presume it’s because there is a pretty wide gap between the price of the standard Planar 3 […]
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 […]