Source Component Reviews (Classic) (152)

All listings for Source Component Reviews (Classic)

Lyra Dorian Mono Cartridge Reviewed

Caution dictates that even the most fervent vinyl addict must contain himself when it comes to mono. For many of you, merely the purchase of a cartridge specifically for mono LP playback is about as relevant a move as......Read More

Manley Steelhead Phono Stage Reviewed

Amongst the many products we in the UK have been denied, or so I thought, are the valve products from Manley. The last time I ran into the captivating EveAnna Manley - hi-fi's only biker chick - she grabbed me......Read More

Proceed PCD (PDP & PDT) Compact Disc Player Reviewed

Two-box players are now ¬de riguer¬ in the high-end sector, but it's not simply a case of 'more is more'. Just as we learned many years ago about splitting integrated amps into pre/power separates, so do CD players benefit from......Read More

Radford WSCD1 CD Player Reviewed

Brand loyalty is one of the strongest selling forces in hi-fi. Develop happy customers and maintain the standards and you could hang on to them for life. So strong was the brand loyalty for Radford valve products that the company......Read More

SME 20/12 and 312S Tonearm Reviewed

Clarity is the quality that most exemplifies SME's Alastair Robertson-Aikman, and on many levels. It's a property of the sound reproduction of his company's products, of the very instructions contained in SME owner's manuals, and - above all - it......Read More

Tivoli Radio Combo System Reviewed

You gotta love it: despite the juggernaut behind digital radio, despite the desire in certain quarters that analogue would just go away, Tivoli is one of home entertainment's biggest success stories. And all because of a table-top radio reminiscent of......Read More

V, Inc Bravo D2 DVD Player Reviewed

The original Bravo DI DVD player was the first DVI-equipped DVD player to hit the market. Signaling the relative acceptance (finally!) of a digital connection technology, it not only output a pure, unadulterated signal best matched to today's fixed pixel......Read More

Antex Triple Play Satellite Radio Receiver Reviewed

Satellite radio is fast becoming one of the best alternatives to traditional radio available in the marketplace today. However, until recently the options available for listeners of Sirius Radio, one of the two major competing companies, were severely limited for......Read More

Apex DRX-9000 Recordable DVD Player Reviewed

Home video recording is one of the greatest conveniences we've seen in the past 25 years. The VCR broke new ground and allowed us to capture those special moments on television to watch at our convenience or share with friends.......Read More

Audio Alchemy Digital Decoding Engine v1.0 DAC Reviewed

Bitstream caused major turmoil in the budget sector. It inspired a number of existing CD users to upgrade their players with the new generation of outboard converters. But the King of the Hill is Meridian's 203 at #500, and this......Read More

Audio Analogue Maestro Settana Amp and CD Player Reviewed

How time flies. It seems like only yesterday that the Italian audio industry consisted of two 'genres': gorgeous speakers and outré tube amps. But now you have companies like Opera, Pathos, Sonus Faber, Unison Research and others with state-of-the-art, bespoke......Read More

Audio Analouge Maestro CD Player Reviewed

No conceit here: Audio Analogue calls the Maestro a 'Digital Audio Processor' because they feel that it's more than a mere CD player. This machine falls under the 'no-compromise' heading, and lifting the lid shows you why; you'll think you......Read More

Audio Research DAC1 Digital To Analog Converter Reviewed

Audio Research producing a digital converter? This company -- analogue stalwarts enamoured with valves -- has resisted involvement with Things Digital until the moemnt in the format's history when digital earned, in ARC's own words, 'a degree of technological maturity......Read More

Audio Research CD3 CD Player Reviewed

It's getting harder and harder to justify the existence of CD-only players when you look around at the proliferation of DVD-A-only, SACD-only and universal players available at every price point. Unless, that is, you're of the school that no player......Read More

Audio Research DAC2 Digital to Analog Concerter Reviewed

Death, taxes and the Audio Research Corporation -- the three things I can count on no matter what. Ever since I first coveted an SP-3, reviewed a D-70, acquired an SP-9, then an SP-14 and a DAC1, I've found the......Read More

Audio Research PH5 Phono Preamp Reviewed

Continuing to revert exclusively to vinyl usage for my 'pleasure', as opposed to 'reviewing' listening, I'm ecstatic about the flood of killer phono stages available today. My absolute references, but beyond my means, are the Manley Steelhead and the Audio......Read More

Audio-Technica AT-ART1 Phono Cartridge Reviewed

Consider yourselves lucky. Audio-Technica in the UK is run by one Shig Harada, a man with an intense love for the analogue LP and an employee of one of the very few Japanese companies with faith in the format. It's......Read More

Audiovalve Sunilda Phono Amp Reviewed

One of audio's best-kept secrets is the AudioValve Eklipse pre-amp. All-valve, remote controlled, built to standards that you'd expect of Germans and - above all - a true bargain at £2100, it lacks only one thing: a phono section. OK,......Read More

Basis Turntable Reviewed

Horrifyingly, we're only one month shy of it being 10 years since I reviewed the Basis Debut turntable. Good Gawd, does time fly! In the past decade, the LP has continued to decline in sales, popularity and importance, but enough......Read More

Blue Angel Cartridge Reviewed

Conditioning dictates that if someone claims to have made something from scratch, odds are it's a speaker. With all due respect to speaker builders of repute, there's nothing easier than shoving drivers in a box and calling one's self......Read More

Bow Technologies Wizard Compact Disc Player Reviewed

Whether it's caution or obstinacy, numerous high-end brands are studiously avoiding - if not necessarily ignoring - DVD. Some argue that it's the dearth of half-way decent OEM transports, but that never stopped manufacturers of costly CD players using certain......Read More

Bow Technologies ZZ-Eight CD Player Reviewed

It could have grown out of the ZZ-One integrated amp, a Siamese twin just itching to use its amplifying sibling as a plinth. Whether or not it should be 'stacked' is doubtful, given the ventilating properties of the ZZ-One's end......Read More

Bravo D1 DVD Player Reviewed

The Bravo D1 DVD player is a leap forward. Unlike other new technologies it does things not only by making them simpler but, at a retail price of $199, also cheaper. The D1 is a brainchild of V Inc., a......Read More

California Audio Labs Tempest II Special Edition CD Player Reviewed

Paranoia related to the pending clean-sweep of 'bit-stream' technology hasn't stopped the independents from issuing new models -- however short their shelf-life may be. Having only heard bit-stream in systems other than my own, I've yet to join the converted......Read More

Chord DAC 64 Digital To Analog Converter Reviewed

Sometimes, manufacturers DO listen. After Chord Electronics' DAC 64 proved to be such an immediate hit, they sat back, figured out just why everyone fell in love with it, and took stock of the situation. Sure, it sounded wonderful. Yes,......Read More

Chord One CD Player Reviewed

Let's talk about 'cool'. Normally, this is something that eludes the pages of hi-fi magazines because audiophiles are nearly unique* among enthusiasts and anoraks in our resolute joylessness. Even Roy Cropper on musters a bigger smile when talking about trams.......Read More

Clearaudio Statement Turntable Reviewed

One day, hopefully before I die, the British will stop acting like it's 1951 and rationing is in full flower. In the league tables of whingeing, penny-pinching, bargain-hunting hustlers, only the Yanks (especially the newly-rich ones with dot-com wealth) are......Read More

Copland CDA 266 Compact Disc Player reviewed

Had I paid attention in Psychology 101, this review could have featured a mini dissertation on the single-chassis vs two-box debate. To separate or not to separate - that is the question. It's just that any single-box CD player over......Read More

Copland CDA822 Compact Disc Player Reviewed

Just when you think you can consign something to the 'dustbin of history', along comes another cause for a re-think. Wiser heads than mine assure me that purist audiophiles will continue to buy conventional, two-channel CD players for decades, just......Read More

Counterpoint DA-11 Transport Reviewed

Hey -- someone does listen to reviewers. Or partly, at least. After bemoaning a shortage of affordable CD transports in the review of the £200 DAC-In-The-Box in the January issue, I find myself using one that almost fits the bill.......Read More

Day Sequerra FM Studio Tuner Reviewed

Golden Age sentimentalists often allow nostalgia to colour their opinions. They soon learn that because something is old (or glows in the dark) doesn't mean it's good. But one antique which does live up to its reputation is the......Read More

DCS Delius DAC Reviewed DCS

More than a few learned colleagues regard dCS converters as the finest digital processors money can buy. Sensitivity to this fact, though, shouldn't impress the observer: every brand, however awful, has a fan base, if only the designer's Mom and......Read More

Denon AVR 2807 Receiver & Denon DVD-1920 DVD Player Reviewed

When I opened my humble little retail store, The Audiophile, back in 1973, Denon was a small company just entering the country. Giants like Yamaha, Kenwood, Pioneer, Marantz, and others dominated the receiver market. But I was a tweak and......Read More

Denon DL-103 Cartridge Reviewed

Wrap your mind around this one: as various hi-fi companies boast about their longevity - "We're 35!" "We're 50!" - Denon celebrated its 95th birthday last year. It was founded in 1910 by a Yank named Frederick Whitney Horn, an......Read More

Denon DVD 2900 Universal Player Reviewed

The universal player market is truly starting to heat up, with several new models hitting stores, and a number of other models in the works. Denon has entered the fray with their new $999 DVD 2900, which is very unique......Read More

Denon DVD-1600 DVD-Audio Player Reviewed

It used to be an audiophile was an audiophile, a videophile was a videophile, and the twain shall never meet. In fact, a real audiophile never mixed his video system with his audio system. Things are changing in the post-CD......Read More

Denon DVD-2500 DVD-Video Player Reviewed

'Indeed, it's nothing short of magnificent' were the closing words to my review of Denon's luscious DVD-5000. Without question, it is one of the most pleasurable-to-use DVD spinners I've ever fondled. So spare me the whining when I state that......Read More

Denon DVD-500 DVD-Video Player Reviewed

Whatever qualms some of us might have about DVD and its (still-) painful birth, there are enough tempting machines out there to make you forget all about regional coding. But Denon, ever mindful of the political ramifications of being rebellious,......Read More

EAR 324 Phono Stage Reviewed

Partial though I am to Tim de Paravicini's down'n'dirty 834P phono stage, the paucity of features limits its usefulness as a reviewer's reference. Despite the simplicity, this budget valve phono stage - I reviewed it some years ago at £399......Read More

Esoteric Audio Research 834P Tube Amp Reviewed

Maybe, just maybe there is an 'analogue revival' underway and the arrival of one of the biggest bargains in vinyl playback history isn't a fluke. On top of the latest edition of the Michell Gyro Dec and power supply, a......Read More

Garrard 301 Turntable Reviewed

Under 65? A vinyl addict of the post-Linn persuasion? Then don't go poring over old hi-fi magazines, books or yearbooks. It will only aggravate your ulcer because, if the amount of wordage given to what they quaintly used to refer......Read More

Garrard 501 Turntable Reviewed

OK, OK, so we didn't make the World Cup Final. OK, OK, so Rolls-Royce is now German. OK, OK, so we're gonna lose the Pound Sterling, as we did those wonderful hardbound blue passports, to the evil bureaucracy of Brussels.......Read More

Genesis IM-5200 Loudspeakers Reviewed

'Mensch' is a Yiddish word which means a whole lot more than 'man', its German source. A mensch is a 'quality dude' (to use current patois), the kind of person who possesses any of a number of virtues, but the......Read More

Go.Video Dual-Dec DV-3130 DVD/VCR Combo Reviewed

Go.Video is the company that originated the Dual Deck VCR, allowing for the easy dubbing of videocassette tapes in the early 1990s. Some machines included VHS Plus+ programming and others included 8mm + VHS. It was no surprise when DVD......Read More

Grado Statement Reference Cartridge

Periodic bursts of post-CD analogue creativity usually mean nothing more than coincidence. Typically, it's the launch at the same hi-fi show of two or more new turntable makers, or a brace of totally unrelated parallel trackers. Still we grasp such......Read More

Gryphon Competition Isolation Device Reviewed

Although I now find accessories more of a distraction than an aid, certain ones continue to crop up an reassert their usefulness. Accessories Club honcho Mike Harris reminded me of the Gryphon Exorcist after I happened to mention to......Read More

Harman Kardon DVD 101 Reviewed

My jaw dropped the first time I laid eyes on her. Her physical beauty was overwhelming as I studied her sultry shape and elegant profile. So many dirty thoughts were running through my head, I just couldn't control myself. Was......Read More

Harman Kardon DVD 25 Reviewed

Harman Kardon is one of those great companies that makes products that not only sound and work well, but also look good with clean, uncluttered lines. The Harman Kardon DVD 25 is a single DVD player model that joins the......Read More

Harman Kardon DVD50 DVD Player Reviewed

In today's vast world of digital home entertainment there are so many formats associated with DVD and CD playback that it make component selection not only frustrating, but seemingly impossible at times. It's not that manufacturers are incapable of offering......Read More

Humax DRT800 DVD Recorder with TiVo Service Reviewed

If you're like me, the idea of archiving videos and TV shows onto DVD sounds pretty good. But you've also probably been put off, as I have, by the rush to market of expensive DVD recorders that each feature their......Read More

JVC HR-XVC25U D-VHS Deck Reviewed

Let's be straight here. Anyone who reads this publication knows that we don't cover analog media devices--even digitally encrypted D-VHS devices. How can we support anything that competes with the DVD format? After all, we are DVD ETC. So why......Read More

JVC XL-FA900 DVD Changer Reviewed

The weather is starting to get cold here in New England. The leaves are becoming bored with tree life and heading for my lawn in greater numbers every day. Hot chocolate has become the preferred after-work beverage. In short, winter......Read More

Kenwood Sovereign DV-5700 DVD Player Reviewed

With home theater sales booming like never before, manufacturers are beginning to produce DVD players for more discerning movie-lovers. The Kenwood DV-5700, part of the up-market Sovereign line, is an example of this breed. It is a 5 DVD/CD carousel......Read More

Koetsu Urushi Black Cartridge Reviewed

Would you believe it was years ago when I reviewed the original Koetsu Urushi? Now, on the Bar Mitzvah of that review, I'm trying its latest descendent. With one difference: Sugano-San is no longer with us. Sugano believed then that......Read More

Krell DVD Standard DVD-Video Player Reviewed

So this is the way it's gonna be, huh? (1) You guys hate video. (2) The rest of the world loves it. (3) The manufacturers - high-end, middle or low - have to keep everybody happy if they're to survive.......Read More

Krell KAV-280cd player, KAV-300iL and LAT-2 speaker reviewed

Whatever else you may have heard about Krell's Dan D'Agostino, he has a wicked sense of humour. This fearsome high-end has been known to succumb to a fit of the giggles which can last for hours. So it was probably......Read More

Krell MD-20 CD Transport, Krell Studio DAC and KRC Preamp Reviewed

Remember what it was like the first time you rode a bike without the training wheels? Passed your driving test? Lost your virginity? No kidding: the first time you switch on an all-Krell system in your own listening room, no......Read More

Linn CD 12 Compact Disc Player Reviewed

'Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?' Given the recent flap over Elia Kazan's honours at the Oscars and my belief in a conspiracy that was Linnism, I feel it's somehow appropriate to......Read More

Linn LP12 Turntable Reviewed

Military manoeuvres come no more complicated. Merely considering a 'top secret' review involving a panel of seven or so listeners is to court disaster, as 'secrets' and 'journalists' are mutually incompatible. But we knew, as the only British hi-fi magazine......Read More

London Decca Reference Cartridge Reviewed

Twenty-five years is a long time to wait for anything, especially when it's something as trivial as a piece of hi-fi. That's longer than most marriages, mortgages or careers, but it marks precisely the length of time I've held on......Read More

London Super Gold Cartridge Reviewed

With the plethora of audio toys which surrounds reviewers, it's easy for them to forget what they once worshiped. Me? I was a Decca cartridge addict of such feverish devotion that I'm embarrassed to admit that I hadn't really looked......Read More

Lyngdorf CD-1 Player Reviewed

If any of you doubt that CD will remain the dominant playback source for the foreseeable future, the CD-only player before me should rattle your cage. It comes from one of Europe's canniest operators, retailer extraordinaire Peter Lyngdorf; you know......Read More

Maplenoll Turntable Reviewed

Brave are those who still have enough faith in turntables to make them their sole form of income. That applies both to manufacturers and distributors, specifically Maplenoll and the record player's UK distributor, Wollaton Audio. It's bad enough to scrape......Read More

Marantz CD-11 SE Compact Disc Player Reviewed

Bravery in hi-fi usually means having the nerve to release something which looks unlike everything else. Slope-fronted Yamahas and Michaelson Audio's Chronos amps spring to mind. But real bravery is admitting that you screwed up. And Marantz has done so......Read More

Marantz CD-16 CD Player Reviewed

Conventional wisdom tells us that CD players can only have gotten better, and that any 1994 player will 'blow away' any from, say, 1989. Maybe this is true in so far as the transport sections are concerned. You might even......Read More

Marantz CD-63II K.I. Signature CD Player Reviewed

On the surface, it's just another set of modifications, right? Another way to sell CD-63s, eh? I suppose that a cynic could look at it that way, but - after hearing the 'K.I. Signature' - the cynic would have to......Read More

Marantz CD52 MK IISE Reviewed

Pointing out the confusion in the low-end CD marketplace, Paul Miller showed how chaos reigns when too many manufacturers chase those budget bucks. His review of the Marantz CD52 MKII in the January issue described Marantz's latest entry at the......Read More

Marantz DV8400 DVI-Enabled Universal DVD Player Reviewed

Marantz has long been a respected name in the audio community. Since the inception of DVD, Marantz has been an innovator in cutting-edge technology. For the last couple of years, it has produced universal DVD players--those models that play back......Read More

Marantz SA-11S1 SACD Player Reviewed

'All dressed up and no place to go.' That, alas, is the overwhelming feeling imparted by Marantz's utterly magnificent SA-11S1 SACD player. Aside from the clumsy name and its inherent limitation of stereo-only playback, it just may be the nicest......Read More

Marantz SA-15S1 SACD Player Reviewed

Life's just full of surprises, eh? Little did I know, when I wrote the worshipful if doleful review of the Marantz SA-11S1 SACD player in May that a baby sister was on the way. I absolutely adored the '11, but......Read More

Mark Levinson No. 30 Digital to Analog Converter Reviewed

Say it slowly: twelve thousand, nine hundred pounds. Crazy, huh? And just how do you approach a D/A converter -- not even a whole CD player -- costing as much as a decent VW Golf or a platinum Rolex?......Read More

McIntosh C2200 Amp Reviewed

Thrice before, McIntosh has tormented us with limited edition all-valve goodies. The production runs of the MC275 power amp, C22 pre-amp and the high-priced 50th anniversary power amp, the MC2000, were limited enough not to allow time for us (of......Read More

McIntosh MVP851 DVD Player Reviewed

McIntosh Labs has always marched to the beat of a different drummer. Although now owned by Clarion Audio, the parent company has wisely allowed them to continue making virtually hand-made products in upstate New York. To take a look at......Read More

Meracus Imago CD Transport Reviewed

No, I don't know what 'Meracus' means, and I stopped playing around with anagrams after I reached 'ear scum'. How about 'US Cream'? No way: Meracus is so decidedly, unabashedly a German company that it couldn't possibly apply. Oh, is......Read More

Meridian 586.2 DVD Player Reviewed

Protestations about the availability of Meridian products, about the company's optimistic release dates and decided lack of concern for the home market really don't apply to the firm's DVD player. After all, it's not Meridian's fault that DVD hasn't been......Read More

Mimetism CD 20.1 CD Player Reviewed

Aaah, with this name, Mimetism could only be from the land of Marcel Marceau! 'Mimétisme' (with an 'e' and an accent) is a uniquely French word that describes something in-between chameleon-like behaviour and pure imitation. Of course, in the case......Read More

Mitsubishi DD-8030 DVD Player Reviewed

Last week I fought the crowd at my local theater because a new movie came out hat I wanted to see. I realized while I was standing in the long ticket line that it had been nearly two years since......Read More

Musical Fidelity 3D Compact Disc Player reviewed

Cue violins, hand out the Kleenex: Musical Fidelity's Nu-Vista 3D CD Player is - unless Anthony Michaelson suddenly finds a supply of nuvistor bases - the final model in the series. Why the tears? Simple: the three Nu-Vista products......Read More

Musical Fidelity kW 25 CD Player

Musical Fidelity's Antony Michaelson is too pragmatic to worry about climb-downs. After nailing his colours to the SACD mast by producing one of the best players that format ever enjoyed, he's returned to good ol' Red Book CD. He announced......Read More

NAD PP-2 Phono Preamp Reviewed

Every once in a while, along comes a bargain so scarily good that we can only judge it a fluke. When that same product comes out in revised form, with nothing further improvements the price remains stupidly low, you gotta......Read More

Nagra PL-L Preamp and PMA Mono Amps Reviewed

Very few brands, regardless of product type, earn 100-point ratings. Even Leica and Rolex have fouled up at least once in the past, however unlikely that seems.* Nagra is the closest audio has come to producing a brand with an......Read More

Nakamichi DVD-10 DVD Player Reviewed

After a flood of sub-£180 DVD players, it's getting harder to deal with the Law of Diminishing Returns. Now here's a Nakamichi DVD player selling for more than three times that of the current entry-level players at £599. Does it......Read More

NEC ND-3500A DVD Recorder Reviewed

Back in the January 2003 issue of DVD ETC., we ran a photo of a very frustrated Clint Walker sitting on a sofa staring at an enormous amount of electronic gear on a coffee table. We asked readers to come......Read More

NEC ND-3500A DVD Recorder Reviewed

Onkyo DV-SP800 Universal Player Reviewed

I love high-resolution music. I mean I really, really enjoy it. The format war between DVD-Audio and SACD has left both gasping for breath, with not enough software, not enough promotion, and definitely not enough market penetration. The real hope......Read More

Oracle DAC 1000/CD 2500 CD Transport and DAC Reviewed

Conditioning, no matter how strong your will, is hard to defy. As a former Oracle Delphi owner, I learned the true meaning of 'love-hate relationships' over a period of many years. No matter how utterly gorgeous the device, no matter......Read More

Oracle Delphi III Audiophile Turntable Reviewed

Long-time Oracle user Ken Kessler advances his player to Mk III status. How well is the Canadian turntable showing its age? Forgive me if I sound smug, but I find it eminently satisfying that I -- a hi-fi reviewer -- have......Read More

Oracle Delphi Mark VI Turntable Reviewed

Oracle Delphi updates have always been worthwhile. The company has concentrated on three areas, in most cases designed to be retrofittable all the way back to the first Delphi; the Mk IV mods are not. First has been a continuing......Read More

Panasonic DMR-E80H Hard Disk/DVD-R Recorder Reviewed

The Panasonic DMR-E8OH breakthrough hard disk/DVD-R recorder lets you record video, edit precisely, set index points, and transfer to DVDR or tape without generation loss... what's not to like? Since my first tape recorder in the mid-1960s, I've wanted to......Read More

Panasonic DMR-HS2 DVD-R Reviewed

Panasonic was one of the first companies to bring out consumer DVD recording devices, and has been a champion of the DVD-RAM format. Panasonic has pushed the envelope on the computer front, as well as the standalone player front, and......Read More

Parnassus Cartridge Reviewed

Lydian, Clavis and now Parnassus -- a genuine hat trick for a new(-ish) manufacturer. What's most remarkable is that it's a trio of cartridges, hardly hot currency in 1991. But the analoguists, watching the record racks in the shops shrink......Read More

Philips DVD-962SA Reviewed

Over the past several months I have had the opportunity to review some great DVD players. I have written the word Faroudja so many times, you would think I wrote their advertising copy. In any case, the filtering of this......Read More

Philips DVD750VR Reviewed

If you're reading this review then chances are you're one of the "late adopters" to DVD technology who still warehouse an impressive library of VHS movies and home videos. Perhaps not ready to transfer all of those analog tapes onto......Read More

Philips DVD793C 5-Disc Changer/Player Reviewed

When I installed my first multi-disc changer in my Army barracks room about 15 years ago, many of my friends asked why I needed so many discs on hand at one time. Certainly I was able to get up and......Read More

Philips DVD793C 5-Disc Changer/Player Reviewed

When I installed my first multi-disc changer in my Army barracks room about 15 years ago, many of my friends questioned why I needed so many discs on hand at a time. Certainly I was able to get up and......Read More

Philips DVD963SA DVD Player Reviewed

DVD players have only been on the market for about 5 years now. That's it. It seems like longer because they have made an enormous impact on the entire audio/video/home theater market, and have helped propel the sales of other......Read More

Philips DVDR80 DVD+RW Recorder Reviewed

More than six years ago DVD burst onto the scene, offering the best quality audio and video images available on a new, shiny, five-inch disc, looking very much like a CD. It was predicted that it would replace the aging......Read More

Philips DVDR985 DVD Recorder Reviewed

Over the past decade a digital format, CD, has replaced records and tapes as the preferred choice for music. Over the past 5 years, DVD has replaced the videotape as the preferred choice for movies. Now, dreary old VHS videotape......Read More

Pioneer DVL-909 DVD Player Reviewed

Rotting mutterers - myself included - have pretty much accepted that DVD is not going to go away. But have we learned our lessons, or will a bunch of idiotic Luddites attempt to stall the format the way they did......Read More

Pioneer DVL-919E Laserdisc and DVD Player Reviewed

For once, I've decided NOT to berate a company for upgrading a product so quickly. Why? Because only last week, I bought a computer game for my son and yesterday it was reduced from £34.99 to £24.99; the colour printer......Read More

Pioneer Elite DVR-7000 DVD Recorder Reviewed

While at the International Consumer Electronics Show (ICES) in Las Vegas, Nevada this past winter my eye caught something I just had to get my mitts on--the new Pioneer DVR-7000 recordable DVD player. Understand the historical impact here DVD fans.......Read More

Pioneer DV-59AVi Reviewed

It is sometimes an unfortunate fact of life that a technology is usually perfected just before it is replaced. With the impending arrival of high-definition DVD in the forms of HD DVD and Blu-ray (with the prerequisite format war to......Read More

Pro-Ject Tube Box Phono Stage Reviewed

Awash as we are with terrific phono stages, it's still possible to welcome another contender - especially at the bargain end of the scale. You lot already know and love the Slovakian brand Pro-Ject for having ensured a steady flow......Read More

QUAD 99 Compact Disc Player Reviewed

It's time to admit, in light of the arrival of SACD and DVD-A, that CD playback hasn't been all that bad for the last, oh, decade and a bit. Who can possibly fault the sounds made by pedigreed players from......Read More

Quasar LE Turntable Reviewed

'Gorgeous.' That's the word I kept hearing, every time someone noticed the Quasar LE turntable in for review. And one of the first to utter it was the owner of a Michell Orbe, itself no canine. What these individuals cooed......Read More

Rega Planet Turntable Reviewed

Buying into certain 'schools' of audio thought requires the same kind of metaphorical lobotomy as becoming a slavish football supporter or joining a religious cult. In real terms - if you let the mind-set supplant part of your personality -......Read More

Rotel RDV-1080 DVD-Audio Player Reviewed

Upon first learning that I would be reviewing a Rotel DVD player for this issue, I had difficulty believing it. Through all my years of writing in the consumer electronics industry, I had yet to experience firsthand what I "knew"......Read More

Samsung DVD-P721M DVD Player Reviewed

Much like the computer industry, pricing for DVD players has come down to affordable levels for great performance. Players with features that cost $1,500 two years ago can now be found for a fraction of that cost. In fact, the......Read More

Sequerra Model 1 FM Tuner Reviewed

Writing this with full awareness of the risk of seriously alienating the more jingoistic among you, I must report that the three best tuners ever made were American. This is a consensus I found through talking with experts, surfing the......Read More

Sharp DV-HR300 HDD/DVD Recorder Reviewed

Whether it's peanut butter and jelly, apple pie and ice cream or "Hello" and "Newman," some things just belong together. In the consumer electronics world, we have a prime example of this theory in the Hard Disk Drive (HDD)/DVD recorder.......Read More

Shure V15 Phono Cartridge Reviewed

Because the moving-coil cartridge is so firmly entrenched the technology of choice for high-end LP playback, it's easy to forget that moving magnets ruled stereo's first quarter century. Yes, there have been moving-coil and moving-flux and moving-iron and 'variluctance' and......Read More

Simaudio Orbiter Universal Player Reviewed

Simaudio is one of those great companies that inevitably focuses on excellent audio quality and cool design. When they announced a universal player, I jumped on the chance to actually review one, and they were generous enough to send one......Read More

Simon Yorke Turntable Reviewed

However cool or unimpressed we try to be, there's no escaping 'prestige' endorsements. Even if there's been some financial inducement - what did it cost BMW to get James Bond to drive a German car? -- we're still impressed. But......Read More

SME M2 Tonearm Reviwed

99 times out of 100, manufacturers deliver review samples. But when I received an invitation to hear the latest incarnation of the SME Music Room, I figured I'd collect the new M2 in person. Perhaps in an upcoming issue, we'll......Read More

SME Series 30 Turntable Reviewed

Fastidious. Single-minded. Self-sufficient. The man was a renaissance figure, one who would never suffer fools. He believed that form followed function, that workmanship was as important as performance. His products were (often) the finest money could buy. He was slightly......Read More

SME Series I, II, III Tone Arms Reviewed

Last year, when SME unveiled the M2 tonearm, it signified - quietly - that an era had ended. Founder Alastair Robertson-Aikman told that he didn't want to cause a panic, nor arouse speculators, nor inflame activity on eBay. He felt,......Read More

Sony 333 SACD Player Reviewed

You don't have to be a marketing analyst with a subscription to the FT to understand why SACD might win the latest format war. Clearly, the SACD crew has delivered more hardware and - most importantly - something on the......Read More

Sony A VD-S50ES SACD/DVD Receiver Reviewed

Last fall, I was on a flight with my friend (and publisher of this magazine), Terry Carroll, and I told him that an integrated receiver and DVD player would be a great product. Combining such a device with one of......Read More

Sony DVP-NS315 DVD Player Reviewed

It was midnight when I checked my e-mail and discovered a message from my friend Kathleen. Upon returning from a kayaking adventure, she had entered her condo to find her entire living room flooded. Her upstairs neighbors had had a......Read More

Sumiko Pear Cartridge Reviewed

Wooden-bodied cartridges have always - since my first taste of Koetsu - charmed the hell out of me. I remember lusting after a Mr. Briar, a Grado Reference is never far from my headshell, and Koetsu, well, this brand remains......Read More

Sutherland 12dAX7 USB DAC and Preamp Reviewed

In the hierarchy of people who actively pursue cruddy sound, the top spot belongs to computer nerds. Who else voluntarily puts up with sonic nightmares so gleefully, while having the audacity (in their techno-arrogance) to declare that the swill from......Read More

T+A K6 Integrated Amp and Compact Disc Player Reviewed

Sniff the air. Smell that? It's a trend, and it's all your fault. The juggernaut that is home cinema is rolling over the home entertainment landscape, and those manufacturers who targeted you in the two-channel days want to seduce you......Read More

Technics SV-DA10 DAT Tape Deck Reviewed

Schlepping 19 journalists half-way around the globe is not a task to be taken lightly. Would you want to baby-sit for nearly a score of barbarians? Neither should the reason for this exodus be trivial, as most journalists hate PR exercises.......Read More

The Finial Laser Turntable Reviewed

Not vinyl 'whoosh', not rumble. That low-level noise in the background is my sigh of relief. Aside from waiting for my insurance policies to mature and my mortgage payments to cease, the pursuit of the Finial Laser Turntable has been......Read More

Theta Carmen Universal Player Reviewed

Bless Theta's sense of humour. By naming one player 'Miles' and another 'Pearl', the company showed how to appeal to a wide cross-section of customers and music tastes. The former could have been named for, say, Miles Davis or Buddy......Read More

Theta Chroma Digital to Analog Converter Reviewed

Given that Theta's sublime Pro Gen V is a device which consistently astounds me with its transparency, speed, coherence and freedom from digitalia, there should be no surprise that it's my reference converter. Much as I adore the Marantz DA-12......Read More

Theta Compli Univarsal Disc Player Reviewed

As recently as a year ago, any sane observer would have argued that the best thing that could happen to the home entertainment business would be an end to the format nonsense. The means of achieving this? The ready availability......Read More

Theta DaViD DVD-Player Reviewed

Considering the utter mess which is the Region 2 launch of DVD, it's amazing that some of us still live in hope. While I would love to castrate the Hollywood execu- no, make that the slime-sucking, low-life, bottom-feeder, pond-scum lawyer......Read More

Theta Pro Gen V-A Digital to Analog Converter Reviewed

Not keeping tabs on other reviewers, I can't say if it's normal practice to use as a reference something which members of the public cannot purchase. Hot-rodded hardware, prototypes which never made it into production - there are plenty of......Read More

Thorens TD124 Turntable Reviewed

Indoctrinated as we are to worship belt-drive turntables above all others, it's hard for many to accept that - even today - there are idler-drive decks that can match the best of the later, succeeding formats. In the early years......Read More

Thule Space 250b Universal DVD Player Reviewed

For those of us who are not quite willing to get rid of our CD players in favor of a single component capable of DVD and CD playback, perhaps a solution has finally appeared. While certainly not in the "budget"......Read More

Tivoli Audio PAL Music Playback System Reviewed

Damn, is this thing cute!!!! Tivoli Audio has followed the magnificent Kloss Model One table top radio with its portable equivalent, the PAL, and it's, it's - I don't know - effin' PERFECT!!!! Forgive my exuberance, but I go all......Read More

Toshiba 32HLX95 Cinema Series High Definition DVD/LCD TV combo Reviewed

Product reviews, especially those of TV displays, seem to take a luxury for granted that most of us don't have: the ability to view a display without any of the distractions of real life. Does that help or hinder a......Read More

Toshiba HD-XA1 HD DVD Player Reviewed

Toshiba's HD-XA1 HD DVD Player came out a month later than they promised, but so what? Get over it. High-definition disc-viewing is a reality, so let's forget about the "format wars" and dive right in. This ain't no slim-jim either--at......Read More

Toshiba RD-XS32 HDD/DVD Recorder Reviewed

If we were to lay the DVD evolutionary chart on top of the human evolutionary chart, we're currently two or three guys in from the right. DVD has come a long way, and it continues to penetrate mediums and platforms......Read More

Toshiba SD-2800 DVD Player Reviewed

It's 107 degrees outside my southwest desert home and my wife and I are considering going out on the town for the evening. For us, as with many married couples, going out on the town is a bit of a......Read More

Toshiba SD-3900 DVD Player Reviewed

Several years ago, when Toshiba introduced the first DVD player, my staff and I (from my former publication) were among the first to review it. We pulled that player from its packaging and quickly moved it into our audition room,......Read More

Toshiba SD-V391 DVD/VCR Combo Reviewed

Toshiba, one of the co-inventors of DVD technology and a longtime VCR technological innovator, now embraces the DVD/VCR Combo category by offering a top-of-the-line model with superior and innovative features. It should be remembered that Toshiba was the first manufacturer......Read More

Transfiguration Orpheus Moving Coil Cartridge Reviewed

Transfiguration cartridges are masters of natural musicality. The exclusive patented yokeless ring-magnet generator construction places the moving coil at the focal point of the magnetic flux field leading to a new level of focus and natural resolution due to the......Read More

Transfiguration Temper V Moving Coil Cartridge Reviewed

While most of you rightly regard me as a two-cartridge man - Koetsu or Decca - I'm not actually that limited. I've been known to tap my toes to SPU-series Ortofons, I love the wooden-bodied Grados and have flirted with......Read More

Unison Research Unico CD Player Reviewed

Why make you wait until the last paragraph? Unison Research has done what I thought was impossible: followed the universally-praised (no, make that ) Unico integrated tube-hybrid amplifier with a matching CD player. And I don't mean 'matching' just in......Read More

Vimak DS-2000 D/A Converter Reviewed

Inundated by wonderful products at hi-fi shows, I find it a miracle that anything commits itself to memory. Upon re-reading a show report a month after I've written it, I'm mortified by the unfamiliarity of half the information. A Swiss......Read More

Wharfdale DVD-750 DVD Player Reviewed

If - even a year ago - you told me that Tesco would be the place to buy the best-ever DVD bargain in the UK, I would have raised an eyebrow and guessed that you'd been at the elderberry wine.......Read More

Wilson Bensch Circle Turntable Reviewed

No puns about 'squaring the circle', 'Will the Circle Be Unbroken?', 'circle jerks' or any of that stuff: the most-obviously named turntable since the Revolver is exactly the dream Wilson Benesch watchers hoped it would be. Its shape, its simplicity,......Read More

Yamaha DVD-CX1 DVD Audio/ 5-Disc Changer Reviewed

"When I was a young lad, I was not one easily drawn in by full-framed features and fancy accessories. For there was always a bottom line to be found--when I knew who she was, and how she could integrate into......Read More

Yamaha DVD-S530 DVD Player Reviewed

Without this publication. as a reference, it's easy to see how the public can be confused when buying new consumer electronic gear. There are plenty of new products on store shelves with only a salesperson or printed description to show......Read More

YBA CD 2 CD Player Reviewed

Soliciting negatives about CD from an audio audience is too easy a way to start a pub-level row. Do it at a hi-fi show, in a shop on a Saturday -- wherever hi-fi nuts meet, it's as good a way......Read More

YBA CD3a Player Reviewed

Blame the end of the Millennium, the coming of DVD, the arrivals of HDCD/20-bit remastering/XRCD, what-have-you. All I know is that we're experiencing a flood of deliberately off-the-wall CD players, and if this is anti-digital backlash, then it's over a......Read More

YBA Integre Integrated Amp Reviewed

Offensive, I know, but I'm about to rave about a product to a point where it may seem that I'm suggesting it has no rivals. But such is hi-fi. Every once in a while a berserker rears its head, wreaking......Read More

Z-Systems RDP-1 Room Correction Device and EQ Reviewed

Without suggesting that the Z-Systems RDP-1 Reference Digital Pre-amplifier is the world's first all-digital pre-amp, it's the first device used which has absolutely no analogue inputs or outputs. Its first threat to convention? The RDP-1 fits the digital source,......Read More

Zenith DVD2381 DVD Player Reviewed

As the most popular consumer electronics medium ever, DVD is really the only way to watch a movie at home. Whether it's on a 32-inch TV or in a state-of-the-art screening room, DVD offers an incredible viewing experience, with an......Read More

Zenith XBV343 DVD/VCR Combo Reviewed

Zenith is an old and reliable consumer electronics brand. During the 1950s and '60s, Zenith was a leader in color television. Over time, they have re-invented themselves to become a leading C/E brand today. Currently, the company is owned by......Read More

Today's Top Story

California Passes Anti-Flat-HDTV Legislation To Try To Save Energy -

As a resident of California who owns a "green home" complete with new windows, high efficiency air conditioners, space-age insulation and drought tolerant planting on over two acres of hillside - today's decision to toughen standards on HDTVs is a... Click for more...