Recommended Reference Component: Bluesound Node Icon Streaming Preamplifier
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 15 July 2025 15 July 2025
For more than a decade, Bluesound’s Node streamers, introduced in 2014, have impressed us with their performance and minimalist design. The Node Icon, the latest addition to the series, has gone far beyond the earlier models in both respects. According to Roger Kanno, who reviewed the Node Icon on June 1 on SoundStage! Simplifi, it “provides an unbeatable combination of sound quality and practical features.”
Recommended Reference Component: Hegel Music Systems D50 Digital-to-Analog Converter
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 15 June 2025 15 June 2025
Norway’s Hegel Music Systems has taken what some might see as a step back with its D50, eschewing streaming, digital signal processing (DSP), and preamplifier functionality to produce a bare-bones digital-to-analog converter (DAC) of the highest performance. A “racehorse DAC,” company representatives have dubbed it. Earlier this month, George de Sa wrote most favorably about the D50, concluding his review with the assessment that, for some, the Hegel D50 could be an “endgame DAC.”
Recommended Reference Component: Bryston Bi-200 Integrated Amplifier
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 15 May 2025 15 May 2025
The Bryston Bi-200 integrated amplifier is yet another example of the Canadian company’s enduring commitment to high-end, no-nonsense audio engineering. It builds on the extensive development efforts Bryston invested in its BP-19 preamplifier and 3B3 power amplifier by joining these two components into a single chassis. The design goal of the Bi-200 was ambitious: to provide a convenient integrated solution with the sonic strength of separate components. Philip Beaudette’s review of the Bi-200 was published on this site earlier this month.
Recommended Reference Component: EMM Labs DV2i Streaming DAC-Preamplifier
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 15 April 2025 15 April 2025
In his April 2025 review on SoundStage! Ultra, Phil Gold discusses the EMM Labs DV2i, a high-end streaming DAC-preamplifier priced at $35,000 (all prices in USD). The DV2i, by integrating network streaming capability with advanced digital-to-analog conversion, marks an evolutionary step from its predecessors, the DV2 and the DV2 V2 (Phil’s reference DAC at the time), which lack this capability.
Recommended Reference Component: Bowers & Wilkins 801 D4 Signature Loudspeaker
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 15 March 2025 15 March 2025
The latest version of the venerable 801 loudspeaker from Bowers & Wilkins, which debuted in 1979, is the 801 D4 Signature. In his review of the 801 D4 Signature, published on SoundStage! Ultra last December, senior editor Jason Thorpe writes that the original model made a deep impression on him and many others and that it was among a small group of “landmark stereo components that changed the direction of audio.” The 801 was indeed a seminal loudspeaker, one that set the course for Bowers & Wilkins. It has undergone many revisions over the years and has introduced design elements that are now found in other models.
Recommended Reference Component: DALI Epikore 9 Loudspeaker
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 15 February 2025 15 February 2025
The idea that bigger is better does not necessarily hold when it comes to loudspeakers. Some large speakers are capable of such prodigious low-end output that they can overwhelm a room. This was something Jason Thorpe experienced when he auditioned the DALI Epikore 11 ($60,000; all prices USD for a pair), the first model to be released in the Danish brand’s premium Epikore series.
Recommended Reference Component: Arendal Sound 1528 Tower 8 Loudspeaker
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 15 January 2025 15 January 2025
For the last few months, Norway’s Arendal Sound and its Tower 8 loudspeaker, the flagship model in the company’s new 1528 series, have consumed a lot of SoundStage! Network’s bandwidth: two videos on our YouTube channel—one about Arendal Sound, the other about the 1528 series—and three articles by Doug Schneider on this website about the Tower 8, the most detailed of which appeared as a full review in his December 1 System One column. The Tower 8 earned a Reviewers’ Choice award at the time this review was published and a Product of the Year award when the SoundStage! Network’s annual awards were announced, on December 15.
Recommended Reference Component: Eversolo Audio DMP-A8 Streaming Preamplifier
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 15 November 2024 15 November 2024
When assessing a product for SoundStage! Simplifi, our reviewers consider more than just sound quality: convenience, features, and ease of use all play a role as such qualities are important to Simplifi’s readers. In contrast, reviewers assessing components for our other sites focus, sometimes almost exclusively, on sound quality. Not surprisingly, shortcomings in one or more aspects of a component’s usability are often identified—few products can tick every box.
Recommended Reference Component: Simaudio Moon 891 Streaming Preamplifier
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 15 October 2024 15 October 2024
In May 2023, Simaudio released its Moon North Collection, comprising the 641 integrated amplifier, 681 streaming digital-to-analog converter (DAC), 761 and 861 power amplifiers, and 791 and 891 streaming preamplifiers. In December 2023, Doug Schneider reviewed the 791 on this site, highlighting the preamp’s DAC, streaming functionality, and MM/MC phono stage, and concluded that it should “appeal to the discerning audiophile who wants an uncompromised preamplifier that could easily handle today’s playback needs and those in years to come.”
Recommended Reference Component: NAD Masters M66 Streaming Preamplifier
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 15 September 2024 15 September 2024
Last month, Roger Kanno’s review of the NAD Masters M66 streaming preamplifier appeared on this site. In his review, Roger notes that the M66 was meant to be a companion to the Masters 23 stereo/mono amplifier, which he reviewed in March of last year, pointing out that it complements the M23 in both aesthetics and performance. The M66 and M23 are respectively priced at $5499 and $3749 (all prices in USD).
