Articles
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RME ADI-2 DAC digital converter/headphone amplifier
|In all honesty, most domestic DACs fall somewhere between ‘inadequate’ and ‘woefully inadequate’ when it comes to telling the world what they are doing. There are exceptions of course – Chord Electronics and its colour-coded ...read more -
Schiit Audio Jotunheim Multibit headphone amp/preamp
|When Schiit Audio introduced its Jotunheim headphone amp/preamp in 2016, it was considered a technical marvel and a bargain. Jotunheim used a unique balanced circuit topology, called a ‘Pivot Point’ gain stage, developed by company ...read more -
Cayin iHA-6 headphone amp, iDAC-6 DAC, and iDAP-6 digital audio player
|If you jumped into an audiophile’s time machine and went back about a year and a half (to late 2016), you might have seen and heard two compact yet very impressive new components from Cayin ...read more -
AKG N5005 earphones
|Victoria Station to Ealing Broadway, on the District Line of the London Underground. At around 9:15 on the evening of Thursday 23rd August, 2018. That was the precise moment I understood why the AKG N5005 ...read more -
iFi Audio Pro iDSD DAC/headphone amp/preamp/streamer
|Many of you know the backstory behind iFi Audio. In essence, the firm is a spin-off from the well-regarded British high‑end audio company Abbingdon Music Research (AMR) and iFi’s mission is to make AMR-like technology ...read more -
The Hi-Fi+ Directory of High-End Audio Manufacturers, 2019
|We’ve selected and showcased the work of 32 of the finest manufacturers in high-end audio in our exclusive guide. Regardless of price, product type, or brand name, we’ve uncovered the most exciting and innovative companies ...read more -
Cleer NEXT headphone
|Cleer is an ambitious manufacturer of personal audio products that makes a point of keeping a finger on the pulse of contemporary mass-market trends. In practice, this means the firm presently offers two in-ear headphones ...read more -
Sennheiser HD 820 circumaural closed back headphone
|Sennheiser’s HD 800 series is ever-expanding. It began with the original HD 800 almost a decade ago. That model is still on sale, but a few years ago, the company launched an HD 800 S ...read more -
iFi Audio Pro iCAN, Chord Hugo2, Final D8000, and Campfire Andromeda system
|As high-performance personal audio systems have evolved, they have become more specialised. Some focus on top class headphones and electronics intended for use within the relative quiet of one’s home, while others centre on advanced, ...read more -
Burson Audio Conductor Virtuoso 2+ headphone DAC preamp
|This is not our first rodeo with Burson Audio. If they even have rodeos in Melbourne, Australia, where Burson Audio is based. We looked at the HA160 headphone amp in Issue 79, and the original ...read more -
Bluewave Get portable headphone amp/DAC
|Taking in the afternoon sun for a spot of al fresco coffee action, I discovered the one big flaw to the Bluewave Get Bluetooth headphone amplifier from Canada. With a dark-coloured headphone cable blending into ...read more -
Linn Selekt DSM digital streaming platform
|Editor’s note: In the weeks between encountering the Linn Selekt DSM and today, some of my opinions have changed. They are included in an addendum at the bottom of this review. In the network streaming ...read more -
iBasso IT01 earphones
|iBasso’s IT01 earphones retail for a penny shy of £90 and are the yin to the iBasso DX200 digital audio player’s yang. The DX200 DAP, when combined with the IT01, makes an impressive combination. However, ...read more -
Sennheiser Ambeo Smart Headset binaural recording earphones
|Sennheiser’s Ambeo Smart Headset is an Apple Lightning powered, App-augmented earphone with microphones at the ears for noise cancellation… or binaural recordings without the need for a dummy head. The former is commonplace, but the ...read more -
PSB M4U 8 wireless noise-cancelling headphones
|In 2012 the famous loudspeaker designer Paul Barton, founder of PSB Speakers, launched his first ever headphone, called the PSB M4U 2, priced at $400. The M4U 2 was versatile with a capital ‘V’, so ...read more