Scope
The SoundStage! Network has been presenting Product of the Year awards annually for almost 30 years. As always, selection of the 2024 award recipients has been based on product reviews published during the year on our core group of audio-review websites: SoundStage! Hi-Fi, SoundStage! Access, SoundStage! Ultra, SoundStage! Simplifi, and SoundStage! Solo. Winning products were chosen from among those that received a Reviewers’ Choice award at the time the review was published.
In 2022 we added an Outstanding Achievement category to our annual awards to express our recognition, each year, of three individuals who have made significant contributions to the hi-fi industry.
Our affiliated international website, SoundStage! Australia, presents its own Product of the Year awards, culled from product reviews published there. A listing of the Australian awards similar to the one presented here can be found on SoundStage! Australia.
To give greater prominence to our awards, we recruited award-winning singer Dominique Fils-Aimé in 2023 to announce the winning recipients on our YouTube channel. The awards were made public on this website simultaneously. It was the first year we produced such a video. We are honored to have another award-winning singer, Kellylee Evans, present this year’s awards, listed below, in a new video.
Product categories
Product of the Year awards are given in three main categories: Distinction, Outstanding Performance, and Exceptional Value. The Distinction category is divided into four subcategories: Hall of Fame, Pioneering Design Achievement, Innovation in Design, and Aesthetics and Sound.
The Distinction award in the Hall of Fame subcategory honors established, venerable products that have been on the market for many years, possibly through multiple generations. The Pioneering Design Achievement award recognizes pivotal technological advancements or the introduction of significant new features. The innovation in Design award acknowledges unique design elements or important innovative features. The Aesthetics and Sound award applauds exceptional appearance and sound.
A Distinction award in any subcategory may be given to multiple products in any year. Our core group of websites selected a single product this year for each of the four Distinction subcategories; SoundStage! Australia cited both the Estelon Aura loudspeaker and the Gryphon Audio Designs Diablo 333 integrated amplifier for the Distinction award in Aesthetics and Sound.
Outstanding Performance awards are presented to products of exceptional sound quality irrespective of cost. Excellent sound is also a selection criterion for the Exceptional Value awards, but cost is too. Not surprisingly, products in the Outstanding Performance category are typically more expensive than those in the Exceptional Value one.
The Outstanding Performance and Exceptional Value categories are specific to product type. Typically, however, awards in these categories are not given to products of every type. None was given to any power conditioner this year, nor to any cables, for example. If no product in any given type is thought to merit a Product of the Year award, that type is not represented in our awards roster for that year.
Award-winning products are listed below with a price in US dollars (except when noted), a link to the product review, and a short excerpt from the review that encapsulates the main reasons the product was deemed award-worthy.
And now to our Product of the Year winners for 2024.
Outstanding Achievement awards
Scott Bagby
Scott Bagby is the co-owner of speaker maker MartinLogan and electronics maker Anthem, but the brand he is mostly associated with is Paradigm Electronics, which he founded with Jerry VanderMarel in 1982 near Toronto. In 1998 Paradigm acquired Sonic Frontiers, a Canadian audio electronics manufacturer, and its subsidiary brand Anthem. Later, the two coalesced under the Anthem brand name.
Bagby and VanderMarel had a successful 23-year run with Paradigm, during which time Paradigm became one of the largest and most respected speaker makers in the world. But in 2005, VanderMarel decided it was time to move on. Bagby then brought in a Minneapolis-based private equity firm, ShoreView Industries, which acquired a majority stake in Paradigm, while he himself stayed on as a minority partner. That same year, ShoreView acquired another distinguished speaker brand, MartinLogan, and then shifted production to Paradigm’s facilities in Mississauga, Ontario. Bagby’s partnership with ShoreView lasted until 2019 when, in a surprise move, he and his son John bought out ShoreView’s stake and became the sole owners of Paradigm, Anthem, and MartinLogan. The two still run the three brands to this day.
Owning and running three successful high-profile brands is praiseworthy in itself. But in launching and building Paradigm and then boldly taking over the company to ensure its continuing success, Bagby has demonstrated a sustained entrepreneurial drive that is truly an outstanding achievement.
Sandy Gross
Sandy Gross is another hi-fi serial entrepreneur, one who has focused exclusively on loudspeakers. In 1972, Sandy Gross, along with Matthew Polk and George Klopfer, founded Polk Audio, which became one of the most famous and successful American loudspeaker companies of all time. In 1988 Gross left Polk Audio and two years later joined Don Givogue and Ed Blaise to form Definitive Technology, which also became a loudspeaker juggernaut, best known for its popular bipolar loudspeaker systems. Today, both Polk Audio and Definitive Technology are part of the Sound United group, which is owned by Masimo Corporation. Gross’s final hi-fi enterprise was to cofound GoldenEar Technology, in 2010, together with Anne Conaway and Don Givogue. GoldenEar, too, achieved considerable success. It was ultimately sold to The Quest Group in 2020, which marked the beginning of Gross’s well-deserved retirement.
Starting and building a viable hi-fi brand is a tricky undertaking to pull off. Doing it thrice is laudable. For his significant role in the founding of three high-profile loudspeaker brands that attained enviable success and for making great sound available to music lovers for nearly five decades, Sandy Gross is most deserving of our Outstanding Achievement award.
Vince Bruzzese
For the past 25 years I’ve been visiting hi-fi companies to find out what makes them tick—what the secret to their success is. In the case of Totem Acoustic, which was founded in Montreal in 1987, much of the company’s success is owed directly to its founder, Vince Bruzzese.
As a young high-school math teacher with a passion for music, Bruzzese was searching for a loudspeaker agreeable to his discriminating ear. Unable to find one, he set out to build his own. The result was a compact monitor he called Model One. Before long, the exceptional sound quality of this small speaker became widely known, and Totem Acoustic was born, with Bruzzese at its helm, now a fulltime loudspeaker designer. Dozens of successful speaker models followed, establishing Totem Acoustic as a highly regarded brand. Bruzzese is involved in the design of every Totem Acoustic loudspeaker to this day and plays a role in marketing too: he hasn’t lost his knack for teaching and is often seen at hi-fi shows and stores demonstrating his loudspeakers and explaining how they work. Bruzzese’s reaching out personally to prospective buyers with his fantastic designs has earned the company legions of admirers.
Foreseeing the company’s continuing growth, Bruzzese moved Totem Acoustic to a large new building in 2001, where many of the products have since been assembled and where management and the administrative staff have been based. The building has an impressive facade; I asked about its design on one of my visits. “The building is a reflection of the people who work here and the products we make,” Totem’s VP Lucy Lentini told me proudly. It also reflects the success Totem Acoustic has enjoyed for nearly four decades, which can be credited to Bruzzese’s initiative and design skills and, in no small part, to his business acumen—success worthy of an award.
Distinction awards
Hall of Fame
Bowers & Wilkins 801 D4 Signature loudspeaker, Jason Thorpe (SoundStage! Ultra, December 2024): “I expected that the 801 Signature would be an excellent speaker—Bowers & Wilkins has been at this a long time and has copious resources—but I had no idea it would be this good.”
Price: $55,000/pair
Pioneering Design Achievement
NAD Masters M66 streaming preamplifier, Roger Kanno (SoundStage! Hi-Fi, September 2024): “I cannot think of another product at a comparable price that comes close to the M66 in performance and flexibility, let alone one that surpasses it and is more deserving of my recommendation.”
Price: $5499
Innovation in Design
Pro-ject Audio Systems XA B turntable and Pick it Pro balanced cartridge, Philip Beaudette (SoundStage! Hi-Fi, November 2024): “Although its clean, neutral demeanor embodies Pro-Ject’s house sound, it’s the XA B’s intriguing design that sets it apart from those other models.”
Price: $1499
Aesthetics and Sound
Sonus Faber Sonetto V G2 loudspeaker, Doug Schneider (SoundStage! Hi-Fi, November 2024): “Sonus Faber has crafted a high-value winning combination of looks and sound in the Sonetto V, one I could happily live with.”
Price: $6499/pair
Outstanding Performance awards
DALI Epikore 11 loudspeaker, Jason Thorpe (SoundStage! Ultra, March 2024): “The Epikore 11 is so highly recommended it’s just not funny.”
Price: $60,000/pair
Bryston Model T10 loudspeaker, Philip Beaudette (SoundStage! Hi-Fi, October 2024): “I’ve never heard a pair of speakers as large as Bryston’s new Model T10s in my listening room, and the experience was revelatory.”
Price: $18,000/pair
Buchardt Audio Anniversary 10 active loudspeaker system, Gordon Brockhouse (SoundStage! Simplifi, February 2024): “In short, Buchardt Audio’s Anniversary 10 active loudspeaker is a stellar performer. Highly recommended.”
Price: €3800 to €4150/pair, depending on finish
Chord Electronics Ultima integrated amplifier, George de Sa (SoundStage! Hi-Fi, July 2024): “No one amplifier can be everything to everyone, but the Chord Ultima Integrated is nothing less than sublime.”
Price: $11,250
Lyngdorf Audio MXA-8400 multichannel amplifier, Roger Kanno (SoundStage! Hi-Fi, June 2024): “Whether it was in bridged or two-channel mode, and whether or not the ARC Genesis room correction was engaged on the Anthem STR preamplifier, the Lyngdorf MXA-8400 continually impressed me with its exemplary combination of power, transparency, and musicality.”
Price: $8999
Simaudio Moon 891 streaming preamplifier, Aron Garrecht (SoundStage! Ultra, October 2024): “The Moon 891 was designed to replace such products while costing thousands less, saving space, and reducing cable count and component clutter. When measured using those metrics, Simaudio’s Moon 891 streaming preamplifier is a triumph.”
Price: $25,000
Naim Audio NSS 333 streaming DAC, Jonathan Gorse (SoundStage! Ultra, March 2024): “Naim Audio has knocked it out of the park with the NSS 333. It’s one of the most beautiful and musically involving streamers ever made.”
Price: $10,999
European Audio Team Fortissimo S turntable and F-Note tonearm, Jason Thorpe (SoundStage! Ultra, November 2024): “The Fortissimo S checks all my boxes and gets my highest recommendation.”
Price: $13,800
Audio-Technica AT-ART20 moving-coil cartridge, Jonathan Gorse (SoundStage! Ultra, May 2024): “Music is the shorthand of emotion, and the ART20 is masterful at portraying the emotional intent of the musician.”
Price: $2900
Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro MkII headphones, Geoffrey Morrison (SoundStage! Solo, December 2024): “I loved the DT 1990 Pro MkIIs. … I’ve given them one of the highest ratings of any pair of headphones I’ve reviewed for SoundStage! Solo.”
Price: $599.99
Keith Monks Prodigy Plus record-cleaning machine, Jonathan Gorse (SoundStage! Ultra, November 2024): “All told, the Prodigy Plus is an outstanding record-cleaning machine. In fact, it’s so good that I purchased the sample unit I received for this review.”
Price: $1495
Exceptional Value awards
Arendal Sound 1528 Tower 8 loudspeaker, Doug Schneider (SoundStage! Hi-Fi, December 2024): “The Arendal 1528 Tower 8 is an outstanding loudspeaker with exceptional styling and build quality, capable of delivering clear, dynamic, spacious, full-range sound that reveals every detail in a recording. At its price, it represents an extraordinary value.”
Price: $9500/pair
PSB Imagine B50 loudspeaker, Dennis Burger (SoundStage! Access, April 2024): “The B50 isn’t perfect (and how could it be for this price?), but it does all of the things that matter most—good dispersion, good sound power across the listening window, neutral midrange—incredibly well.”
Price: $699/pair
Dayton Audio HTA200 streaming integrated amplifier, Dennis Burger (SoundStage! Access, March 2024) “Dayton Audio knocked it out of the park with this one, and it’s time for all of us to take this company more seriously as a legitimate force in the audiophile marketplace.”
Price: $349.98
Marantz Model 50 integrated amplifier, Dennis Burger (SoundStage! Access, May 2024): “But as I’ve said before, when a piece of gear gets out of the way and delivers my music without editorializing, and provides enough current and a sufficient damping factor, the resulting sound can feel like magic. And the Model 50 delivered uncountable magical moments during my time with it.”
Price: $1800
Eversolo Audio DMP-A8 streaming preamplifier, Roger Kanno (SoundStage! Simplifi, November 2024): “For all that it offers, its price is almost unbelievably low, and listening to such a well-executed and high-value streaming preamplifier was always enjoyable.”
Price: $1980
Marantz CD 50n CD player, Dennis Burger (SoundStage! Simplifi, April 2024): “Long story short, if you want physical CD playback along with HEOS streaming, Bluetooth connectivity, AirPlay 2, et cetera, and you want your gear stack to look this saucy, the CD 50n and Model 50 combo is super-compelling.”
Price: $1800
Roon Labs Nucleus One music server, Gordon Brockhouse (SoundStage! Simplifi, April 2024): “In the past, I’ve preferred using a general-purpose computer as a Roon server, mainly because I found the cost of purpose-built products excessive. But thanks to its attractive price, ease of setup and operation, and solid performance, the Nucleus One has upended that thinking.”
Price: $499.99
Dayton Audio TT-1 turntable with Audio-Technica AT-VM95E cartridge, Thom Moon (SoundStage! Access, April 2024): “If I were advising someone who wanted to add a capable but economical turntable to their system, the TT-1 would be at the top of my suggestions list. Its performance-to-price ratio is simply astounding.”
Price: $249.98
Schiit Audio Magni headphone amplifier–DAC, Geoffrey Morrison (SoundStage! Solo, February 2024): “It’s small but sounds big. It’s inexpensive but performs expensively.”
Price: $189 (in black)
From 2024 to 2025
Our 2024 awards are now complete, but the 2025 product-review year is just over two weeks away, and we already have plenty of equipment lined up to assess. In a year’s time, we’ll be announcing the next group of award-winning products we will have selected for their distinction, outstanding performance, or exceptional value, as well as three more award-worthy individuals, selected in recognition of their outstanding achievements in the hi-fi sphere.
For now, congratulations to all the 2024 winners, and here’s looking to 2025!
. . . Doug Schneider
das@soundstage.com
