Displaying items by tag: hiend - StereoLife Magazine

First launched in 2016, Focal's Utopia headphones rank amongst the best headphones in the world. Under constant renewal, the French brand with a unique savoir-faire in acoustics, has given its iconic product a new design while adding acoustic enhancements (new voice coil, 'M'-shaped grilles inside the earcups). All the exclusive, high-end technologies that make the Utopia headphones so successful are still to be found in this new edition, continuing to bring sensational listening experiences with even more sophistication and elegance.

Designed from the ground up, featuring several new audio innovations, the new range of speakers from the renowned French manufacturer is limited to 500 pairs per model. The Magellan 40th Anniversary range comprises two floor-standing speakers, the Quatuor 40th and Cello 40th, the Duetto 40th bookshelf speakers; and the Voce 40th center speaker. The new S08 and S08-C speaker stands compliment this new line-up.

The Swiss speaker specialist expands its successful Coax series with four brand new models and, at the same time, presents a technically refined limited edition of the already well-known Coax floor-standing and bookshelf speakers. "Noble aluminum enclosures and ribbon loudspeakers" would probably be the answer of most hi-fi fans if you were to ask them about the most important features of Piegaloudspeakers. The four brand-new models, Coax 811, 611, 411, and Center 211 feature these characteristics and offer numerous technical innovations that significantly enhance the sound quality of the quartet.

Auralic announced an update for its Aries G1 and Altair G1 to the G1.1 version. Reflecting company's drive to innovate and lead the music streaming market, this update provides exciting improvements for both models. Engineered to exacting standards, the Aries G1.1 and Altair G1.1 excel in today's demanding environment of high-resolution music streaming. Designed and consistently updated in-house, the Lightning streaming platform has led the industry since its release in 2014.

The P30A preamplifier and the H30A power amplifier replace the P30 and H30 reference amplifiers that have been on the market since 2011. "For several years we have known that the P30 and H30 amplifiers were living on borrowed time because the extremely good transistors they used were being discontinued. This was a problem because they were so good that finding something that could even come close proved to be very hard. So, for years we have been looking for replacements that could not only match but also improve upon the performance of our amplifiers. We have been testing and listening and testing again, and finally, we are able to launch our new reference products." - the Norwegians say, commenting on their new flagship pre/power combo.

Many manufacturers of high-end cables try to convince us that we are paying for advanced technical solutions, incredibly precise engineering, exotic materials, and details worked out to perfection, such as patented connectors coated with silver, gold, rhodium, or all those expensive metals altogether. To some extent, this is true, for it is difficult to achieve great sound when trying to build such cables from cheap conductors, the worst quality dielectrics and connectors worth two dollars. It's easy to imagine that when all these components are the best money can buy, the price of such cable goes through the roof. Is this madness? Probably yes, but it doesn't change the fact that there is no shortage of people willing to buy high-end cables, as well as companies ready to provide them with what they want. What is shocking for a novice audiophile does not seem so strange to someone who has been building their system for many years, and has already spent tens of thousands of dollars on speakers, amplifiers, sources, and anti-vibration racks.

Astell&Kern has redefined the headphone amplifier with the introduction of the ACRO CA1000. Expertly combining high-performance amplifiers with digital audio player (DAP) capabilities in an incredibly compact desktop and carriable-friendly form, the powerful ACRO CA1000 delivers the optimal performance from any type of wired headphone. An array of digital/analog inputs and outputs also ensures the ACRO CA1000 can be at the heart of any hi-fi set-up and become the ultimate system for head-fi fans. This system represents Astell&Kern's fundamental philosophy of delivering as close to the original sound as possible and enriching the listening experience.

Gryphon Audio Designs announced its most advanced preamplifier available. Since Gryphon's founding nearly 40 years ago, our philosophy has remained constant - the relentless pursuit of sonic perfection without commercial compromises in design, construction, or cost. All Gryphon products have been conceived in this same perfectionist spirit: uncompromising engineering in the service of music, impeccable build quality complemented by our original, "Nordic Noir" aesthetic sensibility and simplicity of use. The culmination of Gryphon's four decades of philosophies, design goals, and engineering expertise are fully realized in Commander.

Questyle Audio Engineering is proud to commemorate their achievement with the release of their evolution flagship product, the CMA Fifteen. Questyle's patented Current Mode Amplification uses current, instead of voltage, to amplify audio signals, leading to tremendous performance differences when compared to traditional audio amplifiers. The CMA Fifteen takes the already popular CMA Twelve to new heights, becoming the first Questyle headphone amp and DAC to feature the ESS SABER ES9038PRO, the world's highest performance 32-bit DAC available. Featuring unparalleled audio reproduction, brilliantly clear transparency, and massively open sound, the CMA Fifteen chases extreme performance to achieve system-level lossless purity.

Astell&Kern introduced the second generation model of its popular and award-winning entry-level player, the A&norma SR25 MKII. Every aspect admired about the original SR25 is retained with the new model improving on the audio performance, adding new features, such as a balanced 4.4mm headphone jack, and tweaking its already eye-catching and ultra-compact design. The A&norma SR25 MKII represents the perfect entry-point into Astell&Kern's unrivaled world of high-resolution music playback on the move. Astell&Kern A&norma SR25 MKII feature upgrades include Replay Gain function to uniformly adjust volume playback from sound sources up to 24 bit/192 kHz, AK File Drop for easier wireless file transfers, BT Sink function for simpler connection of the SR25 MKII to an external Bluetooth device, and extra internal silver-plated shielding, first seen in the higher-end SP2000T, to protect from electromagnetic interference.