June 5 - German manufacturer Montegiro has created one of the most sleek looking turntables ever.

The Montegiro Lusso (Italian for luxury) features a 10-inch Da Vinci Nobile carbon fiber arm as well as Montegiro’s own MG1 cartridge.

Structurally, the Lusso comes with three (more…)

by Neil Gader 

Simaudio Moon Equinox SE CD Player
$2800
simaudio.com
The original Equinox CD player never had the distinction of being the Blue Plate Special or the flagship model in the Simuaudio lineup. Now in its final version as the SE (Signature Edition), it exemplifies everything that I’ve admired about this company’s products since I reviewed its first integrated amplifier in the 90s.

The SE’s sonics have improved with harmonic subtleties and greater contrasts that delve deeper into the recesses of the soundstage. And thanks to construction quality that verges on bunker-building, Simaudio continues to break ground in the areas of resonance and isolation control—innovations that can be clearly heard in a lower noise floor, greater sensitivity to microdynamics, and cleaner, smoother transients.

Simaudio also has a firm handle on developing software that works. Its players react to user inputs with electrifying (more…)

May 19 - I think my colleagues would agree that, as audio enthusiasts, we’re living in an exceptionally exciting time—one offering an abundance of great-sounding gear at all price points.

Although I live with extremely expensive reference components such as the $45,000 Kharma Mini Exquisite loudspeakers, the $14,000 Nagra CD player, and Midas Gold Card-expensive Tara Labs cables, the past year has also seen me reviewing a seemingly never-ending series of notably fine “real-world” gear from the likes of Exposure, Vincent, NAD, NHT, Sota, Pro-Ject, Simaudio, Epos, and Rega.

Then there are perennial “best-buys” like the Magnepan MG 12 and MMG speakers reviewed by Jonathan Valin in Issue 177. If I mention so many products, it’s not to rack up some kind of “runners-up” list but to illustrate my opening point. Indeed, all one needs to do is peruse any issue’s Table of Contents to realize that these are very special days for our hobby.  

B&W 685 Loudspeaker

$600

bwspeakers.com

I’ll admit to having mixed responses in the past to the speakers made by England’s venerable Bowers & Wilkins. Some earned my admiration; some left me ho-hum. But the 685 knocked me flat. Made at B&W’s own specially built factory in China, the 685 is a model for what an affordable small speaker should be.

It has outstanding top-to-bottom tonal balance, fine bass response that is reasonably extended without resorting to the kind of pumped-up artificiality often used to fool the innocent, a large well-focused soundstage, and an easy extended top end. Savings in labor costs have allowed B&W to put money into performance oriented touches such as more rigid cabinetry, a woven Kevlar bass/midrange driver, and a freshly designed Nautilus tweeter assembly, as well as cosmetic niceties rarely seen at this price.

When it comes to playing music, the 685 is a (more…)

Minus the incessant ringing of slot machines in my ears, the seizure-inducing flashes of a billion neon lights, and the slew of pretty women in “bunny” outfits or bustiers (or, in the case of AVA’ers, nothing at all) to distract me, it was tough to recognize the elegant, business-like, Bauhaus-inspired M.O.C. (Munich Order Center) as the site of a hi-fi show. And yet that’s what it is—after CES, perhaps the largest hi-fi show in the world, held this April from the 24th to the 27th.  Continue Reading Here