The Latest Features
September Speaker Week in Denmark—DALI, Treble Clef Audio, and Radiant Acoustics
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: Monthly Column Monthly Column
- Created: 01 October 2024 01 October 2024
Denmark—a hi-fi-dense country
For a country one-fifth the size of the UK and a population just shy of six million, Denmark has an astonishing number of hi-fi companies and brands: Bang & Olufsen, Buchardt Audio, DALI, Dynaudio, Gato Audio, Gryphon Audio Designs, Lyngdorf Audio, Ortofon, Raidho Acoustics, Steinway Lyngdorf, System Audio, Vitus Audio, and others. I’d bet Denmark has the highest number of hi-fi companies per capita of any country in the world.
Bryston Model T10 Loudspeaker
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- Written by Philip Beaudette Philip Beaudette
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 01 October 2024 01 October 2024
Canadian hi-fi stalwart Bryston doesn’t sit still. Known for decades as a manufacturer of robust analog amplification, they got into digital audio approximately 20 years ago, eventually offering a full suite of digital front-end gear. Soon they had launched their first loudspeaker, the Model T, which Aron Garrecht reviewed for SoundStage! Hi-Fi in 2013. Within three years, Bryston had added a turntable to their catalog (sourced from Italy’s Gold Note, and since withdrawn) to complement their upgraded phono stages. Presently, they’re on the cusp of introducing a line of digital amplifiers.
Monitor Audio Gold 300 6G Loudspeaker
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- Written by George de Sa George de Sa
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 15 September 2024 15 September 2024
Note: measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada's National Research Council can be found through this link.
From modest beginnings in 1972, loudspeaker manufacturer Monitor Audio, founded in Teversham, England, by Mo Iqbal, has grown immensely in size and technical expertise. In 2023, on the heels of the company’s 50th anniversary, Monitor Audio launched a no-holds-barred, ultra-high-end loudspeaker, the Hyphn, describing it as “the most creatively ambitious, technically advanced, and powerful loudspeaker in the company’s history.” Of course, loudspeakers like the Hyphn are unattainable for most and are not expected to be runaway commercial successes. But they do showcase the technological capability of a brand, and the technology incorporated in them tends to percolate down in time to the brand’s more mainstream offerings.
Recommended Reference Component: NAD Masters M66 Streaming Preamplifier
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 15 September 2024 15 September 2024
Last month, Roger Kanno’s review of the NAD Masters M66 streaming preamplifier appeared on this site. In his review, Roger notes that the M66 was meant to be a companion to the Masters 23 stereo/mono amplifier, which he reviewed in March of last year, pointing out that it complements the M23 in both aesthetics and performance. The M66 and M23 are respectively priced at $5499 and $3749 (all prices in USD).
Still Think Computer-Based Audio is Tough to Set Up? Try a Turntable!
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: Monthly Column Monthly Column
- Created: 01 September 2024 01 September 2024
The vinyl long-play (LP) record has been around for a while. It debuted in mono form in 1948 and was adapted for stereo in 1957, but it hasn’t changed since; only the music has. By contrast, rapid technological advancement is a defining characteristic of digital music.
NAD Masters M66 Streaming Preamplifier
- Details
- Written by Roger Kanno Roger Kanno
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 01 September 2024 01 September 2024
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click here.
Since its inception in 2005, the NAD Masters Series range has been populated with the company’s finest audio components at relatively reasonable prices. The latest amplifiers in the series all utilize Purifi Audio’s Eigentakt technology and are widely considered some of the best performing amps for the price. The new Masters M66 streaming preamplifier is designed to complement NAD’s top-of-the-line stereo power amplifier, the M23, in both aesthetics and performance. It offers a scope of features rarely seen in this type of component at any price.
EISA’s Best Products of 2024–2025
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: 2024–2025 2024–2025
- Created: 14 August 2024 14 August 2024
EISA, the Expert Imaging and Sound Association, owes its origins to a collaboration between editors of five European photography magazines, in 1982, to designate a camera model as the best of that year. EISA has since broadened its purview to encompass several additional domains, spanning a wide range of consumer products: hi-fi, home-theater audio, home-theater display & video, in-car electronics, and mobile devices. As EISA continued to evolve, it has expanded geographically too, becoming a global group of approximately 60 member publications from nearly 30 countries.
Hegel Music Systems H400 Streaming Integrated Amplifier
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- Written by Philip Beaudette Philip Beaudette
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 15 August 2024 15 August 2024
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click here.
Last August, when I auditioned the Hegel H600 integrated amplifier, the Norwegian brand’s flagship model ($12,500, all prices in USD), I was in for a surprise. Over my 17 years as a SoundStage! reviewer, I’ve spent considerable time with solid-state class-AB integrated amplifiers and have formed some notions about their sound. I therefore approached the H600 with certain expectations. It didn’t take long for it to compel me to revise those notions and expectations. What set the H600 apart from other integrated amplifiers I had heard was the sheer effortlessness of its presentation, especially at high volumes. I normally listen to music at what I consider moderate volume; with the H600, because it was so easy on my ears, I found myself playing at higher and higher volume levels. It was a revelatory experience for me to hear what my system can sound like with the H600 as its backbone.
Recommended Reference Component: Lyngdorf Audio MXA-8400 Multichannel Amplifier
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 15 August 2024 15 August 2024
Most reviews on the SoundStage! Network concern two-channel components. From time to time, however, multichannel components of outstanding overall design and sound quality draw our attention, and we don’t shy away. Case in point: the Lyngdorf Audio MXA-8400 multichannel amplifier, which Roger Kanno reviewed on this site in June 2024. In the US, it sells for $8999.
In Defense of Doing Things the Wrong Way
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- Written by Matt Bonaccio Matt Bonaccio
- Category: Monthly Column Monthly Column
- Created: 01 August 2024 01 August 2024
In case you need more reasons to start following the SoundStage! YouTube channel, know that, occasionally, some of the vlog-type videos posted there can get pretty spicy. No, I don’t mean X-rated stuff; I’m talking about SoundStage! founder and publisher Doug Schneider’s July 8 Real Hi-Fi video in which he discusses the shortcomings of single-driver speakers. Putting it plainly, “they’re crap,” he says. To my amazement, of the 40 or 50 comment chains on that video (as of this writing), only 11 of them are people letting Doug know he’s an idiot and wrong about everything. Of those, I think only two used profanity, and no one used the caps-lock key. Bravo, internet! Faith in humanity restored!
