Bluesound
Naim Audio
Bluesound

Like many audiophiles with limited space and limited funds, I often wonder why, at audio shows, so many companies insist on displaying ultra-expensive systems. Why not real-world systems that most people can afford? Systems they can use in day-to-day living spaces, not just man caves?

Is the Compact Disc on its deathbed? Not yet, but there’s cause for concern. According to the 2019 Global Music Report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), worldwide sales of physical media declined 10.1% in 2018. Vinyl sales grew 6%, and now account for 3.6% of worldwide music-industry revenues. So based on a little back-of-the-envelope math, it looks like global CD sales declined by around 12% last year.

Reviewers' ChoiceThe German hi-fi brand Elac dates back to the 1920s, but has lately undergone a renaissance. Following a business reorganization in 2014, Elac established an American subsidiary charged with developing affordable, high-performance loudspeakers. That task was assigned to Andrew Jones, who in 2015 joined Elac as vice-president of engineering, following gigs at KEF, Infinity, TAD, and Pioneer.

Two years ago next month, in a feature for sister site SoundStage! Hi-Fi, Doug Schneider posed a question: “Is it time for active speakers?” As Doug noted, audiophiles have traditionally been cool toward active designs, despite their many advantages. This is partly because active speakers take some of the fun out of hobbyist audio. Audiophiles want to choose their own amps and cables, rather than have someone else make those choices for them.

Last October, Lenbrook International announced a comprehensive upgrade of its Bluesound lineup of whole-house audio products. Bluesound’s 2i series offers such new features as Apple AirPlay 2 support, improved Bluetooth capability, Amazon Alexa voice control, and updated Wi-Fi connectivity.

Over the past several years, Ohio-based SVS has earned a reputation for making affordable, high-performance loudspeakers and subwoofers. Its subs, of course, are active, but until recently, all of its full-range speakers were passive designs. Last year, SVS introduced the fully active, two-way Prime Wireless speakers ($599.99/pair; all prices USD).

It’s a common fallacy to believe that things that come easily to you come easily to everyone. But as a recent experience confirmed for me, it’s just not so.

I’ve never thought of myself as having sharp elbows. But here I am, the new guy in the SoundStage! neighborhood, and I keep muscling in on my colleagues’ territories. For my first review on Simplifi, I tackled LG’s G7 ThinQ MQA-compatible smartphone, a product that would fit nicely on SoundStage! Solo. More recently, I opined that the Kii Audio Three DSP-controlled active speakers would be right at home on SoundStage! Hi-Fi or Ultra.

One of my pet peeves is technology that thinks it knows more than I do. Sometimes, software developers will release a new version that removes a useful feature, supposedly to enhance ease of use, but usually to advance a corporate agenda. Sometimes, they’ll streamline a key function to make it simpler for inexperienced users, at the cost of restricting flexibility for experienced users.

KEF’s little LSX active speakers ($1099 USD per pair) would seem to contain everything you need for high-resolution stereo sound. Each enclosure houses a KEF Uni-Q driver array comprising a 0.75” aluminum-dome tweeter mounted at the acoustic center of a 4.5” magnesium-aluminum midrange-woofer, each powered by its own amplifier. The LSXes are small enough to virtually disappear into your room, but if you look their way they’ll grab your eye. They’re available in five colors: white, green, red, blue, and black. Speakers in all colors but white are covered on four sides with a matching industrial textile. The white version, which I reviewed, has a high-gloss finish on all surfaces, and the driver is in complementary silver-gray. It’s gorgeous. The red and blue models have drivers of the same color as the cabinet; the others have drivers of a complementary color.

Despite what the illuminati say about our brave new world “moving at Internet speed,” sometimes we just have to hurry up and wait. This review is a case in point.

Most audiophiles know Pro-Ject Audio Systems as a maker of turntables. Indeed, more than any manufacturer, Vienna-based Pro-Ject is responsible for the vinyl revival.

Keen-eyed readers may have noticed that I recently added a new category to the Associated Equipment section at the end of my reviews. In addition to listing the speakers, sources, and cables used for a review, I’ve started listing my network setup. For most of the products I review, every note I listen to is streamed over a network. That makes the network an important part of my home-entertainment system.

Reviewers' ChoiceThis corner of the SoundStage! Network is devoted to “convenient, lifestyle-oriented hi-fi,” to quote the blurb on the Network portal. To some diehards, the word lifestyle conveys a kind of superficiality, a lack of seriousness, but not to yours truly. As I wrote in my kick-off feature for SoundStage! Simplifi, there’s a lot to be said for integrating your hi-fi into your everyday life. Having your main music system in a living area, rather than hiding it away in an inner sanctum, means that everyone can enjoy it, not just the household high priest of audio.

Once in a while, I come across a product that has me scratching my head: What’s this thing really for, and who needs it? Then a light goes on, and I get it: Hey, this product is really cool, and really useful. Why did it take so long for someone to come up with this idea?

This fall marked the 10th anniversary of file-based, high-resolution audio playback. The New York City-based website HDtracks opened its virtual doors in March 2008; in October of that year, it added to its catalog 24-bit/88.2kHz and 24/96 FLAC files.

Wireless speakers have become like A/V receivers: it’s almost impossible to build one that’s still up to date a few months after launch. Cambridge Audio’s Yoyo (L) all-in-one home audio system doesn’t have voice command, the latest hot feature boasted by an increasing number of wireless speakers, but it offers almost everything else you might want in a wireless speaker, as well as at least one thing that’s likely to surprise you. It also packs a lot more audio engineering than do most wireless speakers.

Sometime soon, hopefully before the end of 2018, North American audiophiles will have their choice of two high-resolution music-streaming services. One of them is a familiar name -- now available in 57 countries, Tidal has been operating in North America since 2015. The other is a relative unknown, at least on the west side of the Atlantic.

Reviewers' ChoiceFor serious, sit-down stereo, active loudspeakers have traditionally been a tough sell. I’ve never understood why -- their domestic advantages are obvious. Active speakers can make possible audiophile-quality sound in spaces where traditional components are unwelcome -- as outlined in my recent feature on "How I Simplifi’d My Hi-Fi."

Toronto has a new audio show. The first-ever Toronto Audiofest was held at the Westin Toronto Airport Hotel October 19-21. In one year, it has effectively supplanted the Toronto Audio-Video Entertainment Show (TAVES), which began in 2011 but gradually lost its way.

So much is made these days of powered speakers with Bluetooth connectivity that, presented with one of these wonder puppies, I was prompted to plug it in, invoke Bluetooth, link it to my iPhone, et voilà -- music!

Reviewers' ChoiceSmartphones are the quintessential jacks-of-all-trades. Beyond their basic function (telephony), you can use them to surf the Web, shoot pictures and videos, play games, feed the parking meter, check your bank balance, navigate strange cities, and a million or so other applications.

Does the trades corollary follow? Are they masters of none? You can tap out an e-mail on your phone’s screen, but you wouldn’t want to write a novel on it. Smartphone cameras are fine for snapshots, but if you’re a serious photographer, you’ll want a serious camera.

A year ago this month, my missus and I made a life-changing decision. We would sell the Toronto home where she had lived for 26 years, and move to a smaller house in the same neighborhood. Our kids had long since left the nest (lucky us!), and that big five-bedroom house was way more real estate than we needed. Downsizing would free up money for our retirements (we are now both, officially, geezers) and simplify our lives.

Pro-Ject’s Juke Box E shows how stereo systems ain’t what they used to be. That statement is not a lament for an imagined better past, but an observation of what kinds of systems today’s listeners want and need. The Juke Box E ($499 USD) caters not to the traditional audiophile, but to a new generation with different listening habits. It combines a turntable, phono stage, integrated amplifier, and Bluetooth receiver, all in a package no larger than a typical budget turntable. All you add is speakers.

Music lovers have been trying to solve a problem ever since they began collecting recordings: How to have convenient access to large music libraries?

Reviewers' ChoiceThe Canadian electronics manufacturer New Acoustic Dimension, since renamed NAD Electronics, was founded in 1972, and released its famous 3020 integrated amplifier in 1978. For many in the late 1970s and 1980s, the 3020 was their first serious audio purchase. Five years ago, to mark its 40th anniversary, NAD released the first version of the D 3020 integrated amplifier ($499 USD), to positive reviews. Last January, at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show, they announced the launch of the D 3020 V2 ($399). Along with a $100 reduction in price from the original D 3020, NAD has added a full-range preamp-only output and an RIAA-equalized moving-magnet phono stage, while dropping one of the optical inputs and the USB input. The V2 shares the original D 3020’s compact case -- they’re identically sized -- and is energy efficient. While both versions produce 30Wpc, the V2 offers slight improvements in its specified signal/noise ratio and channel separation.

Last month, I talked about the advantages that voice command can bring to audio enthusiasts -- and the complications that limit its applicability to music listening. This month I talk in a bit more depth about the prospects for voice-command technology: How much better can voice-command systems get, and might they someday be the primary user interface for audio systems?

While many audio writers have questioned the desirability of smart speakers, the general public seems to have no such reservations. Estimates project that more than 80 million of these voice-controlled products will have been sold worldwide by the end of 2018. The market’s been dominated by Amazon and Google, but neither of those brands is synonymous with good sound. Fortunately, mainstream audio companies are now incorporating voice-command technology from Amazon or Google into their speakers. The Polk Assist ($199.95 USD), which includes Google Assistant, is one of the first of this wave.

I’ve reacted with hostility to many audio writers’ musings about smart speakers. I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve been wrong.

Apparently, MartinLogan’s Unison wireless preamplifier was designed with Simplifi readers in mind -- it offers Wi-Fi, TosLink digital, and analog inputs and outputs, a 12V trigger, and an Ethernet connection. You can use the Unison with DTS Play-Fi or Apple AirPlay to set up a whole-house streaming system. And the Unison includes Anthem Room Correction (ARC) -- essentially the same version of ARC used in Anthem’s own flagship products. Add it all up and combine it with MartinLogan’s stellar reputation, and you have a product that probably goes for several thousand bucks, right? Nope. The Unison costs $399.95.

  1. High End 2018, Simplifi'd
  2. Dynaudio Music 7 Wi-Fi Speaker
  3. Musical Fidelity M6 Encore 225 Music System
  4. Cocktail Audio X35 Music System
  5. Is the Smart Speaker a Dumb Idea?
  6. Peachtree Audio decco125 Sky Integrated Amplifier-DAC
  7. Technics Ottava f SC-C70 Music System
  8. What's Up with Apple AirPlay 2?
  9. JBL Link 500 Wi-Fi Speaker
  10. The Spotify Dilemma
  11. Trinnov Amethyst DAC-Preamplifier-Processor
  12. Control4 Triad One Streaming Amplifier
  13. Elac Discovery Z3 Wi-Fi Speaker
  14. CES 2018, Simplifi’d
  15. Klipsch Heritage Wireless Three Wi-Fi Speaker
  16. Farewell, CES
  17. Paradigm PW 300 Wi-Fi Loudspeakers
  18. Thiel Audio Aurora Home Wi-Fi Speaker
  19. Room Tunes
  20. Hegel Music Systems H190 DAC-Integrated Amplifier
  21. Social Streaming
  22. Yamaha R-N803 Network Stereo Receiver
  23. Onkyo TX-8270 Network Stereo Receiver
  24. CEDIA 2017, Simplifi’d
  25. Dynaudio Focus 20 XD Active Loudspeakers
  26. Riva Audio Festival Wi-Fi Speaker
  27. Naim Audio Uniti Atom Wireless Streaming DAC-Integrated Amplifier
  28. Classical Prime Time
  29. NAD Masters Series M50.2 Digital Music Player
  30. Bryston BryFi BW-1 Wi-Fi Speaker
  31. The Röst Reconsidered
  32. Arcam rPlay Music Streamer
  33. Auralic Polaris Wireless Streaming DAC-Integrated Amplifier
  34. High End 2017, Simplifi'd
  35. Simaudio Moon Neo ACE DAC-Streamer-Integrated Amplifier
  36. Vinyl: There's an App for That
  37. Metadata: Life with Roon
  38. NAD C 368 DAC-Integrated Amplifier
  39. The Internet and Audio: The Good, the Bad, and the Impossible
  40. Lumin M1 Integrated Amplifier-Network Music Player
  41. Arcam Solo Music DAC-Integrated Amplifier-Universal Player
  42. McIntosh Laboratory RS100 Wi-Fi Loudspeakers
  43. The State of Streaming
  44. Hegel Music Systems Röst Integrated Amplifier
  45. CES 2017, Simplifi'd
  46. Naim Audio Mu-so Qb Wi-Fi Speaker
  47. Why "Simplifi"
  48. Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 2 Wi-Fi Speaker

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