Loading...

AVM Audio Video Manufaktur GmbH is a German company that has been around more than 30 years but has only recently made a significant push into the United States. They have a huge catalog of electronic components separated into three product lines. The Ovation series is their current top of the line brand. After living... Read More »

Computer audio is a little bit like Sauron's "Ring." It promises audiophiles control over their digital files, easier access to information about the music they are listening to and even dominion over the information from the overlord of information called the interwebs all from your throne, er listening seat. What's not to like? That's the lure. The... Read More »

These are exciting times for users of integrated amplifiers. Never before have so many features and efficient power been squeezed into a single box. Over the course of thirty years, I have been privileged to own or listen to several exemplary models. In time, I believe that the AURALiC POLARIS will be considered by many... Read More »

The NAS element of my Roon/QNAP/microRendu setup is a QNAP TS-251, which has the requisite 64-bit processor and sufficiently upgradeable RAM to run Roon Core effectively. And at a significant cost savings when compared to Roon's recommended QNAP setup ($500 vs. nearly $2000 USD). During my initial explorations of Roon late last year, I quickly... Read More »

For the second time this year, I've had the good fortune to report on an exciting new digital product. This time it is Auralic's latest digital to analog star, the Auralic Altair Wireless Streaming DAC.   According to Auralic's president & CEO, Xuanqian Wang, "The new ALTAIR is both a high quality streamer and DAC, and was... Read More »

Navigating the New Digital Highway with the Lumin D1 Audiophile Network Music Player For the past year or so, I have grown increasingly frustrated with the theoretical promise but pragmatic limitations of computer-based audio playback. When all the stars align, meaning a musical alignment of one's chosen computer and operating software, one's chosen hard drive(s), and... Read More »

I first seriously embraced the advantages inherent in computer audio when Linn released their first iterations of the DS range of ethernet based streamers and dropped CD players altogether. I felt instantly liberated with access to my entire digital library at the hands of my iPad. At first my brain went into complete overdrive as... Read More »

I have become quite lazy and it is all to blame on the technology that we use today to get our music out into the room. It all started with CDs allowing me to sit and listen to something like 60 mins of music while never stirring. Of course a lot of time I never... Read More »

When you are looking for a way to comfortably manage your collection of digital music, enjoy it with the best sound quality possible and without the need to mess around with computers in your scarce spare time, the Melco N1A is just what you need Just nine years ago integrating a computer into my Hi-Fi... Read More »

"Help!" —The Beatles In memory of Lee Weiland, the man who introduced me to the concept of a digital music server and whose Locus Design cables I still use All my audiophile friends have NAS clusters. There's tremendous peer pressure for me to have one, too, and I tried an inexpensive one to see how... Read More »

When in 2005 Arcam, a company specializing in multi-box, mid-priced systems introduced their new Solo systems it seemed like a crazy move. The very first Solo 5.1 was in fact a home-theater system. It combined a multi-format transport (DVD, CD, but also SACD and a HDCD decoder!), home theater decoders and five power amps. Soon... Read More »

The saga, or journey, continues with my Auralic Aries adventures. In my last Ramblings (HERE) I shared my experiences with upping the Aires' performance quite a bit via the Certon C4 Integrita NAS, the HDPLEX linear power supply for the Neatgear switch and WiFi units, various tweeks and gadgets (for example the RLI-1 LAN Isolator... Read More »

"How can I even try I can never win Hearing them, seeing them in the state I'm in" —"You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" by Lennon–McCartney I haven't written a column on digital music servers in a very long time, and I think that's because I haven't really had anything new to say. Everything... Read More »

This is a review of the Cary Audio DMC-600 Special Edition ("SE") digital music center which was added to the Cary Audio line up of products in the fall of 2014 or, perhaps, early 2015. It went on my radar after I received a press release in the fall of 2014. Intrigued, I touched base... Read More »

This is going to be a sort of two-part review… first about the Auralic Aries and then about what I did to take my current file-based audio system to a completely different and yet, stunningly musical level... along with the Aries. Okay so to piggy back on the Antipodes review… yeah, I want it easier... Read More »

Sometimes it's not just the destination, it's the journey, whenever it is that you finally arrive. Trust me, this is, in fact a review of Naxos' Classics Online HD•LL Streaming Service, but a little background is in order, so please bear with me.... I know myself pretty well, and, let’s face it—I can get pretty... Read More »

As we move along the time continuum, expectations are that activities or whatever will become easier and easier. That is, what was time consuming and laborious, is now, and should become, faster and less difficult. These are the goals of a modern society. Which does not mean to make tasks or activities less fun or... Read More »

During my career with AT&T Bell Laboratories, I had many opportunities to visit some of the finest higher education institutions in the country. My focus was on central office switches for voice and data services—typically purchased and utilized by regional telephone companies for medium to large cities and urban areas. Of course these elite Universities... Read More »

I would have called this a Quicky, but lets bump it up to a First Look in honor of Astell&Kern's top effort to date to create a network server, ripper, and ultimate headphone station and more! This powerful digital device has graced my big reference system for two weeks and here is what I heard.... Read More »