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Review: Meridian Explorer

The high-end audio legend unleashes one for the masses
- By Al Griffin
- Posted April 5, 2013
[*Note: After sending me an Explorer, Meridian quietly introduced a running change into its production.

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Review: High Resolution Technologies microStreamer

Big performance and value in a small, solid-aluminum package
- By Al Griffin
- Posted April 5, 2013
Housed in a billet-like slab of aluminum, the HRT microStreamer’s clean, utilitarian design tips you off right away that it means business. In this case, that biz is performing the same basic tasks as the Dragonfly, including decoding files with up to 96 kHz/24-bit resolution. And at a mere 2.5 inches, it checks in for work in a similarly compact form factor.

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Review: Audioquest DragonFly

The game-changing, insect-named DAC abides
- By Al Griffin
- Posted April 5, 2013
I’ve had a DragonFly revolving in and out of my desktop setup ever since I first checked one out for S&V’s 2012 Holiday Gift Guide, so I was already very familiar with its capabilities.

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Review: V-Moda Vamp Verza

A super-stylish, high-end headphone amp/DAC that clips onto a Samsung GS3 smartphone.
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted April 4, 2013
As an Android fan, it's been frustrating to me to see how many audio accessories have been made for the iPhone, but almost none for my phone of choice. As a Samsung Galaxy S III owner, it's been even more frustrating, because the GS3 has sold more than 40 million units to date, with the GS4 coming in a couple of weeks to keep the trend going. Finally, though, someone's come up with an audio accessory for the GS3. Not some tacky little plastic dock, either. It's actually the coolest portable headphone amp I've ever seen: the V-Moda Vamp Verza.

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Review: Battle of the DACs

Three portable, affordable USB DACs duke it out
- By Al Griffin
- Posted April 4, 2013
- 4
When Audioquest released its DragonFly USB Digital-Audio Converter back in 2012, the tiny USB-stick DAC quickly found a niche with audiophiles seeking to improve the sound quality of music played on their laptop computers and listened to via headphones or desktop speakers.

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Review: DirecTV Genie whole-home DVR

Watch your HDTV recordings everywhere in the house.
- By Kevin James
- Posted April 3, 2013
In the book of 1,000 and One Nights, Aladdin discovers a magic lamp that when rubbed releases a powerful, wish-granting genie. DirecTV is hoping that its new Genie whole-home DVR will grant your TV-viewing wishes — no bottle rubbing required.

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Review: Sharp GX-M10 Portable CD Stereo System

This hefty boombox is portable. So was a Sherman tank. Both of them kick ass.
- Posted April 3, 2013
Dainty. Elegant. Classy. Understated. These terms apply to a great majority of iPod docks and speakers. None of them apply to the GX-M10. This boombox is a real bruiser. It weighs a beefy 16.8 pounds (20.2 pounds with batteries), and is 30.5 inches long. Roughly cylindrical in shape, it looks like something you'd use to knock out a Panzer tank. Except instead of being ordinance gray, it is exuberantly orange. If someone laughs at you for carrying around something so outrageous, you can express your displeasure by crushing them with it.

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Review: Pioneer A4 Wireless Speaker

Streaming audio... plus sound quality
- By Geoffrey Morrison
- Posted April 1, 2013
- 2
I’ve reviewed a few of these types of speakers. Pioneer calls this one a “Wireless Speaker” but that’s not really adequate for the category. Music streaming speaker (MSS?) is probably more accurate, if less pithy.
Either way, my experience has been that for most, it’s function first, quality second. As in, you get sound, but it’s not very good. Unless the MSS has some sort of special attention paid to sound quality, I try to avoid them.
What got my attention with this one, then? Well, the A4 has been tuned by none other than Andrew Jones, and given how amazing his inexpensive Pioneer speakers are, I figured this doodad was worth a look.

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Review: Lirpa Labs Ts1-Lirpa iPad app

An app to bring comfort to old-school audio- and videophiles in the tablet age
- By Geoffrey Morrison
- Posted April 1, 2013
There is no audio company in the world more revered, feared, disputed, or discussed than Lirpa Labs.

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Review: Clash of the Minispeakers

Nine under-$400 minis go woofer-to-woofer in a blind listening test
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted March 29, 2013
- 15
For decades, the minispeaker has been a touchstone for audio enthusiasts. Because you can get a respectable pair of minis for a few hundred dollars, the mini is where most audiophiles start their journey into sound.

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Review: Velodyne vTrue Studio Headphones

A high-class, full-size 'phone from the big-bass experts, with a few twists.
- By Michael Berk
- Posted March 28, 2013
As Brent Butterworth reminded everyone earlier in the week, subwoofer specialists Velodyne impressed us quite a bit last year with their first headphone effort, the in-ear vPulse.

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Review: 808 headphones

These $89 cans promise a Beats-like experience at less than a third the price
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted March 27, 2013
The 808 headphones prove I’m way hipper than any of our West Coast headphone testing panel, who range from 10 to almost 20 years younger than me. “You can tell from the name it’s targeted to hip-hop fans,” I told them.

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