Articles
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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 -
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 -
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 -
Chord Electronics Hugo to preview at CES 2014
|From the Chord Electronics press release: To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Chord Electronics’ ground-breaking and game-changing DAC 64, the world- leading Kent-based audio expert will be launching something very special at CES 2014. Based ...read more -
AURALiC Taurus MkII headphone amplifier/preamplifier
|My first exposure to AURALiC came at the 2013 Munich High-End show where the Hong Kong-based high-end audio firm used its components to power both a pair of exotic YG Acoustics Sonja 1.2 loudspeakers and ...read more -
Crowdfunding - not just for Geeks?
|The world of traditional audio is sometimes not exactly at the cutting edge of modern life. It’s kind of understandable – a lot of it is entirely Boomer on Boomer action and, while we might ...read more -
Exclusive - Meridian Prime headphone amplifier/DAC/preamplifier
|Meridian Audio has been spreading its wings recently (with the move into in-car with Jaguar Land Rover, and the recent Explorer and Director USB powered units), but no-one really expected the Prime. This is Meridian ...read more -
First Look: CEntrance HiFi-M8 balanced-output portable headphone amp/DAC
|This blog is to give you some first impressions of a very significant new product that will be coming up for a full review in Hi-Fi+ within the next several issues. The product is the ...read more -
Show Report: CanJam at Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2013 - Part 2
|What follows is a mostly pictorial survey of new headphone, earphone, and related products seen and heard at RMAF—some of which will become review subjects in Hi-Fi+ and/or our US-based sister publication The Absolute Sound ...read more -
Show Report: CanJam at Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2013 - Part 1
|Over roughly the past decade an alternate high-end audio universe has been emerging—a universe centered on very high-performance headphones, earphones, portable and desktop headphone amplifiers, and amp/DACS. In short, it is a world that might ...read more -
Apex Hi-Fi Announces New Teton Preamplifier/Headphone Amplifier
|The Apex Teton The Apex Teton is a single-ended output-transformer-less (OTL) vacuum tube preamplifier and headphone amp. Its roots lie in the Wheatfield Audio HA-2 from nearly 15 years ago. While similar, it is far ...read more