First thing, expensive stuff is designed to be coveted by rich people, so sure, sticker shock may make us common folk snicker. Take watches for example, why do 1 percenters buy insanely expensive watches? Ask Robert Downey Jr, he can tell you all about his $33,000 Patek Philippe Nautilus watch, and the rest of his …

By now it’s old news that the iPhone 7 ($190 at eBay) ditched the 3.5mm headphone jack, but if you really want music to sound its best you shouldn’t be using a phone anyway. It’s time to consider a dedicated music player like the Cowon Plenue M2. The crisp styling and solid build quality are commensurate with the Plenue M2’s …

For some audiophiles, the best sounding speakers are the ones they never hear. They’ve heard about them, read about them, fantasized about them, but for one reason or another never actually listen to these incredible speakers. The unheard ones remain perfect. I’ve met so many audiophiles who obsess about the speakers they can’t have, and if they actually get to …

Now playing: Watch this: Analog is king at Daptone Records 3:50 I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for Daptone, Brooklyn’s legendary soul, funk, and rhythm & blues record label. Their very first release in 2001, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings “Dap Dippin’,” hit it big with a raw, stompin’ power that stands up to the best of …

The Pioneer X-CM56 is a handsome three-box audio system, with two speakers and a combo CD player/Bluetooth/stereo amplifier/AM-FM radio. The features set and sound quality belie the X-CM56’s modest $200/£180/AU$260 price. Fit and finish are very decent — there’s nothing about its design that screams “budget.” Since the X-CM56 comes with a pair of 5-foot (1.5-meter) speaker cables, the system …

“Remastered” strikes me as a funny name for a headphone, but that’s exactly what the Ultimate Ears Reference Remastered is, a refinement of the original Ultimate Ears Reference Monitor I reviewed in 2010. Each Reference Remastered earpiece is custom-made from “impressions” of your ear canals made by your local audiologist. So each set of Reference Remastered headphones is unique, and …

While measurements provide valuable information about how a speaker performs for designers and engineers, measurements can’t predict whether a consumer will prefer one speaker over another. I’d go so far as to claim that choosing a speaker based on how well it performs in a lab would be a mistake, simply because there’s a good chance there are better-sounding speakers …

Unboxing Jays’ little u-Jays on-ear, my first impression was that these headphones look and feel are distinctly better than I’d expect for $120 (with free shipping on Amazon). I popped ’em on my head, they sounded really nice, so I kept listening. Checked the price again, yup, it’s $120. So I listened some more. Enlarge Image Jays u-Jays on-ear headphones …

As “dead” formats go, the CD is still very much alive — it sold 140.8 million units in 2014. That’s a lot more than the critics’ favorite format, the LP, which sold 9.2 million that year. True, CD numbers are headed down, and LPs are up year after year, but CD sales will continue to clobber LP’s numbers for the …

Since the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus don’t have a standard 3.5mm headphone jack, does that pose a dilemma for anybody who invested in a decent set of wired headphones? True, the 7 and 7 Plus come with a Lightning to 3.5mm Headphone Jack Adapter for connecting wired headphones, but what about sound quality? Will the adapter degrade it? Since …