In 1984, Mission introduced its Cyrus line of electronics. These components developed an enthusiastic following but were somewhat overshadowed by Mission's own loudspeakers, at least on these shores. Indeed, the last TAS review of any ...

Our age is retrospective. It builds the sepulchres of the fathers.” So wrote Emerson in his seminal essay “Nature,” perhaps the most famous complaint in American literature. (I wonder what he would have made of ...

Variable gain power amplifiers have always made a lot of sense to me from a sonic, if not always a practical, standpoint. Including a gain control to vary the voltage output of the amplifier approaches ...

In last issue’s CES report, I described the sound in the Hovland Company’s room at the Alexis Park Hotel as “consistently elegant, detailed, and natural.” That listening experience dovetailed almost precisely with the installation in ...

Okay, let’s say you’ve finally got a place of your own. Those iPod earbuds are great on long jogs but murder when you just want to kick back with the Arctic Monkeys and a glass ...

My search for a great sounding, affordably priced high-end system brought me to two very different companies, Cambridge Audio and Era Design. The former is a 30-year-old British firm that has recently transformed itself into ...

Digital room correction can seem almost like a miracle. The improvements are so spectacular that it may seem like all problems have been solved. But the final result still depends on what you start with—room ...

In this new feature in The Perfect Vision, we’ll seek out those “special” components that bring music into your home with an intensity, depth, and emotional connection you may not have thought possible. This class ...

There is a level of excellence at which conventional words about quality and cost-effectiveness become meaningless. Like the very best cars, watches, and wines, and every other assault on the consumer state of the art ...

NAD C372 The $999 C372 is the most powerful integrated amplifier in NAD’s “Hi- Fi” Series, and as with every NAD amp built from Day One, the C372’s power capabilities are conservatively rated. Though it ...

John Ulrick, the founder and designer of Spectron, has a wealth of switching amplifier experience that few in the industry can match. In the late 1960s he was a co-founder of Infinity (with Arnie Nudell), ...

Cary’s A 306 Class D amplifier, part of the new Designer Series that includes the superb CD 306 CD/SACD player I reviewed in Issue 164, is big and heavy enough to be mistaken for a ...

Beautifully made (it is certainly the best-looking Class D amp of the lot, with a body carved from a billet of 6061 aluminum and a wavy faceplate straight out of Rowland’s Classic line), the 250Wpc ...

The Kharma MP150 has been my reference amplifier since I received a pair in March to go with the company’s gorgeous-sounding Mini Exquisite speakers (a review of which will appear in our next issue). Before ...

It will be more than a passing irony if the LP outlives the CD. Yet, if sonic merit is the issue, the LP should be the survivor. Both mediums have their plusses, but I still ...