In commissioning our three-man team to find the best at AXPONA, I expected there to be some overlap. While Chris Martens focused on personal audio, Eric Neff and I concentrated on the halls and floors ...

As discussed elsewhere, AXPONA has moved to a new venue, the spacious Renaissance Hotel and Convention center in Schaumberg, IL. near Chicago. The extra space was well used as this was the largest AXPONA ever ...

Rather than offer our usual and typically quite elaborate show reports, the Hi-Fi+ team this year decided to take a simpler, less-is-more, freeform approach to our coverage of AXPONA 2018, which was held April 13th ...

Naim Audio changed its Uniti line of integrated amplifier/streamer products in 2016/17. This left the Classic models holding to Naim’s older streaming system. That is all to change (almost) with the launch of three new ...

As part of our Hi-Fi+ Guide to Audio Cables & Power Products 2017 (available as a free download online at hifiplus.com/buyers_guides/6/) we spoke to Caelin Gabriel of Shunyata Research about his discoveries in cable and ...

Digital Audio Cable Clearer Audio Silver-Line Optimus Reference 75 This pure 75 ohm digital interconnect cable (£975/1.5m as tested) is a coaxial design, featuring a central 6N (99.9999%) OCC silver central conductor, and micron-thick silver-plating ...

Accessory Vicoustic Multifuser DC 2 The Portuguese firm Vicoustic aims to “provide the best products for acoustic treatment” with the goal of “enhancing rooms for great sound combined with the best possible design.” A fine ...

Portable headphone amp/DAC Chord Electronics Hugo2 The original Chord Hugo revolutionised the notion of what could be done with portable audio. Now the new £1,800 Hugo2 almost doubles the original’s already impressive number of filter ...

Cost-no-object earphone/CIEM JH Audio Lola JH Audio is the brainchild of Jerry Harvey, who began his career at Westone, went on to co-found Ultimate Ears, and now creates some of the world’s finest custom-fit in-ear ...

Cost no object headphone HiFiMAN Shangri-La HiFiMAN’s Shangri-La system is an all-out, cost-no-object assault on the pinnacle in headphone performance. The system consists of a set of Shangri‑La electrostatic headphones with a ‘Nanotech’ driver whose ...

Turntable VPI Prime Signature With the Prime series, VPI has really hit something of a modern-day sweet-spot for turntable users. The products have that right combination of authoritative sound quality coupled with great modern style, ...

This is the last of four illustrated descriptions of the new and exciting products seen at CanJam NYC 2018. Part One: hifiplus.com/articles/canjam-nyc-2018-show-report-from-ultimate-headphone-guide-part-one-1/ Part Two: hifiplus.com/articles/canjam-nyc-2018-show-report-from-ultimate-headphone-guide-part-two/ Part Three: hifiplus.com/articles/canjam-nyc-2018-show-report-from-ultimate-headphone-guide-part-three/ NAD NAD is the sister brand to ...

This is the third of four illustrated descriptions of the new and exciting products seen at CanJam NYC 2018. Part One: hifiplus.com/articles/canjam-nyc-2018-show-report-from-ultimate-headphone-guide-part-one-1/ Part Two: hifiplus.com/articles/canjam-nyc-2018-show-report-from-ultimate-headphone-guide-part-two/ Part Four: hifiplus.com/articles/canjam-nyc-2018-show-report-from-ultimate-headphone-guide-part-four/ HeadAmp The wheels of change turn slowly ...

This is the second of four illustrated descriptions of the new and exciting products seen at CanJam NYC 2018. Part One: hifiplus.com/articles/canjam-nyc-2018-show-report-from-ultimate-headphone-guide-part-one-1/ Part Three: hifiplus.com/articles/canjam-nyc-2018-show-report-from-ultimate-headphone-guide-part-three/ Part Four: hifiplus.com/articles/canjam-nyc-2018-show-report-from-ultimate-headphone-guide-part-four/ Campfire Audio Campfire Audio has earned a ...

Ultimate Headphone Guide is a new bi-annual publication that represents a joint venture between The Absolute Sound magazine and its sister publication Hi-Fi+. My name is Chris Martens and I have the privilege of serving ...