Tag Archives: USB
Naim does DSD with new NAC-N 272 preamp/DAC/network player
New from Naim is the £3300 NAC-N 272, a combined network music player, DAC and preamplifier – and for the first time in a Naim product it can play DSD files, either from local storage such as USB devices or streamed over a home network. The reason I was down in Salisbury last week – […]
REVIEW: Hands-on with mu-so by Naim
Much-anticipated all-in-one proves stylish and flexible – and it does ‘the Naim thing’, too! UPDATE: A new Naim control app for mu-so and other Naim network music products, mentioned in the review below, is now available for both iOS and Android smartphone and tablets. The new unified control app for Naim’s mu-so and the […]
REVIEW: Oppo HA-1 headphone amplifier
Bells, whistles and solid engineering in this all-in-one headphone amp and DAC, plus a smooth, confident sound to make the most of the superb PM-1 ‘phones Headphone amplifiers are clearly like buses: you wait ages for one, then two come along at once. And so it was, just as I was wrapping up my review […]
REVIEW: Fiio X3 gets even better as new firmware adds DSD and a slicker interface
Free download improves the user-interface immensely, and the £160 digital media player now handles more music formats and plays them better, too The Fiio X3, the Chinese company’s great-sounding little digital media player, just keeps on getting better. You may have read my original review of this bargain-priced device back in August last year, and […]
REVIEW: Pro-Ject DAC Box DS
Fine-sounding converter is now even better value with DSD capability DSD: it’s a contentious subject among those interested in all things high-resolution. I’ve been subject to some quite scathing comments from some keyboard warriors for suggesting anyone should buy products not supporting DSD, which they see as the way, truth and light; others, meanwhile, see […]
Naim mu-so is a radical all-in-one network music system
Selling for £895 when it goes on sale in September, mu-so packs Wi-Fi, UPnP, Bluetooth and AirPlay, along with six speakers driven actively by 450W of digital amplification – and Android app control! This is the Naim mu-so: launched in April as Muso, but now renamed mu-so in time for its on-sale debut in September […]
REVIEW: Simple Audio Listen Bluetooth speakers
Simple by name and smart by nature, these innovative speakers deliver great desktop sound As I think I’ve said before, regular readers will know I’m not the greatest fan of Bluetooth speakers: too many of them are inexpensive, plasticky and a triumph of some kind of style over function. However, of late I’ve been spending […]
REVIEW: Quad Platinum DMP and Stereo power amplifier
While the links to history are obvious, there’s a distinct whiff of ‘I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore’ about the Quad Platinum range. In my position as Audio Editor of Gramophone, I do occasionally have to disabuse people of a few well-rehearsed myths about the readership. No, the magazine’s readers didn’t all start […]
Can this little stick make any audio device with a USB socket sound better?
In Japan, and have just been shown – and had demonstrated – a little device said to be able to make any product with a USB port sound better. Can tell you it involves hand-soldering in silver, and mica from Giridi Bihar in sub-Himalayan India, may sell for €100, and comes from a surprising source. […]
REVIEW: Meridian Prime Headphone Amplifier – so much more than the name suggests
The new headphone amp from Meridian is its most ambitious personal audio product so far, with analogue and digital inputs, processing to get the sound out of your head and the ability to be used as a preamp And then there were three: on the heels of Meridian’s Explorer DAC/headphone amp and recently-launched Director DAC […]
WORDS AND MUSIC 
Recent Comments