THE REVIEWS
ads
Subscribe to our newsletter.
Sign up with your email address to receive news, updates, and our free quarterly magazine—AudioKeyREVIEWS!
PASS LABS HPA-1 HEADPHONE AMP - REVIEW
I did not expect to be as impressed as I am with the PASS LABS HPA-1, given its 2016-17 introduction and the various technical improvements that have come to other headphone amplifiers made in the interim, but time has not touched the viability, technical prowess, or wonderful musicality of the PASS LABS HPA-1. In truth, it has few rivals among those I’ve reviewed in recent years, regardless of price.
BAETIS AUDIO REVOLUTION X4 STREAMER - REVIEW
The Baetis Audio Revolution X4 brings a naturalness, an ease, and a sweetness to recordings that will have analog-lovers fully engaged while also providing the high-fidelity technicalities—soundstaging, resolution, transparency, detail retrieval, etc.—for those long wedded to the evolving digital audio world. The Revolution X4 is an outstanding digital streamer that I am certain believes itself to be a synthesis of both digital and analog.
TORUS POWER AVR ELITE POWER CONDITIONER - REVIEW
When a component brilliantly does what it was designed to do and gets out of the way to let all the other performers—components—shine, well, it deserves an award. We happily award the TORUS POWER AVR Elite power conditioner our DIAMOND AWARD, well deserved for its exceptional work.
HEADAMP GS-X MKII - REVIEW
The HeadAmp GS-X MkII is an exceptional headphone amplifier that not only outperforms its GS-X Mini sibling, but a goodly number of headphone amplifiers that have come my way for review these past years, some being a good deal more expensive.
SILENT ANGEL RHEIN Z1 & FORESTER F2 - REVIEW
Wow! These grooved, little, metal, black boxes carry a wallop of high-fidelity goodness and compelling musicality that clearly sets them far above their combined price. And I must admit, having reviewed, auditioned, and owned some very high value/cost streamers, I am very impressed by the Silent Angel Rhein Z1 and the Forester F2 combo.
TRILOGY H1 ENERGIZER - REVIEW
The Trilogy H1 energizer is the child of electrostatics and single-ended triodes and it is sublime in the extreme. Did I mention the Trilogy H1’s blazing, transient speed, its openness, its hypnotic immersiveness, and delicious tonality? “Yes.” Well, okay.
REGA PLANAR 10 - REVIEW
The Rega Planar 10, to our ears, is a masterpiece. We could not imagine it could be so easy to set up, and it is virtually maintenance free. Perhaps every once in a long while checking the speed would be the extent of it. The Planar 10 feels like a precision machine, no extra fat, not overbuilt, and stealthy.