René didn’t like class D amplifiers but that has all changed now that he’s heard this remarkable pairing from NAD. High resolution, power and features, what’s not to like?Several years ago I considered New Acoustic Dimension, NAD for short, to be a high profile manufacturer specializing in mid-fi that also tried its hand in the […]
Leema's least expensive phono stage may be small but it's capable of very big things when attached to a tip top turntable. Jason Kennedy finds out just how essential it really is for a vinyl lover. Leema started out in loudspeakers but quickly established a good foothold on the hard fought turf of the British […]
This is a DAC with a difference from a Dutch startup that seems to have considered all the options and produced a humdinger straight from the gate. Products from small new companies are often fraught with challenges as far as the consumer is concerned. Can I trust this (new) brand? Will it last? What if […]
I don’t know about you but Elipson’s spherical Planet loudspeakers are among the most attractive in the business, the timeless geometric design has been in production for decades and deservedly so. I guess it was inevitable that one day they would come to the conclusion that some matching electronics might not be such a bad […]
Like father, like son is certainly true for Paul and Scott McGowan of PS Audio. Scott developed his own amplifier under the name of his father’s company but financed it with crowd sourcing website Kickstarter. It’s a totally different amplifier to anything PS Audio has yet made, both in looks and technology. The Sprout is […]
Naim's qutest streaming amplifier is 2 and for its birthday the engineers in Salisbury gave it a new antenna and access to more music than you can shake a baton at. Why review this 2014 revamp of Naim’s most affordable streaming amplifier now? Because alongside the rest of the Uniti range it recently gained two […]
Dutch DAC specialist Metrum Acoustics has always been at the forefront of digital technology, but with its latest creation it has re-written the rules of digital to analogue conversion so comprehensively that René had no choice but to buy one. The story of Metrum Acoustics started for me in 2010 when the first NOS Mini […]
Rega’s latest integrated fills a gap in the range with yet another highly entertaining and engaging amplifier that combines more musicality and precision than most of the competition can muster. We are big Rega fans here at the Ear so when the company introduced the new Elex-R integrated it didn’t take long to get hold […]
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 […]