Chario Aviator Amelia speakers Readers will often see the term ‘musical’ used to describe a product—surely, every hi-fi component should produce music? This beautiful speaker from the Italian brand Chario could perhaps be the ideal foil with which to demonstrate this term. It is not a speaker that grabs your attention and impresses at the […]
Montaudio Bowen AC-1, Godley USB, Rakaia EH-1, Chatham SH-1 cable loom Apparently, there aren’t as many sheep in New Zealand these days so audio companies are taking up the economic slack, one such is Montaudio who make a wide range of cables and a beautiful rack, the Manuka MR, which is priced towards the top […]
Bricasti Design M11 R-2R Classic DAC When Madrigal Labs folded in 2004 and the Mark Levinson brand they worked for was sold to Harman, Brian Zolner and Casey Dowdell combined their names with a little bit of Italian flare to create Bricasti Design. These guys are audio engineers to the core, not the sort of […]
Mutec REF10 SE120 master clock The REF10 SE120 is just one product, not two, and quite a compact one at that. It is a 10MHz master clock, the £5,200 flagship design from Berlin-based Mutec. Not so long ago such a device would be regarded by most audiophiles as professional exotica to be found only in […]
Luphonic R2 turntable & arm The vinyl revival is in full swing and turntables sales are on the up. If you needed evidence, just look at how vinyl and indeed turntables have suddenly been given front-of-house status in HMV stores with CDs relegated to the back of the showroom, if you can find them at […]
Viva Solista MkIII integrated tube amplifier Italians have a real passion for tube amplifiers and a flair for design so it’s not surprising that the Viva amplifiers come from that part of the world, specifically Camisano near Padua. The company was started by brothers Amadeo and Giampietro Schembri in the mid nineties and builds a […]
Connected-Fidelity AC-2K Reference balanced power supply, Six Star distribution block & Unity Power Two cables We all know how important it is to choose the individual components of our systems carefully, usually with protracted listening tests at a retailer and in our homes. But a system is more than just a turntable, CD player, streamer, […]
Dali IO-8 wireless headphones Danish audio brand Dali might not be unique among its audio industry peers, but it is somewhat unusual, because as well as a large range of speakers, it also makes headphones. There are three over-ear models, all intended for portable use and therefore adaptive noise cancelling (ANC) designs. There’s the IO-6 […]
Fell Audio Amp integrated amplifier New audio companies appear all the time. Every time Munich rolls around, we’re usually treated to one or two newcomers aiming to take on the established order with a product that is usually enormous, wildly ambitious and extremely expensive. The product you see here is rather different though. Fell Audio […]
Revival Audio Atalante 4 speakers It was at the Oslo Hi-Fi Show last year that I first managed to hear Revival’s Atalante 4, and pretty impressive it was as well even in the starkness of a Scandinavian hotel bedroom. When the pallet arrived I was thankful to have extra hands available to cope with unboxing […]
Bluesound Node Icon streamer A dealer friend recently told me that a streamer’s success is highly dependent on the quality of the control app assigned to it. Looking at the impact made by brands such as Auralic at the higher end and Wiim at the budget end suggests that this theory is a valid one. […]
Roksan Caspian 4G integrated amplifier This reviewing malarkey never ceases to amaze me. Our esteemed editor will ask if I am interested in reviewing a product and I will agree, usually without getting into a lather awaiting the ring of the doorbell by the courier. Other times I cannot wait to get my hands on […]