Audiophile

It's been a busy week for high-end portable audio brand Astell&Kern, with the launch of the fourth member of its Kann performance line of digital audio players plus a new pair of in-ear monitors in collaboration with Campfire Audio.

Buying a new turntable to ride the current wave of interest in music on vinyl records can be both daunting and expensive. Austria's Pro-Ject is looking to make the process less so with the launch of a new line of budget-friendly hi-fi disc spinners.

Austrian hi-fi gear maker Pro-Ject has announced the X8 turntable, its first model to feature "True Balanced Connection" technology for improved signal purity and the promise of more detailed playback.

Korean mobile audiophile brand Astell&Kern has entered the crowded true wireless earphone space with the angular UW100 earbuds, which rock a 32-bit DAC, balanced armature drivers, Bluetooth 5.2 and aptX Adaptive.

Though high resolution digital music can be streamed to wireless earphones rocking certain codecs, many would argue that the best sound quality is served up by wired ear candy. And it's these kind of folks that Sennheiser's IE 600s are aimed at.

Sony has announced a pair of digital audio players that can stream over Wi-Fi as well as play Hi-Res stored music, boast native 11.2-MHz DSD and offer balanced and unbalanced headphone output. And one of those players is wrapped in gold-plated bling.

Music lovers hoping to enjoy high-resolution audio from a smartphone may well find that the conversion circuitry inside is simply not up to the task. The Zen One Signature DAC from Brit audio specialist iFi has been designed to rectify that.

As we've noted a number of times, sales of vinyl records are on the up, but many music lovers also want modern convenience. Brit hi-fi brand Cambridge Audio launched an aptX HD Bluetooth turntable in 2019, and has now announced a follow up.

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.

Denmark's AIAIAI has added a new flavor to its TMA-2 modular headphones system introduced back in 2015. The Wireless+ over-ears have been developed in collaboration with music producer Richie Hawtin, and are designed with creative pros in mind.

UK hi-fi specialist Audiolab has leveraged its award-winning know-how to create a "just add speakers" music system called the Omnia, which features a Class AB amp, rocks a CD player, caters to streaming needs, and can even be cabled to a turntable.

High-end audio specialist Astell&Kern has launched a Bluetooth speaker called the Acro BE100 that's designed to deliver the company's signature hi-fi sound in a compact package sporting the look of its award-winning digital audio players.