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. […]
Hana Umami Blue moving coil cartridge Hana is a relatively new name, but parent company Excel Sound Corp. has been making phono cartridges for reputable companies for over 50 years, (including their own Urushi brand) accumulating vast experience in design and manufacture along the way. Hana, which draws on that expertise, is the brainchild of […]
Atoll SDA300 Signature streaming amplifier Having thoroughly enjoyed the French Atoll SDA200 Signature streaming amp, and making it one of my 2022 Products of the Year, I was excited to hear the newly-launched SDA300 Signature at the Warsaw high-end show. My patience was rewarded when a unit, in very smart matt-black milled aluminium, arrived for […]
The Ear picks the best hi-fi of 2023 2023 has been a tough year for the hi-fi industry but that has done nothing to stem the flow of first class products coming to market. In fact there are even more extraordinary audio components to choose from than there were last year, with advances made in […]
Dali IO-12 wireless headphones There is a sizeable cohort of music lovers for whom the world of portable audio is off-limits. It’s true that there is a rich choice of in-ear monitors (IEMs) and some of them, I have it on good authority, are really good-sounding. So what’s the problem? The portable audio exclusion zone […]