Articles
-
Abyss AB-1266 planar magnetic headphones
|Several years ago Joe Skubinski, the founder of the high-end audio cable company JPS Labs, took a momentous decision. Specifically, he decided to spin off a sub-division of JPS Labs for the specific purpose of ...read more -
First Look: iFi iDSD nano DAC/headphone amp & iCAN nano headphone amp
|Early this year I wrote a blog about iFi Audio’s iCAN nano headphone amplifier (click here to read), but mentioned at the time that my findings were based on a pilot production sample and not ...read more -
First Listen: Chord Electronics Hugo portable high res DAC/headphone amp
|A Hi-Fi+ review project I’m working on at the moment involves the Chord Electronics Hugo portable high res DAC/headphone amp, which is priced at $2,395 in the US or £1,200 in the UK. In practice ...read more -
AURALiC VEGA Digital Audio Processor
|AURALiC’s VEGA Digital Audio Processor (£2,890) is a powerful and versatile digital-to-analogue converter that can also serve as a digital input-only, balanced output-capable preamplifier. Specifically, the VEGA supports all PCM files from 44.1 kHz/16-bit resolution ...read more -
Head-Fi meet in Austin, TX
|It occurs to me that many readers familiar with the traditional world of speaker-centric high-end audio systems may be unaware that there is a rapidly evolving, parallel high-end audio universe that revolves around high-end headphones, ...read more -
CES 2014: Headphone, Earphones, and Related Electronics – Part 3
|If I had to name one broad high-end audio product category that is growing rapidly and for all the right reasons, that category would be Headphones, Earphones, and the specialised electronics needed to drive them. ...read more -
CES 2014: Headphone, Earphones, and Related Electronics – Part 2
|If I had to name one broad high-end audio product category that is growing rapidly and for all the right reasons, that category would be Headphones, Earphones, and the specialised electronics needed to drive them. ...read more -
CES 2014: Headphone, Earphones, and Related Electronics – Part 1
|If I had to name one broad high-end audio product category that is growing rapidly and for all the right reasons, that category would be Headphones, Earphones, and the specialised electronics needed to drive them. ...read more -
CES 2014: Loudspeakers under $15,000 - Part 4
|For this year’s CES event I focused my reporting efforts on two product categories, one of the most popular of which is Loudspeakers under $15,000 per pair. What drives this popularity, of course, is the ...read more -
CES 2014: Loudspeakers under $15,000 - Part 3
|For this year’s CES event I focused my reporting efforts on two product categories, one of the most popular of which is Loudspeakers under $15,000 per pair. What drives this popularity, of course, is the ...read more -
CES 2014: Loudspeakers under $15,000 - Part 2
|For this year’s CES event I focused my reporting efforts on two product categories, one of the most popular of which is Loudspeakers under $15,000 per pair. What drives this popularity, of course, is the ...read more -
CES 2014: Loudspeakers under $15,000 - Part 1
|For this year’s CES event I focused my reporting efforts on two product categories, one of the most popular of which is Loudspeakers under $15,000 per pair. What drives this popularity, of course, is the ...read more -
First Listen - HiFiMAN HM-901 high-resolution portable digital music player
|Over the past year, the firm Astell & Kern has garnered considerable press attention, first for its AK100 high-res portable digital music player and then for its even higher-res AK120 player. The A & K ...read more -
First Listen - iFi iCAN Nano portable headphone amplifier
|In 2013, the tiny iFi Micro iCAN desktop headphone amplifier proved one of the most pleasant—and pleasantly affordable—discoveries of the year for serious headphone audio enthusiasts operating on real-world budgets. I’m not sure if I ...read more -
HiFiMAN HE-400 planar magnetic headphones
|It’s hard not to be a great admirer of the most recent crop of planar magnetic headphones. They offer many of the benefits of electrostatic headphones (sonic transparency, openness, excellent transient speed and definition, etc.), ...read more