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Few companies have been as productive as Chinese audio giant, FiiO. They not only continue to produce incredible in-ear headphones, they also churn out digital audio players at an alarming rate.

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.

The wireless headphones market is getting pretty crowded these days. Ever since Apple dropped the stink bomb about removing the headphone jack from the new iPhone models, manufacturers have been falling over themselves to issue Bluetooth headsets.

We had never heard of ADVANCED. Before this year’s CANJAM New York event, they had flown completely under our radar. We have no idea why - normally, we’re pretty good with this kind of thing. Then we heard their Alphas.

Nothing makes us happier than replacing an already brilliant bit of kit with something even better, because who doesn’t love a challenger? So we were really, really excited to unwrap speaker maker Paradigm’s PW 600.

If you’re an audio company, thinking of sending us (or anybody else) product for review, here’s a super handy pro tip for how to catch our attention, and make whatever you’re sending stand out from the massive pile of gadgets we have...

To more established headphone companies like Sennheiser and AUDEZE, it must have felt like getting hit with a freight train. When French speaker manufacturer Focal made the decision to push deep into the market, few would have predicted their success.

Audiophiles don't like listening to music wirelessly. Wires, they say, are the only way to guarantee pristine audio quality. They just haven't heard the Naim Uniti Atom yet.

It’s always a bit of a gamble, calling something cool. Cool is such an ephemeral term. After all, Limp Bizkit were once cool. So were Capri pants, ironic T-shirts, Blackberries. The Audioquest NightHawk Carbons are cool, and always will be.

Whether it be hiking through rugged forests or a simple day at the beach, we want to be able to take our music everywhere we go. We’ve been compiling a list of the best portable Bluetooth speakers, and this little number has found itself near the top.

You want to know the reason Apple was so successful? The reason they, above all others, dominated the first fifteen years of this century and became a global juggernaut? They kept it simple. So does Peachtree Audio.

The Focal Utopia are the best headphones on the planet. That’s not hyperbole. It’s not shilling. It’s just the truth. Of all the hundreds of headphone models available today, these are the best. End of discussion.

Chord Electronics are mad. Other companies will make a high-end DAC, and call it done. Chord made one, then gave it Bluetooth, then put in a package small enough to slip into a pocket, then made it look like something you'd see in a music video from 1988.

In the month or so we spent with Astell & Kern’s AK380 player, the most common question from those who saw it – after a few minutes spent marvelling at its stunning good looks – was the price point.

This German manufacturer might not be a household name stateside, but RME have been quietly making nerdy audio equipment since 1996. And they've gotten rather good at it. We were able to spend a month with their ADI-2 digital-to-analog converter.