NAD C565BEE CD Player

I well remember the day I got my first NAD product back in the 70's. I have long since forgotten the model number, but it was a stereo receiver. I remember listening to it and thinking how great it sounded compare to the old Marantz it was replacing. I knew back then that moving up to the NAD meant that I was no longer just listening to tunes. I had moved up into the realm of being a lover of music, an audiophile.

OPPO BDP-83 Universal Blu-ray Player – Benchmark

There has been a lot of anticipation for OPPO Digital's brand new BDP-83 Blu-ray player. This is in part because OPPO has had an excellent track record for producing top notch affordable DVD players, such as the DV-983H (one of the only players in Secrets's history to score a perfect 100 on Secret's rigorous DVD Benchmark) and in part because the BDP-83 is the first Blu-ray player to hit the market offering the features to make it a truly all-in-one solution media solution for high definition playback. These include the ability to handle SACDs as a bitstream or PCM, and the ability to play DVD-Audio discs. The BDP-83 also decodes Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio internally, giving you the option of using the 7.1 analog pre-outs on the rear panel if you have an older receiver, or use the HDMI output to deliver these high resolution movie soundtracks to your receiver in digital form.

Sennheiser HD 238 Precision High Resolution Stereo Headphones

Let me start this review by getting a few things clear: I am not, or was not anyway, what I would consider a true audiophile. I also am not (or was not) much of a headphone user. All this changed when I got the chance to spend a couple months with the Sennheiser HD 238 Stereo Headphones. Have you ever had a toy or product that just made you giddy every time you got to use it, and you ended up loosing track of time because it was so enjoyable? The HD 238s have been that for me.

Integra DTR-8.9 7.1 A/V Receiver

Integra keeps putting out high-quality, value-priced products year after year. The company, which is the "high-end" of the Onkyo brand, sells primarily to custom installers and boutique A/V resellers rather than Internet and big-box stores. In this review, we examine the new DTR-8.9.

The Synergistic Research ACOUSTIC ART Real-Time Analogue Room Treatment

Vibratron, Gravitron, Magnetron, and Bass Station: the sci-fi names alone are enough to raise eyebrows. But when you add in the fantastic appearance of the resonating bowls, and the claims that they can tune your listening room and ameliorate most commonly encountered speaker-room interactions, it's hard not to think that someone is either toying with you or daring you to entertain a new paradigm of acoustic science.