Views 4,918 With the winter holidays drawing us closer to each other and to our families, it is time to be grateful that we survived another year, that we got to listen to so much excellent music, to meet so many new awesome people, and to explore this wonderful hobby …
Amplifier – that part that takes the signal from a DAC and powers your Headphones, Speakers, IEMs, and even more.
You can find my reviews on amplifiers below, and the best amplifiers here: https://amzn.to/3GeTvSt
A. Amplifier
Sparkos Gemini Tube Headphone Amplifier – HiFi Delight Meets American Precision
Views 9,673 Sparkos Gemini is a $995 USD Tube Headphone Amplifier with RCA inputs, RCA outputs, XLR Headphone outputs, and with Sparkos Labs SS2590 Discrete OPA Output Stage. Today we will review the Sparkos Gemini and compare it with other headphone amplifiers we recently reviewed, including Aune S17 PRO (699 …
Creative Sound Blaster G8 Desktop Hi-Res Dual DAC AMP – BiAmp Gaming Acoustic Engine
Views 11,331 Creative Sound Blaster G8 is a $149 USD desktop DAC / AMP with a Dual DAC inside, Hi-Res decoding support, and Proprietary XAMP dedicated amplifier. Today we will review the G8 and explore how it works, how it sounds like and if it would make a good purchase …
Loxjie A40 HiFi Integrated Stereo Power Amplifier – DAC and MQA-CD with 165W x 2 Driving Power
Views 22,227 Loxjie A40 is a $255 USD entry-level Integrated Power Amplifier with a huge driving power per channel, HDMI ARC input, USB input, Aux Input, Phono input, and with both a Speaker Output and a Headphone Output. Today we will explore the diverse and boundless world of the A40 …
HIFIMAN EF500 HiFi Desktop DAC / AMP – Hymalaya Stream Of Unbound Power
Views 25,369 HIFIMAN EF500 is a $459 USD Desktop Headphone Amplifier, DAC, Streamer based on the novel Hymalaya R2R DACs developed by HIFIMAN, known to surpass the venerable PCM1704K. Today we will review the EF500 and also compare it with other DAC/AMPs including HIFIMAN EF499 (299 USD), Burson PlayMate2 (544 …
Topping B100 Mono HiFi Desktop Stereo Amplifier – Monoblock Clockwork Maestro
Views 32,138 Topping B100 is a Speaker Amplifier, and it is sold per piece, with a price of $299 USD per piece, although you will need two for your standard stereo setup, so you might as well consider the full price to be $598 USD per pair. Today we will …
HIFIMAN EF499 HiFi DAC Headphone AMP Review – Music Nectar Sweet Spot
Views 28,311 HIFIMAN EF499 is a $299 USD Entry-Level R-2R DAC / Headphone Amplifier, with a powerful 4.35 W headphone output, and a full-black, vertical design. Given the price point, and the quality of the unit, we will also compare the EF499 with other similarly priced DAC / AMPs, including …
Feliks Audio Euforia Evo HiFi Tube Amplifier / Preamp – Dream Of The Richest Sound
Views 31,686 Feliks Audio Euforia Evo is a 2699 EURO / $2991 USD Headphone Amplifier based on the Tube Technology, being the ultimate achievement in OTL Technology, having a superb design, coming with 4 tubes in total, 2 for drive and 2 for PRE, along with a an improved design …
SINGXER SA-1 V2 HiFi Headphone Amplifier – Boundless Smooth Silk Music Flow
Views 27,338 Singxer SA-1 V2 is a $599 USD Headphone Amplifier / Desktop Stereo Preamplifier with a high-end internal design, upper midrange pricing, and a beautiful design that makes most of the competition pale in comparison. Thanks to its Class A architecture and completely analog design, SA-1 V2 is the …
AIYIMA A70 HiFi Stereo Speaker Amplifier – Explosive Box Of Power
Views 22,671 AIYIMA A70 is a $189 USD stereo speaker amplifier with a huge amount of driving power, offering up to 300W x 2 for speakers, having both RCA and XLR inputs, a SNR of 116dB, and user-replaceable OP-AMPs. Today we will review the A70 and explore what setups can …
Fosi Audio V3 Mono HiFi Amplifier – Twofold Music Punch Expansion
Views 28,139 Fosi Audio v3 is a Mono Power Amplifier priced at $169 USD per piece, or $338 USD for the pair of amplifiers that we’re reviewing today. This is a Class D Amplifier, with modular OP-AMPs, which can accommodate both Sparkos and Burson Audio OP-AMPs, and which is a …
iBasso PB5 Osprey HiFi Tube Amplifier – Apex Analogic Musicality
Views 39,677 iBasso PB5 Osprey is a $1499 USD Summit-Fi Portable Tube Headphone Amplifier, featuring the most complex Dual Nutube 6P1 Tube setup manufactured by KORG and Noritake, being the 6th generation NuTubes, combined with 6 Batteries, and and a stepped volume attenuator to deliver the best sonic performance you …
Creative Sound Blaster AE-9 PCIe Sound Card – Ultimate 32-Bit Xamp Music Explosion
Views 29,474 Creative Sound Blaster AE-9 is a $350 USD PCIe Internal Sound Card with an external console controller, a full audio kit designed to be your DAC/AMP with a rich selection of software features, as well as lots of driving power, Xamp, BiAMP, Line Out, and many more features …
KAEI TAP-1 HiFi DACs AMPs – Fuzzy Magic Of Pocket Tubes
Views 36,798 KAEI TAP-1 DACs is a $329 USD DAC / Headphone Amplifier, with Dual CS43131 DACs inside, a Tube Preamplifier stage, and a solid state amplifier stage with modular OP-AMPs, that allow you to fine tune and change the sound. The unit can come in multiple variations, with DACs …
HIFIMAN Mini Shangri-La Headphone System – Brilliant Electrostatic HIFI Delight
Views 49,333 HIFIMAN Mini Shangri-La is a 2300 USD Electrostatic headphone system, composed of the Mini Shangri-La Headphones which cost 1100 USD, and the Electrostatic Amplifier which costs 1500 USD, with the system having a better price combined than if you bought each individually. Today we are going to review …
Topping A50 III Headphone Amplifier – Refinement And Power Minified
Views 34,563 Topping A50 III is a $199 USD Headphone Amplifier, recommended for purchase along with the Topping D50 III Dac which we have reviewed recently, and the headphone amplifier counterpart to that DAC. Today we will review the A50 III and compare it with other headphone amplifiers, including JDS …
iBasso D16 Taipan 1 Bit FPGA DAC AMP with 128 DACs – The Ultimate Listening Experience Of Cascaded 16 Sets of 8E PWM-DACs
Views 46,260 iBasso D16 is a $1499 USD Digital to Analog Converter and Super Class A Headphone Amplifier, designed as a portable unit, with what I consider to be the most unique DAC tech we have seen this year. I am talking about 1Bit DACs, with 16 sets of cascaded …
ECdesigns PowerDAC-SX Stereo HIFI Integrated DAC – Ultimate Levels Of Power And Control
Views 45,516 ECdesigns PowerDAC-SX is a 3450 EURO / $3700 USD DAC which can directly drive speakers, and balanced headphones without using any amplifiers. It comes with a remote, and it is one of the most interesting and unique stereo sound reproduction solutions in the whole world. Today we will …
iFi Zen DAC 3 DAC / AMP – Sonic Balance V3
Views 31,700 iFi Zen DAC 3 is a $229 USD DAC / AMP designed by iFi Audio, with a Balanced headphone output, a single ended headphone output, and it is the latest variant in their lineup of affordable and freshly designed DACs. Today we will review the Zen DAC 3 …
Burson PlayMate 2 DAC / AMP – Incredible Efficiency And Precision
Views 34,833 Burson Playmate 2 is a $544 USD DAC / Headphone Amplifier, with a huge driving power for headphones, and a full metallic chassis, but also with modular OP-AMPs for you to tune and sound and enjoy it in your own favorite flavor. Today we will review the PlayMate …
HIFIMAN Prelude Pre / Amp – Bold Leader Headphone Amplifier
Views 57,348 HIFIMAN Prelude is a $2499 USD full Class A Headphone Amplifier, with a Mos-Fet High Current Output, which can convert even the single ended input to fully balanced, with ALPS Potentiometer, and a whopping 10W of power into a 32 OHM impedance. We are reviewing the leader of …
HIFIMAN Goldenwave Serenade – Himalaya PRO R2R DAC AMP
Views 65,422 HIFIMAN Goldenwave Serenade is a $999 USD DAC and Headphone Amplifier, with a Himalaya PRO R2R DAC inside, with a new FPGA algorithm and 0.01% precision resistors, and with a THD rate of -6 dB, 0.0012%. Today we will review it and compare it to Dethonray Listening M1 …
Dethonray Listening M1 DAC / Headphone Amplifier – Beautiful And Deep Music Sound
Views 87,772 Dethonray Listening M1 is a $2599 USD DAC AMP made for desktop, with a really sleek design, ultimate sound architecture, and as we wil explore today, a sound that’s unlike anything we heard before. Given its price point, we will compare it to the best of the best …
JDS Labs Atom AMP 2 – All-Metal Headphone Amplifier With Octo-Buffers
Views 36,466 JDS Labs Atom AMP 2 is a $129 USD Headphone Amplifier which is an update to the ultra-popular JDS Labs Atom AMP+ and Atom AMP Hevi, this time coming with just 30 USD of increase in the price, but with a 4.4mm headphone output (intorduced at the request …
Fosi Audio V3 Hifi Stereo Desktop Class D Amplifier – Orange Wheel, Music Play
Views 33,766 Fosi Audio V3 is a $129 USD high-quality entry-level Power Amplifier with a 300W x 2 promised power, a really tiny design, and exceptional support from Fosi. Given the price point, we will be comparing V3 to other entry-level stereo amplifiers, including AIYIMA A07 PRO (89 USD), Fosi …