Atoll CD400 Evolution CD player and DAC We’ve all been lost in an internet rabbit hole, gone down a Youtube tunnel and found ourselves in no-man’s-land. Can you remember the last time you got lost in your own CD collection? The Atoll CD400 Evo sent me on such a journey. It took me so far […]
Fell Audio Disc CD player Years ago I recall hearing the naysayers proclaiming that the end of the CD format was nigh. Yet here we are, in 2025, reviewing an entry level CD player, and from a British manufacturer at that. Fell Audio made great waves towards the end of last year following the announcement […]
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 […]
Cyrus 40 CD player UK audio manufacturer Cyrus has launched a new family of separates, the 40 Series. It’s a re-think of its existing popular range that at debut comprises just four products, but is likely to grow further. Aesthetically the new look is sleeker, some might say more up-to-date, with dark glass, TFT displays […]
Ayre EX-8 2.0 integrated amplifier & CX-8 CD player The Ayre EX-8 2.0 and CX-8 are innocuous looking components, they do not inhabit heavy, machined aluminium cases and nor do they have much in the way of ornamentation, in black they look very restrained indeed. Yet beneath the plain exterior are electronics that ensure all […]
AVM Ovation CS 8.3 Black Edition AVM Ovation CS 8.3 Black Edition is a long name for any piece of kit but this particular piece is both multifunctional and sits at the top of the tree in AVM’s streaming amplifier tree, so it has earned the moniker. AVM make more streaming amplifiers than most, it […]
Rega Saturn Mk3 CD player & DAC Th Saturn Mk3 is a classic example of ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ thinking from Rega. With the exception of the front panel it is in all respects the same as its Saturn-R predecessor. This move means that it’s stylistically in keeping with the rest of […]
Marantz SACD 30n & Model 30 With the Marantz SACD 30n this classic brand has its eyes firmly set on the quality conscious consumer, the people who are prepared to pay more for things that are well built and well designed. We’re talking upper end BMWs and Audis, Apple products and Santa Cruz mountain bikes […]
Are you one of those people caught up in the headlong rush to abandon physical media? Are you now committed to only using your preferred streaming service to deliver all your music? has your local charity shop got boxes full of your old CDs because you discovered that they have no second hand value? Or […]
It’s been more than 20 years since I last had the pleasure of unpacking a new piece of hi-fi kit for review. And a lot has changed during that time. For instance, even the actual act of unboxing seems to have become an entertainment itself, given the number of YouTube videos out there that have […]
ATC aren’t into change for changes sake, they won’t revise the range every year or so just to refresh its profile in the market, indeed even when they give something a major overhaul as is the case here the appearance remains much the same. The only external difference between the new CDA2 and its predecessor […]
It says something about the size of the German market that AVM, a brand with a substantial range of high end hardware, was virtually unknown on these shores until it started working with PMC. AVM’s products have so much consistency of industrial design that it’s difficult to tell them apart at a glance, it’s hard […]