I took my sweetest time on this, but here I finally am with my first article about E1DA dongles. This one is about the two models called 9038SG3 and 9038D. A subsequent article will cover PowerDAC V2.1. 9038SG3 is E1DA’s latest iteration of the 9038S model, which over time went through 3 generations – this…
Reconstruction Filters For Dummies
Where the dummy is me! It took me so long to make myself a decently clear idea about this topic that I eventually took a breath and put it down in form of a single (hopefully) organised story. Enjoy! The problem we have, and how does it matter DACs’ business is receiving digital files and…
Apogee Groove Anniversary Edition
A few of you may know that Apogee released an “Anniversary Edition” of their Groove DAC-AMP dongle in conjunction with the company’s 30th year in business, back in 2015. Originally priced at a substancially higher level compared to the regular version – which still retails for $249,00 – such Anniversary model is now discontinued. Externally…
RHA CL2 – surely best planar yet
I never fell in love with the planar timbre, neither in the end I did this time. It’s just not precisely my cup of tea. Yet this time it was a much closer call, really. What I heard is no doubt a full class above any other chifi planar I auditioned to date. This piece…
KZ CRN
I have no direct experience with KZ products. Most of all, as my 15 readers know very well, I’m never enticed about overhyped products in general. If something, hype works towards distancing me from something, not the other way around. That being said, I’ve recently been sent a pair of privately owned KZ CRN with…
iFi GO Blu
GO Blu is iFi’s entry-level DAC-AMP, primarly focused on Bluetooth connectivity, high miniaturisation and straightforward operation. It retails for just below 200€ and I got a temporary loan unit for review purposes which I analysed for quite an extended time. Here’s my report. At-a-glance Card PROs CONs Outstanding DAC reconstruction quality Unimpressive Single Ended output…
An LMS infrastructure (update)
A bit more than a year ago I published a piece describing features and benefits of my home LMS (Logitech Media Server) infrastructure. Over time my setup has evolved a bit and this is an update to the original article. Logitech Media Server is a piece of software and it well described here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logitech_Media_Server The…
Dunu Falcon Pro
Falcon Pro are Dunu’s entry level model on their Eclipse lineup – the one featuring Zen / Zen Pro and Luna on its higher tiers. Featuring a single dynamic driver and a $219,99 price point Falcon Pro compete on a quite interesting market segment, populated – as usual – by a lot of underwhelming (or…
iFi IEMatch
iFi IEMatch is one of those devices which application is not immediately obvious to the layman – and even to some amateur audiophiles, including myself of course! Once I “got” its purpose though I found it so usefeul, and so effective, that it became a fundamental part of my audio toolbox. Indeed I even own…
iFi hip-dac2 (and hip-dac)
iFi Audio recently sent me an hip-dac2 for review and I’ve been auditioning it for a while with great pleasure. The new version of iFi’s recently discontinued hip-dac, amongst the few low cost mobile dac-amps featured of Audioreviews’ Wall of Excellence, is marketed at a very similar price (€ 189,00) compared to its precedessor. At…