Node Audio Hylixa Signature loudspeakers Before the Node Hylixa Signature was a glimmer in its designer’s eye we made a factory visit to Node Audio in Cambridge. A review of the original Hylixa was published the following month and they were awarded our coveted Innovation Award. So why, you may ask, are we revisiting the […]
CAD GC1.1 Ground Control Box The issues caused by high-frequency noise and addressed by the CAD GC1.1 are something that has been discussed in The Ear rather a lot in some of our recent reviews. Cambridge-based CAD was ahead of many in combatting the problem with the launch of the original GC1 way back in […]
Gothic Audio Nublu Cryo interconnect cable Manchester cable-maker Chris Duwe and his Gothic Nublu cables have not featured here before on the Ear. But the company is worthy of our attention because its solid silver cables deliver remarkable value; proper sonics for not too many ££££s, especially when compared to some of the considerably pricier […]
Whest 60Se Pro phono stage Spoiler alert. The Whest 60Se Pro phono stage has had its tweakability minimised. No, it’s not a one size fits all’, but it’s been designed absolutely with sound quality and listening as the first priorities. For that reason, if you want to swap cartridges out at a frantic pace you’re […]
3 Square Audio Ayal loudspeakers These 3 Square Audio Ayal loudspeakers should not do what they do. There. I’ve said it. I first heard and saw these diminutive Darth Vader-esque speakers at a recent audio show. I kept looking for… a larger speaker, a subwoofer, anything, but all I could find was this small, beautifully-finished, slightly unconventional-looking […]
Holoaudio Bliss Level 1 headphone amp/preamp With the Holoaudio Bliss Jeff Zhu’s approach to design is narrowing what once appeared to be an unbridgeable chasm between objectivists and subjectivists in the audio world. The brain behind Holoaudio is demonstrating that traditional, fully-discrete topologies not only have a place in subjectivists’ high-end systems but that they […]
BK XLS300 active subwoofer My take on the BK XLS300 has taken an inordinate amount of time to write. My life has been hectic of late and during any downtime that I’ve had, I’ve wanted to enjoy this product rather than sit down to write about it. But the time has finally come to commit […]
Auralic Altair G1.1 streamer DAC preamplifier The Altair G1.1 is priced to attract the serious entrant to the streaming audio game. It has the high build quality we associate with Auralic components and offers all the features that the modern audio enthusiasts requires for top flight entertainment without having to leave the listening seat. The least […]
PMC cor integrated amplifier “It is designed not to do anything” said the nice man as we discussed the arrival of the PMC cor integrated amplifier at Kelly Towers. He went on to explain that the design philosophy behind the cor (and yes, it meant to be all lower case) was that it should be […]
Network Acoustics Muon Pro Streaming System ethernet filter and data cable Long before anyone dreamt of a device like the Muon Pro it was assumed that the music data heading for our streamer was just that. To suggest that it might be accompanied by electronic pollution that was damaging to sonic performance was to invite […]
Pearl Acoustics Sibelius loudspeaker The Pearl Sibelius is a rather different loudspeaker to the run of the mill, and in more ways than one. What you notice is that there’s only one drive unit, what’s less obvious is that the cabinet is made of solid oak and that it has quarter wave loading. The latter […]
Cyrus Audio PSU-XR power supply The Cyrus PSU-XR is the latest in a long line of power supply upgrades for Cyrus, the Huntingdon, England based company were among the very first to offer this form of upgrade in the form of the original PSX model from the ‘80s. The PSX has since evolved into the […]