It took the Focal R&D team three years to come up with a range of loudspeakers to fill the gap between the Electra and the Utopia series. That’s six to eight engineers full time; a costly pursuit, one that only companies with Focal’s scale can afford. The result certainly looks like it was worth the […]
Tom Evans has been making his Groove phono stages for some time now, the anniversary in this particular model’s name refers to 20 years of them and that occurred in 2010. Having been there at the start with the Michell Iso, which was effectively the first Groove and shared the black acrylic case that continues […]
In 2009 two headphone enthusiasts founded Audeze with the lofty ambition to make the best cans on the planet. Manufacturing planar magnetic headphones of the highest quality the firm has, in just six years, established itself as a beacon amongst both monitoring professionals and consumer audiophiles. Their range includes the standard-setting LCD-2 (£799) and more […]
When my memory serves me well, and on audio related topics it usually does, the two best phono stages I have had at home were equipped with LCR RIAA EQ networks. So when I noticed that Remton Audio of the Czech Republic was making one I immediately contacted UK distributor BD-Audio. A little explanation of […]
Arcam has gone through a few changes since its heyday in the eighties and nineties. Once an independent run by its founder and chief engineer John Dawson it is now owned by Canadian conglomerate Jam Industries and run by a dedicated managing director who leaves John to get on with the interesting stuff. He appears […]
Space has been more expensive than stuff in this part of the world for some time now and that has had quite a severe effect on the world of stereo systems, hi-fi, call it what you will. The popularity of headphones is not merely linked to the the quantity of music you can keep on […]
Ayre is one of those companies that quietly gets on with producing innovative, well thought out and in my experience great sounding hardware. I have tried amplifiers and CD players in the past and always mourned their loss when the review period came to an end, so when the opportunity arose to listen to the […]
Many years ago I discovered that products built for the professional market work well in domestic systems as well. This is especially true for D/A converters and loudspeakers, maybe less so for 19” rack mount amplifiers (except Bryston and ATC). In a studio loudspeakers are often in the walls, however you always find a pair […]
Record cleaners are huge, noisy boxes that get relegated to the shed at the earliest opportunity. Not any more, the Vivac range changes all that with compact, attractive machines that let you listen while you clean.I’m not sure who declared that record cleaners shall be substantial lumps that make a racket when they are in […]
Loudspeakers come in many materials but not often concrete. In Germany high end audio gets extreme and in Weimar a company is building concrete loudspeakers. Heavy and beautifully made they have real designer appeal and real mass. Investigating the Concrete Audio N1 speakers at home was not an option, they weigh 80 kilos each and […]
Audio Technica ATH-MSR7 headphones The Audio Technica ATH-MSR7 is not the Japanese company’s first headphone, it has been making iconic and professionally-revered headphones since 1972. The company’s remarkable track record is enough by itself to command an in-depth look at their latest closed-back, circumaural dynamic monitor, the Audio Technica ATH-MSR7, released in January of this […]
A former turntable manufacturer turned data storage giant has built an audio oriented NAS drive that gives streamers a real shot in the arm. Maki Electronics Laboratory Co was set up in 1975 to make high mass turntables with outboard motors and silk thread drives along with line level preamplifiers. No power amplifiers ever emerged […]