Bowers & Wilkins 702 S3 Signature Bowers & Wilkins have established a working pattern over the last decade or so that sees certain models from their upper ranges upgraded to Signature status after they have been on the market for a while. We saw this most recently with the 801 Signature and this year the […]
Niimbus US 5 Pro headphone preamplifier The Niimbus US 5 Pro is the flagship headphone amplifier-cum-line-stage produced by German company Lake People. It is designed by Lake’s People’s chief engineer Fried Reim, whose handiwork also appears under two other brand names, both of them part of the Lake People enterprise. The Lake People imprint is […]
Atoll MS120 streamer Somewhat bizarrely, it was in an Austrian high street dealer, while sheltering from a torrential downpour, that I heard the Atoll MS120 streamer. It was clear that the unit has great qualities and, having enjoyed the brand’s integrated streaming amps, I wanted to try this mini version in my own system. French […]
Monitor Audio Studio 89 loudspeakers It was back I the ‘80s, I recall, when Monitor Audio launched its Studio Series of loudspeakers. Now, taking its name from that now fashionable time, the Studio 89 has launched and I was excited to put this compact two-way through its paces, especially as it borrows some technology from […]
Isoslice The Block & Turntable isolation platforms I met Isoslice owner Paul Mallyon at the UK Audio show in London last year, where he was exhibiting his Isoslice platforms. He had small pads for loudspeakers and a larger one for turntables. He explained that, as a professional musician and composer, and recording engineer of some […]
Network Acoustics muon2 USB cable It could be argued that within the niche world of high-end audio streaming, Network Acoustics is changing our expectations of what is possible, at least at sub second mortgage levels anyway. Despite not even being their top model, the eno2 streaming system we recently reviewed has taken my listening enjoyment […]
Soulnote D-2 DAC Soulnote is Japanese brand that has been around for a lot longer than recent events would suggest. They first made an impact on me at the High End show, Munich in 2022 but a quick web search reveals that their products go back considerably further, to 2004 in fact when it was […]
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 […]
Ophidian Ffion speakers As a reviewer who has form for turning the spotlight on less well-known brands, I find a particular pathology often on display in audio dealer showrooms really quite fascinating. Say a customer auditions three contending models of speakers; among them is one that isn’t the creature of a big brand A or […]
Russ Andrews X6 block MkII, RF Router, Technical Ground Weave, Evolution-300 Powerkord, Yello Power, DC Blocker Russ Andrews has long been of the opinion that power delivery and grounding are critical to the potential of any sound system, he introduced an audiophile power cable as far back as 1986 and have a number of useful […]
Titan Audio Eros V2 mains block and FFT Module The mains supply should arguably be considered the front end of every good hi-fi system. The ultimate sonic results that we achieve will depend on a stable supply of electricity, effective earthing, rejection of noise from elsewhere in our households, and, indeed, cross-contamination between components within […]