Equipment+
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FinkTeam Borg floorstanding loudspeaker
|There are two types of loudspeaker designer: those that come up with a loudspeaker design and create a whole company around it, and those who take a more ‘hired gun’ approach. Often, the skill set ...read more -
darTZeel NHB-18NS preamplifier and NHB‑108 Model Two power amplifier
|Regardless of how much high-end audio you have heard, when you experience something exceptional, the music lets you know all about it. It might all start with a small spark of revelation. But it will ...read more -
Cleer FLOW noise cancelling Bluetooth wireless headphone
|Friends and colleagues often approach me with inquiries like this: “I’m looking for noise cancelling Bluetooth headphones and have tried the Bose QuietComfort models (hasn’t everyone?), but are there other good models I ought to ...read more -
HiFiMAN Jade II electrostatic headphone system
|I first became aware of HiFiMAN roughly eleven years ago, when I sought to review one of the firm’s earliest planar magnetic headphones. However, in the course of reaching out to the firm I learned ...read more -
Shunyata Research Alpha USB cable
|If there’s one fixed point in the audio firmament, it’s that nothing stays the same for too long. Models refresh, new products come along, and benchmarks move with the times; so it is with cables. ...read more -
Kuzma Stabi S turntable, 4Point 9 tonearm, and CAR‑40 MC cartridge
|There’s an established hierarchy in vinyl replay that is almost inviolate. The expenditure goes from top down; spend most money on the turntable, then the arm, then cartridge, and so on. This comes from the ...read more -
Kudos Titan 505 stand‑mount loudspeaker
|I’ve always wanted to say something like this, but the Kudos 505 comes from a race of Titans! It’s the smallest and lone stand-mount in a four-strong Titan range, all of which use the same ...read more -
CH Precision L1 Dual-Mono Line Preamplifier and X1 Power Supply
|This began as a kind of round two of the CH Precision/Wilson Benesch system we tested back in issue 159. The joy of both main parts of that system is the upgradability they bestow; every ...read more -
Naim Supernait 3 integrated amplifier
|You can chart the rise and fall of source popularity by looking at the variations in the three iterations of the Naim Supernait. The original version of Naim’s largest integrated amplifier launched in 2007 with ...read more -
The Funk Firm Rage 1 modifications to Rega turntables
|The Funk Firm makes turntables, tonearms, and Achromat pure vinyl replacements for the often-ghastly fuzzy slip-mats on turntables. But what it is also produces is a range of upgrades for popular turntables. The Rage upgrades ...read more -
Tellurium Q Ultra Black II RCA cable and loudspeaker cable
|There is nothing like telling the uninitiated that cable makes a big difference to sound quality if you want to elicit a “Shut up! Are you mad?” response. Even for those within the fold, the ...read more -
Stax SR-009S electrostatic earspeakers
|For many years Stax’s iconic SR-009 electrostatic headphone stood as an industry performance benchmark. The reasons for this included, among other factors, the SR-009’s accurate and absolutely neutral voicing, exceptional resolution, and extremely fast transient ...read more -
Empire Ears Phantom custom‑fit in-ear monitors
|At a certain point in nearly every headphone enthusiast’s lifetime they begin to contemplate purchasing a pair of custom-fit in-ear monitors (CIEMs) rather than universal-fit earphones. The primary reason for making the switch is fit. ...read more -
Sony IER-Z1R Signature Series universal-fit earphone
|At the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2018 Sony announced two Signature Series personal audio products: the DMP-Z1 digital music player/headphone amp/DAC and the IER-Z1R universal-fit earphone reviewed here. New Sony Signature Series models don’t come ...read more -
Sugden Masterclass ANV-50 integrated amplifier
|It was ‘Birdland’ that did it. I’d been listening to the Sugden Masterclass ANV-50 for a day or two. Not careful, reviewer type listening, you understand, just getting to know you listening, and it had ...read more