Displaying items by tag: stereo - StereoLife Magazine

For years, FiiO has remained firmly focused on portable and personal audio, more recently expanding into full-size desktop and home hi-fi components. The Chinese company started with compact headphone amplifiers and DACs before building an extensive portfolio of digital audio players, in-ear and over-ear headphones, desktop equipment, streamers, and even devices designed for playing cassette tapes and CDs. Now, FiiO is opening another chapter in its history, this time turning its attention to gamers. The FG3 is the brand's first full-size gaming headset. According to the manufacturer, however, the objective was not simply to develop another conventional gaming accessory. Instead, FiiO decided to apply the engineering knowledge accumulated through years of designing hi-fi equipment and then add the features required for gaming, including a microphone, spatial audio processing, dedicated sound profiles, and convenient access to essential controls.

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.

For all the changes the hi-fi industry has gone through over the past few decades, there's something undeniably appealing about a pair of enormous American loudspeakers with big woofers, wide cabinets, and absolutely no interest in blending discreetly into the living room. JBL knows this better than most. The company has spent recent years bringing its most recognizable designs back to life, combining the unmistakable styling of its 1970s classics with modern drivers and acoustic engineering. Now it's taking that philosophy to a whole new level. The newly announced L150 Classic is the largest and most ambitious model in the current Classic series, featuring a massive 15-inch woofer, a dedicated midrange driver, and a titanium dome tweeter, all housed in a substantial three-way enclosure finished in natural walnut veneer. Each speaker weighs approximately 115 pounds, and the famous Quadrex foam grille is present and correct. But perhaps the biggest surprise is where JBL has decided to unveil its latest creation. Instead of choosing an audio show in the United States, Germany, or Japan, the American manufacturer will give the L150 Classic its world premiere at Audio Video Show 2026 in Warsaw, Poland, on October 23-25. Visitors will be the first people anywhere to see the new speakers in person and, more importantly, hear what they can do.

Argon Audio has built its reputation on products that bridge the gap between traditional hi-fi and the expectations of modern listeners. The Danish company's catalog includes active speakers, streaming components, headphones, radios, and an increasingly extensive range of turntables. Rather than trying to convince customers that great sound requires complicated setups and countless hours spent matching individual components, Argon Audio takes the opposite approach. Its products are designed to be elegant, easy to use, and ready to perform almost straight out of the box. With turntables, that philosophy can sometimes involve a few compromises, but the company's latest model suggests that convenience and more ambitious engineering don't necessarily have to be mutually exclusive. The Aurora is Argon Audio's new flagship turntable and, more importantly, the first direct-drive model in the brand's history.

The growing popularity of small tube amplifiers comes with one fundamental problem - not all modern loudspeakers are particularly interested in working with them. Increasingly elaborate driver configurations, relatively low sensitivity, and demanding impedance curves mean that a handful of watts is not always enough, even when the specifications suggest that everything should work reasonably well. The Davis Acoustics Renoir Evolution takes precisely the opposite approach. These are imposing three-way floorstanding speakers equipped with massive 12-inch woofers and weighing approximately 220 lb each, yet they offer a sensitivity of 94 dB and a nominal impedance of 8 ohms, with a minimum of just 5 ohms. The French manufacturer therefore openly suggests that its new speakers should work extremely well with low-powered amplifiers, including single-ended designs based on 300B triodes, which typically deliver around 8-10 watts per channel. In other words, the Renoir Evolution promises the scale and authority of a large, full-range loudspeaker without forcing its owner to invest in an equally enormous solid-state power amplifier.

Fezz Audio continues to refresh its product lineup, introducing another amplifier bearing the MK2 designation. This time, the Polish manufacturer has turned its attention to the Lybra, one of its most sophisticated integrated amplifiers and a design built around the legendary 300B triode. The original model occupied a special place in the company's catalog, combining the distinctive sonic character of directly heated triodes with enough power to drive a somewhat wider range of loudspeakers than most conventional single-ended amplifiers. The new Lybra MK2 retains that fundamental concept but introduces a redesigned signal path, expanded connectivity, and several practical improvements intended to make living with a tube amplifier almost as convenient as owning a modern solid-state integrated. Alongside the new integrated model, Fezz Audio is also offering the Lybra Mono Power Amplifier, a monoblock designed for enthusiasts who prefer separate preamplification and power amplification components.

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.

The vinyl revival shows no signs of slowing down, and audio manufacturers are increasingly looking for ways to combine traditional record playback with the conveniences we have come to expect from modern music systems. One of the simplest approaches is to equip a turntable with a Bluetooth transmitter, allowing listeners to enjoy their records without being tied to a conventional stereo setup. This is precisely the idea behind Denon's new DP-500BT. The latest addition to the Japanese company's turntable lineup is a semi-automatic, belt-driven design featuring an S-shaped tonearm, a factory-installed moving-magnet cartridge, and a built-in phono preamplifier. Its most distinctive additional feature, however, is the ability to transmit music wirelessly to compatible headphones, speakers, and other Bluetooth-enabled devices.

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.

You don't have to be a hi-fi enthusiast to know Harman Kardon. In fact, there's a good chance you've encountered the brand without ever setting foot in an audio store. Its logo has adorned the speaker grilles of countless cars over the years, with BMW being perhaps the most recognizable example of a partnership that has lasted more than three decades. Harman Kardon systems can also be found in vehicles from Mini, Volvo, Subaru, Kia, Hyundai, and several brands belonging to the Stellantis group. For most drivers, however, getting that distinctive badge on their speaker grilles has traditionally involved one important decision: ordering the appropriate audio package when buying the car. Miss that opportunity, and upgrading the sound system usually meant turning to a completely different manufacturer. Harman Kardon is now making that choice a little less permanent. Its expanding aftermarket car audio lineup includes two speaker families, Fit and Flow, along with the compact Flow 80 and Feel 700 subwoofers. Together, they offer everything from relatively straightforward replacements for factory speakers to the components needed for a more ambitious custom installation.