Pocket USB streamers are all the rage today. Feather-light and foolproof, they fit in your trousers, fanny-pack, or handbag, and, voîlà, high-res music on-the-hoof. However, they do pose problems for dedicated home-based high-end platforms. Sure, ...

KEF’s versatile coincident driver, the Uni-Q, has been cast in a new role—a part, in my humble opinion, it has always been destined to play. It’s the X300A Digital Hi-Fi Speaker System. I’ve admired this ...

The last year or two has seen the engineers of Meridian Audio as busy as elves in Santa’s Workshop. First there was Explorer, a pocketable USB streamer for dedicated headphone wearers, next there was Director–larger, ...

Many of my encounters with Magnepan loudspeakers predate my high-end audio writing by many years. Even now the instant I hear a Maggie system I’m transported back as if by time machine to the late ...

Merrill Audio Veritas monoblocks ($12,000/pr) were driving the TAD Evolution 1 loudspeakers using a Macmini computer running Channel D Pure Vinyl into a Lynx Hilo ADC/DAC via Thunderbolt connection. These fully balanced amps are based ...

In other news Benchmark (pictured above) introduced its first “analog” product in the guise of an amplifier, the AHB2. Power output is 100Wpc into 8 ohms (170Wpc into 4 ohms & 340 W bridged mono ...

Expensive high end is exciting and at times stirring but I have to admit that there are times when the stiff entry fee can be a little dispiriting. The antidote was only a few doors ...

The tenth installment of the Rocky Mountain Audio might have seen a dip in overall attendance–depending on who you ask–but there was no lack of enthusiasm. Bracketed by Cedia and CES, manufacturers typically don't choose ...

I’ll bet we all remember what our parents asked us before we went out to play on a Saturday afternoon. The fateful question was, “Did you finish your homework?” How this question applies to the ...

The original Nordost Blue Heaven cable was, for many years, one of my budget reference wires. It debuted in 1994 and featured Nordost’s now iconic Flatline cable design. I knew this cable backwards and forwards—its ...

True story. I got a call from a friend shortly after I’d hooked up the latest Bowers & Wilkins desktop system, the Z2. I told her that I was testing the new Z2 from B&W. ...

For well over a decade, Diana Krall, the leggy, blonde, telegenic singer/pianist, has effectively deployed her engaging pop-sweetened-jazz style and consistently hit the crossover sweet spot. And like Dusty Springfield decades before, Krall achieved audiophile ...

I’ve never forgotten the sonic appeal of the Clearaudio Maestro Wood cartridge, which I reviewed back in 2008 (Issue 185). It appeared at a moment when I was still mourning the collapse of my final ...

B.M.C. (Balanced Music Concept) is a relatively new company with an old soul. It was founded in 2009 by a team of accomplished designers and managers who have produced quality components for a variety of ...

The Performa series is the middle of the three lines from Revel, part of the high-end division of Harman known as the luxury Audio Group which also manufactures JBL synthesis, lexicon, and, of course, Mark ...