Search

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.

Beyerdynamic make some of the best headphones on the planet. They’ve been doing it for quite a long time, so they know a thing or two about sound. But they have surprisingly few Bluetooth models...

On a recent trip to Toronto for the TAVES audio show, we got chatting to two guys from Montreal, Pierre and Stéphane, who owned a company called Bluewave. What they were showing was a single product: a tiny little portable headphone amp called the GET.

You might not think it while reading about the four- and occasional five-figure monsters on the site, but we absolutely love cheap here. If a piece of audio kit mixes low cost with decent components, we start getting very interested.

Wireless speakers aren’t just the next big thing, they’re the way of the future. Everything is wireless these days. Which is why we’re dedicating so much time to reviewing these gadgets.

One of the things that we, and just about everybody who loves music, are not very good at is looking after our hearing. When there are so many fantastic headphones and speakers to listen to, who cares about resting your ears?

The survival of digital audio players is actually quite extraordinary. Despite the fact that we carry around phones that can do everything, standalone digital audio players continue to sell.

Bang & Olufsen have always felt like a dark horse in the headphone world. The company makes excellent stuff, but we’ve always associated the Danish audio wizards with speakers, first and foremost.

Dear Sony marketing department: can we talk? Can we be real for a sec? Thank you. We’re just trying to understand, you see. We want to figure out how your minds work. How do you name something the TA-ZH1ES with a straight face?

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.

It’s not often that you can call a piece of audio equipment cute. You can with the Optoma uDAC5. When we took it out the box, our first thought was that someone was pranking us. This thing costs $200?

1More make some of our favorite headphones and earbuds of all time. Naturally, we were quite excited when we found out they were releasing their first Bluetooth speaker.

And now for one of the more interesting 2.1 systems we’ve had the pleasure to plug in: the Edifier S350DBs. The S350DBs are large and powerful bookshelf boomers that provide a whopping upgrade to your home entertainment or computer setup...

Feliks Audio is a Polish boutique headphone amplifier manufacturer that specializes in tube circuit designs. Their Elise MkII model has been making waves on tube amp forums and trade shows

The HiFiMan Edition S. You might call them Schrodinger’s Headphones: they’re both closed and open back until you decide which one you want. They are also, just in case you were wondering, bloody brilliant.