The Indulgence Show 2017 (part 1): mythos and metallurgy, controversy and consideration. What’s in a wire?

The Indulgence Show is a veritable feast of aural delights, so leave it to me to spend a substantial part of my time talking to people about wires, probably the most controversial topic in HeadFi. Amidst £100,000 speaker setups and £50,000 headphone setups, I decided to spend my time talking to people about the how,... Continue Reading →

October 25, 2017 9

iFi iDSD Black Label: Swiss Army knife utility, top tier sound and flexibility that does everything extremely well, so much value it’s just unfair to the competition

Pros: enough power to drive an HE-6 while having enough finesse to feed a Kaiser Encore, plays everything natively, flexible inputs and outputs, flexible sound through XBass and 3D that leaves the core of the mids alone Cons: 3D can sound artificial on some tracks, black on black fonts, difficult to see volume knob level... Continue Reading →

May 11, 2017 6

iDAC2: an excellent portable performer especially with the iPurifier2

Pros: Transparent neutral/cold signature, good sound, good value, plenty of outputs, nice soundstage, USB bus powered so no power cable or brick to carry around Cons: Slight treble emphasis may be off-putting to some, timing imperfect without iPurifier2 List price: $299 Acknowledgment The iDAC2 was provided on loan to me by iFi along with the... Continue Reading →

April 25, 2017 4

iFi iPurifier2: USB clean-up value king in a pocketable size

Pros: Increased soundstage width and depth, better note definition, timing smears fixed, cleaner vocals and treble, price better than a midrange USB cable and gives greater performance boost Cons: Didn’t feel like it pushed higher end cables to their limits, not as good as Micro iUSB3.0 List Price: Acknowledgment The iPurifier2 was loaned to me... Continue Reading →