Do you know about Dynaudio speakers? Designed and made in Denmark, the latest speakers from the company are understated by high-end standards. The Special Forty can fit in with any decor, with a sound that’s similarly low-key, but that’s why they’ll wear well over time. Dynaudio makes pro and consumer speakers, and I’ve certainly enjoyed …

Hsu Research is best known for its line of high-performance, yet affordable subwoofers, but it also makes speakers. This one I have here, the CCB-8, is a large bookshelf model with a single “coaxial” 8-inch polypropylene driver, with a 1-inch aluminum dome tweeter nestled in the center of it. The sound is hugely satisfying, high in resolution, with wide stereo …

First things first, priced at $6,000 (£4,166, AU$7,499) the Hifiman Susvara is a very expensive headphone. It might appeal to the kind of person who can drop $274,390 for a Lamborghini Huracan Performante sports car without checking their bank balance. The lucky One Percenters have the best toys. Enlarge Image The Hifiman Susvara headphones. Steve Guttenberg/CNET What makes it so …

The Vanatoo Transparent Zero is a terrific little speaker, and when you unbox a pair you can’t help but notice that a lot of thought went into the design. They’re unusually versatile — you can use them with a vertical orientation with tweeters on top, which is advised when you place two Transparent Zero speakers on a desktop. That way, …

When I was a high-end audio salesman in the 1990s, bass was the elephant in the room. Audiophiles used to pretend bass wasn’t the main attraction — that was too lowbrow. We were sophisticated people much more interested in things like transparency and a pure and natural midrange, but in the end, whether they admitted it or not, feel-it-through-your-toes bass …

I review many integrated amplifiers and receivers, but it’s been ages since I covered a matching preamp and power amplifier. So when I was offered the PS Audio Stellar Gain Cell DAC stereo preamp ($1,699, £1,700) and Stellar S300 power amp ($1,499, £1,500), I quickly accepted. They’re available in silver or black finishes, both feel substantially built, and they’re designed …

The Sixes ($799 per pair) are part of Klipsch’s new Heritage Wireless series of self-powered speakers that connect to a turntable, TV, computer or Bluetooth device. The Sixes are sold in pairs, so bona-fide stereo was part of the allure for me. The Sixes sound more dynamically alive and clear than what I’ve heard from pairs of Sonos Play:3 speakers …

The Koetsu Urushi Sky Blue cartridge. Koetsu How can a phono cartridge’s tiny stylus tracing an LP’s microscopic grooves make great sounding music? To me it’s a magic trick that never gets old with just about any decent cartridge, but with the Koetsu Urushi Sky Blue cartridge it happens on a wildly higher level, so musical epiphanies occur on a regular basis. …

A whole lot of words have been written about the differences in sound between analog and digitally recorded music, but Damon Krukowski’s approach in his new book “The New Analog: Listening and Reconnecting in a Digital World” feels different, possibly because he was a drummer who played in Galaxie 500, one of my favorite indie bands of the late 1980s. Steve …

The Outlaw Audio RR 2160 stereo receiver flat out sounds better than any receiver or amplifier I’ve heard for its $799 asking price. In listening, the RR 2160 really clicked with my KEF LS50, Zu Druid V, Magnepan MMGi and .7 speakers, but its styling is really going to polarize people. While most receivers only come in black, the RR …