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This 2025 holiday gift guide charges through sub-$400 audiophile gems, spotlighting beryllium-kissed headphones, Chi-Fi IEM overachievers and Andrew Jones–tuned speakers, sketching a lineup that sounds far pricier than its festive price ceiling.
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Robert Schryer finds himself unexpectedly swept away by NuPrime’s IDA-9, a sleek, compact powerhouse whose rich, dynamic sound belies its price.
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Bob Bachelor leads the Lyric Theatre Singers’ Candlelight Christmas 2025, blending gospel, choral classics, and a South African carol in a concert series that promises joy, reflection, and rich seasonal harmony.
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NuPrime’s IDA-9 replaces the IDA-8 with a faster 600 kHz Class-D stage, GaN-based power supply, and precision resistor-ladder volume control—all in a compact chassis engineered entirely in-house for speed, consistency, and control.
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Robert Schryer spends a week with Rega’s new Mercury preamp and Solis amplifier stack before they’re shipped off for their North American launch in Victoria, British Columbia—and misses them dearly once they’re gone.
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Steven Stone is back with a hi-res portable player he dubs a “super value” and a pair of under-$100 in-ear monitors he calls “an excellent addition to an out-of-office travel kit.”
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Shanling’s new ECZero AKM portable CD player lands in the U.S. via Forte Distribution, blending AKM DAC tech, dual amps, and Bluetooth 5.3 in a sleek, $349 design aimed at serious CD-loving audiophiles.
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Altitudo showcased Audiovector’s R8 Arrete and Audio Physics Avanti speakers, driven by Trilogy electronics, with standout musicality and vivid imaging.
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A journal pulses with ink and intent as a listener records the thousand-hour unraveling of sound.
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Calling it “even better” than past models, Ian Ringstead hails the Hana SL Mk2 MC cartridge for its lush sound, low noise, and flawless tracking—especially impressive paired with his Technics SL1300G and valve phono stage.
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Scott Berry’s Computer Audio Design shifts focus from amps and DACs to the hidden culprit in system performance—high-frequency noise—offering Ground Control and USB Filter devices that reviewers credit with sharper imaging and more natural tonality.
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MOON by Simaudio’s 371 network player/amplifier—the debut of the new Compass Collection—has landed, packing serious tech and features into one sleek box.
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Chris Baillie finds the Melco S1 network switch so transformative, it pushed his already high-end system into territory he hadn’t thought possible—revealing stunning realism, expanded dynamics, and a truly immersive soundstage.
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Steven Stone details his DIY journey building a dual-Raspberry Pi streamer, ultimately finding its subtle sonic and ergonomic benefits—especially long-term listening ease—surpass even pricier, dropout-prone built-in Ethernet solutions.
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If music is therapy, then sound systems are psychiatrists. And we believe it’s well overdue for insurance to start covering the gear that lets us sob in Dolby Atmos.
