Displaying items by tag: hires - StereoLife Magazine

For many years, Canor built its reputation primarily on tube-based audio equipment, but the Slovak manufacturer has recently been expanding its solid-state offerings with increasing confidence. The latest example of this strategy is the Crius H5S, a compact headphone amplifier, digital-to-analog converter, and preamplifier combined in a single chassis. The new model marks the debut of the Essential Line, a series intended to bring engineering solutions developed for Canor's more expensive components into smaller, more versatile, and more affordable products. Although the Crius H5S has been designed primarily for owners of high-quality headphones, it can also serve as the control center of a compact stereo system, feeding a separate power amplifier or active speakers.

It hasn't been long since the launch of the iDSD GR 2, but iFi Audio has already prepared a special version of its latest portable DAC and headphone amplifier. The iDSD GR 2 MT, with the final letters standing for "Master Tuned," was developed in collaboration with Steve Levine, the British record producer whose credits include Culture Club, The Beach Boys, Gary Moore, and Motörhead. This is not, however, the usual kind of special edition where the differences amount to a new finish, a celebrity signature, and a few additional menu options. For the GR 2 MT, iFi has upgraded several components in the analog signal path, replaced the circuit board material, and introduced two exclusive digital filters developed with Levine. The starting point remains the standard iDSD GR 2, introduced in June 2026 as the successor to the popular xDSD Gryphon. Rather than treating it as a modest update, iFi approached the GR 2 as a substantially new design, introducing a revised DAC architecture, fully balanced amplification, a color OLED touchscreen, and support for the latest wireless audio technologies. At the heart of its digital section is the Burr-Brown PCM1795, a current-output DAC chip that gave the company's engineers considerable freedom in designing the analog circuitry that follows it.

Fosi Audio started out making small, affordable amplifiers designed to deliver as much performance as possible for relatively little money, while occupying considerably less space on a desk or shelf than conventional hi-fi equipment. Over time, however, the Chinese company's portfolio has expanded well beyond that original concept. DACs, preamplifiers, monoblocks, headphone amplifiers, and, more recently, loudspeakers and a dedicated music streamer have all joined the lineup. Now, Fosi Audio is attempting to bring these developments together into something that can reasonably be described as a complete audio ecosystem. At its core are four components with similar dimensions and a consistent visual identity: the S3 network streamer, ZD3 digital-to-analog converter, ZH3 headphone amplifier, and PSU20 linear power supply. Each can operate independently, but all four have been designed with the idea that users can gradually assemble a more sophisticated system as their requirements evolve.

Nothing has never been particularly interested in making products that look like everyone else's. From transparent smartphones to earbuds that resemble tiny pieces of industrial machinery, the London-based company has built much of its identity around doing things differently, sometimes simply for the pleasure of standing out. Its latest flagship headphones, however, suggest that the brand is becoming increasingly ambitious about what happens inside those distinctive enclosures. The new Headphone (1) Pro retains the partly transparent design introduced with the original Headphone (1), but the real changes are hidden beneath the surface. Instead of relying on a single dynamic driver in each earcup, Nothing has developed an unusual three-driver arrangement that includes a miniature solid-state xMEMS tweeter. There are also extensive sound customization options, a dedicated Flat EQ mode, tuning developed in collaboration with London's Metropolis Studios, adaptive active noise cancellation, and spatial audio with head tracking. It's a surprisingly elaborate combination for a company that only entered the full-size headphone market relatively recently, and one that clearly aims to challenge more established players in the premium wireless category.

You can spend a small fortune on wireless headphones, carefully compare their drivers, tuning, noise cancellation, and battery life, and eventually settle on a model that supports some of the most advanced Bluetooth codecs available. Then you connect it to your phone and discover that half those capabilities are essentially useless. The headphones may support LDAC, aptX Adaptive, or even aptX Lossless, but that doesn't necessarily mean your smartphone can transmit audio using any of them. iPhone owners know this problem particularly well, since Apple continues to rely on AAC and SBC for Bluetooth audio, regardless of how sophisticated the connected headphones might be. iFi Audio believes the solution doesn't have to involve buying a different phone. Its new UP Play and UP Play Max are miniature USB-C Bluetooth transmitters designed to take over wireless audio duties from the source device, effectively bypassing its built-in codec limitations. Neither is a conventional DAC or headphone amplifier. Instead, these tiny accessories give smartphones, tablets, computers, and compatible gaming devices access to Bluetooth formats they might otherwise be unable to use. The standard UP Play supports LDAC and several members of the aptX family, while the more advanced UP Play Max adds aptX Lossless and promises future support for Auracast.

Digital audio has come a long way in recent years. There was a time when all you needed was a computer, a modest collection of files on a hard drive and a DAC connected over USB. Today, we have music servers, network transports, dedicated operating systems, control apps, streaming services and an entire infrastructure that some audiophiles take just as seriously as their amplifiers or speakers. For a long time, I found myself somewhere between those two worlds. I was eager to try anything that promised a better way to listen to files, seeing it not just as a matter of convenience but as a chance to get around some of the limitations of CD. I extensively modified my PC to make it quiet and efficient, and just about every DAC from a familiar hi-fi brand found its way onto my desk: the Meridian Explorer, Primare DAC30, Hegel HD25, Atoll HD100, iFi Audio iDSD Micro and Marantz HD-DAC1. Back then, this was seen as a harmless eccentricity. For most audiophiles, the only serious source of music was a CD player, but that began to change quickly. Today, streaming is a galaxy of its own, with streamers, servers, dedicated operating systems, control apps, streaming services, specialist power supplies and even LAN cables with prices that can make your head spin. For some people, streaming is simply a more convenient way to listen to music. For others, it is another area where they can spend hours searching for small improvements. But even the most ambitious system needs one more key component: software for playing music. You can use one of the free apps, download the one supplied by your streamer’s manufacturer or switch between them depending on where you want to access your music. Or you can bring all of that together with a specialist app such as JPLAY.

Some audio products come around so predictably that you could almost use them to mark the passing of time. A new smartphone every year. A new DAC every couple of years. An amplifier gets refreshed every three, usually gaining a slightly larger display, an updated streaming board, and a few extra connections along the way. Wireless headphones live on an even shorter clock because the electronics inside them age far faster than the parts that actually make sound. A good driver can remain perfectly competitive for a decade or more, and there is no reason a well-designed enclosure should suddenly become obsolete, but one new codec, a better ANC system, another Bluetooth revision, or a much better app can make a three- or four-year-old model feel surprisingly old. That makes the four-year gap between the Momentum 4 Wireless and their successor unusually long for this market. In 2022, Bluetooth 5.2 with aptX Adaptive was a serious selling point, 60 hours of battery life sounded borderline ridiculous, and manufacturers were still putting the word "adaptive" in front of noise cancellation as though that alone settled the matter. Today, expectations are much higher. Buyers want ANC that can deal with conversation as well as engine rumble, a transparency mode that sounds natural, seamless switching between devices, the best possible wireless audio quality, regular firmware updates, and an app designed for people rather than engineers. Sennheiser has not been standing still either. Since the Momentum 4 appeared, the company has launched the Accentum Wireless, expanded its true-wireless range, and - most importantly from an audiophile point of view - introduced the HDB 630, a model designed to bring some of the philosophy behind the HD 600 family into a modern wireless package. So the Momentum 5 Wireless are entering a very different world. They have tougher competition outside the company and, for the first time, a clearly defined rival within Sennheiser's own lineup.

In 2026, Arcam celebrates its 50th anniversary. The British company's story began in Cambridge, where two engineering students and friends, John Dawson and Chris Evans, combined their interest in music with their technical expertise to establish Amplification and Recording Cambridge, later known as A&R Cambridge. Its first major product was the A60 integrated amplifier, introduced in September 1976. It not only gave the fledgling company a successful start, but also established the direction it would follow for decades to come. Although Arcam's catalogue eventually expanded to include disc players, digital-to-analogue converters, streamers and sophisticated home cinema electronics, amplifiers remained at the heart of the company's identity. To mark its golden anniversary, Arcam has introduced two new components positioned at the top of the Radia range - the A50 Signature integrated amplifier and the CD25 compact disc player.

Meze Audio has been climbing steadily toward the very top of the headphone market for years, but until now the hierarchy was relatively easy to understand. Empyrean established the company's planar magnetic credentials, Elite pushed the concept further, and Empyrean II refined one of Meze's most recognizable designs. Arta changes that structure completely. Unveiled at High End Vienna 2026 after several years of development with Rinaro Isodynamics, it becomes the company's new reference headphone and moves well above the rest of the range - not only in price, but also in terms of driver architecture, amplification requirements and sheer engineering ambition. Meze describes it as a project created without the usual compromises, while Rinaro developed an entirely new planar magnetic transducer specifically for this model. The original announcement positioned Arta at $6,000 and €6,000, making it substantially more expensive than Elite and Empyrean II.

Topping has never been particularly shy about squeezing ambitious specifications into inexpensive little boxes, but DX1 II is a much more substantial update than its familiar name might suggest. The original DX1 was deliberately simple - a USB-powered DAC and headphone amplifier built around AKM's AK4493S, with a single USB input, RCA output and 3.5 mm and 6.35 mm headphone sockets. DX1 II keeps the compact desktop format and USB-powered operation, but almost everything around it has changed. There is a new ESS converter, fully balanced analog architecture, considerably more headphone power, optical input and output, 4.4 mm connections, parametric EQ, a display and remote control, plus features aimed specifically at PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch users. In other words, what started as an inexpensive way to improve computer audio has evolved into a surprisingly complete little DAC, preamplifier, headphone amplifier and digital signal processor.