I’ve covered a number of high-end headphones this year, but it’s been a while since I’ve reviewed a desktop headphone amplifier designed to bring out the best in those headphones. So when Monoprice’s $770 Monolith Liquid Platinum amp showed up on my doorstep, I had high hopes it would shine. The amp was accompanied by its …

PSB’s original entry level Alpha Series speakers were so good they remained in production without any changes for 19 years. They introduced lots of new speakers over that time, but the Alpha remained perennial until now.  PSB refreshed the entire Alpha line with the all new P3 ($199 a pair) and P5 bookshelf ($349 a pair), C10 center channel ($299 …

While I sometimes still think of NAD as the company that turned the affordable audiophile market upside down in the late 1970s, NAD is hardly resting on its considerable laurels. It’s building audiophile gear for our time, over a wide range of prices. Let’s take a look at its new D 3045 stereo integrated amp. Where the NADs of old were …

I’ve raved about Etymotic ER4 in-ear headphones many times on this blog, because it’s one of the most neutral and accurate in-ear headphones you can buy without breaking the bank. Up until now, meet the ER4’s even more affordable little brother, the ER3. It looks similar to the ER4, and like that headphone the ER3 uses a single balanced armature …

I will never forget the first time I heard an Audeze LCD 2 headphone. No other headphone up to that point was more powerful, more viscerally alive, or had the tonal brilliance of the LCD 2 at 2010’s Rocky Mountain Audio Fest show in Denver. In my review I said the LCD 2 redefined the state of the art. It …

I’ve admired ModWright Instruments components from afar for years at audio shows. The company’s design aesthetic has been clean and straightforward, the sound honest and true. I haven’t covered much in the way of vacuum tube components this year, but when I heard the new ModWright PH 9.0 tube phono preamp I knew it deserved a more extended listen at …

I like Audio Technica headphones — I always have — but I’ve gravitated to their more affordable models, not the high-end ‘phones. Take this one, the ATH-SR5: it runs $119 ($70 and up on Amazon) in the US, £99 in the UK, and AU$129 in Australia. It’s a sweetheart of a headphone. Audio Technica ATH-SR5 headphones Audio Technica The sound …

I first met Dan D’Agostino in the early 1980s when I was an eager young high-end audio salesman. D’Agostino’s company, Krell, had amplifers that were big sellers, and I sold lots of them. I liked them so much I bought one, a Krell KSA 100 and thoroughly enjoyed it. D’Agostino departed Krell in 2009, and started Dan D’Agostino Master Audio …

The Kinter K2020A+ stereo integrated amplifier defies all logic, how can something this cheap, tiny and lightweight sound this good? It does, and when you choose speakers wisely you’ll hear what I’m talking about. The K2020A+ currently runs $33. Disclaimer: CNET may get a share of revenue from the sale of products featured on this page. It doesn’t look like …

JBL’s Synthesis 4429 and Synthesis S3900 speakers turned my head around, and I can’t stop thinking about them. They’re horn speakers, and the more time I spend with horns the more I realize what I’m not getting from high-end box and panel speakers. Horn speakers have more get up and go, they not only rock out harder, they’re more expressive …