The Audiophile Apartment

The Audiophile Apartment’s 2025 Products of the Year

These are our picks in the last 14 months or so for our favorite products to go in smaller environments where space is at a premium, and an extra splash of style is a bonus. Read More >

Powered Delight – The Dynaudio Focus 10 Speakers

Think about cables for a few minutes. Then think about having only a pair of power cords in your system.
If you’re in a small space, less is usually more, so this is not a bad thing for you. Read More >

The Wireworld Stratus™ and Electra™Shielded Mini Power Conditioning cords

You Can’t Unhear em!

Wireworld founder David Salz makes some of the world’s finest cables, used by audiophiles and endorsed by recording engineers the world over. Read More >

2024 Products of the Year

Say, who says we have to hand out awards at the end of the year? We’ve always tried to be a little bit different so here goes. The Audiophile Apartment section of our magazine and site has always tried to concentrate on audio gear with a smaller form factor that doesn’t give anything up in performance. Read More >

The Vera-Fi Vanguard Scout Speakers

$299/pair

Verafiaudiollc.com

Listening to The Knack’s “Africa,” I tried a trick that I’ve seen at more than one hifi show – I hooked this $300 pair of speakers to about $200k worth of gear. Read More >

The Focal Vestia no.1 Speakers

After spending an afternoon with staffer Earle’s Focal Sopra 3s, just before firing up their new Vestia no.1 at my place, the level of sonic excellence they bring to a $1,198 pair of speakers seems amazing. Read More >

Teenage Engineering OB-4

Portable music for those on-the-go

By Rob Johnson

I still remember my first stereo, a 1981 Sony Boom box, which served as a loyal companion from middle school through college. Read More >

Vera-Link: The most fun you can have for $199!

Some of you may remember Mark Schifter for all the fun products he came up with during his tenure at Audio Alchemy. They made some incredible products that had cutting edge performance, in tiny enclosures, with tiny price tags to match. Read More >

The Java Single Shot Integrated Amplifier

Class-D Perfection

$8,995 -$9,495 (finish dependent)

Javahifi.com

Spoiler alert. Read More >

Our System of the Year for 2023

We’ve decided to do something different this year…

How about giving out an award at the beginning of the year and start out on a happy note? Bam. Read More >

The XSA Labs Vanguard – a new paradigm.

In case you’re wondering, XSA stands for “eXtremely Sexy Audio,” and the Vanguard monitors you see here, done up in bamboo are certainly that. Those of you that work with wood on a regular know how hard bamboo is to work with and get it to look right. Read More >

REVIEW: The LSA Signature 80 Speakers

As mentioned in our TONE/Distilled review, the first track played on the LSA Signature 80s is The Art of Noise’s “Moments in Love. Read More >

The LSA VT-70 Integrated Amplifier

There’s always something special about an EL-34 based tube amp, with a pair of output tubes per channel, and a pretty simple circuit. Read More >

The Penaudio Lumi Speakers

Where so many manufacturers have fallen victim to designing a speaker line around a tweeter first, with each smaller model having progressively less bass as a result, Penaudio’s Sami Penttila does it old school, developing each model to be a unique entity. Read More >

The Naim Mu-So 2

Time flies when you’re having fun, the saying goes, and Naim’s Mu-so is an incredibly fun way to enjoy music.

The initial launch of the Mu-so at the Munich High End Show a few years ago raised the bar – dramatically for what can be called a desktop audio system. Read More >

The Technics OTTAVA-SC-C70MK2

Pushing the play button on the new Technics OTTAVA SC-C70MK2, with a MoFi copy of the Superfly soundtrack fills the room with a big, broad soundfield and a solid bass line. Read More >