Articles
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April Music Eximus DP1 DAC, Preamplifier, and Headphone Amplifier (TAS 221)
|What constitutes a mid-priced DAC? There’s a ton of room between the least expensive high-performance external USB DAC, such as the $169 HRT MusicStreamer II, and the most expensive, such as an $80,000 dCS combo ...read more -
Calyx Coffee USB DAC (Playback 55)
|The Digital and Analog Company, Limited hails from Korea. They began to make products for the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) market in 1999. In 2008 D&A began to branch out by making products under the ...read more -
Audioengine D1 DAC/ Headphone Amp (Playback 54)
|For many older audiophiles, their “conversion moment” when they discovered the world of high-quality sound began when they heard their first piece of affordable high-performance audio gear, such as the NAD 3020 integrated amplifier. But ...read more -
Sony XBA-3 Earphones (Playback 53)
|Sony has always liked the letter X. Who can forget Sony’s X-plod car amplifiers and the unfortunate connotations of X-plod when applied to automotive audio? Undaunted, Sony has introduced eleven new models of XBA headphones. ...read more -
Musical Fidelity V-CAN II Headphone Amp (Playback 53)
|Ok, so you just bought a GREAT pair of headphones, but they don’t sound quite as impressive when plugged into the headphone jack of your receiver, iPad, or iPod as they did in the store’s ...read more -
Musical Fidelity V-DAC II Digital-to-Analog Converter (Playback 53)
|So you have decent headphones and a dedicated headphone amplifier…what’s the next step for improving your computer’s audio sonics? It’s time to get an external Digital-to-Analog Converter or DAC. One good option is the Musical ...read more -
CES 2012 Report - Steven Stone on Digital Products
|According to CES figures 2012 was the biggest show in history, both in attendance and floor space. My sore legs testified to its vastness. The range of new digital products was also more extensive, making ...read more -
Shure SE215 Earphones (Playback 52)
|Marketing, public relations pros, and, yes, even journalists, tend to neglect the middle-priced products in most manufacturers’ lines. It’s easy to understand why. Budget-priced products can be praised for their value, and top-of-the-line items can ...read more -
Ultimate Ears UE200 Earphones (Playback 52)
|Few people upgrade overnight from the free earbuds that came with their MP3 players to $1000+ premium performance earphones. Most work their way, incrementally, up the audio food chain. But for the journey to begin ...read more -
Meridian Audio Core 200 System (Playback 52)
|Meridian’s ability to consistently produce top-echelon audio gear that combines technological advancement with ergonomic elegance is only equaled by their breathtakingly high pricetags. But once the initial shock at the number of 0s, 9s and ...read more -
RMAF 2011 Report - Digital Audio
|Click here to check out our entire list of RMAF 2011 blogs. This year’s Rocky Mountain Audiofest featured more new digital products than ever before. I counted over forty introductions including DACs, CD players, network ...read more -
Paradigm MilleniaOne 5.1-Channel Speaker System (TPV 108)
|Early in the history of reproduced sound someone got the bright idea to put a transducer in a wooden box. The idea caught on and for the next nearly 100 years we’ve seen wooden boxes ...read more -
Peachtree Audio iDac (TAS 214)
|As you might surmise by its name, the Peachtree Audio iDac is a DAC (digital-to-analog converter) that has an iPod dock. And while the dock is part of its feature set, it’s far from the ...read more -
Oppos Enhanced: NuForce BDP-93 NE & NXE Blu-ray/ Universal Players (TPV 106)
|Occasionally a component comes along that resets the bar for what consumers can expect at a particular price. In the eight months since it’s release the $499 Oppo BDP-93 has become the de-facto standard for ...read more -
AudioTools iPad/iPod/iPhone App (Playback, from TAS 213)
|Back in the old days, measurements required an array of bulky black boxes. Scopes, tone generators, and calibration devices usually took up at least several square feet of surface on every tech’s desk. Then along ...read more