Audiophile News, Opinion and Insights
NAD Announces CS1 Endpoint Network Streamer For $499
Employing audiophile-grade components, the NAD CS1 can play high-resolution audio up to 24-bit/192kHz. It features Bluetooth, Ethernet, dual-band Wi-Fi and supports the most popular streaming and casting protocols, including Apple AirPlay 2, GoogleCast, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect and Roon. Certification… Read More »
More Audiophile News, Opinion and Insights
BluOS Announces 4.0 Mobile Application Update
BluOS, the premium multi-room music management platform by Lenbrook International, announces a new and improved BluOS 4.0 update to its mobile application platform. A preview demonstration of BluOS 4.0 will take place at the Integrated Systems Europe conference in Barcelona,… Read More »
Is Break-In a Thing Science-Based Audiophiles Should Take Seriously?
Two weeks ago, I was on the phone with a public relations executive I hadn’t spoken with in a few years. Frank currently represents PS Audio, Audio-Technica and a few other audiophile brands and he was confirming that he had… Read More »
Ansuz Introduces Mainz8 Generation 3 High End Audiophile Power Product
Ansuz has made quantum leaps in the development and design of innovative and unconventional audio technologies that have revolutionized the quality standards of high-end music reproduction. High time, then, to integrate all these groundbreaking advances into a new series of audiophile… Read More »
Revising the Conundrum of And/Or When Buying Audiophile Components
Things have changed quite a bit in the audiophile world as compared with just a few years ago when I left the business to try my hand at being an executive at a publicly traded Fortune 500 company. The pink… Read More »
Tampa, Florida Audiophile Show Is Sold Out For Exhibits But Not Tickets
The Florida International Audio Expo takes place Friday–Sunday, February 17–19, at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Tampa Airport Westshore. The sold-out show will be the biggest yet, with more than 77 exhibit spaces delivering plenty of action—several exhibitors will unveil new… Read More »
How A Motivated Millennial Music Lover Found a Highly Lucrative Career in the Audiophile Business Straight Out of College
Greensboro is much like any other mid-sized, sleepy college town in the Southeast. Home to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), part of a statewide system that quite surprisingly encompasses 17 colleges, universities, and institutions of higher learning,… Read More »
PS Audio Is Now Shipping Their Flagship $7,999 PerfectWave DirectStream DAC MK2
PS Audio is now shipping its PerfectWave DirectStream DAC MK2, successor to the acclaimed original version. The DirectStream DAC MK2 incorporates a host of newly-developed PS Audio technologies to deliver a new level of sonic performance in digital audio playback,… Read More »
Bricasti Design Launches the M1 Series II Dual Mono Converter
Bricasti Design just launched the newly engineered M1 Series II dual mono digital to analog converter. Bricasti M1 v2 DAC dressed in silver The M1 Series II introduces a new look and feel to the M1 series of products and encompasses… Read More »
Naim’s New Classic Range of Audiophile Electronics
Naim is out with their New Classic range of electronics including the NSC 222 streaming pre-amplifier; an all-new iteration of the iconic NAP 250 power amplifier; and the NPX 300 power supply upgrade. Each boasts more features – including balanced… Read More »
CES Might Be Dead to Audiophiles Now, But It Was Fear of Illness That Poisoned the Well Long Before COVID-19
When I was 19 years old, I remember literally begging my boss, Christopher Hansen, to go to CES in early 1994. I was off from college, and back then the show was the Super Bowl of all things audio. What… Read More »
Five Low-Cost/No-Cost Audiophile Hacks That Actually Work
Acoustician Bob Hodas, who has tuned and pretty much every good recording studio—from Sony Music and Electric Lady Studios to Van Halen’s 5150 and so many more—also works with enlightened audiophiles seeking real-world, non-voodoo tuning of their rooms. This can… Read More »
The Problem with Best Buy
One of the advantages of living in a big city is all of the access to various services, products, and experiences. Being a resident of a major metropolis gives you access to cultural, medical, culinary, and—in the case of the… Read More »
Parasound Sold To New Owners on December 8, 2022
Richard Schram, who founded the audio equipment brand Parasound in 1981, has announced his retirement and the sale of his company to David Sheriff, an entrepreneur active in product growth and supply-chain management. Parasound manufactures audiophile-grade amplifiers and other components… Read More »
A Local High End Running Shoe Store Ran Out Of Customers Because of Poor Inventory Policies
One of my stated goals as a consumer is to support local retailers. Sure, I buy my fair share of crap from Amazon.com just like everybody else but when possible, I try to shop local. One store that I used… Read More »
Maybe We Need an Audiophile Gear Recycling Program to Kickstart New Industry Growth?
You want to know why I’d rather be a high-end sports car dealer than an audiophile store owner these days? More often than not, high-end cars, over time, wear out or get old. People wreck them more frequently than you’d… Read More »
The Alpha iQ Streaming Speakers with BluOS are Now Shipping
PSB Speakers, makers of high-fidelity loudspeakers since 1972, just announced the retail availability of the Alpha iQ, Streaming Powered Speakers with BluOS, the brand’s first pair of wireless streaming bookshelf speakers that integrate control, source and amplification. The Alpha iQ… Read More »
Rotel Launches Its First Integrated Streamer Component
Rotel just introduced its S14 Integrated Streamer offering discerning listeners a high-performance product to access and enjoy online music with ease. This solution delivers the family-owned audio company’s promise of quality, value, and performance, aiming to bring music to life… Read More »
McIntosh Releases New Wall of Sound Grateful Dead T-shirt and Sweatshirts For The Holidays
The two music icons came together in 1974 when the Grateful Dead unveiled their famed “Wall of Sound” at the San Francisco Cow Palace. The most unique traveling concert sound system in history, the system was 100+ feet wide and… Read More »
In the Audiophile World, Higher Price Doesn’t Always Equal Higher Performance
One of the biggest audiophile fallacies is a pricier or more exclusive product is going to perform better than a more affordable or mass-market solution. Perhaps that was once the case, but new-school audiophiles are increasing supporting manufacturers who deliver… Read More »
Does Inflation Always Makes Audiophile Products Cost More? Not Always… Here’s How to Cope
If you have a pair of ears, or even only one functioning ear, it’s impossible to avoid the “I” word these days. Most of the inflation news today is bad, and that makes sense as bad news creates media-based user… Read More »
Aavik Launches Their New Flagship 880 Series of Amplifiers
Aavik announced today that it has expanded its range of amplifiers with their new flagship Aavik 880 series. The new series consists of the Aavik I-880 integrated amplifier, the C-880 control amplifier, and the P-880 power amplifier. The primary development… Read More »
Monoprice Finally Launches Low-cost Audition Speakers to its Monolith Line
Monolith, Monolith, the high-end audio brand from Monoprice, just announced its Audition series speaker solutions. The Audition speakers will be available in bookshelf, center-channel and two tower configurations. “Our new Audition Series speakers bring extremely-high quality sound to a new… Read More »
Andover Audio Launches SpinStage Phono Preamp For $249
Andover Audio just announced the launch of its new SoundBites Series with the first model, the SpinStage phono preamp (MSRP $249). Making an elegant style statement in a striking clear finish of bead-blasted, anodized aluminum, this SpinStage has been painstakingly engineered to… Read More »