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Hegel Music Systems H120 Integrated Amplifier-DAC

Written by: Gordon Brockhouse
Created: 01 December 2019

To my knowledge, in the 24 years of the SoundStage! Network only one product has ever been retroactively granted a Reviewers’ Choice award. That product was the Hegel Music Systems Röst integrated amplifier-DAC, reviewed for Simplifi by Al Griffin in February 2017 -- in fact, the Röst was the first integrated amplifier to be reviewed on this site.

Read more: Hegel Music Systems H120 Integrated Amplifier-DAC

DALI Katch One Soundbar

Written by: Gordon Brockhouse
Created: 15 November 2019

In his coverage of CEDIA Expo 2019 for SoundStage! Global, Brent Butterworth called DALI’s Katch One soundbar ($999, all prices USD) the “product at the CEDIA Expo that I’d most like to have right at this very minute.” I found this surprising -- not because I had any doubts that the Katch One is a fine product, but because there were so many other lustworthy products at this year’s Expo, including several Brent outlined in his four show reports. A few highlights were Revel’s PerformaBe speakers, NAD’s T 778 nine-channel A/V receiver, and MartinLogan’s 40XW in-wall speaker, each of which has 40 driver-units. There were also lustworthy video products, including 4K laser projectors from Epson, JVC, and LG, and Sony’s modular Crystal LED wall display system.

Read more: DALI Katch One Soundbar

NAD Classic C 658 BluOS Streaming DAC

Written by: Gordon Brockhouse
Created: 01 November 2019

Reviewers' ChoiceIt’s been just over five years since Canada’s Lenbrook Industries Limited launched the Bluesound brand of streaming multiroom products, and many of the decisions Lenbrook made during Bluesound’s formative stages now seem prescient. These include developing the underlying BluOS technology in-house, rather than sourcing it from a third party, and supporting high-resolution playback right from the start.

Read more: NAD Classic C 658 BluOS Streaming DAC

Kanto Audio Tuk Powered Loudspeakers

Written by: Gordon Brockhouse
Created: 15 October 2019

Based in Coquitlam, British Columbia, on Canada’s left coast, Kanto Audio has made a name for itself with budget-priced powered stereo speaker systems. These include the YU2 ($219.99/pair, all prices USD), a two-way desktop speaker with USB DAC and 3.5mm stereo analog input; and two bookshelf models, the YU4 ($329.99/pair) and YU6 ($399.99/pair), both featuring Bluetooth connectivity, a built-in phono preamp, a TosLink digital input, and a line-level analog input. The YU4 has a 4” Kevlar woofer and a 1” soft-dome tweeter, driven by a 35Wpc RMS class-D amp; the larger YU6 has a 5.25” woofer and a 50Wpc RMS class-D amp. Kanto’s most ambitious design yet is the Tuk powered minimonitor ($799.99/pair). Inside each rear-ported enclosure is a 5.25” aluminum woofer and a 28 x 45mm Air Motion Transformer (AMT) tweeter.

Read more: Kanto Audio Tuk Powered Loudspeakers

Lumin T2 Network Music Player

Written by: Gordon Brockhouse
Created: 01 October 2019

Do you have to be a propeller-head to enjoy Simplifi’d hi-fi? The question might seem nonsensical, but when you think about this site’s mandate -- to cover “convenient, lifestyle-oriented audio” -- it makes a perverse kind of sense, and the product reviewed here illustrates my point.

Read more: Lumin T2 Network Music Player

Naim Audio ND5 XS 2 Network Music Player

Written by: Gordon Brockhouse
Created: 15 September 2019

Like many music-lovers, I’ve changed my listening habits drastically in the last ten years. A decade ago, all of the music I listened to at home was stored on shiny discs. A decade later, those discs are long gone. My music library is now stored on a LaCie 2Big Thunderbolt RAID system connected to an Apple Mac Mini computer in my second-floor office. The Mac Mini runs Roon Core, and streams music via Wi-Fi to the music system in my main-floor living room.

Read more: Naim Audio ND5 XS 2 Network Music Player

Elac Navis ARF-51 Active Loudspeakers

Written by: Gordon Brockhouse
Created: 01 September 2019

Reviewers' ChoiceIn her song “Big Yellow Taxi,” Joni Mitchell famously observed “That you don’t know what you’ve got / Till it’s gone.” There’s a lot of truth in that. The converse is equally true -- you don’t know what you’ve been missing till you experience it. Both thoughts occurred to me as I reviewed Elac’s Navis ARF-51 active floorstanding speakers.

Read more: Elac Navis ARF-51 Active Loudspeakers

Devialet Phantom Reactor 900 Active Loudspeakers

Written by: Gordon Brockhouse
Created: 15 August 2019

Cute, adorable, funky -- you rarely read those adjectives in reviews of serious audio products, but they do describe the appearance of Devialet’s Phantom Reactor active loudspeakers. Perched on their matching tripod stands, the Reactors evoke memories of R2D2 from Star Wars (though each Reactor is much smaller), or characters from the game Angry Birds (the Reactors look way friendlier).

Read more: Devialet Phantom Reactor 900 Active Loudspeakers

PMC result6 Active Loudspeakers

Written by: Gordon Brockhouse
Created: 01 August 2019

As regular visitors to this site surely know by now, I’m a big proponent of active loudspeakers. My reference system is built around a pair of Dynaudio Focus 200 XDs, which have dedicated 150W class-D amps for their 1” tweeters and 6.5” woofers. This choice was driven by domestic considerations -- it would be almost impossible to fit a system of audio separates into the living room of the century-old row house I share with my much better half.

Read more: PMC result6 Active Loudspeakers

Bowers & Wilkins Formation Duo Active Loudspeakers

Written by: Gordon Brockhouse
Created: 15 July 2019

Reviewers' ChoiceIt was a deal that left many audiophiles scratching their heads. In May 2016, the venerable British loudspeaker manufacturer Bowers & Wilkins was sold to California-based EVA Automation Inc. If few people had ever heard of EVA Automation, that’s not surprising -- the Silicon Valley startup had been founded only two years before, and had never released a product.

Read more: Bowers & Wilkins Formation Duo Active Loudspeakers

Naim Audio Mu-so 2nd Generation Wireless Music System

Written by: Gordon Brockhouse
Created: 01 July 2019

Reviewers' ChoiceFive years ago, if someone had asked me if there was a market for a tabletop all-in-one music system that cost $1499 (all prices USD), I’d have replied, “You’re kidding, right?” For that kind of dough, you could get a nice integrated amp and speakers, or a really good set of powered speakers. I had nothing against all-in-one music systems -- not then, not now. But for serious listening, I want the immersive experience you get from a stereo pair of speakers spaced several feet apart.

Read more: Naim Audio Mu-so 2nd Generation Wireless Music System

  1. McIntosh Laboratory MTI100 Integrated Turntable
  2. Yamaha WXA-50 MusicCast Streaming Amplifier
  3. NAD Masters M10 BluOS Streaming Integrated Amplifier
  4. Primare SC15 Prisma Streaming DAC-Preamp
  5. Naim Uniti Core CD Ripper/Music Server
  6. Elac Navis ARB-51 Active Loudspeakers
  7. Bluesound Pulse 2i Wireless Speaker
  8. SVS Prime Wireless Active Speakers
  9. Totem Acoustic Kin Play Powered Speakers
  10. KEF LSX Active Loudspeakers
  11. Bluesound Vault 2i CD Ripper-Server-Streamer
  12. Pro-Ject Audio Systems Stream Box S2 Ultra Music Streamer
  13. Kii Audio Three DSP-Controlled Active Loudspeakers
  14. Aurender S5W Battery-Powered Wireless Active Loudspeakers
  15. Cambridge Audio Yoyo (L) Wireless Speaker
  16. DALI Callisto 2 C Active Speaker System
  17. Kanto SYD Bluetooth Speaker
  18. LG G7 ThinQ Smartphone
  19. Pro-Ject Audio Systems Juke Box E Turntable-Integrated Amplifier
  20. NAD D 3020 V2 Bluetooth Integrated Amplifier-DAC
  21. Polk Assist Wi-Fi Smart Speaker
  22. MartinLogan Unison Wireless Preamplifier
  23. Dynaudio Music 7 Wi-Fi Speaker
  24. Musical Fidelity M6 Encore 225 Music System
  25. Cocktail Audio X35 Music System
  26. Peachtree Audio decco125 Sky Integrated Amplifier-DAC
  27. Technics Ottava f SC-C70 Music System
  28. JBL Link 500 Wi-Fi Speaker
  29. Trinnov Amethyst DAC-Preamplifier-Processor
  30. Control4 Triad One Streaming Amplifier
  31. Elac Discovery Z3 Wi-Fi Speaker
  32. Klipsch Heritage Wireless Three Wi-Fi Speaker
  33. Paradigm PW 300 Wi-Fi Loudspeakers
  34. Thiel Audio Aurora Home Wi-Fi Speaker
  35. Hegel Music Systems H190 DAC-Integrated Amplifier
  36. Yamaha R-N803 Network Stereo Receiver
  37. Onkyo TX-8270 Network Stereo Receiver
  38. Dynaudio Focus 20 XD Active Loudspeakers
  39. Riva Audio Festival Wi-Fi Speaker
  40. Naim Audio Uniti Atom Wireless Streaming DAC-Integrated Amplifier
  41. NAD Masters Series M50.2 Digital Music Player
  42. Bryston BryFi BW-1 Wi-Fi Speaker
  43. Arcam rPlay Music Streamer
  44. Auralic Polaris Wireless Streaming DAC-Integrated Amplifier
  45. Simaudio Moon Neo ACE DAC-Streamer-Integrated Amplifier
  46. NAD C 368 DAC-Integrated Amplifier
  47. Lumin M1 Integrated Amplifier-Network Music Player
  48. Arcam Solo Music DAC-Integrated Amplifier-Universal Player
  49. McIntosh Laboratory RS100 Wi-Fi Loudspeakers
  50. Hegel Music Systems Röst Integrated Amplifier
  51. Naim Audio Mu-so Qb Wi-Fi Speaker
  52. Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 2 Wi-Fi Speaker

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Axiom
Axiom

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