Over a year ago at this writing, I first heard about Von Schweikert Audio’s new VR-44 Aktive on a Von Schweikert Audio-sponsored forum on the Audio Circle Web site, where it was announced that the ...

In the past, NuForce offered one line of audio equipment targeted toward audiophiles and another line geared toward personal-audio/desktop-audio enthusiasts. Now, NuForce is introducing a third range of components that are affordably priced (only a ...

The Leto preamplifier, a linestage that is the second product of George and Carolyn Counnas’ Zesto Audio, is cut so completely from the same sonic cloth as Zesto’s Andros PS1 phonostage I reviewed last year ...

Sonus faber, I thought I knew you—that we had an understanding. What happened? You’ve seduced me for years with romantic, walnut-and-leather-accented, luteshaped loudspeakers inspired by the 18th century craftsmanship of the Cremonese master luthiers. Speaker ...

Fully appreciating what an anomaly the Windham Hill music label really was requires some honest musical history. Think back to the 1980s, when the California-based label achieved enormous popularity. Was there ever a decade when ...

The name “Hautonga,” given by the New Zealand-based Plinius company to its new integrated amplifier, is a coinage of two Maori words that together are meant to suggest “a strong clean wind” or “breath of ...

The Talon Phoenix is one of those rare loudspeakers that challenges the state of the art. If you find the opportunity to listen to it, it is almost certain to open your ears with new ...

Upon first look it’s easy to see the Wadia 121’s resemblance to other components in Wadia’s "mini” line, including the 171i i-Pod dock and 151 PowerDAC. Like these other components, the 121 was designed for ...

Although the Q7’s woofers, midrange driver, and tweeter look identical to those of the Q5 (except that the woofers are bigger and there are more of them) the Q7’s drivers are actually quite a bit ...

This list of recommended film score recordings is not meant to be a list of best film scores. Some great scores are not included because of poor sound (and some poor scores not included despite ...

One of the grand chapters in the history of audio was the BBC research program some decades ago into how to make speakers with a truthful sound. The BBC had the worthy idea that it ...

When the first DACs (digital-to-analog converters) appeared in 1985 they were big and expensive. Sony’s first DAC, the Sony DAS-702ES, weighed over 11kg and was built to last a lifetime. Too bad the technology inside ...

The term “USB DAC” is starting to become redundant the way “cell phone,” “digital camera,” and “flat-panel television” are anachronisms to one generation and “ink pen” is to those of us two (or more) generations ...

Here’s the thing about the ceramic-driver loudspeakers I’ve reviewed in the past. At low-to-moderate SPLs or on music performed pianissimo-to-mezzoforte, they have always been marvelous at reproducing the fine detail that tells you which instruments ...

Robert Harley recently sang the praises of the nifty AudioQuest DragonFly (Issue 226). He covered its performance when the device is used as a USB DAC fronting a reference audio system, and compared it to ...