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Technics SC-CX700 active loudspeaker system
The usual Specifications sidebar in this review is a nuts-and-bolts listing of the electrical and physical properties of the Technics SC-CX700 loudspeaker ($2999.99/pair), who made it and where, and a...
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Cambridge EXN100 streaming D/A processor
The marriage of little streaming computers to DACs was at first a shotgun thing, a way to add Swiss Army knife capabilities at a price point. That was back when it was cutting-edge to have a NAS server...
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Benz-Micro MC-20E II & MC Silver phono cartridges
In these waning days of Analog's Last Stand, it might seem absurd to review mid-priced phono cartridges when this space could be given instead to the gear Stereophile usually coverslike $3000 OTL tube...
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Musical Fidelity A1 integrated amplifier
In 1989, I bought my second pair of Rogers LS3/5a's from a guy on Staten Island who had them hooked up to a Musical Fidelity A1 integrated amplifier. After playing the speakers for me, he began...
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Eversolo DMP-A8 streaming preamplifier
A few summers ago, I briefly got it in my head that I could become a wine connoisseur. This was due to a very generous and unexpected gift. A local acquaintance had passed away, and his wife wanted to...
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WiiM Amp streaming D/A integrated amplifier
Life is not for Goldilocks. "Just right" is elusive. Every day, we face countless situations where our choices are either too many to navigate or too few to find satisfaction. Behavioral scientists...
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Cambridge Audio MXN10 streamer–D/A processor
For music listening circa 2024, streaming is both the present and the future. Physical formats are still around, and they are still the best choice in some cases, as with deluxe reissues of beloved...
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ARCAM Radia A25 integrated amplifier
I've been to a few bowling parties and passed a bottle around a few fire pits, but I've never watched an audiophile unboxing video. Lately though, I have been paying closer attention to my first...
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Klipsch The Nines integrated loudspeaker system
Do you remember your first really decent hi-fi system? It opened up your music, teased your brain with the possibilities of thrilling aural excitement, of dives to the bottom of the musical ocean....
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Q Acoustics 5040 loudspeaker
When I reviewed the Concept 50 loudspeaker from the UK's Q Acoustics in August 2022, I concluded that the Concept 50 lowers the sweet price spot for affordable tower speakers to $3000/pair. Now I have...
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Leak Stereo 230 integrated amplifier
Sometimes I think expensive componentsI'll let you decide what constitutes expensiveshould come with a big red sticker on the box that reads "WARNING! This product will probably not meet your...
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Apple AirPods Pro 2 noise-canceling, wireless, in-ear headphones
You won't see many Apple products in these pages, and for good reason. As Stereophile Editor Jim Austin wrote to me recently in an email, "Apple may have the best acoustic-design facilities in the...
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MB Quart MB 280 loudspeaker
A new name to me, West German company MB Quart GmbH is, in fact, the reincarnation of the Peerless loudspeaker company that until 1983 used to be owned by New Yorkbased Electro Audio Dynamics (EAD)....
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WiiM Mini streaming D/A preamplifier
Characteristically, the email from Kal Rubinson got straight to the point: "I have a WiiM Mini that I have played with, but I am not the right one to review this as I am not sufficiently interested in...
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Bluesound PowerNode streaming integrated amplifier
Old-school audiophiles like me cling to our vinyl records and CDs. We spin them on turntables and slide them into transports, which send electric signals through wires to solid state or tubed...
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Schiit Freya + line preamplifier
What am I doing with a vacuum tube preamplifier? I haven't owned a tubed preamp since I bought a Sonic Frontiers Line 3 preamplifier at the turn of the century. I set that aside within a few years as I...
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Questyle Audio M12 portable USB D/A headphone amplifier
There are words that, for reasons I can't fathom, I cannot stand. One such is "dongle." So when Bluebird Music's PR rep emailed me to ask if I would be interested in reviewing a new dongle from Chinese...
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Topping Pre90 line preamplifier
There has not been a conventional preamplifier in my main audio system for quite a while, because no multichannel preamp is available that's of high enough quality. Instead, I use the high-precision...
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iFi ZEN CAN headphone amplifier & ZEN DAC Signature V2 D/A processor
It had been a while since I'd done any serious, critical listening through headphones. That changed when Editor Jim Austin asked if I wanted to review the iFi Audio ZEN Signature Set ($599). Figuring I...
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SVS 3000 Micro subwoofer
My incommodious room favors small standmount and panel speakers that some audiophiles would say require a subwoofer. But I was never inspired to try one until a new category of subwoofer appeared: the...
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