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Beats by Dre have yet to make a pair of headphones that impress us. But how do they fare when they get a chance to boost the power, and try their hand at an actual speaker?

We flatter ourselves that we know most, if not all, of the audio industry players, and what they do. But we hadn’t heard of H2 Designs. They recently got in touch to ask if we’d like to try out their new MIYO audio interface.

Let’s talk about this new pair of Indian-made headphones. That itself is unusual enough. Headphones come from places like France and Germany and China (also sometimes the United States, if a company is feeling patriotic enough).

Beats by Dre are arguably the easiest brand to pick out of a crowd. The infamous “b” located on any earcup, bud, or case can be spotted from a mile away.

Very few audio designers are as accomplished as Aaron Fournier. After stints at Tivoli Audio and V-Moda, the Boston-based engineer started his own company, Thinksound, with the goal of making environmentally-friendly headphones that sounded fantastic.

Docking speakers have been around for nearly two decades now, having grown as a separate, symbiotic A/V branch out of the big Apple tree - almost instantaneously since the iPod’s birthday.

The urBeats3 in-ear headphones are among the company's top-sellers, and we recently spent a month with a pair to find out why. It is a month we will regret until the end of time.

It can often be a challenge to go for an audio company that prizes rigorous engineering over marketing flair. Judging by their website and their staid, sober presence on social media, you might be forgiven for bypassing iFi Audio. Don't.

Imagine you’ve been sucked into the world of audio and you’re ready to spend a bit of money on a pair of high-end headphones. You’ll quickly discover that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of models available.

iFi Audio badly needed a rebrand. The company has a reputation for delivering superb and focused audio gear, but in the past, they’ve done so with all the panache and pizzazz of a statistics symposium.

At The Master Switch, we spend an awful lot of time thinking about audio. More importantly, we spend an awful lot of time thinking about how to improve it. Everything we do is geared towards creating bigger, better sound.

Portable amps are tricky little things. While they unquestionably make your sound better, they don’t have the luxuries that desktop models do. They can’t be heavy, or feature cool-looking tubes, or have loads of connections.

We were curious to try out Optoma NuForce's Be2 earbuds - while the company may be boring, in terms of corporate identity, their equipment has impressed us before.

One of the most common questions we get here at The Master Switch is whether someone should buy an A/V receiver or an amplifier for their setup.

Everything you need to know about headphone specs. if it doesn’t involve any of the following, you probably don’t need to worry about it. Consider this the ultimate explainer.