Want a streamer but don't want get involved with networks and separates? Novafidelity's X12 is about the least expensive answer on the market. There are a number of ways to get into music streaming, apparently the simplest is to add a DAC to a computer but what that doesn’t reveal is that you need to […]
René gave this review the title: The pure one, a reference to the neutrality and clarity it brings to the party. An absence of character that does wonders for the finest recordings. Readers might remember how much I fell in love with the Harbeth P3ESR mini monitor loudspeaker last year. So when the chance came […]
Bluesound is NAD in disguise. Made by the same Canadian parent company this range of streaming audio products ticks all the boxes in René's list of what's required in a decent multiroom product. The market for products that can rip, store and play music is rapidly growing and has full press attention worldwide, but that […]
An asynchronous USB DAC for tweakers and music lovers alike, Henry Audio has taken over where QNKTC left off to provide a different take on the challenge to make computer audio as hackable as the software used for playback. Henry is a USB DAC with a difference. It was created as an open source project […]
2014 was a good year for new kit, both René and I struggled to narrow our selection down to three piece each and many fine products were discovered that didn’t make the cut. But the six products below were the cream of the crop, the components that made our music sound more compelling than all […]
The largest model in the Rubicon range encourages René to wind up the volume and proves that, as in life, more is more when it comes to loudspeakers. On a recent trip to the DALI factory in Denmark I had the pleasure of listening to the complete line up of DALI Rubicon loudspeakers. It was […]
René waxes lyrical about a giant slaying, flax powered slice of affordable high end with a totally new Focal sound. Over a year ago I listened to and greatly enjoyed the Focal Aria 948 loudspeakers, the biggest model in the Aria range. The Aria 905 is the smallest speaker that Focal has made with a […]
The latest PrimaLuna power amplifier is for anyone who wants to create serious volume levels in the listening room, René must be among them.Last weekend we had some friends over for dinner, one of them is a music lover. The first thing he noticed was that I had amplifiers with (so many) tubes. He asked […]
The Geek Out DAC caused quite a kerfuffle in the forums when its maker Light Harmonic started making all sorts of claims for its performance. I even had comments from competitors, and they were not entirely positive, something was clearly afoot. How could a pocket size USB DAC make so much impression in an increasingly […]
Not many audio companies make streamers with built in storage and amplification, scratch that, nobody seems to make a streaming audio system in one box apart from Cocktail. There are a few streamers with onboard storage made by the likes of Naim, Sony and Olive and there are quite a few computer based options. But […]
Small is beautiful. This elegant Japanese desktop proves that size need not limit musical enjoyment nor aesthetic style.Desktop speaker systems take many forms but none as elegant as Eclipse’s ovular TD-M1. Not only does it have looks but it ticks all the boxes as far as audio technology is concerned too: active drive from an […]
The waiting is over, a classic Japanese cartridge is back in full production after a twenty year hiatus. René finds out that it more than lives up to the brand’s reputation? Kiseki is the Japanese word for miracle, Kiseki is also a cartridge brand owned by Durob Audio in the Netherlands. Durob Audio was once […]