Tag: headphone amp
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HIFIMAN Acquires GOLDENWAVE, Unveils New SERENADE DAC/Headphone Amplifier
HIFIMAN has announced its latest acquisition and product release: the Hifiman Goldenwave SERENADE Desktop DAC/Headphone Amplifier. HIFIMAN, a leader in high-fidelity personal audio, has announced the acquisition of GOLDENWAVE, a respected audio designer/manufacturer. The acquisition will allow HIFIMAN to bring GOLDENWAVE’s expertise in desktop audio decoders and headphone amplifiers to its own product line. As…
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SMSL DO200 Review: This $489 MQA DAC Will Help You Build A Killer DAC Amp Stack!
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in Best Buys, Bluetooth, Budget, DACs, Headphone Amps, Headphones, Hi-Fi, Hi-Res Music, Home Audio, MQA, Music, Power Amps, Preamps, Reviews, Streaming, Videos, WirelessTL;DR This attractive and full-featured MQA DAC gives you a truly musical and immersive performance. You will have to spend several hundred more to get significantly more definition and layering. Intro At one point in time, desktop DAC and headphone amp separates were only available to those with deep pockets. But over the last couple…
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iFi Audio GO blu Review: This Elegant $200 Bluetooth Headphone Amplifier Is Powerful & Compact!
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Intro Ifi Audio is known for making remarkable yet affordable DAC/Headphone Amps, but today we’re looking at their first Portable Bluetooth DAC/Amp, the $199 iFi GO blu. Unlike many portable Bluetooth DACs, the GO blu has separate Amp, DAC, and Bluetooth circuits which enable it to provide double the output power of competitors. iFi also…
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Audio-Technica Announces Availability Of High-End AT-BHA100 Tube Hybrid Headphone Amp & Matching AT-DAC100 DAC
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in DACs, Headphone Amps, Headphones, Hi-Fi, Home Audio, Music, News, Streaming, Uncategorized, WirelessAudio-Technica is now shipping the AT-BHA100 Tube Hybrid Balanced Headphone Amp & AT-DAC100 DAC for $999 and $699 respectively…details are below: The following Press Release is courtesy of Audio-Technica– Audio-Technica Now Offers Its High-End AT-BHA100Balanced Headphone Amplifier and AT-DAC100 Digital to Analog Converter STOW, OH, November 10, 2021 — Audio-Technica is now shipping its AT-BHA100 balanced headphone amplifier and AT-DAC100 digital to…
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Ifi Audio’s $599 xDSD Gryphon Is Their Most Audacious Take On The Portable DAC Amp Combo Yet!
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in Best Buys, Bluetooth, Budget, DACs, Headphone Amps, Headphones, Hi-Fi, Hi-Res Music, Home Audio, MQA, Music, News, Portable Audio, Preamps, Streaming, Videos, WirelessIfi Audio has released a ton of new gear in the last couple of months, including the hip dac2 Dac amp combo we just reviewed, and the GO blu Bluetooth DAC. Now today, they have released their most ambitious portable DAC Amp combo to date, the $599 xDSD Gryphon. The latest device in iFi’s mid-level…
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iFi Audio hip-dac2 Portable USB DAC/Headphone Amp Combo Review: The Sequel Adds Tremendous Refinement!
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in Budget, DACs, Headphone Amps, Headphones, Hi-Fi, Hi-Res Music, Home Audio, MQA, Music, Portable Audio, Reviews, Videos, WirelessTL;DR With improvements in its detail and separation, the iFi hip dac2 is a worthy upgrade to the original. Intro Back in January of 2020, iFi dropped a new battery-powered portable amp that was slimmer and lighter than anything they had released to date. It was called the hip-dac, named as such because the design…
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Hidizs S9 PRO Balanced & Single-Ended DAC AMP Combo Review: Epic Power & Tantalizing Detail!
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TL;DR The Hidizs S9 PRO USB Dac/Amp Combo is well-built and has everything you need to turn your smartphone into a Hi-Res digital audio player. The sound is clean and crisp, plus it has the power to drive most of the headphones out there. The only thing to watch out for is a little bit…
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Audeze Euclid Closed-Back Planar IEM Review: Astonishing Planar Magnetic Headphones That Fit In Your Pocket!
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TL;DR Audeze’s first closed-back planar magnetic earphones aren’t cheap, but they do an excellent job of distilling the exciting performance from their full-sized headphones into a much smaller and lighter form factor. Overview Back in 2016, Audeze released the iSine 10 and 20, the first planar magnetic in-ear headphones, and while they were exciting, no…
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Ifi Audio Unveils The Upgraded $189 Hip-Dac2 Along With A Sexy New Case!
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in Best Buys, DACs, Deals, Headphone Amps, Headphones, Hi-Fi, Hi-Res Music, MQA, Music, News, Portable Audio, Power Amps, Streaming, VideosToday, iFi released a new version of their super-popular transportable hip-dac DAC Amp combo, foreseeably called hip-dac2. The latest version of the hip-dac is following a similar upgrade path to the excellent ZEN Dac 2 (our review here), recieving an upgraded XMOS processing chip. Like the ZEN Dac 2, that new chip now allows hip-dac2…
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THX’s Mind-Blowing Onyx DAC Amp Combo Now Comes With 3 Free Months Of Hi-Res Streaming From Qobuz!
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in DACs, Deals, Headphone Amps, Headphones, Hi-Fi, Hi-Res Music, MQA, Music, News, Portable Audio, Power Amps, Reviews, VideosStarting today, THX and Qobuz have teamed up to bundle THX’s excellent Onyx DAC Amp with 3 free months of Qobuz Studio Premier. In order to get Free Qobuz, you need to purchase an Onyx via the link on the THX site, after which the redemption info will be forwarded to you. We loved Onyx…
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SMSL HO200 Headphone Amplifier Review: The Best For Astonishing Power And Detail!
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in Best Buys, Budget, Headphone Amps, Headphones, Hi-Fi, Hi-Res Music, Home Audio, News, Preamps, ReviewsFor the last year or so, if you were looking for a powerful, yet affordable headphone amp for your desktop, the $499 Topping A90 is the one most people would recommend. The A90 is fully balanced with XLR input/output, a 4.4mm jack, a pre-out, a 3 step gain setting, plus a smooth volume control knob…
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Denafrips ARES II R2R DAC Review: You Need To Hear This Digital To Analog Converter!
The Low Down: The Denafrips ARES II R2R DAC may use older technology, but when done right, resistor ladder Digital To Analog Converters can provide a natural, engaging sound. Many feel it’s a sound that more recent chip-based Delta-Sigma DAC designs can’t match. That’s exactly why the ARES II (1098 SGD, about 800 USD) has…
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Audirect Atom2 Lightning MQA Dac Amp Combo Review: Don’t Listen To Apple Music Lossless Without It!
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in Best Buys, Budget, DACs, Deals, Headphone Amps, Headphones, Hi-Fi, Hi-Res Music, Home Audio, MQA, Music, Portable Audio, Reviews, Streaming, VideosThe Low Down The Audirect Atom2 Lightning is a lightweight DAC/Amp combo with a lightning connector for iPhones. It connects directly to the bottom of the phone so you can avoid floppy dongles, and it has decent power for driving full-sized headphones. For a $79 DAC/Amp the sound is extraordinarily smooth, detailed and expansive. If…
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Campfire Audio Drops Two Tantalizing Reference IEMs, The $649 Holocene And $549 Mammoth
This week, Campfire Audio continued the sustained growth of its burgeoning product line with two new models, the Holocene and Mammoth IEMs. Both are constructed of Campfire’s iconic aluminum housings and stainless steel spouts accented with glow in the dark elements for more visual appeal. The glow in the dark motif is also carried over…
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Kinera Unveils Imperial Skuld, Their Latest Handpainted IEM Masterpiece!
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Kinera has been on a roll. Over the last couple of years, the company has put out a constant stream of beautifully handpainted earphones, and each one has an interesting theme based on Norse mythology. Their latest creation is called the Kinera Imperial Skuld. It’s named after Skuld, one of the mythological “Sisters of Fate,”…
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Lightning DACs and Camera Adapters: How To Get The Best Sound From Apple Music Lossless
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Last week Apple rolled out thousands of Lossless Audio and Hi-Res Lossless audio tracks on their Apple Music platform, bringing with them the promise of Audiophile-Quality playback. Here’s how Apple explains it: Apple has developed its own lossless audio compression technology called Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC). In addition to AAC, the entire Apple Music…
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IFi Audio Zen DAC V2 Review: A Remarkable Dac Amp Combo Gets Even Better!
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in Best Buys, Budget, DACs, Headphone Amps, Headphones, Hi-Fi, Hi-Res Music, Home Audio, MQA, Music, Reviews, Streaming, Videos, WirelessWhen I reviewed iFi Audio’s original Zen DAC back in 2019, I couldn’t believe the massive value provided by the $130 desktop DAC Headphone Amp combo. It was compatible with all digital audio formats, including high-resolution formats like MQA and Native DSD, plus it had decent power, especially via the balanced output. Most importantly, it…
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Amazon Music HD Now Offers Hi Res Audio Streaming For As Low As $7.99!
On the same day Apple announced their $9.99 Hi-Res Audio streaming Tier for Apple Music, Amazon made their own blockbuster announcement regarding their High-Resolution Music streaming Service. Starting today, Amazon Music HD, which features millions of songs in CD-Quality (16/44.1), Better than CD-Quality (up to 24/192), as well as 3D audio (Dolby Atmos & Sony…
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Apple Announces New Lossless High-Resolution And Dolby Atmos Spatial Content For Apple Music
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Today, media and hardware giant Apple announced some big changes coming to their Apple Music streaming service. According to the company, starting in June, they will make their catalog of 75 million songs available in Lossless Audio, meaning subscribers will stream in either CD-Quality (16/44.1) or Better than CD-Quality (24/48). That tier will stream natively…
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Bluesound Tweaks A Winning Formula With New NODE and POWERNODE Music Streamers
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in Best Buys, Bluetooth, Budget, DACs, First Impressions, Headphone Amps, Headphones, Hi-Fi, Hi-Res Music, Home Audio, MQA, Music, News, Power Amps, Preamps, Software, Speakers, Streaming, Videos, WirelessDespite already having two of the best High-Res audiophile music streamers on the market, Bluesound has revealed new and improved versions of their best-selling NODE and POWERNODE devices. Both models now get upgraded (read: faster) processors, new “audiophile-grade” DAC sections, and new touch panel controls with music presets. As far as the POWERNODE streaming amplifier…