People generally don’t favour a lot of bulky crates for their amp solution, but this doesn’t mean there’s any less interest in the really good stuff. On the contrary! It’s just that the market seems to be gradually moving away from separate solutions with pre and power amps towards a single hefty integrated amplifier. It’s …
American Emotiva is known for its often very large and massive amplifiers at surprisingly affordable prices. Here we have embarked on the Emotiva BasX TA-100, which in terms of weight and power is in the lighter layer of the company’s product line. This is something as rare as a stereo receiver – ie amplifier and …
Sonos is high on the must-have list of many people, but others find it excessively expensive. For those people, Sonos has now launched its Beam soundbar, which with a price of 4,000 NOK is almost half the price of its PlayBar soundbar and PlayBase soundbase. It still boasts the same convenient usability and multi-room functionality …
Little compares to the powerful dynamic control and the bottomless bass that a real power amplifier possesses. Although it borders on overkill for most of us, not to mention most speakers, there is something special about the sound of a powerful, 1200 W amplifier. Just like a super car, you are not prepared for a …
Back in the day, one could walk into any well-stocked radio store and choose turntables, needles and records as desired. Today, the selection is much smaller, but the quality is much higher. That is to say, there are turntables out there that we do advise against buying. For example, those found on the back of …
Rega is one of the few manufacturers that have held up even though they have been challenged by CDs, MiniDiscs and now music streaming. Later, they have been compensated for this and now have a luxury problem: they are unable to make enough turntables to meet market demand. It is not only due to the …
Since NAD took the world by storm more than 30 years ago, they have been helping to define the term ‘a lot for the money’. In particular, this applies to the amplifiers, which turned people’s perception of affordable hi-fi upside down. They have not received the same recognition for the turntables, as there have been …
You can hardly miss by choosing a turntable by Pro-Ject. Like Rega, they make some of the best turntables within an affordable price range, but also some cool, high-end turntables for connoisseurs. They even have a turntable with a built-in amplifier that just needs a pair of speakers to play music — and a standing …
Japanese Audio-Technica is a big name in turntables. They supply pickups for many turntables other than their own, which they also produce a lot of. Analogue sound is something they do better than most, and the Audio-Technica logo is also found on several of the best headphones we have tested. They also make lots of …
The turntable from Teac costs more than the cheapest turntables, but there’s a reason for that. I don’t just mean the design with the silver grey details on a walnut coloured chassis, but also what is housed within the turntable. It looks a bit more expensive and is better equipped with both built-in turntable amplifier …
Klipsch is fairly new to the streaming game, and has realized that when it comes to apps and user interfaces, there are already established solutions that work better than they would be able to do themselves. The choice has fallen on Play-Fi by DTS, and that’s not stupid. The system supports most music services, and …
The power amplifier NAD M22 is the natural partner of the preamplifier M12. It has just arrived in a new and updated V2 edition, which was launched at the CES show in Las Vegas in January. And our test copy is one of the first to come to Scandinavia. M22 V2 is a class D …
What happens when engineers, who usually spend their time constructing good sound on a strict budget, get free hands and sit down to do the best they can without the cost hassle? Then you end up with something like NAD’s Masters series. We have recently tested several models from the series. NAD M12 is the …
Headphones, most would say if we mention Grado. But watchmaker Joseph Grado of Brooklyn, NY, actually started with handmade cartridges. Which he made at home and resold. In 1959, Grado had been making pickups for six years, when the first Moving Coil version in stereo was patented. The rest is history as they say, and …