The NAP 250 power amplifier has been a mainstay of the Naim range since time immemorial, or at least that’s the way it seems. The first NAP 250 was first made in 1975 and had the ‘chrome bumper’ livery of that era (it wasn’t chrome nor did it have bumpers but that’s by the by) […]
Just over a year ago Chord Co, cable mongers to the pace, rhythm and timing cognoscenti, introduced Tuned ARAY to its Sarum range of top ranking interconnects. I got fabulous results with this cable, it’s the first Chord Co cable that has really made an impression, and I have subsequently used Sarum Tuned ARAY analogue […]
Dan Clark’s mission in founding MrSpeakers was to make innovative headphones that offer genuine audiophile-grade performance and premium build quality at a variety of price points, all representing the very best value for money. Taking the approach of continual innovation when the performance limits of existing technology are reached, the Californian firm’s current line of […]
Not long ago I tested some stands for my Harbeth P3ESR loudspeakers, just to see which would work best. A wood, stone and steel stand, open frame metal or a massive sand filled design. I found enough differences between the stands to pick a favourite but they were all satisfactory. Until that is I had […]
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 […]