Nothing gets old faster than new technology — is anybody out there still jazzed about their iPhone 3G? Ah, but ask someone living with a great pair of 40- or 50-year-old speakers why haven’t they moved on, and they’ll probably tell you they haven’t found anything that tempts a change. Which is why it makes …

Judy, one of my wife’s friends, dropped by the other day, and she spotted my headphone collection scattered all around our apartment. I explained that I review headphones, and since she seemed interested, I asked if she wanted to hear a few. She was taken aback by my offer, but the look on Judy’s face when she first heard them …

The new FiiO X5 high-res music player is a wee bit smaller than the original X5, with a different button layout. The new player feels nice and substantial in your hand compared with the skinnier and much smaller Sony Walkman NWZ-A17 high-res player, or the sleeker Astell & Kern Jr player. For me, sound quality is the deciding factor, and …

There’s high-end, and there’s extreme high-end, insanely priced audio gear that only the mega rich can afford. That’s OK, sometimes just knowing it’s out there, over the rainbow can be satisfying for audiophiles who like to dream. Lucky me, I occasionally get to play with the world’s best audio, and the Nagra HD DAC is one of those that keeps …

Desktop audio, aka computer speakers, have always fascinated me. They differ from regular stereo speakers in that desktop speakers are designed to be listened to in the “nearfield,” from 2 to 5 feet (just over half a meter to 1.5 meters) away from the speakers. That’s not to say these speakers can’t also be enjoyed from further away. I’ve been …

I was on the New York subway listening to a set of Campfire Lyra in-ears, and a young woman approached me saying she loved the look of the headphones. She wanted to know what brand they were, and did they sound good? I told her they were the new Campfire Lyras, and yes, the sound was really nice. I explained …

Apple Music has so far scored 11 million free subscribers, so they probably won’t reach their rumored goal of 100 million subscribers anytime soon. Even with the company’s considerable marketing muscle and free trial subscriptions, 11 mil seems pretty paltry. It’s starting to look like Apple bought the wrong company — Beats — it should have bought Pandora. It’d be …

While subwoofers are all but required for home theater, the role subs play in music systems is almost as crucial. So even if you have a pair of bookshelf or tower speakers with 5-inch or smaller woofers and are perfectly satisfied with the bass, you literally don’t know what you’re missing. Adding a sub to larger speakers also makes sense …

Enlarge ImageTrinity Hyperion in-ear headphones, shown without ear tips attached. Trinity Looking at the packaging and the Trinity Hyperion in-ear headphones’ build quality, its price is almost too good to be true. At $39 or £30 in the UK, the headphones feature 8mm drivers, solid aluminum ear pieces, braided cables, 16 Ohm impedance and you get a nice selection of …

The Magnepan MMG (left) and Pioneer Elite SP-EBS73-LR (right) Steve Guttenberg/CNET Readers are always asking for speaker recommendations, and while I can supply my favorites they might not be a good fit for every reader. Personal preferences are just that, personal; there’s rarely a clear-cut best speaker for all buyers. The Magnepan MMG and Pioneer Elite SP-EBS73-LR are two very …