Recommended Reference Component: Bryston BR-20 Preamplifier-Streaming DAC
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 15 May 2023 15 May 2023
We’ve reviewed the Bryston BR-20 preamplifier and streaming DAC twice on SoundStage! Network sites. Gordon Brockhouse reviewed it for SoundStage! Simplifi in June 2021. Then, earlier this month, Evan McCosham reviewed it here on SoundStage! Hi-Fi. The reason for the two reviews has to do with the Bryston’s rich feature set, which makes it right at home on Simplifi, and its high level of sonic performance—desirable of course for Simplifi readers, but mandatory for Hi-Fi readers, who typically put far more focus on sound quality than features.
Recommended Reference Component: Focal Utopia 2022 Headphones
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 15 April 2023 15 April 2023
Brent Butterworth reviewed Focal’s updated Utopia headphones in January 2023. He began by praising the original Utopia headphones, which were released in 2016, stating that they were “probably as close as anyone’s come to perfection in headphones.” In fact, his June 2020 review earned Reviewers’ Choice and Recommended Reference Component awards for the original Utopia headphones. Since the new version ($4999, all prices in USD) has the same name, Brent explained that he would refer to the new model as the “Utopia 2022.” We have done the same here, and in the measurements report.
Recommended Reference Component: NAD Masters M23 Stereo/Mono Amplifier
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 15 March 2023 15 March 2023
In his March 1 review of the NAD Masters M23 power amplifier, Roger Kanno wrote: “Purifi’s Eigentakt class-D amplification technology first came to our attention when SoundStage! Network founder and publisher Doug Schneider raved about the performance of an engineering evaluation sample utilizing the company’s OEM modules. We subsequently reviewed several Eigentakt-based products from NAD, including the C 298 stereo amplifier, the M28 multichannel amplifier, and the M33 integrated amplifier-DAC.” The M23, which is priced at $3749 (in USD), is NAD’s latest amplifier to use the Eigentakt tech.
Recommended Reference Component: RME ADI-2 DAC FS Digital-to-Analog Converter
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 15 February 2023 15 February 2023
Matt Bonaccio’s review of the RME ADI-2 DAC FS digital-to-analog converter appeared on this site on January 15. Near the beginning of that review, Matt wrote: “Affordable, feature-laden DACs that measure well aren’t hard to come by these days, though the ADI-2 DAC FS manages to push the everyman’s standalone DAC paradigm to the extreme.” The word extreme applies both to its feature set and the way it performs objectively (i.e., on the test bench) and subjectively (i.e., listening), which might be a little surprising to some given that the ADI-2 measures only 8.5″W × 2.05″H × 5.9″D (without feet), weighs just 2.2 pounds, and is priced at a reasonable $1299 (in USD).
Recommended Reference Component: SME Model 60 Turntable and Series VA Tonearm
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 15 January 2023 15 January 2023
In his December 2022 review of the SME Model 60 turntable and Series VA tonearm on SoundStage! Ultra, Jonathan Gorse declared that SME is “one of the crown jewels of the British audio industry, and is as quintessentially English as the BBC, Windsor Castle, or strawberries and cream at Wimbledon.” In his review, Jonathan described the firm’s new Model 60 turntable as “the culmination of over 60 years of audio development.” Jonathan commented: “SME released its last flagship turntable, the Model 30, in 1990—over 30 years ago—so it’s not a company that releases new products just to appease the whims of the marketing dept.”
Recommended Reference Component: Dynaudio Focus 30 Active Loudspeaker System
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 15 December 2022 15 December 2022
Active speakers using digital signal processing (DSP) aren’t new—they’ve been part of the audiophile landscape for more than 30 years, although they were prohibitively expensive back when and have been getting far more affordable in the last decade or so. But what can be considered new are some of the features now being implemented on active speakers, such as wireless connectivity and music streaming. And in the case of Dynaudio’s Focus 30 loudspeaker system, which Gordon Brockhouse reviewed on SoundStage! Simplifi on December 1, room correction. For the Focus 30 system, room correction is provided via Dirac Live, and we believe this is the first time that Dirac Research’s software has been implemented directly on a speaker system.
Recommended Reference Component: EMM Labs DS-EQ1 Optical Phono Preamplifier
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 15 November 2022 15 November 2022
Last month, we recognized the DS Audio DS 003 optical cartridge and its companion DS 003 phono preamplifier with a Recommended Reference Component award. As Jason Thorpe explained in his review of that combo on this site, DS Audio’s cartridges don’t “rely on magnets and coils to generate an electrical signal.” Instead, DS Audio cartridges use LEDs and light sensors, and the resulting signal must then be boosted and equalized by a phono preamplifier designed specifically for optical cartridges.
Recommended Reference Component: DS Audio DS 003 Cartridge and Phono Preamplifier System
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 15 October 2022 15 October 2022
The resurgence that vinyl has experienced is certainly a boon for those who make and sell records, but there’s not much that’s new under the sun for this medium—the records, turntables, tonearms, and cartridges aren’t very different from how they were in vinyl’s heyday in the 1970s. But there has been one recent development that has advanced vinyl as a playback medium—the optical cartridges and accompanying phono preamplifiers that Japan’s DS Audio began making almost ten years ago. In July, Jason Thorpe reviewed the company’s DS Audio DS 003 cartridge and companion DS 003 phono preamplifier, a combination that he declared offers “paradigm-smashing performance” for the $6000 (all prices in USD) package price.
Recommended Reference Component: KEF LS60 Wireless Speaker System
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 15 September 2022 15 September 2022
In Gordon Brockhouse’s enthusiastic August 1 review of the KEF LS60 Wireless speaker system on SoundStage! Simplifi, he called it a “landmark product” and wondered if it would “be named a SoundStage! Network Product of the Year,” as its predecessor, KEF’s LS50 minimonitor, was in 2012. Gordon went so far as to say: “Ten years hence, might we think of the LS60 Wireless as audio’s Product of the Decade for the 2020s?” To the best of our knowledge, Gordon has never spoken so highly of a product before.
Recommended Reference Component: Sumiko Oyster Wellfleet Phono Cartridge
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 15 August 2022 15 August 2022
Some products that are recognized with a Recommended Reference Component award are expensive; for example, last month’s winner, the Gryphon Audio Designs Apex Stereo amplifier, is priced at $99,000 (all prices in USD). That product can be considered to be a reference component when cost is no object. But a lower-priced product can also receive this award if it is the best—or at least, among the best—for its price. The Sumiko Oyster Wellfleet moving-magnet cartridge, which Thom Moon reviewed for SoundStage! Access last month, is such a product.
