I can’t think of another hi-fi manufacturer that puts out new products at anything like FiiO’s rate. In 2026, that rate has ...

UMe has added The Velvet Underground’s 1969 self-titled third album to its Vinylphyle series of all-analogue reissues. The wrinkle? This edition is cut from Lou Reed’s “Closet Mix” and – as far as I ...

FiiO has retired its FT5 open-back planar. The headline change in its replacement, the FT15, is the diaphragm. At 800nm thick, FiiO says it is 86.7% thinner than the outgoing model’s. It also now ...

YBA is going portable. The French brand was founded in 1981 by Yves-Bernard André and has been owned by China’s Shanling since 2009. Its new VIBE series for headphone listeners and smaller desktop ...

🎵 Song IDs? Playlists of all music heard in this video – and other videos – can be found on PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/johndarko John splits his time ...

Apple AirPlay comes with a hidden gotcha. Not the “stream-must-travel-through-the-iPhone” gotcha. That’s well known. I’m talking about a different, less obvious gotcha. Awwwwww. What follows is based ...

It has occurred to me that some audiophiles will find the new Playback Designs MPD-8 Dream DAC (US$22,000) to be an audacious name for a new product. But those of us that have been familiar with the ...

In a recent video, I said that I didn’t see the utility of multi-room streaming for smaller apartments; that if I wanted to hear music while I was upstairs in my 80sqm one-bedroom duplex, I’d simply ...

I’ve given up on bucket lists, they tempt fate. I imagine the Grim Reaper letting me tick a few things off, then stepping in to cart me away, a wry ‘gotcha’ spread broadly across his face. Swimming ...

I first looked at the original Mytek Liberty DAC in 2018 (review here). Six months later, I compared it to its bigger brother, the Brooklyn DAC. Both devices impressed. I bought the Liberty review ...

A few things didn’t make the final cut of my SA45 video. Almost all of them were editorial casualties. Here’s what got the chop. 1. Why didn’t I use the supplied puck microphone? Habit, mainly. I’ve ...