After the rather smashing miniature N3 tube amplifier, Hong Kong’s Miniwatt have launched a new product – the Miniwatt N4. It’s a UAC2.0, async 32bit/192Khz all-in-one DAC and headphone amplifier. Note the stitched leather extrusion – a nice way of acknowledging the rough and tumble of portability.  It’s good to have an edge in this increasingly-crowded portable DAC/headphone space; especially

A few years ago now I was shooting the shit with a friend of a friend over a few beers. That day, the jukebox was getting hit hard with Red Hot Chilli Peppers and I went off into a mini, semi-humorous (or so I thought) rant about how they were overrated. Rather than engage in debate/discussion, my drinking buddy simply

My first slice of Emotiva DAC coverage appeared nearly two years ago. In 2011, I found the XDA-1 to be a bit of a bargain – US$399 for a (then) better-than-average sound atop a killer feature set: remote controllable digital pre-amp with balance outputs. Back then, very few DACs in the shallow end of the budget market could compete with

Not a review (yet) but a heads up.  One of the more interesting reader-suggested amplifiers for the Magnepan MMG is a 10 year old, no-frills integrated from little-known Portal Audio. The Panache is a dual mono Class A/B design that seemingly inherited its looks from a Russian army tank. A bespoke 425VA toroidal runs the centre of the Panache’s engine

Ikea’s Vika Amon desks aren’t the sturdiest or most solid desktops ever made but they’re cheap (AU$87). And I’m cheap so I bought one. Any loudspeaker placed on this desk will probably affect significant bass rumble. A loudspeaker that didn’t go overboard with heft and bass punch would be required. That ruled out the Usher S-520 – my usual go

Turn, turn, turn.  Never the trust the numbers on the spec sheet.  Out in the wild, there’s the never-ending talk of the need for big watts to get you out of the Magnepan woods.  Not always so, sir.  REDGUM’s nominally rated RGi60 integrated is the finest sounding amplifier of the three that I tested with the MMGs.  That’ll be down

Metrum Acoustic’s flagship Hex DAC’s USB implementation knocked it out of the park – an internally powered M2Tech OEM module. It’s one of the very few DACs that I’ve heard that doesn’t require Concero or Audiophilleo intervention to reach optimal performance – the Hex kept it all in one box. Time now for the junior Octave to see MKII improvements.

Ogden, Utah. October 2012.  Hi-fi isn’t just about boxes and wires – it’s about people. Meet Christian Drecksel: paint shop guru and tour guide of Zu Audio’s factory floor. I’m here to talk Union, a new loudspeaker that’s pitched sonically closer to Zu’s A-game Soul Superfly (right) than their entry-level Omen (left). I’m keen to see the build process from

1998. London Stansted Airport should be not named as such. It’s not even IN London. It’s forty miles north! I’d arrived there late one night inbound from Prague one night. The journey back to Brighton, fifty miles south of London, wouldn’t be easy. I eventually stumbled onto a night bus to Victoria Station at 4am, exhausted. In the discman that

It’s amazing to think that I’ve owned an iPod in some form or other for over ten years now. I was one of the first to jump for the Windows version when it launched in late 2002. (Remember when iPods came in Mac and Windows versions?). I also recall bundling a Belkin firewire card into the bargain. My PC’s motherboard

Graham Slee has had his USB DAC & headphone amplifier in the oven for a while…and now it’s finally ready to eat. This palm-sized unit was first christened ‘Itsy’ but now it’s called Bitzie. Not much better if you ask me but it’s a minor niggle for what appears to be an impressive feature set. 24bit/192kHz-capable USB input feeds two

I wanted to call this article: What’s wrong with USB? The problem? 1. Resolution. Yes, sample rate compatibility has nearly always lagged behind the steadfast 24/192 of most S/PDIF inputs. Even two years ago many a DAC’s USB input would only decode up to 48kHz sample rates. This is slowly improving.  Some examples?  Sure!  The now ubiquitous XMOS chipset has