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Review: Audeze LCD-3 Planar Magnetic Headphone

An audience with the world's least likely reference headphone
- By Michael Berk
- Posted February 5, 2013
One of the most interesting success stories of the new wave of headphone audiophila is Audeze. The company, which specializes in planar magnetic headphones with wooden ear cups, luxurious appointments, and you're-got-to-hear-it-to-believe-it sonics. We got a chance recently to spend some time with their flagship, the LCD-3 ($1,945), a headphone that's become the top choice for many of today's personal audio enthusiasts. Obviously, we needed to hear why.

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Review: HiFiMan HE-6 Headphone and EF-6 Amplifier

What does a $2,900 headphone setup sound like?
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted October 29, 2012
Like wine, sushi, and plumbers, headphones can get a lot more expensive than most people realize. At Sound+Vision, we focus on under-$500 models. But when Dr. Fang Bian, the visionary entrepreneur behind the HiFiMan headphone company, asked if I’d like to try the company’s top-of-the-line, $1,299 HE-6 headphone and its new $1,599 EF-6 headphone amplifier, I thought it’d be a great chance to give our usual listening panel a sample of what only the most devoted and/or wealthy headphone aficionados usually get to hear.

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Review: HiFiMan HE-400 and HE-500 Headphones

Can planar magnetic drivers really be done right for just $400?
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted February 8, 2012
Ask any group of audiophiles what kind of speakers they have, and I guarantee you at least one and probably several will answer “Magnepan.” Why do audiophiles so love this relatively obscure brand? No, not (just) because it’s obscure. They love Magnepans because of the incredible detail, soundstaging, and natural timbre of their planar magnetic drivers. For the same reason, headphone enthusiasts are embracing planar magnetic headphones.

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Review: Magnepan Mini Maggie

Something truly different for the desktop
- By Geoffrey Morrison
- Posted December 5, 2011
“This is the worst listening room I’ve ever heard,” Magnepan’s Wendell Diller said, half joking. It might have been less than half.
Honestly, I couldn’t disagree. We were sitting in my office, facing my computer and a newly setup Mini Maggie system. I don’t review speakers in my office, for good reason. It’s basically a cube with mostly bare walls: one of the worst acoustic environments possible.
And with any speaker — especially a planar magnetic speaker — the room is a huge part of the deal. So began my quest for a better room, better sound, and the perfect setup.

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Review: BG Radia's Supersized Surround System

Some of the finest movie sound you'll hear outside a movie theater
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted September 20, 2011
The speaker world is anything but conservative. Think of the different types you can buy: good ol’ cones ’n’ domes, electrostatics, planar magnetics, ribbons, horns, pulsating spheres, and more, mounted in all sorts of enclosures or in no enclosures at all.
The world of custom home theater is less daring. Installers want speaker systems that sound great, play loud as hell for hours on end, place reasonable demands on amplifiers, and install easily. This is why you rarely see anything but cone ’n’ dome speakers used in custom home theaters.
Of the companies catering to the custom market, BG Radia is one of the few that does things differently.

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