Denafrips Iris 12th DDC and Ares 12th-1 DAC Although this is the first time The Ear has published a review of one of the brand’s products, Denafrips has been making news amongst the audiophile community over the last few years. Technology such as R2R DACs and I2S connections have become synonymous with the brand, whose […]
Mutec MC3+ USB reclocker and Ref10 Nano master clock I have enjoyed the benefits of reclockers in the past, the little Ideon 3R USB Renaissance MkII was very inspiring for its asking price and the Innuos PhoenixUSB proved to be one of the highlights of 2020. In fact I encouraged a friend who owns the […]
Auralic Vega G2.2 DAC The Vega G2.2 is currently the only digital to analogue converter in Auralic’s seven strong range of streaming oriented electronics, the Vega G1 never made it to G1.1 status so at present there is a hole at that entry point for the brand. They do however make an Altair G1.1 which […]
Vertere Dark Sabre cartridge Back in October, just as Storm Babet was about to make landfall, a small group of audio writers gathered at Vertere’s North London headquarters to spend a day with the company’s founder and engineering leader Touraj Moghaddam. Regular readers will know that I have had the pleasure of reviewing several Vertere […]
Bricasti Design M19 SACD/CD transport, M1 Series II DAC, M20 preamplifier and M25 power amplifier Bricasti products reveal their heritage in the casework design, a style that comes from company founders Brian Zolner and Casey Dowdell whose backgrounds were with Lexicon and who work closely with former Madrigal Labs engineers. The latter manufactured Mark Levinson […]
Cyrus TTP turntable and arm Turntables have been around for, seemingly, forever. And thanks to the resurgence of vinyl almost everyone has one in their portfolio of products today. At least, that’s the common perception. After all, can anything new be done with a turntable. Cyrus is celebrating some 40 years of existence. 40 years […]
CAD USB Control noise reducer Us audiophiles are supposed to like noise, but the wrong kind of noise can be the bane of our lives. The more ‘tech’ we hook up to our mains supply, the more wi-fi devices we have in our homes, the more difficult it can be to enjoy the systems in […]
Meze Audio Empyrean II headphones Romanian headphones are, I have to admit, new to me; likewise, the idea of spending almost £3,000 on a pair. And yet that’s a comparable sum to my everyday loudspeakers and my former reference streaming amplifier, so it’s far from an outlandish amount, especially if it’s a principal source of […]
Oephi Acoustics Transcendence 2 speakers Reviewing hi-fi can be a bit of a juggling act at times, one moment you have a £700 product to assess, the next a £7,000 example of the same variety turns up and of course it sounds better. Actually it’s more difficult when the opposite happens and you have to […]
Moor Amps Ascalon-8 loudspeakers Moor Amps is a small, family company derived from a shared passion for music and dedicated to high-quality, British-built audio equipment. At its helm are Tim and Ruth Narramore with relations also involved, making this a real family affair. Behind the brand is a passion for music along with a desire […]
Trilogy 921 integrated amplifier Trilogy have been making high quality audio electronics since 1990 and yet remain mysteriously under the radar. This is probably because they have always focused their energies on engineering and design rather than sales and marketing. Trilogy started out building valve or tube amplifiers but now has a range of electronics […]
Roksan Attessa Streaming Amplifier Roksan has been around since 1985 when it was founded by two chaps of Persian heritage, Tufan Hashemi and Touraj Moghaddam. The company name draws on their cultural background, after Roxana, daughter of King Darius. It was Touraj who set things in motion after obtaining his doctorate through Imperial College London. […]