Audiophile News, Opinion and Insights

Meze Audio just introduced LIRIC 2nd Generation, a major evolution of its acclaimed LIRIC closed-back over-the-ear audiophile headphones with performance enhancements, a new striped ebony wood finish and more modularity for easier upgrades and a long life of listening pleasure. … Read the Review »

I’ve said it before and I will say it again – the single most important component in any audiophile system are your ears. Surprisingly, this is an often-overlooked topic of conversation among audiophiles, who are (given their age and male-dominated… Read the Review »

Upgrading our audiophile system is a big part of the fun in this hobby. Maybe we want to simply heighten our musical enjoyment by improving the configuration of our audio system. Perhaps recent listening experiences at an audiophile dealer, an… Read the Review »

By Jerry Del Colliano  Anybody who’s been in the audiophile hobby, even for a little while, knows that when they enter the realm of the audio salon or stereo store, they can pretty easily ask for (and get) a 20-percent-off… Read the Review »

It is hard to feel bad for that guy who just spent $275,000 on that new V8 Ferrari, but how do you tell him that no matter how little he drives his Prancing Horse from Maranello, Italy, and no matter… Read the Review »

Have you ever eaten at Din Tai Fung? It is a Taiwanese soup dumpling restaurant that is the only “chain” to have earned a Michelin Star, which is about as lofty a culinary goal as there is in the world of fine… Read the Review »

If you want to get the attention of my 11-year-old Vincenzo (Enzo, for short), you would be well-served hitting him up on ROBLOX. This seemingly low-resolution video game in the metaverse has him and every boy (and many a girl) every… Read the Review »

There are those outside our beloved hobby who might claim audiophilia is little more than a collection of technological snobs. Others may feel audiophiles are certifiably crazy. They point to the lunacy of the cost of upper level audio systems… Read the Review »

In a perfect world, no right-minded audiophile would ever throw away his or her equipment boxes. None of us live in a perfect world and, for many of us, storage space comes at a tremendous premium. How to manage your… Read the Review »

Imagine you walk into your favorite local audiophile dealer to spend some time listening to the latest and greatest gear on display. Years ago, most professional stereo salespeople had a short stack of their best Compact Discs ready to play… Read the Review »

There is a sea change going on in the audiophile hobby coming from the world of electronics – specifically via a whole crop of new-school, Class-D amplifiers (learn more here). These amps are designed around any number of somewhat modern… Read the Review »

STAX just introduced the SRM-D10 II portable headphone amplifier, available for sale from the first quarter of 2024. Featuring significant updates from the original SRM-D10, the SRM-D10 II continues to elevate listening experiences for STAX fans worldwide.  The SRM-D10 II… Read the Review »

The audiophile hobby has always been a bit of a cult of personality, based around mostly male, Baby Boomer engineer types, whose main purpose in life is to find the highest possible quality music playback performance from any and all… Read the Review »

Accepting that you are repeated loser can be a tough pill to swallow when you have any modicum success in your professional life, but this is where I stand today. The reason for my malaise is that, no matter how… Read the Review »

The long-awaited reunion of the renowned Abbey Road EMI TG12345 MKI recording console and Lockwood Major Loudspeakers has marked a significant milestone in music history. Lockwood proudly provided a pair of original Lockwood Major Loudspeakers to support the special Bonhams… Read the Review »

In the very early days of musical playback, as far back as the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, most music devotees bought a console audio system. These units were the ultimate all-in-one. A single, large cabinet housed the stereo power… Read the Review »

In a significant expansion of its acclaimed Stellar Series lineup, PS Audio just announced the introduction of its PS Audio StellarGold preamplifier (read the review) and PS Audio StellarGold DAC (read the review). The two new high-end audio components incorporate a host of PS Audio’s… Read the Review »

Masimo believes that music should be at the heart of your home, enhancing your daily life. Our commitment to creating a seamless experience has always driven us to continuously evolve our platform. We’re thrilled to announce a significant visual and… Read the Review »

My wife and I recently realized that during our COVID-era lockdown, we inadvertently got away from many of the things that we really enjoyed doing. But for now, we are back out and enjoying life and trying to restore some… Read the Review »

Stenheim, the Switzerland-based speaker company that utilizes aluminum cabinets and high-efficiency drivers to create some of the hi-fi industry’s most renowned and musical loudspeakers, launched its new Alumine Two.Five, a passive two-way, floorstanding speaker, at an exclusive media event held at the… Read the Review »

Sitting in our living room with the inward-facing French doors open to let the cool evening ocean breeze waft in, I cued up my audiophile system for some chill, trip-hop, loungy/electronic jams as my wife and I had a rare… Read the Review »

World renowned for its signature high output, low-distortion audio engineering and trusted by musicians, studios, live sound engineers and audiophiles over five decades, The Acoustic Transducer Company (ATC) is proud to announce the production of the C4 Sub Mk 2… Read the Review »

Loudspeakers are somewhat of a marvel. Where electronic components are designed to efficiently move electrical signals from one place to the next, speakers have the unique job of converting those signals to the mechanical vibrations we perceive as music. Without… Read the Review »

Pangea Audio, a developer and manufacturer of high performance, high value audio accessories, announced today a new edition of its acclaimed Record Doctor vacuum record cleaning machines that simultaneously cleans both sides of a record, saving time and effort over… Read the Review »

Longtime audiophile reviewer Steven Stone was being shy in a recent phone conversation. As far as I can tell, he coined the phrase oligarch audio which describes audiophile components that are priced north of $100,000. By anyone’s measure, that is… Read the Review »

After my article about three recent in-warranty repairs, my publisher, Jerry Del Colliano, asked me to write about out-of-warranty audiophile repairs. Those are the ones that you can expect to have to pay for. Basically, there are three out-of-warranty repair… Read the Review »

Noted subwoofer manufacturer, REL Acoustics, just unveiled the T/9x Red subwoofer to the audiophile market. Evolving from the foundational T/9x, this Special Edition subwoofer combines arresting aesthetics with improved driver performance, pushing the boundaries of both design and sound. The… Read the Review »

A few years before COVID, I walked into a listening room at a CEDIA show in Denver for an audition of Wisdom Audio’s latest powered and room-corrected speakers. Calling it a room is a stretch, mind you, as these demo spaces are easily assembled… Read the Review »

REKKORD Audio, the company whose extensive selection of high-end turntables is meticulously designed and handmade in one of Europe’s foremost audio manufacturing facilities, is bringing its high performance, intuitive F100 turntable to U.S.-based music lovers who are ready to partake in the… Read the Review »

After years of intense research and development, the Nagra HD PHONO is finally available for discerning listeners of vinyl. It is the ideal complement to the HD range and the world-acclaimed HD PREAMP, HD DAC X and HD AMP monoblocks. Nagra’s… Read the Review »

The human ear is quite an amazing piece of audio gear. It’s an intricate yet vast system of tiny, superbly-tuned components working in sync to convert mechanical energy into what we interpret as sound. Most people, audiophiles included, will go… Read the Review »

Pangea Audio, developer and manufacturer of high performance, high value audio accessories, just announced it now offers its low-profile Record Doctor Record Clamp with a black chrome knob, adding a new color option for listeners who prefer to use a dust cover… Read the Review »

PSB Speakers just announced the launch of a new generation of the highly acclaimed Imagine Series speaker line at Toronto Audio Fest. The latest edition of the Imagine Series consists of the B50 Bookshelf, T54 and T65 Tower speakers. The Imagine… Read the Review »

One of the ugly truths of consumer electronics is that stuff breaks. When we’re lucky, a malfunction occurs while the product is still under warranty. But what do those warranties actually cover, practically speaking? The following stories draw from my… Read the Review »

Børresen is thrilled to introduce the X2 speaker, a sleek and elegant, three-unit, floorstanding loudspeaker, that is the smallest model in the award-winning X series. This new loudspeaker reflects Børresen’s commitment to meeting diverse needs of listeners while maintaining the… Read the Review »

Audiophile loudspeaker company, Bowers & Wilkins, has launched a new version of its award-winning wireless speaker in collaboration with long-standing partner, McLaren Automotive. Introducing the new Zeppelin McLaren Edition. Read the Review »

Gryphon’s highly anticipated Diablo 333 Integrated Amplifier will make its North American Dealer Debut today, Thursday, 16 November at The Sound Environment, Omaha, NE. Anthony Chiarella, Gryphon’s North American Director of Sales and Marketing, will present the amplifier and be… Read the Review »

For most audiophiles, the road to sonic nirvana often follows the path of increasingly better equipment. Many of us spend decades and untold thousands of dollars replacing an existing something for a something better – all in the hopes of… Read the Review »

We talk a lot about how the future of the audiophile hobby needs to be inclusive. We need to ditch some of the old-school standards and practices like only listening in a messy listening room by yourself versus having your… Read the Review »