Prism Sound Callia DAC Review
The Prism Sound Callia brings professional engineering to HiFi in a big way. The Callia has a solid set of features, bulletproof build quality and exceptional sound.
The Prism Sound Callia brings professional engineering to HiFi in a big way. The Callia has a solid set of features, bulletproof build quality and exceptional sound.
The HIFIMAN RE-800 IEMs are some of the best headphones I’ve ever listened to. They have the laser sharp focus, detail and resolution only a single driver headphone can deliver, but has bass performance that shames many multi driver IEMs.
PrismSound is a UK based digital audio manufacturer known best for their professional recording hardware used in recording studios around the world.
The Pass Labs INT-250 may just be the best integrated amplifier in the world. If you’re an audiophile who wants the best, but also wants a simple...
HiFiMan has become one of the most well regarded makers of headphones around. Their products, designed by Dr. Fan Bian, are sold both manufacturer direct and by resellers around the world.
The OPPO Sonica DAC is a state of the art, fully balanced DAC using Sabre’s top of the line 32 bit DAC chipset, implemented with excellent...
The Rogue RP-1 is a superb value, providing everything you need in a stereo preamplifier and nothing you don’t. This is a superbly designed, excellent sounding preamplifier that doesn’t have a thing wrong with it.
The Pass Labs XA30.8 is a seemingly “low power” amplifier that one of the most uncompromised, cost no object amplifiers ever made at its power output level. It offers stupendous performance that the 30 WPC specification cannot hope to describe.
The Rotel RC-1590 preamp and RB-1590 power amplifier are at the peak of the price-performance curve for stereo hifi separates. They offer excellent sound quality, loads of features, power to drive almost any loudspeaker in almost any room, all for a (relatively) modest price.
In this review, we take a look at a collection of portable headphone DAC/Amps, compatible with iOS devices: the Apogee One, CEntrance Mini-M8, Oppo HA-2 and V-MODA Vamp Verza. Every one of these products sounds dramatically better than my iPhone 5S by itself.
Class D (i.e., "Switching") amplifiers have been around for quite a while now. What's clear from models produced so far is they all sound different, even when using the same core technology. Like many amplifiers of the type, the NewClear NC1000L uses the Bang and Olufsen ICEPower module. What makes the NC1000L different isn't this module; it's how that module is implemented. NewClear Audio was started by Sean Brady to improve upon the sound of existing switching amplifiers. Sean had heard some very good amps based on ICEPower technology, but thought he could do even better. The question is, does the NC1000L deliver the goods compared to similarly priced, traditional Class A/B amplifiers?
Schiit Audio is an irreverent company that builds high quality electronics for headphone listeners entirely made in the USA. The Asgard 2 and Bifrost are Schiit's most popular headphone amp and DAC, and they sound and look far more expensive than they are.
If you've read any of my reviews before, you know I am a fan of Anthony Gallo Acoustics loudspeakers. I reviewed the original Strada loudspeaker and TR-3 subwoofer in 2010 and was so impressed I almost bought them. The only reason I didn't was because I knew the Reference 3.5 was coming. Those? I bought those, and they are still my reference loudspeaker (however, the 3.5 will be discontinued soon). Gallo claims the new Strada 2 loudspeakers are even better than the original Strada, and the TR-3D is an improvement over then TR3. Both new speakers use almost identical technology to that of the Reference 3.5. Another salvo by Gallo has leveled the paying field between the new Strada 2 and the Reference 3.5s even more. The price of the Strada 2 and TR-3D is identical to the earlier models. The complete system cost with stands weighs in at $4,417 (which includes two TR-3D subs). This used to be a lot cheaper than the $5,995 Reference 3.5. Gallo recently reduced the price of the Reference 3.5 to $3,995, plus an additional $749 for the amp. Now, the price of the two systems is almost identical, within less than $400. The question is, which is better? We will see.
Sennheiser is a very well known name in the headphone game. My first good headphones, and the center of my first high end audio system, were the Sennheiser HD580s I had in college. The company has always been known for high quality over the ear headphone, but they also make In Ear Headphones, a.k.a., Earbuds, and that is what we review here, namely the Sennheiser's IE60.
Chris Groppi is a radio astronomer and electrical engineer working as an assistant professor at Arizona State University. He received his Bachelor's degree in astronomy from Cornell University in 1997, and his Ph.D. in astronomy with a concentration in electrical engineering from the University of Arizona in 2003. He studies how stars and planets form, and designs and builds millimeter-wave and terahertz receivers for radio telescopes. He became interested in HiFi during high school the first time he listened to a real high-end system (B&W 801s with Mark Levinson electronics). His first system in college was a Headroom headphone amplifier powering Sennheiser HD 580s, and graduated to a real HiFi system in graduate school. His first love has always been 2-channel audio, although his current system has added home theater capability.