For someone who has lived through a decade when tube amplifiers were considered by many to have been obsoleted by transistor designs it was delicious irony to witness the renaissance of tube amplification in the ...

I listen to music almost every day. Which is to say, I hardly ever listen to CDs. Call me a Luddite but I’m married to the sound of vinyl. No, it’s not because I enjoy ...

There is no greater feel-good story in audio than a company that, having fallen on hard times, manages to pull itself up by its boot straps, reorganize, and re-enter the competitive marketplace. Micromega is one ...

The BEE of NAD’s BEE series of components pays homage to its designer Bjorn Erik Edvardsen, who also designed the storied 3020 integrated amplifier that put the company on the map three decades ago. Introduced ...

I’ve listened to a lot of audio equipment over the years, but I can count on one hand (without using all my fingers) the number of times I’ve heard something that was fool-me realistic. The ...

The three phonostages represented in this survey cover a range of reasonable price points. They are basic though distinct in operation and are externally adjustable for use with the majority of cartridges. All are solid-state ...

Have you ever fallen in love with the sound of a mid-powered amplifier, decided to move up in that manufacturer’s line to a more powerful unit, and found that the sonic magic that originally captivated ...

Designer Vladimir Lamm, who is equally at home with tube as well as solid-state circuitry, has refreshed the LL2 design, LAMM’s long-standing entry-level tube linestage preamp. The LL2.1 is a direct replacement for the LL2. ...

When you think about it, “elicit” is a pretty nifty name for an audio component. After all, the verb not only rolls nicely off the tongue, it describes what we’d like our playback systems to ...

In his excellent biography of the Swiss-born sculptor and painter Alberto Giacometti, James Lord relates a charming story from a difficult time. It was 1939, the Germans had just invaded Czechoslovakia, and the Swiss government ...

“Wow, this baby’s loaded,” I muttered to myself as I scanned the back panel of the Simaudio Moon i3.3 and its sister, the CD3.3, which was idling nearby. I do my own fair share of ...

Most American audiophiles are probably too young to remember the time when small European firms like Tandberg and Electrocompaniet were familiar names in the high end. At least some, however, will remember that Electrocompaniet was ...

The term “digital” is often erroneously applied to amplifiers with Class D (switching) output stages, but in the case of NAD’s new M2 Direct Digital Amplifier that word is appropriate. In fact, the M2 represents ...

Affordable excellence. Funny how sensible, refreshing, and downright sane that phrase seems these days. Don’t get me wrong: For those who can afford it, which more or less excludes most of us, owning the finest ...

While most high-end audio firms are small artisan-minded affairs that were founded by guys whose passions border on or exceed the obsessive, most of the design and production facilities I’ve visited appear to be anything ...