Ask most people the question: “Does size matter?” And the answer will be: “Yes it matters; loudspeakers should be small, preferably invisible”. The sonically sensitive however, have no concern about size at all and could live happily with anything from a Bose Acoustimass to a Focal Grand Utopia. But to deal with domestic circumstances we […]
The term all signing and dancing gets bandied around rather a lot when it comes to audio electronics but in the case of the NAD D7050 it would appear to be appropriate. The sheer amount of badges shown on its web page gives you some idea of its capabilities; these include Bluetooth aptX, Apple Airplay, […]
California-based Schiit Audio was established in June 2010 by industry stalwarts Mike Moffat – digital audio specialist and founder of Theta – and Jason Stoddard – former chief amplification engineer at Sumo. Their ambitious mission was to bring high-end performance and superior design and build quality to audio products, manufactured locally in the USA, and […]
Look around any audio shop or AV outlet in any country and you find loudspeakers all over the place. In all sizes, from very cheap to extremely expensive, some are painted while a lot are veneered or look like they are covered in real wood. So why in the world would anyone start another brand […]
Turntables have come in many shapes and sizes since the transition occurred from cylinder to disk replay. Technology has changed too, with the advent, firstly of clockwork platter mechanisms and acoustic recording, followed by electrically-powered and amplified audio systems, and later with contactless direct-drive platters and pick-up arms with non-contact main bearings. The player footprint […]
The time must be right for music servers, streamers and D/A converters, I get one DAC or server after another, sometimes only for listening sometimes for reviews published in The Ear or in Dutch magazines. I love this kind of work and I find it very interesting to discover which paths manufacturers take. This time […]
The moment four talented minds decide to get together to develop an active loudspeaker system, based on all the knowledge they have accrued, you expect something special. Grimm Audio is a Dutch company established by Eelco Grimm who is experienced in building studios, Guido Tent of Tentlabs is well known for his D/A converters, Bruno […]
MrSpeakers seems an ironic name for a brand that seems entirely concerned with headphones, but I’ll let that pass just this once. The Alpha Dog as the name infers is the top model in a compact range of two headphones, both are based on the Fostex T50RP with the Alpha using only the drive units […]
Looks can be deceptive in audio as in life, the Chord Hugo looks a bit big to be a truly portable DAC but way too small be a serious piece of electronics. Yet it is both at the same time, a battery powered headphone amplifier come converter and a 32-bit/3834kHz and DSD-128 audiophile DAC. We […]
Never promise to lend me a fine piece of audio equipment, because I won’t let it lie. Van den Hul didn’t get a moments peace while I waited for their Grail SB phono preamplifier with a matching cartridge. It turned up in a big suitcase that was much heavier than expected. Inside I found the […]
In an attempt to foil my fellow reviewers and audio loving friends I got my hands on one of the very first pairs of PMC twenty.26 loudspeakers that came to the Netherlands. This model was introduced to mainland Europe at the High End Show 2014 in Munich and is the latest member of the twenty […]
When I discovered that the Cambridge Audio Aero speakers were equipped with a BMR driver my interest was more than usually piqued. This type of driver is a pretty rare beast, you can find it in Naim’s Ovator speakers and on one other speaker that I know of, so the fact that Cambridge have put […]