Exposure 3010S2$3195/pr.bluebirdmusic.com Based on the company’s top-end MCX Series monoblock, the 100-watt 3010S2 nicely balances brains with brawn, bringing a sense of “rightness” to music. Tonal balance is a tad toward the warm side, and ...

In my humble opinion, nothing says “you’ve made it” quite like owning high-end music-reproduction equipment. And yet both you and I both know that audio gear is not the first thing people think of as ...

Definitive Technology BP8060 ST$2000definitivetech.com A medium height, slim, versatile speaker with a builtin, adjustable amp to power its 10" side-firing woofer, the BP8060 BP has a full, pleasant sound and a very wide effective listening ...

The word “entry-level” covers a vast swath of price points in the high end. For Vitus Audio, a premium maker of electronics from Denmark, its Reference Series, which includes the RI-100, is a $13k entry-level ...

When I reviewed the Bel Canto DAC 3.5 VB in Issue 216 I found it to be an outstanding full-featured DAC/ preamplifier that only lacked a USB interface. Bel Canto’s thinking was that USB interface ...

Pro-Ject Debut Carbon$399sumikoaudio.net The most significant upgrade to Pro-Ject’s latest Debut is found in the model’s name, which refers to the lighter, more rigid, single-piece 8.6" carbon-fiber arm tube that replaces the Debut III’s aluminum ...

To cut immediately to the chase, when used with the AAS Gabriel/DaVinciAudio Labs Mk II turntable and the Goldfinger Statement cartridge, the DaVinci Master’s Reference Virtu tonearm is the most realistic-sounding pivoted tonearm I’ve yet ...

Several decades ago before the high end acquired both its name and its status, moving-magnet pickups reigned supreme among audiophiles. They were relatively easy to build, neutral in tonal balance, flat in frequency response, low ...

Simaudio’s Moon 310LP is a highly articulate phono preamp. By which I mean that here is a design that can take, say, the maddeningly intricate fingerwork of a Glenn Gould—many examples abound, but let’s settle ...

It was only a couple issues ago that I reviewed the smallest member of Sonus faber’s newest series of entry-level loudspeakers, Venere. That particular compact, the $1199 Model 1.5, which I dubbed “tiny goddess,” might’ve ...

Teac Reference PD-H600$799teac.com Sitting atop Teac’s Reference Series, the PD-H600 borrows premium touches from the company’s superb Esoteric brand. “Open,” and “easy” are words that describe this gem, which is immediately engaging, surprisingly transparent, and ...

Perhaps it was serendipity, perhaps inevitability, that led me to play The Modern Jazz Quartet’s The Last Concert. “Softly, As In a Morning Sunrise” unfolds kaleidoscopically, somehow by turns psychedelic, funky, dapper, bluesy, and sly. ...

As a product category integrated amplifiers make a lot of sense. Digital components such as CD players and stand-alone DACs already output a nominal 2V while power amp sensitivity is typically 1V or better. Given ...

AudioQuest DragonFly$249audioquest.com How can you not absolutely love an asynchronous USB DAC packed with audiophilegrade design elements in the form factor of a USB stick that costs $249? The variable output level allows you to ...

Alan Shaw’s Harbeth Monitor 30.1, which has been released in time to celebrate the company’s thirty- fifth anniversary as a manufacturer of high-quality loudspeakers, is the best compact two-way speaker system I have ever heard, ...