Arke Mikros: small sounds beautiful
Arke Audio Mikros speakers If a new product excites a reviewer, it does the more so when it’s from a totally new brand, and so we welcome Arke Audio into the audiophile arena with its growing range of passive loudspeakers. Joining the company’s two-way Solos launch model comes the more compact Mikros (from the Greek, […]
Advance Paris A10 Apex; the amp you always promised yourself
Advance Paris A10 Apex integrated amplifier These are exciting times for Advance Paris. The company has gone from being an interesting organisation sniffing around the edges of mainstream acceptance to one on the cusp of becoming part of the established order. You can buy their products in a healthy selection of dealers, including a nationwide […]
CXN100 SE brings DSD to the streaming party
Cambridge Audio CXN100 SE streamer The affordable end of the streaming market has seen a lot of activity over the last few years, especially with the addition of killer products from brands such as Wiim, Eversolo and Bluesound, to name a few. Meanwhile, London-based Cambridge Audio have been quietly getting on with the job of […]
707 S3 Prestige Edition: compact audio dynamite
Bowers & Wilkins 707 S3 Prestige Edition speakers We tend to think of tweaks or small upgrades to products being the domain of smaller companies, often run by one or two people who won’t let it lie when it comes to squeezing maximum performance out of their creations. This desire to make an audio component […]
GIK Amplitude room optimisation for real
GIK Amplitude Acoustic Panels Building your perfect system can often be a frustrating process. Often, despite painstakingly choosing and assembling our dream setup, we still find aspects of the system’s performance that fall short. You may have invested in the best supports and, perhaps cables and mains products with price tags that make you wince, […]
Dali Rubikore 6: greater than the sum of its parts
Dali Rubikore 6 speakers When I think of Denmark I think of stylish people, in minimalist houses, all with great furniture, great hair, great faces. Ok, I’m being silly but having visited Copenhagen several times over the years, my positive stereotype is fairly well founded. The Dali Rubikore 6 only cements my conviction, with its […]
Oephi Ascendence 2.5 makes music listening an event
Oephi Ascendence 2.5 speakers Oephi speakers have become a familiar sight in my listening room over the last few months, yet the Ear has not been alone in handing out plaudits to this Danish brand. Many of us in the industry feel that Joakim Juhl’s designs are genuine game changers. I, for one, have written […]
Muon2 network switch: next level streaming
Network Acoustics Muon2 network switch With Dela (£12,999), Xact (£6,000) and now Innuos (£21,500) making high end, high priced network switches it must be becoming clear to the bits is bits brigade that there is more to getting good sound out of a streaming system than a decent DAC. Network Acoustics have been making filters […]
Xavian Unica solid oak speakers deliver solid value
Xavian Unica speakers Not long ago, I had a great time reviewing a pair of Xavian Grande Unica loudspeakers. This time, the owner of Xavian brought me a pair of Unica monitors. The same idea, the same kind of wood, and the same drivers — minus the second woofer. Roberto Barletta makes his Unica speakers […]
Nagra Compact Player: a streaming solution that delivers
Nagra Compact Player network streamer Nagra has some claim to being the OG high end audio brand, it’s hard to think of another that has been making such well built and regarded equipment for longer. The brand’s origins lie in tape recorders, both full size studio machines and portable examples that are among the most […]
Revival Atalante 7 Évo: top notch heavy entertainment
Revival Audio Atalante 7 Évo speakers We are used to seeing small and medium sized speakers from Revival but the Atalante 7 Évo is a whole other kettle of drive units. There must be some other three-ways around that run a 15 inch bass driver but the only one that comes to mind is the […]
Grell OAE-2 headphones that sound like speakers
Grell OAE-2 headphones I know what at least a few people reading this are thinking; something along the lines of ‘oh look, another headphone from a company I’ve never heard of.’ While it’s not unreasonable to be unfamiliar with Grell Audio, the activities of its founder might be better known. Axel Grell, founder of Grell […]