The Harman Kardon Enchant full system, a four-piece ensemble, lives up to its name. “Enchant” aims to captivate, drawing you irresistibly into the fascinating world of Dolby Atmos 3D surround sound. Just how enchanting is the Enchant series? In an age where lengthy audio reviews often test patience, our editor wants to cut straight to…
Cambridge EXN100 Streamer It’s been a while since I last got my hands on a Cambridge Audio product. A brief glimpse at a Hi-Fi show doesn’t really leave a deep impression, let alone allow for any in-depth understanding. This time, I had an encounter with their mid-range EX series, and specifically spent two months with…
NAD has always been synonymous with exceptional value, consistently delivering robust build quality, cutting-edge design, and outstanding sound performance at accessible prices to satisfy listeners worldwide for years. Beyond their well-known mid-range and entry-level components, NAD also boasts the Masters series, which represents their foray into high-end audio. This line features circuitry based on true…
I entered the world of audio media in early 2015. Unconsciously, it’s been a decade since I started this journey. Before I became a professional reviewer, when I was just an audiophile enthusiast, Furutech was the first brand that came to mind when I needed connectors, plugs, or a length of bulk cable for DIY…
Founded in Italy by Luigi Lorenzon in 1992, Synthesis actually has roots extending back further. Luigi Lorenzon’s father, Lorenzon Senior, established FASEL in 1961, a company specializing in transformers, specifically those related to tube amplifiers and guitar amps, such as output transformers, power transformers, chokes, and inductors. This provided a very strong technical foundation. Transformers…
It feels like just yesterday, in 2023, I added the Japanese final D8000 Pro planar magnetic flagship headphones to my collection, joining my existing Sony and Pioneer over-ear headphones as my third reference pair. Yet, here we are at the end of 2024, and final has unveiled the brand-new D8000 DC over-ear headphones. Initially, I…
Do you like JBL? In the past, I just thought that JBL speakers had barely changed their appearance over the decades; it was hard to tell the new models from the old ones. Back in 2015, I wrote a review of a small JBL speaker, the 4312M MK2. In that piece, I included photos of…
Many are likely familiar with the French brand Cabasse, and for good reason. Their The Pearl series of spherical coaxial active wireless speakers is simply captivating. Once seen, they are hard to forget and utterly unmistakable. The Pearl series represents Cabasse’s cutting-edge technology, encompassing not only their signature coaxial drivers but also DSP digital processing,…
It’s been a while, KEF! After many years without listening to a KEF speaker, I had the chance to audition the brand new Q Concerto Meta for 2024. Even at the entry level, the Q Concerto Meta delivers transparency and vitality in precise music reproduction, coupled with ample musical energy. For a speaker priced around…
JL Audio, a venerable American company, was founded in 1975 by James Birch and Lucio Proni – thus the name JL. By 2025, the brand will boast a fifty-year history. Despite its long standing, it’s a relatively new entrant to the market here, and thus perhaps less familiar to many audiophiles. Even as Editor-in-Chief, this…
For a long time, my closest connection to Poland was through the composer Chopin. Of course, I also knew others, such as pianists Arthur Rubinstein and Krystian Zimerman, and composers like Karol Szymanowski and Krzysztof Penderecki. Beyond music, the only names that readily came to mind were Marie Curie, Lech Wałęsa, and Polish footballer Robert…
For a long time, our general impression of audio equipment originating from mainland China was typically one of feature-rich products with leading specifications, decent quality, and sound performance that was above average. They offered highly competitive pricing, resulting in excellent value for money overall, but often lacked a distinct style or taste, keeping them somewhat…
Frankly, bookshelf speakers aren’t ideally suited for such a large listening space. No matter how you slice it, the quantity of bass frequencies will inevitably be “diluted.” And the 805 D4 Signature certainly faced that dilution in my open-plan room. However, while my space is large, it sounds quite balanced. So even with the diluted…
Over the past couple of years, manufacturers have finally caught on. Subwoofers aren’t just for pure music systems anymore. Much of today’s popular music features heavy, impactful low frequencies. Gentle, ‘Zen-like’ subwoofers simply won’t cut it. Bass energy needs to be abundant, thick, and weighty, or how can you convince younger listeners when even headphones…
I’ve observed that over the past two years, Taiwanese brands have been gradually catching up to the international trend of “segmentation marketing” in their product strategies. Manufacturers are investing more resources into developing models with different backlight technologies and enhancing audio-visual capabilities. This allows them to more precisely target specific markets for various display types,…
The Envy Core is a significantly more affordable and physically smaller video processor within the madVR family compared to its siblings, the Envy Extreme and Pro. Due to its more accessible price point, it’s less likely to be found in the ultra-high-end professional or custom-installed theaters where its elder brothers reside. Instead, the Core is…
To be honest, this collaboration piqued my curiosity. Denmark is renowned for its designer furniture, and Dynaudio has always prided itself on its exquisitely crafted wooden cabinets. So, why did they entrust the design and manufacture of The Bookshelf speaker cabinets to a Japanese designer and furniture factory this time? This question isn’t difficult to…
For users seeking a listening experience akin to pure music playback, Audioquest, a world-leading cable manufacturer, has introduced the “eARC Priority” series. These HDMI cables prioritize eARC audio quality, built upon Audioquest’s long-standing “Four Elements” cable design philosophy: Conductor, Metal Quality, Noise Dissipation, and Directionality. Design Principles and Model Variations The “Conductor” element refers to…