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How Manufacturing Complexities Directly Relate to Audiophile Equipment Pricing
It doesn’t take a lot of investigation to determine that audiophile equipment prices can get very expensive. In our beloved industry, we see floorstanding speakers, audiophile subwoofers, power amps, stereo preamps, and beyond that cost well into the five-figure range—and… Read the Review »
Revel F328Be Floorstanding Speakers Reviewed
The F328Be is the top dog in Revel’s Performa Be audiophile floorstanding speaker line, and a number of well-respected people within Revel would say it is the best speaker the company currently makes. Revel took advantage of parent company Harman’s… Read the Review »
Exploring the Often-Dangerous World of High-End Digital Audiophile Components
Historically, audiophile-grade amplifiers hold their value over time. So do good stereo preamps. The best audiophile floorstanding loudspeakers also hold their value in most cases over a reasonable amount of time. Solidly built audiophile turntables don’t tend to lose their… Read the Review »
Isonic CS6.1-Pro Record Cleaning System Reviewed
Some music fans buy one LP a week, others one a day, and still others buy so many that they can’t (or won’t) keep count. The Isonic CS6.1 Pro is the record cleaning system for the that last group, the LP-purchasing power… Read the Review »
PS Audio Sprout100 Integrated Amplifier Reviewed
The PS Audio Sprout100 (buy at Amazon) is an entry level audiophile integrated amplifier made by the folks at PS Audio. Packed into one tiny little package (and I mean tiny) it measures at 6.2 inches wide by 1.9 inches… Read the Review »
For Todays Younger Audiophiles, Everything Is About Value
My audiophile publishing comeback wasn’t supposed to ever happen. When I sold HomeTheaterReview.com and AudiophileReview.com back in late December 2019, I told anybody that would listen that I was pretty much done. I was looking for some new challenges and… Read the Review »
Anthem MDX-8 Distribution Amplifier Reviewed
You can’t find a product in the audio/video space that says “custom installation” more loudly than the Anthem MDX-8 distribution amplifier. It is an eight-channel power amplifier that has up to 200 Watts-per-channel of Class-D power waiting for any number… Read the Review »
Parasound Halo A 21+ Amplifier Reviewed
For several years, the Parasound Halo A21 reigned as the amplification king in my listening/design space. It was an affordable monster that could drive any speaker one could throw at it. I shorted the outputs of the A21 several times… Read the Review »
Stax SR-L300 Electrostatic Headphones Reviewed
Stax is known primarily for one kind of component: electrostatic headphones. Its first headphone/amplifier combination, the SRD-1 and SR-1, were released in 1960 and are legendary today. Currently the company has nine models ranging in price from the $455 to… Read the Review »
How to Stop Worrying and Soundproof Your Audiophile Listening Room
So there you are, all primed and ready for a true audiophile experience with your bad-to-the-bone stereo system – the one you’ve spent months/years/decades researching, curating, purchasing, and setting up. You select the music, press play, and wow, doesn’t it… Read the Review »
Monoprice SonicSolace II Bluetooth Over- Ear Headphones
Just like any sort of hunting, audiophile bargain hunting involves a modicum of danger, but that’s part of the thrill. The risk of finding a stinker is part the process, and the rise of Chi-Fi, or Chinese-made gear has made… Read the Review »
Four Good Reasons to Be Optimistic About the Audiophile Hobby in 2023
Much lip service has been given to the failing health of the audiophile hobby, and with the demographics looking about as close as you can get to 100 percent male and a median age of well over 55, who could… Read the Review »
SVS SB-1000 Pro Subwoofer Reviewed
The SVS SB-1000 (buy at Crutchfield) is SVS’s entry level subwoofer. It features a 12-inch driver and 325 watts of class D power to ensure that the sub produces plenty of desired low frequency sound. The SB stands for sealed… Read the Review »
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 the Review »
PSB Passif 50 Stand Mount Loudspeaker Reviewed
PSB was founded in 1972 by Paul Barton, a designer who believed speakers should sound natural without adding or subtracting anything from the original recording, which the company refers to as the True to Nature design philosophy. Equally important for the… Read the Review »
Your Next Stereo Store Visit Might Not Be Anything Like What We Knew From The Past
Call me what you want… publisher, editor, entrepreneur, schmuck or just Hey You and I likely will respond quickly and with a smile. Despite running my own publishing business for nearly all of 25 years, I still pretty much consider… Read the Review »
Mark Levinson No. 5909 Headphones Reviewed
Ask 1,000 people at The Mall of the America if $999 is a lot of money for wireless, over- ear, Bluetooth headphones and you might get a fully unanimous 1000/1000 people saying yes. For audiophiles, we often view things a… Read the Review »
Why You Never Need to Impress Anybody with Your Audio System
Watching the Internet come to life as a commercial entity in the 1990s, when I was in music/business school, was most eye opening. From the time that I got to South Central Los Angeles to celebrate the pending West Coast… Read the Review »
Paradigm Premier 700F Floorstanding Speakers Reviewed
The Paradigm Premier 700F (buy at Crutchfield) is a mid-level floorstanding speaker from Paradigm priced at $1,800 per pair, which puts it right in the fray with many of the best players in the high-value speaker market. These moderately tall… Read the Review »
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 the Review »
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 the Review »
Pro-Ject MaiA DS3 Integrated Amplifier Review
An integrated amplifier doesn’t have to be physically large to be high performance and fully featured. When I read the initial press release for the Pro-Ject MaiA DS3 I thought, “There’s an amplifier that seems to fulfill all the requirements… Read the Review »
Schiit Saga+ Preamplifier Reviewed
Some folks prefer a tube-based preamplifier in their audio system while others prefer a solid-state preamplifier. By tube-based, I mean an audiophile preamplifier which uses a vacuum tube as its principal gain device. In contrast, a passive preamplifier attenuates the… Read the Review »
Sonus faber Lumina V Loudspeaker Reviewed
Sonus faber has a longstanding heritage of making audiophile loudspeakers for music lovers. It all started in 1983 when fine Italian craftsmanship met fine music appreciation in Monteviale, Italy. Not much has changed since, except that we’ve had advances in… Read the Review »
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 the Review »
Anthem MCA 225 Gen 2 Power Amplifier Reviewed
The Anthem MCA 225 Gen 2 (buy at Crutchfield) is a two-channel class A/B audiophile power amp from Anthem, which also has three- and five-channel siblings in the 325 and 525. It puts out 225 watts per channel into eight… Read the Review »
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 the Review »
Cleer Audio Next Headphones Reviewed
You may be surprised to learn that Cleer Audio sells an audiophile-oriented, wired-only audiophile headphone set. Cleer’s primary user base consists of younger, on-the-go listeners who are seeking headphones that perform at a higher level but also look really cool.… Read the Review »
HIFIMAN Deva Pro Hybrid-Wireless Planar Headphones
Audiophiles love wired headphones. Younger tech fans and music enthusiasts love everything to be wireless. For the past few months, I’ve reviewed nearly every high-performance Bluetooth headphone, from brands such as Sennheiser, Bowers & Wilkins, Mark Levinson, Focal, Technics, Apple,… Read the Review »
Parasound Halo P 6 Preamplifier Reviewed
Parasound has been offering high-value audiophile gear for three generations now, including many higher-end products designed by legendary consultant John Curl. Today, they offer a broad range of products, including some revered integrated amplifiers, but if you’re looking to move… Read the Review »
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 the Review »
Scansonic HD M20 Compact Floorstanding Speaker Reviewed
Scansonic is relatively unknown speaker brand at this point in the United States, but is uniquely related to some more familiar speaker brands such as Raidho Acoustics and ScanSpeak. In fact, it was developed to showcase ScanSpeak driver technology. Scansonic… Read the Review »
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 mean… Read the Review »
Naim Mu-so 2nd Generation Wireless Music System Reviewed
The Naim Audio Mu-so all-in-one speaker/music system (buy from Crutchfield) is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the merger between electronics firm Naim Audio and French speaker juggernaut Focal. The second generation of the Naim Mu-so is a very slick… Read the Review »
ATC SCM7 v.3 Loudspeakers Reviewed
Most of us have probably listened to music through two-way bookshelf-sized loudspeakers at some point or another. What exactly is a two-way bookshelf loudspeaker? It is a loudspeaker that has two drivers: a small driver called a tweeter that handles… Read the Review »
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 the Review »
Bowers & Wilkins Px8 Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones Reviewed
There was a time when my dear friend Ethan and I brainstormed the concept of what a true pair of high-end wireless Bluetooth speakers would look, feel, and sound like. On my way to the plane for which I am… Read the Review »
MartinLogan ElectroMotion ESL Loudspeakers Reviewed
There was a time when you could walk through Circuit City or other major electronics retailers and see speakers similar to MartinLogan’s ElectroMotion CLS on display alongside all of the traditional cones-in-cabinets speakers. These days, though, there’s a good chance… Read the Review »
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 the Review »
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