No doubt about it, the Apple iPod is easily the coolest audio product of the twenty-first century. Introduced in late 2001 it wasn’t the first portable digital music player, there were portable CD players like the Sony Discman in 1984, and they were definitely cool. Then Steve Jobs put his special spin on the iPod, …

Dayton Audio’s $30 per pair B652 speaker has long been one of my favorite budget speakers, so now I’m pleased to report Dayton’s new DTA-2.1BT integrated amplifier is also a honey. Firstly because it sounds nice, secondly because its all-metal chassis is so darned small — just 1.4 by 5.25 by 5.2 inches — and best of all the DTA-2.1BT …

The CD format is still alive and hanging in there with the LP. While a lot of audiophiles still enjoy large CD collections, most of those folks use CD, DVD, Blu-ray players or computers to play CDs. That’s cool, but for best sound they use CD “transports,” such as this Cambridge Audio CXC. The CXC is part of Cambridge’s CX-Series, and …

I wouldn’t blame you if you assumed an 8 ohm speaker is always 8 ohms, but it’s not. Far from it, an 8 ohm rated speaker is actually 8 ohms only a small percentage of the time because the speaker’s impedance varies, depending on the frequencies the speaker is playing at any given moment. Sometimes an 8 ohm speaker might …

I never heard of M&O Electronics until a few days ago when I first sampled their MOOH-BE00BT Beryllium Acoustic Bluetooth headphones, and came away impressed by what I heard. I’ve only reviewed one other Bluetooth headphone, the $350 Sony MDR1000x, but that model is a far more sophisticated performer than the $129 MOOH-BE00BT. The M&O Electronics MOOH-BE00BT Beryllium Acoustic Bluetooth …

Tone controls and equalizers went out of fashion in the 1980s, and I’ve missed them ever since. Audiophiles in their search for ever greater sonic purity saw any deviation from “flat” frequency response heresy, but that’s not always my goal, so I was thrilled to check out Schiit’s Loki four-band equalizer. This ultra-compact component is priced at just $149, £140 …

I was a big fan of Sennheiser’s original IE800 in-ear headphone when it debuted — I can hardly believe it — five years ago! It was a super comfy, extremely open, natural sounding ‘phone. Sennheiser’s newly revised model, the IE800 S looks similar, but sounds different. It’s designed and hand-made in Germany. Enlarge Image The Sennheiser IE 800 S in-ear …

Subwoofers for music systems don’t make sense to me anymore. For home theater, where movies rely on low-frequency effects subs to make the magic happen, subs are essential. No argument here, but music rarely has extremely deep, under-50Hz bass, and most speakers with 5-inch (127mm) or larger woofers can muster 50Hz bass in small or midsize rooms. Of course, if …

Music Hall championed vinyl decades before the current generation of hipsters discovered the glories of the groove, so I have to admit I’m more than a little late to reviewing a Music Hall turntable. This one here in my listening room, the Music Hall mmf-1.5 feels like an auspicious beginning. The handsome plinth base, cast aluminum platter with a thick …

Data Conversion Systems, Limited (dCS) celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2017 with a limited edition of 250 Vivaldi Ones, and half of them have already been sold. Apparently the $80,000 or £55,000 price tag didn’t stop perfectionist audiophiles with deep pockets from lining up for a Vivaldi One, an integrated SACD/CD player/digital converter! Designed and manufactured in Great Britain, Vivaldi …