Blogs
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The Chameleon test
|The absolute sound – the ethos, rather than our stable-mate – can be paired down to attempting to recreate the sound of live, unamplified music in a natural acoustic environment. This remains a valued goal ...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 -
The Great Leap Forward
|I’ve recently been through several loudspeakers in the review process recently. And two in particular highlight a marked step-change in the way audio systems have sounded, and now sound. The two loudspeakers are the excellent ...read more -
A fine Bromance?
|To audiophile manufacturers touring the high-end show circuit, CES marks the end of the year, rather than the beginning. It also is the start of a brief lull in event activity that kicks off again ...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 -
CES 2014: Analogue
|Given all the fuss about the ever-increasing interest in all things vinyl, you might have expected CES to be packed full of turntables. This wasn’t quite the case. Where two or three years ago, manufacturers ...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: A personal viewpoint
|There’s a famous inscription on the James Farley Post Office that fits, It reads, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” ...read more -
CES 2014: Electronics (Amplifiers)
|OK, there is an elephant in the room when it comes to audio amplification this year – Naim Audio. By upping the ante by an order of magnitude, to make its Statement NAC S1 preamp ...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: Electronics (Source Components)
|CES (don’t call it the ‘Consumer Electronics Show’ any more, it’s a self-referential acronym now, so ‘CES’ is short for… ’CES’) remains the most important event on the American audio business calendar. Although now its ...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