Italian speaker makers have always had a thing for solid walnut, the stuff must grow on trees over there, and it certainly makes for a beautiful and extremely solid cabinet, as a rule it’s used on standmounts but for the first time in its extensive history Sonus faber have built a floorstander from this lovely […]
I grew up with records being my only gateway into music and perhaps because of that I have an affection for vinyl replay which has never waned. Since those heady days of the 1960s we have seen many different carriers come (and in many cases) go – cassette, Minidisc and variations on the compact disc […]
Neat Acoustics Orkestra loudspeakers A new speaker from Bob Surgeoner at Neat is not an everyday occurrence. Unlike the increasing number of manufacturers who feel a marketing necessity to churn out new models with alacrity, this County Durham company spends hundreds of hours listening and honing new designs before releasing them. Each new concept must […]
Auralic products can be idiosyncratic at times, the Vega streaming DAC doesn’t have the Lightning Server onboard for instance so isn’t as complete a streamer as an Aries, but it is admirable for its commitment to product improvements and its unequivocal stance on the thorny subject of MQA. Those unfamiliar with this acronym should know […]
Simaudio’s software engineers had a busy lockdown if the recent announcement of Spotify Connect integration is anything to go by. Unlike streaming services that will be familiar to the sonically aware such as Qobuz and Tidal which can be integrated into an audio company’s control app Spotify Connect works rather differently. In fact it works […]
Regular readers of The Ear may recall that in September of last year we published my comparative review of the Tellurium Q Black and Black Diamond digital RCA cables. To summarise that, the Black was good but the Black Diamond was considerably better, and stayed in my system thereafter as my reference cable. Geoff Merrigan, […]
Métronome made its name with CD transports in the ‘90s, substantial sculptural examples of the art that made most of the competition look flimsy by comparison. Now that the silver disc is in decline in many parts of the high end world the French company has branched out into streamers and DACs. OK it has […]
Record cleaning is a topic which can spark off some lively discussions among vinyl lovers. Some believe in it, some swear by it and some are definitely sceptical. I am definitely a believer and own a well-regarded record cleaner which has served me well for a few years. A thing of beauty it is not […]
If you had told me even a couple of years ago that I would start to consider the network switch to be as critical a part of a streaming system as the DAC I would have presumed you had a screw loose. Yet today having first tested the Melco S100 and now the Ansuz X-TC […]
It’s nearly fifty years since the first embryo of what’s become one of the most talked-about audio products, and still new editions of the infamous BBC mini monitor are being born. Has there been another audio component to have provoked so much emotive comment, or given rise to so many myths and misunderstandings as the […]
Diapason is a brand which consistently creates loudspeakers to my taste, for that is what transducers principally are: to the listeners’ taste. This is why I paid a visit to their northern Italy production facilities to see the hand-made creations come to life, and theirs is always a room at hi-fi shows which I make a bee-line […]
I consider it my primary duty as a reviewer to be honest with you, loyal reader, and so I must begin this piece by telling you that when our esteemed editor asked me if I would review cables from a new company based in Denmark called Oephi, I groaned inwardly. Not more cables? Do we […]