Caput Mundi gathers two designing and listening philosophies that I personally appreciate and pursue: those ones related to the horn and dipole loudspeakers.

From a technical point of view why are these Gato speakers so interesting? The fundamental difference between a "2.5" way system and a two-way and subwoofer is set by the filter...

A "litte & great" Chinese preamplifier at a budget price, suitable to biamplifying and with a good headphone output. And you can get everything rigorously with tubes, rather with one tube only.

A 80 watts integrated amplifier that includes, as common use by now for the noteworthy amplifiers, an internal digital converter in addition to a MM phono stage of great value.

If it is true that when you are about to review a blazoned, hence very expensive apparatus, you are in apprehension, with this power amp I feel completely at ease...

It does not happen to all the Hi-Fi manufacturers to become a great and authentic brand, moreover quoted by Wikipedia. This fact, in a simple way, explains the culture and the design refinement of the classic Cabasse Pacific 3 speakers: top-level domestic High-End.

A stereo amplification among the ones that are more provided of watts: beyond 500 into 4 ohms and capable, on paper, to drive any loudspeaker in whatever domestic environment.

DAC, headphone amplifier and speaker into a small cube of six centimeters: to incline someone towards a first musical listening nothing comes to my mind that could be easier, accessible and performing than that.

An amplifier not too expensive, powerful, well made at a first sight, Italian. My enthusiasm is due to the fact that the object typology falls at 100% within my current vision of the hi-fi.

Compact integrated amplifier, designed for the catchment area of the streaming music users, worthy and advanced exponent of the recent progeny of class-D amps.

Differently from the basic model, this one is provided with a kit of six Op-Amps operational amplifiers in order to personalize the sound performances. The most exigent user can therefore get the best listening combination and configuration.

The North Europe lands have surely handed down to these Gato speakers their heritage of deep emotions, contagious musicality and aesthetical care.

A fluid sound, without any digital harshness, precise but soft enough. The detail it is not an end to itself, it makes the reproduction more realistic. In this sense we must say that the digital is making great progresses.

A very particular floorstander. It can surely surprise and entertain with its classy sound, an unexpectedly big, rhythmical and deep sound, especially whether related to its physical features.

I want to draw the enthusiasts’ attention on a type of devices which, unfortunately, are not widespread among the most demanding audiophiles as they should be.

The Symphonic Line amp is simply phenomenal, the more is the efficiency of the speaker system, the more it feels at ease. Hard and pure at the performances, esoteric and involving at the listening.

Only a manufacturer who is fond of music will be able to make an involving object with great performances. After all Music is emotion, isn’t it? And the Leben preamp? Its inner passion is there, just in front of you.

The transport can read several formats like CD, CDDA, CD-R, CD-RW and is provided with the CD Text function.
DAC with four digital inputs.
A valuable duo if compared with its price

The battery-powered external power supply is more than a simple slave, and the external clock is open on the world and capable of digest whatever frequencies.
Evo digital set: small, strong, intelligent and… infinite.

An ultra low-frequency pulse generator which makes the listening of any audio system a fresher and fulfilling experience: you will realise that “by instinct”…

Discovered at last how to burn-in and make really dynamic the most famous isodynamic panels in the world: word of Roberto "DeTerminator" Borgonzoni.

Small, strong and intelligent: a powerful interface from the PC and an helpful DAC; first part of the most “open” and cool digital system of the market.

The mechanical limit of the worldwide most famous isodynamic panel has always been a big flaw that has hampered the diffusion of this speaker, but nothing resists to our Roberto Borgonzoni...

Unlike the ninety percent of the known devices, this preamp does not feature an attenuator as a volume control, since it causes the input signal deteriorating with losses in dynamic and detail.

Noise reduction is a golden point of this machine: what immediately follows is an innate aptitude in taking out the details, even the more hidden, and the micro nuances, at the ends of subsonic.

In-depth listening session of one of the most revolutionary loudspeaker after its recently introduction in the market. We are sure it will become a sound reference not only within its ribbon manufacturing technology but also among the top loudspeakers.

An unconventional tonearm indeed, Dr. Hedgebeth's Sonority Tonearm worths a review, the first for a world premiere.

Digital Media Players: their coming from the computer world seems to hamper the “old style” audiophile. Let’s see how Max Research Interface can be more user friendly.

Antonino Pistone of Audiozen drills with a two-way rear bass reflex loaded and a cabinet with about fifteen litres enclosure: practically a real standard between the bookshelf speakers.

Efficiency, as normal in this typology of loudspeakers, is not very high. Yet, also a T-amp can drive them, although this is not the best matching, as we will find out…

The Italian EAM Lab is a great union of ideas and elegance, attested by the mighty brand new HA 300 power amp, which has been anticipated only by its well-known big brother HA 600.

A modern and not exasperating implementation for one of the most appreciated wideband one-way speaker in the Hi-Fi history. Just the ticket.

The 707 USB DAC deserves a ReMusic Spark for its exemplar price/quality ratio, for its wide flexibility and for making possible good audiophile satisfactions without spending lots of money.

For “Sound of the North” you might think of a cold and rarefy sound, but notwithstanding Finland is west ofRussia, the summers there are very hot…

Innovative circuitry, soon with an international patent, for a musicality that wants to join together the best of the two worlds of the amplification, tubes and solid state: with these amazing credentials the BFA Tulip introduces itself beyond the frontiers of the common audio circuits.

A new Magneplanar speaker is always an event. Italy première offered by ReMusic: the charm of the most isodynamic dipole strikes again.

First listening impressions of the nearer magnetodynamic transducers to the sound of the traditional speakers that I have ever heard, able however to maintain that ability of stage reconstruction and the dimension of the soundstage of the most performing dipoles.

In my opinion, a good mains filter is not only an accessory but an out-and-out component of the system; hence an object indispensable to help the electronics to perform at best.

King's Audio is a technological advanced company still unknown to many high-end markets, with a rich and interesting catalogue that is principally oriented to hybrid and non-hybrid electrostatic loudspeakers.

Minimalist in the look but glorious in the sound, the 540 Soulution is a CD/SACD digital player that employs the VRDS Esoteric VOSP transport and hides with great understatement its unlimited possibilities.

Since its manufacturer is a specialized provider of Class D amplification, this DAC has been conceived to be a primary match for a PC.

Better-quality manufacture and musical refinement for a monotriode built around a tube that is unique in the world and comes from a brand that has shaped the history of the worldwide tube productions.

The KingRex T20U has been tested both with the standard switching PSU and the partnering PSU MKII which promises to make it reach primacy in listening: a T-Amp development?

The RI-100 has the inborn capacity of preserving every single instrument, almost guiding it into a precise, marked and correctly recreated scenic context. It is easy to read the instruments on the setting, also those in the background and hidden by the instrumental amalgam.

It was 2004 when I tested the model BlackNoise Extreme 500 and its products line has been updated of only one model. But the BlackNoise Extreme V2 presents substantial improvements.

Second Chapter of the Onix saga. A product that, in its look and its essence, confirms the initial considerations in terms of elegance and good manufacture.

Mini size and mini price: the second episode of the Maverick miniseries dedicated to the TubeMagic D1 DAC that also runs as a vacuum tube pre-amp output stage (one valve only), in addition to the normal solid-state audio output and as a headphones amplifier

An integrated amp, a dedicated headphone preamp and a tube preamplifier in a small gear with an entry level price: these are the products that open the market to new categories of good sound’s lovers.

It seemed impossible to realize a three-way speaker virtually without crossover, but Giorgio Todde of Arte Acustica has managed it with island and enduring determination. What was so difficult? Well, everything...

Delightfully, this historic amplification brand makes a great-sounding comeback: when British sound, Chinese production and Italian intuition give their best.

White, round and made of ceramic. The CA Electronic cones promise to be original indeed. The listening backs up. Also here the innovation has a meaning.

How to place a pair of very high efficiency horn loudspeakers, like the Klipsch Belle, is a matter beset with rumours and prejudices. Let’s start by saying what we can accept and what we cannot.

In our audiophile days the listener doesn’t compete with the system, because quite soon he realizes to come across a well balanced system, with a fulfilling and convincing sound: like the sound created by Atelier del Suono this time too.

The phono preamplifier is the most important object in the analog chain and at a cost of about one thousand euro up, the Bakoon EQA-11 has really few competitors.

The Simon Yorke S9 has all the right characteristics to be inserted in any systems that require lots of energy.

The Special Edition is an “improved” version of the Audiozen phono preamplifier Mantra which, resembling the Zen philosophy, pursues the purity, the immediacy of the act, the absence of afterthoughts, but also being absolutely focused.

I can affirm that the Bel Canto 2.5 is a marvellous modern DAC, an excellent-sounding and high level engineering product. It is an item hardly equalled in terms of versatility.

The passive preamplifier is a very simple and functional machine with particular care put in the quality of the unique component present along the signal path: the potentiometer.

If you opt for Trafomatic that means that you’re going to choose a unique amplification. The same thing arose a couple of years ago when you had to decide for expensive Japanese amplifications. Those were the days of the esoteric hi-end, only for a few privileged.

Three modern models with progressive performances, closed into aluminium briefcases with a very professional look.

Leben it’s not about exclusive circuit choices or a particular passive component, but it’s about a purpose of musical research. A research not much standardized in a modern audiophile world where everything seems to play in a way that is uniform or alike.

The Hirtel name had been recognized and praised by Saul Marantz who said, after having visited the factory, that the Hirtel production, in respect to the technique and materials, was not less than the American and Japanese more skilled one.

The "top” of Systems and Magic main cables is elegant indeed but this quality remains in good part unseen since it is mostly hidden by the lodging devices.

A sleeve silver brick but what a spirit inside this rDAC! A digital sound bodied, accurate, crispy, dynamic and broad. In comparison my own DAC...

AM Audio B-80 mono power amps are a clear example of audiophile commitment. An Italian example of technical exercise which pursuits a sound that respects the original audio signal.

What is considered by many designers as prodromal to a good sound, find its place in this amplifier.
The first thing to do is taking out the most critical component from the electric and hence musical point of view: the output transformer. Here is a fine OTL.

So dynamic to reach the stars, so elegant and natural, great timbre, no roughness or sharpness: are they really Wilson? They are, indeed. A label on the back says Wilson Audio...

This amplifier has been interesting in terms of listening, naturally performing a great synergy with the other components of my home system and without any setting changes

This beautiful experience and great path proves how much care and passion are essential to enable the audio system to perform at best.

I think that the OTL technology can put together the purity and transparency of the single-ended triodes with the power of the transistors, and the result is a splendid blending between dynamic force and naturalness in the emission.

If you want to catch the nuances and the outstanding parameters such as the harmonic rendering, the timber and tone correctness, the soundstage reconstruction, maybe a transformer preamplifier could be the panacea and, in the case of the Zanden Model 3000, the end of all games. You can't just start all over again.

An accessory as valued as an excellent cable that improves likewise on the quality sound. The RD-3 is designed to eliminate the magnetic properties found within our CD collection, and not only.

Last march Audio Point Italia, the Italian distributor of the Cessaro loudspeaker systems, made at S.I. Audio in Naples the officially opening of the Beta/I on the Italian market.

The reasoning you’re about to read, springs from the device object of this review and pertains to the role of the liquid music in 2011 and the machines that can reproduce it.

This Pass is a real musical masterpiece. Basically neutral, with a hint of warmth which is common in the American designer’s entire production, it competes with the best valve state amps on their home ground, i.e. musical body and harmonic richness.

It’s very difficult to find at the same price any product with the high sound quality of the P88i.

Most phonos, in comparison with Il King, seem to be a bit fake, affected and artificial, somehow even electrified and noisy: maybe they can embellish, underline something, but finally they appear less natural. You realize that when reconnecting Il King in your system.

The choice of the GamuT speakers is the result of a journey oriented to understand which kind of sound could make vibrate the string of my musical sensitiveness.