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Budget Component Reviews Digital Processor Reviews

LAiV Harmony µDAC D/A processor

Herb Reichert Dec 10, 2025

Today I'll be describing an "acorn" DAC, the least-expensive yet. LAiV Audio's new µDAC is small, costs just $994 ($1049 as of January 1 2026), and is dancing at the same party as the high-intensity, high-priced DACs. It offers listeners a unique perspective on what quality digital can sound like.

Spin Doctor Turntable Reviews

Spin Doctor #31: Turntable Drive Systems & the Garrard 301 Advanced

Michael Trei Dec 09, 2025

While I was coming to grips with this month's review subject, the idler drive Garrard 301 Advanced, I began to think about the various methods that have been used to spin turntable platters over the years. Since the transition a century ago from wind-up clockwork to electric motors, there have basically been three ways to spin a turntable platter...

Aural Robert

High Moon Records reissues Lotti Golden's Motor-Cycle

Robert Baird Dec 08, 2025

Her life became a whirlwind. Taking the train in from Brooklyn to Manhattan to pitch songs and experience the East Village scene, she landed a song-publishing deal at age 14. In 1968, at 18, after a chance meeting in an elevator, a legendary songwriter/record producer was interested in assisting her in making her debut album.

News

Icons and innovators at Definitive Audio

Jason Victor Serinus Dec 04, 2025

Definitive Audio of Bellevue, Washington (near Seattle), one of the premier dealerships in the Pacific Northwest, continued its 50th anniversary celebration with a September event it called "Icons and Innovators." Highlighted by showings of the new JBL Everest series and Bowers & Wilkins Nautilus and 801 Abbey Road edition loudspeakers, the event drew a full house to the first of two sessions on the afternoon of September 18.

News

A new high-end audio showcase in Justin Bieber's hometown

Robert Schryer Dec 04, 2025

What's better than attending one audio event? Attending three. Well, not exactly three—more like two spread across three locations, tied together by one company: importer-distributor American Sound of Canada, which is based in Greater Toronto.

Brilliant Corners Stand and Rack Reviews Tube Power Amp Reviews

Brilliant Corners #33: Ampsandsound Mogwai SE, Townshend Seismic Isolation Products

Alex Halberstadt Dec 04, 2025

"None of the amps I build are better than the others," Justin Weber of Ampsandsound told me not long after we met. "They are just different." I may have smirked inwardly. According to his company's website, Weber makes no fewer than 23 amplifier models, ranging from the $2700 Kenzie OG to the $38,000 Arch Monos. Are they really all equally good?, I wondered.

My Back Pages

36 Sides of Late David Bowie

Phil Brett Dec 03, 2025

I Can't Give Everything Away is the sixth and last of the Bowie box sets that survey specific periods in the artist's career. The first was Five Years 1969–1973, released in September 2015. That was followed by Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976), A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982), Loving the Alien (1983–1988), and Brilliant Adventure (1992–2001).

Capital AudioFest 2025

Volti Audio's revised Vittora with WiiM Ultra, Cary SLI-80, Mojo Mystique Z, Triode Wire Labs

Ken Micallef Dec 02, 2025

My fondness for Greg Roberts's Volti Audio loudspeakers has been documented in reviews of the company's Rival and Lucera speakers.

Music and Recording Features Sound Chaser

Sound Chaser #4: John McLaughlin, Life in the Emerald Beyond

Mike Mettler Dec 02, 2025

If you find yourself in Monaco on a Sunday night, make your way to La Note Bleue, a rant and music bar on the beach by the Avenue Princesse Grace. There, you're likely to find a legendary world/fusion guitarist sitting in with a group of young jazz musicians eager to cut heads with the acknowledged maestro of inner awareness and otherworldly spirits.

Capital AudioFest 2025

SVS and Orchard Audio bring Ultra Evolution loudspeakers and Starkrimson power

Mark Henninger Dec 01, 2025

SVS Sound's Larry McGough and Orchard Audio's Joyanto (Joe) Goswami and Leonid (Leo) Ayzenshtat were at Capital Audiofest (CAF) to show several SVS-supported systems.