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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 »
Focal Chora 806 Loudspeakers Reviewed
It wasn’t long ago that a five-liter V8 engine generated 225 horsepower. Today, technology allows 260 horsepower from a much smaller four-cylinder engine – and the fuel economy is far superior. Well-designed bookshelf loudspeakers from a reputable manufacturer like Focal… Read the Review »
Anthem STR Stereo Preamplifier Reviewed
Like many of you, I don’t have a perfect listening room, so having room correction built into a preamplifier can be a game changer. The Anthem STR preamplifier (buy at Crutchfield) has Anthem’s ARC GENESIS room correction, bass management for… Read the Review »
GrooveWasher Mondo Record Cleaning Kit
It should be obvious that a clean record makes for a better listening experience. There are a multiplicity of ways to clean your records. When you pull a rock through a canyon (which is what a record player does) it… Read the Review »
Polk PSW111 Powered Subwoofer Reviewed
Small subwoofers make the audio world a better place. I am not sure how the audiophile community once missed out on this news story, but with a modest sub, any music lover can add the entire lower octave of music… Read the Review »
Bricasti Design M20 Stereo Preamplifier Reviewed
Given that many of today’s audiophile DACs, phono stages, and even many modern audiophile amplifiers have their own internal volume controls, it may not be clear why you would ever want to integrate a preamplifier into your modern audiophile music… Read the Review »
Technics EAH-A800 Noise Cancelling Over-Ear Headphones Reviewed
Retro is all the rage these days, and a number of companies have taken that mantle leaving the musty pawn shops and cluttered old record stores that sell 1970s gear and turned it into a modern audiophile sales boom. McIntosh… Read the Review »
Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless Over-Ear Headphones Reviewed
Perhaps my favorite product category of the past five years has been wireless over-ear headphones. There’s been so much growth and improvement in this highly relevant space. The Sennheiser Momentum 4 (buy at Crutchfield) are a next-generation offering in the… Read the Review »
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 the Review »
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 the Review »
Trinnov Amethyst Stereo Preamplifier Reviewed
I was introduced to Trinnov more than a decade ago when the company’s Room Optimizer was demonstrated to me through a Sherwood R-972 receiver. Now, more than a decade and hundreds of product demonstrations later, I am still very impressed… Read the Review »
How Chi-Fi Is Re-Energizing the Audiophile Hobby
Recently, I’ve been asking audiophile industry executives what they think of Chi-Fi or “Chinese Hi-Fi (aka: audiophile components made in China, sold directly to clients all over the world at often hard-to-conceive-of prices). It has been notable how many were… Read the Review »
Focal Bathys Bluetooth Active Noise Cancelling Headphones Reviewed
The audiophile world is filled with wired headphones that can bring the excitement of live music straight to your head. They can deliver the dynamics of the studio experience without having to worry about the acoustics of the room or… Read the Review »
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 the Review »
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Enjoy Vinyl for What It Is
Some audiophiles read my articles and think I absolutely hate vinyl. I don’t at all. In fact, I have been thinking of adding a turntable to my ever-evolving living room music playback system. The issue with vinyl is that we… Read the Review »
Rega Planar 1 Turntable Reviewed
The vinyl resurgence has music lovers everywhere clamoring for that magical analog sound. Needless to say, though, that sound starts at the source. The better the source, the better the sound. And while it’s possible these days to spend six… Read the Review »
An Audiophile Wedding Gift For a 30-Year-Old Designed as a Real Good Entrée to the Hobby
Recently, my nephew and niece moved into a new home. As a housewarming gift, I decided to gift the millennial couple a new stereo system. I gave them their first system when they moved into their first home. It was… Read the Review »
The FutureAudiophile.com Mission Statement
Updated Summer 2025 The time has come for change in the audiophile world. That’s why I’m launching a new publication called FutureAudiophile.com to deal with the problems at hand. My goal is simple to articulate but apparently not easy to… Read the Review »
SMSL DA-8S Integrated Amplifier Reviewed
Most affordable Bluetooth or powered speakers simply don’t provide the musical experience that gives you the goosebumps. There is a point for many music fans who are looking for a more visceral audio experience when they need to upgrade to… Read the Review »
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 the Review »
Sennheiser HD600 Wired Audiophile Headphones Reviewed
The Sennheiser HD600 (buy at Crutchfield) audiophile headphones have been available to music lovers and audio professionals for over 20 years. That type of longevity rarely exists in the fast-paced world of consumer electronics, where new products are released on… Read the Review »
SoundArtist LS3/5A Loudspeaker Reviewed
The SoundArtist LS3/5A bookshelf audiophile loudspeaker is a modern version of a classic speaker design that has been available in one form or another since 1975, when the BBC developed it and licensed the speaker’s manufacture to several British audio… Read the Review »
Audioengine Now Shipping $149 DAC3 Pocket-Size Headphone Amplifier/DAC
Audioengine just announced the availability of DAC3, a portable, powerful headphone amplifier/DAC (digital-to-analog converter) that offers better-than-CD sound and compatibility with every major streaming format on the market. The Audioengine DAC3 (buy at Crutchfield – $149.00), which measures a 1.9 inches, relies on… Read the Review »
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