Soundsmith Zephyr MIMC cartridge One of the key aspects of vinyl replay is mating the cartridge to the most complementary arm (and turntable) in order to get the best out of the grooves which that poor stylus is asked to follow faithfully. It’s also interesting to note that in the various on-line forums there are […]
Fezz Audio Mira Ceti 300B tube amplifier We hear lots about the vinyl revival and there is no doubt that the LP format is here to stay and is growing in popularity. But there is another revival going on – namely valve amplifiers. Statistics are sketchy for Europe, but several sources estimate global sales at […]
Elipson 402 Tribute speakers The French have always been a bit more outgoing when it comes to design, you only have to look at the Citroen DS or the creations of Philippe Starck to see that imagination thrives as well as cuisine in that part of the globe. The same is true of audio gear, […]
Soulnote A-1 integrated amplifier The story behind Soulnote’s rise to success is bound up with chief engineer Hideki Kato’s youth. At that time he loved music but couldn’t afford to buy a decent amplifier so built one himself and managed to create something that sounded better than the alternatives he compared it with. Later on […]
Chord Company Phono Aray turntable grounding device ‘Stay grounded’ has become an audiophile touchstone – not in the sense of resisting the urge to upgrade (never gonna happen) but making arguably the most vital upgrade there is: lowering your system’s noise floor. The proliferation of grounding/earthing products with that specific aim speaks to a growing […]
Peak Consult Sonora loudspeakers When people say there’s more to something than meets the eye, it usually turns out to be just a glib turn of phrase, but in the case of the Sonora from Peak Consult, it happens to be true. They may look similar to many speakers of their size, but their construction […]
Laiv Harmony DAC Way back in the 20th century, Sony and Philips set the CD standard at the maximum for current technology. A bit depth of 16 bits was the limit of what could be achieved for recording, storing and decoding as an affordable commercial product and was deemed adequate for good sound quality, providing […]
Acoustic Energy AE300.2 speakers You know you’re getting old when you recall hi-fi brand launches dating back to 1987, that was the year that Acoustic Energy started, in London. One of the founders, I recall, was a neighbour of Richard Branson who I ended up helping with his antenna array. At the time I had […]
Michell Apollo phono stage It has been a while since Michell launched any electronics that weren’t directly related to controlling the speed of a turntable but the company’s history in this area dates back over 30 years to their first phono stage the Michell Iso. That compact but very effective preamp was designed for Michell […]
Mofi Electronics Sourcepoint 888 speakers The danger for ‘hired gun’ design talent is runaway expectation: a strong reputation dictates a positive outcome. Multiple positive outcomes confer so much emphasis on the designer’s apparent infallibility, even the smallest misstep is seen as a fail. The thing about Andrew Jones hasn’t been just his ability to surf […]
Skyanalog Ref moving coil cartridge You wouldn’t expect a hi-fi artisan to emerge from the farmlands of rural China, but that’s exactly where Skyanalog founder Jack Leung’s story begins. Growing up in the 1980s, in a place where electronic components were hard to come by, Jack’s fascination with sound and circuitry took root. Jack’s academic […]
Piega Premium 301 Gen2 loudspeakers You could be forgiven for thinking that Piega sounds like it should be based in either Spain or Italy, but in fact it’s a Swiss company, based in Horgen on the shores of Lake Zurich. Piega was founded back in 1986 by Kurt Scheuch and industrial designer Leo Greiner, who […]