Displaying items by tag: usb - StereoLife Magazine

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 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.

Tiglon, a Japanese manufacturer specializing in high-end audio cables, vibration-control products, equipment supports and related accessories, is establishing a much stronger presence in the United States through Tiglon USA. Headquartered in Yamato, Kanagawa Prefecture, the company is led by founder and chief designer Kentaro Okino and has been developing audio products for roughly two decades. It was formally established in 2008 as Kryna Pro Co. Ltd., the Tiglon brand appeared later that year, and in 2010 both the company and the brand adopted the name used today. Its catalog is now broad enough to include power, analog, speaker, USB, LAN and digital cables, along with equipment racks, platforms, isolators, speaker stands and several more specialized tuning accessories, while production remains centered in Japan.

Hegel is introducing two new integrated amplifiers built around the same core platform but aimed at different types of system. The H200, described by the manufacturer as "The Connected", combines a 2 x 150 W amplifier with a digital-to-analogue converter, network player, MM phono stage and headphone output. The A200, or "The Classic", retains the same power output and key circuit solutions, but is an entirely analogue design intended for use with external sources such as streamers and DACs. Both amplifiers employ a Class AB output stage delivering 150 W per channel into 8 ohms. The H200 and A200 are designed to remain stable into loads as low as 2 ohms, while the damping factor of their output stages exceeds 4000. Both models also feature Hegel's SoundEngine2 technology, which is designed to detect and reduce distortion at the point where it occurs, before it travels further through the signal path. The basic amplifier architecture is therefore shared, with the main differences concerning connectivity, features and the role each model is intended to play within a system. Rather than creating one heavily equipped amplifier for everyone, Hegel has developed two versions - a complete network-enabled model and a more traditional integrated amplifier without a digital section.

Victrola is preparing to bring one of its more unusual recent products to Europe. First shown at CES 2026, Soundstage is neither a conventional pair of speakers nor an all-in-one record player. Instead, it is a low-profile soundbase designed to sit directly underneath a turntable and provide room-filling sound without introducing the vibration problems that normally make such an arrangement a bad idea. The concept is aimed squarely at listeners who want a compact vinyl system without separate speakers, an amplifier and the extra furniture that usually comes with them. Following its US launch, Soundstage is now heading to Europe, where sales are scheduled to begin in October.

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.

AudioQuest DragonFly is one of those products that hardly needs an introduction. The original model appeared in 2012 and helped turn the USB dongle DAC from a niche computer-audio accessory into a genuinely mainstream hi-fi product, with more than 300,000 DragonFlys sold worldwide since then. Black and Red followed in 2016, Cobalt arrived three years later, and then the series went quiet for almost seven years. Copper finally breaks that silence. Rather than simply updating Cobalt with a different finish, AudioQuest has substantially reworked the internal architecture, giving its latest DAC-preamp-headphone amplifier more output power, lower current consumption and a new copper-plated enclosure intended to improve RF noise dissipation.

At the same time that Noble Audio is stripping the formula back to a single dynamic driver with Iris, the company is taking a very different route at the more accessible end of its wired IEM range. Vanguard builds on the success of Knight, which Noble describes as the highest-selling IEM in its history, but replaces that model's dynamic, balanced-armature and piezoelectric combination with a new three-way hybrid architecture based around one dynamic driver and two custom balanced armatures. The idea is not simply to add another entry-level model to an already crowded category, but to create a more refined starting point for listeners who want the Noble sound without immediately moving into the company's considerably more expensive universal monitors.

Not that long ago, carrying a separate music player was perfectly normal. Then smartphones took over, streaming largely removed the need to keep a personal library of files in your pocket, and traditional MP3 players all but disappeared from everyday life. Curiously, they are now starting to make a comeback - not by trying to compete with phones on features, but by doing the exact opposite. In an age when one device serves as a music player, camera, messenger, payment terminal, entertainment hub, and a constant source of notifications, there is something increasingly appealing about a gadget designed to do one thing and do it well. FiiO is tapping into that idea with the Snowsky Echo Nano, a tiny portable player that looks as though it has arrived straight from the early 2000s, but hides thoroughly modern hardware inside and has no intention of being just a nostalgic toy.

Ferrum has spent the last few years building a compact ecosystem around digital conversion, headphone amplification and power management, but one obvious piece has been missing - a network transport of its own. That gap is now filled by Broen, the Polish company's first dedicated streaming product and a natural partner for the Wandla DAC family and Hypsos power supply. The model was previewed at the Audio Video Show in Warsaw and the Paris Audio Video Show in late 2025, but has now reached its final production form. Its name means "bridge" in Danish, which neatly summarizes the concept - Broen is designed as a digital gateway between streaming services, local music libraries and an external DAC rather than another all-in-one streamer with conversion and analog circuitry squeezed into the same chassis.