Displaying items by tag: stereo - StereoLife Magazine

Matrix Audio continues to develop its M Series, the company's most advanced line of digital sources, but its latest model is not simply another product aimed only at users looking for a full, no-compromise flagship. The MS-1c is intended as a more accessible entry point into this family, retaining many of the solutions known from the MS-1, but presenting them in the form of a network player that can work both as a standalone analog source and as a digital transport for an external DAC. In practice, this makes it a device for listeners who want to build a modern system based on streaming, a local file library and high-quality digital-to-analog conversion, but do not necessarily need the most elaborate model in the catalog. "The MS-1c is a response to the needs of audiophiles who are looking for the highest-quality digital source, but also value simplicity and functionality. Inheriting solutions from our flagship MS-1, the MS-1c offers the same level of precision and musicality while remaining a more accessible solution for those building their dream hi-fi system." - said Cao Yang, CEO of Matrix Audio.

Portable listening is no longer just a matter of convenience. For a long time, taking better headphones and high-resolution files outside the home meant accepting a stack of compromises - weak headphone outputs, awkward adapters, short battery life, and small devices that often felt more like emergency solutions than serious audio components. That has changed. Portable DACs and headphone amplifiers have become a mature category of their own, designed not simply to make a phone or laptop usable with wired headphones, but to create a compact listening system that can travel from a desk to a hotel room, from a train seat to a vacation apartment, and still retain a meaningful degree of audio quality. iFi Audio has been one of the companies most closely associated with this shift, and the iDSD GR 2 is one of the most important new products in its portable lineup.

Poland means different things to different people. For some, it brings to mind mountains, lakes, forests, turbulent history, beautiful cities, pierogi, kielbasa and stuffed cabbage. For others, it is a modern, entrepreneurial country - energetic, ambitious and full of people who, after decades of catching up, no longer feel the need to prove anything to anyone. They simply get on with it. They build companies, invest, design, manufacture and enter markets that, not all that long ago, seemed completely out of reach. You can see it in technology, industry, services and design, but also in far more specialized fields, including audio. Surprising as it may sound, Poland is home to well over a hundred manufacturers of audio devices, accessories and components - from large, increasingly recognizable brands to tiny, highly specialized, sometimes almost one-person workshops making unusual loudspeakers, amplifiers, cables, power distributors, isolation platforms, feet, supports and objects whose purpose sometimes has to be explained even to people who have followed this hobby for years. Some of these companies have long since stopped being curiosities for local patriots and have become serious players on the international stage. Fezz Audio tube amplifiers, J.Sikora and Muarah turntables, Mytek converters and digital devices, Lampizator's eccentric creations, Albedo and Audiomica Laboratory cables, JCAT network accessories, Enerra and Gigawatt power strips and conditioners - these are only the most obvious examples. When it comes to loudspeakers, however, the undisputed leader is Pylon Audio.

Bowers & Wilkins is introducing a new generation of its flagship loudspeaker line - the 800 Series Diamond D5. This is one of those launches whose significance in the high-end world hardly needs explaining, because the 800 Series has long represented far more than just the top tier of the brand's catalog. It is Bowers & Wilkins' technical statement, a benchmark for its engineering teams and a family of loudspeakers used not only in domestic stereo systems, but also in multichannel installations and professional studios. The new generation arrives as the company celebrates its 60th anniversary, which is why Bowers & Wilkins presents it as the result of six decades of research, measurement, experimentation and steady refinement of a single goal - to reproduce recorded music as faithfully as possible.

The decision has been made - we are buying a turntable. Everyone around us seems to be talking about the beauty of analog sound, so sooner or later we decide to begin our own vinyl adventure. Common sense may object a little, because what exactly is the point? Records are delicate, they have to be handled with care, and every twenty minutes or so you need to get up and turn the disc over if you want to hear the rest of the album. How does that make any sense in an age when a phone can give us access to millions of tracks, let us skip from one to another with a single tap, or simply keep playing for hours without any effort on our part? Users of streaming services could probably listen until retirement age and still not discover even a small fraction of the music available to them. So who actually needs a turntable?

In the world of loudspeakers, some designs command respect through advanced engineering, exotic materials and impressive specifications. Others do not look like spaceships, make no use of materials seemingly borrowed from z science-fiction film, and yet win people over with beautiful, musical sound and the simple fact that one can imagine living with them every day. Vienna Acoustics belongs firmly to the second group. The Austrian manufacturer has never built its identity around simulations, calculations and graphs alone, focusing instead on what makes its products appealing to the eye and the ear. The company was founded in 1989 by Peter Gansterer and Peter Haferl, whose goal was to bring together two worlds - solid engineering and the kind of aesthetics usually associated with fine furniture. Based in Rust, a small town in Austria's Burgenland region, the company now employs around 40 people. Among audiophiles, it is known for distinctive loudspeakers with exceptional cabinet work. Its catalog is dominated by models designed for stereo systems, and the names chosen for individual models will feel familiar to any music lover. Liszt Reference, Beethoven Concert Grand Reference, Haydn SE Signature, Mozart SE Signature - there is clearly a theme here. The last of these is the latest incarnation of one of the most important floorstanders in Vienna Acoustics' history, and also a very good example of just how differently hi-fi can be understood.

Polish manufacturer of unusual loudspeakers, Qualio, has introduced the Quanteen, its first bookshelf speaker and one of the more interesting attempts to bring the open-baffle concept into a format that is easier to integrate into a smaller listening room. The brand, previously associated mainly with unconventional open-baffle loudspeakers, has prepared a model for listeners looking for a spatial, natural and unforced presentation without having to place large floorstanding speakers in the room. The Quanteen is therefore a monitor only in name and size, because its architecture clearly departs from the usual two-way speaker enclosed in a conventional box. It is a compact semi-open design in which the midrange and treble section operates as a dipole, radiating sound both forward and backward. According to the manufacturer, this solution is responsible for the three-dimensional, holographic soundstage, the reduction of colorations introduced by traditional cabinets and the greater sense of freedom usually associated with larger open-baffle loudspeakers.

Fostex has introduced two new premium headphones, the TH810 and TH818. Both models are designed to bring technology and sound characteristics associated with the flagship TH910 and TH919 into a new, more standard product line. The Japanese brand has combined its familiar biodynamic driver technology with solid wood housings and lightweight magnesium mechanical components, creating two headphones aimed at slightly different listeners. The TH810 is a closed-back design intended for users who want greater isolation from the outside world and a more intimate connection with the music, while the TH818 is an open-back model designed to provide a freer soundstage, a more natural sense of space and long-term comfort during extended listening sessions.

REL Acoustics introduced a new line of active subwoofers designed for hi-fi and home theater systems in which a conventional floor-standing box can be awkward both acoustically and visually. The new range consists of two models, the PL-1 and PL-2, both of which can be mounted directly on the wall, much like a decorative panel or framed picture. This is not simply another variation on the familiar subwoofer placed in the corner of a room, but an attempt to rethink where low frequencies can come from in a domestic audio system. REL has built much of its reputation on subwoofers intended not only for home theater, but also for ambitious stereo systems, and Planar is aimed at a very specific set of needs - deeper bass, better integration with interior design, greater installation flexibility and less intrusion into everyday living space.

JPLAY has received a major update that expands the app with one of the most requested features in its recent history - full support for the HQPlayer library. For hi-fi users, this may be a more significant change than a simple feature list would suggest, because JPLAY has never positioned itself as just another app for playing music. From the beginning, it has functioned as a specialized control center for listeners using streamers, network DACs, services such as Qobuz, Tidal and HighResAudio, and local UPnP libraries. Now it adds the ability to browse and control an HQPlayer library directly from within JPLAY, alongside dynamic Smart Playlists, a completely new History screen with a calendar view and several refinements based on community feedback. The update is available in the latest version of the app as a free upgrade for existing users through the App Store.