Articles

2024 Golden Ear: MBL C41 Network Player
$11,100 This moderately affordable streamer/DAC/digital preamplifier from Jürgen Reis of […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- May 27th, 2025

2024 Golden Ear: Kalista DreamPlay XC Streamer/Disc Player/DAC/Digital Preamp
$79,000 The Kalista DreamPlay XC from France is by design […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- May 24th, 2025

2024 Golden Ear: Soulution 757 Deemphasis Preamplifier
$79,000 The 757 preamp, Cyril Hammer’s Series 7 replacement for […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- May 20th, 2025

2024 Golden Ear: Soulution 727 Linestage/Full-Function Preamplifier
$74,975 (optional mm/mc phono card $11,975) With 20MHz bandwidth and […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- May 17th, 2025

2024 Golden Ear: Analog Audio Design TP-1000 Tape Deck
$27,000 Here is yet another outstanding high-end component from France. […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- May 13th, 2025

2024 Golden Ear: JMF Audio HQS 7001 Monoblock Amplifier and PRS 1.5 Linestage Preamplifier
$77,000/pr. and $36,000 Like the UHA Ultima Apollo, this pair […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- May 10th, 2025

2024 Golden Ear: Magico S3 2023 Loudspeaker
$45,500 When, at AXPONA, Robert and I first auditioned the […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- May 06th, 2025

2024 Golden Ear: United Home Audio Ultima Apollo Tape Deck
$55,000 (with outboard DC power supply) This has been a […]
- by Jonathan Valin
- May 03rd, 2025

2024 Golden Ear: YG Acoustics Hailey 3 Loudspeaker
$63,400 Although the Hailey 3 looks identical to its predecessor, […]
- by Alan Taffel
- Apr 28th, 2025

2024 Golden Ear: CH Precision I1 (Upgraded) Integrated Amplifier
$38,000–$54,000 The I1 is a previous Golden Ear winner, but […]
- by Alan Taffel
- Apr 25th, 2025

2024 Golden Ear: Avantgarde Trio G3 Loudspeaker
$109,000–$175,000/pair For the better part of my 54 years as […]
- by Paul Seydor
- Apr 15th, 2025

2024 Golden Ear: Musical Surroundings Phonomena III Phono Preamp and Linear Power Supply
Phonomena III $1200, LPS $1000 The culmination of the several […]
- by Paul Seydor
- Apr 11th, 2025