Introduction As many of you may know, I’m a huge fan of Roon as a music streaming solution. It integrates well with local libraries and it’s a dream to have Tidal (or Qobuz in my case) integrated natively. Unfortunately, Roon Labs raised their pricing for the lifetime membership to a whopping US$ 699 starting from […] Read more
Opinions
Introduction If you’re coming from iTunes on a Mac or PC, you may be looking for some additional features that are only available in premium software tools. I personally wanted to have a choice of multiple target file formats – not just Apple Lossless. For instance, music playback software can deal much better with Flac […] Read more
Introduction Looking for ways to finance your audiophile dream product? If so, you may be in for a pleasant surprise. Don’t worry, I’m not going to give you a bunch of links to Amazon products :) Like most of you, I love shiny audiophile gear from Accuphase, Burmester, Pass Labs – you name it. Unfortunately […] Read more
Introduction I have mentioned my good feelings about Hifimediy products in general but it’s time now to check out their products in the real world. And so I went ahead and ordered the fabulous looking HiFime UAE23HD USB DAC (ES9018K2M+SA9023) on October 22nd. It only cost me less than 75 Euros including shipping. I will […] Read more
Introduction Why the heck would you even consider a CD player in 2019? Isn’t the CD industry slowly fading? Let me emphasize that although I’m streaming most of my content with Tidal or Qobuz, I do occasionally still buy CDs. Being a music lover, I also own a sizable collection of physical discs. I stream […] Read more
Introduction Audioquest is probably better known as a maker of audio cables or accessories but in recent years they’ve been successfully branching out into other areas of the audio business. In 2015 they introduced their Nighthawk headphones which received praise in the audiophile community. I remember hearing them briefly at an audio show and was […] Read more
Many of my readers keep asking me to quantify the actual differences between DACS and whether it makes sense to shell out big bucks for an expensive DAC. So I thought it’s about time to dispel those myths without the usual audio BS, just the facts. Myth #1 „You need a DAC“ No, you don’t. […] Read more
Introduction Classical preamplifiers are leading a niche existence these days. With digital-to-analog converters such as the Mytek Brookly or my very own Gustard X20u serving double duties as a digital volume control, there seems to be no real need for them anymore. And most of us have digital sources anyway. Historically though, preamps were designed […] Read more
Introduction Don’t worry, this is not going to be about me giving up digital sources entirely and converting to analog playback ;) Let me explain why I recently purchased a beautiful Marantz TT15 S1 turntable (advertisement). I was lucky enough to inherit a large number of “black gold” from family members and just wanted something […] Read more
