Audiophile DACs, CD players, Music Streamers, Transports
Cambridge Audio CXN100 Music Streamer/DAC
Cambridge Audio has a 50-year legacy of designing and producing high-performance audio components with a high-value proposition over 10 years in music streaming electronics. It has become quite popular in recent years. To keep up with a vast amount of… Read More »
More Audiophile DACs, CD players, Music Streamers, Transports
McIntosh MDA200 DAC Reviewed
Perhaps no single brand in the history of audio defines the high end of the hobby more than McIntosh. The marquee’s legacy dates back before the boom in popularity of music, as well as audio, in the late 1960s. In… Read More »
Lumin D3 Streamer/DAC Reviewed
One of the fastest-growing categories in the audiophile hobby today is streaming. There are many mainstream music streamers that offer pretty fantastic connectivity and Apple-like ease-of-use, stunning graphical user interfaces and whole-home connectivity. With less than nine percent of all… Read More »
Topping D90 III Sabre DAC Reviewed
One of the most exciting yet volatile categories in the audiophile hobby includes DACs and streamers. Without question, the Chi-Fi brands have disrupted this category in ways that can only be seen as good for mainstream consumers and value-seeking audiophiles… Read More »
Bricasti M19 SACD and Compact Disc Transport Reviewed
I am quite invested in Bricasti, having put 15 years into adding and upgrading their products as the core of my ever-changing audiophile reference system. When the news came across my desk of the new Bricasti Design M19 (M19) transport, I had… Read More »
Weiss Engineering Helios DAC Reviewed
With over four decades in the art and science of audio, Daniel Weiss started his audio tenure in 1979 with pioneering company Studer, then founded his own company making pro series equipment and moved into home audio in 2000. I… Read More »
PS Audio AirLens Streamer Reviewed
The PS Audio AirLens retails for $1,999 and is a single-component audiophile streamer often referred to as a “network transport.” This is not to be mistaken for a streaming DAC, which is alternatively known as a “network player” that includes… Read More »
Laufer Teknik Memory Player 64 Reviewed
Sometime in the late 1990s, audio designer, scientist and quantum physicist Mark Porzilli started thinking about digital music and why he felt it sounded so artificial, with hardly any tangible association to natural-sounding music. In fact, this line of thought occurred about… Read More »
T+A DAC 200 DAC/Preamplifier Reviewed
In my last T+A review we discussed how the source component performs the critical job of injecting the audio you want to listen to into your system while keeping it pristine. I would argue that this next component has an… Read More »
iFi Zen One Signature Digital to Analog Converter Reviewed
In some ways, there are few things that will be as important to the modern audiophile as their DAC, as the vast majority of music today is being listened to through digital sources. Streaming continues to get more and more… Read More »
T+A MP200 Multi Source Player Reviewed
The first component in your audio system playback chain is your source component, and it’s arguably the most critical in your system. Your source component needs to be able to play your media and get it to the rest of… Read More »
PS Audio Stellar Gold Digital to Analog Converter Reviewed
PS Audio is one of the most time-tested and trusted brand names in the audiophile hobby. Not every audiophile knows that, a few years back, PS Audio made the controversial move to dump all of their traditional dealers, thus leaving… Read More »
Orchard Audio PecanPi+ Streaming DAC Reviewed
Orchard Audio is an American audiophile company based in New Jersey, where its products are designed and assembled with its owner and product designer, Leo Ayzenshtat. Orchard Audio could be described as a fan-favorite, direct-to-the-consumer audio manufacturer that focuses on… Read More »
Bricasti M3 Audiophile DAC Reviewed
The audiophile world is jam-packed with companies making uber-expensive components that cost what they cost mainly because of scarcity, esoterica and, sometimes, simple gross profiteering. Bricasti’s audiophile offerings are a breath of fresh air in this sometimes-polluted world of technological… Read More »
Eversolo DMP A6 Streaming DAC and Music Server Reviewed
The Eversolo DMP A6 (buy at Amazon), which retails for $859, is a full-featured audiophile music streamer and audiophile digital to analog converter (DAC) that from here on out we will refer to as a streaming DAC. The Eversolo DMP… Read More »
Chord Qutest DAC Reviewed
The Chord Qutest audiophile DAC is a small form factor $1,595 dedicated digital-to-analog converter designed for both audiophile and desktop solutions. Made in England, this diminutive DAC is built to survive any possible unforeseen nuclear fallout, with its thick aluminum… Read More »
WiiM Pro Plus Audiophile Endpoint/Streamer Reviewed
Even the audiophile elders admit that streaming provides the best performance and most cost-effective way to get CD- to HD-quality audio into your audiophile system. In 2022, only a tiny fraction of the record high sales for recorded music was… Read More »
Sonos Port Audiophile Endpoint Reviewed
Do you wanna know when an AV company is the real deal? Some might say that it is when they are sold in Best Buy or Magnolia stores, and that’s a good standard. Before Sonos made that distribution leap, they… Read More »
Benchmark Media DAC3 B Digital to Analog Converter Reviewed
Audiophiles today have more and more digital music options available to them, thanks to the last of the spinning disc players and countless options in the streamer and/or endpoint market. Many of the above audiophile digital source components come with… Read More »
NAD CS-1 HD Audiophile Endpoint Reviewed
Why is Wall Street trying to get every classic rock-era artist to sell them their songwriting? Streaming is why. The music business is now the software business, and the software business is good and always has been. Just as you… Read More »
Bluesound Node Music Streamer Reviewed
The Bluesound Node music streamer (buy at Crutchfield), with its built-in DAC (digital to analog converter), provides a convenient way for consumers to access their preferred music streaming service from the Internet, or from digital music files stored on a… Read More »
Jay’s Audio CDT3 MK3 Compact Disc Transport Reviewed
Streaming music is all the rage for audiophile of all ages and at any level of progress in the hobby. Vinyl has had an unlikely comeback with today’s youth, perhaps as an anti-technology statement to their often-too-connected or too-much-blue-light world… Read More »
Bricasti Design M1 Series II DAC Reviewed
The $12,000 Bricasti Design M1 has been beating oligarch audio-level DACs exceeding $50,000 in performance since 2010. It has won numerous awards over its tenure and made it into the engineering studios of world-famous music halls and countess audiophile systems… Read More »
Marantz SACD 30n CD/SACD Player Reviewed
The Marantz SACD 30n SACD player (buy at Crutchfield), like the recently reviewed Model 30 integrated amplifier, has a blend of old-school features and design with modern technology. Marantz calls the SACD 30n a complete digital source player, and while… Read More »
Bluesound Powernode Edge Streaming Amplifier Reviewed
When I first looked at the Bluesound Powernode Edge (buy at Crutchfield) streaming amplifier and noticed its retail price of $649, I was taken back to my younger self in the late 1980s when I purchased a Yamaha stereo receiver… Read More »
Schiit Yggdrasil+ OG DAC Reviewed
The Schiit Yggdrasil+ OG (Yggdrasil+) is one of three currently available versions of the company’s flagship, audiophile digital-to-analog converter. OG—in case you’re not familiar with early-1970s street slang or early-1990s hip-hop culture—stands for “Original Gangsta,” because it is the original… Read More »
Music Hall CD25.3 CD Player Reviewed
Music Hall recently released its latest audiophile Compact Disc player, the CD25.3, a no-nonsense source component that is very competitively priced for an audiophile-grade disc spinner at $649. Music Hall is well-known for its high-value offerings in the audiophile world,… Read More »
Benchmark DAC3 HGC DAC Reviewed
The Benchmark DAC3 HGC (buy at Amazon) is one flavor of many in their DAC 3 line-up. The HGC model is a full-featured, mature DAC rocking the latest and greatest ESS ES9028PRO chipset. At 37 years strong, Benchmark has been… Read More »
PS Audio DirectStream DAC MK2 Review
About eight years ago, PS Audio introduced the PerfectWave DirectStream audiophile DAC to quite a bit of audiophile fanfare. It immediately garnered significant acclaim and was praised for its sonic capabilities relative to its price. Introduced late in 2022 (but… Read More »
Meitner MA3 DAC Reviewed
In the early days of digital audio, Ed Meitner was frequently asked about circuit design from industry people interested in his ideas. It was this recognition of an insight into digital audio that led to one of the most innovative… Read More »
T+A elektroakustik SD 3100 HV Streaming DAC Reviewed
By any reasonable measure, the T+A SD 3100 HV Streaming DAC is a world-class audiophile component with numerous features and a high degree of engineering excellence. Designed completely in house by a group of 12 full-time staff engineers and even two physicists,… Read More »
Bricasti M21 Platinum Series DAC Reviewed
Bricasti Design was founded in 2004 by two executives formerly associated with Lexicon. Bricasti’s initial focus was on the pro audio side, and the company immediately gained a solid reputation thanks to its M7 reverb unit. Before long, Bricasti turned… Read More »
NAD C 538 Compact Disc Player Reviewed
NAD is a company with a long-standing history (50 years, in fact) of making great products. The NAD C 538 (buy at Crutchfield) is a great example of what the company does so well, as it’s a straightforward entry-level Compact… Read More »
FiiO K9 Pro DAC/Preamplifier/Headphone Amplifier Reviewed
The first time I saw a FiiO audio component, the old nursery rhyme “fee, fi, fo, fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman” popped into my head. FiiO’s track record of commandeering the market share of their competitors from… Read More »
iFi GO bar DAC/Headphone Amp Reviewed
The GO bar by iFi (buy at Crutchfield) is a $329, ultra-portable USB-based audiophile DAC and headphone amplifier. If you want to know what I mean by ultra-portable, it is approximately the size of my index finger (15/16 inch wide,… Read More »
NAD C 700 BluOS Streaming Amplifier Reviewed
NAD, an audio company well-known by enthusiasts worldwide for their high-value electronics, is part of the Lenbrook group, which also includes PSB speakers and Bluesound wireless streaming devices. The technology behind each brand is often shared within the family, as… Read More »
Grace Design m900 DAC Reviewed
An audiophile digital-to-analog converter (DAC) is a device that converts a digital signal into an analog waveform that your speakers can produces and your ears will ultimately understand. DACs are in everything these days. They are ubiquitous devices that perform… Read More »
iFi xDSD Gryphon DAC/Headphone Amp Reviewed
The iFi xDSD Gryphon (buy at Crutchfield) is a portable balanced headphone amplifier and digital-to-analog converter from a company renowned for both its DACs and its HPAs. It will handle just about any connection you can throw at it, including USB,… Read More »
Schiit Audio Modi 3e DAC Reviewed
The Schiit Modi 3e (buy at Amazon) is the latest update to Schiit Audio’s popular low-cost digital-to-analog converter line. The company calls this one a “do-all” DAC, because it accepts coaxial and optical digital inputs, but also Schiit’s own Unison… Read More »
Rotel CD11 Tribute CD Player Reviewed
While streaming is more and more likely to be the principal means by which you access your music these days, there are also millions of physical CDs floating around music collections just waiting to be played. The Rotel CD11 Tribute… Read More »
Panasonic DP-UB820-K 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player Reviewed
Recently I reviewed the Sony BDP-S6700 (Buy at Crutchfield), Blu-ray player and quite liked it as a high-value audio player. It was versatile enough to handle multiple formats, not just the Blu-ray discs that you saw on the front of… Read More »
Marantz Professional PMD-526C Compact Disc Player Reviewed
The Marantz Professional PMD-526C is a compelling pro angle on an audiophile Compact Disc player that has plenty of features you won’t find on similarly priced disc spinners. The $249 retail price places this component firmly in the budget category,… Read More »
Sony BDP-S6700 Blu-ray Disc Player Reviewed
Your first thought when you see this post could very well be, why are you reviewing a Blu-ray player on an audiophile site? You’re not wrong in thinking this, but the Sony BDP-S6700 disc player (buy at Crutchfield) has some… Read More »
