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Analog Sources: Linn LP12 Valhalla turntable, SME M2-9 tonearm, Dynavector DV20X2L cartridge; Roksan Radius 7 turntable & tonearm & Corus Silver cartridge; Rega Research Planar 3 turntable & RB330 tonearm & Elys 2 cartridge.
Digital Sources: Integra DPPS-7.2 DVD-Audio player, Schiit Audio Yggdrasil DAC.
Preamplification: Dynavector P75 Mk.3, Lounge Audio LCR Mk.III RIAA, Parasound Halo JC 3+ phono preamplifiers; Bob's Devices CineMag 1131, Dynavector SUP-200, Lounge Audio Copla step-up transformers.
Power Amplifiers: First Watt…

I performed a full set of measurements on the Pass Laboratories INT-60 using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It"). I preconditioned the amplifier by running it with both channels driven at one-third power into 8 ohms for 60 minutes. This is, thermally, the worst situation for an amplifier with a class-B or -AB output stage, as one-third power is when the output transistors dissipate the most heat. At the end of the hour, the highest temperature on the side-mounted heatsinks was 114.7°F (45.9°C), and that on the top panel, which…

I wished for more choices: choices with less money behind them, choices I wasn't merely expected to make, alternative choices that stood a chance of winning.

I wished for a better sense of the world around me: Why hadn't I strayed outside my comfort zone a little more often? Why hadn't I tried harder to listen as others do?

Most of all, and simplest of all, I wished for more time: Damn it all, I'm too busy! Why can't I have another month to make up my mind?

But no. John Atkinson was insistent: "Please don't abstain…

Wilson Audio Specialties Sabrina ($15,900/pair; reviewed by Robert Deutsch, May 2016, Vol.39 No.5 Review) The accordance of such an honor to a Wilson Audio loudspeaker may not be a shock on the order of seeing Ned Stark get his head lopped off at the end of season one of Game of Thrones, but this well-deserved win by the company's new floorstander is nonetheless noteworthy: at $15,900/pair, the three-way Sabrina is now the company's entry-level loudspeaker; adjusted for inflation, it is perhaps Wilson's most affordable speaker ever—and I can think of at least a…

First Watt J2 power amplifier ($4000; reviewed by Herb Reichert, October 2016, Vol.39 No.10 Review) This is the first time in memory that a distinctly low-power (25Wpc) amplifier has taken top honors, or even placed, in our Product of the Year voting. That the amp in question is also solid-state makes the choice all the more remarkable; and that it sells for a reasonable price—relative, that is, to the prices of most similarly distinguished, perfectionist-quality power amplifiers—is cause for jubilation. Designed by Nelson Pass and produced by the…

Lyra Etna SL phono cartridge ($9995; reviewed by Michael Fremer, July 2016, Vol.39 No.7) There are revolutionary products and there are evolutionary products, and this year's Analog Product of the Year would seem to be one of the latter: the Lyra Etna SL cartridge is, as of now, the culmination of designer Jonathan Carr's multi-decade effort to advance the art of phono transduction. Essentially a low-output (0.25mV) version of the already well-regarded Etna, the SL is wound with fewer turns of wire, resulting in lower moving mass and contributing to what…

AudioQuest DragonFly Red & Black D/A headphone amplifiers ($199 & $99; reviewed by Art Dudley, September 2016, Vol.39 No.9 Review) Like our Analog Product of the Year, AudioQuest's two new DragonFly DACs are evolutionary—which is forgivable, given the originality, even audacity, of the first DragonFly, our Computer Audio Product of the Year for 2012. This year's models are no bigger but are considerably more sophisticated—both have new microcontrollers and new DAC chips, and both use less power—while the Red has higher output voltage and the…

Audeze LCD-4 headphones ($3995; reviewed by John Atkinson, July 2016, Vol.39 No.7 Review)
AudioQuest Niagara 7000 Low-Z Power Noise-Dissipation System ($7995; reviewed by Michael Fremer, February 2016, Vol.39 No.2 Review) We finally come to one of only two ties for first place in 2016: between an expensive pair of headphones and a no-less-expensive power conditioner.

Are the Audeze LCD-4s the best headphones you can buy? In his review, John Atkinson came close to saying just that, describing them as "the best-sounding headphones I've heard in…

AudioQuest DragonFly Red & Black D/A headphone amplifiers
Elac Debut B6 loudspeaker
Perhaps the nicest thing about this tie for 2016 Budget Product of the Year is that one can easily imagine the Elac Debut B6 speakers and either of AudioQuest's new DragonFly DACs in the same system. No less nice is the fact that you could buy both—assuming even the costlier DragonFly Red—and still get change from a $500 bill, if such things still existed.

While we're handing out laurel wreaths, let's not forget that AudioQuest has, in the…

Wilson Audio Specialties Sabrina loudspeaker
The Wilson Audio Sabrina impressed RD with its seriously good bass, its ability to create a soundstage that's "wide and deep, with images on it precisely defined," and its ability to sound far larger than it is—and impressed the rest of us for offering Wilsonian levels of quality at a price that, while not exactly cheap, is a lot more affordable than we might have expected. That the entry-level Sabrina can travel via UPS instead of freight truck is icing on an already very nice cake.

Notes on the…