Articles
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PrimaLuna DiaLogue Two Integrated Amplifier
|With its ProLogue series of tube electronics, PrimaLuna burst onto the audio scene a few years ago and established itself as a serious contender in the value-priced sweepstakes. Designed in the Netherlands, built to high ...read more -
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Audio by Van Alstine Transcendence Eight Preamplifier
|I like this product’s name, and not just because of its promise of reaching beyond the common range of perception. It’s the version number—the Eight—that really piqued my interest, suggesting a mature product evolved through ...read more -
Audio Space Reference 2 Linestage Preamplifier
|The Audio Space Reference 2 from Hong Kong audio engineer Peter Lau is a genuine rara avis—a fullfunction, fully balanced preamplifier that uses two matched pairs of 300B directly heated triode tubes in its output ...read more -
Belles Soloist Series 3 Preamp & Soloist 5 Amplifier
|The $750 Belles Soloist 3 preamp and $900 5 power amplifier from Power Modules embody the time-honored audiophile tradition of minimalist, no-nonsense electronics. Even their austere exteriors reflect a bottom-line mentality—that form should follow function, ...read more -
Conrad -Johnson CA200 Control Amplifier
|I owe a debt of gratitude to the conradjohnson CA200 control amplifier and a saxophone. In a single moment they crystallized in my mind a conclusion that I arrived at during last year’s Class D ...read more -
The ARC PH7 Phono Stage
|The venerable Audio Research Corporation has been on quite a roll of late. Its newest-generation amps (the Reference 210 and Reference 610T) and preamp (the Reference 3), designed as always by the legendary William Zane ...read more -
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JR Transrotor Phono II Phonostage
|JR Transrotor of Germany is widely respected for its striking and innovative turntable designs—a reputation it’s earned over the last twenty-five years. Less commonly acknowledged is the Phono II, Transrotor’s one and only phono preamp. ...read more -
The ASR Emitter II Exclusive
|No component since this magazine’s inception in 1973 has troubled me as much as the ASR Emitter II Exclusive, a Germanmade- and-designed solid-state amplifier. Not because it is a flawed product— quite the opposite. This ...read more -
Classé Audio Delta Series CP-500 linestage, CA-2200 power amp, & CDP-100 CD player
|Classé Audio’s new Delta Series might have been just another exceptionally pretty face if it weren’t so seriously good. Bringing much of Classe’s flagship Omega Series technology and topology to the table, these new Delta ...read more -
Cary Audio SLP-308 Linestage and Cinema 2 Amplifier
|Cary Audio Design has slowly evolved from a company that mainly focused on exotic, single-ended tube gear to one that focuses on exotic, single-ended tube gear and a growing range of other, not-so exotic components. ...read more -
Classé Audio Delta SSP-600 SSP 7.1-channel THX Ultra2 Certified controller
|Big-ticket controllers project power. They bristle with command and control modules while deploying the most advanced audio decoding, video switching, and transcoding enhancements. They are a virtual launching pad—the A/V counterparts to a modern aircraft ...read more -
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PrimaLuna ProLogue Three Preamplifier & ProLogue Five Power Amplifier
|The PrimaLuna Prologue Three preamp and Five power amp are at the top of my list: good sound, good value, simplicity. They are also good fun, if you like playing with tubes (the power amp ...read more -
Thule Audio Spirit IA350B Integrated Amplifier and Space DVA250B DVD/CD Player
|In the past two decades, a slow evolution has taken place in audio, as top-notch designers come more and more to understand the nature of the beasts they are working with. Today it is not ...read more -
Lyngdorf Audio TDAI 2200 RoomPerfect Digital Amplifier and Room-Correction System
|Lyngdorf ’s RoomPerfect TDAI 2200 is a digital amplifier with a built-in, stand-alone (no computer interface) room-correction system of a new and unusually sophisticated sort. Visually, it is elegantly understated and rather smaller than one ...read more -
Mark Levinson Nº 436 Monaural Power Amplifier
|Of all the gear I’ve had the good fortune to own over the course of the past two-and-ahalf decades, the Mark Levinson Nº 31 Reference CD transport, Nº 35 digital-toanalog converter and Nº 38S preamplifier ...read more