The more Japanese-dominated hi-fi became in the 1970s, the more flamboyant it became. Despite the fact that the mass market was flooded with big, brushed aluminum-fronted steel boxes adorned with knobs and flashing lights, some more discerning purchasers gravitated to Bang & Olufsen, and it was this product that won many over. It was a […]
Bang & Olufsen Beomaster 1900 Review Read More »
Let us not forget that the Compact Cassette was a convenience media. But it was a medium on a mission: to dethrone open reel as the most popular recording format on the planet, and to do so, it needed to sound fantastic. As a result, we saw some extremely genuine initiatives from companies like Sony
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What do you do if you’re a Japanese electronics behemoth with a respectable but uninspiring line of products and want to make a bold move for the niche high-end hi-fi market? Anyone who is still unsure should look at what Toshiba did with Aurex. It concocted a fancy Latinate name, applied it to some decent,
Aurex Micro System Review Read More »
April Music was originally introduced to me during the 2004 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The individuals behind this young South Korean enterprise struck me as engaging and imaginative. It produced several excellent sounding hi-fi singles under the Stello brand name, in the Japanese high-end mold. A few years later, this strange object appeared,
Aura Note Music Center Review Read More »
This is the one product that has captivated the public’s attention in recent years. Like the Dual CS505 turntable, NAD 3020 integrated amplifier and Mission 760 loudspeakers before it, here is an ‘affordable audiophile’ product that sounds far better than it has a right too, and costs rather less than it should… The M-DAC, which
Audiolab M-DAC Review Read More »
In 2012, we got another amazing digital product from the man who gave us the gigantic Pink Triangle Da Capo DAC in 1993 and the superb cheap Cambridge Audio CD4SE Compact Disc player a few years later. The International Audio Group manufactures Audiolab’s 8200CD CD spinner, which was invented by British electronics genius John Westlake.
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In its initial iteration, the year 1994 was very much the pinnacle of Audiolab. It appeared as if the firm could do no wrong. The 8000A integrated amplifier had been repeatedly refined, and was now a seriously good sounding device – able to mix it with the highly respected Naim Nait 3 and Mission Cyrus
Audiolab 8000CDM Review Read More »
The year is 1987, and Compact Disc is on the rise. Turntables and LPs are rapidly disappearing from high streets and shopping malls, with the new digital silver taking their place. The term “death of vinyl” is being bandied about, and hi-fi journals are warming to the concept. You could assume that now isn’t the
Audio-Technica AT-OC9 Review Read More »
The Honda Civic of cartridges has arrived. There are better ones, there are worse ones, but you always know what you’re getting – a quality product that does the job you bought it for. It’s neither flashy or very entertaining, but it’s competent, surprisingly sophisticated, and excellent value for money. As a result, it has
Audio Technica AT-95E Review Read More »
Few would deny that a well-built valve amplifier can produce excellent sound, but the problem is that they aren’t as user-friendly as solid-state devices – at least not to the uninitiated. While you can buy any sensible transistor integrated, plug it in, and expect a reasonable sound regardless of your system, thermionic valves aren’t exactly
Audio Research VSi55 Review Read More »
