The Latest Features
The Best of High End 2022
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: Monthly Column Monthly Column
- Created: 01 July 2022 01 July 2022
After two years when hi-fi shows have been few and far between, 2022 saw them return in force. First, the Florida Audio Expo in Tampa, Florida, in February; then Canada’s Montreal Audiofest in March; in April, AXPONA in Chicago; and then, the focus of this article, High End in Munich, Germany, in May. No one from our team attended AXPONA, but I was at Florida Audio Expo with fellow-writer Jason Davis and then at Montreal Audiofest on my own, with the express purpose of providing coverage of those events for our SoundStage! Global site.
Cyrus Audio CDi-XR CD Player
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- Written by Roger Kanno Roger Kanno
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 01 July 2022 01 July 2022
Cyrus is back. Well, maybe they never really went away, but it’s been a while since they had much of a presence in the North American market. It’s been almost four decades since the introduction of the Cyrus One integrated amplifier from this electronics brand offshoot of Mission loudspeakers. The two companies haven’t been affiliated for years, and Mission is now part of the International Audio Group (IAG), which has purchased a number of different brands, including Luxman, Wharfedale, Audiolab, and Quad among several others.
Recommended Reference Component: Gryphon Audio Designs Apex Stereo Amplifier
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 01 July 2022 01 July 2022
“Fortune favors the bold” is a well-known proverb that could certainly apply to Gryphon Audio Designs, a super-successful Danish hi-fi company known for making bold statements with its products. The industrial design of Gryphon components often makes them look menacing but beautiful; they’re big, well-built, great-sounding, and expensive. The latest example of the company’s bold approach is the Apex Stereo amplifier, which Jeff Fritz reviewed for SoundStage! Ultra in May.
miniDSP SHD Power Integrated Amplifier-DAC
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- Written by Roger Kanno Roger Kanno
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 15 June 2022 15 June 2022
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.
Since 2009, miniDSP has developed a plethora of audio products relating to its namesake technology. The company’s current offerings include the UMIK line of measurement microphones, digital room correction systems, active crossovers, and many other DSP platforms for audio applications. Hong Kong–based miniDSP’s products are relatively inexpensive and are known for their excellent value. The subject of this review, the SHD Power, is the company’s most expensive product at $1549 (all prices in USD), but it is the least-expensive streaming integrated amplifier-DAC I know of that incorporates Dirac Live room correction.
Monitor Audio's 50th Birthday Celebrates the Ordinary and the Extraordinary
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: Monthly Column Monthly Column
- Created: 01 June 2022 01 June 2022
At the end of last month’s article, “The Best of Montreal Audiofest 2022,” I wrote that I would highlight my picks for the standout products at High End 2022 for this month’s column. We had a team of four at the show—held from May 19 to 22 in Munich, Germany—to produce coverage for our SoundStage! Global site, which we put online as the show was happening. I decided to put my picks on hold, however, because I felt that what Monitor Audio displayed in Munich had to take precedence.
Atoll Electronique IN200 Signature Integrated Amplifier
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- Written by Dan Kong Dan Kong
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 01 June 2022 01 June 2022
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.
Atoll Electronique was founded in France in 1997 by brothers Stéphane and Emmanuel Dubreuil, with the goal of producing “reasonably priced true high-end audio electronics” for the audiophile market. Atoll manufactures preamps, power amps, integrated amps, DACs, CD players, and music streamers. Unlike many other audio manufacturers today, Atoll has been steadfast in upholding the ideas of hand-crafting its wares in-house and sourcing parts nationally (80% of parts are made in France). What isn’t sourced in France comes from the EU, except for some specialty and custom-made parts. All Atoll products use discrete components that are hand soldered and tested throughout each phase of production; assembled products are rigorously tested before being declared ready to ship.
Recommended Reference Component: Simaudio Moon 310LP Phono Preamplifier
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 01 June 2022 01 June 2022
Simaudio’s Moon 310LP phono preamplifier has been on the market for more than ten years—it was introduced in 2010 in a smaller case than you see today, then updated in 2016 to its current form with some improvements to the circuitry and a new look. Like all of the Canadian company’s products, the 310LP is made in-house in Boucherville, Quebec.
Simaudio Moon Voice 22 Loudspeakers
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- Written by Douglas Schneider Douglas Schneider
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 15 May 2022 15 May 2022
Note: measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada's National Research Council can be found through this link.
Simaudio was established more than 40 years ago as an electronics manufacturer. Today, employing more than 60 people in its facility in Boucherville, Quebec, the Canadian company is best known for producing preamplifiers, power amplifiers, integrated amplifiers, and phono preamplifiers sold worldwide under the Moon brand name. Earlier this month, the company surprised everyone by announcing that it would enter the loudspeaker market—a bold move, because that’s a tough nut to crack, even for an established brand, since there are already so many speaker manufacturers the world over. But there’s a legit reason for the move—the people at Simaudio felt that the company simply had to enter the segment with a speaker to mate with a product they call ACE, which was introduced about five years ago and currently sells for $4200 (all prices in USD).
The Best of Montreal Audiofest 2022
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: Monthly Column Monthly Column
- Created: 01 May 2022 01 May 2022
As Gomer Pyle used to say: “Surprise, surprise, surprise.”
That’s what I wanted to say after Montreal Audiofest 2022 wrapped up on March 27. From what I could glean while covering the show for our SoundStage! Global site, the three-day hi-fi show had about 60% of the exhibitors it had had in 2019—the last show before the pandemic shut it down. That drop in exhibitors didn’t surprise me because no one expected that manufacturers, distributors, and retailers would be clamoring to display at hi-fi shows. Many of them have had great sales over the last two years without trade shows. Yes, the pandemic lockdowns were, on the whole, beneficial to hi-fi.
Sumiko Reference Celebration 40 Moving-Coil Phono Cartridge
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- Written by Jason Thorpe Jason Thorpe
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 01 May 2022 01 May 2022
My analog life can be divided into three acts. Scene 1, Act I, circa 1976, began at Christmas when I received a Juliette all-in-one audio system, with a record changer on top and an 8-track player built into the front panel. The Juliette became landfill a few years later, but I still have my first record—Lighthouse’s 20 Great Hits on K-tel.
