Record cleaners are huge, noisy boxes that get relegated to the shed at the earliest opportunity. Not any more, the Vivac range changes all that with compact, attractive machines that let you listen while you clean.I’m not sure who declared that record cleaners shall be substantial lumps that make a racket when they are in […]
Loudspeakers come in many materials but not often concrete. In Germany high end audio gets extreme and in Weimar a company is building concrete loudspeakers. Heavy and beautifully made they have real designer appeal and real mass. Investigating the Concrete Audio N1 speakers at home was not an option, they weigh 80 kilos each and […]
Audio Technica ATH-MSR7 headphones The Audio Technica ATH-MSR7 is not the Japanese company’s first headphone, it has been making iconic and professionally-revered headphones since 1972. The company’s remarkable track record is enough by itself to command an in-depth look at their latest closed-back, circumaural dynamic monitor, the Audio Technica ATH-MSR7, released in January of this […]
A former turntable manufacturer turned data storage giant has built an audio oriented NAS drive that gives streamers a real shot in the arm. Maki Electronics Laboratory Co was set up in 1975 to make high mass turntables with outboard motors and silk thread drives along with line level preamplifiers. No power amplifiers ever emerged […]
Not all the best stuff is made by the big boys, sometimes a one man business can beat the odds and deliver the goods. That is the case with SImply Audio from Holland, a new force for value in the of over hyped world of cables.Anyone who thinks that small, one man companies only exist […]
Can this Musical Fidelity integrated with onboard DAC sound as good as it looks? Réne closes his eyes and lets the music work its magic. When I was asked to pick a Musical Fidelity amplifier for a review I was attracted to the beautiful silver front and the quietly shining LEDs of the M3si, but […]
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 […]