Amplifiers
Hi guys, what’s up? I know it’s been a while, I kind of missed you all & you probably didn’t but that’s ok, I’ve been busy with all kinds of stuff, I’ve been traveling a little, I’ve been sick a little, but all that is gone now, so I’m back to writing and filming these videos. I wanted to kick …
I have arrived at the end of the road with personal audio, building a marvelous sounding head-fi battle station, that compels me to discover new experiences on a daily basis. Audiophilia Nervosa is long behind me and finally, I can rest carried away by the sound waves. That setup performs so well …
A story about humanity, love, and music.
In the Beginning, there was Nothing
On the historical January 3 and January 24 of 2004, the twin siblings Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars surface carrying humanity’s hopes and dreams, a big burden was put on their shoulders. To everyone’s …
My Video Review:
Today I won’t give you a formal review, but a story about what later became my end-game headphone amplifier, that’s flawed and perfect at the same time. If you are a returning visitor, then you know that headphone listening is equal as listening to loudspeakers to me. I love both …
My Video Review:
Looking closer at the head-fi market, I counted three big waves when it comes to amplifier designs. The first wave came somewhere in ~2018, when THX announced their Achromatic Audio Amplifier modules (THX-AAA for short), that revolutionized the headphone amplifier market as we …
My Video Review:
After trying every single integrated and power amplifier made by Burson Audio, from the very first Timekeeper released back in 2013, up their newest Timekeeper 3i Reference do-it-all wonder box, the only thing remaining to do…was opening an old dusty bottle of wine, reclining my …
My Video Review:
Mankind always had this urge to discover new places, new sensations, breaking boundaries and going beyond limits of formal ideas. My journey started around December 2021, when myself and a bunch of audioholics started a long trip during which we’ve met Rockna and Audiobyte team. …
My Video Review:
There’s a sneaky HiFi maker from China that always pushed the envelope of affordable HiFi year after year. There’s something that drags my attention to Topping and to their doings. Maybe it’s their no-BS approach to marketing, their straightforward user manuals that contain …
My Video Review:
Hey folks, today isn’t an ordinary day, oh no…it’s a day dedicated to enlightenment, to discovery, to purity of mind and soul, dedicated to a perfect equilibrium in everything that surrounds us. Owing to a specially tailored amplifier in all regards, starting with its working …
My Video Review:
Benchmark Media doesn’t need an introduction whatsoever, as their name implies - they’re committed to excellence. Besides bestowing world-class specifications, everything they make is backed-up by measurements produced by the world’s best audio analyzers. Luckily, Benchmark’s crew …
My Video Review:
They celebrate Christmas on the beaches, they high five kangaroos on their way to work, they avoid redback spiders as much as they avoid using op-amps in their creations and they call themselves Burson Audio. They are best known for Conductor and Timekeeper all-in-one series that …
My Video Review:
I still remember as if it was yesterday when HeadWize (the first headphone enthusiast forum) started offering a simple battery powered headphone amplifier DIY kit that I’ve purchased out of pure curiosity. I’ve soldered it myself, I’ve put the cMoy in a card board box and wrapped …
Soncoz Technology Co. Ltd. might look like a fresh and young company to you, but their lead engineers have years of practice, perfected in the digital and analog realms. After releasing several products under different brands, a time came for the big move that formed the Soncoz team as we know it …
Are those vacuum-tube loving chaps of xDuoo ever sleeping at night? Are they dreaming tube gear and make them happen by the day? We’ll never know that, but I know that xDuoo are one of those guys that aren’t walking the same path two years in a row. Last year, matte-black everything was their …
My Video Review:
Oh my, how time flies. I remember as it was yesterday when Burson Audio released their first power amplifier somewhere at the end of 2013 calling it the Timekeeper (such a fitting name), that we got to review on our sister website a decade ago. My daily driver at that time was a …
My Video Review:
Name the first grandiose and imposing thing that dictates your imagination. Contemplate in intimacy the detail that seduced your thoughts in a journey across continents and oceans. If among the symbols of timeless grandiloquence, you have listed the Colossus of Rhodes, the Great …
My Video Review:
The golden trinity of the East might be competing for the best D/A converters and headphone amplifiers at less than one grand, but when it comes to integrated and power amplifiers, SMSL Audio is the undisputed and uncontested champion. They already have 13 speaker amplifiers of …
My Video Review:
It’s that time of the year when Topping goes all-in, making sure it wouldn’t be outgunned anytime soon. After releasing three Nested Feedback Composite Amplifiers (NFCA for short) by now, you would think they would rest on Laurus Nobilis? Think twice, they are just getting warmed …
My Video Review:
Singxer Electronic Co Ltd. is a mysterious audio manufacturer for me, they have done ODM and OEM work for third party companies for more than a decade now. They started slow and small, but they learned fast, they did their homework so well, that in fact the second generation XMOS …
My Video Review:
The most controversial review I ever wrote was for the Musician Pegasus R2R DAC. I didn’t know too much about them at that time, only that they had more than 20 years of experience under their belts in the digital and analog audio domains and that was enough for me to understand …
My Video Review:
I always loved the way Burson Audio was approaching analog designs. Instead of waging wars with its competition on lower distortion numbers and on higher signal-to-noise ratios, the simplest things were more important to them. Above some numbers appearing on the screen of an audio …
My Video Review:
With the introduction of SP200, SMSL embraced the THX-AAA hype train that everybody was talking around the block. Finally, there was a serious contender in town for the overrated Drop THX-789 and as my comprehensive comparison of the THX-es proved, in some ways it even outclassed …
My Video Review:
How Topping is even operating in times like these, it’s a big mystery to me. I know several audio manufacturers from Europe that are not accepting orders anymore, just because their factories are barely working due to Covid-19 lockdown, yet Topping is releasing several new DACs …
My Video Review:
Ever since publishing my Benchmark HPA4 review last year, I couldn’t sleep at night because of the huge differences between it and the second-best headphone amplifier I’ve tried before it. One month later, I smashed my piggie banks and killed my wallet for good, by purchasing an …
My Video Review:
I was given the privilege of reviewing the Keces S125 power amplifier some time ago, that in time become my daily driver work horse. Anything else I had before it felt muddy, raw and unpolished. It grown on me with its clean nature and although S125 isn’t a heavy lifter and …