Tag: audiophile
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10 Building Blocks for Your Budget/Affordable 2-Channel Audiophile System! (2019)
Best Buys, Bluetooth, DACs, Deals, Hi-Fi, Hi-Res Music, Home Audio, Integrated Amps, Power Amps, Preamps, Reviews, Speakers, Streaming, Wireless(Check out our new post on this topic: How To Build A Mind-Blowing Affordable Hifi System In 5 Steps!) While I spend a lot of time covering headphones, earphones, and headphone DAC/Amps, 2-channel audio systems are my first love. While headphones can create a wonderful listening experience, they can’t re-create the sound of a well-matched…
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#NewMusicFriday: Feat. Branford Marsalis Quartet and Zara McFarlane
Here are some great-sounding new albums you need to hear this week! Streams Below…happy listening! 1. Branford Marsalis Quartet-The Secret Between The Shadow And The Soul (Jazz) Dennis Coffey-Live At Baker’s (Jazz) Donna Regina-Transient (Electronic) Zara McFarlane-East Of The River Nile (R&B) 2 Chainz-Rap Or Go To The League (Hip-Hop) P. CashI’m an audio writer…
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#MusicMonday: J.S. Ondara-Tales Of America
This week’s #MusicMonday selection is a great sounding album from J.S. Ondara called Tales Of America. This young man from Minnesota by way of Nairobi, Kenya, came to love Bob Dylan’s music back in his homeland and memorized a good portion of it. From that base, he developed a deep love for American Folk music…
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Shanling Audio Intros M2x DAP With TIDAL Streaming, DLNA, Airplay, & Two-Way Bluetooth (Updated)
Shanling Audio is releasing a new version of their M2 Digital Audio Player, called the M2x, with new wireless capabilities as the hook. This will put it in competition with the HiBy R3 and Fiio M6, which sell for $199 and $149 respectively. There is no word on the M2x price right now, but the…
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#New Music Friday: Feat. Julian Lage & Our Native Daughters
TGIF! Here’s another list of this weeks best sounding new recordings…Just click on the covers for the Tidal stream! Happy Listening! 1. Julian Lage-Love Hurts (Jazz) 2. Alicia Olatuja-Intuition: Songs from the Minds of Women (Soul/R&B) 3. Our Native Daughters-Songs of Our Native Daughters (Folk) 4. Cochemea-All My Relations (Jazz) P. CashI’m an audio writer who…
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SIMGOT EM1 IEM Review
A refined taste of high-end sound SIMGOT has distinguished itself amongst headphone manufacturers by making beautiful products with refined sound and attention to detail. Their flagship EN700 IEM in all its variants epitomizes this with a solid aluminum build and striking grill design. It has garnered them much praise, and today I am excited to…
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iFi xCAN Portable Headphone Amp Review
Powerful Portable Audiophile Amp with Excellent Wireless Sound Judging from my research and general discussion about the xCAN, it seems like people are really confused about what it actually is. I guess part of the confusion is the existence of the xDSD, a portable headphone amp/DAC that is more along the lines of what people…
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#New Music Friday: Theon Cross-Fyah
#New Music Friday is our showcase of a new recording from the current week…this week we feature Theon Cross’ Fyah “Funky Tuba” is not a phrase you hear too often. The Tuba is usually not a featured instrument outside of Brass Bands in New Orleans, but Theon Cross, an anchor of the burgeoning London modern…
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Music Monday: Kassa Overall-Go Get Ice Cream and Listen to Jazz
This is another installment of my weekly musical recommendations for audiophiles… If you follow this blog at all, you know when it comes to music, I like a lot of weird, jazzy, stuff. This weeks music selection falls firmly in that camp. Go Get Ice Cream and Listen to Jazz from Seattle’s Kassa Overall, is…
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Qobuz, Hi-Res Streaming Service, Schedules U.S. Public Launch for Valentine’s Day
For those of us not lucky enough to get in on the private beta running right now, Qobuz, the Hi-Res streaming service from Europe, has announced it will open to the public in the U.S. on Feb 14th, Valentine’s Day. Up until now, Tidal was the only game in town for better than CD quality…
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Q Acoustics 3020i Bookshelf Speaker Review
Great building block for your Budget Hi-Fi/Audiophile System! The Q Acoustics 3020i is the new “improved” sequel to the very well regarded 3020 budget bookshelf speaker. The original was known for its natural, warm, presentation which won a lot of fans in the press. However, the budget bookshelf market is cutthroat, and one can’t afford…
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HiBy R3 Digital Audio Player Review
Bluetooth, Budget, DACs, Headphones, Hi-Fi, Hi-Res Music, MQA, Music, Portable Audio, Reviews, Streaming, WirelessGreat sound, Build Quality and Tons of Useful Features Makes This Player An Excellent Value. When the HiBy R3 campaign landed on Kickstarter early last year, it was leaps and bounds ahead of any audiophile music player in terms of features at the $200 price point. While they may have overshot the mark a bit,…
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Music Monday: 2019 Jazz Grammy Playlist For Your Streaming Pleasure
The 61st Annual Grammy Awards, otherwise known as “Music’s biggest night”, will be airing this Sunday, Feb. 10th on CBS. Being the Jazz lover I am, I always like to check out the nominees in the Jazz Category and catch up on any albums I may have missed. Here’s a Tidal playlist made up of…
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Deivvox High Performance In-Ear Earphones Review
Great sounding budget earphones for your everyday carry. If you search for “in-ear headphones” on Amazon, the number of models that pop up are mind boggling. Many of those earphones are from companies that are definitely not household names, hence the reason why customer reviews, accurate or not, hold so much weight when selecting a…
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Get One Month Of Roon Free Courtesy of Qobuz
Last week I covered the release of Roon Labs’ Roon 1.6 update, and a big part of that was the announcement of Qobuz integration into their audiophile music management software. From the Qobuz blog: Roon manages, browses, and searches your local file collection and Qobuz digital download and streaming collections in one app, with the…
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Music Monday: Mare Nostrum-“Mare Nostrum III”
I was listening to a Jazz playlist on Spotify, and I came across this album from a group I never heard of before called Mare Nostrum. As you can probably gather from the title, this recording is the third part of a trilogy, released on the ACT label. The Album is made up of classic…
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Roon 1.6 Is Here with Roon Radio, Qobuz, and New Design
Roon, the audiophile music player, and music management software from Roon Labs, is starting off the new year with a new design, plus a couple new features. The new features, part of the Roon 1.6 update, include Qobuz integration, which will allow users to blend their own personal music libraries with uncompressed Hi-Res music (up…
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Grado Releases Next Generation Of Their $99 Earbuds, The iGe3
Grado Labs iconic on-ear headphones have made them a household name amongst audiophiles, a legacy jumpstarted by their sub-$100 SR-60 headphones that wowed the writers of Stereophile Magazine back in the 90’s with high-end sound at a very low price. I have owned several pairs of the SR-60’s since they came out and they still…
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Status Audio Introduces BT ONE Headphone, Get Free IEMs With Pre-Order
Best Buys, Bluetooth, Budget, Deals, First Impressions, Headphones, Hi-Fi, News, Portable Audio, Streaming, WirelessStatus Audio is a company that shuns the use of flashy models and celebrities to promote their products, instead relying on word of mouth regarding their value pricing and quality products to propel their sales. For example, their $69 CB-1 Studio Monitor Headphones got rave reviews all over the internet for their great sound and…
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Koss KPH30i Review: Lush Audiophile Sound for Only 30 Bucks!
Like many young and broke budding audiophiles, my interactions with Koss headphones back in the early 2000s was my first opportunity to hear what decent headphones sounded like. At that time, the KSC75 ear clip phones were considered to be the gateway drug of the headphone hobby, and after plugging them into my portable CD…
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