Category: First Impressions
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#NewMusicFriday…New Record Releases You Need To Hear feat. Run The Jewels +17 Other Artists!
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in Best Buys, Downloads, First Impressions, Hi-Fi, Hi-Res Music, Home Audio, MQA, Music, News, Streaming, VideosEvery #NewMusicFriday, I pick a bunch of the best sounding new albums so you can get your audiophile music fix!… As usual, it’s a very eclectic mix (Albums are arranged with more traditional audiophile genres like Jazz and Blues at the top, and the non-traditional audiophile stuff towards the bottom). Here are my picks for this…
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Triangle’s Majestic BOREA BR08 Floorstanding Speakers In The House! First Impressions And Unboxing Pics
Since it was released last year, the Triangle BOREA series speakers have been a hit with reviewer after reviewer, including me. Most reviewers have fallen in love with the BOREA BR03 Bookshelf, myself included. I even went as far as making the BR03 my 2019 Product of the Year, calling them the new “King” of…
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#NewMusicFriday…New Record Releases You Need To Hear feat. Kamasi Washington +19 Other Artists!
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in Best Buys, Downloads, First Impressions, Hi-Fi, Hi-Res Music, Home Audio, MQA, Music, News, Streaming, VideosEvery #NewMusicFriday, I pick a bunch of the best sounding new albums so you can get your audiophile music fix!… As usual, it’s a very eclectic mix (Albums are arranged with more traditional audiophile genres like Jazz and Blues at the top, and the non-traditional audiophile stuff towards the bottom). Here are my picks for this…
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The Thrilling PSB Alpha S10 Subwoofer In The House! First Impressions And Unboxing Pics
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Many subwoofers are made just to go boom. They’re one-note, so when you use them to play tunes, you get a detached thump that doesn’t blend with the music. That’s fine with movies where you just want to rattle the house, but with music, you want a little more articulation and nuance on the low…
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It Looks Like Another Hit! BLON Launches The Tantalizing BL-05 Budget Earbuds
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Last year, a company I never heard of named BLON shook up the headphone enthusiast scene with a cheap IEM called the BL-03. For an earphone that cost less than $30 bucks, it was fancy enough and sounded good enough to capture the attention of everyone in the headphone forums. Many compared its sound to…
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Q&A: Should I Pick A Floorstanding Or Standmount Speaker? What You Need To Know!
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Q. A reader writes: which speakers you think would be more appropriate in my case? Towers or stand mounters? A. This is an age-old question, without a simple answer. There are so many variables! In this case, the reader is using a quality entry-level integrated amp (NAD C316BEE) and a Chromecast Audio streaming TIDAL. I…
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The Stunning Audiolab 6000CDT CD Transport In The House: First Impressions And Unboxing Pics!
Over the last year or so, I’ve become a big fan of Audiolab’s affordable 6000 series components. There are three pieces in the line. First is the 6000A, a highly capable $999 integrated amp, which is on my Recommended Components list (my review). Then there’s the $549 6000N Play DTS Play-Fi streamer, which I named…
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The Tremendous Q Acoustics 3030i Bookshelf Speaker In The House: First Impressions And Unboxing Pics!
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If you read this site regularly, you know I have a thing for budget mini-monitor speakers. So I’m always excited to get a new pair in the house. Back in January, Britain’s Q Acoustics announced they were releasing the 3030i bookshelf speaker, a larger version of their popular 3020i bookshelf to which I gave a…
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Andover Spinbase Turntable Speaker System In The House: First Impressions And Unboxing Pics!
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The Vinyl revival is alive and well. Sales of Vinyl recordings have seen constant growth, and while COVID-19 may take a chunk out of sales this year, there’s no doubt that people love their records! So it should come as no surprise that there are several companies out there developing products to make listening vinyl…
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Cambridge Audio CXN V2 Audiophile Music Streamer In The House: First Impressions And Unboxing Pics!
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in DACs, First Impressions, Hi-Fi, Hi-Res Music, Home Audio, Music, Preamps, Reviews, Software, Streaming, Videos, WirelessThere are a couple of budget (around $500) Audiophile Music Streamers I recommend. The first is the Audiolab 6000N Play, which I consider to be the best sounding streamer in that price range. The second is the Bluesound Node 2i, which I believe to be a notch below the 6000N in sound quality. Still, it…
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World Premiere! The Enchanting Audio By Van Alstine SET 120 Integrated Amplifier-First Impressions And Unboxing
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While many Audiophiles, including myself, enjoy whiz-bang mass-market Hi-Fi, we should never forget the essence of this hobby lies in gear produced by enthusiasts for enthusiasts. These (usually) small scale manufacturers pour over every detail, not to meet a price point or marketing strategy, but to obtain the best possible sound for the money. One…
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DALI IO-6 Premium Wireless ANC Headphones In The House: First Impressions And Unboxing Pics!
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Audiophiles know DALI for their exhilarating speakers (we gave their Oberon 5 a perfect 10 rating, one of a few we’ve given). Still, last year they opened up a new chapter, releasing their first-ever headphones and wireless at that. I was excited because I love the DALI speaker sound, and their approach to headphone design was…
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The Phenomenal Denon PMA-1600NE Stereo Integrated Amplifier In The House: First Impressions And Unboxing Pics!
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Check out our full review of the Denon PMA-1600NE Stereo Integrated Amplifier here! As I said in my post about the Polk Audio Legend L100 speakers, I first came across the $1599 Denon PMA-1600NE Stereo Integrated Amplifier at Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. It was the amp they used to support the L100 demo, and it…
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The Extraordinary Polk Audio LEGEND L100 Premium Bookshelf Speaker In The House: First Impressions And Unboxing Pics!
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Check out our full review of the Polk LEGEND L100 and DENON PMA-1600NE! Last Fall, at Rocky Mountain Audio Fest outside of Denver, Colorado, I had the good fortune to be there when Polk Audio unveiled their new flagship speaker line called the Legend Series. The star of the show was their new L800 “True…
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CES 2020: All The Spectacular Audio Gear We’ve Seen So Far!
CES 2020, the annual Consumer Electronics industry show that convenes in Las Vegas every year, officially opened to all ticket holders today (it opened to the media on Sunday). Over the first three days, there have been some sensational new audio releases, including a bunch of new headphones, true wireless earphones, streaming amplifiers, and speakers.…
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These Extraordinary Drop + THX Panda Planar Magnetic Wireless Headphones Have Some Sensational Tech!
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Today, Drop (formerly Massdrop), the San Francisco company known for marketing limited availability products based on input from community members, announced the launch of their first audiophile-grade Bluetooth headphones. The new circumaural headphones dubbed the Drop + THX Panda Headphones, utilize a planar magnetic driver paired with THX’s AAA (Achromatic Audio Amplifier) linear amplifier, a…
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The Thrilling HIFIMAN Ananda-BT Bluetooth Planar Magnetic Wireless Headphone In The House: First Impressions And Unboxing Pics!
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The Full Ananda-BT Review is up!…check it out here. There aren’t too many $1000 Bluetooth headphones out there. Some may ask, do we need one? Well, with it’s $999 Ananda-BT High-Resolution Bluetooth Planar Magnetic Headphone, HIFIMAN hopes you’ll answer that question in the affirmative. You may ask, why ARE they the priciest Bluetooth headphones on…
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The Spectacular Beyerdynamic Lagoon Active Noise Cancelling Bluetooth Headphones In The House! First Impressions And Unboxing Pics!
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The Noise Cancelling Bluetooth Headphone market is really crowded. You have your mass-market kings from Sony and Bose, the contenders from hi-fi companies like Bowers & Wilkins and DALI, and now decent budget models from umpteen anonymous companies on AMAZON. In order to cut through the noise and clutter, you have to have a really good…
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The Astounding Cambridge Audio CXA81 Integrated Amplifier In The House! First Impressions And Unboxing Pics!
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Our full review of the CXA81 is up on the site…check it out here. Ever since I had a chance to do a review of the Cambridge Audio CXA60 integrated amp, I’ve been a big fan of their CX Series components. Cambridge Audio always aims to provide huge value for the money and that line…
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The Mesmerizing TRIANGLE BOREA BR03 Hifi Bookshelf Speaker In The House! First Impressions And Unboxing Pics!
(Check out our review of the TRIANGLE BOREA BR03 here! We named it our 2019 Product Of The Year!) Today I’m checking out the BOREA BR03, a new bookshelf speaker from French Hifi manufacturer TRIANGLE. The BR03 is the largest bookshelf model in their new BOREA line of budget audiophile speakers, which draws from their mid-range…