Amplifier

Hauling heavy gear to entertain passers-by can be a pain for street or subway musicians... literally. The Caseic from Florida's Zachary DeJarnette could make such things less of a chore, by combining a guitar case with an amplifier and speaker combo.

Though perhaps mostly known for its high-end digital audio players like the mighty A&ultima SP2000T, Astell&Kern also has ear candy, speakers and amps in its product lineup. Now the company has combined a desktop headphone amp with a music player for a blocky all-in-one system known as the Acro CA1000.

This tiny, $100 gadget plugs into your guitar where the lead would normally go, and gives you instant access to 12 beautifully modeled amp sounds and a range of effects through headphones, for super-portable practice and recording. Very impressive!

Though the UK's Cambridge Audio always has its ears tuned on top quality audio, as with the recently-announced Alva TT, the company is also mindful that budget music lovers appreciate good sound too. And so it is with the new AX series of a wallet-friendly hi-fi gear.

IK Multimedia has announced a new practice amp with an integrated digital interface. The iRig Micro Amp allows bedroom guitarists or street performers to tap into a modeling universe of digital tone, either plugged into the mains or running on battery power.

McIntosh Labs has revealed a new turntable that has a phono pre-amp and hi-fi amplifier built in, with glowing tubes up top and Bluetooth streaming cooked in. All you need to get the party started is to cable up some quality speakers.

​We've seen some incredible instruments from Fender Custom Shop's Yuriy Shishkov in the last couple of years. And now the Master Builder has teamed up with Jim Dolmage to create a guitar and amp which pay a not-so-subtle homage to The Who's iconic 1975 rock opera, Tommy.​

Manchester-based GPO says it made one out of every 10 turntables sold during the UK's holiday period in 2016. Until now it's product catalog was made up of budget audio equipment, but it's now aiming at cost-savvy audiophiles with the new premium, yet wallet-friendly, PR range.

David Bowie's career spanned more than 50 years and the electric guitar was central to much of his innovative musical creations. Canadian-born Rob Robson has aimed to capture the essence of the Bowie sound in a semi-assembled guitar amplifier called the Little Wonder.

Yale scientists have created a method to significantly increase the power of laser light on a silicon chip by boosting it with sound waves. This new device promises more efficient fiber-optic communications and better data signal processing

In the last year or two we've seen several hearing wearables pop up, using the same smartphone-connected principles as smartwatches to augment, enhance or block out your ears' experience of the world. Let's look at today's best hearing wearables.

The Nexum Aqua, currently funding on Kickstarter, enhances smartphone audio experiences with powerful DAC/AMP technology and battery-free design.